Sapid Existence

Every so often, I want to point you out to another photo blog or photography blog (there is a fine line!) So today, please take a look at my friend Chris' photo blog. He is one of my online photographer contacts, and he started commenting on Angaza Photography's blog before I even realized that anyone beyond my mother was reading it. :-) Now I've been having a great time following Chris's posts at Sapid Existence - it is truly a photo blog (as opposed to mine which is leaning more toward just a blog about photography). He posts a photo in each post, usually without much text. And he gets a new post up almost every day (at least several times a week). So please click on over to Sapid Existence and say hello to Chris for me!

Beijing 2008!!

Are you looking forward to the Olympics? I am. I've always been a fan of the Olympics. Just the idea that the whole world sets aside their differences and comes together in a spirit of sportsmanship and competition - to support and encourage one another - it's so profoundly meaningful!

This year, I feel even more strongly about the spirit of the Olympics because they are being held in China. Many of us will have to think outside the box to embrace the idea that we can enjoy the experience of the Olympics in China!

Recently I discovered a fabulous photoblog at Boston.com called The Big Picture, News Stories in Photographs. They always have fabulous photo essays tied in to current events. This morning I discovered that their latest photo essay is about the upcoming Beijing games. You can see all of the images in this essay at http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/. I especially love the building shaped like the Olympic Flame.

Go USA!!

PhotoBlogs ... and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, NY

What is a photoblog? You know what a "blog" is, right? A "web log" ... a sort of personal online journal. Well, a photoblog is a blog whose content is primarily photographic in nature. I suppose that this "photoblog" that I'm starting may end up being just a "blog" about photography. But I will try to refrain from typing too, too much. :-)

Therefore, getting to the "photo" part of this "photoblog", I want to tell you about a brief photo side trip that I took this afternoon. We had about a foot of snow last night (give or take a couple of inches), which meant that if I wanted snow photos I would need to get out soon before the snow got muddy and all stepped on. And, as is unusual for the Buffalo, New York area this time of year, we had a few hours of puffy, friendly clouds this afternoon. Perfect! I have been wanting to get downtown to shoot the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, which is one of Buffalo's most wonderful examples of fabulous architecture that this city has to show off. It was built in the first few years of the 20th Century, and should evoke images of the Acropolis in Athens.

I love to shoot architecture and landscapes when there are puffy clouds in the sky. I use my wide lens, a 10-22mm zoom, set to the 10mm width. I try to get the horizon around 20% or 30% from the bottom of the frame, which gives a really unique look to the sky.

There are a few images from today's shoot in the gallery (see links at the top of this page), and I have a lot more in my files. If you'd like to see more, let me know.

A New PhotoBlog for Angaza Photo

Well, I was just about ready to go public with Angaza Photography a couple of weeks ago. It was set up as a photography gallery website only.

But then there were some articles and forum threads on Digital Photography School about photoblogs. They made me realize that a website with static content will not get many hits. Once someone has seen your content, they've seen your content. (In other words, "Sigh. Ho hum.")

But if you add a photoblog to your website, people have a reason to return to your website. More hits. Higher visibility. Yay!!

To have a photoblog, one needs photos. Of course. So I will start with an image that I took yesterday. I have started to think more about *texture* in my images. A photographer friend of mine has been doing wonderful abstracts with brick walls. So I went to the downtown area of the village that is near where I live. There are plenty of old buildings and many of them have walls that have not been kept in good shape. That makes for great bricks and texture and abstract material. Here is one of my favorite shots. There will be more in the gallery.

Thus, the addition of Angaza Photography's photoblog. Look forward to regular posts to the photoblog and additions to the galleries. Thanks for stopping by.