photography by wasim.

Tag: samsung

A Surprise Journey Through The Range Of Light – Part 2 – Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park

This is just one of those places. You hear about it, you see pictures of it, you read about it, and if you’re a nature-lover or photographer, or better yet, both, you’d be hot damned if you that’s the one you didn’t get to cross off your bucket-list.

Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park.

The mystique around this place runs high. It’s been called a ‘photographers paradise,’ as well as one of ‘the most difficult places to photograph.’ The thing about it is, it’s closed off most of the year. The picture-perfect gentle alpine meadow bordered on all directions by soft granite domes and spires, and blanketed in pines and wildflowers and berries and natural grass, lies in the highest of high countries in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, so Tioga Road, the only one that passes through, is snowed in on average of 7 months a year, and on top of that, the meadows are ‘meadowed’ for only about 3 months of the year (as a local park guide so eloquently put it). Furthermore, those 3 months just so happen to be the absolute busiest months of Yosemite National Park’s schedule, but, as stated in Part 1 – Mammoth Lakes, there was no way I was not going to seize this unexpected and completely spontaneous opportunity to make my way to this alleged garden of Eden.

I pulled onto Tioga Road at about 4pm, with about 4 hours before sunset, which I figured was enough time to at least explore a bit and find a place I was going to call camp for sunset. As I wind my way up and through the Tioga pass from Lee Vining on the Eastern Sierra side, I slowly rolled through the sort of landscape that dreams and fantasies are made of, the kind of place you thought only existed in cartoons and psilocybin – crystal clear sky blue cascading streams and rivers snaking their way through saturated green grasses and tress of various sizes and varieties, flanked by sun soaked rolling hills comprised of rolling granite domes and lodgepole pines.

As I drove through at about 10 miles per hour, I literally found a tear in my eye – I was in absolute awe of some of the most striking, insanely unreal scenes that would trump a psychedelia-soaked dream. I won’t lie. I was overwhelmed. How the hell was I going to only spend 5 hours here?

I figured since I only had this afternoon, I’d stop by the visitor center and ask for a few tips. The nice lady was hesitant at first to give out one of her favorite spots and secrets, but after she found out I was a State Park volunteer, she figured she was in safe territory and loudly ‘whispered’ a tip. I thanked her kindly, and went to follow her tip as I made my way around a particular dome. I hiked in for about 35 minutes before realizing I had no flashlight to get back out, and this was bear country, and I was finding myself in a maze that wouldn’t be ‘fun’ to try to scramble out of after dark. While the landscape was absolutely breathtaking as I followed the river through a forested part of the meadow, I had a scene in my mind and this was taking me away from it. I wasn’t going to be able to get the sunset colors with the snaking stream through the meadow I had envisioned. After a quick glance at the clock, I had to make a decision quick as I was less than an hour from sunset. I hastily decided to hike back out, and head down the road to a more open part of the meadow and just hope I can find something I’d be happy with.

I truly felt so overwhelmed, that I was absolutely certain that I wasn’t going to get a shot because I made the fatal mistake of running around looking for the best one, but made peace with it when I just figured I’d come back the next day now that I have a bit of the lay of the land. And I certainly wasn’t going to cry about that. Plus, I may not get the shot I had envisioned, but, I’m in Tuolumne Meadows at sunset, I’m sure as heck not walking out with nothing!

So I slowed my roll, took a breathe, and decided I was just going to enjoy this one. I hiked into the riverbank, sat on a rock to soak in this paradise, and right at that very moment, is when I found and saw my shots. All within striking distance of where I started walking around like a crazed half-bearded madman. The most surprising was a shot that ended up being one of my favorites, it was well after the sun had set, and I had already packed my gear and was using my phone’s flashlight to find my way back out to the road. That’s when I ran across the purple twilight light reflecting in a small pond and playing with the shadows of the landscape just off the path. I had to do it – I pulled out my gear, set up, and spent about another 30 minutes after dark playing right there in that area.

So here’s a bit of a gallery of my favorite images from that afternoon, all of which were shot on a Samsung NX30 using a Samsung 18-200mm lens.

For Part 3, Mono Lake, click here .

And in case you missed A Surprise Journey Through The Range Of Light – Part 1 – Mammoth Lakes, click here .

