Café Soleil Images

Lowepro Photo Sport 200 AW

2011-12-17T13:58:00.000-08:00

Here's the newest addition to my bag family. And yes, I'm addicted to bags. And this bag came in a pretty orange color. Score.

The photo from the left was borrowed from the Popular Photo website site. And here is the official Lowepro page.

I've been doing some moderate hiking lately. My current bag solutions do not account for a hydration system. I'm reminded of the near bad experience of my Subway hike and the lack of H2O. This bag has a compartment from a hydration system. Based on the videos I've seen, this bag seems to be pretty well designed for the outdoor enthusiast. There's even a place for trekking poles.

With an additional 15% discount, I couldn't resist.

This video on YouTube.com sold me on the bag.

Quasi Frankenstein-ing a new Photo PC

2011-12-15T17:44:00.000-08:00

So, when I returned from my Bishop trip, I experienced some computer issues. BSOD - Blue screen of death computer issues (the not so good kind). Long story short, it turned out my ram modules went bad. However, for me to reach that final conclusion, I pretty much did a near complete tear down of my custom built PC. And in the course of tearing down the PC, I got to learn a lot about custom PC building. Wow. Obtaining all this knowledge was pretty fun but the process of trying to get the PC back in working order was pretty stressful. I had some deadlines and I need to push photos outs. But I don't all this information to go to waste/go moldy in my head.

What does that all entail. I'm going to build me a newish PC for myself. I'll take the existing hard drives and the Ram modules from my current PC and use them for the new build but I do want some new parts.

I want raid'ed SSDs as a boot drive, I want CrossFireX or SLI video cards (maybe - the cool factor is high but for CS5.5 - a Cuda video card might make more sense), and I might want a water cooled cooling system. And I'll probably switch off from an AMD chip and splurge on a Intel Core i7-2600 Sandy Bridge chip with a SATA-6 enabled motherboard or as the cool kids call them, a new mobo.

The Chinese-ness in me doesn't and won't allow me to go retail price on these goodies. So, seeing how I have a fully function PC to keep me occupied, I'll piece together a new piece as the there are specials for the respective parts.

Parts I've amassed so far.

I got a gaming tower.Rosewill GEAR X3 Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, Support up to 15.36" Video Card, with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 140mm Fan, 1x Top 120mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, Option Fan-1x Top 120mm Fan, 2x Side 120mm Fan.

And I got a power source. KINGWIN Lazer LZ-850 850W Modular 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC W/ 3-Way LED Switch and Universal Modular Connector Power Supply.

Don't be jealous of my geek-dome. I'm cecy like that.

Mood: Geek-cexy

Music: Stereo Love (Extend Version)/Edward Maya feat Alicia

Location: Home Studio

Night with Annie Leibovitz

2011-12-14T12:50:00.000-08:00

Close friend PK invited me to a Central Library function featuring Annie Leibovitz as the guest speaker. Annie was highlighting her new book "Pilgrimage". Buy it here.

This was a fun night. She spoke inside Central Library Mark Taper Auditorium. Cozy spot for an intimate monologue with Annie.

Here are some shots from the night. And she signed my book. How sweet is that?

Mood: Happy

Music: Jazz Lounge (Something)

Location: Home Studio

Photo of Amanda Seyfried

2011-11-26T11:08:00.000-08:00

Meet Amanda Seyfried. This photo came to me via an Esquire email/Equire blog. Please find the original posting here

Marcus Ohlsson originally shot this photo for Marie Claire. Find this the reference here.

Not a photo I would have personally shot...at least not yet. I'm not creative enough to instinctly blow out the face like this but I love this photo. Two light setup with one light really doing a fine job on the backdrop. Wait, I think there might be third light hitting her left thigh. I can't tell. The thigh seems the have the same EV as the neck area. Excellent use of a small but powerful lighting source. I will mentally note this setup for future shooting sessions. This photo is excellent. Perfect highlight of her left feeding apparatus. My compliments to the photog. Go Marcus.

Kingston 16 GB and Buy.com

2011-10-27T10:40:00.000-07:00

Buy.com is offering a 16 gb Kingston ( ultra-fast transfer rates of 45MB/second read and 40MB/sec. write) compact flash card for $30 bucks minus a mail-in rebate of $10 bucks. Click here if you wanted one for yourself.

My biggest concern is, as with the concerns of most photographers who value their images, having a card corrupted or go bad with 10 or more gigs of photo is a major buzz killer. However, having the ability to hold 16 gigs is pretty awesome though.

My current arsenal of compact flash cards is made up primarily of two SanDisk 8 gb Extreme Ducati Edition CompactFlash Memory Card. Not a failure in three years with moderate amounts of shooting. These are also 45MB/second for reading and writing. I hope I won't miss the 5MB/second slower write speed on the Kingston. Anyhow, I paid mucho bucks for the SanDisk cards. The twice the size Kingston is probably 1/4-1/3 the price of the SanDisk (when I got them).

Happy Thursday all.

Route 66

2011-09-26T16:45:00.000-07:00

I wanted to personally thank my close friends for keeping me in their thoughts as they connect me to wonderful opportunities from across the globe. Thank you CC and PL for making this happen for me.

CC was having lunch with one of the higher-ups at a magazine holding company. The higher-up confided to CC that one of her magazines was doing a story on Route 66 and the photographer selected to travel with the journalist(s) on the story had his U.S. visa denied. CC chimes in, I know a photog you can use and he’s based on out Los Angeles (which coincidentally is the ending point to Route 66 – implications of which means only a one-way ticket is required for me to participate.)

So, I was invited to be the photog for the car magazine AutoCar China and help document the findings of Route 66 from Illinois to California. Cadillac was the car sponsor for this story and they provided a top of the line SRX four wheel drive for our driving pleasure.

This trip is a bucket list dream come true. I've always thought that not having done a cross country trip has hindered some part of my creative learning process. I live in a wonderful country and my exposures have been so limited, so so limited.

I'm also excited at the thought of being published in a real live, true to form, with nice paper magazine. Again, although not necessarily a bucket list item, being magazine published was a goal of mine before I check out of this world. Score!

Thanks again CC and PL for being such loving and wonderful friends.

I’ll have a day by day photo essay recounting my journeys from the trip.

Mood: Functional
Music: Seven Days/Chris Botti Feat. Sting; Dominic Miller
Location: Panera Bread - Pasadena

My Review of Think Tank Urban Disguise 35 V2.0 Shoulder Bag - Holds DSLR with 70-200 2.8 Attached + 10 to 13" Netbook/Laptop

2011-09-21T21:19:00.001-07:00

Originally submitted at Adorama

Think Tank Urban Disguise 35 V2.0 Shoulder Bag - Holds DSLR with 70-200 2.8 Attached + 10 to 13" Netbook/Laptop

Awesome 1-2 Lens/1 Body camera bag

By Bill G from Pasadena, CA on 9/21/2011

Pros: Lots Of Pockets And Features, Efficient, Rugged, Weatherproof

Best Uses: Commuting, Travel

Describe Yourself: Semi-Pro

Primary use: Business

Was this a gift?: No

This was my primary bag as I drove Route 66 from Chicago, IL to Santa Monica, CA. It was important for me to be able to remove the camera from the bag rapidly and fire off a few exposures before returning the to car and covering more ground. The bag was awesome as an in and out carrier for a pro-sized camera. I loved having the compartment meant for computers as a location to store a full sized notepad for on the road note taking. As a Canon shooter, I kept in the bag a gripped 5DII and a 24-105 F4/IS lens with the lens hood attached. I also kept a blower and a 50mm F1.4. This bag performed marvelously. It was money well spent.

(legalese)

50 Times - Cloud Gate

2011-09-01T12:35:00.000-07:00

50 Times

Canon 5D Mark II- Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 @ 16mm

7 Exposures (1/8 to 8 seconds in 1 stop increments) - F/18 - ISO 400

Shot With Tripod/Circular Polarizer

click on image to enlarge

This piece of modern art is a sight.
This thing is big, if not grand.
This thing is shiny.

This thing sits in the center of a plaza as if it were a shrine to Bean-ness, well, at least a distorted/in the spirit of Picasso, while Picasso was in a alternative creative state, bean-ness. Actually, this thing is not called the Bean but rather Cloud Gate (Okay, my bad, I was first introduced to this statue as the Bean by a Chinese nationalist). Generally first phrases/first introductory terms stick with me like bubble gum to the bottom on my overly priced Italian loafers, the loafers with the extra grooves in the soles so the gum has more space to accumulate.

I probably didn’t catch The Cloud at the time of day I normally wanted to but given my circumstances, it would have to do. I am a disappointed in myself for not prioritizing photography more during my extended stay in Chicago but I was/am rolling with the existing circumstances. *Grunts*

Mood: Anti-Lazy
Music: Lighters (Feat Bruno Mars)/Eminem
Location: Casa de Sydney/Northbrook, Illinois

Adobe Predictions

2011-09-01T09:03:00.000-07:00

I have a feeling Adobe CS6 will be announced soon. (Please come, please come, please be announced.) Adorama is discounting Lightroom 3 at 50% off. Midwest Photo Exchange is discounting Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 for the Mac at 50% off. Clearing out inventory? I think so.

Shooting in Chicago

2011-08-31T15:15:00.000-07:00

I def appreciate the loyal service my Compaq Presario F700 has given me in the past three years. However, my computing needs have grown and as they have grown my poor little battery has gotten really compromised. I'm getting what, 60 minutes of service on one full charge.

I'm currently doing a 7 photo Photomatix merge with Canon 5D Mark II raw files. Talk about mach slow. I could do interval weight training during each batch of seven photos. Actually, let's back up a bit. Downloading, having Lightroom 2.x convert the photos to DNG files, and creating 1:1 previews is Leo Tolstoy long. I'm not complaining though, this computer was never meant to be a photo computing device.

I do believe I'll be requiring a computer upgrade soon. I'm extremely interested in, or should I say, by default, I'm obligated to consider an Apple product. Proverbially speaking, us creatives should be rocking the, with character, with sole, with spirit, with an unparalleled ecosystem of complimentary products, Apple products. Yeah, hard to deny the impact Apple has on the retail market. In a down economy, Apple stores are packed. Ever heard of Apple providing discounts on current year products? Rarely and usually if you are a student.

Even though the secondary market for software is a bit limited, I can't deny the styling (all metal case - very cecy), the battery life (60 minutes currently versus 6 hours), and the moderate immunity to internet STDs (syberly transmitted diseases - bai bai slow my @ss down Norton Anti-Virus ). I do realize all these nicer things command a premium. At least 1.5 - 2x premium. I'm cheap but I'm willing to consider it, if it satisfies my needs. However, I'm not looking forward to learning a new OS. Heck, I'm just barely learning the finer aspects of Windows 7.

On a different note, I had a chance to photograph some areas of Chicago. I borrowed a car and drove from a suburb in Illinois and to downtown Chicago and photographed the lighthouse, the Bean, and the staircase at the Museum of Contemporary Art at a total cost of $210 plus admission to the museum. Yeah, I was completely zoned into being creative and completely lost all abilities to understand the posted street signs. Those darn parking violations are pricy but are a bit cheaper that those I have experienced in Los Angeles.

Mood: Constantly Tired
Music: Silence
Location: Casa De Sydney – Northbrook, Illinois

Observation For The Day - 08-29-11

2011-08-29T15:10:00.000-07:00

The observations are:

1. Adorama doesn’t carry Singh-Ray Filters.
2. B&H Photo doesn’t carry Think Tank Photo bags.

Result of this happy observation, I paid double for express shipping. I can’t believe these two awesome photo geek heavens don’t carry both product lines. Oh well, being out an additional ten bucks didn’t sting too much.

So why the gear post?

I'm about to live a dream photo gig. I'm currently in Chicago, spending some time with some really great friends. And I'm happy report that Chicago will be the starting point for my photo essay on Americana on Route 66.

I humped all most of the camera gear to Chicago via a Think Tank Airport Security V1 rolling camera bag. Along with the suitcase that housed my clothing, I had a personal carry-on back that housed my PC and other random required items. What was missing in this whole logistical arrangement was smaller bag to house the camera(s) and lens(es) for daily use. Thank you Adorama for shipping the Urban Disguise 35 V2.0.

Anticipating my equipment needs besides the basic camera and lens combinations has been a mild challenge. Having not done an assignment like this before, I've been playing out all the potential shooting scenarios in my head. This best thing I came up with to cover my photographic needs was a high caliber neutral density filter - a ND filter that changes density as you rotate it. On top of that, it is a polarizer as well. So there. Thank you Singh-Ray for making quality expensive products that receive high ratings from photo geeks like us. Now, all I have to worry about is vignetting on my uber wide angle lenses. There's only so much Singh-Ray can do to keep this thing as thin as possible. I'll have to live with the profile thickness.

Mood: Mildly Jet Lagged-I’m weak
Music: Some easy listening Jazz
Location: Casa De Sydney – Northbrook, Illinois

Almost Official

2011-08-23T15:48:00.000-07:00

I spent some of my Monday maneuvering around the County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s Office. Apparently there are profit opportunities for random people trying to guide uninitiated aspiring small businesses owners. It took me a while to figure this out. Apparently, people representing local publications such as the local news paper are loitering around the Registrar/Recorder’s office looking to solicit their free advice in exchange for the opportunity to publish the aspiring small business owner’s business advertisement. To file a DBA (doing business as), the business owner must file an advertisement in a local publication alerting the public that the owner is doing business as “XYZ.”

