Recap: My Best Photos of 2015

In 2015, I’ve had more experience using my camera and have been to new locations to increase the diversity of my photos. In 2014, I took mostly urban photos while living in Jersey City.

In 2015, I moved to Lawrenceville, New Jersey in a more suburban setting with some natural environments. I also went to a lot of baseball games during the summer with more shots of a sport a truly love and enjoy. Of course, I made some return visits to Jersey City with new photos.

Normally, top lists include things numbered, but it was almost impossible to make a number list of my best photos. Instead, I chose the best photos I took in 2015 that I want to showcase and revisit:

In the Trenton area, there is a Christmas tree farm where you can cut your own tree. I spotted this leafless, lifeless tree in the middle of pine trees. It stuck out beautifully and I just had to land a wide shot of it.

One late cold Autumn afternoon with Winter approaching, I had looked out my bedroom window and noticed how beautiful the sunset sky looked. The sky was just burning red. I ran out with my camera and took some shots. This one here with the exposure composition decrease and the white balance set to incandescent warm resulted in this stunning photo.

 

While walking around the All About Downtown Jersey City Street Fair with a friend of mine, I noticed we had pass this graffiti writing. I loved the saying in it as I told my friend to just pose her feet above it. To see more of my Downtown Jersey City Street Fair photos, check out the article I wrote about it here: Part 1 & Part 2

Needing some unique Autumn photos, I went to the Loveless Nature Preserve in Lawrenceville, NJ to get some forest photos. I put my camera as low as the ground while laying down to get this type of POV shot. To know more about the nature preserve, check out the article I wrote about it here: Nature Preserve

In the Summer time in Lawrenceville, after getting some sunset photos I walked past by the back part of a home. I liked the way the light was shining on top of the door with the presence of nature. It just had this Summer relaxation to it.

One of the first places I discovered in Lawrenceville was Colonial Lake, a park & lake area of the town. In the early parts of Autumn, I was taking cloud photos as well as sunsets. I struck gold with this one as I was able to get the best of both worlds with the sun setting bright orange warmth on this gigantic cloud while reflecting on the lake and the shadowy trees in the background. To see more of my Colonial Lake photos, check out the article I wrote about it here: Colonial Lake

Right in the parking lot of the Lawrence Shopping Center, I had my finest hour as a photographer as I took this breathe taking sunset. By playing with the settings of my camera, I was able to take a bright orange and blue sunset photo in the early parts of Spring. To know more about how I took this photo, here’s the story I written about this photo and how I was inspire to take it: Blue Sunset

While staying over at a friend’s house in Jersey City, I saw this mural from across the street of her home. I loved how its colors contrast wonderfully to the white snow and how everything pops out thanks to the night setting and street light illuminating over it.

Living in Lawrenceville, making trips to Philadelphia is a lot less shorter which ended up me making my first trip to Citizens Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies. Although I am a die-hard New York Mets fan, Citizens Bank Park is a fantastic venue any baseball fan will enjoy. Here’s a wide shot I took during a game between the Phillies and Marlins by the third base line in April.

I went to a few vintage car shows this year in the parking lot of Captain Paul’s Ice Cream Shop in Lawrenceville. This vintage comet car caught my attention and had to just take a rich black and white photo of it. This was the summer that I was really into 50s & 60s pop culture as well as Rockabilly music and Pin-ups. While there were no cute pin-up girls to take photos of, this one of the comet vehicle was enough beauty that I needed.

I ended up with a pet Yorkie this past Summer. It was a long time since I had a dog in the house as Jacob the Yorkie founded a new home. I haven’t taken too many photos of animals so it was a golden opportunity to take several shots of my own pet to practice. I sat this adorable little pup on my bed and went with an extreme close up portrait shot. Jacob is a natural with poses.

In one of my rare visits to my hometown of Jersey City in 2015, I visited Morris Canal Park in one of the coldest days of the Winter. The breeze from the Hudson River did not help much. Quickly, I took this bench and put it in front of this tree since it is my favorite sitting spot in the whole city with one of the best skylines in the world in front of me. I zoomed in for a medium frame making sure I had the presence of a cold Winter day.

In perhaps one of the biggest games in Mets Citi Field regular season history, the New York Mets completed the sweep of the Washington Nationals on August 2 to tie for first place this late of the season. The crowd was just electric. After the game, I took this wide shot of Citi Field and the rotunda on this beautiful Summer night. To know more about my Citi Field and Mets adventure, check out my article about it here: Mayhem in the Citi

One of my closest cousins ended up marrying the love of his life in August 2015 and I was invited to the ceremony as the wedding was in New York City. On a roof top where the wedding ceremony was held, I had the opportunity to get rare shots of the Empire State Building. I framed this one close enough to include the palm trees on each side while displaying the gorgeous Summer sky as well as the Empire State Building itself.

