[](/images/blog_images/uploads/5_Salmon-Hudson Valley-Food-Photographer.jpg)

Grilled Salmon = Yum.  No Seriously.  I recently had a chance to do a bit of food photography which was a total blast.  I always forget how stressful food is to shoot though.  It’s not easy.  I realize it doesn’t move, it can’t show emotion, but it’s a real challenge to get something that looks nice on a plate without it ending up looking dead and dried out.  I have noticed a recent trend of photographers to get into food photography, but not putting in the hard work it takes to learn how to light food.  Yes I know surprising but it’s complicated to light food.  And also surprising is the fact that you light food a

So I recently bought one of those Wacom pen tablets.  I really wish I would have done it sooner.  It has been so much fun playing with this thing!  I love how I can make really awesome looking brush strokes on a digital canvas.  It’s totally wild.  Now I do have the advantage of using photoshop CS5’s new Mixer brushes, and I have to say I’m totally amazed by how great they look.  Honestly it’s like painting with a real brush in your hand.  It does take a little getting use to with the whole hand eye coordination of making strokes on something below the screen while watching it happen on your monitor.  Sadly I’ve been too busy playing with digital painting to try my hand at some really

[](/images/blog_images/uploads/Swing-Thai-Hudson Valley-Bike-Photography.jpg)

I know this isn’t my usual engagement photography posts.  I’ve been doing a lot of personal projects lately.  Like I said in my last post, I’m really trying to expand my photography, or in this case get back to something I love in photography….. Textures.  When I first started doing digital photography all I ever used was textures.  I didn’t have a nice enough camera to actually pull off good shots so I had to mask my poor shots with lots of textures.  In reality this actually works pretty well.  If you look at programs like hipstamatic for the Iphone, it takes “great” shots.  Because the Iphone has such a poor camera,

I can’t believe how inspired I’ve felt lately.  Not only to create amazing portraits, but also to do some abstract work, which I haven’t done much of lately.  I’m finally starting to get more free time, and feel less stressed out at work, and thusly my photography prospers because of it.  I love creating, and it can be especially fun with abstracts when you have such a blank canvas it becomes difficult to find focal points, and put meaning into shots.  So instead I just try and make them look cool. Just kidding.  Even with my abstract shots I try and put “emotion” into them.  I realize that my abstract photography might not always have that “emotion”

I know it’s rare that I put up something so abstract on my blog, but every once in a while I see an abstract shot that I really enjoy.  This is one of those cases.  I rarely do abstract photography anymore.  I’m far too busy doing portrait photography, which is really my main passion.  But when I first got into photography I did a lot more abstract photography than portraits.  I mean honestly how many times can you take a picture of your friends before they start to get annoyed.

I always enjoyed using textures in my abstract photography.  I think the use of textures adds what I like to call “Crunch” to an image.

First off if you’re looking for an engagement photographer take a look at my [engagement photography portfolio](http://www.davebrownphotography.com/Hudson Valley-Engagement-Photographer.aspx).

So I had a another engagement shoot with a couple transported to Hudson Valley from Pittsburgh.  Say hi to Carrie and Matt.  They were a great couple to work with, and we had a ton of fun walking around Hudson Valley taking some nice relaxed candids.  They are planning their whole wedding here in Hudson Valley, while the actual wedding is going to be in Pittsburgh.  Imagine how hard that would be.  They fly back every couple of weeks, and have a whirlwind of things to get done.  20 minutes for this, 15 minutes for that.  It’s got to be hard

I’m not sure why I’ve been digging taking pictures of old bikes so much recently.  I have a ton of shots of these old classics just waiting to be processed.  I think it’s because I recently got a cruiser of my own, and just love going riding around Hudson Valley.  I bought one for my girlfriend too so that we could both go out on our cruisers and have a blast riding around town and having drinks at whatever random place we find.  This one has a springer front just like mine.  That means that there is a spring on the front of the bike that acts like a old version of shocks.  They actually work pretty well too.  It softens the ride quite a bit.  Again this is more of the fine art photography that I have been really enjoying

So I took a walk on colfax ave in Hudson Valley, and I was surprised at how little I actually found to photograph.  There weren’t really all that many people on the street.  The general architecture I found a little boring, and I just couldn’t find much to shoot.  I always wonder if that’s a mood based thing.  If you’re in a better mood you find more to shoot, or if you’re in a worse mood you find less to shoot.  I’ve never been able to figure out if that’s actually true or not.  I don’t think I was in a particularly bad mood, but I definitely wasn’t in some bouncing off the walls great mood either.

I guess the most interesting thing that happened was I met a curator of a nice little gallery on colfax.  He also did quite a few of the paintings in the gallery.  It w

So sue me.  I’m still fascinated by the kind of detail and bokeh that I’m getting with my 85mm f1.4.  It’s so crystal sharp that sometimes it hurts to see what it pulls out.  This shot is of the front headlight of a mini cooper.  An old one, one with character.  Yes I’m saying that the new ones don’t have as much character.   There was this cool looking old mini cooper just hanging out.  So I snapped some shots of it.  I was half waiting for this real hipster guy to come walking out of some building asking me what the hell I was doing, but it never happened.  I was ready for it though.  The whole time just imagining someone in a headband, and some goofy looking socks.  People are funny sometimes they co

Walking around downtown Hudson Valley I stumbled upon this.  I totally love this quote, not that I can really apply it to my everyday life, but I still think it’s a great concept to think about.  While looking at the quote I noticed something interesting.  There was graffiti around it, and on it, but if you look closely someone has deliberately kept this on the side of their store.  They painted that great yellow color all around the quote, but not over it, just over the graffiti.  Thinking about that was fun.  Imagining someone with a roller on a pole, painting the whole side of the building, but leaving this one inspirational quote.  Great work to whoever did that.

-Dave