Presenting "Petrotrin"...

                   
                        Just would like to take this opportunity to post my last picture that I took this semester. I would like to present "Petrotrin" in south Trinidad. Petrotrin is an integrated Oil and Gas Company. It is a limited company that is wholly owned by the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Its principal activities are the exploration for, development of and production of hydrocarbons and the manufacturing and marketing of petroleum products.  

                         Petrotrin operates in land and marine acreage across the southern half of Trinidad. The registered office of the Company is located at Petrotrin Administation Building, Southern Main Road, Pointe-a-Pierre, Trinidad, West Indies. 


                         In order to get this photograph, I made my way along the Solomon Hochoy Highway, from San Fernando, where I reside. Petrotrin is located on the left side of the highway if you are travelling to the city of Port of Spain, Trinidad. You can see this spectacle a little bit off Gasparillo by pass. There is the quick sneak peeks of the lakes that are to the side of the highway, along with the factories in the little distance. It is a wonder to see in person, especially wonderful to take it in for yourself in the night. A professional camera would be able to capture the lovely view in the night with all the lights and the flames. 


                         I originally wanted to get the lights of the factory closer and with a little bit of light in the sky, maybe a bit after sunset, but when I saw the clear blue sky around 5pm that evening I immediately got to my feet and set out to get this picture if it was the last thing I did! Every attempt I had to get this picture was dulled by heavy downpours of rain and a very grey, clouded, dark, blinding sky. This was not acceptable for what I wanted in store for this capture. 


                         The camera was set to to many different settings. I tried sunset, candle setting, fireworks even. I ended up with the auto setting. Surprisingly it did the right contrast and the right mood for the picture. Automatic does have its perks sometimes. 
With all the advice I got from this semester from Youtube, Twitter, National Geographic and Instagram. With this picture I tried to do what I've failed at doing in some of my previous pictures, which is trying to get the horizon straight. In my opinion this is one of my best pieces of work. 


                        I am very glad I got this shot, and consider it photographer's luck. I had to take the picture quickly as we were on the shoulder of the highway and it is dangerous to remain there, especially when it is getting dark. The sky was unexpectedly red and very colourful. Look a little in the distance and you will see the factory. With my camera I would not have been able to get the lights, so I am glad it worked out this way and grateful that I got this shot of the lake and the shadows of the trees on the sunsetty sky. 


                       Social Media does have its perks and it is a very helpful tool to posess and to incorporate into your lifestyle. Especially in the ever so escalating world of photography and amateur photography. 

It has been a pleasure doing this blog this semester and I have learnt so much more than I thought I would. Also , the adventures I encountered while trying to get these photographs, whether they were successful or not, gave me memories I would not forget for a long time to come. Thank you for viewing my blog and look forward to updates from it in the future as I continue my journey as a young, budding photographer.

The Sun hangs like a Fiery Fist over the Ocean...

                   Even though the class is basically over, I still wanted to update my blog and show what little pictures I have left....

                    For this post I tried reflection photography. Initially it was meant to be about birds, as I visited the Caroni Bird Sanctuary. 

                    Photographing reflections can be extremely rewarding and produce stunning results, but sometimes achieving those dramatic shots can be harder than first thought.


                    I went in the evening, around after 4, and while taking the boat ride, the sun began to descend. 

According to a photographer, it would be best to try and go when the light is at its best; either bright and early, or in the evening as the sun is setting. 


                  When the tour guide stopped the boat in the middle of a clearing, you could hear all the birds flying around, gathering themselves and their families to their destined homes or nests in the trees. The stillness of the water had a very neat and serene view of the sun and its reflection in the water.  According to Nathan Cohen, a photographer whom I gathered some tips from on reflection photography, he said, "The best reflection shots happen with well illuminated subjects against the clear blue sky. That means the sun should not be in front but in the back of your position"...
I...... did not take that advice, I wanted to risk it and take a chance of capturing the sun and its reflection, rather than the objects that the sun shun on.

               He also said that often, but not always, the best shots are with still water. And the best candidates for still water are very shallow ponds, and especially puddles.

             "Teach yourself to see the reflection rather than the water. It takes a bit of effort IMO. Learn from others experience and mistakes"....

              "The strongest reflections tend to be when light is relatively low and direct on the object you want to see reflected, but not directly on the surface you want to see the reflections in. That is, the mountain in light and the water without direct light. But that's no hard and fast rule. If you have good conditions, the angle for shooting can be largely a result of your compositional choices. Let your eye guide you as much as the science". 



