projects

New Paltz is an amazing town. I’ve probably said something to this effect before on the blog, but, there have been plenty of weekends where I get home on a Friday and don’t get back into my car until Monday, all the while being able to hike, bike, eat, drink, shop and see live music within a comfortable walking distance from home. Often I’ll wander around town with my camera, looking very touristy, especially on the high traffic weekends. There’s such an interesting mix of people and things to see in such a small town, like a roving troubadour playing guitar along the rail trail yesterday, that I feel the need to document it a little more than I have been. Since I usually shoot landscapes, this is a nice change of pace and a great way to show others some of the beautiful things I see around here every day. Here are 5 shots from the past couple of weekends — New Paltz in 5!

Local New Paltz bluegrass band Yard Sale playing at In Good Taste

A couple of years ago I ran across an article online about how to make a homemade lightbox. I spent a Saturday morning putting together a rather large (non collapsible) one that you can see here, along with a few shots I took with it. I didn’t have the space to permanently keep it set up, and it was pretty big and fragile for a closet, so storing it was always a challenge. At some point, I wound up getting rid of it, but still wanted some kind of lightbox for taking nicely lit shots of small to medium size things. This weekend I finally got around to making a bit smaller lightbox (12″x12″) that’s collapsible. The box is held together with velcro strips and now can easily collapse down to be stored without danger to the structure. I recommend something like this for any photographer, it’s one of the cheapest projects you can do and you probably have most of the materials at home already.

Materials used: Tracing paper, cardboard box, sticky back velcro strips (this is probably the most expensive item), marking pen, x-acto knife, razor blade, ruler, scissors, scotch tape, packing tape. The external lighting will only cost you around $10 per 500 watt halogen, and it’s great to have some work lights around the house anyway.