Waiting

Airports generally aren’t very much fun.  John Wayne Airport in Orange County is no exception.  I got to spend a little time there yesterday, on my way home for a visit, so I snapped a few pictures as my plane was taxing to the gate.  I went for something a little different for me.  I enjoy the result.  I also enjoy that it's at f/1.8.

Now, a couple questions for you, my faithful readers.  First of all, how is the size of my pictures working out for you?  Too big?

Second, I’m thinking of starting a 365 project.  Where I share a picture every day, that I took that day.  It’s an ambitious endeavor, but I think I might be able to pull it off.  I can’t promise every one will be great, but it’ll be a learning experience.  And in addition to the 365, I’ll keep posting general interest photos I have.  What do you think?  One of my friends is doing one right now, so I plan to ask her too(so watch out), but wanted some good, general input.

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2010:04:29 2:15 PM
Exposure time	1/8000 sec
Focal length	50mm
F-Stop	f/1.8
ISO speed	ISO-100
Exposure Bias	0

HOLGA!!

Now this is a momentous occasion.  My first real life FILM photograph!  Not only film, but medium format film!  How cool!

Many thanks to my friend Hannah, who (strongly would be an understatement) pushed my decision to try it out.  I’m so glad I did!  I bought a Holga, which is a “toy” camera known for interesting results based on its cheap build quality.  Interesting = art, so here we go folks.  I have a feeling this is the start of something.  That something being me shooting a ton of film and going way overboard.  I don’t generally like doing things half way, so Hasselblad here I come!  (… if I like film as much as I feel I will).  Also expect me to become a film camera snob.  “Pfft, you still shoot digital?” you’ll hear me say.  OK, maybe that's just a tiny bit too far.  Anyway, enjoy my FILM photos.  I know I do.

Desert Life

This is the desert.  It isn’t exactly what I imagine when I picture the desert.  I like a desert like the Sahara; sand for miles and excruciatingly hot.  But this is an American desert; just kind of scrubby.  This picture actually depicts a pretty good looking desert.  Not too many scrubby plants on the ground and some cool rock formations in the back.

I took this at Joshua Tree National Park.  Unfortunately, most of the time I was there it was cloudy and not especially pretty.  Luckily it cleared up in the afternoon and I got some nice looking pictures.  I want to go back soon.  Things are blooming and all that good stuff.  I want to get there before it gets too hot and everything dies again.  Also I’d like to do some night shooting there.  This time I forgot my tripod, otherwise I would have.  D’oh!

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2009:12:05 1:51 PM
Exposure time	1/400 sec
Focal length	10mm
F-Stop	f/8
ISO speed	ISO-100
Exposure Bias	0

Multi Me Dia

Here's some more of me for your Monday.  Taken yesterday, and no, there is not any photoshop trickery here.  I don't take enough pictures at f/1.8.  I've got this fast lens and I'm always shooting landscapes and stuff like that with smaller apertures to get more in focus.  This was at 1.8.  Sweet.

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2010:04:25 7:31 PM
Exposure time	1/50 sec
Focal length	50mm
F-Stop	f/1.8
ISO speed	ISO-100
Exposure Bias	0

Afterburnin

Finally; the last photo (for now) from last year's downtown KC Air Show.  This is what you might call the business end of the F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet.  Without these turbines it wouldn't be able to go Mach 1.8.  In fact, it wouldn't be able to go anywhere (count it!).  In any case, I think I'd like to fly in one of these.  If anyone knows how to make that happen, then lets get to it.

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2009:08:26 12:03 PM
Exposure time	1/60 sec
Focal length	18mm
F-Stop	f/8
ISO speed	ISO-100
Exposure Bias	0

Splash!

I took this last Friday when I went down to the beach after work.  After this week, I probably need to do that again.  And I’m sure you have questions.  Did I get wet? Yes.  Did I clean my camera and lens really well?  Yes, always after the beach.  Did I fall in the ocean?  No, not yet, and hopefully never do.  Do I love going to the beach?  ¡Absolutamente!

There’s something I really like about square photographs.  They’re great.  But what’s the deal with “standard” size photo frames?  If you want a square frame, you won’t be able to get it at Hobby Lobby unless you build a custom frame.  You can order them online, but most of the websites I’ve seen that have them for sale don’t have good preview pictures of the wood.  For all I know I’m getting some cheap frame made out of plywood.  And how is their quality control?  Most of the frames I see in stores have defects; are these online stores the same way?

