Love, Reflected

I love weddings. Makes me want to go do mine over again. And again.

I got to shoot a wedding again with Amy Parsons (site, blog). What a blast! 'Coarse, now my cheeks are sore.

Amy had the whole wedding party traipsing around the Village Green for photos. And what troopers they all were. It was cold out, but they seemed to all be warmed from the inside. The boys broke into harmonious song a few times and the girls filled the area with echoed laughter. More than a few passers-by commented on the joy of seeing (and hearing!) the whole bunch being so excited.

Shot with a Tamron 17-50 2.8 at 50mm, 1/800th, f2.8, iso 100 - lit by their own internal glow.

Kitchen Silver

Fussing about putting the dishes away (with Ms. Doubtfire showing on the tele) and I got to wondering about how silver things might look with a little color thrown in.

Shot at 85mm, f4, 1/10th, iso 100 under the kitchen lights on a tripod.

Skiers Delight

Surprise! It was cold enough for many of the flakes to survive. We received between 4 and 5 inches in the yard overnight. What a sight to see.

Say, I wonder what it's like up on the mountain? At the time of this writing they claimed 34 inches in the past 4 days. Woot! Better get the gear out and waxed.

I wonder if anybody waxes anymore...

Shot at 50mm, 1/160th, f8, iso 200.

How Fleeting the Flake

I looked up briefly from my work and saw that it is snowing again.

In many of my attempts to take a photo of snowfall, the results are less than interesting. Let's just say that I seem to be getting dandruff in my pictures, something a 'normal' person might spend time trying to erradicate from the image.

This time I thought I'd try to catch one in the act of being a flake. So I set the camera on a slow shutter speed and tried to follow one after the other to the ground. I learned that they're jumpy little fellows, jostling and bumping on their headlong journey to destruction on the ground where the temperature is much too warm to sustain them.

I think the result is as close to a painting as I'm like to produce (as long as I continue to avoid the brush).

Shot with a 50mm lens, 1/20th, f11, iso 400.

The Watering Hole

Now and then I need some inspiration. No ideas were coming to me today. None. Zip. Nada. Nothing.

Not even a weird idea like seeing if I can capture the splash of a tire in a puddle as a car zips down the street at night with my strobe set to freeze gyser of water drops flying toward some poor bystander in his/her fancy go to dinner clothes waiting out on the sidewalk to be seated at their table.

Ok, I thought of that one. I just couldn't see getting out there to do it today.

So, what to shoot? I took a sneak peek at other sites today. I've been trying to post mine before I look to see what my buddies have done. When I saw Tim's I knew I wanted to mess around with a reflective surface (thanks Tim!). I'm saving lockers for another day...

Shot with a 50mm lens at f11, 1/250th, iso 100 with a single 430EX bounced off some foam core board.

Footbridge to Lower BP

Sounds like a magical place, doesn't it? On a beautiful spring morning I crossed the footbridge from Upper Benson Prairie to Lower Benson Prairie.

It's not a place, however, it's a condition. As in: Lower Blood Pressure.

My day job has me sitting on me arse all day long. The only body parts getting exercise are my fingers as I type away on my keyboard. Add in to the mix that my job can put a bit of stress on the day, and it's a recipe for high blood pressure.

One of the ways to help stay off corrective medications is to get out and walk. So, that's where my heart lead me today, out onto an old railroad grade that has morphed into a walking/biking trail.

Shot at 200mm, 1/125th, f5.6, iso 100.

New Arrival!

Today's theme is "Perspective" - thanks Lance.

This one kept me up late trying to conjure up something creative, I mean, it's due on Sunday and I'll have some time to play with it. So, what to do?

This idea hit me at 3:14 AM. I wanted to get up right then and work on it. My bride refused to rise with me at that crazy hour. OK, in all honesty, I didn't dare wake her to ask.

Shot at 17mm, 1/40th, f13, iso 200, with 3 speed lights - see the setup shot here.

Chord Strike

After stumbling onto Zack Arias again, and watching this flick, I was a little numb. I mean, I've seen some neat stuff from the guy right? He shares what he knows, his One Light courses are well received and he seems to be making a go of it.

But his video brought to the surface something I hadn't yet put my finger on.

Before photography, I was deep into model helicopters. The kind that require all your attention to build, maintain & fly. In the summer I rarely missed a day of flying - burning gallon after gallon trying to improve what I could do with them.

Too soon winter would arrive and with it weather that was not supportive of my interest. Come February I'd be ready to quit my job, move south and live in my van until I could re-establish. A good friend suggested I needed a winter sport, like skiing, to take the edge off.

Then I got into photography and I thought maybe that'll change. Hey, one can make a picture anytime, right? The nastier the weather, the better the mood. Or so I thought.

Zack's video pointed out that maybe I've not changed after all. Maybe I need to be a snowbird and migrate. Maybe I am moody.

Today's pic is there to remind me that I'm not yet food for worms. Hopefully, I'll hold off on pushing daisies for just a little longer.

Spring is supposed to be just around the corner...

Shot at 17mm, 1/250th, f5.6, iso 100, bare 580EX on a stand lighting the crosses.

Age & Deception - Youth & Speed

Tim has been using his daily photo post to do some experimenting - see here and here. I thought, what a cool idea - learn something from all that snappin' - why not?

So, today I did my own experiment. I decided to find out what the differences are between shooting with my film camera and my digital.

I have a Canon EOS 3 that I just love. The build quality, the feel, the HUGE viewfinder, the speed of the autofocus - there's just a lot there to like. I have a Canon 40D that isn't too shabby either. It'll shoot 6 frames a second, it's got plenty of pixels, and the AF is pretty good too.

I bolted on a 50mm 1.4 to the 40D and an 85mm 1.8 to the EOS 3. (Because the 40D has a smaller sensor, the two lenses provide nearly the same field of view). I loaded Ilford 400 speed XP-2 into the film camera, natch, and set the 40D to iso 400.

One of the things I was interested in learning is which one handles high contrast better. So, the middle of the day with the sun overhead provided the test conditions. I used the sunny 16 rule when setting both cameras to f16 at 1/400th.

And the results are: I can't decide. They both have their places. I like film because I have a darkroom that is a magical place to make pictures in. I like digital because I learn right now if what I'm trying is working or not. I like film because it slows me down a little and makes me think about what I'm doing. I like digital for the convienience: wrong iso? Change it. Want color and b&w at the same time? No problem.

One caveat, the scanning done on the film was the regular garden variety 1 hour photo lab hustle it through job. To really see if there's more in the film, one would want a real scan done.

Final note: Do you like one over the other? Do you know which is which?

Frosty Walk

I had an eye doc appointment this morning early just down the boulevard from here. I used to work just around the corner and have been down this path many times. In the fall it's the most amazing place with lots of color above and in the litter of leaves below. The feel in winter is very different, which I tried to accentuate with a few adjustments in Photoshop.

Shot at 200mm, f2.8, 1/640th, iso 200 - morning light filtering through low lying fog.