"The Clock Tower" Photo of the Day: November 11, 2015

"The Clock Tower."

"Nighttime Coaster Ride" Photo of the Day: August 29, 2015

This famous roller coaster is located on the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, California. In order to get this shot I had to wade out into the surf to get the angle that I wanted and would wait for the coaster to come by. Being battered by the waves was not very pleasant!

"The Moon" Photo of the Day: August 23, 2015

"Astrophotography" is a unique form of image taking that allows the everyday photographer to shoot far-away subjects...as in, subjects that are all the way into outer space! The process is a bit time consuming to set up, as it involves setting up your DSLR camera to shoot through a telescope, creating wild magnification. I got this "portrait" of our lovely moon several years ago with this method and remains as one of the most unique shots that I have ever taken.

Photo of the Day: August 12, 2015 "Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis"

I rarely post photos not taken on my Nikon, but this is one that I shot from my iPhone this past February. Taken on the East bank of the Mississippi River - facing downtown Minneapolis - the centerpiece of this photograph is the historic Stone Arch Bridge. The illuminated stone arches created all sorts of interesting shadows on the frozen river. Despite it being one of the coldest nights that I have ever been out shooting, I was pleasantly surprised by some of the photos that I got, including this one taken on my iPhone. I lightly edited it to remove as much of the noise (grain) as possible from the dark areas of the photo.

Photo of the Day: August 7, 2015 "Washington Avenue, Minneapolis"

I shot this late at night on top of a parking garage overlooking a section of Washington Avenue near the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities campus in Minneapolis. The usually busy street is much quieter at night, as seen here where not a single person inhabits the sidewalks and the streets are nearly devoid of automobiles and trains.

Photo of the Day: July 31, 2015 "Nighttime Street"

I love shooting at night, it is one of my favorite things to do! There is something very rewarding about capturing nice photographs in low light situations and seeing how light interacts with an environment. This particular photo was shot this past Spring from the top of a parking garage late at night in Minneapolis. Overlooking a neighborhood with large student housing looming in the background, it was a challenge to get the exposures that I wanted to properly show how the illumination from the streetlights affected the street and buildings. 

Photo of the Day: July 29, 2015 "The Door"

"The Door." This late night photograph was taken this past winter around midnight. While out photographing the older buildings on the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities campus (one of the few university campuses with sections under the protection of the National Register of Historic Places) I came across this scene. A steep stairwell led down to a door intensely illuminated by a red light creating an almost creepy atmosphere!

Photo of the Day: July 28, 2015 "Frigid Illumination"

Here is an excerpt from my photography portfolio website on my image called Frigid Illumination. "In the frigid temperatures of a February night in Minneapolis, I photographed this student sitting among a collection of murals alongside a building on the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities campus. My hands have yet to forgive me for exposing them to the cold for so long while shooting, but some of the results were excellent." Visit my site at: http://www.wyattproschphotography.com/

Photo of the Day: July 18, 2015 "Darling Harbor Skyline"

I think that I will continue posting photos from my recent trip to Australia until people really get annoyed! Here is yet another photo from Darling Harbor in Sydney that I took late at night. The hustle and bustle of this harbor created an incredible environment revolving around the gorgeous water. The "Darling Harbor skyline" isn't too bad, is it?

Photo of the Day: July 17, 2015 "Chinese Garden of Friendship"

Whats around the corner?? What is causing all of those weird blue light beams??? This photo was taken at the "Chinese Garden of Friendship" in Sydney about two weeks ago. This reflecting pool offered a very restricted view of the network of buildings within the garden and I attempted to capture the mysterious aura of the space here.

Photo of the Day: July 15, 2015 "The Door"

Hi everyone, I shot this photo tonight as I explored the World War 1 memorial here in Kansas City. The monument seems even more powerful at night as lights embedded into the ground illuminate the tower. Almost all photographs that I have seen of this monument focus on the structure's verticality, so with this photo I took the different approach of focusing on the lights and this staff door while leaving the height of the structure to the imagination.

