The Girl of My Dreams

This gorgeous girl, some of you may know, is my lovely, adorable, absolutely amazing girlfriend, Alana. I love this girl with all my heart (and it's a good thing that she is gorgeous, too, because it makes for amazing photographic opportunity – not to sound shallow, but you have to look at it from a photographer's standpoint). 

Lana and I have been dating for almost 8 months now, and we are still just as "ga ga" over each other as we were when we first started dating (she is probably rolling her eyes and gaging reading this, but it's true). She is probably the only woman that I could spend every second of every day with, and I would never get tired of her; this is a great surprise, because, for those of you who know me, I get bored easily. I am so happy and so thankful to be with someone as great as she. I love you honey! 

Now, a little about his picture. This picture was taken at King's Orchard in Crystal Lake, MI. The orchard was planted on rolling hills its landscape decorated with the peak of fall colours. It was the perfect setting to take pictures of a beautiful girl. Alana (on the bottom left of the picture) is picking some raspberries – my favorite fruit – and I was shooting (and eating) the process. That little blue carton in her hand would have been full considering that I had not eaten so much of them. So, long story short, she was doing the work, I was shooting the work, a typical set up in our relationship. 

The composition of this image isn't typicall "Joel Charboneau Photography©," but I love it. I love the colour casts that the sun gives off in the image. I think that it gives it such a feeling of fall. I hope you enjoy this image as much as I do!

Gravity

So today in Susannah's class was the second week where she gave us each a word and told us to go out and, "Shoot our word." Last week, I received the word "Harmony," and this week I received the word "Gravity." When I received this word, I thought in my head, come on! Really?! But after I got outside, I saw a trash dumpster, and I took a picture with the dumpster at the bottom of the image to make it seem that the dumpster is weighing-down the image. This also gave me another revelation. I would shoot, for my word "Gravity," how big of an issue our trash and wast problem is in this country. This brings me to this image you see before you. My friend Jamie and I were walking in an ally behind the LaQuinta Inn, behind Madison Street, and I saw a row of these cardboard boxes flattened and all tied up. I thought this was a rather interesting picture, so I shot it. It was only when I was reviewing my images from this shoot that I realized that I had my image for "Gravity."
The message of the image:  The message of this image, for me, stresses on America's need to recycle. Only a small percentage of our population recycle, and we need to make that percentage grow. Think about a piece of paper... You have it in your hand, and you are finished with it. What are you going to do? Are you going to save it, take it to a recycling center and dispose of it, or are you going to just simply throw it in a trash bin - that is located on every corner of the city? You are probably going to throw that piece of paper in a trash bin because it is more convenient for you. This county needs to make it just as convenient to throw a piece of paper, or a pop can, or a piece of cardboard into a recycling bin as throwing those same items into a trash bin. This is what this image represents. I hope you enjoy this one!

Jamie

This is an image of one of my favorite people, Jamie! We were walking back to class with our class, and she and I decided to suddenly take pictures of everything. In this alley, near Madison St. and Wabash, I decided to take this picture of her. I am surprised with how well it turned out because it was just a shot on a whim. I did have to do a lot of post production for this shot because the alley was really dark, and I don't like to use a high ISO because the picture can get too grainy. I think this image turned out great, and I am keeping with my square picture theme as well. Enjoy!

The City of Chicago

So recently, I have been obsessed with 5X5 pictures taken in black and white. This method is best done with film, but not having a film camera poses a problem with this. That is what photoshop is for!

These pictures are of random signs or people. I didn't include any faces, because it leaves more to the imagination. These pictures were taken with a 50mm lens, and, for most of them, the aperture set at f1.8. Enjoy these!

                                 

    

                                                              

    

Lovers' Romance

What is more serene than a green meadow? Nothing, right? Furthermore, there is nothing more romantic than a green meadow on a lovely sunny day. Come on. What couple doesn't love to take long walks together - holds hands, chat about their day, or just kiss each other for the whole stroll? That is why I chose this field for the future Mr. and Mrs. Bryan Cook's engagement pictures. The colors juxtapose nicely for this particular set of photos. I shot them with one of Canon's ultra wide angle lenses (I can't recall which particular one at the moment), and I think that it gives the picture such a factor of "epic-ness." I hope you enjoy this shot of the two of them :)

Random Typewriters

Why do old things hold such a fascination with us? It's not like they're useful or serve any type of purpose, but we like them just the same. Typewrites, the computer of the 1940s, have now been demoted, sadly, to a mere decoration or an obsessive hobby where people do their very best to restore them. However, as annoying as these people are, the object in question makes for great photography.
These old typewriters have unleashed a new purpose! Their ability to pose in front of a camera! Check out this photo that I took of my roommate's typewriter. The only post-production work that I did on the photo was increase the contrast a bit, take away most of the yellow tones, and add an "old photo" filter to it. I really turned out quite neat, and I'm really happy with the end result. Hope you enjoy it!