Photo Evolution, King St., Charleston

So If you didn't know, I don't own a nice Digital SLR camera (yet), so a bit of post editing goes into making my photos stand out. So I would like to share how each stage works out with this lovely photo from Charleston of this young lady rocking her Barbour jacket, which seemed to the be coat of the season down there because I saw them everywhere!

First, I get home and take a look each photo I'm going to use and It looks something like this. A bit gray you would say.

After this, I load the photo into GIMP and start working, a bit of color level here, contrast there, a bit of airbrushing when needed so people aren't embarrassed over that zit that they woke up with is now on the internet being seen by who knows how many strangers (remember granny panties from Zack and Miri makes a Porno?). Yeah, not going to have people made fun of on my account. Anyways, next step is the color final, or what I call the "standard" file.

 

Much better! Bricks look red, coat looks green, shoes look gold, skin tone looks nice and tan and not all vamp'y. So most of the time I go one more step to make my photos stand out a little bit more, and that's add some blur to the background, which looks like this.

Voila! A little blur makes the world of a difference. Carefully placed, most of the time unless you look very closely, you can't even tell I added it and it just looks like a natural depth of field produced by the camera. Unfortunately adding blur to my photos (especially when I come back from a trip and have 20 or more photos to edit) is a bit time consuming. Turning what should be about a 5 minute per photo process turns into a 10-20 minute endeavor. So for the most part adding blur is no longer a priority unless I think its the only way the photo will make sense. I'm planning to have a new SLR camera with a 50mm prime lens by the end of this summer, so I want the obvious upgrade in photo quality to happen.

So there you go! A little bit of Street Style Photography Magic!

Can you do this? Part 2,Trade St., Charlotte

Can you do this? Part 1,Trade St., Charlotte

Downtown...Draper Rd., Blacksburg

Street Style.. 12 St. SW., Washington DC

Street Style... S Main St. Blacksburg

Street Style... On the National Mall, Washington DC

Take notes guys, this is how you pull off conservative business wear. He's from New York, go figure.

Washington DC

I'm still recovering from my trip yesterday, I walked over 10 miles and put in about 50 miles on the metro. The fashion was conservative sartorially speaking, with some diamonds in the rough. It took some time to get into a groove while trying a new approach. At the end of the day I realized that the way I ask people for photos is just fine and I need to stick to it. I thought I would have had more photos then I ended up with, but some shoe problems in the morning kept me distracted, more concerned about finding band aids for my feet then taking pictures. Check back, I'll be posting photos through the next week mixed in with some Blacksburg photos.

Grady-Ervin & Co. 313 King Street., Charleston

So I didn't have much need to shop while in Charleston, the Air Force gave me most of the clothing I wore, hehe.. just kidding. Anyways, one of my favorite shops to stop by while downtown was always Grady-Ervin & Co. Unlike most gentlemen stores of this kind, they don't judge no matter who walks in. I was once told by one of their employees, one of their most frequent customers walks in most of the time in Gym clothing. I got a lot of my accessories from here, ties, socks, pocket squares, suspenders, I have a few hand made bow-ties bought from here. When your in Charleston, you got to stop by, they actually taught me how to tie my first bow-tie which I also got from them.

Downtown... Meeting St. Charleston, SC

Visiting Washington DC and Old Town Alexandria.

Hello readers, so I'm making a trip to Washington DC and Old Town Alexandria tomorrow just to shoot around the city for the blog. I'm doing nothing else, its just me, a backpack, and my camera. I'll be in the city from 8am till 5pm and traveling via Metro all day. Let hope the weather stays clear and the sun comes out like it said it would.

If you live in the city this is a great opportunity to follow me on twitter and read my tweets. I'll be tweeting where I'm at throughout the day. 

See you tomorrow D.C.

UPDATE!

I just wrote out my tentative itinerary where I'll be visiting. I'll be in Chinatown, Cleveland Park, GWU Campus to the National Mall, then Old Town Alexandria.