And for more of my madness: Instagram: @wasimofnazareth Twitter: @wasimofnazareth Google+: www.Google.com/+WasimMuklashy Facebook: www.Facebook.com/WasimOfNazareth

August 6, 2014
A Surprise Journey Through The Range Of Light – Part 1 – Mammoth Lakes

So this is what was supposed to happen. My landlord’s friend has a condo up in Mammoth. He wanted new pictures of it in order to prepare rental listings for the coming winter season. It hasn’t been rented in several months, so I figured this would be a good week to go. I got the green light from him, from the landlord, and off I went, driving along the Eastern Sierras of California…the ‘Range of Light.’ A relatively painless drive to spend a few days in a part of California I’ve never been to, take some pictures, get some writing and some work done in the solitude of the Sierra Nevadas for a few days, and then head back home.
Well, let’s just say, that got derailed in a big way, spontaneously turning this into much more of an adventure than I expected.

I showed up to the condo, and was immediately taken aback by how beautiful it was. How this wasn’t being rented, I’ll never know. Three immaculate bedrooms, a gorgeous living area, and it was big. I walked out the back patio door and it lie RIGHT on a river looking up at the sunset. I grabbed my tripod, slammed the camera on there, scarfed down my now cold meatball sandwich from John’s Pizza Works, and started snapping away. As the sun dipped behind the Sierras, I noticed that the light was going to make for a spectacular twilight shot of the condo. It was essentially isolated, with a river running by it’s side, and the golden pink skies were beginning to turn that lust-worthy shade of deep blue. I set up my tripod for the shot, ran in the house to turn on all the lights, and…(insert record scratch sound here…) a woman was standing inside.

Apparently she had the place booked with her family, and for some reason, the owner didn’t know, and the property management company failed to notify him of that. Who knows what kind of tomfoolery is going on but, well, that’s neither here nor there. What’s here is that I was just thrown out into the streets of Mammoth with nowhere to go. As I was cursing my luck and wondering if I’d killed someone in a past life, I sat in a parking lot, debating whether or not to make the 5-hour drive back to Los Angeles. I was finally able to get a hold of my landlord, the one who helped set it all up, who was just as surprised as I was. They agreed to get me a room at the Mammoth Mountain Inn for the night so we can get things sorted in the morning.

As I checked into the hotel, I noticed a flyer for Yosemite’s Tuolomne Meadows on the front desk, so I grabbed it. I’ve been trying to make it there for years as the roads are only open a few months out of the year (they’re snowed in most of the year as it’s the high country). When I asked the desk agent how far it was from where I was standing, he said no more than an hour.

Done.

Was NOT planning on this, but I’ll be hot damned if I’m 60 minutes from a place I’ve been trying to make my way to for almost a decade and NOT turn this into an impromptu trip to Yosemite National Park’s Tuolomne Meadows.

In any case, here I sit, room 114 at the Mammoth Mountain Inn, getting more and more excited for whatever the next few days have in store for me. I forgot how nice it is to just let go and see what happens. This should be interesting. And above? The only shot I was able to snap before being sent to the streets.

For Part 2: A Surprise Journey Through The “Range of Light” Part 2 – Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite, click here .

And to find out how to get sunset and star-burst shots like the one above, click here .

All images in this series were taken with a Samsung NX30 and a Samsung 18-200mm lens.

And for more of my madness: Instagram: @wasimofnazareth Twitter: @wasimofnazareth Google+: www.Google.com/+WasimMuklashy Facebook: www.Facebook.com/WasimOfNazareth