Photo of the Day: July 6, 2015

"Levels." I had to climb to the top floor of a parking garage to get this photo on a blistery winter night in Minneapolis this past February. At least hauling my photographic equipment up all of those stairs kept me (somewhat) warm! At first I did not think anything of this photo until I looked at it later on my laptop. I think it would be interesting to go back and shoot the same framing but on different levels of the parking garage to give different perspectives into each of the hallways. Thoughts? #photooftheday #architecture

Photo of the Day: June 20, 2015

The Sydney Opera House during the famous "Vivid!" festival, an annual celebration of light, music, and ideas. Throughout the city of Sydney interactive displays are set up and powerful projectors shine images/graphics/videos to the tune of music onto the facades of buildings for an incredible multi sensory experience.

Photo of the Day: June 17, 2015

I shot this a couple of nights ago in Circular Quay, Sydney. Each harbor in this city has a distinct character and aesthetic. All are beautiful!

Photo of the Day: June 10, 2015

I took this photo inside a parking garage near the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities campus in early May of this year prior to leaving for Sydney. I enjoy shooting architectural subjects, especially ones that are not typically viewed as aesthetically pleasing.

Lights and Reflections

My obsession with HDR shooting at night has continued to preoccupy my photographic endeavors recently. Overall I am very pleased with the way that this specific set of images turned out after capture and post-processing. I believe that there is a way to do HDR right and a way to do it utterly wrong. Because of the incredible detail of not only the subjects themselves but of the color range in an image possible with HDR, too frequently people abuse this by creating photos of immense color and tonal detail to the point where it looks so unreal that it is ridiculous. That is just a personal opinion though...

Anyway, comment and let me know which of these images you like the best and what your thoughts on HDR photography are (if you are unsure of what HDR is, don't worry I'll be doing a post just on the ins and outs of the craft). Thanks for looking everyone!

Black and White HDR Night Photography...at the Museum!

Hi everyone! On our way back through Kansas City after visiting the Ozarks this past week, we spent some time with my family exploring some of the cool stuff that "KC" has to offer. One such thing was the incredible Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. This free art museum is absolutely massive and I had the privilege of visiting it twice: once, during the morning and early afternoon exploring the exhibits, and later on returning once the sun had set to photograph the "Modern Art" wing of the museum after dark. This stunning building has an extraordinary facade not unlike portions of the University of Minnesota's own Rapson Hall (where I basically live during the school year). 

These images are a bit different than what I normally shoot as they are 1. Black and White, and 2. High Dynamic Range. Both of these factors play into interesting images that I feel helps bring out the character that the stunning building had over the surrounding landscape. HDR Photography entails taking several images of the same composition, each at different exposures. Merging these images together later on in the post-processing stage allows for most everything in a photo to be properly exposed, rather than just the focal point of an image. I will do a post just on HDR Photography later on. Thanks for looking!

Some Buildings at Night

Happy Pi Day Everyone! I am currently on my way down to the Ozarks and stopped off in Des Moines last night. Alyssa and I will continue on later today and will spend the night in Kansas City tonight to spend some time with my family. Then it will be on to the Ozarks for the week!

As for the photographs in this post, let me say that I absolutely love shooting at night. Photographing in incredible low-light situations is a challenging experience that can result in rewarding captures. These were all taken on the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities campus within the past two weeks. Which one is your favorite?

Have a good weekend everyone!

Ionic Light

Okay, so I do not "nerd out" about architecture and design enough with all of you! This past week I have been out late at night shooting on my home campus of the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. It has been a unique experience; capturing such a large campus in the quiet hours of night. In this series, I was exploring the Ionic Columns which line the front of the prized Northrop Auditorium building. Playing with the light and how it interacted with the columns was a blast, however the -16 degree windchill (fahrenheit) just about froze me! Thankfully I think that I got some quality images.

What do you think? Which image(s) are your favorite? Also, below is a picture of me while I was shooting (a big thank you goes to my girlfriend who willingly comes with on my photo adventures even when its blisteringly cold out!).

Santa Monica Pier at Night

On a recent trip to one of my favorite spots in the world (California), I got to swing by Santa Monica and decided to head down to the world-famous Pier at night. The tide was out farther than I had ever seen...almost to the end of the Pier! This made for some unique vantage points for photography. Enjoy!

P.S. The wind chill here in the outskirts of the Twin Cities here in Minnesota was -27 degrees two nights ago. I think we should all pack up and go to sunny California!