To the dismay of all those random people floating around trying to catch my attention and book my ad revenue needs, I personally walked my needs to the Pasadena Weekly office.

But before I visited the Pasadena Weekly office, I tried to file the paperwork needed for a local business license. I’m “happy” to report that the Pasadena websites are relatively out of date. The business license office is incorrectly listed on the website. However, I had an extremely pleasant experience trying to file the application. The person behind the counter suggested I file the application after 9/1. Doing so, saves me $40 bucks. Thank you guy with multiple eye-glasses. You were very friendly with the information.

I’m officially doing business as Café Soleil Images. I need to finish up that Pasadena business license application and I'll be completely official. Thank you very much for your future patronage. I now need to adjust my existing URL a bit.

Update on 8/8

2011-08-08T14:59:00.000-07:00

Happy August 8th. 8/8 cuz I'm Chinese like that.

I'm happy to report that I just finished two photography related projects. It feels good to share my photography skills with friends and put my knowledge to good use.

I have a pending project that is uber exciting. I'll have more to share if I should be chosen for the project. For now, I need to brush up on my Mandarin. Oh, and the new project might require a new tripod. Happy goes me.

Mood: Happy/Tired
Music: Some easy listening Jazz
Location: Starbucks/J-town

Kate Spade

2011-07-27T11:15:00.000-07:00

A Recent Promotion Kate Spade is doing. Find the full details here.

I love it when a designer or in this case, the creative director of a brand I like incorporates photography into their advertising campaigns. Deborah Lloyd of Kate Space is a lover of photography. She references Avedon and goes on to publish an interview with Lillian Bassman. Lillian's photos are the inspiration for a current line of bags and accessories. I'm a fan of Lillian. I thought I would share this with you all. Here is Deborah's interview with Lillian.

Mood: Creative

Music: High Up On The Hook - Alice Russell

Location: Home Studio

Summer - Neighborhood Flower

2011-07-10T20:30:00.000-07:00

Summer

Canon 5D Mark II- Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS @ 16mm

F/2.8 - ISO 800

Shot Handheld/Circular Polarizer

click on image to enlarge

I was driving home after some quality time at the local Panera Bread when I noticed the neighbor watering his/her lawn with some sprinklers. The spraying water caught my eye and rushed home and pulled the telephoto out to get a better look. After some unsuccessful attempts at some abstract water flow photos, I looked over one house over and saw these lovely flowers hanging from the tree. Click, click, click.

Mood: Lucid

Music: Barenaked Ladies - Greatest Hits

Location: Home Studio

The Subway Hike - Zion National Park

2011-07-10T00:16:00.000-07:00

The River Subway

Canon 5D Mark II- Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 @ 16mm

8 Exposures (1/8 to 15 seconds in 1 stop increments) - F/16 - ISO 400

Shot With Tripod/Circular Polarizer

click on image to enlarge

I needed to come back to Zion National Park for at least one more try at the Subway Hike. The first time I came to Zion National Park, I was not prepared to go on this hike but I fell instantly in love with the trademark Subway photos. The next time I came back to Zion, which was roughly a year later, I tried to do the hike but the path was snowed over and we were not going to be able to find the trail to the river in all that snow. However, the third time was a charm. I scored the walk up permit on my first attempt. This hike was darn difficult. There was no defined trail. Having to negotiate rocks, water, sand, and lushy, twiggy, branchy greenery was more challenging than I had ever expected. Talk about off the beaten path...

Bringing an extra heavy photo backpack was a strategic bomb. I could have gotten away with a smaller bag. I should own a smaller more mobile photo bag. However, I'm glad, at the last minute, I opt'ed to leave the second body in the car. And I could have done with one less lens. I do feel bad for my poor thin mount B+W Polarizer though. The sand from the Antelope Canyon photo session left a bit too much sand in the gearing. While spinning the polarizer in the direction I've been used to all these years, I unknowingly loosened filter from the front element. I'm sorry the filter had to take a swim twice (major brain fart there). I feel very lucky you didn't break on impact from the river rocks.

The last third of the hike was the most striking. The mini cascading waterfall, the first major photo worthy moment during the hike, was breathtaking. I only wished I had stopped at that immediate moment, rather than immediately venturing onward looking for the Subway, and photographed the waterfall when it was completely bathed in shadow. The return, in later afternoon light, shot wasn't as moving. This was the best shot I could come up with but I still think there is too much sunlight.

Flow

Canon 5D Mark II- Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 @ 16mm

9 Exposures (1/50 to 15 seconds in 1 stop increments) - F/18 - ISO 100

Shot With Tripod/Circular Polarizer

click on image to enlarge

I would like to note that I'm required to come back. I missed the Subway from the other angle. Yet another major brain fart on my behalf. Then again, when do I ever get it right the first time. I'd also like to point that that I barely made it back from the hike. I consumed the entire 70 ounces from my Camelbak by the half way point and roughed it the entire way back. I was definitely suffering from dehydration on the return hike. Had it not been for the overly nice woman with the Southern Utah University hat who offered me an entire bottle of water, I would have really struggled up the return portion of the mountain. By the way, the thinner air of Utah really kicked my @ss. Argh. Anyhow, the lack of enough water was a major packing failure. Trying to convince myself that I'm not thirsty when I nearly sucked down some river water is a futile effort. If I need water, I need water. Simple as that.

Mood: Wishing for more digestion/large dinner

Music: Nelly Furtado - Silencio Featuring Josh Groban

Location: Home Studio

Blog Notes On Shooting The Golden Gate Bridge

2011-07-09T15:06:00.000-07:00

As if I didnt' know or haven't been here, this is just a reminder that Conzelman Road, in Marin, California an ideal location to be photographing the Golden Gate Bridge.

I'm reminded of this again, in this month's Popular Photography and a photo by Javier Acosta. The fog was lovely Javier.

Mood: Happy
Music: Cafe Del Mar - Disc 16
Location: Panera Bread - Pasadena

Day Two Southwest Bucket List Photo Trip – Part 1

2011-06-29T22:23:00.000-07:00

I was too unmotivated to take advantage of sunrise. I don’t know why. Actually, I do know why but perhaps the reasoning is beyond the scope of this blog entry. I concluded the previous night early enough to be able to wake up for sunrise but I didn’t. I had only enough mental capacity to keep the Upper Antelope Canyons in mind.

Fun factoid: 104 with eight percent humidity in Arizona feels like 93 with 50% humidity in Los Angeles.

I’d like to point out how lucky I was to be able to book a spot on this photo tour with minimal lead time. I called the Friday before to book this tour. I did try a different tour group (which was highlighted in the Photographing the Photographing the Southwest: Volume 2--Arizona (2nd Ed.) book and they were either not running tours this day or they were booked solid. I didn’t have high hopes that I would be able to see the Upper Antelope Canyons on this trip. Had I not been able to book the tour, I would have canceled the entire trip. The photo gods were once again friendly towards me. The weather conditions were touch and go. Not a good thing. There was rain predicted throughout the day and along with rain meant there would be clouds, obscure the sun light clouds. While waiting for the tour SUV to come get us, we had bouts of clouds moving through and hiding the sun. I had prepared myself for the unacceptable clouded inspired poor lighting conditions and ruining the photo session and had therefore inquired about booking another photo tour with the tour group but there wasn’t anything available, at least not with this current tour group. This was a one shot deal for the week. I was running up against a major holiday weekend and I knew it was either today or another trip in future months/future years. Deborah did suggest coming in off season; either in October or November. However, the angle of the sun for these months is less than ideal for the trademark slot canyon shot.

Deborah was our Indian guide to the Upper Antelope Canyons. I identified her right off the bat and asked to claim the front seat of the tour SUV. Score. Along with me on the tour was a middle aged couple from Florida (the wife was the photog and the hubby was the serpa – luckily she wasn’t a gear person and her stuff was pretty simple), two middle aged ladies from Oceanside, California, and a photographer from Canada/Florida. Greg Constantakis had some hardcore gear with him. Along with a Nikon D3s, Greg was sporting my non Canon dream lens: a Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens. Had the conditions been less dusty, I think I could have slobbered on his lens from three feet away. He also had a spacer for his L-bracket for the shutter remote for all the portrait based shooting. Greg also mentioned to me that he had to his fame, two photos highlighted as photos of the day in National Geographic. He knows what he’s doing. On a side note, she shot extremely wide open. Something in the f/3.2 range. Along with an uber wide angle lens and a crazy sensitive sensor, he shot without a filter. His shutter times were lighting quick compared to my camera settings which were set to shooting in near darn conditions.

It took us 10-15 minutes in a heavy 4x4 vehicle to get to the opening of the slot canyons. The dirt road to the canyons was well travel and had substantial tire grooves from the many tour vehicles traveling along this only road to the canyons. Had I not sat in the front seat, I might have gotten a meaningful bout of motion sickness.

Before entering what looked like a cave entrance, we got our quickie parameters of the tour. Then upon entering the opening we saw a camera crew cleaning up. I was thinking great, we have to compete with other people for photo time. The place was packed. Like airlines buying landing and takeoff slots at an airport, the tour groups have slotted canyon times. Brief opportunities to have parts of the canyons to our group were almost surgically partitioned, which some happy play nicely/coexistence with the other tour operators. I assume, considering in theory all the tour guides are from the same tribe, the tour guides all get paid from the same general pool of money with some proportional weighting system.

The high point of this whole experience was the opportunity to rub elbows (almost literally) with Peter Lik, the uber successful landscape photog who has four galleries in Las Vegas (two of which live in Caesar’s Palace – I’m constantly amazed at this fact – WTF, two of them in one shopping area?). We were herded back to near the opening of the cave where Deborah arranged a few moments for some quality shooting time. I positioned my tripod next to a video camera operator whom I assume was shooting for Peter Lik’s Weather channel series. He, without sounded insulted, immediately corrected me and told me he was with Nat Geo (Nat Geo sounds so much cooler than National Geographic). He told me he was filming a story on flash floods in canyon locations and he finished off the banter by suggesting that the front element of my 16-35mm f/2.8 may not be weather sealed. Argh. I had to remove the polarizer to quicken the shutter speeds and left my front element unusually unprotected. On a completely tangent side note: If I could do it all over again, I would have purchased the 17-40mm f/4.0 instead. That lens is a much better value at a $500 dollar savings to my 16-35mm Mark I version.

I wanted to take a quickie photo with Peter but he didn’t seem approachable. I’m sure he was pressed for time and had to do what he needed to do. Also, I’m sure Peter wasn’t in the best of moods with having to contend with the tremendous amount of tourist traffic with each person wanting an extra 20 seconds, at every five steps, for his or her point and shoot digicam to achieve focus/exposure and overcome shutter lag. However, I’m surprised, considering Peter is sure to have a decent budget, he didn’t just buy out the time slots have the canyon all to himself. But come to think of it, that could be extremely costly. I’m sure that one canyon generates approximately 25% of the local revenue.

The Upper Canyon was amazing though. The Upper Canyons was at least 10 times cooler looking than the Lower Canyons. The Canyon looks almost fake, artificial, as if someone comes in regularly to repaint the walls and sand the imperfections out on a consistent basis. Like something the famous Dinsey Imagineering staff would created for some Disneyland based attraction. At 50 bucks a photo tour or twice of the price of the Lower Canyons, I thought the tour was fairly priced.

Once again, there was sand landing on us from over head. These trips are hard on my camera. Luckily, we had little challenges from the clouds. However, we did get some spurts of rain.

Photos to come. I have fewer restrictions on my Upper Canyon photos. Sweetness.

After cleaning up, I had the bright idea of being able to capture sunset at Bryce Canyon.

Day One Southwest Bucket List Photo Trip

2011-06-28T22:36:00.000-07:00

I made it to Las Vegas with minimal challenges. Driving at night really helps with the temperature control. If memory serves me correctly, during my drive on the 15, about 50 miles outside of Vegas, the temperature gauge in the Prius hit 88 degrees Fahrenheit at 10 pm. That’s dayam hot for night time.

After a three hour quickie nap at PL’s place, with a departure time of 3:30 am, Tuesday morning, I headed out for Page, Arizona. The drive was pleasant. However, I did pull over in whatever town and took a 30 minute nap in the parking lot of some pleasant looking church. I was beat. Driving long distances is not my best talent. I’ll have to reevaluate my desires to buy an off road vehicle. I don’t’ think I can handle the bumpy ride those bad boys offer. Anyhow, the sun and the heat were pretty significant but I made it to the Lower Canyons of Antelope Canyons with little challenges.

With the nap, I was pretty sure I had missed the sweet sport for lighting for the lower canyons. However, without having much of an expectation, the lighting conditions were pretty darn good. Not rushing to meet some tight lighting time deadline really helps with the overall stress level. On a different note, it is nice to know there are some locations on this Earth that should be photographed when the sun is at the highest point in the sky. Phew.

The lower canyons were roughly ¼ miles in length. Cost for a two hour unguided photography stay was $25 bucks. Not the cheapest two hours spent at any location. In addition, there were heavy restrictions on what I could do with the photos. It was kind of unsettling to have to initiate twice and sign some document before entering a natural landmark. I’m not allowed to publish any of the photos without prior authorization. That’s very limited but I can appreciate that, I suppose. Not like I was forced to go there and photograph against my will.