July 30, 2014
How Instagram’s Cheesy Photo Filters Have Made Us More Creative

I know.
I was one of those people.
But after rediscovering Instagram the past few months since deleting my original account two years ago as a futile act of defiance after the billion dollar Facebook acquisition, I’ve come to realize, that couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s far from cheating and it’s actually quite the contrary, it’s incredibly liberating…which just so happens to be a prerequisite for the most creative of all art!
Basically, here’s my take: just because I don’t know how to make something look like an old western scratched sepia photo print in Photoshop, or I don’t have an old western camera with old western film and old western chemicals and an old western darkroom to process in, doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be allowed to express a vision that happens to be in the style of an old western scratched sepia photo print. If I had to learn how to do it, or save up to buy all them old western stuffs, I’d end up spending hours, if not days, or perhaps even months, detracting from continuing to engage the original spark of that imagination by developing the story or idea. When I see something and want to see it in an old western scratched sepia photo print sorta way, I can do it with the tap of a button, allowing me more energy to concentrate on refining the overall vision. This, consequently, allows me to be more creative without the fear of technical gibberish slowing me down.
Essentially, with the quick one step filters we actually have tools to help us express a creative vision that runs quicker and closer to the speed that our mind conjures it up. In many cases, it even gives us ideas that we wouldn’t have had before, conjuring up certain emotions and feelings based on how that image looks based on how we decided to treat it. Our imagination becomes something that stays ‘on’ at all times, allowing us to visualize and create and refine and build upon the wily creative spark when the elusive bugger decides to actually show up. Moreover, in my case, it’s allowed me to retool and re-envision many images I already have, and present them to an entirely new audience who may never have seen them otherwise.
And I think we’re all starting to catch up with these sorts of thoughts. Yes, when these ‘toys’ were first brought to market, it was easy to dismiss them as meaningless and short-lived and a ‘fad’ and all that gobbledegook. But heck, we didn’t know any better because we’ve never quite seen anything like that on a mass consumed scale. But since then, even institutions that have prided for over a century about the quality of their images and media output, like National Geographic and Smithsonian and Getty Images, have adopted Instagram and Twitter accounts, and in National Geographic’s case, even has a section in their digital publication format surrounded by that iconic yellow border, dedicated to the Instagram feeds of their photographers in the field. And some of my favorite professional photographers have embraced the mediums as well. In a short 4 years, Instagram has become an institution in itself – creating celebrity Instagrammers that have led to extremely profitable small businesses based on their feeds, while simultaneously building a rabid fan base large and influential enough to command a billion dollar pricetage by Facebook. And, well, if Facebook bought a toy, well, it was a damn expensive one!
Additionally, the fact that most ‘professional’ and ‘prosumer’ cameras these days are equipped with built-in wifi, like the Samsung NX30 and Samsung NXMini I’ve been using lately as part of the Imagelogger program, allows you to immediately take a high quality photo and transfer it to your mobile device for processing and sharing…an idea that seemed preposterously foreign just 5 years ago.
Anyhow, I suppose what I’m getting at here is that I’m finally beginning to let go of the idea that things need to stay the way they are or the way they’ve ‘been.’ After all, in reality, nothing at all has ever stayed the way it’s ‘been.’ Ever. And heck, who would really want it to!? So if I, as a creative, don’t adapt and embrace the tools (and toys) that are available to us in these insanely exciting days, then, well, I’m just gonna end up left by the wayside, while everyone else has all the fun.
Screw that. I wanna have some fun too!
For more of my madness: Instagram: @wasimofnazareth Twitter: @wasimofnazareth Google+: www.Google.com/+WasimMuklashy Facebook: www.Facebook.com/WasimOfNazareth

July 24, 2014
The Proof Sheet – Photography News In Review For The Week of July 7

Welcome to the inaugural edition of The Proof Sheet, where each week I’ll post some of the more notable photography news in sweet, chewy, bite-sized, easily-digestible morsels. Click the Read More for this week’s stories.

EyeFi, the makers of those wonderful wifi enabled SD cards for you DSLR, along with influencer marketing agency Evolve!, apparently did some research together, the results of which were released this week – an infographic that displays what they consider to be “The Top 30 Most Socially Influential Photographers.” Jeremy Cowart, Joe McNally, and Peter Klesken top the list, followed closely by Chase Jarvis, Adam Bouska, and Jimmy Chin. As expected Scott Kelby, Trey Ratcliff, and Thomas Hawk made the list. Click here to check out the entire infographic.

Building on the success of their #DitchDay event in NYC last month in which Samsung gave away thousands of their NX30 mirrorless cameras, they’ve now partnered up with Amazon for their own version of that DitchTheDSLR event, this one called SamsungNXLive. On Monday, July 14 at 10am Pacific, head over to this link, where, accompanied by a live photography training session, you’ll be able to trade in any of your DSLRs for $250 dollars off of a Samsung NX30 or NX300.

Indonesian photographer Herman Damar captures some of the most idyllic, charming, joyfully warm images of everyday children in everyday village life in Indonesia. What you see are moments that seem like they’re plucked straight out of a fantasy or fairytale, making them even that much more difficult to believe that they’re real. But they are. And if you don’t check ‘em out, you’re certainly missing out. Click here to view them all over on PetaPixel.

Japanese website Nikkei leaked an image this week of what is supposedly the first image taken with Sony’s new curved sensor, one that apparently closer mimics the way the human eye works. The technology behind it aims to eliminate vignetting and soft pixels in the corners that is typical of images from the camera sensors we’ve grown to know and use. Click here for the leaker and the image.

