Warren Wilson College and the Beautiful Bull

 
      On Saturday evening, Gram and I went walking through the Riverside Trail on the Warren Wilson College campus to find some places to photograph and draw. We hiked until we got to a big waterhole with a cool rock with lots of graffiti on it. I ended up taking a panoramic shot of the water which turned out 'eh'. On our way back, however, we came across an enormous bull that was lying in a field right next to the fence. It was gorgeous and hulking its way towards the rest of the cows, but not before taunting us with some minuscule lunges and grunting noises. I took a cool picture of the bull and Gram drew a really cool drawing of the bull. We ended up taking a photo that I took, and a sketch that she made, and combining them into a sort of collaboration. She posted a lot of stuff on her blog from that day as well. Here are the photos that I got on Saturday - I will post ones from Sunday tomorrow!

     The bull had tons of flies on its nose and it was huge. His head was probably the size up my entire upper body.

     First time using the Pano feature of Lightroom - works pretty well! Lots of distortion though.

     Finally, here is the collaboration that I did with my grandmother. She sketched the bull and I took the photograph. 

Warren Wilson College Sunrise

     Exams have finally shown their nasty faces and so I have been bogged down with lots of school work and other drama. This post features two photos that I took two weeks ago on the Warren Wilson College campus. We woke up at about 5:00 in the morning to catch the early sunrise and it was worth it but wow was I tired. I went to bed at about 2:00 in the morning so I was functioning on only three hours of sleep (luckily I had the luxury of falling back asleep when we returned).
     Anyways, the first photo was taken in front of the silo that marks the beginning of the campus. The second photo was taken at a small wheat field a ways down the road from the silo. There was plenty of fog and haze which gave the field an ominous and dreamlike feel to it.

Thanks for Modeling, Steve

    Hey guys! This post, while it is a pretty nice photo, is just an excuse to ask you all a question! I am trying to get into more portrait photography and I was wondering if there is anybody out there who has any tips? Anyone that I could connect with and ask some questions? If you know of anyone, text me at 828-545-3000! Thanks so much!

Hard Work and Flattering Results

      

     Since I can remember, I have always wondered why anyone would work their butts off, to the point of utter exhaustion, simply to do something like clean up the yard. Well, this weekend I found out why. My parents have always been telling me, "It may be hard work, but you'll be happy you did it!", and I never believed them. I was watching my father work in the back yard and I saw the lawn go from long and nasty to sharp and clean. His face showed his fatigue, but his eyes showed his pride. Sweat dripping down his face and out of breath, but sparkling eyes that reflected the flattering results that he had just produced. He gets the pleasure to know that HE completed that. HE made a change. HE made the back yard a nice place to rest and contemplate thoughts. His mouth is clenched, but if you concentrate enough, you can see the smile hidden underneath his scowl. He exerted hard work and produced flattering results. 

Thank you for letting me use your face, dad!

ISO 400 ... 50mm focal length ... f/11 aperture ... 1/1250 sec shutter speed

Thank you for viewing!

~Jacob Diehn

Photos from Florida - Honorable Mentions

Here are the rest of the photos that I took at Florida.

Starting with this post, I am going to start including the settings that I used with each photo and some other details. I will most likely go back and include that in my previous posts too. Hopefully it helps!

 ISO 200 / 62mm / f.9 / 1/1000 sec

ISO 200 / 185mm / f. 5.6 / 1/125 sec

Returning to a Rejuvenated Culture

   
     Hello! I spent the last week at the beach in Florida for my spring break. It was an exorbitant amount of fun and I took a lot of interesting photographs. The drive is always fun, even though it was a twelve hour drive. We traveled for approximately six hours before resting at a nice hotel in Georgia. After waking to a nice breakfast, we hit the road again with only six more hours to go. Unfortunately, my sister Maya vomited her breakfast out - a mixture of donuts and applesauce! Yum! After arriving, we went to the beach and swam for a while before spending the rest of the night in the pool and hot tub. The following morning, I woke up before the sun peeked over the horizon (6:00 am) and shot the sunrise (7:15 am). The rest of our week was saturated in crazy fun activities such as going to Rapids Water Park and snorkeling at a coral reef. We also visited a nature center where I shot a couple of photos of the creatures that resided there.

     Aside from all of the fun we endured, the interesting part about this vacation was the return home. The culture in Florida is vastly different from the culture where I live, Asheville, NC. Living in a culture causes many people to be blind of their surroundings, as I was. However, when I spent the week engulfed in the Florida culture, it was a kind of reset button on my understanding of where I live and what I live around. Today I spent a good four hours downtown with my friend Haylie. During that time, I observed twice as much as I ever had before I left for Florida. There is now a contrasting culture to compare Asheville to. It stands out, much like what Depth of Field does to a photograph. It is extraordinary.

     Below, you will see my favorite of the photographs that I took during the trip. Tomorrow I will post the other "honorable mentions".

ISO 400 / 90 mm / f.11 / 1/500 sec

ISO 400 / 90 mm / f.10 / 1/200 sec

ISO 500 / 200 mm / f. 5.6 / 1/1600 sec

ISO 400 / 90 mm / f.10 / 1/3200 sec

ISO 100 / 55 mm / f. 5.6 / 1/6 sec

ISO 200 / 55 mm / f. 5.6 / 1/500 sec

ISO 200 / 15 mm / f.22 / HDR

More Photos from the Workshop