Changes to KO Photography

I would like to update my followers that there has been some changes again to my website and business. Life has blessed me three years ago with my first born and now this March I have another child on the way. I have made the decision to focus on family and take a slight step back from photography. With that being said I made the decision to cancel my website www.k-ophotography.com and I am no longer taking on wedding photography as well as being selective on all other clients. My work will mostly be personal projects for now and making sure I document my kids growing up. I will continue to use this blog as a main way to showcase my work from here on out. With that being said you might see some broken links/pictures on this blog. If I get sometime I might update that all so everyone can still see the photography I have posted in the past on here. I want to thank each and every one of you for all your support. Thank you once again!

Changes to KO Photography

This month I thought I'd let everyone know of some recent changes to my website. Come check out my new web design HERE. Also I have made the choice of putting all my efforts to photographing just Portrait and my Fine Art Photography. Which means I will no longer be photographing weddings. This was a difficult but needed change to my business because as many of you know I am now a father and taking on weddings limits the amount of time allowed with my family. I do want to thank all the people that have trusted me in the past with their special day and every wedding I photographed holds a special places in my heart. Thank you all as always for your continued support.

7 Day Challenge

In March I took part in a 7 day/7 photos #NatureChallenge. It was a great way to get me taking pictures and thinking about what I wanted to do with just one photo. I also made it a little harder on myself since I apparently had to do it when Northern California was in a middle of a storm. So I had to come up with more abstract ways of taking photo's of nature. Below are just a few of these photo's all taken with my iPhone 4.

Point Reyes Lighthouse

Recently my family and I took a trip to Point Reyes to check out the lighthouse. It was a prefect day out there, we couldn't have asked for better weather. We had a great time checking out the light house and also got to see some elephants seals as well. Below are some of the shots I got check them out and also always feel free to leave a comment below.

Another year down

It's hard to believe I have been doing this blog for three years now. The blog has bounced around from posting helpful tips to just random posts. Though one thing it continues to do is provide my viewers a look at person behind the lens. My hope is that no matter what I post everyone is enjoying it regardless. I look forward to 2016 and what type of blogs I have in store for the viewers. Here's to another year of blogging.

As I like to do after every year here are some of the top blog post for this year:

My top 3 favorite blogs

1) "Artist Who Inspire" Click here to see it

2) "Keeping Tradition Alive" Click here to see it

3) "Changing Perspective" Click here to see it

Changing perspective

When taking photographs,sometimes a change of perspective can turn a decent photo into a great one. It can be as simple as kneeling down to shoot a tree to get a low prespective of it. Or it can be as creative as making an object slightly out of focus to make a photo more abstract. For me though, the biggest change of perspective in my photographic approach happened on November21, 2013 when my son was born. He is turning two this month and I can't help but be amazed how much of his life I have been able to document. My photography used to consist of hundreds of photos of landscape around the Bay Area. My focus now however is on my son. I love that I get to capture him just being a kid and get some great images doing so. I can only hope that when he grows up heappreciates the photos I have of him both now and in the future. I love him very much and he's been the best change of perspective in my life as well as in my photography career.

The Lost Images

Sometimes I find that I get to wrapped up in what I want to write for my blog post and I forget that this is to show my photography adventures. So for this month I thought I would do just that and show of some images for a trip of mine that I took with my family about two months ago to Tahoe. These photo's tend to get lost in the shuffle because they get buried with the thousand of images I take of my son. I hope you enjoy them and as always feel free to leave me a comment below.

Artist who inspire

Artist Inspiration

This month I was contacted by a company Patience Brewster asking if I would be willing to write about an artist that has inspired me. I had to give this a little thought because over time there have been many photographers and artists whose work I admire. After some reflection I narrowed it down to my most inspiring, Ansel Adams and Chris Orwing. Without a doubt these two photographers have the most impact on my work.

I still remember in high school when I saw Ansel Adams's work for the first time. I was particularly amazed by his photo of Half Dome in Yosemite. I remember seeing the beauty of that photo and feeling right then and there that this is what I would like to strive for. I try to imagine him and what he would do whenever I am shooting and editing landscape pictures.

The second photographer is Chris Orwing. I came across his work during a troublesome time in my life. I was recovering from back surgery and was given a book by him entitled “

Visual Poetry: A Creative Guide for Making Engaging Digital Photographs“. H e captures his subjects in such a natural and beautiful way. Since reading that book I have tried to use his inspiration in all of my portrait shots. He also has an outlook on photography and art that is very unique and was uplifting during my recovery.

These two photographers have had a huge impact on my photography but any list of people who have inspired and motivated me has to include my wife and parents. They are not artist per se but without their constant support and encouragement I wouldn't be who I am today as a photographer and person.