                                http://photo.net/nature-photography-forum/005thn

I liked this site for showing some great examples of reflection photography.

http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/dynoGall2.asp?catID=1325

but out of all of those, I like this one the best...

http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/dynoGallDetail.asp?photoID=512460&catID=1325&contestCatID=&rowNumber=9&camID=

This site also had a great deal of tips and guidelines to follow.

http://photo.tutsplus.com/articles/composition-articles/quick-tip-4-steps-to-remarkable-reflection-photography/

These are some more astonishing examples of reflection photography:

                                            

#reflection #photography #amateur #love  #passion  #sun #caroni #trinidad

Euphoria...

       
              Laughter and happiness take many forms. It causes so many different feelings of euphoria. The ones we're  most familiar with are that of humans and animals. With animals, I think dogs show the most affection and gratification for when you greet them. They instantly return the favour and greet you back +500%. 

                I am trying my hand at black and white photography and moving my safe zone of landscapes and moving forward to animals. People would be my last challenge. 

                There is something particular you must take into consideration when applying black and white to a photograph. Not all pictures can hold the essence that you would like with a black and white setting. 

                  A tip most photographers said was to have a lot of contrast in your picture so that the image that you want to pop out will stand out. Natural lighting can help but sometimes you can use your flash to add to the feeling you want to set. If you are without equipment, a simple umbrella would do to block out the sunlight. The less light, the softer the image, the brighter the image, the more sharp and rough and alert the picture will adapt to.

                 Another tip was to not put your digital camera on B+W mode, which some cameras have, because it might take away some of the "colour" to the image. It is advised to take the picture as usual, then to download it into Photoshop and edit it in black and white from there. 

                It is also advised not to interfere with the image too much as it would take away from the original effect of the picture. 


"Black and white portraits are supposed to be simple, and in their truest form only adaptations of light, contrast, perspective and texture."



Take a look at this website that gives so much more information and tips than I could ever reiterate. 


http://www.howitookit.com/?p=1797


This photo here on this post, is my experiment with an animal but in B+W photography, with the aid of these websites and the use of Youtube as channel of social media.

followed by

Without social media, it would be very difficult or almost near to impossible to gather all this valuable, important information readily at hand nor will I be able to share my work and trials and errors with the community at large, my friends, family or persons on social media sites such as facebook. This gives me opportunities that persons 20 years ago could have never even dreamt of!

Will Continue To Remain A Lucky Mystery....

Hey there folks....




                So, for this post I decided to share a picture I took not too long ago on a beach in Tobago. I know this blog is intended for pictures taken THIS semester, but as I AM limited I would like to show you all this. In my opinion it is a rare photo. 

               The name of the beach is Turtle Beach and as I was sitting there wrapped in my hotel towel on one of the beach chairs, I saw this weird bug on my leg; I had no idea how it reached there and what exactly it was, I don't even know if I should categorize it as a bug!! It made its way unto my pink towel and got caught in the fuzzy stuff. I just stared at it, afraid to even move or furthermore BLINK!!

              I looked down and saw it making its way across, crawling and finally approaching my leg. My camera was in my hand from taking pictures of my mother in the water. My first reaction or reflex was to flick it off, scream and run away, but somehow I found it to be so weird and unique that I had to resist my normal female urges to freak out.

            I set the camera on my favourite 'macro' setting and got the creature. I put the lens so close to it that I was afraid I would scare it and it would either run off and bite/ sting me. I then proceeded to carefully let it off my skin and get as far away from it as possible! I zoomed in and out of the picture frequently after that, not believing my eyes. I showed my mother, aunts and everyone else who was on site. They also found the creature to be very queer. 

            I could not decipher if it was a spider or bug or what!! I researched it and they had none of the sort available or that were a complete match; there were similar ones but none were the same as the one I captured. The closest one to it was a rare species of spiders found in the AMAZON!! This made me even more curious as to what that living thing actually was, and I considered myself lucky; but up till this day I still have no idea what it was. I am still left clueless but in awe of how beautiful this tiny thing was. It was smaller than my finger nails to boot!

             I am just so thrilled to get this shot and so grateful that it did not sting me or probably kill me. Just kidding.. but then again, we don't know what it was capable of. 


Take a look and tell me what you think..

(I even think that it has a cartoon face drawn on it ^_^ )

Examine it for yourself.

The Sky Cries Aloud, Sensing the Coming Storm Amidst....

