Wendy Stein Photography

Sometimes you just need an ephipany

2011-08-05T13:28:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I've been struggling with some personal issues as of late. Sometimes, all you have to do is stop thinking and open your eyes to look at your surroundings. It's only then that we can really see what is real. What's real is what is right in front of us at this very moment.

Overlooking Dry Creek Canyon Salt Lake City, UT

Craziness

2011-08-03T13:26:00.000-07:00

Craziness. It is the only word I can find to describe the past month. I've been actively shooting all of my adventures that have taken place in the air, on mountains, by rivers and underground. And somewhere in the midst, I've completely fallen in love with mobile photography. I'm not hanging up the 5DMKII, but I am beginning to shoot more with my iPhone 3GS just for the social factor.

Silver Lake (5DMKII)

Solitude Mountain Resort (5DMKII)

Desolation Trail - Salt Lake Overlook (iPhone 3GS)

Lake Blanche (5DMKII)


Sunrise Hike at Brighton (iPhone 3GS)


Sunrise Hike at Brighton overlooking Lake Mary (iPhone 3GS)

It is great to be back. Finally.

Wendy in her element.

Back from my hiatus: Wicked Tinkers

2011-07-01T18:08:00.000-07:00

I'm finally back from my photography hiatus. Over the last six months, I've had some major life changes, including a move to Salt Lake City, UT for work. Living in SLC has been amazing and I've been taking a lot of photos! It is amazing to feel inspiration again to pick up my camera - something I've struggled with over the past few years.

And now for the main attraction. I had the pleasure of being invited to the Utah Scottish Festival and Highland Games by a friend. She kept raving about this band called "Wicked Tinkers". At first, I thought they were going to be a corny festival band, but they absolutely blew me away. These guys are awesome and full of showmanship! Check out www.wickedtinkers.com if you get the chance. You won't be sorry!


Keith let's an audience member take a stab at the riff

Aaron rocks it barefoot on stage

CJ gets soulfoul with the didge

Self Portraits

2011-01-06T19:24:00.001-08:00

There's a reason why I'm always behind the camera. I absolutely hate having my picture taken. Every once in awhile, I will get the urge to do a self portrait. Usually, I'll have just picked up a new piece of gear and have no willing models including the dogs. Today, I got a new hair cut so I figured it would be a good time to test out a couple of photography set up ideas I had been tossing around in my head.

Here's one of my favorite pictures from this evening's session. This was shot with the 5DMKII, 50MM f/1.4 (my old new favorite lens), 2 strobes and the glow of my macbook. I'm pretty pleased with the results.

Ohio Honda Prelude Owners Community

2011-01-02T16:06:00.001-08:00

Most of you know that I'm a diehard car enthusiast. What you may not know, is that I love Honda Preludes. My 93 Prelude is currently in about 1,000 pieces while it is being rebuilt. It's been in this state for the past 5 years. I'm hoping it will magically spring back to life this spring to see some track time with ME behind the wheel instead of behind the camera. Since, I miss my car so much here's a shot of my buddy's car while heading down to Cincy.

The World through Wide-open Eyes

2010-11-23T17:52:00.000-08:00

Meet my almost-nephew Jacob. The youngest and only boy in a family with three sisters. I can't decide if he has life made or if he's going to be subjected to lots of makeup torture by his sisters. Somehow, I have a gut feeling it will be the former with his dashing smile and twinkling eyes. What a handsome young man - and I'm not saying that just because I'm biased!

Jealousy

2010-10-27T18:03:00.000-07:00

Imagine you're 6 years old and it's your 5-year old sister's birthday. She just got the coolest toy ever.

Porsche 356

2010-10-10T14:56:00.001-07:00

It isn't every day that you see a Porsche 356 rolling down the highway. I passed this car on my way to Cincinnati a few weekends ago and thought it was very neat. What can I say? I'm a sucker for sports cars, especially German ones.

Alaskan Brown Bear - Columbus Zoo

2010-08-16T20:13:00.000-07:00

We spent the day at the Columbus Zoo. The zoo is one of my favorite places to visit. I love seeing all of the wildlife, but parts of me are sad that the animals are in captivity... alas.... Here's my new little (big) friend, the Alaskan Brown Bear.

Wolfie

2010-07-26T16:20:00.001-07:00

There are some kids that just make your heart melt every time you see them. Wolfie's one of those kids. Marty works with his dad and when he told me Wolfie would be at the race shop, I knew I could catch the little cutie patootie in action helping his dad. Wolfie was kind enough to stop for a moment and throw me a smile. As a future race car driver with a strong German name, I'm glad to see he's learning to embrace the paparazzi so early in life!

Sometimes, you just have to go urban punk

2010-07-06T19:46:00.000-07:00

I'm not even sure what that title really means. I often dream of being able to produce high quality magazine covers or images that a kid wants to tear out and hang up on his/her wall. I think that's how you know you've made it - when you inspire someone to dream by means of your image. Not that this image is at that level, but that's what this image conjures in my imagination. It's somewhere between reality and an alter-ego in dream land. Secretly, deep down inside, hanging up this picture is going to make me a bad-ass BMW driver with a don't-mess-with-me attitude.

