MJMatsen Photography

My October California trip…… Part 2

2008-10-30T08:52:00.001-07:00

Welcome back. I thought I would give you a little more information on my trip so far.

Well it started with a 11 hour flight, followed by a 5 hour car journey… But luckily we stopped for dinner a little ways north of San Francisco… My friends, if you have never had a Double-Double burger from In-and-Out… The next time you are in California, put it on your to do list.

After putting fuel in the tank, it was on up to Redding, where my relatives on my mom’s side live. We arrived at our hotel at about 9 o’clock, or so I’m told. My eyes were rolling around in my head by that time, so I’ll just take that piece of information as true. But let me put it this way………I think I had the longest Monday in the history of man.

Awoke at 5am the following Tuesday. Now generally, in hotels in the states, when it says “Breakfast included” that means lots of coffee and a Danish pastry, however in this instance…… The hotel I’m in gives quite a selection, I’ve got coffee, juice, donuts, bagels, cereal, oatmeal, and self service waffles… That’s right WAFFLES!!!

Stop! Wait… Don’t get too excited. The process for making your own waffles if fairly cool, but then you get let down by the fact that they are a little on the bland side. Yes, but can’t we fix this with syrup? Yes…normally… But sadly the only syrup they have is sugar free…… And to be perfectly honest………It looks like snot when you pour it on, which, is not really something you want to be thinking about when eating breakfast.

The rest of Tuesday was spent visiting my sick grandmother, bless her, and checking out Shasta dam, and Shasta lake…..Which is more like Shasta mud puddle. But I’ve shown you pictures of that.

Wednesday, not much to report on Wednesday. Helped my grandmother rearrange her house. Went swimming at the hotel, ate turkey for dinner…anything else? Ummm, oh, watched ‘Expelled: No intelligence allowed’ I recommend it.

Well I have to go, but check back soon to see Part 3.

MJMatsen

My October California trip……Part 1

2008-10-29T17:28:00.001-07:00

After a very long flight, a non-stop flight from London Heathrow to San Francisco, I landed got into the rental car, and headed up to Redding to spend a couple of days visiting my relatives on my mom’s side.

This is a shot of Shasta Lake, its on a 25 year low…as you can see.

We visited Shasta Dam, and as you can see from the above shot, there is evidence of the fires that have claimed a lot of woodland.

At the Dam there are some deer that graze in that area… One of the safer areas during hunting season.

Also saw this cheeky fellow, who actually let me get up quite close, and even posed and stood still so I could take some snaps.

Well, I have to shoot, but I may write a part 2 with more writing and less pictures soon.

Until next time………

MJMatsen

Walking around Gunwharf on a sunny day

2008-10-15T05:03:00.000-07:00

I was walking around Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth last Saturday, I had to take my sister down there to shoot a roll of film for a college project. She was using my Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 lens on my new EOS 3000N body, so I decided to try out my new Canon 50mm f/1.8 MkII and shoot only with that. It was kind of nice to see what the Sigma looked like on a full frame body……Guess I’ll just have to save up for a 5D……Unless someone wants to donate one.

I think there is a certain elegance shooting with prime lenses, it limits your ability to zoom, but I think it forces you to become more creative with your shots. So, I will try my best to describe exactly what I was looking for in each shot.

The Shot of the reflection of the crane and building, I've seen shots kind of like this in the abstract section of photo mags. I would say this is more interesting to me than shooting a car tire or something like that.

Sadly it looks like the colour is different when I upload, so some of the vibrance is gone.

As it was a beautiful sunny day, I thought I would try my hand at some silhouette shots, I thought this picture of the two boys running alone the promenade made for a wonderfully contrasted shot.

I have cropped this shot to get rid of some of the other people and objects so that the focus of the image is on the outline and shadows of the boys running. For this shot I had to switch to my kit lens 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 EF-S Canon lens, only because a 50mm prime on a cropped sensor is not wide enough for this kind of shot. As you can see, this picture would’ve been nicer if shot through better optics, but I still think its a good shot none the less.

With this shot, I was back to my 50mm prime, and loving it. OK, with this crop it could be any crane anywhere, but I suppose in some instances the subject doesn’t necessarily need to be in location context.