Perhaps in an effort to combat the inane Idiocracy-esque state of our mainstream media, the BBC College of Journalism decided to blow the door open on their journalism training resources for the next year, letting the public in on all their courses and sessions and documents that they use to train their own journalists (yes, I know it’s surprising, but in some parts of the world, journalism actually requires more than a miniskirt and a microphone). Some of the topics include smartphone journalism, ethical journalism, secret filming, and documentary making. Click here to get edumacated.

PopPhoto.com reported this week that Vision Research releases “the fastest camera on the market,” The Phantom v2511. Apparently this beast is capable of moving through 25,600 frames per second. Um…yeah! Madness. Click here to read more about it at PopPhoto.

July 11, 2014
5 Fun (And Pretty Stupid) Photography Tips For Your 4th Of July Barbecue

Independence Day is upon us!! A day when we can celebrate the hard-fought achievements of our forefathers by, well, doing what we do best…git your gluttony on (as respectful as possible of course…). Here are 5 quick photography tips for your 4th of July barbecue:

1. Nothing says 4th Of July better than dripping, oozing, shiny, glistening barbecue sauce…both on the grill and splattering all over people’s faces and clothes as they try to inhale the various sugar sauce doused proteins, starches, veggies, and fibers. Try to use a wide aperture and get in close on the drips, the shine, savor the details of those barbecue-sauce mustaches, especially on the wives and girlfriends. I recommend using Aperture Priority if you’re using a camera with manual controls. That way all you’ll have to focus on is the focus, and the camera will do the rest.

2. Nothing else says 4th of July barbeque better than dripping, oozing, meat on a grill. The same idea as #1, but come in at an angle, add some energy to the shot. Straight from above, or perfectly perpendicular might be good for Instagram, but if you want to get a solid, professional looking image, use a wide aperture for minimal depth of field, perhaps around the f3.5 – 5.6 range, which is a good balance so the background doesn’t get so blurry you can’t tell what it is. Move in as close as you can without fear of melting your lens (if you have the luxury of a good zoom, a solid 12-18 inches away from the heat source would be best and zoom that sucker in. However, beware, on most zooms, the more you zoom, the smaller your widest aperture will be, which means that the f-stop number will rise and you’ll get more in focus unless you’re lucky or wealthy enough to have a fixed aperture zoom). Focus on a small part of the burger, perhaps right where it meets the grill and the fat is dripping off into the charcoal filled ether, or the corner of the cheese melting off the side of the meat onto the charcoal coated grill, allowing the rest of the scene to melt out of focus behind it. Even after eating 3 of the suckers, that picture will convince even you to inhale a fourth.

3. The Group Shot! While everyone is holding their burgers and their food, get a group shot. This is when everyone gets silly and their over-the-top enthusiasm kicks in, especially after a few drinks. For the best results, hold the camera like you’re going to take a picture, but hit the video button instead. Don’t tell them that. Wait until they realize it on their own. Then you’ll have over 30 frames per second to choose the most awkward one from to post (and of course tag) on social media. Immediately. Better yet, post the video! It’s not a new idea, but it is a brilliant one. I mean, come on:

4. The Chef! Never forget them! Keep an eye on the cook(s). Often times, especially as the afternoon gets longer and a few libations have increased the enthusiasm over the grill, lazy eyes and slurred speech and dropped steaks followed by a ‘god made dirt and dirt don’t hurt’ grumble begin to dominate the festivities and make for the most memorable of images, especially since, well, your job is to make sure they remember their most embarrassing moments.

5. By all means, get brewed up, it is a celebration after all, but by NO means forget your camera anywhere near the barbecue. That celebration will turn into the breeding grounds for a whole new American revolution.

Ok then…go get your gluttony on! And remember to come back and share the best of the best and worst of the worst with a link in the comments. Needless to say, I’d absolutey LOVE to see them.

And once you’re good and ready to shoot them fireworks (that’s if you don’t imbibe enough to miss ’em), click here for a few tips for photographing the fireworks courtesy Photofocus.com:

Happy 4th!!

