big country skies

Although I'll never really do anything with these photos artistically, they're still beautiful in their own traditional right. I'd hate for them to go by the wayside, especially since those who appreciate more traditional subject matter will likely enjoy these photos more than others I post.

Anyway, I took these photos of the Mid-Missouri in the spring of 2011. There's no specific subject matter or contextual meaning; I just liked the way these looked and decided to post them rather than just leave them on my hard drive.

 

 These pictures remind me of my roots in a more subtle way.

As always, any and all comments are welcome.

–d.Ro

anomalous color study

In these photos taken in the spring of 2011, I observed anomalous pops of color in otherwise drab environments. Photos were minimally processed in Photoshop, meaning the "pops" of color appear as observed naturally in their respective environments.

 

 

 

Context: This is an electrical pole.

 

Context: These old tractor tires have been recycled to be used as playground equipment in Lowry City, Missouri.

 

Context: This is a homemade fencing system made of old car hoods used to keep cattle from escaping certain areas via creeks
because barbed-wire fencing can't effectively be built across/in creeks.

Individually, I think these photos are all pretty decent. As a collective series, though, I realize that there's a disconnect in the content. However, as previously stated, my initial goal was to study color that seemed out of place rather than necessarily create a comprehensive series.

After reviewing these photos as a whole, I think I've come to terms to fact that I much prefer the drab light produced by cloudy days. The photo with the pink dresser and the final photo have too much natural light coming through for my liking. This preference is somewhat confounding to me as I'm typically a person who prefers vibrant, in-your-face colors. That's not to say I haven't taken plenty of pictures with golden skies, though.

As always, feel free to share your opinions, criticisms or other thoughts.

—d.Ro

beautiful decay: decrepit house

I took these photos sometime in the spring, probably late March or early April, if I remember correctly. I don't think I ever used any of these images for a photo critique because they weren't quite printing quality due to some lighting issues. However, images always look "better" when they're shrunken down and viewed at just 72 ppi, so I figured I'd throw them up here since I was always fond of them (regardless of poor technical execution).

This one was by far my favorite. Who leaves aquarium rocks in the middle of a room?

the ben miller band live at mojos 10.28.11

The Ben Miller Band came up from Joplin to play a show at Mojo's in Columbia, Missouri. The band's bluegrass/folk, Ozark Mountain sound is unique and awesome. Think "O Brother Where Art Thou" but way more dynamic, unique and relevant to today's music listeners.

The follow are some images I snagged of the guys.

The lead singer brought his own spotlight that illuminated his face a way that was reminiscent of Norman Rockwell. I totally dug it.

first concert shoot

As you might or might not know, my boyfriend, Devin, is the bass player for a totally rad band called We Live in Public. The two guitar players/singers, Matt and Jaeson, had been writing original songs together for years and playing venues as a duo, or sometimes a trio, under the name A Perfect Fifth.

Matt Olson, Jaeson Day, Devin Burrow and Zach Denison (on the drums in the back)

critique: power project

While taking intermediate photography, our professor gave us three one-word assignments. Public. Private. Power. The assignments were open to our interpretation of what the words meant, which was great. However, it also allowed us to keep a focus when searching for subject matter.

I turned in the following images for my "power" project.

d.Ro photo blog goals

To whom this might concern:
(read: my mother, my boyfriend or my future self looking back on this post)

I'm establishing this blog as a way to track my progress as a photographer-in-training.

My technical knowledge of the media and subsequent experience using it is pretty limited. Although I've always been interested in photography, I never fully learned how to do it properly.

Upon entering my senior year at the University of Missouri, I finally enrolled in a beginning photography course dedicated to gaining a knowledge of and respect for darkroom developing techniques. In my final semester I studied intermediate photography, a course that taught me how to use a SLR digital camera and then edit my images realistically in Photoshop. I plan to write more specific posts about what I learned in these courses as I develop my blog.

I graduated in May with a full-time marketing job waiting for me. Similar to many other recent graduates, I was ready for a break from academia. As such, I spent my summer reclaiming my free time by making a number of short road trips to see family, friends and, of course, concerts with my boyfriend. Consequently, the Nikon D3100 I bought for my digital photography class sat unused for most of the summer.

Last week I nearly had a panic attack when I realized October had snuck up on me so quickly. It's been almost five months since I've been productive outside of work (read: improved myself for my own benefit). I basically realized I should reallocate the time I spend marathoning "Lost," "Desperate Housewives" and "30 Rock" on Netflix every night to doing something significant.