DARK CLOUDS

There's a dark cloud overhead

As if brought by a storm

But this cloud will not shift

And more clouds begin to form

The darkness lurks above

Bringing sorrow into the air

The fog begins to appear

As my heart starts to tear

The night falls apart 

In my shaking hands

Nothing can be repaired

In these despair-filled lands

I fall to my knees 

And beg for happiness

As the world crumbles down

I am lost in the darkness

-- Allyson Gordon

                        Recently I found myself loving poetry and linking them with photography. This picture was taken at Maracas Beach. In previous posts I mentioned here and the other shots that I got. Here I will share two pictures that I got here also. I might post 2 pictures in one post from here on, seeing as we are coming to the end of the semester, and I wouldn't want to waste my effort from the other pictures I took without displaying them. 

                        Below is the shot I took in between some coconut trees. The sky was overcast and rain was about to fall when I took this picture. I set the camera to the "Beach" setting which boosts the colour and sunlight in the photograph. The coconut trees look brighter, along with the sand, which highlights the darkness of the approaching rainclouds that were about to burst at any second.

I like this picture because of the natural contrast it has with the sunlight and the clouds, the pathway of the trees on the sand and the amount of greenery that is seen on the beach. Also, I love the character the trees give, as their stems are not fixed, perfectly straight, but are bent and winding, giving some personality to each one of them.

Another picture that I took this same day was just a coconut tree alone, while I was hiding from the blazing sun, under a coconut tree, fearful for my life; wondering of a coconut would fall on my head and put me into a coma; sorry I'm just kidding. I was relaxing with the soothing sound of the crashing waves and the constant cool breeze that hits your skin and passes through your hair while on this beach. I remembered a trick or guide that I acquired from previous investigation and research from photographers guidelines and tips. It deals with angles. 

I mentioned this in my previous post with the waves crashing over the rock. This was the same time that I was at the beach and was attempting to put the unusual angles to work, and see what interesting pictures I could possibly attain.

I stuck with low angles and twisting them. I bent in a weird twisted position as I put the camera to the bottom of a coconut tree, facing up. I tilted the camera so that the tree's branches would block out the sunlight. In this shot, I also used the beach setting for extra bright and colourful booms. 

I took a good few, but liked this one the most. 

If you would like to see my entire album, check out my Facebook Fanpage with these photos and more.

https://www.facebook.com/PhotographyInItsEssence?ref=ts&fref=ts

(Please note some of the pictures on the fan page have not been posted up here yet, so as not not spoil the surprises to come... just take a peek at the album there..)

Away! away! for I will fly to thee...

                        Welcome back!!!!


           Today I decided to go with another approach and to do a vidblog. This video is based around my trip to The Wild Fowl Trust, which is the same place I visited last, in my previous blog. 

           The following would be a little summary of the content that is in the video, for those who don't have the time to listen. Also, the video is very soft, and you might have to listen to it with headphone or with your volume on high, my microphones don't pick up sound that very well. 

For the remaining weeks I will post the captures that I got during the semester from the Wild fowl trust, Caroni Swamp, Petrotrin, Tobago and Maracas.

Today I will share another picture I took in The Wild Fowl trust. It is one of the birds there. While I was passing, it was bathing in one of the ponds and was shaking it’s feathers a lot, it was about to take flight when I hustled to get the picture.

 My mistake was to not have my camera readily at hand. I set the camera quickly to sport, which usually helps to capture an object in motion. The downside to this though, is usually you get grains on the image. This is called noise. If you look closely at the image you would see spots, or grains and it spoils the quality of the image. Luckily I did not get much noise for this shot, but one side of the bird’s wings was blurred completely. I would say about 70% of it’s body was in focus though. Unless  I had a professional camera, it would be veryyy difficult to get this entire bird still and in focus. 

This is the shot of the bird I got. It is not a picture to be all hyped about, but I gave it a try. 

I will have a few more videos up soon, so look out for them. 

As Freedom...

I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,

When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,--

When he beats his bars and he would be free;

It is not a carol of joy or glee'

But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core,

But a plea, that upward to heaven he flings--

I know why the caged bird sings!

- from "Sympathy" by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Until then, be creative in whatever you do, and don’t forget to see the beauty in everything that surrounds you.

Bad News...

Just a little update... 


My camera.. has officially been put out of use. I do believe it is has reached the end of its days. I need to carry it to fix as soon as possible. I honestly do not know what happened or how it did, but the lens won't open. 

I guess I will have to make funeral arrangements for it :( 

Luckily though, I have a few shots I took from this semester still in store so I would use those for my last posts. 

I was going to experiment with black and white and old buildings this week, but seeing as this dilemma has risen, I cannot do so. 

This situation was unforeseen and I would just like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been supporting me and viewing my blogs, it is very much appreciated, and sorry for the inconvenience... 



Till the next post....