It’s amazing how easy it is to forget about shots you’ve taken. I took this one 2 years ago in the Outer Banks. It was a wonderful morning to watch a sunrise.
ISO 100 1/160 f16 16mm (Canon 5d MkII & Canon 16-35mm f2.8)
Early Morning Sailing
Blue Tree
I don’t shoot HDR (high dynamic range) photography very often anymore. I know some photographers don’t like it because they think they are too “Photoshop” or look fake. I would say that its personal preference. For years people have been manipulating pictures (i.e. Ansel Adams) and to be honest there are probably not too many pictures posted on the internet that haven’t had some editing. I know some will argue but I don’t really see the difference in HDR photography from someone who uses neutral density or graduated filters (i.e. Lee filters).
Even though I don’t shoot many any more, I still find Trey Ratcliff’s shots interesting and inspiring. He also has great comments to go along with his shots. Another photographer, Mark Neal shoots a lot of HDR and is great at discussing his workflow. If you haven’t visited their sites, I would highly recommend you do.
This shot was taken in San Diego. It was September and only weeks before I traded in my Canon 5D Mark II for my Leica M9. My Leica can shoot HDR (can bracket up to 7 shots) and I do from time to time but I’m more interested in shooting people in their daily lives and love the challenge of catching the decisive moment.
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Hot pepper
For a short time, I had this idea I would start shooting macro. About 2-3 weeks into having Canon’s 100mm macro lens, I decided to sell all my Canon gear to buy a Leica M9 and lens.
I obviously didn’t have the opportunity to take many macro shots. It was difficult to focus and I felt you really needed a flash dedicated for macro shots. Here is a picture of a red pepper my wife was growing at the time.
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Storm is coming
If you are ever in Cleveland, OH. Huntington beach is a great place to take pictures at sunset. This was taken 3 years ago.
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Downtown Chicago
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.
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The Empty Pier
Re-post July 2011
Last year when traveling to the Outer Banks in North Carolina I was able to get a lot of good pics. One morning I decided to get up and drive to the Avon Pier. I walked around the pier trying to find the best place to setup for some great sunrise shots. I initially was standing up on a mountain of sand hoping it would give me a great vantage point but as soon as I could setup, the owner of the pier came out yelling at me telling me to get off. She explained that they are there to help protect their structures during hurricanes, and they cost a lot of money. After I told her what I was doing she was then nice enough to allow me to go up on the pier for few pictures. Here is one of those pics.
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Riding my pony
I recommend if you take a lot of pictures make sure every so often you go back through them. I have over 23,000 pics in my library (I deleted about 10,000 last year) and it’s real easy to forget pictures that you’ve taken.
This picture was taken at my nephews second birthday 18 months ago. I found it this weekend.
ISO 100 1/1000 f/1.4 canon 50mm
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The Iron Skeleton
Repost from July 2011
My wife and I spent 4 years in Des Moines, IA while I was receiving my degree. The first couple years I was vey busy with my work and never showed much interest in photography. Midway through my second year, my father lost his year long battle with cancer. When he passed I inherited his film dSLR and lenses. Not until later in the year did I finally gain an interest in photography. Initially, I was just taking pictures in the operating room for the physicians I was rotating with. I remember getting many compliments doing this and thought it came somewhat natural. Canon came out with the EOS 20d (you can find the most recent version, Canon EOS 60D here). I remember how excited I was to get this and try out my dads lenses. Since then, I’ve traded, bought, and upgraded from the Canon 20d and his lenses.
Many years have passed since purchasing my first dSLR and I’ve now moved on to Leica M9 rangefinder camera but I still have many good pics that I took. One of those was from a trip back to Des Moines a few years ago. I was driving around Booneville, IA and came across this old railroad bridge. At that time I was starting to show some interest in HDR photography. Below is one of those pics (I also posted it in black and white).
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The foggy path
When we lived in Avon Lake, OH we had a small park and walking path behind our house. Often times after it would snow I would go and try to capture an interesting picture. Unfortunately, I didn’t take many good ones. One morning to my surprise, it was foggy and I quickly snuck out to the path and got this.
ISO 125 1/1250 f/2.8 70mm (Canon 5D Mark II)
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Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
Last July 4th the family and I vacationed in the Outer Banks. We were always told it had nice beaches and was very family friendly. I have to agree with that assessment. We stayed further down near Avon, NC which is away from the tourist stuff. It was a much more rural area with local shops and restaurants. Typically when we vacation we are on the go trying to see as much as possible but this time our intention was to relax and bathe in the sun. There are definitely picture opportunities and probably one of the more famous areas to take pictures is at Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. I was hoping the clouds and sun would cooperate. Fortunately, the sun came out for only a few minutes and I was able to get this shot.
Repost June 2011