For more of my madness:
Instagram: @wasimofnazareth
Twitter: @wasimofnazareth
Google+: www.Google.com/+WasimMuklashy
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/WasimOfNazareth

July 4, 2014
6 Travel Photography Lessons Learned On My Recent Trip To The Pacific Northwest

So as many of you know, I embarked on a nature and travel photography trip this past Spring to the Pacific Northwest, and I’ve shared all those pictures here and all my social outlets. This so happened to be my first photo trip in which I left the DSLR behind and employed mirrorless cameras exclusively, namely, the Samsung NX30. While this post will forgo all the reasons behind that (click here if you want to see those posts of that journey), now that the dust has settled and some time has passed, I’ve been able to reflect a bit on the incredible experience, which has proven to be a personal milestone in many ways in my photographic journey. So I figured I’d take this opportunity to share with you a few of the lessons I learned on that trip:

1. Make A List – It always seems like a good idea to make a list of the shots and images you’d like to come back with. When you’re planning for a trip, especially if it’s somewhere you’ve never been, it would do you good to do a bit of research, whether you Google the location, or visit sites like 500px and Google Plus to search for images from that location. It’ll give you a great idea of what to expect, what to look for, how the weather can alter the look of the images, what you like, what you don’t.

2. Throw That List Out – The main reason for me making that list was basically to get it out of my system. It’s almost like pre-visualizing a conversation with someone – it’s impossible, and more often than not, it doesn’t go at ALL the way you had it in your head. It’s great to have the ideas and a foundation in your head to work from, but once you’re on location, your eye is going to dart around and see things you never planned for. And this is a good thing. I mean, do you really want to return with the same images you already saw all over those sites? Really?

3. Work It – Never EVER settle on the first shot or angle. In other words, yes, trust your eye in the sense that something made you stop and look. Something was behind whatever it was that caught your attention. And sure, stop, set up, take the shot. Indulge. But no joke, every time I found myself in front of something that caught my attention for whatever reason, it was NEVER the first shot that I took that ended up being my favorite. I ducked, dodged, leaned in, got on the ground, climbed a tree, switched positions, got behind bushes, wrestled with spider webs, balanced on an unbalanced rock, everything I could to make whatever it was that caught my eye even more attention grabbing. Sometimes you don’t have the luxury of time on your side, but in most cases, if you can find time to snap one shot, you can usually find time to try at least try 2 or 3 different angles or approaches. If you’re with people that get annoyed by your practicing your ‘art,’ surprise them later with a beer at dinner. You’ll see how quickly they get over it.

4. Marinate – Let the images come to you. Just because I’m somewhere with a camera does not mean I need to make a picture. As a matter of fact, it was when I just sat back and soaked in my environments that I was truly able to get the best feel for the location we were in. Sure, I’ll usually spend the first few minutes antsier than a flock of fleas, but once that part passes, you almost get into a meditative, relaxed state in which your mind goes out of its way to tell you ‘it’s ok.’ And you can’t help but agree. It is OK. The tree canopy above ended up being one of my favorite images from the entire trip and this wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t take a break, put down my camera, and take a mini-catnap on a picnic bench in the middle of the forest.

5. Have Fun! – Don’t forget why you’re doing this to begin with – fun. Don’t lose sight of that. You’ll get caught up in it and at times frustration will set in and it’ll feel like the world revolves around that very shot or not getting it right or why can’t I get this? Well, it doesn’t. The world truly doesn’t give a hot nor a cold damn. It’s just you. Only you. No one else but you. After all, no one, other than yourself, even knows that image doesn’t exist yet because, well, it doesn’t! So you’re literally stressing out over nothing. Literally. Stop, breath, meditate on the mantra ‘have fun’ for a few minutes. After all, who the hell wants to work?

6. Details! Don’t forget the details! It’s easy to get overwhelmed by big scenes and subjects, especially if it’s your first time around them. Instinct seems to dictate to try to capture on your sensor as much of that scenes as possible. I want the river with the trees with the mountains with the rock with the acorns with the elk with the other tree and oh…oh…oh…that barn! Oh that barn!! Well, that’s all fine and dandy, and, as expressed in tip #3, shoot it! But don’t settle on that. Now that you got that off your shoulders, get creative. Move in, focus just on the details. If I got that shot as described above, chances are high that once you (or someone else) viewed the image, you wouldn’t know where to rest your eyes. If you just get the elk next to the barn, or the river with the tree, or the hinges on the barn door, the focal points become much clearer, providing a much more pleasant, and imagination-inducing viewing experience. A great example is the fern in the image above. It was surrounded by a picture perfect waterfall and a cave and a cliff and gorgeous moss-covered trees, but once it came down to it, it was the fern that really had my attention, so once I focused solely on that, I was happy with the shot. The rest of it came in a different shot, the one on the right, which, again, focused on the detail of the moss covered tree and the waterfall behind it.