There were both pluses and minuses to this 1st day of shooting. It was darn windy. Wind and sand aren’t an ideal combination for people carrying around electronic equipment of any sort. Heck if my diving watch could talk, I’m sure he would be complaining about the conditions as well. Having sand rain on me and my gear wasn’t the best experience. After about 10 minutes of the wind and sand, I ran back to the car, luckily the parking lot was only a minute away from the entrance to the canyon, to switch out some of the gear and reduce my load. The canyon wasn’t made for larger people or people with too much gear. The lower canyons got Calista Flockhart tight in some areas.

There were three moderately serious photogs inside the canyons. One dood, sporting a pale lime polo, was sporting an ultrawide 14mm Canon lens. Drool. He was from Yosemite California. Another dood was a shooter for Getty and looking to diversify his photo portfolio from strictly wildlife to landscape photography. He had just moved from Colorado to Arizona and was highly motivated to shoot canyons. I wish him much luck. I hope he got the photo release. And the third dood so big time, he wanted to switch out lenses in this extremely less than ideal lens changing environment. Either he’s too rich to care or too stupid to realized what a bad idea changing lenses would be.

The plus side of this was there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Having unadulterated sunlight flowing through the slots of canyons was a happy benefit. Side note here: being from California, it is bizarre to me to conceptualize thunderstorms in the middle of the summer. Apparently they do occur in other states though. What an ugly combination: 100 degree weather and thunderstorms. Anyhow, it does happen but luckily not on this day.

Overall, the lower canyon shooting experience wasn’t a bad experience. My tripod did take some sand but nothing too detrimental. After the shoot, I checked into my motel and showered up. Again, sand on the body isn’t a fun experience. I also applied a liberal about of air blowing and tooth brushing to my camera and lens.

After a much needed nap, I wanted to check out the surrounding areas. I cruised Lake Shore Drive, which runs adjacent to Lake Powell. I didn’t find anything notable to photograph here. The guide book I used to base 95% of my agenda outlined some areas that were worth shooting if only I had a high clearance off road vehicle. Bummers. Anyhow, Laurent Martres’s second book, Photographing the Southwest: Volume 2--Arizona (2nd Ed.) (Photographing the Southwest), was pretty darn helpful. Laurent’s book shows a wonderful array of photos (some which he apparently licensed out from some well noted photographers) and he provides details directions on how and when to shoot these photos. I highly recommend this book. The only downside from having his book is my needing to add a 4x4 vehicle to my equipment list to realize more of my photographic need.

After Lake Shore Drive, I headed back west on highway US-89 and ventured off the highway to explore a bit more. There was a pretty lookout point which offered a decent view of the canyons and the pier/boat launching area. I guess, now that I write this blog entry a few days after the fact, that view could have been more interesting but at the time, I was uninspired. I clicked off a few exposures and wanted to head out to the last location for the day.

I closed out the day by heading to Horseshoe Bend. I got the parking area and asked a fellow tourist how far the hike was to the viewing area. 10 minutes she said. That was enough for me to call it a night. I was too unmotivated to walk there. In retrospect, me calling it quits too soon was a mistake. I don’t know what’s up with me. Lacking the energy to explore more with my camera is unlike me.

Of more note: I experience a moderate fail on the packing. Just like Europe, I forgot a card reader, which isn’t a mission critical part but I did also forget to pack underwear. Luckily, along with doing some light exploring of the area, more specifically, while on my way to Horseshoe Bend, I drove past a Walmart. Walmart not only fulfilled my underwear needs, it also provided me with a healthy eating alternative. I subsisted on a large fruit bowl for the day.

The motel room was nice and spacious. My only gripe about the motel was that the floor was still moist from the previous day carpet cleaning. The shower/water pressure was more than adequate, there was plenty of table/counter space, and the bed was supportive and comfortable. As an unexpected double bonus, the motel was one block away from the Upper Canyons tour guide place. I closed the night downloading images and watching cable TV. Twas a good 1st day.

One last note. I should have gotten my haircut at the place right next to the tour guide place. 13 bucks. What a bargain.

Mood: Settled
Music: Enrique Iglesias - Enrique
Location: Starbucks - Vegas - Tropicana/Rainbow

Bucket List

2011-06-24T10:21:00.000-07:00

Every landscape photographer has a soft bucket list. A list of places to he or she would like to photograph. Giving my availability, I will attempt check off two more of places by the 4th of July weekend.

I'm looking forward to sharing my photos with you all(s).

Positive Notes

2011-05-27T08:54:00.000-07:00

On a technical level, I gotta say, I'm pleased to note that I can more quickly breakdown what makes a photo work. Mid tone contrast, vingetting on the edges, contrast, or strategic composition, I'm getting it much quicker. Nothing really of note here but I'm happy to mentally and bloggingly note, that things are improving in my head.

I'm also getting more comfy with flash photography. However, I gotta say, I met a young lady over the past weekend that has her high ISO, no flash techniques down to a heartbeat. She's dayam impressive and uber young. I'm jealous. She has skill and she also so tremendous energy and bonds well with her subjects (subjects of all varieties). She's dayam good.

May Friday the 13th

2011-05-13T13:58:00.000-07:00

Just decided to blog today. No specific reason and definitely not because it is Friday the 13th today. I spent a total or roughly 8 hours over the last two night working on a black and white image of a canal in Venice, Italy. The final destination for my efforts would have been a 13x19 print on Velvet Fine Art paper by Epson. Boy was I looking forward to seeing that print in the uber early hours of the morning. After five attempts with two different sized papers (same paper type though) and rifling through all the different printer settings, I set got prints with a blue/green tint in the dark blacks. I can't figure out why this is happening to me. On a side note, yes, I blew through some paper, but the upside is, I'm using the ink. No, I'd rather not waste ink but those ink cartridges are over two years old. I'm glad to keep the pipes moving on those bad boys.

I'm required to do more research now. I wonder if the bad prints came out that way because I used a less than traditional way to monochrome the image. At least my color prints are coming better than expected. I think I know what I'll be doing tonight.

On a different note, David DuChemin, I hope you experience a faster than humanly possible recovery. You have been an inspiration and I love your writings on all matters related to photography.

On yet another different note, I've been learning how to create websites. The Dreamweaver CS3 book by David Sawyer McFarland I bought when I was still in Santa Ana is finally getting some playtime. Adobe products are dayam powerful. I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that Photoshop is probably more powerful than Microsoft Excel. And I be knowing my Excel. Also, at the time of this writing, the Dreamweaver book, used, can be had for very affordable $1.06 + shipping charges (ripoff city here). Keep in mind the latest version of Dreamweaver is now up to 5.5. For me, it is definitely good enough for what I need to do.

Mood: Focused
Music: Hotel Costes Disc 4
Location: Panera Bread - Pasadena (This is one of the best places in Pasasdena to do work. I love it here)

Thoughts For The Last Few Days

2011-04-11T15:54:00.000-07:00

I'm dumb. If I could do it all over again, I would have added either graphic arts or photography to my undergraduate curriculum. Boy, I'm sure using all this useful accounting knowledge (not). Actually, on top of that, I'm using a lot of this, err, nevermind; I'm not going to finish my sentence. I love my parents for financing my undergraduate studies. Thanks Dad, thanks Mom.

On a different note, I throughly enjoyed my hike in the Santa Monica Mountains/Sandstone Peak. The planner/head meetup dood is a warm and friendly guy who is a photographer. Double bonus for me. Ideally, there will be opportunities for me to hike with him and shoot more aggressive photos (visit more aggressive locations and just do the full -n diet Ansel Adam's experience).

On a different note, I do feel bad for the middle aged Indian woman who had a difficult time keeping up with us. I'm happy and appreciative of being on the positive side of the in shape coin. I shouldn't take this for granted. I look forward to really leveraging my in shape-ness for some quality photo taking opportunities.

Mood: Positive side of better than mild
Music: Dani California - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Location: Starbucks Culver City - Culver/Washington

Induro PHQ3

2011-04-07T19:10:00.000-07:00

Induro PHQ3

I've been eyeing this bad boy for a long time. Ever since my 1st trip to Zion, I've wanted to be able to do panoramic photos. I explored a bunch of different solutions with the Really Right Stuff holding the greatest interest but the Induro PHQ3 Panhead provided the best value. Compared to the RRS stuff, the Induro was an uber bargain.

This panhead should also suit me well when I transition to medium format. This head can handle 35 lbs. That's plenty of support of my needs. My own qualm at this point, this bad boy weighs 2.2 lbs. I guess you can't have everything. Oh wells. I'm still happy with my purchase.

Mood: Tummy ain't happy today
Music: TNT Bulls vs Celtics
Location: Home Studio

DC Portraits

2011-04-04T13:32:00.000-07:00

I'm uber excited at the potential opportunity to shoot portraits of DC. (PL are you are a wonderful friend and I'm grateful of the efforts you make on my behalf.) I'm lucky to have something positive to concentrate on. Cruising the Esquire emails provides so many attractive women excellent lighting examples. I'm slow building a database of images for inspiration. Good stuff.

Mood: Solid in both Mood and Thought

Music: Silencio - Nelly Furtado Featuring Josh Groban

Location: Starbucks Allen/Washington

Tourist - Venice, Italy

2011-03-30T19:38:00.000-07:00

Tourist

Canon 5D Mark I - Canon 50mm F/1.4 @ 50mm

2011-02-21T01:37:00.000-08:00

iLimp

Canon 5D Mark II- Canon 24-105mm F/4 @ 90mm

7 Exposures (1/13 to 5 seconds in 1 stop increments) - F/18 - ISO 400

Shot With Tripod/Circular Polarizer

click on image to enlarge

Sunday was supposed to only provide bland uninviting weather conditions. At times, it rained pretty hard the previous Saturday night. So hard, it seems like some higher source was offering the ideal conditions to weather test an ark or something. But I digress here.

Anyhow, I woke up to an over exuberant bright glowing Sunday morning. Instead of relegating myself to some diligent photo editing, I decide to subsist on some of the wonderful glowing compliments I received on my last posted photo and use it as inspiration for another photo session. But where to shoot? And I mean shoot as in photograph, not gun power, powered projectiles. Cue Texan ridicule.

Funny thought though. Besides the beach, where the heck does a long time LA resident go shoot? All my photo excursions have mainly been inspired by taking moderate to long road trips or plane rides. Never have I tried to plan a within a 30 minute drive photography session. Perhaps I've lost the true spirit of photography? My brain hurt from trying to figure out where to shoot in Los Angeles.

After much only three involved hands online (someone only has one good hand) discussions with J-Show (not to be confused with the more infamous J-Low, who also goes by iLimp, for her graceful, up the stairs, walking technique), I forced J-Show to join me on a casual drive on Mulholland Drive. After 45 minutes of google research, I saw an online picturesque cloud covered downtown photo from one of the scenic points along Mulholland Drive. I wanted to go there myself.

Lessons learned: The observation point is pretty cool. There were boatloads of tourist there and some less than touristy peoples. Apparently, I found a decent "spot". There were also plenty of photographers there; some nice, some not so nice. I was tempted to push one photographer off the side of the hill for setting up his tripod on a tight major path artery (the path I was using - sheesh). At least he wasn't practicing his inconsiderations as a Chinaman. I would have been really embarrassed for his poor upbringing and doubly motivated to push his, overly represented demographic @ss off the hill. Opps. Anyhow, he was one of those more rare rude White peoples. This location has potential. I felt as if I found a local photographic jewel. J-Show was happy to learn of this spot as well.

One additional lesson learned. Board cityscapes are very difficult to shoot. Very difficult to manage the light and doubly difficult to exclude things from the frame. I'm only mildly content with this photo. I promised I'd show J-Show something so here it is.

On a different note, the Promote is a temperamental beast. It is a rather high maintenance. Almost like some of the women I've dated in my ill-lustrious dating career. I wish Canon would just pony up the firmware upgrade and enable my camera to shoot bracketed shots like its Nikon brethren.

Mood: Way too Awake at this time of the Morning

Music: Usher - More

Location: Home Studio

No Pigeons

2011-02-19T15:08:00.000-08:00

No Pigeons

Canon 5D Mark II- Canon 16-35mm Mark I F/2.8 @ 16mm

5 Exposures (1/4 to 4 seconds in 1 stop increments) - F/18 - ISO 400

Shot With Tripod/Circular Polarizer

click on image to enlarge

I got up mucho early for this shot. I think I left the hotel at 5:15 am. The last frame in this series was taken at 6:25 am. The place is huge. It is funny how commerce just builds itself around this historical religious monument. When I visited, I had a mixed feeling of wow this place is huge and wow this place is gaudy with so many tourist related vendors. On a different note, I'm a bit relieved to know that tourist of other ethnicities are just as crude and insensitive as my Chinese brethren. The place was littered with trash everywhere. When I ventured to the Duomo in the early hours, there was a small army just cleaning up.

I think I read somewhere that everything taste better with BBQ sauce. I think that's how I feel about a well constructed black and white photo. Black and white can make a photo taste better? I wasn't much inspired by the color versions of this picture but in black and white, there was a certain moodiness that mirrors how I felt that day. There was a certain peacefulness about myself that morning. I had just arrived via train from Pisa the previous day and was killed with humidity upon arriving to Florence. We also had a minor challenge finding the hotel. With the heat pounding on us from the heavens and the roads pounding us from below, (having to roll our luggage over the uneven surfaces of the Florence-ian roads...hear the luggage wheels go clunk and clunk, clunk and clunk), we were beat by the time we got to the hotel. After some well deserved sleep and some excellent food that first night, I felt so much more contemplative the morning after.

