Dragon Boats

Nikon D100

We went to see the Dragon Boat races at Treasure Island last weekend. We stayed for a short time, then we went to SF Chinatown for the Autumn Moon Festival. I'll post some of those next.

--Warren

The Wedding

Hi all! Sorry to have been AWOL, but I'm spending a lot of my free time editing the wedding photos I took September 8th.

It was a beautiful wedding! As you can see, the bride was beautiful and the groom handsome. The setting, in the Naval Academy Chapel, could not have been more dramatic.

Our daugher and son came down from Philly to be my assistants, and they did a great job. Between the three of us, we took over 1400 exposures(!) which I'll edit down to 250-300 or so really good photos.

I need to cut this short, but I just wanted to say that I learned quite a lot, and hopefully will be able to relate some of my lessons learned. The good news is that we got all the important shots and from looking at small samples I've sent to them, bride and groom are happy so far.

Forlorn

Nikon D100, Nikkor 24mm f2.8

They've outlived their usefulness to their original owner, stuffed into a grocery bag with a "Free" sign taped to it. I hope they'll be "found" and loved once again...

--Warren

Alaska, at last

I finally have an opportunity to share some photos from our Alaskan cruise this past summer. These 3 photos are from a photography excursion my wife signed me up for. We were on a small boat sailing out of Auke Bay in Juneau. We went out looking for whales and other wildlife. We saw a lot of eagles and just a few whales. The whales were fairly challenging to take since we could not get in too close. I had my Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 which helped but it would have been even better with a 100-400mm or more.

Here is a shot of an eagle taking off from a buoy occupied by seals. It was amazing to see so many eagles flying around in the wild.

Outside Again!

Came across this nice scene while taking a walk near Lake Sammamish, WA.

I love how blue the sky was!








And I have FINALLY replaced my camera which I had half-killed this summer. It's a Canon PowerShot SD750, which is very similar to the one I had.

It's so nice to have a working LCD screen again :D How I survived, I do not know!

Dahlia

Nikon D100, Nikkor 24mm f2.8

We went to see the Dahlia Garden at Golden Gate Park yesterday after attending the free Opera in the Park concert. The dahlia is one of my favorite flowers. I didn't really have the right lens for doing close-ups, but this still turned out okay. It's heavily cropped from the original image.

--Warren

p.s. SteveR! How did your wedding shoot go?

Door Colors

Nikon F4s, 35mm f2.0, Fuji Superia 400

I was attracted to the unusual and bright colors in this Chinatown doorway.

--Warren

Found Pattern

Yes, it's a found pattern, but is it worth anything as a photographic image?

I really liked it when I saw it on the LCD of my Canon A620 digicam. I think I still like it, but I'm not so sure anymore.

I'd appreciate any of your thoughts.

By the way, this is the corner of a metal tree grate within a nicely-paved stretch of East Pratt Street in Baltimore. I was inspired a few years ago to look for photos like this by Carl Root's rust and paint folder on Photo.net. You should check out all of Carl's amazing photo.net photos here.

Ground Cover Angel

My wife loves angels, so one year for Chanukah, I bought her this clay angel for the garden.

This location isn't the angel's normal habitat, but I liked the contrast of the terra-cotta, green ground cover (don't ask me, I don't know from plants!) and the fallen leaves.

Shot in the fall of 2004 with my Digital Rebel and it's 18-55mm kit lens.

Testing...

I'll be photographing a wedding at the US Naval Academy Chapel this coming weekend, using, among other things, a borrowed Digital Rebel XTi and a my brand-new Sigma EF 530 DG Super flash unit. So it was time to test, test, test.

Since I haven't been "in the yard" for several years, I schlepped my gear to the Naval Academy, about six miles from our house. As luck would have it, the Chapel was closed for Labor Day. But my trip was far from in vain, as it was useful to scout out shooting locations and note the location and movement of the sun (I went at 2PM, same time as the wedding will be Saturday).

In the process, I shot just over 200 pictures (many of which were just bursts of 10 or more images of the same thing, just to stress the camera, flash, new 2GB Compact Flash card, and the smaller battery of the XTi.)

I'm happy to say that all the gear came through with flying colors. I especially like the Digital Rebel XTi (400D) as compared to my camera, an "original" Digital Rebel. My now 4-year old camera uses the original Canon DIGIC image processor, whereas the XT and XTi use the next generation DIGIC II procesor. Whereas my camera takes about 2.5 seconds to "wake up", the newer models "wake up" instantly - sometimes this can mean getting or not getting a shot.

Beyond that, the control layout of the XTi and the way you use the very nice 2-1/2" LCD for all camera operations are well thought-out. The XTi is noticably smaller than the original DR, something I thought I'd have a problem with - but to me, it didn't seem cramped at all - it was just right (I don't have especially large hands, mind you.)

Although the Chapel was closed, many of the rest of the buildings were open. I stopped inside Dahlgren Hall and got this photo of a replica of a 1911 Wright Navy B-1, the very first airplane delivered to the U.S. Navy.
Dahlgren Hall has had many uses over the more than 100 years of its life, including an indoor ice-skating rink. Much of it is now given over the the Drydock Restaurant, which on this day seemed to be layed out for a mess.
After a while, I left the Academy and walked the few blocks to City Dock to get a bite to eat and watch the crowd enjoying the pleasant weather by Spa Creek.

Floating Museums

Nikon F4s, Nikkor 35mm f2.0, Fuji Superia 400

We took a stroll at Hyde Street Pier, it's part of the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park.

You can see the Transamerica Pyramid in the far background.

--Warren