Who has inspired you in your life? Feel free to leave me a comment below and let me know.

Tourist for a day

It's amazing to me after twenty five years living in the Bay Area there are still things that I haven't experienced in San Francisco. On my wife and I's fifth year anniversary we decided to take the "Red and White fleet" and did the "Bridge to Bridge Cruise". It was a great way to experience the city and a way I haven't done before. Along with that we walked up and down the pier and checked out some very talented street performers. Below are some of my favorite images from the day.

Keeping It Simple

Lately in my photography adventures I have been trying to keep things simple. I have found that sometimes bringing my camera can take me away from enjoying the little moments with my family or friends. While there is no way I can stop taking photos however, I have been leaning towards using my iPhone instead. This reminds me of a book written by photographer Chris Jarvis called "The Best Camera Is The One That's With You". I am really starting to feel this is more and more true as I start playing around with my iPhone. But whether I am using a dslr or my iPhone I am still focusing on creating art. Below are a few of the images I have taken in my recent adventures.

Hiking to serenity

Over Mother's Day weekend my family and I went for a hike through Armstrong Woods. It was great being in the redwoods and enjoying nature. The hike was uphill pretty much the whole way, so as a photographer I could only imagine what was in store for me at the top. A few hours later we finally got there and it was as good of a view as I had imagined. Tired and physically drained, we sat down and enjoyed the view. It was extremely peaceful up there. It was the type of place that takes you away from the hustle of your daily activities. The light wasn't the greatest but I decided to take a few shots anyway. You can see them below.

Discovery

Over the past month I have gone on a few hikes to places I haven't been before. I've said it countless of times I am very lucky to live in a area with such beauty just around the corner. Sometimes photographers can get in a rut and discovering new places for me is a great way to get my creative juices flowing again. Here are a few photographs of the areas I went hiking.

The Art of the Challenge

I am lucky enough to live in an area where hiking trails are just around the corner. Crane Creek Regional Park is one of those places, along with this its a great place to take photographs. I have taken many clients there to do Family and Senior Portraits. I have also done a fair share of Landscape Photography there as well. Something I find great about going back to Crane Creek to take photographs is it challenges me to do something different every time. This month I went for a hike with my son to capture some fun images of us together. Along with that I challenged myself to capture Crane Creek in a way I haven't done before. Below are some of those images. Do you challenge yourself to see life through a different lens every time?

Keeping The Tradition Alive

Last month my family and I took a tour of the San Francisco Giants stadium. I felt like a little kid again getting to step on the field and sit in a professional dugout. It took me back to the days of going to the ball park with my parents: great memories of watching batting practice and asking players for their autographs. I couldn't help but thinkabout how I'll soon be carrying on that tradition for my son. And of course seeing one of the most beautiful ball parks in the country up close and personal was amazing. The stadium has such an beautiful view and as a photographer I had to make sure I took advantage of that. Take a look below to see some of my favorite photos of the tour.

Here's to another great year

Another year has come and gone so I though I would share my favorite blogs from this year, along with the most popular one. Before that I just want to thank all my readers who have been reading my blog from day one. I love getting your emails and your support is amazing. Thanks you all and here's to another great year of photography.

Top 3 favorite blogs in 2014:

1) "Lions tigers and bears oh my": Click here to see it

2) "5 Ways Becoming a Dad Made Me a Better Photographer": Click here to see it

3) "The Beauty That Never Gets Old": Click here to see it

The most viewed blog was:
"Lions Tigers and Bears Oh My" (link provided above).

Leave me a comment below and tell me what your favorite blog for 2014 has been? Thank you once again and here's to 2015!

Happy Holidays

I thought this holiday season as a way to thank you to all my readers I'd offer a free wallpaper. In order to download the image to your computer all you have to do is go to this link (KO Photography Wall Paper), or click on the images below. Once there just simply right click to save it to your computer. I have two sizes available one for the iPhone and the other a desktop version which is HD(1920x1080). I wish I could offer more but there are just way to many screen sizes out there for me to even being. I hope you enjoy this gift to you, for the holiday season. If you do please feel free to share this with all your family and friends!

Click the photo below for the HD Desktop Wallpaper

Click the photo below for the iPhone Wallpaper

Five Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Compact Camera

Compact camera's today can be very complicated and I see a lot of people that are just overwhelmed with what they can do so they stick to just using the auto settings. So I thought for this post I'd give you five tips that can help you get the most out of your camera. Check them out and leave a comment below if these tips help you!

1) Always use the highest resolution. Yes, if you use the lower ones you'll get more photos but the quality isn't as good. You know what they say "quality over quantity".

2) Try to learn the manual modes. Automatic is good but sometimes doesn't always get the shot right. If the photo looks over exposed in auto try to learn how to take it off auto and into manual. Sometimes you can fix that over exposed image by messing with the + and - of the exposer setting.