Although I'm no longer with her, I feel bad that I left her in bed by herself in the mornings for so many days of the trip. In retrospect, I should have been more sensitive to her needs. The constant need to balance is a difficult skill to learn. I definitely went into robot mode in my quest for the ultimate photo. I should probably mention that this was my first time in Europe and just wanted to capture everything at the cost of forgetting there is no possible way to get everything in my limited time frame. Photography is a lifetime passion and I tried to fit it in a three week trip. I completely forgot about the other more important reasons why I was on this trip. I hope she knows I appreciate her patience. And I'll always remember her generous and selfless spirit.

Mood: Happy

Music: Adele - Make You Feel My Love

Location: Home Studio

Carrizo Plain National Monument

2011-02-14T15:45:00.000-08:00

The following directions/instructions and details were taken word for word from the December 2009 issue of ShutterBug magazine.

Carrizo Plain National Monument

Take Highway 101 north to Atascadero From here, connect with Highway 58, heading east for 52 miles, turning right on Soda Lake Road. You’ll be on a paved road for eight miles and a maintained dirt road the rest of the way.

You can also take Highway 33 out of Ojai, turning right on Highway 166 in the Cuyama Valley. Turn left on Soda Lake Road and enter the monument.

The Carrizo Plain is one of the best wildflower destinations in the state [California]. At least 10” from winter rains is needed for a decent wildflower season. Call the wildflower hotline at the Theodore Payne Foundation at: (818) 768-3533. The hotline is updated each Friday from March through May. Their website is www.theodorepayne.org

Most Photogenic Cities in America

2011-02-09T13:56:00.000-08:00

According to ArtBistro, an online art related career management site offered through Monster.com, the following cities are the most photogenic in America.

San Francisco, CA
New York, NY
New Orleans, LA
Tucson, AZ
Honolulu, HI
Savannah, GA

I'm lucky enough to to have visited four of the cities on this list. I only wish I had involved myself more with the camera when I frequented New York. Bummer. However, there is a next time. And for the most part, I agree with this list. SF being number one on the list is definitely a winner in most photogenic.

And as for Hawaii, I definitely want to visit the other islands. Honolulu is good but I'm sure there are so many other untapped photographic opportunities. Time to do a Hawaii New York trip? Err, wait. That's a logistical nightmare?

:)

2010-11-19T21:31:00.000-08:00

I had a person "friend" me on Facebook. I was pretty sure she wasn't trying to "hookup" with me, considering her facebook profile picture included her two children. At least I think those younger peoples were her kids. I get leery when strangers try and friend. However, with this person, we did have some mutual friends. Mutual friends whom I can vouch to having normal friends.

With that being said, I decided this wasn't just a random, I want more friends on my facebook account effort to befriend me.

I dropped her a line and asked her if I had knew her or had met her before and she responded to me. She had never met me but was an admirer of my photography. What a nice message on an otherwise crappy week for me.

I friended her and got this back as a comment on my gallery.

"I just can't take my eyes off those magnificent photos."

Thanks random person from the internet.

Mood: Exercise Happy

Music: Photography Podcast

Location: Home Studio

POM: November - Mono Lava

2010-11-08T11:11:00.000-08:00

Mono Lava

Canon 5D Mark II- Canon 16-35mm F/2.8 Mark I @16mm

1/2 seconds - F/18 - ISO 200

Shot With Tripod/Circular Polarizer

click on image to enlarge

After driving for six plus hours, I accidentally found this spot. Besides my friend's knowledge of the Mammoth Lakes area, I was pretty much clueless as to what I wanted to photograph or where to go. My friend's first suggestion was to drive up to almost Lee Vining to where the Mobil station is on 395 and shoot the underlying valleys and lake. Although the spot had a wonderful vantage point, there were a few too many distracting objects. The spot did lead me to discover the eventual spot of where I took this photograph.

The shot I got on Friday morning was ten times better than the shot I got the following day. At times, pictures are truly a once in a life time experience.

Mood: Rested

Music: Sarah McLachlan - World On Fire

Location: Home Studio

Sand Dunes

2010-10-15T09:53:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to photograph sand dunes. Some time ago, way in the early parts of infantile photography stage, I got fixated on someone's sand dune photo. So here are some personal notes for me. Enjoy.

These notes were taken from the article entitled "Sand Dune Parks" by Clint Farlinger. The article appeared in the July 2010 issue of Shutterbug.

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado
"Climbing to the top of the dunes is very strenuous, especially with pounds of camera gear, and weather can change rapidly."

White Sands National Monument, New Mexico
Go during spring where the park hours closely mirrors sunrise and sunset hours.

Death Valley National Park, Nevada/California
Mesquite Flat Dunes - easier to get to
Eureka Dunes - Harder to get to, North America's tallest dune.
Visit in either the winter or the spring.

Imperial Sand Dunes, California
The North Algodones Dunes Wilderness provides early 26,000 acres of unspoiled dunes. Off-Highway Vehicles are used there.

Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, Utah
There is plenty of Off-Highway Vehicle usage here. Hard to get unspoiled shots.

Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, Oregon
Largest expanse of COSTAL sand dunes in North America

Grand Sables Dunes, Michigan
Overlooks Lake Superior in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Half Dome - Yosemite National Park

2010-10-12T00:13:00.000-07:00

Half Dome

Canon 5D Mark II- Canon 16-35mm F/18 @ 16mm

4 Exposures (1/10 - 1.6 seconds) - F/18 - ISO 400

Shot With Tripod/Circular Polarizer

click on image to enlarge

I first want to say, I'm bummed. The Jeffery Pine I wanted to shoot was vandalized. Anyhow, and to this blog post.

I wanted sun.
I wanted drama.
I wanted high contrast light.
I got rain.
I got more rain.
I got more rain.

I got cloudy days (although clouds as whole aren't bad). I automatically switch over to monochrome when I get heavily cloudy days. Overall, I'm happy with the trip. It was a good scouting trip and I learned more about my buddy CL. He was a wonderful host.

Mood: Surprisingly Focused

Music: Essa Moca Ta Difirente - Featuring Simoninha - Bossacucanova

Location: Home Studio

Sunrise Over Praha

2010-10-09T13:01:00.000-07:00

Sunrise Over Praha

Canon 5D Mark II- Canon 16-35mm F/18 @ 16mm

5 Exposures (1/15 - 1 second) - F/18 - ISO 200

Shot With Tripod/Circular Polarizer

click on image to enlarge

I seriously had to compete with my fellow photographers for usable space on this lovely historic bridge. In fact, you can see a photog with his tripod in left/middle portion (end of the bridge) of the frame. I'm especially happy that my lovely g/f booked a hotel room that was transportation convenient and I was able to find my way around Prague with minimal efforts. Funny, when I look at this photo, I think late afternoon but the EXIF data tells me 6:36 am. Odd.

During business hours, the bridge, like many overtly obvious tourist attractions, is lined with plenty of vendors hawking their wares. Of special note for me was a local photographer named Petr Brincil. I'm mildly jealous of him. I would love to have full run of the Bridge during all parts of the year. He had a few photos where the bridge was covered in snow. Those pictures were fantastic. You can find his work here.

And here is one of my favorites.

Mood: Day after a long bike ride happy

Music: Static sounds from having the g/f on Skype

Location: Home Studio

POM: Circle Of Life

2010-10-06T01:03:00.000-07:00

Circle Of Life

Canon 5D Mark II - Canon 16-35mm F/18 @ 16mm

8 Exposures (1/10 - 13 seconds) - F/18 - ISO 400

Shot With Tripod/Circular Polarizer

click on image to enlarge

I had such limited shooting opportunities during my highly anticipated trip to Yosemite. However, I had the mindset of using this first trip to Yosemite as a scouting trip. Anyhow, this image was taken on my very last day with cloudy lighting conditions. I thought my vision might be better represented in monochrome. So there you have it.

Mood: Hungry

Music: Photography Podcast (TWIP)

Location: Home Studio

Gear Lust Running List

2010-09-26T17:34:00.000-07:00

Photography. Yum
Gear Lust. Yum
Life as a guy, so be it.

This blog post will be a running list. Enjoy.

09/26/2010
1. Induro PHQ3

This part pano head (65%) part ball head (35%) has mucho potential. (You can buy it here from Amazon.) The best thing about this bad boy is the arms partially screw off, enabling it to be collapsible. Logistic solutions are so much more user friendly with collapsible arms.

The MAC representative, specifically representing Mayima medium format cameras, had one of these bad boys in his gear bag. I gotta say, this thing is pretty trick. Gee, I'm sure once I own one of these bad boys, my ability to awesome pictures improves, oh, hmm, say, 0.005%. This is not a cheap toy but I gotta say, I see owning of these bad boys in my future.

09/26/2010
2. Singh Ray Reserve Graduated Filter

I think it took way too long for someone to figure this one out. I was thinking about this last year when I was in SF shooting the coastline from Baker Beach at sunset with a standard graduated filter. The trick now is to see if the transition from dark to light is quick enough for most sunset scenes. I gotta say though, kudos to Singh Ray for coming up with this product. Photography related innovation is a lovely thing.

For those wondering what a reverse graduated filter is let me explain. The darkest portion of the filter sits right on the middle of the filter, in the center if you will, and lightens out. It is the reserve "placement of the grad" of a standard graduated filter. During sunset scenes, the sun, the brightest part of the scene, sits somewhere in the middle part of the frame and is generally unaffected by standard grad filteres.

Just a though, for scenes where HDR and bracketing doesn't make sense (and I've been way too dependent on multi shot/bracketing shooting practices), adding filters makes a boat load of sense. As an additional note, using filters removes the potential for multiple image motion blur artifacts.

Additional purchasing links can be found here.

Running List - To Shoot Locations

2010-09-26T17:15:00.000-07:00

Here is my personal list of places I'd like to shoot before I check out of this lovely world. I'll also include why the location showed up on my radar and any other pertinent details.

McClures Beach, Point Reyes National Seashore, California
Dave FitzSimmons
www.fitzsimmonsphotography.com
http://blog.sigmaphoto.com
Outdoor Photographer - July 2010, page 5
Sunday September 26, 2010
Starbucks Allen Ave/Washington Blvd - Pasadena

More For The Gear Bag

2010-09-23T16:13:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to blog that I'll be heading out to Yosemite National Park in a few days. I'm looking forward to channeling my inner Ansel Adams and shoot pictures like Don Adams of Get Smart fame.

A group of approximately eight of us will be doing a four day quasi camping trip in this beautiful part of the world. We are staying in a campground with three walls and the hypothetical missing fourth wall will be our exposure to the wild (which includes bears and bugs). I look forward to melding with the elements.

Lighting might be an issue and I'm lucky to report that by sheer coincidence, Amazon had a gold box special on the Petzl Tikka XP2 headlamp. Both REI and Amazon had better than average reviews for this little guy. Based on my last trip to Joshua Tree, having purely a handheld flashlight wasn't gonna cut it if I wanted to efficiently handle the camera gear. I'm so happy I was able to score this headlamp and not go through too much hassle of researching my options. Yeah..

Mood: Happy

Music: Best of Gipsy Kings

Location: Home Studio

Grand Canal

2010-09-22T11:59:00.000-07:00

Grand Canal

Canon 5D Mark I- Canon 24-105mm F/18 @ 50mm

Four Exposures (1/60 - 1/8 seconds) - F/18 - ISO 200

Shot With Tripod/Circular Polarizer

click on image to enlarge

Rare is it for me to get an instant winner. This picture was a random lucky find after roaming around for about 90 minutes after my purposeful but unfruitful sunrise session. The city is so much more peaceful when most of the tourist are asleep and I don't have to compete for shooting space. The building in the center/center-right is the San Giorgio Maggiore Church and this shot was taken from the Ponte dell' Accademia (Accademia Bridge). On that specific day, I had to contend with so many darn cruise ships. Those things are massive and a huge eye sore. However, who am I to complain. Without that tax revenue, Venice might not be able to survive as well?

Mood: Cloudy Day Peaceful

Music: Yo Yo Ma - 1 x 0 (Um A Zero)

Location: Home Studio

July POM in September 2010

2010-09-20T00:48:00.000-07:00

Light Corridor

Canon 5D Mark I- Canon 24mm F/3.5 @ 24mm

4 seconds - F/18 - ISO 400

Shot With Tripod/Circular Polarizer

click on image to enlarge

Picture of the month. This shot was taken on July 17, 2010.

There's nothing wrong with over exposure. I somthing a bit more surreal this time?

I've been wanting to shoot this place for about a year now. Thank you g/f for arranging the trip. Here are a few more for your viewing pleasure. And yes, I've been horribly negligent at posting images. Shame on me.

Stilts

Canon 5D Mark I- Canon 24mm F/3.5 @ 24mm

30 seconds - F/18 - ISO 200

Shot With Tripod/Circular Polarizer

click on image to enlarge

Stands

Canon 5D Mark I- Canon 24mm F/3.5 @ 24mm

30 seconds - F/18 - ISO 200

Shot With Tripod/Circular Polarizer

click on image to enlarge

Mood: Motivated

Music: Central Living - Inside

Location: Home Studio

August POM

2010-08-21T01:09:00.000-07:00

Tuscan Sun

Canon 5D Mark I- Canon 24-105mm F/4.0 @ 80mm

5 Exposures (1/80 - 1/20 seconds) - F/18 - ISO 100

Shot With Tripod/Circular Polarizer

click on image to enlarge

Picture of the month. This shot was taken on August 19, 2010 .

