St. Johns

Now that I live in the Portland area, I can satisfy my need to go to this bridge anytime I want! Oh, Frabjous day, Caloo, Callay!

Nikon D800, 50mm f/1.4 D lens, f/11, 5 frame HDR, ISO 400, Nik HDR Efex Pro 2.

I love the 50mm f/1.4 D lens because it's old. It's two generations old, and it has some vestiges of the film days built in. It has a depth of field scale that says if I set the focus here, and use f/11, then the image will be in focus. The picture in my viewfinder looks out of focus, but the finished image always looks great. I love that ability, and it's especially useful at nighttime. 

Resolutions

It's that time when we all look back on the year and make plans to do things better. We resolve that things will change. We resolve that we will change. And things will be better. All my pants will fit better.

Well, I don't know about weight loss resolutions, but I'm definitely resolved to return to this location and make pictures again.

Nikon D800, 14-24mm f/2.8 lens @24mm, f/5.6, 1/320s, ISO 800, Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

This is at Haceta Head in Oregon. The surf is crashing behind me, and fog is swirling about the cliffs to my left and right. The most picturesque lighthouse on the west coast is to my left...covered base to roof in flapping black tarps for renovation. That's one of the things I want to photograph when I return--sans tarps, of course.

But I'd like to explore this bridge again, too. I love the bridges in Oregon. I feel like they are all of a theme. Plus, they're always spanning these wonderful places. Just up the road to the North is a spot called Cape Perpetua that I'd also like to re-explore. To the south is the Sea Lion Cave.

I was there this day in September to photograph a wedding, and it was spectacular. Anyone else getting married? I know a great spot. Need a photog?

Uncle John's Bridge

Actually, it's St. John's Bridge. In Portland. But there's no song in mind for "St. John's Bridge." Walking the lengths of the cables and stanchions a couple of weeks ago, though, I kept singing "Come walk Uncle John's Bridge, by the riverside. Come on along or come alone, he's come to take his children home." See, now you're singing it, too. And if you're not, you will be now (mind the language).

Nikon D800, 14-24mm f/2.8 lens @ 14mm, f/8, 5s, ISO 1000, Nik Color Efex 4.

There are a couple things about the making of an image like this I think you should know. Firstly, everyone always asks, "How do you get the rays on the lights?" I think you can do it in Photoshop, but I don't know how, and I don't know why you would when it's so easy to do. All you have to do is use a small aperture (opening in the lens), something like f/11 or f/16. In this image I used f/8, but in my experiences most lenses won't do it this well at such a wide aperture. This lens is pretty unique when it comes to these rays. For instance, the number of rays is usually the same as or exactly double the number of blades in the iris of the aperture (this is my personal observation, and I could be mistaken about the causal relationship). So, the kit lens you may have bought with your camera probably has five blades (every 18-55mm I've seen does) and they usually give off five rays on the lights. This 14-24mm lens I'm using here has nine rounded blades and there are a ton of rays! I think it looks cool. Also, you'll get more defined rays the longer the shutter is open. Which leads to the second part.

Five seconds was the shutter speed and that requires a tripod. The two of us (me and my tripod, that is; I'd love suggestions on a name for her/him...) are standing on the sidewalk making adjustments and triggering the shutter as the traffic drives by. Normally, I love to have traffic in this sort of image because it gives the streaking lines of the car lights as they drive by. But not on a bridge. Every time a car goes by the whole thing shakes and vibrates, pretty much negating the tripod (oh, for a name!). That's why this exposure is so short. I usually do these as 30 seconds with a smaller aperture and a way lower ISO. However, five seconds was the longest I could get between vehicles.

And 'C', always have a light pair of gloves in your bag; you never know how cold it will be 100 feet over the water on a long straight river in the Pacific Northwest.

Next time you're in Portland I hope you'll come down to Saaaaaaint John's Bridge, by the riverside...

I Heart Bridges

Also from Seattle in March. Thanks to Teri Lou for showing Brook and me around...

Nikon D7000, 14-24mm f/2.8 lens @ 14mm, f/10, seven exposure HDR, ISO 200.

This Is What I Bargained For...

It's been a busy time around here! We've had all kinds of wonderful opportunities coming into the Studio lately, from high class car shoots to corporate portraits to portraits of doctors to the Bald Eagles I'm photographing tomorrow with the Cache Valley Photographers. Whew! It's really been fun solving the problem of what kind of picture to make for each of these varied clients. And posing Bald Eagles is no picnic, I can tell you!

