snowy trek

Mike (coworker and photo cohort) and I went around town last weekend looking for images. Never mind that it was snowing because it was finally warm enough outside to stand more than 30 seconds...the past several days have been in the single digits, with wind chill taking the temperature south of zero!! Anyway, we had fun walking around the local Arboretum capturing images of natural creation and then heading downtown for a little winter wonderland in the man made city center.

Technical: At the Arboretum I shot with a wide angle zoom and telephoto zoom, in the city I just carried around my wide angle zoom.

Snow... and finaly some pics of it

I finally talked myself into going out into the snow to photograph. I have found that snow is really hard to photograph. Everything looks great in my eye but then when I capture it on film it looks... I am not sure...different? It doesn't have the sarealness, or the grandeur that I see in it. Not sure why or how I see this, but I tried. These were taken at the local Arboretum in town, probably my most visited photo site. I had fun snow shoeing all around the park but I got frustrated photographing it. I guess I need to keep at it.

what do you think?

I took my wide angle zoom, telephoto zoom and macro lenses. I tried to shoot with 2 cameras to minimize changing lenses and keep it simple. I think I still prefer taking a lot less gear and sticking to that gear.

Kids at Christmas

Well, now that i am older and out of my parents house... Christmas is a little different, esp since I am far from home and have not made it back for a Christmas yet. This all said to setup an observation I saw this Christmas... Christmas is a lot more fun when you experience it with Kids. Kids get the joy of Christmas, they get the simplicity, they get the lit up faces, they bring fun into a room.

These are some pics of the kids I got to spend Christmas with.

All these were shot with either a wide zoom or fast fixed telephoto. Sometimes I can't even tell which I used. I have really loved this combo, and many times I could get away with shooting 90% of my gigs with these two lenses; they are versitle, compact, light and I have learned to see in their focal lengths.

Burma Walk

I am part of a photo group at Black Hawk Church here in Madison, WI (even though I attend another church but they seam OK with that.) One of our photo treks (or assignments if you will) was to photograph a peaceful walk for the suffering monks in Burma. It was organized by a guy named Selwyn, and you can find more info on his website.

Usually the protests that I have witnessed walk up the main street of town to the capitol and are loud, stop traffic and make everyone shake their heads...this one was very somber and quiet, they didn't hold up all the cars and people looked in curiosity instead of amusement. It was quite an experience, plus it was about 15 degrees F!

I decided to shoot with just one lens (an ultra wide zoom) and try and create images with it. There were times I saw shots that would really benefit from another lens but I made myself just shoot with this one lens, and i feel that I found stronger images that way. Each lens in your arsenal has a specific look and feel to it and therefore is a specific tool for a certain job. A wide angle doesn't just get a room full in the frame, it created depth, amplifies the size of close things, shrinks the size of far things..and many other attributes. This assignment, I was working on getting close to my subject and capturing the intimate nature of the event. To show how close I was, look at the last photo of me, taken by a friend named Steve.

Do you think that I did what I have said here? Please comment.

This was a lot of fun, and the coffee that warmed my up after the shoot was very good.