So a funny thing happened yesterday, I found myself in Santa Barbara at the local Samy’s standing at the counter asking to see an Olympus.  That is right folks not only have I committed the sacrilege of switching camera systems from Canon to Nikon, but I now have an Olympus E-P2 in my bag as well…  (I am sure the hellfire and brimstone will rain down shortly).  So why did I get this camera?  The long and short of it is that I saw what this thing was capable of thanks to my buddy Ray Ketcham and a another amazing photographer out of Texas, Kirk Tuck.  The images with this little dynamo sparked a creative project that I am hopefully going to kick off very shortly assuming I can get my hands on a few more pieces of equipment needed.  At this point my buddy Jeff Lynch is probably rolling his eyes, saying that the gearlustitis is in full swing again, and he would be right.  One thing I have mentioned before on the blog and one that I know other photogs know is that one camera may not be able to do the job to get you that creative vision you had in your head…  So to that end the newest tool in the arsenal of creative vision is primed an ready to go, now if I could just manage to read the instruction book

Captured with Olympus E-P2 14-42 3.5-5.6 on SanDisk Digital Film

P.S.  There is going to be some format changes coming down the pipe, soon so if you see the blog in  disarray late at night that is me trying to relearn html coding using a sledge hammer…

From last weeks amazing time at Pedernales Falls.  Had a fair share of some serious technical difficulties as of late with my computers, but I am typing this post on my new new and improved computer, so hopefully no more problems.  And if you haven’t been over to his blog since he got back home you need to head over to Jeff’s site and see some of the spectacular photos he captured while we were out and about.  More to come sooner than later from the trip.

Captured with Nikon D700 70-200f2.8 w/ Singh-Ray Vari-N-Duo filter

Finished in Silver Efex Pro

So, I had a lot going on today and was slammed for time for the entire day, and while I type this I should be getting ready for a dinner party.  It is not a black tie affair so it will take me a few minutes to get ready (Jeans, they’re good thing).  This week I was downtown for a few things and got some shots in for my Life at 50mm Project in while I was there.  But I wanted to go back because there were some shots I saw that I couldn’t grab earlier in the week.  So I adjusted my schedule and gave myself 45 minutes of shooting today.

So while I couldn’t get in a whole lot of time in shooting I did come away with some fun stuff.  The main goal was to focus on shapes and lines for this quick project.  Here a few of what I captured…

For 45 minutes it was a good time…

So following with the theme of the last post about taking the time to stop and take a look at the world around you.  This post is more about, don’t think to yourself that just because you have only a few minutes to shoot that you can’t get some great and fun images.  If you don’t get to shoot you will never know what you are capable of…

If you went to Photoshop World in Vegas at the end of last year and made it to the Art of Digital Photography Panel you would have got to have seen the Master of Self Projects Joe Glyda do an amazing photo slide show based on just “looking up.”  Seeing what is above you because sometimes you are so busy looking straight ahead that you miss the world going on around you.

So while I was in New Mexico, I decided to take a bit of time and look down.  While I didn’t find as much as I would have liked I did find a few things that were fun to shoot.

First up with this old water meter cover that while it didn’t do anything for me in color worked created with a bit of Silver Efex Pro’s Holga filter added, with a few modifications of my own thrown in.

The 2nd, and slightly more odd is this old set of can opener keys from (at least what I can figure) is the remnants of an old sardine can that was laying on the porch floor boards of an old house.

So while I didn’t find much on my little self project in New Mexico I leave you with this thought.  Make sure you take time to really see what is going on around you in the world.  You may pass by the photo of a life time if you don’t stop and take a look around.  With our busy lives these days it isn’t always an easy thing to do, but I encourage you to try…

Images Captured with 1D Mark IIN 16-35f2.8 on Lexar digital film

Some more from this past weekend up in the Sierras.  I turned my attention from the water for a bit to the great trees surrounding the stream.

The light range was getting pretty extreme even for the Split Grad to bring the range of light back down into the cameras range so I went a a quick blast of HDR to get the shot.  I added a bit of Tonal Contrast, and then a quick trip  into Silver Efex to finish it off.

This shot was taken before before the range of light went too far out of range using a .9 and .6 Split grad Neutral Density  filter  stacked I was able to bring the sky back in just enough for the shot.  Finished in Silver Efex Pro.

Top Image Captured with 1D Mark IIN 70-200f2.8 on Lexar digital film

Bottom Image Captured with 1D Mark IIN 16-35f2.8 on Lexar digital film