Awesome Abstract

Alrighty! Here is another shot from Disneyland. I took this inside a ride - a very weird ride at that. I was kind of just holding the camera on my lap and snapping random shots. I didn't think I would actually get anything good but my dad really liked this when I showed him... Anyway, can anyone guess which ride this is? Hint - It's not a rollercoaster. One love <3

Fantasy Land

Hey everyone! I hope the holiday festivities are treating you well! I am back in Sacramento after finishing my first semester at California State University, Long Beach! To celebrate the completion of final exams, me and two roommates went to Disneyland! The last time I was there was when I was ten years old. Needless to say, I didn't remember too much from that trip! If you have never been to Disneyland at Christmas time, GO!! It is so worth it! This is a picture of the castle that is the entrance to Fantasyland. They have the most amazing Christmas lights and the most amazing fireworks show! At the end, it even snows! Yes, the snow may really be soap, but hey! it's the concept right? If that is the only way we can get snow in So Cal, we'll take it!!! Enjoy Christmas! One love <3

White Christmas

It's snowing in Long Beach, Ca!!! Alright that's a lie - if you have ever been to Southern Cali, you know it never snows (Click on picture to view in better detail) . Last week I went to the annual Christmas parade with my roommate and her sister and niece. It was really cool, there were come really intricate floats. My favorite had to be the CSULB float - gold and black with students in LB gear! Represent! So anyway, not soon after the LBSU float was a fire truck. The fire truck had a snow machine! It was really cool to be able to experience the most beautiful weather (albeit fake...) in a place where it never snows! Definitely unique. Unfortunately, I did not bring my good camera to the parade - this was taken with my point and shoot. Hopefully Santa will bring me a better one for Christmas.... One love <3

Happy Christmas!

Christmas has officially begun! Last weekend I went to my roommate's house to put of the Christmas tree! They got some brand new ornaments so I took advantage of this with my camera. My roommate's younger sisters (future photographers...) were extremely impressed with the artistic shots I took with my camera. There wasn't much light in the room so I shot at f2.8 at about 1/20 seconds - I held my breath while taking the picture (a technique I learned from my dad!) and it came out fairly clear! I do have another shot where the ornaments were completely in focus; however, I like this shot better because it looks a little bit more mystical. Happy winter everyone! One love <3

Friday Funny

Seasons Greetings from Long Beach, California! Here is a video that my roommates and I made. Hopefully this will make you laugh - we were laughing for hours on end! One love <3

Happy Winter

Happy Winter! I decided to take a picture to represent fall before I start taking winter pictures. Usually I would have a ton of fall photos to show (I used to take "Fall Color" trips). Unfortunately, there are not many trees down here that change color. There are a lot of palm trees and eucalyptus trees! They have a good smell but are definitely not photogenic! This year I just tried to take one good photo - and of course I incorporated a macro effect. I didn't even have to photoshop this picture! The color is amazing! Another Friday Funny is coming tomorrow! The first video on the blog! One love <3

Friday Funny

Ok so I took this idea from my dad's blog. Looking back on last Thanksgiving in the heart of the 2008 election I remember one thing... Now if you are a strong bullheaded conservative I suggest you read no further. But if you want a good laugh please watch this! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving - I will have more pictures up soon! Stay tuned. One love <3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJd_vm9VhpU

This aired a year ago yesterday.
Courtesy youtube.com

Lucky Dollar

When I was getting out of the water from surfing last Friday, I noticed a large round shell inder the water. Before the next wave came I jammed my hand into the sand and grabbed this beautiful sand dollar! I don't think I have ever found a whole, unbroken one before. It must be a lucky sign!! So I brought the sand dollar home and -of course- snapped some photos of it! (And of course... I used my macro lens) I also used a cool preset to depict the colors of the ocean water and the sand. I hope this grabs your attention as much as it grabs mine! The detail is astounding.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!

