Happy New Year!!

Well it's the last day of 2011. Didn't do as much photography this year due to my new management gig. I did get some shooting in and have still collected gear and sold some gear. got a Fujifilms X100 that I've taken everywhere with me except for the week or two when it was stolen. Denver Police recovered it and I learned my lesson. 

Looking forward to 2012 even though the Mayan countdown clock is already underway. End of the world should bring for some amazing photos. If your lucky enough to survive it. Which the human species is pretty good at. 

I'll leave you all with a few shots from the X100 I took on our trip out to SoCal.

Aloha Wellness Center Headshots

I've started a little project shooting headshots for some local small businesses. They great people over at Aloha Wellness Center in Boulder were kind enough to let me take over their lunch hour and shoot them.

We had a great time and I like how the photos turned out. If you know of a small business that needs to update the photos on their website or social media let me know.

Headshots with Lauren

I recently shot some headshots for a friend who wanted some new profile picks for the web. Having a nice looking avatar photo in the social media world can separate you from the crowd as a real professional. Nothing makes you look suspect and hard to take series like a profile pic from your phone in the mirror or the infamous at arms length shot. Two of any photographers pet peeves.

  Lauren came over with several outfits and Athena helped with hair and makeup. She now has several different looks to get her through the next year by changing up her profile photos and keeping it looking professional.

Karie-Ann and Chris wedding day. Wedding photography a different perspective.

My cousin Chris married his beautiful fiancé Karie-Ann this weekend. I went but not as the photographer as a guest. It was great they didn't even ask me to shoot it, I did however take the camera and lights. I begged them after dinner for 5 minutes of there time to pull is off.



When I got there, I wanted this photo of them together with the Holy Cross Abbey in the background. I'm ordering a big print for them as a gift. Shoosh don't tell them!


After the ceremony I shot some quick pics on the Fuji X100 of my twin Mikes family and his adorable daughter Inara. She was a a bit camera shy at the beginning but warmed up to me making funny faces and giggling at her.


Roan even showed what a good big brother he is.


The rest of the pics I took at the reception. Less then 100 photos all day on two cameras at a wedding is probably some kind of record. But then again I wasn't 1st shooter or 2nd or even 10th. I was there only as a guest to enjoy the event. I even got into a debate with Athena about which side is best to photograph on her. Look how pretty she is. This side won.


You can see the rest of the pics on Facebook as my family wants to see them and I'm only going to put a few here.

Cleanliness is next to Godliness.... An adventure in DSLR cleaning.

My friends Rob and Dan are big sticklers for cleaning their gear. If Dan's not shooting something he's cleaning a lens almost OCD-ish but look how clean this images are. Rob can tell you tales of being sprayed with champaign after a Cardinals win and taking weeks to clean his camera.

Me, I like to clean everything when it gets to the point of bothering me. You know, when I'm spending to much time in Photoshop cleaning up dust spots or removing hair. This behavor is changing and I'm getting so sick of it that today I pulled out my hodge-podge sensor cleaner stuff and did my best to clean up my D3.

It's not the easiest camera to clean plus I'm horrible at removing dust bunnies and the more I swipe the more they populate. I soon had enough - Aaarrrgghhhhh!!!! ( Charlie Brown style screams)

I haven't worked in the past month( long story, involving Alien invasion to overthrow earth porting through my foot ) so taking it to a shop to get cleaned is out of the question.

I started looking on the intrawebs about cleaning and remembered the success I had when Rob showed me how to clean my sensor and that I needed better cleaning equipment.

Thought bubble: isn't it funny how photographers will cheap on everything but lenses, light and bodies? "but we're resourceful! We utilize things laying around!!" = BS!

So off to Denver Pro Photo to pick up some real cleaning supplies.

It took 20 min to clean my sensor and all my lenses once I got back and had the right stuff. Cost me two hours of time being cheap to learn this lesson.

So here's a bit of fatherly advise I have been told a time or two. "Get the right tool for the job! It'll make your life easier." lesson learned.







Now with this stuff, maybe I'll be cleaning my gear more often? I know I'll be spending less time in PS - bonus!!!

Kauai Anniversary Vacation part 1

Yesterday was the first day of my 10 year Anniversary vacation with my lovely wife Athena. We decided to take a trip to the garden island of Kauai. The flight here is truly ridiculous. Almost six hours in a seat with nothing to look at except blue sky, white clouds and blue water.




It takes it's toll on a person.



I couldn't imagine flying here from the east coast that's three extra hours of traveling. I guess the road to paradise has got to be grueling because once you get here it's.... Well paradise!

After some much needed sleep we met up our long time friends Dan and Marta who moved here a year and a half ago. They either are the craziest people we know or the smartest. In 2009, they sold all their belongings left their family and moved to an isolated island in the pacific to follow their dreams and leave the lifestyle of consumption. Marta will tell you tales about how it's hard here.. The island will spit you out if your not kind to her. They've seen several people move here expecting to make it and end up with broken dreams and life's broken apart like a shipwreck on the rocks.