Tombstone, Arizona

2010-07-05T06:15:00.000-07:00

Ever take a picture and say to yourself, "Yes, that's it!" That's how I felt when I shot this image and quite frankly, I wish I could have that feeling every time I picked up my camera. It's the rush, the level of excitement of your mind realizing that you were able to bring your imagination to life. I shot quite a few images on my trip to Arizona, but this is one of three that just made me giddy. I love this feeling - hope it sticks!

-W

Fun with Photoshop.com Mobile iPhone App

2010-06-30T13:10:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, I was bored on my flight heading back to Columbus, OH from Tucson, AZ. To entertain myself, I started taking pictures with my mobile phone and doing some quick edits using the Photoshop.com Mobile iPhone app. I even edited a couple of snapshots stored on my phone. I'm pretty happy with the app, especially since it was free. Overall, I'd give the app a thumbs up. It is easy to use and intuitive so you can start sharing snapshots even faster.

Grand-Am at MidOhio

2010-06-27T22:36:00.000-07:00

I have about a bazillion pictures to edit from MidOhio. I'm not sure if "bazillion" can even be quantified, but it means I have a metric crap ton. Again... I digress with my random means of measurement. I had a great time shooting at MidOhio. In my opinion, the 5DMKII is totally up to the job of shooting motorsports. As I've said before, if you can't get it in 3 frames per second, you probably aren't going to get it in 5.

Here's a sample from the day:

Kristen & Ryan

2010-05-17T20:44:00.000-07:00

I've been sitting on these photos forever. Like almost 2 years come August. Sheesh. I think I owe it to my besties to get this photo set. Some of the pictures in this series I shot. I was in the bridal party so I handed my camera gear off to another wedding attendee to shoot during the wedding. His shots were about 50/50. He has a good eye and for not knowing how to operate the camera, he did pretty well. I have no idea if this is one I shot or Nate shot, but I think it is the best picture of Kristen & Ryan out of the entire series. It's just so Kristen & Ryan.

Old pictures, new edits

2010-05-16T18:24:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I'm about to say this, but editing is turning out to be fun. Wow. Did I really just admit that? I've been neglecting a batch of photos for a long time. I'm not 100% happy with my new edit, but I think it is headed in the right direction. Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Old Edit

New Edit

Revision 2 with color profile embedded

Giant Allium

2010-05-15T06:52:00.000-07:00

This is the first full year we've been in our house. It's been an exciting time from a gardner's perspective as the previous owner planted a lot of bulbs. Every few weeks, I'd see something new. At the end of last fall, I decided to add a few more bulbs to the collection. I planted the giant allium (3'5" tall) after seeing some little kid posed next to the flower. Yes, I'm a sucker for great photography on packaging.

The blooms lasted about 3 weeks and haven't disappointed me. I'm definitely glad I chose to grow them as it is something different in my garden.

And we're back....

2010-05-15T06:32:00.000-07:00

The past few months have been nothing short of insane. I've been hassled by my fellow photography friends for failing the 365 day challenge after just one day. I admit; that was pretty sad.

While I haven't been posting, I have been shooting and I have a plethora of photos to edit and share. It doesn't do me any good just to keep the digital files tucked away on my hard drive if they are never seen by anyone. So alas, I'm recommitting to sitting down and editing files - a task which isn't my forte and therefore dread. Hopefully, that means this blog will be more up-to-date too. I can't promise it will be daily, but I'll least try for more than once every 6 months. ;)

Since my last post, I've recently acquired a 5D MKII. Yes, the camera is everything I thought it could be and then some. I'm thrilled with my purchase. Unfortunately, you won't see any videos from me for awhile until I do something about this computer situation.

So in the spirit of editing, I've edited a single image in two fashions. I can't decide which treatment I like better or really the mood I'm trying to evoke.

Version A

Version B

Day 1 of 365

2010-01-09T12:59:00.000-08:00

Today, I wasn't feeling incredibly inspired. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Somewhere, over the past 6 months, I feel like I've lost all ability to use my camera and capture moments. I'm not quite sure what has happened. Images are exposed wrong, things aren't nearly as sharp as they used to be or I've just plain forgotten how to frame things. Regardless, 2010 is the year I'm reclaiming this skill.

We had a little snowfall this past week and the dogs were having a blast playing in the snow, so I decided to go out and have a little fun with them in the backyard.

Teton Sampling

2009-10-12T18:46:00.001-07:00

I've been so bogged down between school and work, that my photography has really taken a backseat. I'm finally going through photos shot in February, while in Jackson, WY. Enough excuses, on to the main attraction and one of my loves - The Tetons.

Night Blooming Cereus

2009-06-29T21:18:00.000-07:00

Ugly plant, to most, that produces beautiful and extremely aromatic blooms. Blooms last for a few hours, at night, and die immediately after blooming. The plant is quite impressive and is truly a must-see for plant lovers.

Hooray! I'm no longer spam!

2008-10-10T06:05:00.000-07:00

I'm so glad that Google finally figured out that I am not spam!

Indy Lights at MidOhio

2008-10-07T05:28:00.000-07:00

Rain & the end of the back straight

ALMS at Mid-Ohio 2008

2008-10-02T05:12:00.000-07:00

My Pal Jetta: Her prized possession

2008-10-01T05:28:00.000-07:00