cloudy morning

May 23rd, 2009
Elkhorn Slough, Moss Landing, California
Nikon D300, 24-70/2.8 at 36mm, f/8.0, 1/800 sec, ISO 400.

We paddled again at Elkhorn Slough on a typically foggy coastal California morning. The weather was ideal for paddling with calm winds and flat water. We saw the usual wildlife though the otters seemed somewhat shy. I tried to capture the calm mood of the morning in this image.

Searching for fog.

May 14th, 2009.
San Francisco, California
Nikon D3, 24-70/2.8, 29mm, f/18, 1/100 sec, ISO 200. Circular polarizer.

The forecast was for fog but it never came over the bridge as I had hoped. Nevertheless, the light was still good by the time I decided on this composition and I think the overall image is reasonable.

New adventures

May 7, 2009
Elkhorn Slough, Moss Landing California
Nikon d300, 24-70/2.8, f/8.0 at 1/1250.

After renting various kayaks and taking a ocean kayaking course, we took the plunge and purchased a couple of closed deck kayaks that would be suitable for overnight camping trips, fishing and photography. Our first outing was at Elkhorn slough on a calm, sunny afternoon. It is an ideal location for leisurely paddling and wildlife viewing. Missy is really not threatening that otter with her paddle.

The lens matters.

May 4 2009
Fremont Older Open Space Preserve, California
Nikon D300, 24-70, f/5.0, 1/500, ISO 400.

I finally decided to take my Nikkor 24-70/2.8 lens with me when we go mountain biking. I was using a kit lens but did not find the results satisfactory. The 24-70 is large, heavy and expensive and having it in my camel back makes me a more cautious rider. I think the improvement in sharpness and contrast makes it worthwhile.

Fisheye for sports?

March 17 2009
Squaw Valley, California
Nikon D300, 10.5 mm fisheye, f/5.0 at 1/4000 sec, ISO 200.

I spent a week at Squaw Valley with Victor on his spring break. Missy came and joined us in the middle of the week and was a hit because she brought beer and home made chocolate chip cookies.

Though one usually does not consider a fisheye lens for snowsports, I find you can get some nice images if you can position yourself properly.

Natural light portrait.

March 11 2009
Missy, Sunol California
Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70/2.8, f/4.0 at 1/2000sec, ISO 400.

Missy and I went for a walk with her dog Lucy towards the end of the day. I had brought my camera to take more pictures of Lucy chasing cows but took a few of Missy while she was walking. She is becoming less self-conscious about being photographed as one can see her from her expression.

This just shows that with good light, a sharp lens and a beautiful model, anyone can create a good image.

"It's not my dog."

March 2nd 2009
Missy's dog, Lucy, in Sunol California
Nikon D300, Nikkor 10.5 mm at f/7.1, 1/250 sec, ISO 400, built in flash at -1.7.

Still playing around with the 10.5mm fisheye lens. I will be using it this summer for in the water kitesurfing pictures so wanted to get used to the charactersitics of this lens. I am finding that it is extremely sharp and gives a very different perspective, especially from ground level. Lucy is only slightly annoyed that her walk keeps getting interrupted by my flash going off in front of her face.

OK, it's a toursity snapshot of us posing in a wine cellar.

March 1st 2009
Wine cellar, Markham Winery, St. Helena, CA
Nikon D300, Nikkor 10.5mm at f/4.0, 1/60 sec, ISO 400, built in flash at 0.


We drove to Napa for lunch and then sampled some wines at the Markham Winery. I had been playing around with a fisheye lens and set up this picture in their cellar. I like the barrel distorsion created by the lens as well as the small flash in a large, dark space.

Lance almost ran over me.

February 18th 2009.
Lance Armstrong, Stage 4 of the Tour of California climbing Crane Valley Road.
Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70 at 70mm, f/9.0, 1/500 sec, ISO 400, fill flash at EV -1.0.

Missy and I had been anticipating this race for a while but unfortunately her snowboarding injury prevented her from going with me. My goal for this stage was to get some isolated images of individual riders and I figured the best chance for this was at the top of the last climb of the day. I arrived there early and positioned myself on the inside of a corner so that the riders would be looking towards the camera as they went by. I also picked a spot on the road so that on one would be standing on my left and possibly obstructing my view at a crucial moment. Since it was a sunny afternoon on a tree lined road, I decided to use some fill flash to try and decrease some of the harsh shadows. Tyler Hamilton went by with a three minute lead followed by a large chase group in which Lance was in. They took the inside of the road and forced me to move into the snow to keep from getting run over. Fortunately, there was a small gap in the field which allowed me the get this image. I like the perspective of the image and the intensity in Armstrong's eyes. I wish I had picked a faster shutter speed which would have yielded a slightly sharper image. Thanks for reading.

A dry river bed in Baja.

January 8, 2009.
Baja California, Mexico
Nikon D3, Nikkor 70-200 at 105 mm, f/14, 1/250 sec, ISO 1000.

We were driving from the Cabo San Lucas airport on our way to La Ventana for a week of kitesurfing when we saw several turkey vultures near a dry river bed. We then spotted the cow carcass and decided to pull over to take some pictures.

In this image, I wanted to show Missy photographing the vultures which were there for the carcass. I stopped down my lens to try and get all the elements in focus and had to increase the ISO to 1000 to maintain a reasonable shutter speed. Postprocessing using the Shadow/Highlight adjustment in Photoshop helped compensate for the fact the the foreground was in shadows while the background was in the late afternoon sun. I don't think this picture is anything special and I wish the vultures were more prominent in the image, but overall I think it reflects the scene adequately. Thanks for reading.