A Dope Weekend: Part 2

Hey so this is my second part of 'A Dope Weekend'! Since the last section was on the hockey, this section is on the photography part! So I had been researching even MORE long exposure stuff, and came upon some beach long exposures. These looked crazyyyy but I didn't really know how to do them. So I ended up finding a solid description, and it ended up being a Nikon article (and you all know I dislike Nikon). So this article gave me a good description on long exposures with water as well as any type of long exposure. Another good article on the Nikon site is the article that's strictly on water exposures, which is what helped me the most with the shots I took. What I learned the most was about the ISO and the f stop. These two things did the most for me in my shots. So here's my account of taking beach pictures in SoCal.

Issues:

Well I thought I might as well tell you the issues I had first because well, there were a few. One of my main issues was pretty obvious. What's one thing that's all over the beach? Sand. Sand has always scared me with cameras for a few reasons. Sand always gets in the worst places; including the lens or the internal parts of the camera. Sand will ruin your camera and your lens pretty quickly, so you have to make sure to be super careful around any type of sand or dirt. Water was also an issue while I was trying to get some shots underneath the pier. Waves would spray up and I nervously tucked my back around my camera so it wouldn't get wet. By the end of the day I was pretty wet, but it was all worth it. One of the last issues I had was waiting for people to move out of the way to get the right shot. To be completely honest, people are OBNOXIOUS. Like if you see me with my eye up to the camera, you could at least quicken your pace so I don 't have to wait for three hours to take a single picture. And the worst part is that there is a CONSTANT flow of people walking by, so it's very frustrating. Other than having the issue of sand, water, and people, the beach trip was turned out to be very fun.

Achievements:

A lot of things went really well for me this weekend on the beach. For one, the long exposure shots came out pretty good, and there were a few that I really enjoyed. These came out well because of the websites I told you about earlier. If I had no previous knowledge on beach long exposures, then I would've failed miserably, because there were some settings I used that I wouldn't have guessed of using. These settings had to do with mainly the f stop, but also had to do with ISO and things similar to those. Even though I had some previous knowledge, I still had to experiment quite a bit with the exposures. I realized that you had to take the shots wayy later than one would have expected. In example photos these shots seemed to be taken right at sunset but in reality they were taken almost an hour after the sunset. So after all this talk, I'll show you how they turned out!

This looks like a water color painting to me....

The photo above was the second photo I took under the pier, and it turned out better than the first one I took.

This seems really edited but it's not...

I took this photo before I took the shots under the pier. Even though both of these photos look as though they were taken right at sunset, they were taken almost an hour after sunset. This was a fun shoot, so I hope you guys liked the photos as much as I do! My next blog post will most likely be on hockey so I'll talk to you soon!

A Dope Weekend: Part 1

Yoooo. 'Sup guys! So about two weeks ago, the beginning of break began; well at least for me it did. I got out of school early on Thursday and missed all of Friday, all for a sweet trip to the city of Los Angeles. This trip was a two-for-one deal because we went for a tournament, and when we didn't have games, we went to the beach which was minutes away. We ended up staying ten minutes away from Manhattan Beach, which was incredible. So I'm going to split this trip up into two posts: one for hockey, and the other for photography. Both of these went really well during this trip, but I'd have to say the hockey went wayyyy better than the photography.

So this tournament series was called 'Tinsel Town', and it took place in El Segundo, right outside of Los Angeles. I played in this tournament last year, and we had won it pretty handily even though it was a AA tournament. The location was very cool, playing at the N.H.L. L.A. Kings' practice arena. The Los Angeles Jr. Kings host the tournament, which is a solid organization which is always at the top section of the national rankings. So this year, we played three teams: the Anaheim Jr. Ducks AA, the L.A. Jr Kings AA, and the Southern California Titans AA. This year was a blast, so I'll tell you how each game went down.

One of the most fun tournaments to play in...
Thanks for the image Jr. Kings Hockey

Game numero uno:
Going into this game was VERY nerve-racking. A team from Utah, facing the Anaheim Jr. Ducks?? The plane ride over was definitely not the most soothing, even though I got to miss some school. Once we were in L.A., I got even more nervous. I'm one of the team leaders, so I needed to perform at a high level each and every game. The rink was nothing new, I had been there before, so it wasn't scary seeing the massive practice facility center owned by a professional hockey team. The pre-game warmup was quiet and very serious. Soon enough we got onto the ice and started to play. I was so tense, I literally couldn't catch a pass. The game started, and it was a close game for around ten minutes; then, we scored. It was exhilarating, and we all felt amazing. After that goal, we kept on putting them in. When the final buzzer sounded, it was 6-1 and the Utah Jr. Grizzlies were 1-0. I had a decent game, with two assists. Although the next game was a little closer...