Asides from going to big league baseball games in 2015, I was went to a few Trenton Thunder games, a Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. One of the games ended up going to extra innings as I moved to the front seats to get close to the Thunder’s dugout. That resulted in this shot as I took a photo of a group of young players anticipating an extra inning win and perhaps looking forward to big league dreams. To see more Thunder photos, check out my story about them here: Trenton Thunder

In another visit to a Trenton Thunder game, I ended up capturing one of the pregame ceremony moments: the National Anthem. While the anthem was going on, I noticed the players standing by the flag with a few younger girls. I thought it looked like a great moment as I zoomed in as close as possible to capture the moment along with the actual American flag and the one displayed on screen. To see more Thunder photos, check out my story about them here: Trenton Thunder 

In another Jersey City Winter visit, I took a morning stroll down Wayne Street and encounter a very snowy basketball court in Angel Luis Ramos playground. I really like how the snowy court looked in the shadows of the morning sunrise with the back of the apartments in the background. This photo really does have a great urban winter feeling to it.

When the weather warmed up again, I returned to Jersey City in the Spring and visited the Waterfront. The Colgate Clock area was mostly blocked off in 2014 for renovations for a park section. It opened back up as I was able to get much close to the Colgate Clock again. Seeing how close I really was, I laid on my back on the ground with my camera pointing up and decided to include both the Colgate Clock and the Goldman Sachs building (the tallest in New Jersey) in one shot. These are my two favorite landmarks in Jersey City and I was glad to get them both together in one shot.

Going back to the New York Mets game on August 2 against the Washington Nationals, I was so excited and thrilled by this game not only for the implications of it for first place in the NL East, but by the electricity of the crowd! It was the first time I saw Citi Field packed and the loudest I’ve heard Mets fans since the team played in Shea Stadium. I decided to capture the crowd with the widest shot possible to at least get the Pepsi-Cola Porch sign (Which I glad I did since Pepsi is no longer a sponsor of the Mets). I was so happy to get a shot of Citi Field with so many Mets fans. To see more about my visit to Citi Field and the photos I took there, check out my story about it here: Mayhem in the Citi

The New York Mets made it to the playoffs for the first time in nine years and with October baseball on the way, I thought it was appropriate to get my Mets hat along with a baseball and glove to set it on the ground along with some fallen leaves for the Autumn baseball atmosphere. After a dozen shots, I ended up with this beauty of a photo that captures the essence of a team playing in October.

By the Lawrenceville and Hamilton borderline in New Jersey, there is a long walking trail called the D & R Trail Canal. I only traveled a little bit of the trail, but did discovered this awesome graffiti design right underneath a bridge and near the water of the canal. The sun reflected wonderfully on the graffiti and water as I was amaze to see such art work between two suburban towns. To see more about this discovery, check out my story about it here:  D & R Trail

When I first entered the Loveless Nature Preserve in Lawrenceville, this was the first thing I saw. It was like entering an enchanted forest. The greenery over taking everything and the small opening to the preserve had left me breathless. I had to go with a wide shot to capture the greenery and the rocky road entrance. To see more photos of the preserve, check out my story about it here: Loveless Nature Preserve

With the cold winter long gone, I was glad to go back out consistently for photography outings. This was also my first time taking Spring photos with my DSLR camera so I was excited to get amazing colors of blooming flowers. The trees in Lawrenceville had looked so beautiful. I took plenty of cherry blossom trees including this one with the gorgeous sky and some light green trees in the background. To see more of my Spring photos, check out my story about it here: Spring Time in Lawrenceville

In one of my visits to Citizens Bank Park, I went to a game in which the New York Mets came to visit in May! It was my first actual Mets road game and it was great to see other Mets fans invade an opposing team’s stadium. What was cooler than that was seeing the players of your favorite team up close. I went up to the Mets bullpen before the game and saw starting pitcher Matt Harvey with some warm up pitchers. He was throwing it catcher Kevin Plawecki. Standing just over the bullpen, I zoomed in close enough of the back of Plawecki and included the flowers over the bullpen on the right side. It was the perfect Spring and baseball photo in one shot! The sun setting and simmering on the bullpen was a nice added bonus.