One love <3

Marshmallow Madness

It's not often that I get to take a picture of food down here - dining hall cuisine is just not that exciting. My roommate usually goes home for dinner Sunday nights and brings me back the latest treat from her house (she lives down the street...). I'm lucky that she lives so close! A home cooked meal is like heaven after eating dining hall food for so long! Anyway, this was a tiny cake from a local bakery. It was chocolate cake with whipped cream, graham cracker crust pieces, chocolate sauce and marshmallows! What a delicious dessert! I couldn't really think of a title for the blog today so I let my other roommate decide. It was either "Marshmallow Madness" or "Hailey is Amazing". I think I chose the right one... Get excited for a GREAT picture on Thursday!!!!! One love <3

Self-Portrait Sunday

This is my favorite part of the weekend. I get to take a break from studying for midterms and working 30 hours a week and edit pictures. I also get to write a paragraph or so without having to worry about it being graded by a college professor. I took this shot this morning. I usually don't do self portraits - they are a lot harder than they look! You have to get a good focus on your eye even though you don't look through the viewfinder. If you take a lot of shots, you may get lucky with one or two good shots. I was shooting a house this morning and I started goofing around with a mirror once I was done. I took some shots where it didn't look like I was looking through the camera at all but this one was my favorite! Have a good week! One love <3

Fiery Night

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile; I went to Sacramento over the weekend to see my old high school's homecoming! Here is a picture from the game. I actually left my camera at home (Long Beach) for the trip and I ended up using a yearbook camera. I visited my friends and the said it would help if I took pictures - so, of course, I did. This shot is from the half time show. The show seems to get shorter and shorter every year; maybe due to not having enough money for fireworks? Nevertheless, it was still really cool! Unfortunately I had to use a Nikon (which I am not familiar with at all) and I couldn't seem to get quality pictures. Apparently the ISO does not go above 1600.... Rip off!!!!! Hope your weekend was a good one! One love <3

Stormy Eyes

Today I decided to do a self-portrait since I have never put one on the blog before. Unfortunately I do not have my good camera (Canon 50D) on me at the moment so I had to use my little point and shoot. I just took a plain old shot of my eye and then photoshopped the heck out of it - I'm really not sure why my eye came out green; it is super blue in the original and I turned all of the Lightroom controls to blue but I still think this looks really cool. The insides of my eye look look like a storm with lightning. I love it! One love <3

Ubuntu

Happy Sunday! Today I am showing the work of my Aunt Nancy. She has an amazing jewelry business called "Ubuntu". The main concept of Ubuntu is that "No one is whole without the other". She asked me to take some pictures of her beautiful work and this was one of my shots! I love the second one because it looks metallic and the piece pops! The background I used was a very large leaf. My photo also appears on Nancy's website at: www.ubuntujewelry.com. Please check out the website to view her whole collection! Thanks! One love <3

Center of Attention

Two weeks ago I went to a Long Beach State womens soccer game. I was so amazed by this young soccer player. She did at least five "flip throw-ins" during the game. I was so excited to see this up close that I brought my camera to the next game (which was last Sunday). I love the first picture the most because of all of the people watching her; especially the little girl. She is so cute!!! The photographers are also really cool - it is like the soccer player is a celebrity and they are the paparazzi. She is without a doubt the center of attention! One love <3

Forever Laughing 2 (Information)

Yesterday's photo was a huge hit so here is some information that I found on the subjects. The guy in the front is Stan Laurel and the guy in the back is Oliver Hardy. They were a comedy team that appeared on stage and on television.

Info from Wikipedia...

Laurel and Hardy were a popular comedy team composed of thin, English-born Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and heavy, American-born Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). They became famous during the early half of the 20th century for their work in motion pictures and also appeared on stage throughout America and Europe.

The two comedians first worked together on The Lucky Dog. After a period appearing separately in several short films for the Hal Roach studio during the 1920s, they began appearing in movie shorts together in 1926. Laurel and Hardy officially became a team the following year, and soon became Hal Roach's most famous and lucrative stars.