One of my favorites from Florence. In August, to my g/f's dismay (cuz she had to wait for me forever to have dinner), the sun sets at roughly 8:15 pm. The day I shot this picture, we got to the shooting location at around 5 pm. I kept her waiting way too long. The sacrifices one makes while dating a photographer are simple but demanding when one is constantly hungry.

Mood: Energetic

Music: Central Living - Visions

Location: Home Studio

My Review of Canon PowerShot SD940 IS Compact Digital ELPH Camera, 12 Megapixel, 4x IS Optical Zoom, Brown

2010-08-04T17:19:00.001-07:00

Originally submitted at Adorama

Canon PowerShot SD940 IS Compact Digital ELPH Camera, 12 Megapixel, 4x IS Optical Zoom, Brown

Size Size Size

By BillG from Pasadena, CA on 8/4/2010

Pros: Excellent Size, Simple menus, Good Image Stabilization

Best Uses: Travel, Daily Pocket Camera

Describe Yourself: Semi-pro Photographer

I bought this camera for the g/f. She needed small purse friendly shoot with decent battery life. The picture quality is pretty good on this very small camera. For those with larger hands, this camera might not be as user friendly. I don't recommend this camera if you have high expectations for low light shooting environments. Picture file size is very usable.

(legalese)

Alaska Car Rental Rates

2010-06-07T16:11:00.000-07:00

I was thinking of taking a short jaunt up to Anchorage Alaska for a short photo exhibition. Some Denali National Park would have been tasty. However, car rental rates are materially greater than some of the areas I've recently visited. Wowsers. The best rates I could find in the mid July time frame were approximately $110 a day all inclusive.

My original intention was to take a budget getaway to Alaska but it is not longer all that budget. Time to select a different location and I'll hit up Alaska in the winter for some Aurora Borealis with Shanghai Best Buddy and the g-friend.

Random Notes

2010-05-31T16:56:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, I can’t imagine why anyone who is into photography wouldn’t delve more into HDR/Tone Mapped image making. Our eyes are amazing things and not being able to mimic what the human eyes see is a travesty. My journey into Tone Mapped images has been a fun one, one that has produced some exciting images. However, I do realize there is a fine art to this and doing this form of photography will require me to invest a lot more time and energy. I would like to draw interested parties attentions to the good folks at Photomatix. They make excellent software for tone mapping projects.

With that being said, I took a tip from my buddy SDW (his flickr site can be found here) and purchased Rick Sammon’s book on HDR Photography. SDW passed this tip over to me because the book was discounted by 50%.

To bridge the gap to achieve the $25 dollar threshold needed to achieve free shipping from the folks over at Amazon, I purchased Brenda Tharp’s Creative Nature & Outdoor Photography. Brenda’s book showed up on my radar when I did a query in Amazon on landscape photography. I wished listed this book a while back and so it is now one of mine.

Brenda has some lovely images. Granted, I feel most of her images are centered around three or four specific locations, I like her renditions of several Zion National Park and surrounding Arizona/Utah scenes. I love comparing visions and improving my seeing abilities with other people’s work.

The stuff she talks about in her book, at this point (I'm about a third into the book), is useful for the beginner to lighter intermediate user. I think gear junkies will appreciate Brenda providing her shooting details and many will undoubtedly appreciate that she shoots with affordable gear. She’s a Canon user who uses very mainstream lenses. As a person who, on many occasions, has been seduced by gear lust, her gear bag would give the average 35mm DSLR shooter attainable shooting goals. The way she presents herself and the the gear she uses provides a mentality of “I can shoot her picture, because, I already own that piece of gear.” Now just let me drive or life to that spot and go at it.

I would love to make special note of her picture, “Reeds in Pond, Maine.” Magical picture with lovely composition. I love this picture so much, I want to shoot my own version of this ASAP. I think there might be a possible opportunity to shoot something of this nature at Joshua Tree National Park. I didn’t see them but I know there are a few very smooth calm ponds there. Let the shooting eventually come.

Anyhow, happy Memorial Day to everyone.

Mood: Lazy

Music: Yo-Yo Ma Menino/Obrigado Brazil

Location: Starbucks San Gabriel/Valley San Gabriel City?

Medium Format Crack Dreams

2010-05-26T12:34:00.000-07:00

Not that I’m in any financial condition to consider a major camera purchase but I keep thinking about medium format systems. When I edit my landscape photos I want more detail, I want more dynamic range, I want the potential for bigger prints. Now, I must admit, I have yet to print big with my Canon 5D Mark II files. That sucker has a 21 megapixel sensor. I’m sure this sensor should yield me some nicely sized larger prints. I also understand that software can be used to manage the detail within a larger print.

Camera stuff isn’t necessarily about need but more about want. I’m seduced by the masters. The ones who did it correctly with film backs. The concept of Ansel Adams shooting at F64 blows my mind. All inclusive detail please. And yes I know, film backs are materially less expensive that digital backs. And owning a dark room is more tactile and artistic than managing/playing with a very fast computer.

I’m also haunted (in a good inspiring way) by a mental image of Nigel Parry holding a medium format. I know I’m romanticizing the image I hold so dearly, but I feel as if the camera is an extension of Nigel’s creative metaphorical arm. I wish to be associated with my camera like this one day. Ideally, one day soon in the future.

My first foray into medium format cameras was with Roger’s 501 CM Hasselbald. That was a unique and uplifting experience. Having a waist level viewfinder was so cool. Way too cool. Anyhow, I would like to experience this for myself.

With that in mind, the Samy’s Fairfax location was hosting a Mamiya demo event. Yum, medium format camera. For my attendance, I will be lucky enough to demo one of the Mamiya digital backs. I look forward to the forthcoming invitation email from the Mac Group.

So, what am I anticipating? Large @ss print sizes and way greater dynamic range. Now, I just need to reconcile the idea that most printers can’t cover that much dynamic range and with a camera upgrade of that magnitude, I’ll need a crazy fast computer. One upgrade demands another. Not a fun vicious cycle to belong in.

Mood: Energized/Focused

Music: Pauline Croze/Tita (Putumayo Presents - Music From The Winelands

Location: Starbucks Allen/Washington Pasadena

Randon Happenings

2010-05-21T12:56:00.001-07:00

Last week, I dreamed I wanted to be Nigel Parry. I thought, with his one light approach, I could just as easily mimic his style.

Last night. I dreamt about calibrating a camera bracket rail for panoramic photography. I was envisioning how the final product would look. I'm getting more photo geek by the minute.

And last night, I visit the Museum of Neon Art in downtown Los Angeles and met photographer, historian Tom Zimmerman. We geeked out over Peter Beard and Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Lighting Lesson I've Forgotten

2010-05-17T13:58:00.000-07:00

This lost lesson was brought to my aging mind from PopPhoto.com website. Please refer to this link for the complete lighting tutorial. Taken directly from the light lesson:

"Light falloff can be used to vary the relationship between the light on your subject and your background. If you place a light close to your subject, the falloff from the subject to the background will be more pronounced. Move the light farther from your subject, and the background will be relatively brighter.

The same holds true for sidelighting: With a light close to the side of your subject, the falloff of light across the frame will be more pronounced than if the light is farther away."

Here's one more from the same web article.

"Frontlighting de-emphasizes texture; lighting from the side, above, or below emphasizes it. A portraitist may want to keep the light source close to the axis of the lens to suppress skin wrinkles, while a landscapist may want sidelighting to emphasize the texture of rocks, sand, and foliage. Generally, the greater the angle at which the light is positioned to the subject, the more texture is revealed."

Random Notes

2010-05-04T16:44:00.000-07:00

In the "heat" of the moment (funny, considering it is spring, it is darn hot/warm these days in the San Gabriel Valley), I have a recurring desire to shoot flowers with a very long lens. I guess it didn't help that I just changed my background picture on my Blackberry to a nice blurred out flora picture from the Blackberry preloaded library of pictures. The colors were vibrant and alluring. The background on the picture is a nice soft pastel shade of purple. Lovely picture. My only complaint about the picture is I didn't shoot it myself. However, that shouldn't be a problem. I just need to get a 300 or a 400 mm lens with at least a F/4 aperture. Easy enough to rent. I sure I can manufacture the lighting conditions and there I go. Picture made; at least in my head.

On a different note, last Saturday, I did a series of shots shooting both RAW and high Jpeg. The in camera processing does all a lot of extra color interpretation. Shooting with my 5D Mark II, the processing times in dual mode took forever. Now just need to have the patience to create a collection in Lightroom and compare them in detail.

I'm also excited to start on the creative process on my first photo book. I look forward to bunching all my memorable landscape shots in a cohesive book. Now the challenge is to come up with forty of my favorite shots. The A&I instructions seem easy enough. I'm ambitious enough to try and do this project with Adobe's InDesign software. Cuz I rock!

Mood: Encouraged/Focused

Music: Sarah McLachlan - Do What You Have To Do (coincidence on the mood versus song title)

Location: Starbucks Fremont/Huntington

My Review of B + W 77mm Kaesemann Circular Polarizer Filter in Wide Angle Slim Mount, MRC Coated Glass.

2010-05-04T16:38:00.001-07:00

Originally submitted at Adorama

B + W 77mm Kaesemann Circular Polarizer Filter in Wide Angle Slim Mount, MRC Coated Glass.

You going Ultra Wide Angle?

By BillG from Pasadena, CA on 5/4/2010

Pros: Firm Mount, Clear Optics, Easily Mounted, Consistent Effect, Well machined, Strong Construction

Cons: Lens cap falls off easily

Best Uses: Landscape Photography

Describe Yourself: Semi-pro Photographer

I shoot with a Canon 16-35mm F2.8 Mark I lens. I get noticeable vignetting with the regular profile version of this filter. If you go ultra wide angle, you need this filter to avoid the vignetting. Just one of those basic things.

(legalese)

March 2010 POM

2010-05-02T22:50:00.000-07:00

Light At The Edge

Canon 5D Mark II- Canon 16-35mm F/2.8 @ 16mm

Created from 5 Exposures (1/2 to 6 seconds)- F/18 - ISO 800

Shot With Tripod/Circular Polarizer

click on image to enlarge

Picture of the month. This shot was taken in late Feb 2010.

I was both happy and upset about this picture. I was asked to shoot a quick portrait of a couple that showed me the trail to this lookout point. Given the lack of light, I shot with as high of a shutter speed as possible. That meant I upped the ISO to 800. I'm happy to have offered my photographic services to this young couple. However, I'm upset at myself for not remembering to readjust the ISO setting back to my normal sweet spot. Dork! Argh. Not the first time this has happened to me nor will it be the last time.

I hiked to this spot three days in a row. It was about a 40 minute hike from the car to the lookout point (about a 1.1 miles uphill). The first day offered the best combination of clouds and sunrise.

Mood: A bit tired Focused

Music: SportsCenter

Location: Home Studio

Morning River

2010-04-29T17:14:00.000-07:00

Morning River

Canon 5D Mark II- Canon 16-35mm F/2.8 @ 21mm

1/4 seconds- F/18 - ISO 50

Shot With Tripod/Circular Polarizer

click on image to enlarge

A favorite I forgot about. Something to be said for the colors. The month is almost over. I hope fun photographic things come in the next month.

Mood: Cabin Fevered

Music: TNT Mavs versus Spurs

Location: Home Studio

Shooting in Jpeg?

2010-04-27T15:42:00.000-07:00

I was listening to a podcast recently and learned that a photographer I’m familiar with (someone with some fame) had his Smithsonian photo entry disqualified because the image was “doctored”. Bummer. Trey Radcliff has some amazing stuff and I think the Smithsonian rules were probably a bit too strict. You can read Trey’s blog here.

Anyhow, with that being said, I have listened to other wedding photographers shoot strictly in jpeg. That’s crazy. Granted, if these are well seasoned veterans and have shot many thousands of weddings, I suppose, gauging light is like second nature to them and not having the error tolerances of shooting in raw makes sense. Dem raw files do take up a boatload of memory and they drag the computer processing computing time.

I also know photo journalists are restricted to strictly jpegs. In the days of film, one could get a certain look based on the film used. In today standards, the camera provides imbedded styles (something like film styles) when the camera processes the jpeg files. For fun, I’m going to shoot in dual file mode for awhile and compare the images. Granted, I can probably figure out what the camera’s process will do when I shoot in Landscape or Portrait mode but to compare it to the raw raw digital negative should be interesting and hopefully a bit enlightening.

Mood: Edgy/Suffering from bad sleep posture/neck pain

Music: Brittey Spears: Circus

Location: Starbucks/South Pasadena - Huntington/Fremont

Nikon Flashing and Self Hating

2010-04-12T16:35:00.000-07:00

Joe McNally's book, "The Hot Shoe Diaries", is making me hate on Canon just a little bit. The ease of Nikon shooters to be able to wirelessly control the power output on remote flashes from a central unit (usually the flash sitting on top of the camera) is pretty trick. Assuming you play in the non professional realm, being able to dial in the power settings in front of your friend's is pretty geek chic.

One more hating on Nikonians fact is that the SB900s come with computer chipped gels. That's some good @ss designing if you ask me. That's something Think Tank Photo would do. Kudos to Nikon for implementing that into the design of their flagship flash unit. Very trick.

Also, their i-TTL system rocks. Nikon's CLS system is genius. The system can balance ambient lighting with flash lighting like I can balance a peanut butter and jelly on whole wheat bread sandwich. I think the new Pocket Wizard MiniTT1/Flex TT1 offerings help us Canon-ites approach this wonder but I'm not completely sure the system has been perfected yet.