I guess I’ll figure out a way around it if I ever want to hang a square photo.  I think you’ll be seeing more natively square photos soon though… wink wink

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2010:04:16 5:57 PM
Exposure time	1/80 sec
Focal length	10mm
F-Stop	f/8
ISO speed	ISO-100
Exposure Bias	0

Beach Trails

Here’s my first moderately successful attempt at star trails!  I took this in Florida in 2008, so it’s an oldie.  I don’t do enough night photography.  I love long exposures so night photography seems like something I’d like to do, but I just don’t enough.  Maybe soon I’ll do more; I’ve got some ideas in mind.  This was 573 seconds by the way; around 9.5 minutes.

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2008:05:29 9:51 PM
Exposure time	573 sec
Focal length	18mm
F-Stop	f/6.3
ISO speed	ISO-800
Exposure Bias	0

Me for Monday

Here's a little bit of me for your Monday.  I took this back in July of 2009 while in Vidalia, Georgia.

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2009:07:23 4:33 PM
Exposure time	1/4 sec
Focal length	18mm
F-Stop	f/3.5
ISO speed	ISO-100
Exposure Bias	0

Hydra Rockets

This is what you might call the business end of an Apache helicopter; the M261 launcher, which houses Hydra rockets until they’re fired.  This is an essential part of the Apache helicopter if your primary mission is to fire rockets at people, which I can only assume is probably the primary mission at least some of the time.

This one is tied for favorite of the recently posted air show pictures from last year’s show.  I’ll put up the final in this series soon.  Then you can tell me which of them is your favorite.  And I’ll tell you if you’re right or wrong.

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2009:08:23 11:17 AM
Exposure time	1/100 sec
Focal length	18mm
F-Stop	f/8
ISO speed	ISO-100
Exposure Bias	0

Small Feet

I took my first mid-week-after-work trip to the beach last week.  It was awesome; I definitely am going to have to do that more often.  How can I resist?  Corona Del Mar (my favorite) was the destination, and it did not disappoint.  I only had my 50mm lens with me, but that was OK because it got me thinking about different kinds of compositions.  Here’s the first of a few I liked.

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2010:04:07 6:43 PM
Exposure time	1/60 sec
Focal length	50mm
F-Stop	f/8
ISO speed	ISO-100
Exposure Bias	0

Skyline

I went downtown with a friend the other weekend.  As we were marveling at the tall buildings I began to wonder where the US Bank building was.  After all, it’s the tallest building in LA, so how hard could it be to find it?  All afternoon I asked.  “Where is the US Bank building?”  She didn’t know, and was probably beginning to wonder if I had made up the building altogether.  Finally later in the day at the pillow fight I turned away from the action and found it.  I was validated!  Later that evening I looked at my pictures from the day, and noticed something.  There, in the first pictures I took downtown, was the US Bank building.  You can see it in this picture; in the top right corner.  In my defense, it’s partially hidden.  But still, there it was, right in front of me, early in the day.  What a nerd.

Oh and in case you were wondering.  The tallest building in Kansas City would only be the 13th tallest building in LA.  I know you were curious, because I was curious.  Apparently the rounded building in the bottom right of my picture is the third tallest building in Los Angeles.

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2010:03:03 1:22 PM
Exposure time	1/800 sec
Focal length	10mm
F-Stop	f/8
ISO speed	ISO-100
Exposure Bias	0

Heavenly Archer

After seeing Clash of the Titans (in 3D) last week I figured it was time to go ahead and post this picture.  I took it at the Huntington Gardens, and after a little research, I found out this is a statue of the Roman goddess Diana.  The statue is called Diana of the Chase, as she is a hunter.  Although she is a Roman goddess, she has a Greek equivalent, who is Artemis (she is not specifically called out in Clash of the Titans 3D, however her fellow gods are).  As she is a goddess and not human she can’t be instigating violence against the gods, but if she was a human and shooting up at the gods, it would probably be bad news for her.  