Just by the D & R trail between the Lawrenceville and Hamilton border, I saw this magnificent creek flowing while I was standing by this small bridge. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and didn’t expect it. I went with a wide shot capturing the narrowness of the creek and the fully filled trees of the Summer. Every time someone has a wise crack about New Jersey and its ugliness, I just show them this to showcase just how beautiful the state is. To see more of my D & R Trail photos, check out my article about it here:  D & R Trail

So, that’s it for my best photos of 2015. I look forward to my future photography outings in 2016 and for the new places I might just end up for new shots. I also have a new long range lens for my camera so expect some new and unique photos! I will also try to be as active as possible with this photoblog site to provide new stories of my photography adventures and outings. Until then, have a wonderful 2016!

Chloe Coulson: The First Model

Around this time a year ago (late August 2014), I was in a dire mood to take some model photos. I had experimented all summer long with plenty of outdoor shots, mostly scenic photos, but I wanted to test out more of my photography skills and shoot something differently. What I wanted to do next was to take model photos of a gorgeous woman.

This inspiration came when I went on a tour of the Historic Loew’s Landmark in Jersey City. On this tour, I saw a gorgeous young woman wearing a beautiful vintage black dress. After the tour was over, I asked her if I could take her picture. She agreed nicely as I took her photo by a staircase.

I was absolutely mesmerized by the photo and I wanted to take more shots like this. So, I decided to contact some of my female friends to see if they would like their photos taken. One of them was my friend Chloe Coulson who I met in college through a friend.

We hung out a few times and she’s absolutely cool to be around with. I hadn’t seen her in three years, but we kept in touch via Facebook. It was actually on Facebook in which I saw a model style photo of Chloe that one of her friends took. It was one of my reasons as to why I contacted her.

I wasn’t too sure of Chloe was going to contact me back and/or agree to do a model session with me, but to my surprise she not only agreed but was all for it! She was just as excited as I was if not more to do this model session. We set a date for a Sunday afternoon in mid- September as we message each other and discussed the plan for the shoot.

We picked the location (Hoboken) since it’s the one place we could easily meet up in. As for clothes, I told Chloe she could wear whatever would make her feel comfortable.

She had planned to wear some high waist shorts. I also prepared myself by studying modelling and researching poses especially some outdoor ones by models online. I took some notes down in my notebook to take with me for the session. I even went to Hoboken to scout what areas would work best for setting Chloe in for our session.

Mid-September came as it was a gorgeous Sunday afternoon which was perfect because I feared it would rain since it was kind of cloudy early in the day. I arrived at Hoboken terminal via the Light Rail as I waited for Chloe to arrive from her NJ Transit train.

I waited for about a good ten minutes until Chloe spotted me as we embraced each other with a nice friendly hug after not seeing each other in years. Chloe was wearing her high waist shorts as she planned, but also had on a long sleeve black shirt and some beige boots. She was looking fantastic as I complimented on her looks and outfit.

We caught up for a bit then went inside the Hoboken Terminal Station to begin out model session. It was my first model session as I was bit nervous, but excited at the same time! I took over 60 photos for this session, but these following photos are my top 12 favorites. For this session, I shot mostly in program, but had some shots in aperture; ISO levels were set to 200 and 400 and the white balance set to daylight and shade.

The very first shot of Chloe as I try to set things in motion for this session
© 2014 Angel Ortiz Jr. Photography

The first thing I wanted to do for this session was to get a few practice shots and get my settings adjusted for the day. I had Chloe get comfortable and had her sit on one of the many benches in the terminal. I took out my notebook filled with model posing notes to see what poses I wanted Chloe to use. In this simple vertical shot (Photo Above), I wanted to get things going by just getting most of Chloe’s body with her feet just cut off (which I was fine with). I had her look to her right, away from the camera as I wanted to look as though she was waiting for someone at the station. This plays out even more as I had her place her bag next to her as though she was on the go.

Chloe sits on a bench in the Hoboken Terminal as she looks like a wondering traveler
© 2014 Angel Ortiz Jr. Photography

After getting my feet wet and feeling confident with the first vertical shot, I decided to go with a horizontal wide shot of Chloe on the bench. This time I instructed Chloe to look straight at me and look at the camera while playing both her hands on the bench and legs first together and on the side (Photo Above). Her bag was place perfectly by her feet, again feeling as though she is waiting for someone and anticipating traveling. I decided to leave the left side of the frame and bench empty to symbolize the loneliness of travelling.

Chloe looks on gracefully in this shot
© 2014 Angel Ortiz Jr. Photography

The Hoboken Terminal has this marble wall right near the bench I was taking Chloe’s photos with this amazing lion structure. I placed Chloe in the middle of the wide shot on the wall for the first standing photo (Photo Above). I instructed Chloe to just slightly tilt her head down and have her left arm to grace her and to close her eyes.