At least I have more lens offerings from the Canon locker. Not necessarily a bad consolation prize. Besides, I'm more of a landscaper than a portraitist. At least I know I won't gear lust to the point of changing camera providers. I'm way too leveraged in lenses to be switching allegiances.

My Review of Think Tank Urban Disguise 70 Pro - Briefcase Style Large Bag

2010-04-09T01:27:00.001-07:00

Originally submitted at Adorama

Think Tank Urban Disguise 70 Pro - Briefcase Style Large Bag

Money well spent

By BillG from Pasadena, CA on 4/9/2010

Pros: Well Padded, Comfortable, Easily Accessible Equipment, Strong Construction

Best Uses: Transporting Gear, Daily Usage, Quick Access to gear

Describe Yourself: Photo Enthusiast

Rarely do I pay full retail for anything. With that being said, me buying the Urban Disguise 70 at full retail was money well spent.
I had a two week ½ vacation ½ wedding gig in Hawaii (touring four islands). I had a lot of ground to cover and I would be switching between driving to my next location or shooting at the location. I wanted to be able to have access to my cameras (two gripped Canon 5DIIs) at a moment's notice. I also wanted to be able to switch between my two cameras for different lens offerings (switching lenses in windy and sandy environments wasn't high on the must do agenda). And I needed to be able to pack it up in a snap and jump to my next location.

I had to decide between backpack or shoulder bag. Although a backpack probably offered more protection, the time penalty of the opening and closing of the bag while retrieving the camera, then shooting, and more opening and closing to pack the camera was simply too much. Wanting to carry two cameras, I also needed to worry about the weight implications. I thought, granted there would be a huge weight penalty on one shoulder at any giving time versus a better weight balance over two shoulders with a backpack, a shoulder bag, giving my shooting needs, was a better compromise solution.

My decision came down to either the Urban Disguise 70 Pro (UB70) or the Lowepro Classified 250 AW (C250). After about 20 minutes of comparing the two camera bags at a local camera store and a few hours online reading reviews, the two deciding factors were the construction of the outer shell flap and the zipper quality. The one piece outer flap/shell connected to the zippered opening on the C250 seemed a bit cumbersome when trying to retrieve the camera. A design quality that seems a bit "speed bumpish" if you will. I felt artificially slowed down. Also, the one piece flap design on the C250, although more aesthetically pleasing and more disguise-ish, didn't provide enough rigidity for my liking. The UB70, also with an outer flap design, had a distinct seam separating the flap from the zippered opening to the main camera bag. I felt this design offered more rigidity and helped the camera bag maintain its overall structure more. The UB70 seemed less likely to crease/fold from the center.

As an owner of FOUR Lowepro bags, I have yet to experience an issue with any of the zippers on my camera bags. With that being said, I would not suggest anything disparaging about the zippers Lowepro uses but the main zipper used on the UB70 simply instilled confidence. There was something that screamed build quality of a Sub-Zero Refrigerator. Solid.

The myriad of internal pocket were also intelligently design with excellent build quality as well. Each pocket and flap, although not explicitly outlined in my head, seemed to have a Swiss Army knife like purpose. From the removable all weather bag to the zippered pocket on the outer flap to the latch for my house keys, this bag fulfilled every photo gear bag related need I had for my Hawaii trip. All I had to do was concentrate on shooting. All my accessories, from lens a blower, to extra lens caps, to a remote shutter release, were kept organized and protected.

For two eventful weeks, I comfortably lugged around a pro sized body with a 70-200 F2.8 lens and another pro sized body with a shorter lens in this bag. Up the Diamond Head trail on Oahu for sunrise, throughout the white sand beach of Lanikai, and through Volcano National Park on the Big Island, this camera bag performed beautifully. I'm a Think Tank believer and follower. There's also an external pocket for bottled water. How wonderful is that?

(legalese)

For This Wednesday

2010-04-07T14:09:00.001-07:00

I've owned Joe McNally's Red Shoe Diaries for a long time now. Amazon, with its handy dandy reminders even told me when I ordered the book (April 20, 2009. That's a year of quality dust collecting time. I'd like to suggest though that this book is definitely an easy read but I've had the darnest time trying to finish it. I think I'm just secretly jealous of Nikon's flash system and when I read Joe's book, I find the suggestions a bit frustrating mainly because I can't enact them on my Canon system with the same ease as Nikon shooters enjoy.

Well, shooting with Pocket Wizards does make me look cool though. There's something prehistoric or retro about shooting with the Pocket Wizards. I just feel so cool shooting with them. Maybe it is the fact that there's something black (matches the camera body) with the a soft antenna that makes me feel empowered with that thing on my camera. My wallet constraints allowed the purchase of four Pocket Wizard pluses. I'm surely as connected as I want to be.

I'm going to finish this book or burst into photographic flames. Onward I go...to read!

Learning About Hardware

2010-04-07T01:52:00.000-07:00

I’m getting really good at this computer hardware management thing.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time taking my pictures and I want to do my best (in the cheapest possible way) to protect all my hard (or moderately hard) efforts. So with that in mind, here are some of the things I’ve learned in the last calendar quarter.

I’ve learned how to implement a good data backup plan. I tested a few freeware offerings and found a really good data backup solution.

I’ve learned how to rename (assign a new drive letter) an external hard drive.

I’ve learned that reformatting to a different hard drive management system can improve performance and increase available space.

I’ve learned how to recover deleted files from a hard drive.

I’ve learned that most the above activities take a long time to execute. These activities are extremely time demanding.

I wonder if things are easier over on the Mac platforms. Hmmm. I just might have to find out?

Anyhow, I was forced to learn some of these lessons based on mistakes I made to my hardware. Mistakes are excellent drivers to learning experiences. One night, when I mistakenly deleted my entire music library (that’s the last time I do anything with large implications at 4 am in the morning), I nearly choked on my stomach. Yes, you read that correctly. I stomach literally jumped up from its native position and lodged itself in my throat passage. Not the most fun experience. The thought of losing nearly seven or so years of effort in collecting music was nearly physically handicapping. It took me about two and a half days to fully recover all those files. Just backing up 400 or so gigabytes of information isn’t a quick task but having to “recover” the files from the delete portions of the drive was even more time intensive.

I look forward to purchasing some hard drives and making my Drobo a permanent fixture on my desk. I should be able to sleep better at night once this part of my hardware needs are met.

Mood: Patient

Music: Silence

Location: Home Office

2,100 Feet Up

2010-04-02T14:18:00.000-07:00

2,100 Feet Up

Canon 5D Mark II- Canon 16-35mm F/2.8 @ 26mm

Created from 4 Exposures (1/25th to 1/2th seconds)- F/18 - ISO 50

Shot With Tripod

click on image to enlarge

Here's a picture of a victory a friend and I both had while in Zion.

Howard and I hiked up to the tallest point (I assume the tallest point that has a functional public friendly hiking trail) in Zion National Park. Total elevation gain was 2,100 feet and the total length of this trail was approximately four miles one way. The entire hike, including my picture taking time, took us approximately six hours. The last mile of the hike included copious amounts of red clay mud which made the trail all the more difficult to travel on. (I don't like getting dirty but oh wells.) We did this hike on a Friday. Earlier that week, on Monday and Tuesday, Zion had received a fair amount of unexpected snow fall. I'm guessing there was a cumulative amount of 12 inches? Consequently all of the shaded areas of the trail and on the top of the final mile or so of the trail were littered with powder, snow, or ice. Needless to say, we had slippery good time.

Anyhow, we "worked" hard for this shot. Although not the most ideal time for a landscape photograph - giving the lighting circumstances (approximately 3 pm in the afternoon/local time versus a more ideal time closer to sunset - 5-6:30 pm), I thought I had something memorable enough to share with you all. I didn't want to risk danger by waiting til 5 pm to take these shots and hiking down the mountain in darker lighting conditions.

Mood: Enjoying this happily lazy Friday afternoon geeking out on photography

Music: iPod on Shuffle/Something soft right now

Location: Home Studio

April 2010 Picture of the Month

2010-04-01T16:38:00.001-07:00

The River Cage

Canon 5D Mark II- Canon 16-35mm F/2.8 @ 16mm

Created from 4 Exposures (1.6 to 13 seconds)- F/18 - ISO 400

Shot With Tripod

click on image to enlarge

As a promise to myself, granted, it took a bit of time to do, this is my picture of the month. Hopefully with some diligence, every month, I will showcase a picture of unique location.

I gotta say, I haven’t seen many Zion Narrow pictures that have wow’ed me. I don’t think my efforts are all that breathe taking but at least it is a reflection of my pure efforts. I wonder how I can wow better with my efforts on the Narrows…tbd I suppose.

This is my cheap attempt at a wannabe Zion Subway picture. Having been restricted by the snow, Howard and I couldn’t find enough of a trail to guide us to the actual Subway. Boo. Hopefully next time I’ll see the Subway. Cheers peoples.

Mood: Without Coffee Focused

Music: iPod on Shuffle

Location: Home Studio

Fashion Ad/Hasselblad

2010-03-28T15:01:00.000-07:00

I saw this ad in one of the larger format Los Angeles based magazines. The company definitely won me over. A pretty dress, a cute face, and a iconic camera. Not a bad effort from their marketing people.

www.kaopaoshulovesyou.com

Go visit them.

Temple of Rocks

2010-03-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

Temple of Rocks

Canon 5D Mark II- Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 @ 16mm

Created from 4 Exposures - f/18 - ISO 400

Shot With Tripod

click on image to enlarge

It was a lovely day to go wadding in, at times, waist deep water. Cold but tolerable, the Virgin River was approximately 40-45 degrees Fahrenheit throughout our entire stay. We hiked and traveled roughly 5-6 to miles and our entire trip took us about six hours. The river currents were at times moderate and my hiking buddy did take an unintended short dunk in the water. We would have been completely dorked without the walking sticks. Those walking sticks are a must. Dry land or otherwise, walking sticks is a great idea. Something about having a useable third leg. Go figure.

We were either way lucky or way crazy (depending which side of the coin you like to live on). Zion was hit with two days of moderate to heavy snowfall two days before we ventured on our hike. I knew the cold weather and winter conditions would discourage most of the general public from wanting to explore this hike the added risk of flash floods really scared all of the people off. We had the entire Narrows to ourselves. (And I did check with the Park Ranger before we did the hike. We were cleared for the Narrows.) Picture heaven for me.

Water was cold and the photo backpack was heavy. Whether it was serendipity or not, an online e-tailer had a basic tripod on promotion for fifty some odd dollars. Being aluminum, it wasn’t the lightest solution but it did provide me with an opportunity to have something useable and disposable if the natural conditions were less than friendly. I didn’t want to subject my carbon fiber tripod to Zion Narrow’s mud, dirt, or dust. The weight penalty wasn’t too great and I was able to lug my gear with relative ease. Oh, the Lowepro DryZone 200, although a bit too heavy for my liking but really spacious, was an pretty decent addition to my photo gear logistic solutions. My gear came back dry. If it weren't for the overly competitive price, I would have purchased the smaller, 100 version. Enough said?

I worked pretty hard for these pictures. As my journey continues, the requirements get more challenging for a good image.

Mood: Happy

Music: Salpica/Mambotur (Putumayo Presents: Euro Lounge)

Location: Home Studio

From The Emerald Pools Trail

2010-03-25T00:10:00.000-07:00

Zion National Park

Canon 5D Mark II- Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 @ 21mm

Created from 4 Exposures - f/18 - ISO 100

Shot With Tripod

click on image to enlarge

Here is another HDR image. I'm rather impressed with my second presentable effort. The colors came out well.

I enjoyed my second trip to Zion National Park. I'm thankful to say that I was able to do the Narrows Hike. Pictures from the Narrows to follow in a few days/weeks. This photo thing get more fun and more fustrating at the same time. Argh.

Mood: Happy

Music: ESPN:Sports Center

Location: Home Studio

@ Dawn

2010-02-17T01:39:00.000-08:00

@ Dawn

Canon 5D - Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 @ 27mm

Created from 4 Exposures - f/18 - ISO 200

Shot With Tripod

click on image to enlarge

I woke up early for this picture. This is my first decent attempt at a viewable HDR image. I learned some important things about HDR. Which images you select to combine is key to this process (like duh?).

Mood: Focused

Music: Random TV Program

Location: Home Studio

Disney Concert Hall

2010-02-15T13:09:00.001-08:00

Disney Concert Hall

Canon 30D - Canon 24-105mm f/4 @ 40mm

2010-01-10T13:52:00.000-08:00

I closed out 2009 with a photographic bang. Along with a very fruitful trip to San Francisco and some useable images of the Bay Area, I was able to shoot parts of Zion National Park during the final days of 2009. Once my schedule slows down a bit and I’m able to rectify my computer challenges (to be discussed more in a bit), I’ll post some images. I’m looking forward to trying my hand at HDR with the Zion pictures.

As a side note, I can’t wait to go back to Zion. There are at least two more trails (and if conditions are willing, there is a third trail) I want to do before my Zion craving is fully satiated.

Landscape photography is definitely one of my more favorite genres if you couldn’t tell by now. There are so many things to going on when I’m shooting a landscape. I get a sense of peacefulness which has been unparallel in my life in recent decades. Granted, a bit cliché, but being a bit closer to nature provides me with a sense of union and energizes me for more. Makes me want to explore more and see more of the world It makes me want more. It is funny for me to think back to when I had a few dates with Silva who asked me if I enjoyed traveling. I told her, granted I had a life energy sucking job and I was too young to know better, I didn’t enjoy traveling. I was too stuck to the comforts of home and I told her, I was too married to the shower water pressure at home. How things have changed.

