Photojournaling Our Way Thru LA, Part 2

No school means you can generally find me and Ashley downtown, and semester break is no exception.  We took the red line down from school again, this time (thankfully) with more knowledge of our cameras (ie, not spending 15 minutes trying to change Ash's film, and not thinking that 1/2000 of a second shutter speed actually works).

We were planning on going to the courthouse and sitting in on some trials, but, for various reasons, that didn't quite work out.  So we ended up just hanging out at the food court in the Los Angeles Mall, talking about school, politics, life . . . .We got some very strange looks from the lawyer-type people who were sitting a few tables over, although we probably deserved most of them.  Ashley for speculating that the government could overhear our conversation because our cell phones were on, me for my (rather long and loud) rant about why exactly Prop 8 is unconstitutional, backed with direct quotes from my pocket constitution.  I really, really want to know what they were thinking . . .

Since I didn't have a dance lesson this time, we got to stay downtown a bit longer, so I got night photographs!  None of them using flash, all of them using different apertures and shutter speeds.  Although some of them (specifically the ones with 4 or 8 second shutter lapses) did come out quite blurry because I didn't have a tripod and my hands are notoriously unsteady.

Politics: The Next Generation

Hey guys!  Ashley and I have started a new blog aimed at making politics fun & relevant for teenagers.  It would be awesome if you would check it out and tell all your friends.  We're trying really hard to get the word out, because we think this is something that could become really big over time.  You can find it at http://doubleapolitics.blogspot.com.  :)

My Cameras :)

I suppose you all have gathered by now that I'm a photography nerd.  I'll be the first one to say that my knowledge is . . . well, not all that vast, but what I lack in that area, I make up in enthusiasm and a desire to learn more.  I mean, I can tell you what ISO means, and I can tell you what a slow shutter speed means, but I'm not one of those people that obsesses over cameras.  Either way, though, since I'm hoping to make my photgraphy a bigger part of my blog, I figured I'd write a little bit about my cameras.

Right now, the only camera I own (for sure) is a little Canon Powershot A590. And actually, it's not even my camera, it's the family camera and I'm the only one who takes good pictures. It's basically a really high end point & shoot, but I can adjust enough of the settings when I shoot on Manual or Program to make it worth my while.

It's got the basic ISO settings: 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600. I generally try to shoot around 200 or 400 for everyday photos & school events, but I shoot on 80 or 100 when I'm doing city scenes (my pictures from downtown LA & Denver were all shot on either 80, 100, or 200.) My yearbook teacher actually told us not to shoot above 400 because it would "hurt her feelings". Well, I can say she's taught me well. My shutter speed goes from ... to ..., and aperture settings go from ... to .... Now, I have to say that I personally find dealing with shutter speed and aperture on the A590 a pain. Maybe it's just me, or maybe I need more practice, but I usually end up shooting on Program and letting the camera automatically adjust most of the settings.

On the other hand, I absolutely love my cousin's Canon EOS30D, and I found its light meter (to adjust shutter speed/aperture) really easy to work with. I only played with that camera for a few hours when I was over at his house for Thanksgiving, but I had sooo much fun. We went down to the pool at like 9.30 at night, and put the camera on a tripod. With 30 second shutter speed, we got pictures that looked just like they were taken during the day! We also had a lot of fun taking "ghost pictures": walking into the shot for 15 of the 30 seconds and half-appearing in the photo. Here's an example . . . I'm holding one of my cousin's other cameras up to my face, that's why it looks like there's a random hole where my face is supposed to be :P

Annnnnd . . . I've played a bit with Ashley's Leica film camera, not as much as I'd like too, but from what I've seen of it, it takes GREAT pictures.  I love the focus . . . ^_^

One last camera . . . and this is the reason I said I only own one camera "for sure" is because my mom apparently has a BEAUTIFUL old Olympus camera from when she was in high school, complete with hugely long telephoto lens, that I am getting as soon as she gets it out of the garage.  Unfortunately, our garage has more similarities than I'd care to admit to a black hole, so the odds of finding it anytime soon are pretty small.  But I will for sure write a post devoted only to it once I find it.