So I hope you were able to get something out of this. It all might seem like common sense, but once you’re out in the field, especially in unfamiliar locations, every single one of your six senses (yup, six, I’m one of those guys) hits overdrive and all common sense is typically thrown out the window bit by byte. But if you just focus on these six things, Make A List, Throw That List Out, Work It, Relax, Have Fun, and Details, you’re bound to come back with several keepers that you’ll be proud to share.

Feel free to share your experiences below and what works for you and what doesn’t.

For more of my madness:
Instagram: @wasimofnazareth
Twitter: @wasimofnazareth
Google+: www.Google.com/+WasimMuklashy
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/WasimOfNazareth

July 1, 2014
How To Photograph Sunsets, Silhouettes And Starbursts For Your Summer Snaps!

Being in Southern California, we get a lot of wonderful light during the final hours of most days, so naturally, a lot of my photography happens during that time. Consequently, I find myself in position to photograph sunsets a lot, many of which can prove to be quite spectacular, and one of my favorite effects is to catch sun stars (also called starbursts) and silhouettes during this time. I’ve been asked more than a few times what my methods for sunset photography are, so figured I’d share a few tips to help you catch those perfect sun shots during your summer adventures. Click past the break here to see the tips.

1. Silhouettes – If it’s a silhouette that you’re trying to capture, such as the deer along the ridge in the image above, or the palm trees in the foreground of that sunset sky in the image in this link, then I usually shoot in Aperture Priority mode and meter for the brightest spot on the scene, usually the sky just around the sun. I’ll then use exposure compensation, the little button that with the +/- symbol that normally looks something like the one below here, to underexpose the image by about a stop, sometimes even two full stops, and if I’m feeling particularly crazy, sometimes up to 3 full stops, depending on how bright the light happens to be that day or time of day.

Exposure Compensation Button

I do this so that the bright light isn’t obscenely overexposed to the point you lose all detail. Finally, if necessary, I”ll bring up some of the details in post in Lightroom using the shadow and highlights sliders to taste. Remember…this is art.

2. Starbursts – If I’m looking to get the starburst effect such as in the image of the tree canopy above or the Topanga Canyon sunset in the image in this link, it’s best to stop up to f16 or even smaller, usually best at about f18 or f22. Then I’ll frame the shot so the sun is partially obstructed by a tree/hillside/ridgeline/building/leaf/something. Shooting at that small aperture is what will give you that starburst you see in some of them. The effect is a result of what is called light diffraction. In essence, this is when light waves bend around something in their way, causing the waves to spread out. In this case, the ’something in their way’ are the diaphragm blades in the lens. The number of blades inside your particular lens will dictate how many points you get in your starbursts. Typically, the higher end lens will give you more points and a cleaner starburst, but these days, pretty much any lens will give you more than satisfactory results.

3. Dusk/Twilight – If the sun isn’t directly in the shot, but you’re looking to capture the dusk/twilight light like the one of the Pacific Coast Highway you see above, then I typically expose for the sky if I’m looking to silhouette or darken the mountains/landscape. Conversely, I might decide to expose for the mountains to get some detail in there, and then use exposure compensation to stop down about a stop or so in order to not blow out the sky too much, still preserve some visible detail in the mountains, and still be able to capture those surreal colors that happen in those 15-20 minutes of perfect twilight after the sun sets behind the horizon. I’ll often also set the white balance to ‘cloudy’ even if it’s not cloudy as it helps warm up the scene and saturates the colors a bit. A few minimal tweaks of the shadow, highlights, and sometimes the contrast and vibrance sliders in Lightroom, and you’ve got yourself some awfully purty colors!

One final tip is to make sure your lens is clean, especially when shooting images where the sun is a major component such as lens flare or starburst shots. Otherwise, you WILL get very visible unwanted dust specks and artifacts in your images.

Well, I hope those tips help you during your summer adventures. Let me know if they help you capture some fun shots. I’d love to see them!

By the way, all the shots you see above were shot on either the Samsung NX300 or the Samsung NX30, both of which are mirrorless cameras and provided to me as part of the Samsung Imagelogger program. Both of which I absolutely highly recommend and have turned into my primary cameras. If you decide to purchase through Amazon, try the links above! They’ll take you directly to the cameras I used and they’ll show me a bit of love for sending you that way…

For more of my madness: Instagram: @wasimofnazareth Twitter: @wasimofnazareth Google+: www.Google.com/+WasimMuklashy Facebook: www.Facebook.com/WasimOfNazareth

June 12, 2014
DSLR? What DSLR? Oh How Quickly We Forget – A Mirrorless Camera Pacific Northwest Photo Trip – The Epilogue

So this is just a quick wrap-up post to the Pacific Northwest Photo Trip series. As you all know by now, I have been fortunate enough to be chosen as one of 50 Samsung Imageloggers, essentially, a brand ambassador for Samsung’s line of mirrorless camera systems. And as you know by now, this is the first trip in which I battled with myself beforehand on whether or not to bring the DSLR I’m so used to and that has been the crux of my work for several years. And, well, I was pushed by my peers to challenge myself…so I did.

