I was amazed to see the volume of people over the last few days take to the canals for some recreational skating.  Personally, the ice was a little too thin for my taste, not to mention the many sections of open water that had yet to freeze.  Needless to say I was happy to watch from a bridge and take some shots of those daring skaters.  The image here was taken in Leiden Netherlands, just a few miles south of Amsterdam.

The image above was a handheld shot taken with a Nikon D300s and 35mm Nikkor f1.8 lens.

Some background on this image:

This image was shot on the eve of a first DOCTRID conference in Dublin Ireland in October of 2010.  I was actually there to film a small documentary about the conference.  The night before the conference I took a long walk around the beautiful gardens and golf course at The Carton House, in Maynooth which was hosting the conference.  This boat house was sitting on the water of one of the last holes on the course.  The light was striking and so I setup as still as I could (since I had no tripod along) and grabbed this shot hand-held as the light dimmed.  I stayed here and worked the boat house for as long as the light would allow, and I was very pleased with the image I was able to walk away with.

In addition to taking first place this year, I also had another entry of mine receive an honorable mention.

This image was shot in a strange tide pool in Saint Malo France.  I was passing through the town after spending some time exploring the ruins and majestic castle of Mont Saint Michele the night before.  While we were walking from the dock out to the small fort situated on the tide pool (only walkable during low tide) we spotted a newlywed couple getting their picture taken on this rocky outcrop.  I loved the juxtaposition of the stormy weather and gritty background set against the couples modern and fancy attire.

I would also like to congratulate a close friend of mine and fellow photographer Brunno Moretti for his second place finish in the Global Focus Photography Competition.  Well done!

To see a list of all the current 2011 winners, checkout the competitions website Global Focus Photography Competition

Thanks again to everyone involved, and I look forward to entering the competition again next year.

For this wedding I had Brunno my second shooter on hand to help manage the large event.  Together we shot nearly 40GB of images over the course of 8 hours.  The event was shot with a Nikon D300s and D7000 with a variety of lens from 18-200mmVR’s, 50mm 1.8, and 105mm 2.8.

Overall, it was a great experience and a wonderful wedding reception.  I want to give a special thanks to Sarah and Joe for letting me take part in such a special day.  Sarah and Joe make a photographers job a snap, they always look good and are wonderful to work with.

Here is a short video of all the camera gear I packed for the shoot.  Only thing missing in this video is the second camera that was with Brunno (my second shooter).

I shot this wedding with my Nikon D300s with the 24-70mm Nikkor f2.8 lens as well as the 10.5mm Nikkor Fisheye 2.8 and the always versatile 50mm Nikon f1.8.  The second camera on hand was a Nikon D7000 shooting with the 18-200mm Nikkor f3.5 zoom lens.

I did have a small studio strobe that was used for the formal portraits and when the dancing started I had it set off to the side of the dance floor to help me freeze the action.

Overall, it was a great shoot everyone was wonderful to work with and I was very happy to have been a part of it.

Of course as soon as I got it out and was getting all excited to start firing away I realized I needed a few things like film, and of course a new battery.  As luck would have it there is still quite a bit of film out there, and the folks over at lomography have quite a selection.  You can get a nice variety of 35mm or 120 size film from them, and they sell local in many retail stores (Urban Outfitters is where I found mine).  Just for fun I went with the redscale 100 speed film.  I ended up having to order a replacement battery online through Amazon since none of the local stores near me carried the right size, so if you are planning to take out your old camera, might want to think ahead on that one and get your batteries and film now.

Once I had my film loaded I was ready to set off and shoot some frames.  It was so much fun yet simultaneously torturous to shoot a frame and not be able to look at a viewfinder and check to see if its properly exposed or sharp.  Knowing I only had 36 exposures to a roll I found I became really stingy with my shots.  I passed alot of shots that I normally would take and found that I played it safe many of the times by bracketing my images of the things I was really interested in.

One of the things I loved most about this fun little exercise was that it was so refreshing to revert back to the basics, and rely on my own ability to expose an image correctly, knowing I would have to wait to get my film developed to see if I had missed the mark or not.  I was about a third of the way through my roll of film when I remembered that there was not going to be any exif data on my finished images, which prompted me to drag out an old notebook so I could write down my shutter speed and f-stops manually…as fun as that is, boy does it make me love my digital SLR all the more.