Game numero dos:
This game was much closer, and it was against the home team. We played the Jr. Kings AA, and they were better than the Ducks. At the end of the first period it was 1-0 us. This game was very back-and-forth, and by the end of two periods, it was 2-2. In the third, the Kings scored first, making it 3-2, and putting lots of pressure on our team. Luckily, my teammate scored with five minutes left in the game (I assisted the goal by the way) to tie it 3-3. The game ended with the same score. Now for the next game...

Game numero tres:
This game was against the So. Cal. Titans, a team I have never faced before. So this game, I had no idea what to expect. Word on the street was that they weren't very good at all, but I couldn't take that for granted. We came out strong, yet by the end of the first it was only 1-0. By the end of the second, it turned to be 3-0. We finally finished the game with a 4-0 win. I had a decent game; I had two stupid penalties but I also had a goal and an assist. So after this win we had made it to the championships which were against the Jr. Ducks.

Game numero quatro:
The championship game... This was not as nerve-racking as the first time against this team, but it was still a little bit just because it was the championship. The first period was quite close, ending with a 1-0 lead for us. Throughout the second period we opened up a can and scored three more. In the third period, we ended up scoring an additional two to end the game 6-0. And there you have it! A championship won in Los Angeles! This was a great tournament, and I hope we go back next year. This was only the hockey segment of it; we haven't started with the photog portion....

I'm a Pyro!

Hey!! I haven't talked to you guys in forever how have you been? Well I've been pretty good and it's been a good year so far, especially in photography! About a few weeks ago, Bennett Barbosa (a.k.a Barbosa Media Co.) and I went out for a little photo shoot! Of course, Bennett and I aren't generally the modeling type, but for this kind of modeling we weren't the focus. This modeling also included moving a dog leash continually as fast as you could. Now this doesn't sound like a normal type of photo shoot does it? Well it definitely wasn't....

What Bennett and I found on the Internet was something quite out of the ordinary. This project was similar to our previous light painting (look to my long exposure post), but this project was with fire. So basically, we lit some stuff on fire and spun it around on a leash for around thirty seconds. This was a really fun project, although there were a few hazards that came with the cool shots.

This was a very fun project, so I'll describe how we did it and what we used to make such a cool and fun photog project. So like I said, I found this project just searching for interesting photo ideas, and when I first saw it, I was perplexed as well as very interested; so I decided to research it and possibly attempt to take some photos like that. It ended up to be less complicated than I had originally thought. So here were the main 'ingredients' that were necessary for success in this photo shoot: a decent camera,  a tripod, some steel wool (preferably a 00 grade or lower), a dog leash/rope, a whisk (yes, the kitchen utensil), some matches and a place that won't explode in flames once the sparks begin to fly. Another smart idea is to wear clothes that won't be singed easily, because sparks do fly right onto you once you begin twirling the lit wool. So after Bennett and acquired all of this supplies, we headed out to the White Barn near St. Mary's to shoot. We left my house around 8:30, because it was starting to get pretty dark by that time. Once we got to the White Barn, we didn't know where to actually shoot these photos, because if we did them too close to the White Barn we'd scorch a historic part of Park City. So we decided it'd be better to do it off to the side, where a ton of dry grass was (good idea, right?). Luckily we still had a little snow at that point, so we could easily put out a fire if it were to ignite the grass. So once we found our spot, we decided that it was still a little too bright to try and shoot. So 45 minutes later we decided to try it out. It was an awkward thing to do, and it was REALLY hard to ignite the steel wool with matches when your fingers were completely numb from the cold. So we tried it, and the first attempt came out exactly how we wanted it to. We weren't expecting the first attempt of this experiment to come out how we wanted it but it did.

My first time to ever model...

After that first success I wanted to take a picture of Bennett. I told him to try a different arc path with the dog leash, and he ended up making an insanely cool one. This attempt was much cooler than mine, although it was all because of the arc, and you know, my skills ;) . But anyways, we only got the chance to take two other photos, and they didn't turn out too well. So in the end, we learned a ton about how to take those types of photos but also had lots of fun taking them.

My photo of Bennett-- These were like fireworks...

Santa Was Clutch This Year

Ayyyy what's up guys (and girls, maybe). How was your guys' breaks? If your's wasn't too great, maybe me telling you about how great mine has been will cheer you up! The only problem is that it's already over... So recently Santa came for a visit in good old Park City, Utah and was really clutch. This year I was pretty good so I got a ton of good stuff, mostly photography gear. I was super stoked, and I actually got to use some of the gear today while my brother had hockey practice. Sooo basically this post is gonna be on the stuff that I got this year... and the bulk of my presents were gift cards (I know pretty boring).