Street Style... Calhoun St., Charleston, SC

Street Style... "Going Vintage," King St., Charleston, SC

Angels POV welcomes the Need Supply Co.

I would like the welcome the Need Supply Co. Online to Angel's Point of View. Back in November I visited Richmond and ran into the owners of the Need Supply and was instantly in love with there their product choice, and their store. They are also the only store in Virginia where you can buy A.P.C. denim if I'm not mistaking. You can look at that post here. Feel free to browse and shop online by visiting www.needsupply.com or clicking one of the links I'll have on my site. If your ever in Richmond, VA you have to stop by their store on 3100 West Cary Street in Carytown. I'll be doing some site work over the weekend and I'll have a permanent link on the sidebar hopefully by Monday. Happy Weekend everyone!

Street Style... Saluda Ave, Five Points, Columbia, SC

Street Style... Greene St, Five Points, Columbia, SC

Meet Mrs. Amber Apple.

So on the Eve of Christmas Eve, I made a stop in Charlotte to meet fellow blogger Mrs. Amber Apple and Husband Stephen. Amber writes her blog on doing things vintage, and not just a little vintage, like all the way vintage. Like jump in the Delorean back to 1955 with Marty McFly vintage. About the 1920's through the 1950's is here life's inspiration. I've always had a soft spot for old school, and secretly wanted try the whole greaser look for the weekends, mixed in with some 40's New York Gentlemen on the work days. Frank Sinatra was a bit of my inspiration on how I'd hope to be as a man, cool, a bit mysterious, well dressed, loved by the ladies....ummmm OK, Back to Amber.

So when I walked into the coffee shop where we met, I looked over and saw this young lady who looked like an extra from a Clark Gable movie, toss in a iPhone and its 1940 meets 2011 to the fullest. Now meeting complete strangers is fun, and of course you wonder, what am I going to have in common with this person? Well it turns out a lot! I had to run down the street to my car with one minute to spare to add another hour to the parking meeter because we were all enjoying our conversions so much.

So if your wondering what the hairstyle Amber pulls off so well is called? They are called victory rolls, a look more identifiable to a pin-up girl in modern pop culture, it was the status quo of 1940's womens hair style. What was even more fascinating other than the fact someone could so confidently pull off this head to toe blast from the past look, was how meticulous her hair and makeup was. I mean, it was as if I was looking at an airbrushed photo in person, (darn you people with great skin!!). On to her hair, modern hair styles are loose and flowing, hair might be placed or styled, but there are still strays in even the finest done 'dos. As we were talking, every now and then I would starting look of how her hair was constructed. Out of the two hours we spent talking, I managed to find one, and I mean one lonely hair that managed to get away from the otherwise perfectly slicked, curled up master piece. Women of yesteryear would be proud of Amber for mastering what I've now come to find (after trying it on my wife twice now) a not so easy look to accomplish.

I could go on of how cool Stephen and Amber were, but It would take forever. Did I mention Stephen has some really great Edward Cullens hair going on? anyways. Genuinely kind and good people are becoming rare since the dawning of Myspace, facebook, twitter. Now being married, I like meeting couples who are equally awesome, who clearly love spending time together,(why get married otherwise right?) makes doing group things easier when everyone likes one another equally and not one more than the other. I look forward to visiting them again, and hope they become good friends of ours. Check out Amber's site here at mrsamberapple.com.

Amber and Stephen

Charlotte, what I've seen so far.

So I've never really spent much time in the city streets of Charlotte, but after passing through for about the 10th time in the past year I actually stopped and took a look around. You wouldn't think so driving by on I-77, but once you make your way Uptown the almost bumper to bumper fast paced world that revolves Charlotte goes away, and you find yourself in actually quite a sleepy town; to city standards that is.

