Alabama BBQ

Met this fellow at the Gardener's Market in Salt Lake yesterday. Best barbeque I've had! you should look him up--he can prepare your meal for Thanksgiving and Christmas! Naturally, I was drawn in by his hat, but I lingered for the smell.

Marcus Dean's Smoke House Catering: 435-654-0254

Nikon D7000, Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 lens, f/2.8, 1/1600s, ISO 400.

He was good enough to work with me as I adjusted myself to using the Zeiss lens. These are legendary lenses that are rumored to produce the sharpest images with incredible resolution. Well, I talked the Zeiss representative into letting me borrow this one for the photo walk I arranged during Digitalfest at Pictureline this weekend. The thing is, as sharp (and expensive!) as these lenses are, they do not have autofocus for Canons and Nikons! (Sony owners have a little more luck--they auto focus on their bodies). Honestly, I haven't used manual focus lenses regularly since I was in High School, and I really never made any portraits. It was a bit of a trick, especially with this shallow depth of field, to get the important stuff looking sharp. And wouldn't you know it, just as I was getting pretty good at it, I had to return the lens! But, I finagled another one and made the skating pictures you see below. Pretty fun day shooting!