Much of their comedy involves milking a joke, where a simple idea provides a basis from which to build several gags. Many of their films have extended sequences constructed around a single problem the pair is facing, without following a defined narrative.

In some cases, their comedy bordered on the surreal, a style Stan Laurel called "white magic". For example, in Way Out West (1937), Laurel clenches his fist and pours tobacco into it, as if it were a pipe. Then, he flicks his thumb upward as if he held a lighter. His thumb ignites, and he matter-of-factly lights his "pipe." The amazed Hardy, seeing this, would unsuccessfully attempt to duplicate it throughout the rest of the film. Much later in the film, Hardy finally succeeds - only to be terrified when his thumb catches fire.

A common routine the team often performed was a "tit-for-tat" fight with an adversary. Typically, Laurel and Hardy accidentally damaged someone else's property. The injured party would retaliate by ruining something belonging to Laurel or Hardy, who would calmly survey the damage and find something else to vandalize. The conflict would escalate until both sides were simultaneously destroying property in front of each other. An early example of the routine occurs in their classic short, Big Business (1929), which was added to the Library of Congress as a national treasure in 1992, and one of their short films, which revolves entirely around such an altercation, was titled Tit for Tat (1935).

Many gags involved the Ford Model T car which was their favored form of transport. Several such automobiles were wrecked in the films; for example, in the short Busy Bodies (1933), Laurel and Hardy's Model T is sawn in half by a huge bandsaw (the bandsaw cutting right between them while they were sitting in it).

Rather than showing Hardy suffering the pain of misfortunes such as falling down stairs or being beaten by a thug, banging and crashing sound effects were often used so the audience could visualize the scene for themselves. Routines frequently performed by Laurel were a high pitched whooping when in peril and crying like an infant when being berated by Hardy. Hardy often looked directly at the camera, breaking the fourth wall, to express his frustration with Laurel to the film audience.

Forever Laughing

Yesterday, I caught the Long Beach Transit bus to go explore with my camera. At first I was planning on going to 2nd Street (where all of the hustle and bustle is), but then I decided to go downtown. I had only been downtown 4 or 5 times but I had never brought my camera with me. Turns out there is a lot more to take pictures of then I was thinking.

So at first I took some pictures of the flowers -- of course. While walking around however, I came across the Laugh Factory. I had always heard about the Laugh Factory while listening to my favorite comedians (mainly, Chelsea Handler), though I never really knew what it was or where it was located. Apparently in downtown long beach! In the front of the building there are all of these cool porcelain dolls representing famous comedians who had performed at the Laugh Factory. Unfortunately, there are no signs telling you which doll is which comedian so I really have no clue who this is. But I do know that the guy in the background reminds me of Kevin from "The Office" :) One love <3

Cute Cousin

This is my cousin Nina! My aunt asked me to take a picture for her Bat Mitzvah announcement. Nina just had her 12th birthday and her Bat Mitzvah is scheduled for my 19th birthday! It will definitely be an exciting day. I normally don't like taking pictures of people but this photograph turned out better than I expected!! She looks so pretty!! Have a good weekend everyone! Please leave some comments with picture ideas that you would like to see on my blog! Thanks! One love <3

Watercolor Photography

This is the first "amazing" photo I have ever taken. I took it beore I even had a digitial camera. At the time, I used my dad's best camera - a Canon 20D - now a thing of the past! You needed a magnifying glass to look at the display screen on the back! When I took this, I only had Photoshop Elements 2.0 (because it was free of course). I went to "actions" and picked watercolor and this is what came up! I loved how you could take a digital photograph and edit it so it looked like a person painted it! When my dad bought a printer that could print canvas, this was the first picture I printed out. It hung on my wall all alone and I loved it! To this day, it is still up on my wall. Along with some others....