If you’ve seen the original Clash of the Titans, or the remake (which can be seen in 3D), you know that picking a fight with the Greek gods is a pretty terrible idea.  They’re gods after all, and have all kinds of powers and can crush puny humans pretty easily.  You would also know this is a bad idea if you’ve read anything about Greek mythology; if you can’t read though, you should see Clash of the Titans (in 3D) to learn that messing with gods is a bad idea.

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2010:01:17 12:17 AM
Exposure time	1/250 sec
Focal length	21mm
F-Stop	f/8
ISO speed	ISO-100
Exposure Bias	0

*This post sponsored in part by RealD*

Apache Reflection

Before I was so rudely interrupted by a perfectly reasonable request to see more California pictures, I was going to post a few more from the Kansas City Air Show from last year.

This is probably my third favorite picture in a series of pictures from the Downtown Kansas City Air Show I’m going to post in the next few days or weeks (don’t worry, I’ll sprinkle them in between more California stuff).  This is what one might call the business end of an Apache Helicopter.  You might call it this because of what this device is used for.  It is on the front of the helicopter, and from what I’ve learned, it is essential to the operation of the machine.  If you’ll notice, you can see me a couple of times in this picture, including in the upper-middle portion of the frame.  This is the pilot’s night vision sensor, which is pretty essential if he wants to fly at night – without crashing that is.  A bit further down is another reflection of me, this time in what could be called the business end of the business end of the helicopter, the laser rangefinder and target designator device.  These devices track targets during the daytime.  The large thing to the left of my reflection is the gunner’s night vision sensor, which, strangely, is much larger and therefore probably much better, than the pilot’s night vision sensor.

Anyway, that’s an interesting bit of technology on the front of these helicopters.  I also enjoyed seeing myself in the picture.  Stay tuned for more awesomeness from the Air Show!

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2009:08:23 11:15 AM
Exposure time	1/200 sec
Focal length	18mm
F-Stop	f/8
ISO speed	ISO-100
Exposure Bias	0

Pillow Fight

Happy Easter!  Here's a pillow fight!  It was in downtown Los Angeles yesterday, and was pretty dang cool to see.  There were feathers EVERYWHERE.  Also, there was just a 7.2 earthquake in Baja California, Mexico as I was writing this.  It shook LA for a long time!  Whoooaaa..

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2010:04:03 2:39PM
Exposure time	1/250 sec
Focal length	22mm
F-Stop	f/8
ISO speed	ISO-100
Exposure Bias	0

And another for good measure.  That's right, two for the price of one.

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2010:04:03 2:37 PM
Exposure time	1/400 sec
Focal length	10mm
F-Stop	f/8
ISO speed	ISO-100
Exposure Bias	0

Towery Thing

I’m watching this documentary called Spellbound right now.  It’s following 8 kids competing in the National Spelling Bee.  It’s moderately interesting, but the best part is this spaz named Harry who is hyperactive and talks like a musical robot now and then.  The rest of the kids are average and boring.  The only other funny part was when a former winner cracked a joke about winning not really helping his love life, but maybe even being a liability to such a thing.  Here’s the thing about the Spelling Bee though.  When a kid gets a word wrong, they play a ding sound.  In the history of the world, this is the only place that a pleasant ding signifies that you’re wrong and you lose.  Everyone else uses a buzzer.  I hear the ding and think ‘good job, nerd’ but then the kid looks disappointed and I remember that the Spelling Bee is backwards and uses the ding.  I feel like the spelling bee would have a lot more credibility in the world of game shows and contests if they would just conform to the standard buzz for an incorrect answer.  We’ve been conditioned since the days of Pavlov to know that the ding of a bell is a good thing, but these guys just have to be different and try to break this conditioning.  I don’t know what they’re trying to prove, but it’s high time they pack it in.  But that’s enough about that, lets talk about this.  This, referring to this photo, which I took a few days ago after work.

What is it you ask?  Who really knows (I know).  Where is it?  Another mystery (not really, I see it every day driving to work).  Not unlike Stonehenge, or those big heads on that one island, we may never fully know what this is (again, not true; it’s clear what this is if you saw it in real life).  Pretty mysterious; maybe the History Channel will do an hour long special on it someday.  What we do know is that it’s a photograph I dig (this is true).

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2010:03:26 5:25PM
Exposure time	1/2500 sec
Focal length	50mm
F-Stop	f/1.8
ISO speed	ISO-100
Exposure Bias	0