I laugh and marvel at my transformation. I’ve exchanged my Saks and Neiman Marcus credit card for a REI membership card. I went from Salvatore Ferragamos to Teva water shoes in the last year. Instead of Marc Jacob blazers, I’m appreciating the finer offerings of The North Face jackets. This hobby has shifted my world in a wonderful way. Funny, just the other day, I thought how cool it would be to trade my convertible and get a SUV or a crossover vehicle like a Subaru Forester or a Toyota FJ Cruiser. It would be awesome to have an off-road vehicle with more than enough room to carry a tripod fully extended. Yes, I know, I’ve become an uber photo geek. And I’ve also become a greater lover for life.

I had a minor speed bump with the computer system the other day. I downloaded a virus and everything has screamed to halt with the post processes. I’m also a bit peeved to know that Photoshop version 3 doesn’t include support for Canon 5D Mark II raw files. Luckily, I’m cheap enough to find a work around and I’ve decided to adopt the Adobe native format of DNG for all my 5D Mark II raw files. I’m thinking that’s a pretty good path to go but I do limit myself if I wanted to use the Canon raw converter after I’m deleted all the originals. Something to think about. Anyhow, I think I’ve been able to minimize the effects of the virus but today will be the testing day. Let’s see how much I’m able to figure stuff out on my own.

Things to look forward to in 2010:

Hawaii/Oahu – Pat’s wedding – Feb/Mar

Zion National Park in the Spring – Mar/Apr

Florida Panhandle/West Palm Beach - Mar

Death Valley - Feb (hopefully)

Vienna, Austria (and surrounding European Locations?) – TBD on time

And one final note: I have a new year’s resolution for myself. This sounds a bit rudimentary but it has been a mild challenge for me to keep a consistent shooting schedule. I find it too easy to be bogged down with picture backlog and other legitimate and not so legitimate excuses. So, I have to make it an official challenge for myself. This, I will try and shoot one unique landscape location each month. Doesn’t have to be too special or too remote but I should get into a habit of continually shooting.

Happy 2010 all.

Mood: Happy

Music: Si*Sé –Mariposa (En Havana)

Location: Phi’s Joint

Fense Tree Leaves

2009-12-21T17:48:00.000-08:00

Fense Tree Leaves

Canon 30D - Canon 50mm f/1.4 @ 50mm

1/200 seconds - f/1.4 - ISO 200

Shot Handheld

click on image to enlarge

This is my first foray with the Nik Silver Efex Pro software. The Photoshop plug-in version is wonderful. I chose a simulated firm grain to go with my rendition of fall. I’m a sucker for black and white pictures. This picture of Fall really goes well with color, with the really saturated yellow levels and the deep textured browns of the tree but there’s something to be said about black and white. Monochrome just makes it more special, more legitimate.

Mood: Creative

Music: John Coltrane - Greensleeves

Location: Home Studio

Wise Words 12/20/2009

2009-12-20T13:49:00.000-08:00

Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships. ~ Ansel Adams

Sensor Schmutz

2009-12-20T13:10:00.000-08:00

For at least the last three months, I’ve blogged about the schmutz on my camera sensor. Those landscape shots, at least for me, require some small @ss aperture settings. Shooting at f/18 or even f/20 has repeatedly revealed some bad schmutz on my sensor. Argh. Anyhow, I thought getting a sensor scope kit from Delkin would help me address the problem. Having to drive down to the Canon Service Center in Irvine for a new cleaning isn’t a user friendly routine solution.

The night before I was going to catch Golden Gate Bridge at sunrise, I sat there and thoroughly cleaned my sensor and the lenses I expected to use the next day. I leveraged the sensor scope to the best of my abilities and was convinced that I had a reasonably clean sensor.

Having performed what I thought was an adequate cleaning job on my sensor before my Golden Gate Bridge session, I came home to a disappointing set of spots. Lots of them. Way too many of them. They were like photo locust (opening photo of a swarm of locust has been withdrawn due to a personal aversion to locust) Argh. Having to spend more than 20 minutes on spotting is a total buzz kill and a creative flow chi killer.

I’m thinking I’m pretty incompetent but not that incompetent. I know I had a beer or a glass of while while cleaning but not enough to compromise my overall senses. I know I probably changed a lens or two during the shooting session but I didn’t do the lens change in a hurricane, typhoon, or sandstorm. The amount of spots was ridiculous. Then I got smart. Duh. I made a new realization. The schmutz isn’t on the consumer friendly side (the side I can get to why my cheap tools) of the low pass filter. The schmutz is on the, I need a dayam camera repairman, inner side of the low pass filter – the area between the sensor and the filter. In addition, it took me, to my dismay, about two hours to adequately convince the customer service representative that the schmutz was on the pricier side of the fence and this was going to be a complicated cleaning job. Luckily, in the waiting area, the was the newest edition of EF Lens Work III The Eye of EOS for me to thumb through. Oh wells, the timing worked out to my benefit. I was able to make it to a very generous dinner.

I dropped the camera off on Tuesday, December the 15th. I still haven’t received a come and get your dayam undirty camera call back. Must be a really complicated fix it job. Hopefully, the camera will come back clean. Please!

On a secondary note, my new and improved 5D Mark II showed up in the mail. They shipped that bad boy from Japan. How authentic. However, not being completely confident that the camera would actually show up (backorder situation), I didn’t do my usual pre-purchase of important accessories for the Mark II. Well, over the last few days, I pulled the trigger on a Canon OEM battery grip, an additional Canon OEM battery, and a L plate from Really Right Stuff. All that stuff added up quickly. Dayam. But this is a chosen hobby, not one that crashed in my realm of reality. I voluntarily do this for my own existence. And I’m enjoying this to the Nth degree. Happy shooting all!

Black Friday Cyber Monday

2009-12-01T11:57:00.000-08:00

Black Friday - Canon 5D Mark II

Cyber Monday Surprise - Canon 85mm F 1.2 Mark II

I have to say, I’m pretty content with my Holiday season inspired purchases. Having emotionally set my mind on purchasing a Canon 1Ds Mark III, I was able to shift my purchasing decision and got the above two items. I even came in under budget. I’d like to offer an anonymous thank you for the sales person at Samy’s Fairfax. She said something to me that made a lot of sense. She suggested I buy the newest technology. Cameras are like computers and they do lose value quickly. Well, the main reason why I ended up getting these two things versus the Canon 1Ds Mark III was the incredible price I got for the 5D Mark II. The Chinaman in me couldn’t pass up the incredible deal. More shooting fun. Pat and CC will be the beneficiary of my new acquisitions.

The lens was something I've wanted for a long @ss time. I've been scoping this lens for over 18 months. After seeing David duChemin sport it in one of his pictures, I was lusting big time. I'm glad the lusting is over with. Having acquired the lens at a remarkable price (got very lucky with the price), I am able to sleep soundly. I suppose, losing those two auctions for the 1Ds Mark III was a blessing. Not being able to buy that camera enabled me to see these two wonderful deals. Sometimes, not getting what you initially wanted is a good thing.

Mood: Content

Music: Mariposa (En Havana)/ Si*Sé

Location: Home Studio

Forest Creek - Huangshan, China

2009-11-19T22:34:00.000-08:00

Forest Creek

Canon 5D - Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L @ 51mm

5 seconds - f/22 - ISO 50

Tiffen Circular Polarizer/Hoya NDX4 Filter/Slik 713 Tripod

click on image to enlarge

Yes, I’m going back to my older shots and looking for gems. I’ve learned some new Lightroom skills and I wanted to apply them to the “found” older gems. I’m doing a reverse learning at this point. I’m going back to my machined gunned images and recognizing where a fine picture may lay?

Mood: Self Patting Back Action

Music: NBA On TNT

Location: Home Studio

Make It More Difficult - Ramble

2009-11-18T17:55:00.000-08:00

More so recently than ever before, I’ve contemplated my own abilities to make a photograph and how my efforts compare to the greats (i.e. Avedon, Adams, Leibovitz, etc). I initially picked up photography as a means to supplement a poor memory and to cherish over and over again, that happy, magical moment. I’ve always been highly visually motivated and realizing that I actually enjoyed noticing life and landscapes, I wanted to polish my abilities to photograph and in a sense, I wanted to be able to materialize (at least materialize in a digital sort of way) my memories.

My journey in this hobby has led me to many basic conclusions.

Portrait photography, it is harder than it looks. The appreciation for light doesn’t come easy (at least not for me). Those who use studio environments, using multiple lights, that’s not easy either.

Portrait photography also required an excellent ability to direct. That’s difficult to master. What translates well in a picture is difficult to establish in real time (during the photo session).

I’m pretty sure all digital landscape photographers do something extra with the coloring. If you shoot raw, nothing all that interesting comes straight out of the camera.

Photos of beach sunsets are over played.

Part of an excellent landscape is shooting something most people haven’t seen yet. That’s strictly just a product of going somewhere interesting.

Composition in landscape photography is way underappreciated. This is some hard @ss thing to do.

With any sort of heighten appreciation of anything, the proof is in the pudding…err, oops, I meant the riches are in the details. I used to look at photographs all day in art school and say, what’s the big deal about that photo. Then again, I’ll watch Kobe shoot a fade away jumper over an opponent and think, that doesn’t look that difficult. But having some rudimentary experience in playing basketball, I know, based on trying it before, fade away jumpers are dayam difficult. Simple math here. Able to consistently shoot fade away jumpers earns you millions of dollars in salary. The lack of ability to shoot fade away jumpers over professional basketball players leads to more plebeian endeavors. Shooting a memorable picture is harder than I’ll ever imagine…

Funny, I’m taking pleasure/joy I’ve enjoyed for years and I’m trying to figure a way to make it more unpleasant and difficult. That sounds retarded and I realize that. However, I’d like to explain myself. All my, what I deem successful pictures (sans a recent few), pictures were a post camera, post taking, post time of taking picture, moment. Let me simplify what I just said. Essentially, what I’m trying to say is, I got lucky with my “successful” pictures. I shot the pictures and the pictures came out well. I did contribute to the planning and I may have had samples to study from but rarely do I see the finished product until after I’ve literally finished the product/picture with many hours in front of the computer.

The benefit of digital photography has given the benefits of crazy volume discounts. I can shoot pictures until cows sprout wings and fly and still face an essentially fixed cost basis. If you shoot something with a shotgun/machine gun approach, you have a greater chance of scoring a hit but whether you score a direct hit or a tangential hit is based strictly on skill. With some many bullets, I’m bound to get lucky sooner or later.

So back to making this deal a bit more difficult. I want to remove the luxuries of being able to shot-gunning/machine gunning approach from my arsenal. Instead, I want to be able to slow the process way down and hopefully approach the subject with creativity and logic approach a picture taking opportunity with the surgical precision of a heart or brain surgeon.

This is the delicate yet demanding desire to balance vision with skillful manipulation of gear usage. There’s only so much I can learn about playing with my camera’s dials, it is time to play with my brain’s dials to create that image.

Making a great picture aint’ as easy as it seems. It is a grounded approaching leading first with the mind, body, and soul before leading in with the shutter button. The shot now and sort out later worked when I didn’t know better, but I want to know more/better now. I want to see the finished product in my mind before I press the shutter button.

Let’s make this more difficult now.

Mood: Contemplative

Music: Seal – Waiting For You (I’m cracked out on Seal these days)

Location: The Daily Brew - Montebello

Wise Words 11/17/09

2009-11-17T14:18:00.000-08:00

All photos are accurate. None of them is the truth. - Richard Avedon

Sandy Point State Beach

2009-11-12T15:07:00.000-08:00

Sandy Point State Beach

Canon 5D - Canon 24-105mm f/4.0L @ 70mm

1/60 second - f/16 - ISO 200

Tiffen Circular Polarizer

click on image to enlarge

Granted, I took this picture in what seems like photographic ages ago. I had spent the later daylight hours, walking this beach and just absorbing the scene. The place was pretty lonely and perhaps, due to the contracting financial landscape, the beach was a bit run down. However, there were plenty of visual elements to keep me busy and I enjoyed my one day there.

I have to admit, I made some adjustments to this photograph. Rarely does this happen to me. I knew the instant the sunlight had coaxed me into visual realization that I had the picture I wanted. I also, knew immediately I wanted some seagulls to spot my image in a certain way. Something to add balance. I’m very pleased with this photograph.

On a different note, I’m uber sick of cleaning up after my dirty sensor. I think I need to suck it up and do something about this. Definitely new camera time. I keep telling myself, suck it up buddy! Anyhow, while playing with this picture, I had Seal’s Love Devine playing over and over again. That brother can sing. The man has some lungs.

Mood: Pleased

Music: Seal – Love’s Devine

Location: Home Studio

Wise Words 10/27/2009

2009-10-27T01:20:00.000-07:00

Photography is a system of visual editing. At bottom, it is a matter of surrounding with a frame a portion of one's cone of vision, while standing in the right place at the right time. Like chess, or writing, it is a matter of choosing from among given possibilities, but in the case of photography the number of possibilities is not finite but infinite. - John Szarkowski

Wise Words 10/24/09

2009-10-24T21:23:00.000-07:00

To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them. - Elliott Erwitt

Malibu Pier

2009-10-24T20:43:00.000-07:00

One Fall Day At the Beach

Canon 5D - Canon 24-105mm f/4.0L @ 70mm

1 second - f/20 - ISO 50

Tiffen Circular Polarizer

click on image to enlarge

I made this image after spending a few hours documenting a wedding with a boatload of gear. I may have mentioned my boatload of gear here. I had some time to chill and I wanted to be able to document how lucky I was to be able to spend some quiet time at the beach house my friends procured for their wedding. In retrospect, I probably would have enjoyed having my 24mm tilt shift lens with me but realistically, I had enough gear with me.

