I have also not yet uploaded my photos from British Columbia and Washington. I uploaded a few samples of images I made during my class with Ben Willmore during Image Explorations. I thought I’d show those to you since it may take me another week or so to get travel photos uploaded. (I may also unsubscribe to cable internet at home, which will make me even slower.)

First, let me give you the sense of how lovely the Shawnigan Lake School was (via a stitched image that I learned how to do during class):

Next, I’ll show you an HDR (high dynamic range) I created. I’m not sure that this sort of thing is really my style (I didn’t push it far as I probably should have), but it was interesting.

First, I took three photos of the same content. The first photo was underexposed, the next was normal exposure, and the final was overexposed:

Second, I used Photoshop (CS3) to combine them all into the HDR image:

Third, I used a program called Photomatix to play with the coloring and artistry of the image:

And that was only the first full day of class (Monday the 16th)!

On Tuesday, Ben shared a lot more general tips and tricks regarding Photoshop. He also gave us a few actions to help us on our way, which I applied to a self portrait for the photo contest.

Before:

After:

On Wednesday (the last full day of class), I borrowed a Wacom Intuos pen tablet. It was a beautiful thing (and I think about how I can get one every day). I drew you a photo of a weird one-armed angel thing:

I haven’t completely formed all of my thoughts yet, but I’ve been having a great week. Image Explorations was great—I learned a lot about Photoshop and photography and met very awesome people. I would easily attend again. Victoria and the surrounding area is just lovely. Even the ditches on the side of the road were beautiful!

Currently, I’m at The Bean Tree in Morton, Washington while Jen runs lights for the theatre across the street. We made a trip to Mt. Ranier national park yesterday, though it’s been too foggy and rainy for mountain viewing. Today we’re heading to Olympia and tomorrow we’ll be in Seattle. Which means that my trip is coming to a close…

Photos will be up… sometime… I have a lot of to do when I return to Minneapolis (learn a new camera, photograph a wedding, pack & move, etc.). I’ll have more to share than this, though. I assure you.

Excited
The last time I left Minnesota for more than a few days and didn’t go to South Dakota was my two-week trip to southern Germany in January 2004. I’m well overdue for some adventure and new sites and new experiences! I can’t wait to see Victoria, B.C. and to take a ferry for the first time and to meet crazy fanatical photoshoppers and photographers and Ben Willmore and see Seattle and see Jen’s new home and meet her new friends and go white water rafting for the first time and there is just SO MUCH to look forward to next week that I am just completely overwhelmed with excitement.

Nervous
I’m leaving Ellipses with Kristi for the week. Of course I completely trust her to look after my little kitty, but I’m going to miss him and worry about him anyway.

Exhausted
Today I woke up at 5 a.m. to go take photos in the wilderness of Long Lake, MN for an exhibit that is being developed at the Bell Museum. I got home around 4 p.m. and slept for a couple hours, but I did so much more than just photography today. Canoes are heavy and scientists must be in really good shape. I am sore and exhausted. I would go back to bed officially soon, except I’m leaving to see the new Harry Potter movie in a couple hours—a late, late show at the Minnesota Zoo’s IMAX theatre.

On Friday or Saturday I’ll try to post some of the photos I’ve been taking, but I’m not guaranteeing. If I don’t get a chance to post again before leaving town, be sure to monitor my Flickr—I’ll send some photos via camera phone from my vacation!

1. Get through this week.
2. Go to Canada and Washington and not think about Minnesota for a week.
3. Get through another week.
4. Photograph Areca and Karl’s wedding.
5. MOVE!
6. Drink beer on the patio.