Well, as the previous 7 parts to series have illustrated, I had absolutely NO problem adjusting to the Samsung NX30, and there was not a single moment on the entire trip that I had wished I brought my trusty Nikon DSLR system. As a matter of fact, a bit of the unexpected happened. The guy I was with, who had flown me out to help him on the video project, had an entire Canon 5D Mark III kit with a variety of L-Series lenses on hand, but as soon as he got a hold of the NX30, ended up spending the rest of the time envious of the lack of weight I was carrying and the results I was getting out of this thing. While he might start searching for other mirrorless options in the full-frame sensor range for his purposes, the point is, he is now considering a mirrorless system.

Anyhow what you see above, as you’ve probably noticed this time, is a video. It’s nothing special, there’s no narrative, no story. It’s just simply a series of clips from some of the various locations we were in that you saw the pictures in the last 6 installments of this series from. A small sample of the sights…the sounds…the colors – all taken on the Samsung NX30 mirrorless camera. Being an ex-video guy myself, I was curious to see the quality of the video feature set as well as the still image quality. I was not disappointed. (Make sure to click the little gear wheel and choose to watch in HD quality!)

As far as the pictures, I’ve dropped them all into the madness of one random scrolling gallery below. Enjoy. And thanks for following along with the series. In case you missed them and would like to read the words behind the pictures, here are the links from the beginning:

Part 1 – To DSLR Or Not To DSLR? That Is The Question

Part 2 – Going Green. And Greener. And Greenest

Part 3 – Guided By The Youth (And All The Purty Colors)

Part 4 – Cheez Whizzed In Stumptown

Part 5 – Flanked By Firs And Braving The Bridge

Part 6 – From The Majesty Of Mother Nature To The Glory Of The Human Soul

For more of my madness: Instagram: @wasimofnazareth Twitter: @wasimofnazareth Google+: www.Google.com/+WasimMuklashy Facebook: www.Facebook.com/WasimOfNazareth

May 28, 2014
From The Majesty Of Mother Nature To The Glory Of The Human Soul – A Mirrorless Camera Pacific Northwest Photo Trip – Part 6

Today is the day that the first part of this trip ends and the second part begins, and it switches gears a bit. While the connection to Mother Earth has been the primary focus for the past 7 days, the next several days focus on the connection to the beauty of the human emotion. If you follow me on Google+ or Facebook, you might recall a post about a month or so ago about a close friend – one of the strongest, purest, most beautiful warrior souls I’ve ever known was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She rushed into surgery soon thereafter and she began chemotherapy the very week we were up in Pacific Northwest. Seeing as how she was with her family just across the state in Spokane, Washington to begin her battle with the ‘big evil,’ I jumped on the opportunity to take the 7-hour Amtrak journey from Portland to spend a few days with her, as I haven’t seen her since my trip to Colorado last year, where she was living at the time.

So with a few hours to kill before the train I headed into downtown Portland for breakfast and a short walk before arriving at Union Station to board the train, one that took me on an incredibly stunning journey-by-rail across the states of Oregon and Washington. A particularly memorable moment was as the sun was setting on my side of the train, it was gently draping the face of the beautiful girl sitting across the aisle from me. After a bit of hesitation and looking back and forth – sun – her face – sun – her face – and before it got too creepy, I asked her if I could take a portrait. She smiled, said yes, and I was able to snap one I was happy with before the sun dropped behind the hills.

I arrived in Spokane close to midnight, where my friend’s father picked me up from the train station and drove us back to their house. She was already asleep, so I just peeked in, whispered hello for a few moments, and retired to the guest room. The next 3 days were an absolutely wonderful 72 hours spent together!! It started the next morning when I found myself in what might be the country’s largest organized garage sale – it was literally an entire neighborhood, perhaps 5 by 5 blocks, in which just about every single house was having a ‘rummage’ sale. And they do this ever year. The streets were full of people – this thing was a proper event!