It was a bit cold for my wife to want to tag along on our first stop before Christmas, but we got to walk around just enough to give us a better feeling of Charlotte's Uptown life. On our way back to Virginia we made a strictly for photos detour back to Uptown, this time on a Sunday. You know your in the South because you could stop to tie your shoe in the middle of the street and probably not a car would pass before you were done and safely to the other side.

Aside all that, I'm still left feeling what I can only describe in the words of William Shakespeare, " O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?" Unfortunately yes, though visiting strange new cities is a bit luck and a bit localizing yourself to what is truly "local." I look forward to visiting Charlotte once again, I feel that it has much more to offer as far as culture, style, fashion, and people. I feel I'll have to make a trip strictly for photography on any day but Sunday, then I feel I'll find what I've been hoping for hiding in the elusive Charlotte streets.

Upgrade!

So if you have met me on the street for a photo, more than likely I've handed you one of my cards. Well, to start the new year off, I've decided its time for a upgrade! Out goes the old, in comes the new! Tell me what you think.

Old crappy cards.

New sweet looking cards!

Warm and Dry, Washington St., Blacksburg

The Triple C, My Southern Preview

 

So the Triple C is what I'm going to call it when I get to visit Charlotte, Columbia, and Charleston. They each offer something different while still being distinctively southern cities. I'm busy playing catch up with work and editing photos, I'll have posts starting again next Monday, I need a break so I'm not to much in a rush. Check in Monday for my thoughts on Charlotte, then Tuesday I'll be featuring my Vintage blogging friend based out of Charlotte. Also next week I plan to have my first addition of "Doing it Debonairly," a monthly how-to be more of a cleaner, cooler gentleman. 

More to come for 2011

I'm busy playing catch up this week and had some last minute client meetings which is slowing down my blog posts, but I wanted to share some more news for new things coming this year.

So about once a month I will be doing a mens feature, basically on tips of how to be a "to code" gentlemen. Not sure what I'm going to call this yet but it should be cool and helpful. I plan to do something similar for the ladies but not till later in the year once I can figure out what to share.

Also, I thought It would be fun to start doing a once a month post of my favorite girl, so starting next Month on the first Monday of the month we will have Mely Mondays, featuring my lovely wife and how fabulous she really is!

I will also be opening an online Consignment shop, the on-line store has been in the works for about a month now and hope to have it launched before summer, with the possible option for multi-vendor so even you can sell your lightly used clothing online, no more silly 20 year vintage rules from Etsy or dealing with the overpriced Amazon or Ebay store front features. I will only do a debut post on it, but will then link it because my blog is about the photos, not whats on sale. I will also be putting a mini-In house Boutique starting in the fall for your shopping pleasure which will just be an extension of the online store. A surfing friend who runs Rogue Wave Surf Shop via Facebook and from his blog does something very similar. Check out some pictures from his mini-shop which is actually in his house! We will have a In-house store similar and available by appointment and on open house mixer nights.

Ok, so I have some things to do, but I plan to have a preview from my trip down south up by tonight.

Street Style... VCU, Richmond

Back from the South

What a great trip I had! I got to Visit Charlotte, Charleston, and Columbia. I was planned to go to Atlanta, but got sick and couldn't make it. I've had quite a bit of blabbing in posts lately, but I will be back to the normal picture posts Starting Monday.

If the weather holds up, I might be taking a day trip to DC in the next two weeks. I'll keep you posted.

Happy New Year! Whats in store for 2011

Happy New Year Everyone! I thought I would share a few plans for 2011.

First off, Angels Point of View is now a Dot Com, so feel free to use www.angelspov.com.

I want to mature to a photo journalistic phase in my photography, especially when I meet people, other bloggers, etc.

I do plan to attend more events, fashion or just really cool gatherings.

I'm going to be start taking more photos in Blacksburg. It is my home base after all, it should be feature weekly.

Lastly, I'm looking forward to wedding season, I already have some amazing weddings lined up. Hope to find stunning guests to photograph.

Its been a great first  four months, and I look forward to the progression the blog will make this year.

Your friend

~Angel~