Nature Morte: A Blood Orange

I took a small break from cleaning the apartment and arranging my linen closet to get me and baby some much needed vitamins.  Blood oranges are in season right now; we  bought these at the Farmer's Market last weekend, and they taste divine.  Also, they photograph well: 

  

Jump For Joy

Everyone should do the jump.  It's fun, it's healthy, and it looks great on camera.  You should even ask your friends to do it, take their photo, and then laugh at the results together.  I once made my father and my niece to jump in front of the Albert Memorial till they were both left breathless, and I still don't think they have a better tourist shot of their trip to London.

Here's a collection of some of the places I jumped at.  I purposefully didn't include the Eiffel Tower jump shot because I fell flat on my bottom while doing it and on some level it still hurts....

London

Paris

Somewhere in the mountains near Carmel Valley, CA

Rome

Los Angeles

Lovech, Bulgaria

Monterey, CA

Lake Tahoe, CA

An attempt for a baby bump jump at the Hakone Gardens, CA

Mountain View, CA

恋愛

I finally came around to visit the Hakone Gardens in Saratoga, and chose a good time for it too - things were blooming left and right, and the light was fantastically filtered through a thin layer of clouds, thus making the otherwise harsh afternoon sun quite photo friendly. 

Here are some of the images I took today:

More selfies on my personal blog.

Iphonography

The things a phone camera can do these days...

Thanks to iPhone, I don't feel the need to haul my camera around with me at all times, and although it performs poorly in a low light situation and lacks a quality zoom, it's been the perfect companion for everyday amateur-enthusiast photography.  And I don't even have the latest model!

The ways I use the iPhone camera:

1. As a convenient candids tool - it's great for the "behind the scenes" shots.

Photographed while I'm photographing Manhattan Beach in LA.

2. As an aid for a more artistic travel photography.

Bokeh of the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz

3. The Photosynth app allows me to create some pretty cool panoramic images.

Taking my baby bump for a walk around the neighborhood.

4. I don't know about you, but I am pleasantly addicted to Instagram.  It is a free app that allows you to edit your iPhone images to a square format and add different vintage filters. Here are some of my favorite Instagrams.

Insagram: @bobby_pfeiffer

Flickr Instagram Set.

Flickr Cameraphone Set.

Hence the Fence

Fences are photogenic.  All you need to put things in perspective is good light (as always), a sharp angle point of view, and a very shallow depth of field camera setting (low f-stop number -> wide open lens).  

Here are a few fences I photographed in Bulgaria, England, and California:

 

Stolen Peonies

The early Spring causes all the trees, flowers, and bushes in town to bloom excessively and I can't help myself but pick branches of peonies and decorate my kitchen with them.

Here are two images of the same bunch, the first one a bit more heavily edited than the second.  Any preferences?