I'm looking at different cameras to ask for for Christmas (preferably digital), that are high-quality and not point-and-shoots that aren't too expensive.  Something like Canon's Rebel series.  If you have any suggestions, please comment!

More politics posts coming soon, and stay tuned for a new, politics-only blog that Ashley and I are going to be launching over our Christmas break! =)

Photojournaling Our Way Thru LA

On Friday, we had a half day of school, so Ashley and I decided to get on the metro and see where we would end up.  It wasn't entirely random . . . we had vague plans . . . and a timetable . . . and I knew we had to end up in North Hollywood for a dance lesson around 4.30-ish . . . but we had a grand adventure anyway!

We took the red line downtown to the Civic Center stop, and walked around the courthouse and City Hall and the Los Angeles mall.  We were staring at the criminal courts building, wondering if we could/should go in, when a lawyer who was passing by told us that we could definitely go in, everything was open to the public .... aaaaaaaaaand he also told us where the best cases were argued.  So, we have perfect plans for next time we go downtown!

We took a whole bunch of photos downtown, I loved the opportunity to play with all the aperture/exposure/etc. settings on my camera, which I generally don't have time to do when I'm taking pictures for yearbook.  Downtown is such a great place to take pictures, mostly because of the buildings.  Architecturally, it's one of my favorite cities.  Ashley had a film camera (a beautifullll Leica, which has quite possibly the nicest focus I've ever seen on a film camera), which was great fun once we figured out how to rewind the film/switch rolls.  Unfortunately, she only had a roll and a half of film (apparently her mother thought that since they had 40 exposures each, that would be enough.  Um, no.  I have 192 pictures from our trip ... way more than 60!).  It was great fun while it lasted, though, and it is now my goal to get myself a film camera one of these days.  Sure, they're more work, but they're also way more fun!

After that, we walked around the Ahmanson/Mark Taper/Dorothy Chandler/Music Center area.  Apparently, Mary Poppins is/will soon be playing at the Ahmanson!  That would be soooo much fun to go see! Plus, the fountain in front of the Taper is ridiculusly amazing.  Ashley and I had a ton of fun being silly and taking pictures of each other in ridiculous poses around the fountain, while laughing at the huge tourist groups that were doing the exact same thing!  :)

We then took the Red line all the way down to the North Hollywood station, for my dance lesson.  We listened to our iPods on the way, and maybe . . . but probably didn't . . . annoy the other passengers by singing along (but quietly, and in the back of the car) (In case you're wondering, the artists that came up were Death Cab For Cutie, Taylor Swift, Lady GaGa, Modest Mouse, and The Corrs.  Eclectic? Yes.  Amazing?  Completely.)  I was way tired after walking all around downtown (plus it was my school's 10K walk in the morning, so I was way tired) but I had a good lesson overall.

Then, we had to meet my mom in Pasadena, so we rode down to Union Station, took a ton of awesome pictures, and then, after a bit of confusion about what train we needed/when it was coming (I realized too late I only had the schedules for the redline, oops) we ended up in Pasadena.  We were originally going to meet one of our other friends to go to pilates, but she bailed on us (well, she had tickets for the taping of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me so I don't blame her . . . ).  So my mom drove us to the Americana, where we had dinner and hung out at Barnes & Noble.  The wait at the Cheescake Factory for a table for 2 was 45 minutes (yikes!) so we just got burgers at the diner instead.  At the bookstore, we read magazines, and finished up the day by improving the “New Moon” display by layering it over with MacLife, Stargate Atlantis magazine, SciFi magazine, and Star Trek magazine.  Overall, a beautiful day!

The full set of photos from this trip can be found at my Picasa web album here: http://picasaweb.google.com/col.starchild/PhotojournalingOurWayThruLA110609