Bubble Sticks

Last year, I went to Apple Hill (in Northern California) with my photographer buddy, Dayna. I had gone to Apple Hill every fall since I was little, but never to take pictures. I took my camera last year and had some delicious photo opportunities. There were caramel apples, apple fritters, apple pies, fudge, and many more wonderful foods. These honey sticks have always fascinated me for some reason; still to this day, I have never had one.

So I took this picture and it was very boring. The honey was golden brown and the background was also a tan color. I was playing around with filters and presets and came across this one... I love how it makes the honey turn a bright pink while turning the ugly background into a vibrant blue. My favorite part, however, is the bubbles in the honey. In the original photograph, the bubbles were very difficult to see. When I used the preset, the bubbles became more visible and gave a great texture to the original oh-so-boring honey sticks. I could look at this picture for hours and still be intrigued. One love <3

Creative Spark

This was definitely one of my favorite pictures I have taken within the last 6 months. I really do not enjoy shooting people. There are just so many more aspects that you have to worry about when shooting people than when you are shooting say... a flower. Unfortunately, since I was a photographer for my high school, I obviously had to take pictures of the students. They are what makes up the school right?

I was assigned to take pictures of the international baccalaureate biology class. They were doing some lab that involed Bunsen Burners and chemicals. This student came up to me and started lighting sparks everywhere. They have these really cool lighters that have two metal pieces that scrape together to create sparks. Anyway, I just held down the shutter and took as many photos as possible while he was playing with the lighter.

What really strikes me about this photo is two things:

1. The depth of field; I focused on his hands and the lighter but the aperture was not so large that you couldn't make out his face.

2. His facial expression; not a cheesy smile or a facial expression that says "I hate school". It looks as if he is really engaged in this class and loves learning - something that is hard to find at a high school.

I hope you really love this photo as much as I do. Comments are greatly appreciated! One love <3

Toasty Tuesday

So everyone has their traditional Christmas morning. You wake up early, open presents, and then have a great Christmas breakfast in your pajamas with the fire on. For my family, we woke up at 6 a.m. every year. When my brother and I were younger, we would have pancakes for breakfast. My dad would add green food dye to some pancakes, and red to others just for fun. We always had eggnog. My brother and I drink eggnog like an athlete drinks Gatorade. It is so addicting. Anyway, within the last couple of years, my brother and I have definitiely broadened our culinary horizons. I took this lovely picture on Christmas last year. My dad made french toast with glazed bananas and almonds (and of course, powdered sugar). It was totally amazing! Never had a Christmas breakfast better than that one. We always tell him that he should open up a restaurant and it is true!!!! One love <3

Flor Bonita

I was seriously bored of studdying today so I decided to try to get a picture for today's post. I rode my long board around the CSULB campus for awhile. These daylilies are everywhere! I thought I had seen them in every color, red, orange, yellow... and then I came across this beautiful deep purple flower. The shoots in the middle of the flower is what caught my eye becuase of the vibrant teal color. Everything else in the photo seems to be exploding from the shoots. One love <3

Guest Photographer Friday - Bob Towery

Alright! Now for the good stuff! Welcome to the second "Guest Photographer Friday"! Today we are featuring the amazing work of Bob Towery (and yes we do have the last name... he is my dad!). He recently took a road trip to Oregon and captured some pictures that blew my mind! This first one was taken from the balcony of his hotel room in Oregon! The second one is from a little town called Astoria. He uses a really cool action called Topaz to get this great effect.