I also wanted her to slightly bend her left knee and her legs together to complete this gorgeous visual and calming tone of the photo. I went with a wide shot to get most of the green marble on the bottom part of the wall and to of course get the lion structure on the right frame.

Chloe looks straight at the camera as the color tone in this photo makes it looks as though she’s in an ancient temple
© 2014 Angel Ortiz Jr. Photography

Similar to the previous shot, I had Chloe this time move closer to the lion structure and pose the same way only this time tilting her head and looking straight at the camera (Photo Above). I zoomed in closer as well for a medium shot. I placed Chloe on the left side of the frame and the lion structure on the center right as they were the main focus of the photo. I love the dark tone of the colors in this shot as though Chloe has stumbled upon an ancient temple as the marble really showcases that along with the lion’s structure. I used the white balance, fluorescent daylight, to achieve this color effect in this shot.

After a few more shots in the terminal, Chloe and I decided to go back outside to start taking outdoor photos and take advantage of a gorgeous mid-September day. We left the terminal and head over to a brick road, one of the destinations I wanted to take Chloe’s photos. This is a great area to take photos except that it’s also by an intersection, a dead end and a row of yellow taxis.

I did my best to get a shot ready, but cars kept coming our way so we had to side step a few times. Chloe and I started to laugh because of the difficulty of this shot and the thought of unluckily getting hit by a car. At one point, a guy rolled down his car window and joked about not worrying about hitting me and instead worried about hitting my model.

Chloe right in the middle of the most dangerous brick road in Hoboken
© 2014 Angel Ortiz Jr. Photography

Chloe and I laughed about that and we settled for one quick shot on this crazy brick road (Photo Above). I instructed Chloe to stand right in the middle as I walked exactly with her and placed my foot as the spot I wanted her to stand. It was great that Chloe had shades with her as she put them on to avoid the sunlight; it also prevented her from squinting.

Those magnificent shades would come through in later shots. As for her pose, I wanted to have her arms by her side, but also had her left arm just barely holding onto her bag and her right thumb placed inside her pocket. I had her look straight at me with her mouth just barely gasp.

Once she was placed, I quickly went with a full shot, capturing all of the brick ground, the yellow taxis and the cars parked on an angle (a Hoboken novelty). The building in the background adds a nice touch too for this urban-like shot. I really went for a full New York style fashion style. We try to go for one more shot on this deadly brick road, but Chloe was concerned for my well-being, so we moved on to the next location.

Chloe “the Hunter” Coulson looking the bad ass thanks to this awesome background we found in an alley way
© 2014 Angel Ortiz Jr. Photography

Chloe and I went through some backroads to take some narrow shots. What’s great about these alleys is that they have brick roads too. I scouted these backroads weeks before this shot, but for some reason I didn’t catch this gathering of planks of wood with the word “Hunter” spray painted on it with leaves over some fences and a random tire on a fence (Photo Above). When Chloe and I bumped into this, we thought this would be a great spot for some shots! To me, it was a perfect opportunity for a bad ass photo.

I had a lot of ideas running through my mind and what poses I wanted for Chloe to use. I ended up going for a simple shot and pose, but it worked perfectly. With a medium shot, I placed Chloe on the left side of the frame as I had her pose with her head looking to the left almost as though she is looking at the “Hunter” sign. I had Chloe hold her bag and had her legs apart; add in the shades and you had a bad ass looking model with the “Hunter” sign framed on the right side. It’s exactly what I wanted to achieve in this photo and it became one of my favorite shots in this session.

A nice shot of Chloe standing in front of the 150 Years of Hoboken Mural
© 2014 Angel Ortiz Jr. Photography

After walking around Washington Street and taking some photos at Church Square Park, Chloe and I decided to go to the Hoboken waterfront to finish off the session. Near Frank Sinatra Park, there’s this amazing Hoboken mural that celebrates the city’s 150^th anniversary (Photo Above). It was one of the spots I wanted to take Chloe’s photo since I wanted to show where exactly we were taking these photos.

This one was a simple shot as I placed Chloe just in the middle of the mural right above the “O” in Hoboken as I wanted her to be the main focus while getting an entire wide shot of the mural which had sail boats docking at a pier, which we were actually nearby. I included the sidewalk in the frame for a nice urban aesthetic touch. I had Chloe just place her arms and hands on the wall while wearing sunglasses so that way she looked chill.