After that, we headed to one of her favorite restaurants in town, PhoVan Vietnamese, before a quick drive-through tour of downtown Spokane, which included an incredibly informative educational session from my friend’s father, a Washington Water & Power veteran, of the dam and power plant that constitute the centerpiece of the city. The family then decided it would be a good idea to head up to their river house about an hour away along Priest River, Idaho, so, well, we packed up some food, grabbed the cat and dog, and off to the river house we go (I’ve always wanted to say that!). After soaking in the sunset in the backyard along the river, we went out for Mexican food, came back, popped in a movie and just chillaxed the evening away together.

The next morning, apparently they had scheduled me to get out on the 4-wheelers for a mini tour of the region. We rode through rain, hail, snow, sun, wind, and more rain for a solid 2 or 3 hours through the mountain ranges flanking Priest River and straddling the Canadian border. It was invigorating! Afterwards, we embarked on a little drive to a small town called Sandpoint for lunch before heading back into Spokane. Their entire family came over that evening, sister, brother-in-law, and nieces, for a home-cooked dinner, some drinks, and some laughs.

We spent the following day together, just me and her, just driving around, walking around, talking, catching up, and eventually grabbing a late lunch and smoothie before she dropped me off at the Spokane airport for my return flight to Los Angeles.

Those 72 hours were some of the most meaningful 72 hours I’ve spent with a friend in years. It’s when you’re put in a situation where mortality cannot be ignored that your guard is put down and all inhibitions are thrown out the window in order to embrace the beauty and valuable essence of the human animal…accept and embrace how vital it is to the survival of the healthy human psyche. It amazes me how certain situations can unearth a soft and vulnerable human side that so rarely seems to make its way to the surface in an otherwise hardened and mostly paranoid world we’ve managed to manifest over the past several generations.

The irony is, sensitive empathy is always there.

Just lurking.

Begging for and jumping at the first opportunity to show itself.

Here I am in a family’s home that I’ve never met before in my life, and I, with a name and background being quite an oddity in these parts, was completely embraced with warmth and trust and hospitality that, sadly, is so often dismissed as a lost commodity in our ‘modern’ day and age. It was all shoved aside, a minor detail in the bigger picture – the humanity that lies behind the subjective facade. To be accepted and embraced with such warmth and vigor was a beautiful thing and something I will never forget…rather, search for the first opportunity I can to pay it forward. Because of their daughter, this savory reality was realized.

In any case, there’s no doubt in my mind that she’s going to make it through and destroy the core of this awful fucking disease, I know it, she knows it, we all know it, but the fact alone that she has to go through it plays testament to the fact that life isn’t exactly…well…fair. At the same time, I can’t help but simultaneously think…perhaps it’s people like her whom are challenged with this thing in order to provide hope to those that need to dig for deeper strength to destroy the vile gotcha…showing them that the power of the human spirit is truly a force to be reckoned with –

to help make a strong person stronger and a weak person strong.

With that, I’ll leave you with some images from those last few days of the trip. Thank you SO much to those who have followed along and joined me on this adventure. If you’ve missed the first several parts of this wondrous journey through the great Pacific Northwest, here they are:

Part 1 – To DSLR Or Not To DSLR? That Is The Question

Part 2 – Going Green. And Greener. And Greenest

Part 3 – Guided By The Youth (And All The Purty Colors)

Part 4 – Cheez Whizzed In Stumptown

Part 5 – Flanked By Firs And Braving The Bridge

And Lori, I love you! Now beat this thing and get back to Colorado where you belong!!

May 25, 2014
Holy Cow PTTOW Was A Big WOW – An Innovation Summit

Last week I had the insane privilege of being house photographer (aka fly-on-the-wall-with-a-camera) for the innovation focused PTTOW Summit at Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. PTTOW stands for “Plan To Take On the World,” and considering the people and ideas that were presented…seems like it’s not just our world they’re talking about – everything from keynote speaker Singularity University’s Peter Diamandis declaring that they’re almost ready to intercept and mine asteroids, which got a heck of a gasp and reaction from the crowd who were sure they heard him wrong until they asked him to repeat it, to Kweku Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s grandson, who gave a riveting and emotional account of his grandfather’s legacy and what the family is doing to make sure that legacy lives on (yeah…I teared up…), to Vice Magazine’s Eddy Moretti talking about how Vice’s rebel media message has managed to infiltrate the mainstream dialogue on what’s going on the world before showing off some of the innovative media group’s latest projects. Anyhow, click past the break for a gallery of some of my favorite images and moments from the week’s festivities.

May 14, 2014