Re-post May 2011
It was a nice clear night and I was looking for a good shot of downtown Chicago. We walked below the Michigan Ave. bridge crossing the Chicago River. This is a 5 exposure HDR. Initially shot in color, I prefer it in black and white. I hope to return to Chicago soon, it’s my favorite city to travel to.
Re-post June 2011
I drove into Des Moines tonight for a meeting and thought I would capture some pictures. Des Moines is one of my favorite cities. Since graduating in 2005 from Des Moines University there has been a significant amount of renovation to the downtown area. I love the architecture and it’s always a great place to take pictures.
Iowa’s State Capitol sits on the east side of downtown (immediately behind me in this picture). There is a lot of sidewalks and landscape to its west. It also sits up high in comparison to the remaining downtown which allows for some great cityscapes. Also, I love how Locust street ends in front of the capitol thus allowing for a unique perspective.
This shot was taken at dusk using my Leica M9 and 90mm summarit-m. As Leica owners know, summarit is considered their “affordable” lens (most would disagree). Anyway, I’ve been very happy with its sharpness and have taken many great pictures with it.
Almost a year ago my wife and I were sitting in our living room and I looked out the window and noticed a beautiful cloud formation. We rushed into the car and drove west. I was able to capture this with my 35mm summicron.
ISO 160 1/750 f/2.0 35mm
Re-post from September 2011
As we were walking around at Steve Huff’s workshop, we came across this father and son walking. What made this interesting was the height of the father in comparison to his child. We inquired if we could take a few pictures and the entire time his son just stared at us wondering what the heck we were doing.
Another capture from the hip. My goal is to catch them mid-stride.
ISO 1/180 f/8 21mm super elmar
Recently I purchased Leica’s new 21mm super elmar. All I can say is WOW! The sharpness and minimal distortion is phenomenal. Last, I love using “zone focusing“. I just set my aperture and shooting distance and I’m ready to go. If you set your aperture to f/8 (has to be a sunny day) and shooting distance to 5 feet, anything beyond 3 feet will be in focus.
This shot was taken from the hip. This guy was definitely on the go.
ISO 160 1/250 f/8 21mm super elmar