After shooting through a roll I found that I got better and better as the exposures went on, at first I overexposed my images quite a bit, but by the end of the roll I was getting some good results.  The redscale film gave a nice vintage look to the images, unfortunately I did have some trouble keeping the snow or other white surfaces from washing out.  I found that for an ISO of 100 the film was sure noisy, but after all it was pretty inexpensive film so I just made the most of it.  One thing I did like about this film, was shooting more colorful things like vivid LCD screens as the vivid colors I feel look pretty interesting in a juxtaposition with the old styled film.  Of course I was also reminded how costly those bad images can get, not only wasting the film, but without my own dark room sending these off to be developed cost another $12 or so costing me about $0.30 every time I clicked the shutter.  I thought I would share a few of the keepers below.  What happened to the rest you ask?  They ended up in the trash.

My challenge to all my fellow photographers is to take an afternoon or a weekend, and as a great challenge for yourself and for some inspiration grab an old 35mm and head out and shoot a roll the good old fashioned way…its a fun way to get back to the basics and to step away from all the fancy tools and equipment we have in our bags if just for few hours.  I suppose if you don’t have a 35mm handy you could always tape over your LCD and only let yourself shoot 36 images at a time before you load them to see how they turned out.

Recently I discovered that I have received an honorable mention in the 2010 MSU Global Focus Photography Contest this year.  It is a thrill to have any of my images recognized, and I’d like to thank all the people involved for giving one of my images the nod of honorable mention.  I would also like to thank all the people that voted for the People’s Choice winner which was taken by Leigh Wolf

This image was taken in Tours France in July of 2010.  I traveled to Tours France with Bran and Leigh this summer as we went through parts of the French wine country.  I snapped this shot quickly as we walked through the city center and saw this street performing couple entertain a young girl while her mother watches intently in the background.

You can view the official winning image:

http://isp.msu.edu/awards/photocontest/byyear/2010/photos.php?i=11

You can also view all the other winners by visiting the contest page :

http://isp.msu.edu/awards/photocontest/byyear/2010/

Here are a few shots I got while in the gardens.  Yes, I shot exclusively with my 10mm Nikkor Fisheye lens.

Unfortunately we are not always able to jump a flight to the exotic corners of the earth to photograph some of the worlds most beautiful and elusive creatures.  Fortunately though, you can get some images that would otherwise be logistically impossible thanks to local zoos. The images above are a few images I captured while at the San Diego Zoo last summer.

Photographing wildlife at a zoo does present some rather unique challenges since you are not shooting those images in the animals natural habitat.  When shooting images at the zoo you have to deal with people, bars, glass, and other man made objects that detract from the essence of the wildlife.  Here are few tips for shooting in zoos to get the most out of your subject.

• Chances are you will not be allowed to bring a tripod (check with your local zoo first to see if they will allow it, or see if you can score a permit), but a lot of zoos will let you use a monopod if you happen to have one.
• Consider shooting with the longest glass you have, this will allow you to get “closer” to your subject and fill the frame.
• Be patient, many times the longer you stick around the better shots you will get as you can observe the behavior of the animal and learn on the spot how best to capture a great image of your subject.

Bottom line…zoos are a great way to put you and your camera close to some of the most beautiful wildlife around, and if you are lucky enough to get a chance to photograph in the wild, the zoo might be a great place to practice your techniques so when you encounter your subject in the field you are ready to photograph!

Here are a few images from a recent trip to San Fransisco.  If it had been left up to me I would have spent alot more time out in Cali, but duty calls and I had to return despite my personal protest.  The warm weather was a welcome change to the bleary wet weather spring had to offer back home, even though the one day I got a chance to get out and shoot the city the weather was overcast and foggy…oh well that’s the luck sometimes.

Today started off like so many Friday’s before, then en route to my office I was irritated to find myself being diverted off my normal drive only to discover a student house engulfed in flames.  I was able to grab my camera and and grab a few shots.  No one was reported injured in the fire, all people (plus pets) were accounted for.  I arrived on the scene about 9:20am or so, just after the fire trucks had arrived, it did not take long, maybe an hour or so before there was only a smoldering frame left of the house.

For more information here is the link to the local news story about the fire.  The State News: Fire Engulfs East Lansing Home