Photog stuff:
So I was on Amazon, lookin' for some lenses and such when I scrolled upon a picture of a tripod. It was fate: I NEEDED a tripod, badly. So of course I clicked on the link, and it took me to the site. This was a heaven combo pack: a normal tripod, a spider tripod (flexible legs) a remote shutter release, a lens cleaner and a monopod. I immediately brought out the Santa list and wrote down the name of the combo pack. Days later, I received the gift. It was sickkk and I was super stoked about using the setup gear later on. So later on really meant today. I hiked up in the snow with khakis and my Janoskis to get some cool shots of some sagebrush and PCMR. I used my monopod for this because a tripod really wasn't needed (in case you were wondering a monopod is basically a stick that supports your camera while you shoot, so shots don't come out blurry). I actually got some decent shots (which are quite rare for me). So for my first time out with the new stuff, it went pretty well.

My sagebrush shot...

Other stuff:
So I realize this doesn't really have to do with hockey or photography, but it's sort of needed to complete this post. So you know about my post about skis, right? Well Santa came through with those too. I ended up getting the Armada B-Dogs (164 cm). I absolutely love them. They also came with Marker Free Ten bindings which aren't too bad either. These skis are absolutely dope. Along with the skis (other than the bindings) came Saga Mutiny Mittens, which were a sweet bonus. Also, Santa came in with a Jiberish collared shirt, which was much needed.

I don't quite know what I'm looking at

.This Christmas was soo sick and to make it even better, God absolutely dumped snow on the Wasatch Mountains. This was great for both skiing and photography. To top off the perfect break, the IIHF World Junior Tournament was airing on TV from Toronto, Canada. There were teams from across the globe playing in the tournament to show off their skills and bring glory home to their countries by winning the championship. The competition was insane and was very fun to watch. I learned so much from them, even though all of them were under the age of eighteen. It was wayyy fun and made the break and Christmas that much better (even though Canada won the tournament). So hopefully you got a good taste of my break and Christmas. Hopefully my next post will be on photog! See y'all!!

The Filthy Mitts

Yeet, everyone stereotypes hockey as a sport that fights and hits ALL the time. This is completely incorrect. Yes, AT TIMES players will fight to get the team amped, but there isn't a fight every period of every game. They are occasional, but they aren't frequent at all. Hitting on the other hand is just a big part of the game, and it's inevitable to see a hockey game without a few big hits. This is what makes the game exciting and fun to watch (other than the sheer speed of it). It's faster than football and it's been proven that hockey hits are 17% harder than NFL hits.

Video taken from Youtube

See, hits like these make people think hockey is a barbaric sport and the people playing it are just trying to kill people. This is so wrong. Hockey takes many more things to succeed than physicality and size. The parts of hockey people usually don't see are the stick-handling, shooting, passing and other things that go into the sport.

One of my fav parts of the game is the stick-handling portion of it. If you play hockey, there are many different terms used for this segment of the game. "Oh dude, filthy mitts bruh" or "Damn you dangled the sh*t out of that kid"are both terms you would hear during a game of hockey. Over the years, I have continually gotten better at stick-handling and "dangling". To be completely honest, I used to be complete garbage at stick-handling, although I'm not saying I'm any good now.

So ya, I'm not very good, but I'm progressing! In the NHL, there are a few players that are just incredible with stick-handling and dangling. Honestly, how do they even eat with those hands (meaning they're filthy, meaning they're really good and fast). There are two main players in the NHL whose mitts are just insane. 

Player #1: Patrick Kane, playing for the Chicago Blackhawks. He's not the largest player in the NHL, but let me tell you: his mitts are crazy. They're soooo fast and agile that all you see is the blur of his stick as he dangles a defender and goes cheddar on the goalie. Right when the APX2 stick was coming out, Bauer put out a little commercial showing how great the stick was. P. Kane stick handles through other pucks, never touching one. It looks easy, but one touch of another puck is disastrous. Check it out.

Dang... Got this from Youtube once again.

Player #2: Pavel Datsyuk, playing for the Detroit Red Wings. This player has been playing longer than P. Kane but from my perspective, they're pretty equal in skill. Again, all defensemen goin' up against Datsyuk might as well be cones because they just get dangled: hard. This guy's mitts are insane. In this vid he plays keep away with a reporter who used to play hockey. This is funny to watch to be honest.

Youtube once again....

Ya, so basically hockey isn't just based off of hitting and fighting. There are a bunch of things that go into hockey, not just physicality. So maybe in a future post I'll talk about shooting or strategies. Alright well, I need to go nap so, see you all later!