The black and white with green left in really makes this photo look like a cover for a rock album
© 2014 Angel Ortiz Jr. Photography

After the mural shot, we headed straight to Pier C Park which is a man-made park built right on top of the Hudson River and docks just off the waterfront. We took a lot of photos in this park, but I ended up choosing two of them for this article, including this one (Photo Above). I had my tripod with me and decided to finally use it. I had Chloe lay down on the grass and had her cross her arms and her hair spread out on the grass. She wore her sunglasses since the sun was beaming right at her, but it worked out.

Once I had her placed the way I wanted to, I had my tripod above her and titled the camera just down enough so I could get her upper body. I zoomed in close enough to get her torso up to her hair in the frame while having the grass fill up the rest of the photo. I then switched to black and white mode with only the color green left in, a great feature my camera has.

It was how I was able to get this shot without using Photoshop or any other photo editing software. I took this photo again in regular color, but I felt like this was the best one. One of Chloe’s friends on Facebook had commented that this looked like a cover for a rock album when I posted this. I couldn’t agree more!

Chloe looking like a traveler once again as she looks on the Manhattan skyline
© 2014 Angel Ortiz Jr. Photography

In the second photo I picked for the Pier C Park shots, I just had Chloe sit on one of the circle/tum shaped structures near the edge of the park’s fence (Photo Above). I had her just look straight ahead of the NYC skyline with the Freedom Tower as I took this shot of her back.

I framed Chloe to the left as I wanted to have more focus on the skyline. I wanted to capture the feel again of the traveler which is why I had Chloe place her bag right next to her. I also wanted to capture how most people living in Northern New Jersey admire the wonderful skyline of Manhattan.

Chloe looking back as she stands on the narrow walkway near Frank Sinatra Park
© 2014 Angel Ortiz Jr. Photography

After taking photos at Pier C Park, I wanted to go back near Frank Sinatra Park to take a few shots of a long, narrow walkway on the waterfront. There were these lamps on this walkway that drew my attention and was a place I wanted to take photos of when I scouted the area.

For this shot (Photo Above), I wanted a vertical shot since the walkway was very narrow and I wanted to get all of Chloe’s body and the symmetry of the lamp posts. This time, I had Chloe turn her body towards me instead of just standing in front of the camera to get a different pose. She left her bag on as well as her sunglasses, but it worked well in this environment.

Chloe looks on the Manhattan skyline in this shot as she looks like a genuine New Yorker
© 2014 Angel Ortiz Jr. Photography

At the very end of this walkway, I took more photos of Chloe, including this lovely one here (Photo Above). Just like the shot of her with the Freedom Tower in the background, I placed Chloe in the right side of the frame this time as I wanted to have the Empire State Building on the far left side.

This time, though, I had Chloe on front of the camera, but not looking directly at it. With her sunglasses on, I had Chloe look to her right while having her place her right hand inside her pocket and her left arm caressing her hair. Just like the previous walkway photo, this adds well to the environment as Chloe looks like a gorgeous New Yorker and the outfit helps fit the description.

Close-up shot of Chloe’s face as her eyes sparkle like an Anime character thanks to the sunlight
© 2014 Angel Ortiz Jr. Photography

Chloe and I were starting to feel exhausted and hungry as the session was coming to an end, so we went to Pier A Park to finish things up. After a few shots, I decided to end things with an extreme close-up shot of Chloe’s face (Photo Above). I placed Chloe on the left side as I went with a close-up zoom just enough to get her face and shoulders.

This time I shot in aperture to get the blur effect of the Freedom Tower and the nearby people enjoying the gorgeous day. This photo pretty much sums up a gorgeous day and model in one shot. Chloe’s eyes sparkles so beautifully in this shot too thanks to the sunlight. I joked with Chloe later saying that she had anime eyes.

With the session now over, Chloe and I decided to finally eat and hit up a local Five Guys to enjoy some delicious burgers. I offered to pay, but she insisted since I took the time to take her photos. I did pay her back, though, with some Rita’s Italian Ices after we were done eating Five Guys. We actually took our Rita’s Ices back to Pier A Park to enjoy the scenery, chit chat about TV shows and comics and what we both had been doing since the last time we met.

Right before we parted ways, Chloe and I took one last photo, this time together as I set up the camera and the tripod and set it on a timer. After many failed attempts, we finally took this one where we made silly poses which came out better than all the regular pose shots (Photo Below).

Chloe and I had a blast with our photo session as we end it by doing a silly pose
© 2014 Angel Ortiz Jr. Photography

At the Hoboken Terminal, Chloe and I parted ways as we gave each other a long goodbye hug and hopped on our respected trains back home. We haven’t seen each other since that day, but we still stay in touch. This had been one of the most memorable days of photography for me and I wouldn’t mind teaming up with Chloe again for a model session.