They have made some hard changes from having excess money and buying comforts everyday to growing their own food at organic farms and working hard at accepting the their new lifes, so far the island is welcoming them.






Yesterday they took Athena and I to the local farmers market where we met some of their friends and got a bounty of great fruit which we get to start eating today!!!! FRESH HAWAIIAN PINEAPPLE




Here's some of the other fruit we got....


Marta knows all about food and writes several articles for weekly newspapers and local blog/websites. Dan has recently started a new chapter of his life as a photo tour guide taking people around the island stoping at great hidden spots so the tourist have amazing photos to go back home with.


After the farmers market we went to the beach to go snorkeling but the waves were really choppy and we decided to go to another beach. Athena and Marta laid on the beach while Dan and I ran around shooting photos of the waves crashing against the black lava rocks.









As you can see this place is amazing and I can't wait to see what the rest of our time her will bring.

Mahalo

Denver Fireworks July 4th 2011 with Illuminate Workshops night walk.

I went shooting fireworks over the Denver Capital building last night with Efrain of Illuminate Workshops.



Before the fireworks started I grabbed a quick snapshot of Efrain. I pulled out my SB-26, umbrella, PocketWizards and stuck them on my light stand. I put the SB-26 on and 1/8th power and had Efrain stand in for his portrait.



Soon the symphony started playing and the crowds started getting closer to capital and the stage for a better view of the soon to come fireworks. So I took down the light stand and just had my Fuji X100 on the tripod.


Once the fireworks started it was amazing being right under them. I snapped off several shots and them started running around sitting down snapping off long exposures as the light streaks raining down over head.



I hope you enjoy them.








Oh yeah and here's a shot of me.

Fuji X100 xsync at 1/1000 sec

Yes that's write this baby has a leaf shutter that makes it have a higher then normal xsync speed. What is an xsync speed?

Well it determine how fast a shutter can be open when a flash fires. Most cameras are limited to 1/250 with matching brand flashes and cameras. (Nikon to Nikon, etc.) if you want to use your off brand flash or radio remote trigger with your Nikon body you'll be even lower with a shutter speed of 1/125. Other brands like Canon's are the same way some even require you to drop to 1/60 of a second to xsync.

This can be quite troublesome if your subject is moving; say on a skateboard, or there is movement behind them or maybe you want to balance sunlight and flash.

With the Fuji X100 it's xsync tops out at 1/1000 for most Fstops. This is wonderful. I read this on a blog post and immediately grabbed my gear and went out to test it out.

Get exposure for Bright sunny day (check) ISO 200, F4.5 @ 1/1000 same for all the camera exposures.


Then set up my SB-26 with a PocketWizard and my trusty umbrella. No subjects around so I step in (sorry to ruin the moment). That's me standing in the shadow of my umbrella and the flash firing.




I got closer so you could see the sun hitting me and the flash. Look at my pant at the bottom of the photo. Ooohhh!! Both sunlight and flash exposure....
Yes it xsync at 1/1000 of a sec!!!! or I'd be nothing but a big dark silhouette.




That is 3 stops more to use for stopping motion or balancing sunlight and flash portraits. Which look great with this 60" umbrella.


Here's the info on the back of my SB-26 for what I was using on it. (this the macro mode on the X100. I was about 2 inches away)

Day one with new Fuji X100 ._.

Yes it's been along time coming.... I'm not even going to try and get you filled in with what has been going on over the last year. I'm just going to start off and continue like I didn't even leave.

I've been looking for a small travel companion of a camera for several years and could never really come to grips with finding what I wanted. I'm picky that way.

I recently got a killer deal on a used Fuji X100 that a previous photographer didn't like. Yes this little bundle of joy has it's quirks. That's what everyone has posted on the forums and their blogposts.... Search google for Fuji X100.

I've had the X100 for all of 2 days and have been taking pictures left and right. Like all the interweb is saying it has some quirks... Get over it or get a different camera. Even in the few months this in demand camera has been on the market, Fuji has already put out a new firmware update to answer some of the complaints. Now that's service and great timing as I just updated the firmware last night.

I happen to be really excited and each day comes with another surprise. But for now I'll just post about the pictures I took on day one.



Here I'm in a store using seeing how close I could get before having to turn on the macro function. I was about 4 inches away. ISO 200, F2 at 1/4 sec. That's pretty good hand holding. LOOK AT THAT DOF!!!!



And how about that sunset? This I did some in camera tweaking. But first. The tech info for those who want it. ISO 200, F2 at 1/2000 sec. I had the in camera ND on and the WB manually set to 3500K I think to keep it cooler.

What do you think so far?