Please visit his blog to learn more about each photograph and to see a new picture every day! I must say, the photography gene runs in the family!!! One love <3

http://bobtowery.typepad.com/

Exhausted Pups

Ok so I got a little busy yesterday and didn't find the time to put this picture up; so there will be two posts for today. This was the result of the puppies at the end of the photoshoot. After running around chasing eachother for hours on end, all six of them passed out on the lawn. They were so cute!!! Hope this one makes your day! One love <3

Pondering Puppy

During school last year, I got a lot of opportunities to help out with some great photoshoots! I loved the senior portraits and also the wedding, however this one was definitely my favorite! Six Saint Bernard puppies!! They were super adorable! We stuck all of them in a wagon and shot away! I'll post a picture tomorrow showing what happened at the end of the photoshoot! One love <3

Delicate Dancer

This is one of my college roomates Hailey. She is a dancer. We went to the beach last weekend and she wanted me to take a picture of this. Unfortunately I did not have my Canon 50D, I only had my little point and shoot (which is horrible quality compared to the beastly good camera). So I took the picture and edited it in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2. I made the picture look a little better but the composition and gracefulness was enough for me to put this picture on the blog for Monday.

Also... Some people were wondering what the "Silent Screamer" looked like normally...



This was unfortunately the best picture I could find on Google. I never took a picture of it during the day because it was super boring. Anyway, have a good Monday!!! One love <3

(The second image was found on Google and is not Copyright Angela Towery)

Silent Screamer

This is the "Scandia Screamer" in Sacramento, Ca. I had a craving to go take a time-exposure shot and this is what I came up with. I took this at 10 p.m. when it was completely dark outside. The reason I call it "Silent Screamer" is because all of the people who live around this area complained about people screaming so much that is now an official rule that you cannot scream while on the ride. Anyway, I set the camera to the "B" setting (meaning Bulb). In this setting you can hold down the shutter for however long you like. In this case I held it down until the ride went around two or three times. This created an amazing photograph! Hope you like it! One love <3

Guest Photographer Friday - Hannah

Welcome to our first ever "Guest Photographer Friday"! Today I am featuring the work of Hannah Howerton. I was intruiged by this picture because she managed to keep the subject if focus while capturing great streaks of colored light. Her blog URL is: photo-critique-made-unique.blogspot.com. Please check it out to see some more of her great work and become a follower! I'll post a time-exposure picture that I shot myself tomorrow. Have a great Friday! One love <3>

Tufa Sunrise

I love this picture!!!!! I took this at about 5 in the morning at Mono Lake. If you have never seen the lake, it is full of these awesome tufas! Tufas are basically a kind of travertine. They look like lava rock except they are a light tan color. Anyway, I went to the lake jsut before sunrise to set up my camera and got this amazing sunrise! The second photograph is a picture of the tufas after the sun had already risen. Not a cloud in the sky! What a great morning! One love <3

Ocean Oasis

I totally had a different picture in mind for today but my experience this morning made me put up a beach picture. I woke up at 6:30 am to surf beofre school. I was sitting on my board in the ocean at Sunset Beach (Huntington, Ca) looking out to see and waiting for a good wave when I saw a huge pod of dolphins feeding. The sky faded from a light purple to the cloudy overcast blue as the sun was rising. It was so amazing to be surfing next to dolphins that were so close! It felt like nothing else was in the world except water, dolphins, and some good waves to surf. I seriously wish I had a waterproof camera to take pictures like that, however I do not, so I guess this picture will do for today!!!! One love <3

Love All

Another picture from Sacramento! I need to take some in Long Beach! So this is obviously at the Hard Rock in downtown Sacramento. I love the huge guitar with the "Love All" background. It totally fits in with the "One Love" theme. The colors are vibrant and I was so glad to have a bright blue sky that day! I hope you love this photograph as much as I do! One love <3

Golden Bridge

This is an amazing picture of the Golden Bridge in Sacramento. I was just walking around taking pictures of everything I set my eyes on and I ended up with this great shot. I also added a preset that makes buildings look chrome. I also used it on a previous post (the shot of the church on Sacramento). Please let me know how you like it! One love <3

Beautiful Bride

I have already posted a picture from the wedding I shot last year so I decided to add one of the beautiful bride! A week ago was Susan and Andy's one year anniversary! Congratulations! I took this while one of the bridesmaids was putting on the veil. The picture is almost angelic to me. I had a great time documenting this great milestone in Susan and Andy's life. Great job guys! One love <3