3) Try turning off the automatic flash. Sometimes using a flash isn't always needed. For example, in my previous blog about night photography (see it here), I talk about not using a flash at night. This is actually better when taking photos of landscapes.

4) If you are going to be editing the images to black and white sometimes doing it on the camera isn't the best option. Let's say that image doesn't look good in black and white you can convert to color. But if you edited your image after you took the photo on your computer you can always revert back to color.

5) Last but least the most important tip I can give is to experiment with your camera. Compact cameras have some amazing features to make taking photos fun. Be sure to go out there and have a good time and use all these cool features.

"Lions, Tigers and Bears...Oh My": Fun at the San Francisco Zoo

I always have a great time going to the zoo. Though this time around was my first time as a parent. As my son was only ten and a half months old, he didn't really seem too interested at this point, but the kid in me loved seeing all the interesting animals, including the "Lions, Tigers and Bears...Oh My". Then there's the photographer in me so with my 70-200mm 2.8 lens strapped to my camera I went out to capture some images of my favorite animals. Below are some of the better photos I got. What are your favorite zoo animals? Let me know by leaving a comment below.

To purchase any of the images you see here click here

Start of a new chapter

I recently had the great pleasure of photographing a young man named Brandon McCoy. He is a freshman in high school, which for him I'm sure is a fun and exciting new chapter in his life. I remember still to this day how scared I was to start high school. But Brandon seems to have a great head on his shoulders at such a young age. As we went around taking some photos one thing that impressed me the most about him was how he had a great eye for a nice idea for a photo. I am always so impressed with the youth who have so much talent at such a young age. Here are some of my favorite photos from the shoot that day.

Guest blog from John-Logan Coots

Whether your just wanting to get healthy or your trying to lose weight for your upcoming wedding the guest blog for this week is for you. John-Logan Coots owner of Powerfit Personal Training talks about how to work towards your fitness goals. Check out powerfits website (http://www.powerfitusa.com) to learn more about what they do. Enjoy this months blog!

Break Through

We all want to be fit, healthy, and look good. It makes us feel good and most of us think we have a general idea of how to get there. (Don’t eat junk food and get some regularexercise). But for some it can be an on going challenge, to learn how to put health and fitness goals in to perspectiveas a priority. Before you know it, it can look like a pretty long road to get back on track.

So what separates fit people from the people that would like to be fit? Life style, like any aspect of our lives we must have structure, constancy, and persevere though the journey of our affairs and end up with something more then we started with. Health and fitness must play an interracial part of our daily life. Some of us know this but continue to put our health on the back burner. “I will get around to it just as soon as ““this that or the other”” changes in my schedule”. I hear it far too often, people convince them self that they don’t have time. The reality is that if you want to be successful with your health and fitness we have to be ready to put fitness high on your priorities. Putting your health off won’t cut it if you truly want to take care of your self. You can’t treat health and fitness as something to get done with your laundry list. You most take action, educate yourself and get on track to see and feel results.

It doesn’t have to happen all at once. In fact I don’t recommend it. You have to crawl befor you walk. Small changes each week add up to big changes in a year. And to stay on track you have to really enjoy what you are doing. Far too many people think of fitness as something you do in the gym (cardio and weight machines). Fitness is movement, playing with your grad kids, swimming; bike riding, martial arts, walking, horseback riding, rockcalming, ice skating, hiking, tire flipping and everything in-between. If you really enjoy what you are doing you are much more likely to stick with it. There is a whole lot out there so keep trying new things till you truly have a great time.

Getting stated can be as simple as finding something or someone that motivate you, the spark that starts the fire. Down here at Powerfit we call this moment of momentum “Empowerment”. What empowerment means to me is to step up to the plat and swing the bat even if you’ve never played baseball. To step out side of your comfort zone to enrich your life by over coming the obstacles you think are holding you back. (“I’m too busy”, “no time”) It’s time to stop putting your fitness anywhere, but striate to the top of your priorities and swing for the fences. Learn how to put your self first and let the things that will always be there take the second spot on your to-do list. And start trying new things, frequently, I recently started Olympic Wight lifting and I am enjoying it immensely.

Getting started is not always easy, but it is essential. It can all start with an audited which holds a belief and cultivate afeeling that will make you un-stoppable. “Wow” then in my mind you are empowered to take control and persevere. This momentum can apply to fitness and health and every aspect of life. Once you are empowered you are ready to make some serious progress. If you need a place to get started find a professional fitness trainer in your area to help you set some goals and create accountability. Create relationships with other health conscious individuals that you can share your progress with and who will help you stay on track.

John-Logan Coots

Powerfit Personal Training