OK, so the Canon 50mm f/1.8 Mk II doesn’t have USM or Canon L glass….But to be honest, for right now, I don’t care, its a brilliant lens, it’s very light, and the quality even when wide open is excellent. I think I shall be shooting allot more with this lens, I’m sure it will come in handy for weddings.

Hopefully you all won’t have to wait such a long time before I post another addition to my blog.

Until next time…..Keep on shooting (Pictures people…shoot pictures)

MJ Matsen

Portsmouth Kite Festival 2008

2008-08-23T14:35:00.000-07:00

I went to the Portsmouth Kite festival today. I got some pretty neat shots, so I thought I would share them with you. Click on the picture below to see more.

Move along......Move along......

Calvary Fellowship BBQ

2008-08-16T13:58:00.000-07:00

Today we had an awsome BBQ with some friends from Calvary Chapel Westminster. Here are some pics from the afternoon.

God Bless

MJMatsen

What exactly is abstract?

2008-08-13T07:17:00.001-07:00

I hear alot of people talking about abstract photography......Maybe I get it, maybe I don't.
Would this be classed as abstract?

Until the next Post.......................

Just Messing around in photoshop

2008-08-02T14:21:00.000-07:00

Just me messing around in photoshop this week...... As you can see, the picture shown is one of me.... hence the time taken in photoshop. :-P Anywho, I'll post some other photo's up really soon.

Check back soon now.

MJMatsen

Sunset over Cavendish

2008-07-20T10:59:00.000-07:00

Just saw this sunset yesterday and thought it was worth a shot.

I just wish I was on a higher vantage point....Well better luck next time.

Until next time.......................MJMatsen

First Time at HDR

2008-07-10T14:20:00.001-07:00

Ok here are two pics of me trying out HDR (High Dynamic Range) Photography.....Let me know what you think.

Tune in next time to hear Matt say.........................?

Fireworks and Music

2008-07-10T14:14:00.000-07:00

Last saturday my family and I went to Portchester Castle for a "Last of the summer Proms" event. Here are some of the shots from the fireworks afterwords.

Until Next time..................... MJMatsen

2008-06-16T02:40:00.000-07:00

This weekend it was nice and sunny, so I decided to take my camera over to Hinton Ampner Gardens. Below are a few of the shots I took.
If you would like to read more about the gardens visit:
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-hintonampnergarden/w-hintonampnergarden-history.htm

Until Next time

MJMatsen

Idsworth Church

2008-06-11T07:33:00.000-07:00

Idsworth church is a small church in Hampshire which was originally built in the 11th century. It stands alone on the top of a hill. It was the church serving Idworth Manor, but when the London to Portsmouth railway line was built the Lord of the manor moved Idsworth Manor brick by brick to another location, leaving the church alone in a vast area.

Click on the picture below to see the attached album at http://www.matsen.co.uk/

Until Next time
God Bless
MJMatsen

Amy's Birthday

2008-06-07T11:29:00.001-07:00

It was my niece' birthday yesterday. So today's post is dedicated to Amy's (Above) birthday. I have also included a picture of my other niece(Amy's sister) Katie (below).

Until next time. Take it easy. MJMatsen

Cowdray ruins

2008-06-07T03:44:00.000-07:00

As I work in Midhurst, I find myself quite often walking around the town during my lunch break. So that I keep my photography skills sharp, I decided last week to take my camera to work, and look for some good shots.

The Ruins, I thought would make for a very nice picture, and when I got closer, seeing that it had rained the night before, there was some standing water on the green. As I walked past the water I saw the reflection of the ruins and could not resist taking this picture.

After walking by the ruins I went back in to town to get something to eat, and, although I had walked that street many times, I had never really noticed the rather picturesque Town clock on one of the buildings.

In some instances, to see beauty, all you have to do is look up.

I'll keep you posted.

MJMatsen

First Blog

2008-06-06T08:29:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, my name is Matthew Matsen. I am using this blog to keep everyone up to date, and allow people to comment on the photo's I take on a weekly basis.

Check back soon for my first photo post.

Matt