An Experience of a Life Time

Yo so since I've done two photog posts in a row, it's time for a hockey post! So recently, the Utah Jr. Grizzlies U14 AA made the trek off to Blaine, Minnesota (near Minneapolis-St. Paul). This tournament was a showcase for a various amount of NAHL (North American Hockey League) scouts who were looking for new talent for the upcoming seasons. This tournament was played at the Schwan Super Rink. This was not one rink, this was a massive complex with 8 separate rinks. There were hundreds of kids playing in the tournament, all of different ages and there were teams from across the nation. We played 4 teams: San Jose Jr. Sharks '00 U14 AAA, HC (Hockey Club) Dallas '00 U14 AAA, Esmark Stars '00 U14 AAA and West Coast Renegades '00 U14 AAA. So I guess I'll just go over each game and sort of analyze it.

The NAHL Showcase Tourney in Blaine, MN

Game 1:
One word: stress. We knew it was a AAA tournament (highest level of hockey) and we knew it'd be an uphill fight from the start. The first game didn't go so well because of all of our stress. We played the San Jose Jr. Sharks U14 '00 AAA and they acted like their team mascot. They were ferocious, and played incredible defense as well as offense. They used their speed like crazy and their passing was crazy compared to anything in Utah. The Shark's strategies were different from Utah and they were veryyy effective. This was an overall good team, although we didn't test the goalie very well. I played pretty well but couldn't get anything going. Final score: 8-1

Game 2:
The next game our team was completely different. We came out very hard against HC Dallas U14 '00 AAA and we really should've won. It was 1-1 for the longest time, and then 2-2 closely after. HC Dallas had a few good players, but otherwise were quite average. I'm not gonna lie, they had some pretty dope jerseys. In the last 5 minutes in the game, they scored to make it 3-2. We pulled our goalie to try and tie it back up and failed, and they scored again to make the end score 4-2. I played pretty well with a goal to tie it up 1-1. I felt like I had good speed and read the ice well too. Final score: 4-2

Game 3:
There really isn't too much to talk about in this game. The Esmark Stars U14 '00 AAA were the best kids from around Pittsburgh and Cleveland and it showed. They were very fast and had incredible mitts. They set up in the offensive zone very well and moved the puck like crazy. To put this game into a one sentence summary, it'd be "We got wrecked". I played okay but wasn't moving my feet very well so... Final score: 10-1

Game 4:
The final game we played was against the West Coast Renegades U14 '00 AAA. This team is also from Utah, (and isn't good at all to be honest). We played okay against them, scoring 3 goals and letting up 2 in the last 2 minutes. Our speed was okay, but we really played down to their level. But, a win is a win right? I played alright with an assist. Final score: 3-2

So this weekend was a lot of fun. It was a great experience and fun to play at the highest level of hockey. I hope to do it again soon.

Photo taken by Mr. Anderson (father of Ammon Anderson)

Lenses: So Many Choices, Yet So Much Money

Yo, I gotta 'nother decision for you guys to make. Ya, this post will be similar to one a few weeks back. I NEED a new camera lens. Christmas is coming up, and hopefully I'll get a ton of camera stuff to mess around with throughout the rest of winter and the rest of the year. Similar to the skis, I'm stuck between two different types of lenses. Both lenses would be quite fun to play around with, but you know me; I can't decide which one to get. SO PLEASE HELP ME.

The Macro:
These types of lenses seem like a ton of fun to play around with. If you didn't know already, this type of lens (in simple terms) is a super-duper-up-close type of lens. If you look off to the side of my page you'll see a leaf with some agua on it. This would be a "macro shot" although I didn't even use my camera for this. In fact I actually used my phone with a magnifying glass (which is a great alternative if you can't afford a macro lens). Anyways, there are many different macro lenses, varying in quality and price. Of course I won't be able to afford the nicest lens, reaching over $1,400 (yes, I live in Park City and I can't afford everything, crazy right). So for me I'd like a lens that is a good quality, yet also not going to make me broke. I've recently been looking at the Canon EF-S 60 mm f/2.8 Macro USM. This lens is a pretty good lens, and has a few nice features. It has a floating optical system that can focus down to full life size. Also, it's a good multi-purpose lens not only good for macro shots, but for portrait shots and available light shots. This lens' retail price is around $470.

Canon Macro Lens

The Wide-Angle:
The other lens I was looking to invest in was a wide-angle lens. This is a lens that can shoot, well, at a wide angle. So in a sense it's sort of a panorama-type lens. There really aren't too many specs on this specific lens, but it's an ultra wide-angle and pretty light-weight. It also has a rear floating focusing system. Solid quality images are captured at all subject distances.

Canon Wide-Angle Lens

Soooooo.... Which should I buy? Both seem to be a ton of fun to play around with, but which would be better for a Park City-area kind of photographer? I literally can't even right now. I don't know which one to get. Help me out homies... Please.

A Sample Photo from Canon with the Wide-Angle Lens

HELP ME....PLEASE