Timeless Droplet

I took this photo the first time I ever used a macro lens. The rose is originally an orange - pink color. I turned it black and white because it is more dramatic and it is easier to see the curves of the petals. I also love that there is one drop of water that grabs your attention. I often shoot flower pictures in the morning so the dew is still visible. Send me some love! One love <3

Lovely Laces

As you have probably realized, I usually like to add an element of love, peace, or hearts into my photographs when I can. I decided to do just that with my favorite pair of shoes. I don't really remember where I got this idea since I took the picture a few months back, however I was extremely pleased with my results! I hope you are too! One love <3

Towering Over

This is one of my favorite pictures I have ever taken. I was just walking around Sacramento when I found this amazing church. It towers over you so that you feel like a tiny pawn. I took this photograph with my 10-22mm lens (very rare that I ever take my 60mm off the camera) :) . I also used some cool actions in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom to give it the metalic look. Let me know how you like it! One love. <3

Best Wishes

Last September I got the amazing opportunity to photograph my first wedding. Needless to say, I was in charge of the macro photography and artistic shots like this one! This ribbon on a present was a great opportunity for an amazing picture! Cheers to the happy couple! One love <3

Faded Details

I absolutely love this picture. At the time that I took this, I was learning about how the higher your f-stop is (the lower the number), the blurier the picture gets from the focus point. I am extremely fascinated by this and I think that is why I fell in love with macro photography. This was taken in Seattle, WA.

The second picture just demonstrates what the first picture is of. The metal on the fence and the hooks is what I captured. This place we were staying at is located on Bainbridge Island. Tell me how you like it! One love. <3

Skilled Surfer

Today, I went surfing for the first time and it influenced me to put this picture up for today. I took this about a year and a half ago at Pismo Beach. This was taken in the morning and I did not change it to black and white. This was the way it was captured oddly enough. I wish I could have gone surfing here! The waves at Pismo are twice the size as the waves at Huntington!!! One Love <3

Pondering Portrait

I was assigned to take pictures at a Speech and Debate competition in Sacramento, Ca. This young man was looking at the paper with the results to the final debate. I didn't edit this picture because I hate it when photographers edit teenages so they have perfect skin. Teens don't have perfect skin! I love showing people as they are! Let me know how you like it! One love <3

Close Encounter

I took this lovely photo down the street from my house. Our neighbor grows these beautiful roses for everyone to enjoy. The sprinklers had come on just before I took this picture, making some great water droplets to photograph. I also love the vibrant colors. They are so happy! One love <3

Artistic Eye

So when I was in high school (only 6 months ago...) I was very fortunate to be able to take the Yearbook class. This was a very good way for me to express myself through different aspects of the school. This photo was taken for the art page and I (of course) used my macro lens. I went into the art room and was actually taking pictures of the paintings when this idea popped into my head. I just love how you can see the wrinkles and lines in this artist's hand. It makes for a great picture! Enjoy! One love <3

Light Leaf

Sorry for the recent lack of posts!!

I just moved from Sacramento to Long Beach for school. It's been so hectic that I haven't even had internet!

So here is the newest post...

This is a palm leaf found on Huntington Beach. I love the gradient from the top of the photograph to the bottom of the photograph. I tried really hard to capture the light through the leaf. Tell me what you think! One Love! <3

Rustic Light

On my latest trip to Long Beach, I drove up to Redondo Beach to take some cool pictures of the surf. It was so overcast that the pictures weren't anything to be proud of. Walking back to my car, however, I did find this really old (and rusty) lamp. Who knows if it even works but I do know that it made a very shnazzy photo!

The bottom picture is the only other good photo I got at Redondo Beach. I have been a Lifeguard for 3 years now so I absolutely love this picture of the Lifeguard station looking out at the surf.

Let me know how you like them!

<3