After reading Ansel’s Examples of 40 Photographs, I definitely felt a need to do a better job of visualizing the picture before making it. Luckily for me, I’m a digital shooter and I have the luxury of just rapidly shooting and reviewing my result later. I can adjust my vision (if I had one…to begin with…) later but slowly and surely, I feel more obligated to have a vision before I just randomly snap away. I salute and internalize the words of the much revered David du Chemin: “Gear Is Good but Vision Is Better .” Heres to you David: Thank you for being a positive photographic influence. I still want a new camera though (one with a vibrating sensor).

On a different note, my sensor is still grossly dirty. I just got this bad boy back from the cleaners a few days before the wedding and I spent the whole night spoting up the ying yang. Who can really help me with this? This is getting to be an issue.

Mood: Visually Inclined

Music: Shuffle here and Shuffle there

Location: Home Studio

Notes

2009-10-23T14:25:00.000-07:00

Quick Hits

I regret not purchasing the 85mm F 1.2 Mark II from the B&H Photo/PDN virtual trade fair. That’s what I get for being cheap. I think the price at the time was around $1750ish. Bummer. I suppose I’ll just learn to live without it for the time being.

One of the cooler/coolest (perhaps) names for a photographer is Horst P. Horst. Man Ray is another good one.

Ansel Adam’s book; Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs was a good read. I took me a while to finish it though. I’d like to think the knowledge he shared will help me with my landscape photography. There was a fair amount of discussion on films and developers which was wasted on me but I appreciated the knowledge. I definitely would like to polish up on my knowledge of color filters for sure.

I’m so not ready for Lightroom 3.0. Dayam. Okay, that’s more motivation for me to blow through the Evening book before LR 3.0 becomes fully integrated into normal conversation.

I wonder how the Canon 1Ds Mark IV will eventually fair in the open market and what features will be included?

I wonder, given what I know and having to start all over with no gear, if I would buy Canon or Nikon?

Definitely need to get the website started. I need make business cards. I can’t imagine having any legitimacy without a website or business cards.

Urth Caffé in downtown Los Angeles is my new favorite café spot. The location is edgy fun. The coffee is worthwhile. And most importantly, I feel more creatively energetic there. The people there are hip and they all seem like independent thinkers. I like the vibe there. Doesn’t hurt that the other day, I saw someone I wanted to photograph. I wouldn’t say she was your typical beauty but she had good photographic features. I wanted to approach her. She had nice olive skin. Next time. Argh.

Quote for the day: There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer. ~Ansel Adams

Mood: Motivated/Renewed Spirits

Music: De Alegria Rajou O Dia – Sea Jorge

Location: Studio Montebello

Portraiture

2009-10-21T16:37:00.000-07:00

Let’s start this entry with a moving photography related quote.

My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph. – Richard Avedon

Avedon once said, “If a day goes by without my doing something related to photography, it’s as though I’ve neglected something essential to my existence, as though I had forgotten to wake up.”

I chose the Avedon quote based on diving into chapter 5 of Orwig’s book, Visual Poetry. The chapter is about portraits.

Here are a few more meaningful words from Chris’s book.

“Portraits are valuable because they extend beyond the limits of the ordinary experience.” – Evan Chong (Quote taken from a discussion regarding portraits – chapter 5)

That’s pretty deep if you ask me. I aspire to live beyond the ordinary experience.

“…at some point photography becomes autobiographical. In order to create better photos, we need to go out and develop who we are.” – Chris Rainier (chapter 5)

I need to say more about myself, at least visually. I just need to learn how to talk more?

“You need to broaden and deepen your own emotional vocabulary in order to discover how to create more compelling and engaging photographs.” – Chris Orwig (chapter 5)

I get it. Read more books or rather, intelligently study more photographs. This is how I can learn to express myself better? Maybe. The path is undefined and full of happy and sorrowful suprises. It is my job to explore and re-explore both myself, my personality, and my motivations.

Mood: Peaceful and Focused

Music: Birds - Emiliana Torrini

Location: Studio Montebello

95% Feeling

2009-10-20T18:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some random notes from the last two weeks.

In anticipation of shooting Emily and Dave’s wedding, I budgeted to visit Canon Irvine to get the sensor professionally cleaned. There was some serious camera freckle/pimple action on the sensor. I, alone, couldn’t get the sensor freckle/pimple off with a years worth of Proactiv and 100 grade sandpaper with a team of day laborers from the local Home Depot team.

Instead of spending more time and buying more advanced cleaning tools for the sensor, I thought it best to suck up the $30 charge and have canon do it. I know I didn’t want to spot 300+ photos from Dave’s wedding. Luckily for me, granted it did cost me one additional trip to south Irvine, uncle Canon picked up my sensor cleaning because of an unpublished recall on the mirror mechanism for the 5D Mark I. Sweetness.

Based those savings, I was a bit more at ease when I purchased a flash bracket from Really Right Stuff. The sensor cleaning savings paid for the sales taxes incurred for the RRS purchase. I love RRS products but darn it to heck for them doing business in beautiful San Luis Obispo, California. For those who openly wonder, I got the B87-B Portrait Perfect Package.

So get this. Btw, I’m a semi-idiot. My left hand/arm is still sore.

On the day of the wedding, I was primarily operating with this set of gear.

Canon 5D Mark I – 1.79 pounds

Canon BG-E4 Battery Grip – 0.71 pounds

Canon 24-70mm F 2.8 – 2.1 pounds (dayam this thing is a brick and weighs like one)

Canon 580EX Mark I – 1.0 pound

Really Right Stuff L-plate for Canon BG-E4 grip – 0.36 pounds

Really Right Stuff B87-B Portrait Perfect Package – 0.73 pounds

Total weight of my rig was 6.70 pounds – give or take a bit.

At the end of a maybe a four hours shooting, I lost almost complete feeling in my left hand. Funny, considering right hand was doing the heavy lifting. I suppose my focusing hand/arm, aka my left hand/arm was really doing most of the work. My left arm/hand was definitively doing more surgical movements. The conclusion is: zooming and focusing is demanding that keeping 6.7 pounds steady.

As of Tuesday, I have 95% feeling in my left hand. Ouch.

I highly recommend Really Right Stuff products. I’m not too keen on the local and I’m doubly not keen on the California sales tax arrangement but I must say their products are excellent. Beautifully machined and wonderfully crafted, I can’t considering using another vendor for my camera support related needs.

I guess I know where I'll be purchasing my pano gear from. This saves mucho time on the research. I love my photo gear researching on the net but boy does it take forever and everyone, regardless of skill level and shooting experience, has an opinion on everything.

Mood: Still Peaceful

Music: How Insensitive - Antonio Carlos Jobim

Location: Stabucks Pico Rivera

Visual Poetry

2009-10-20T16:49:00.000-07:00

That Lightroom book by Evening was a hard pill to swallow. I’m still working on it. I think I’ve been too spoiled by Kelby’s light hearted writing style. Almost seems insulting if I didn’t finish a Kelby book. He writes his books in such a user friendly manner. The Evening version is definitively for the more advanced. He doesn’t candy coat it. Evening’s book is probably a better learning tool for those with way more focus than I currently have to devote to the book.

Anyhow, I’m changing paces with a new book. I’m got a barn burner going right now. Visual Poetry by Chris Orwig has been a wonderful read. Please feel free to buy it here from my favorite book retailer.

I was really blown away by Chris’s reference to Paul Arden. I did a quick wiki search of Paul and apparently he’s one bad @ss bloke (don’t know why I decided to use a British term here but so be it). Here’s what he had to say about creativity.

“To be original seek inspiration from unlikely sources.” – Paul Arden

Chris also mentions Albert Einstein. I don’t think Mr. Hair himself needs further introduction. If you are reading my blog and don’t know who he is, please log off my site and Google him.

“Out of clutter find simplicity. From discord find harmony; in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein

I’m liking this book so far. Hopefully, I’ll have more comments to share during my reading voyage. Happy Tuesday world.

Mood: Peaceful

Music: Times Out Album - The Dave Brubeck Quartet

Location: Stabucks Pico Rivera

Slice of Soccer Life

2009-10-02T13:52:00.001-07:00

My Soccer Story

Canon 30D - Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L @ 115mm

1/640 seconds - f/3.5 – ISO 100

Click on image to Enlarge

Unimpressed

Canon 30D - Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS @ 170mm

1/500 seconds - f/3.5 - ISO 100

Click on image to Enlarge

1:30 pm sun shooting conditions – there’s a 1st for shooting in all conditions. Surprisingly the set came out better than I expected. The talent was pleased…I think.

Mood: Lazy

Music: Noche Caliente - Jason McGuirev

Location: Home Studio

Pismo Beach, California

2009-09-22T00:50:00.000-07:00

Mid Summer Night's Daze

Canon 5D - Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L @ 16mm

1/50 seconds - f/16 - ISO 640 - EV -2/3

Click on image to make bigger

Birds of Shadows

Canon 5D - Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS @ 200mm

1/1600 seconds - f/2.8 - ISO 160 - EV -1

Click on image to make bigger

Silky Sand

Canon 5D - Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L @ 35mm

1/125 seconds - f/16 - ISO 400 - EV - 2/3

Click on image to make bigger

This was my first time visiting Pismo Beach. I was pleasantly happy to drive on the actual beach. Although, I was worried about getting sand into the inter-workings of the my faithful Prius. This shooting beaches gig, not as easy as it looks. One can get bored easily looking at sunsets and flowy tides. Other visual cues are so important and so necessary.

Mood: Scarily Awake

Music: Sketches of Spain Album - Miles Davis

Location: Home Studio

El Matador Beach, Malibu California

2009-09-18T14:55:00.000-07:00

Wet Sandy Shoes

Canon 5D - Canon 24mm f/3.5 Tilt-Shift @ 24mm

3.2 seconds - f/20 - ISO 400

Click on image to make bigger

This is the first time I exposed myself to the elements to get a shot. I ended up having to walk in sandy water to get from one spot to another. I was not pleased with the sand in my shoes but I suppose it was well worth the effort to get this shot. I have a few more but from a first past, this shot caugh my eye immediately.

Mood: Burpy

Music: Romanza - Andrea Bocelli

Location: Home Studio

Sickness

2009-09-18T01:40:00.000-07:00

I suffer from dirty sensor syndrome. Argh. I suppose I was dorked to begin with. The air was fairly contaminated at El Matador Beach. I could see the stuff floating in the air.

Heck, there was some weird brown stuff attaching to the good ole backpack. Twas pretty nasty looking.

I want camera with a vibrating sensor. Just do it?

On a different note, I stopped lusting and just bought a 32 gig iPod Touch (3rd generation). I like the idea of having a portable picture viewer. I'm thinking, this is ideal for keeping a map handy.

Happy Friday World.

Life Today

2009-09-17T13:51:00.000-07:00

Life is hard today.

I’m currently at a Starbucks in Malibu, California waiting for the sun to set a bit before I venture out to El Matador Beach. Can I just say, the Starbucks employees here are uber friendly. One of the ladies just offered me a free pastry and she even cleaned some of my own personal trash off the table.

Hopefully, I can harness some of the happy karma here and translate it into a bomb @ss picture. No clouds today though. Far change in environmental conditions compared to (pauses and thinks what day it is today…) I think Monday? Monday or Tuesday of this week was very cloudy. Clear skies won’t help my cause very much. Please please please get me some drama in the sky.

On a secondary note, I never realized how much coastline area Malibu takes up. It is as if Malibu owns 25% of the California coastline. I’ve been driving and driving for what seems like forever.

On secondary secondary note, I’ve decided to buy an iPod Touch. The thought of having a small handheld computer with an access to a map would be ideal in my future endeavors. Now all I have to do is figure out which generation and what size. Spending money can be so difficult at times.

I do have one hiccup to mention today. An acorn sized speedbump if you will. My dumb butt filled my urban attack sack with a set of broken headphones. I'm currently only operating with one funtional earbud. Tis life. Can't have it too perfect. I need to remain humble. So I think...

Happy Thursday peoples.

Bag Addict

2009-09-12T17:42:00.001-07:00

Something I realized as I pulled this last trip up to SF was I lacked an intermediate bag. Not a bag for my photo gear but a bag for my immediate belongings. It would have been nice to have a bag to house my car keys, my wallet, my sunglasses, and maybe a MP3 player (iPod touch in my future perhaps)? Also, a place to house my light meter (expensive one at that) and my some lens filters would be uber ideal. (I see need to figure out a shooting work flow which includes the use of lens filters.)

No one bag will completely suit my needs. I know this and I accept this challenge. It will either be good big or too small and either have the right amount of pockets or not enough. Luckily for me, I’m not opposed to have an array of bags. Cue bag lust music now: brown chicken brown cow...

I’m happy to report that REI has blessed me with an excellent iteration of my quest for the perfect bag. I’d like to present the cyber space blog reading world the REI Stratocruiser Carry-On Bag. You can find it here at REI. The coolest feature of this bag is the two zippered exterior pockets (one on the top and the front facing pocket) and the water bottle pouches on the side. This is an intelligently designed bag.

I got mine on sale. I can’t way to test it out. I’m looking forward to revisiting SF in a few days. I trust this bag will suit me well.