Ready to go.

Its been quite a while since the last post. It seems all my time on the computer has been committed to the new site which has left no time for blogging. Well the time is finally here. Strocomphoto.com is finally up and running. All the photos that have, over the past year or so, been posted on this site are available for sale as stand alone prints or with high quality frames. The products range from $60 - $400. I will most likely make this a personal (only) site now and leave the photos off. You have to check strocomphoto.com to enjoy those now. Thanks for you support. JP Castro

Antique Marina, Sailing Star, Mini-Marina

Its been a long time since I posted a photo and even longer since i've taken my D2x out of the Tamrac it lives in. I go through phases with most of my hobbies and interests and when I just get brain dead trying to think of what to do with them sometimes I will just sit down a play till something I used to do brings back a breath of fresh air. I was going through my photos in Lightroom again and once more found some shots that are months back. Some from last year. For some reason I never like the shots I take. I can't even see what it is the picture means, or what I wanted it to mean until it gets an inch of dust on the file. I'm not sure why this happens. When I take a step back after a shoot, I just feel as if i'm trying to give the picture meaning it doesn't have. As if I am faking the meaning to create a photo, and not just a snap shot.
When I go back later, I start moving levers. Bringing out shadows. Over exposing or changing the attitude. Lowering contrast. Vignetting. A number of items I just don't touch after a shoot. Maybe the time I spend shooting gets me sick of looking at the results. Maybe i'm just not used raw files and expect so much out of the camera I forget to develop it. Not sure what the reasoning is but it is what keeps me from being one of the "photo-a-day" bloggers. Not a bad thing but for the people who follow my photos I like to keep them around. So... if its been a while, thanks for coming back. My reasons, although difficult to commprehend, are what make my resulting photos what they are. Its the character in all of my prints. I guess I am just a slow developer. All more of reason to keep interest in whats coming next... Kind Regards, JP

Island Nights

These two were takan last night on a full moon. They were taken at the beach with some fast moving clouds and wind. Nikon D2x both shots at 30sec.

Suburbia Night

Out testing my D2x and realizing I need some work with composing light. I started, one by using a tripod more often to get sharper images and in this case for a long exposure. This camera murders lowly skilled shots. Nikon D2x and Tokina 12-24mm f/11 25seconds @ ISO 200,

Nephew Portraits

My sister wanted some portrait type pictures of Eli and Rocco. Not normal portraits, but their features and such. It gave me a chance to try out my new Nikon D2x. The situation was much more difficult than I imagined. To get the lighting the way I envisioned took some work. Not to mention working with the 2 year old who was acting like he just drank a double coloda. These are two of the six that will be framed seperately but hung together. Nikon D2x Nikko 17-55mm f/4 @ ISO 100 -1.0 EV and SB600 side bounce flash.

Miles away from Ordinary.

This is from Boca Grande beach. Its become a ritual now to line up the beer bottles as we finish them. The last picture was about 10 times longer than this, but not quite as good photographically. Wonder Why?

Lens Freak

For those of you who don't know this is the silky smooth bokey talked about when the Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR is mentioned. Just thought I would give an example since me and the lens have been seperated forr 2 weeks. I get her back on friday after a $360 hospital stay from a 5 foot drop.

Old Newbie

This is an abstract that is relatively old but I thought was a great photo. It got kind of lost in the shuffle but found again now that I've moved all my thousands of photos to Adobe Lightroom. It would have worked great with some "Difrent People" around it bt that wasn't the case. Enjoy

The Lehmann's

It was seems to be a never ending celebration, my weekends have been filled with travel, parties, alcohol, and just about any excuse possible to get inebriated. Four straight weeks in Key West, a week in Cape Cod to come back to a two day stay at the grove for a very special wedding of two of my best friends P.J and Jackie Lehmann. Congratulations to the beautiful couple that are presently flying to their honeymoon destination on Waikiki Beach, Oahu, Hawaii.

For Old Times Sake...

After looking through my blog today I couldn't help but be a little proud of what I have accomplished in the short time I have started this site and used a camera. I started wondering if this new business of mine will ever be successful or even cover itself. I like to give myself credit but i'm not nieve enough think that the people in the industry would do the same. After looking at the most recent posts I realized that not only have my photos gotten more pleasing, but the range of my subjects has spread as well. My photographic appreciation and vision are increasing in proportion to my skill and passion.
I started to read a new photo magazine I just got in and was reading about shooting in different light situations and times when the article took me back to a photo I had disregarded as useful a good time ago. I went back to my files and starting looking through old RAW files from my Pentax. What I found was flawed jewel. One early morning before work I was up earlier than usual to look outside and see an unusual amount of fog for south Florida. I grabbed my camera and hurried outside to take about 20 photos. I was so excited that by the time I even reviewed one the sun was ruining the atmosphere and I realized all my pictures were on the wrong setting and completely blown out. I hurried as fast as I could and put the camera to the setting neccessary for this difficult lighting. This photo is one the the 2 that got captured.
When I went back to the photo which was a good 8 months ago I finally realized what I had wasn't a overly noisy underexposed image but a perfect negative or a foggy day that could only make things seem old and out of date; aged. I put the photo in Antique black and white (like I seem to do a lot of subjects these days) and got rid of some dust artifacts. Added a little smoothness and contrast. The final image is probably the most meaningful I have posted, to me at least. It goes back to a day when I just woke up and the first thought of my mind was capturing the moment with my camera. It was me being totally careless and taking bad shots but sticking just long enough to make adjustments for just 2 final negatives. It is a new rendition of an old photo that is made to look even older.