It's 2:15 am and I just finished some of these images for a client, and I should be in bed. But I've been looking forward to this moment for a week and a half. See, T. texted me the other day to make an appointment for her and her boys to come in for a portrait. ever since, I've been anticipating it. 

This is what drew me into photography nearly three years ago. I spent my class times in high school photographing landscapes and macros of tree leaves and reflections in streams--you know: art 'n' stuff. Little did I know what I was missing out on!

People is where the fun lies. I love making artful pictures of landscapes and trees and mountains and animals and bridges as much as anyone, and I love some of the images I've produced doing it (see tags at bottom of this post). Nevertheless, those things cannot compare with setting up the studio and photographing two brothers. I plan it like a playground: wide open. I just want those guys to have room, and they certainly took advantage of it tonight with twirling and leaping and doing the "shuffle dance". It was all I could do to make sharp images while giggling right along with these guys. They told me the Knock-knock joke about bananas and oranges five times...and got it wrong all five times! We never did figure out why the giraffe crossed the road.

So, I love the landscapes, animals, and the corporate work absolutely: but it's nice to relax a little and play with light every now and then, too.

Nikon D7000, 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens @ 92mm, f/7.1, 1/200s, ISO 100.

Frosty Mornings

No place has mornings like Cache Valley in the winter. Seriously. I've never seen such fog and frost and mist and mountains. It's pretty incredible. Roosevelt has some terrific fogs, but lacks the mountains as backdrop. This place is really unique.

I made this image leaving the airport in Logan the other day after making some really fun pictures for a private jet pilot there. We worked early so we had the hangar to ourselves before the rest of the office arrived, and I had a good time making pictures--when you're limited by space (inside a small jet) and light inlets (windshields on very fast planes are disturbingly tiny) it makes for creative pictures. I had a speedlight in one window and an Alien Bee in another. What fun!

And to top it off, the sun was just rising and the mists were just getting started, too, as I left the airfield. I debated for half a second (it's cold, you understand?) then said, You only live once! and jumped out, grabbed the tripod form the trunk and started looking for the right arrangement. I shot several dozen frames, almost got run over by the garbage truck, and came away with this as a favorite.

It's good to shoot this stuff. It keeps me creative in my portraiture. Anyone want to go wading one of these mornings? The picture will be worth it...

Nikon D7000, 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens @ 250mm, f/9, 1/160s, ISO 100.

I think what stuck out to me in this image is not only the mist on the water, but the total depth. I love the circle of the culvert amidst all the straight lines. I love the telephone poles leading deeper and across the image. I love the fence drawing me inward (and wondering if I'm outside a prison). I love the selective sharpness, focussing on the reeds not far in. I love the trees and rooflines in the distance showing just how hazy it is. I love the little orange cone by the fence. I love the circle of the bridge bringing me back in. I love that I didn't get hit by the garbage truck after all!

St. John's

Megan took us to this bridge while we were visiting with her in Oregon a couple of weeks ago, and I could just spend all day there, I think; or, at least the early part of the day and the late part--when the light is good, you know? Same place I made the Fairlane image. This one may be my favorite picture from that trip.

Been doing lots of comercial portraiture lately, but I've also got loads of civilian portraits in the works, and they'll be showing up here, soon.

Nikon D700, 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens @ 98mm, f/16, 1/15s-1.6sec, ISO 100.

Ford Fairlane

We found this gem under St. John's Bridge just outside of Portland this afternoon. I had a good time making this picture, though I had to set it up twice.

The first time I got it all arranged using the Pentax 645 I brought along, with a 47mm lens. It was looking good through that glass, and I was excited for the artillery like clack of the mirror and shutter as I rolled over the shutter button...and nothing happened. Duh, forgot to wind it. Wiiiiiiiiiiiind. Rolled the button...nothin'! As I wound it again I noticed that the shutter count window was no longer advancing and had maxed out at 20 exposures. Rats! Out of film.

What should I expect, though? This roll lasted nearly a year; Gary Bird and I started last Spring in St. George. Seems fitting that St. John's put it to rest.

Now to develop it...

Anyhow, set it up again on my D700, which is a full frame sensor camera body. Still, it's nothing compared to the 220 film I was shooting in that big old Pentax. There's just something about the view through those lenses that is intriguing. And big.

Nikon D700, 14-24mm f/2.8 lens @ 14mm, f/11, 9 exposures, 1/100s to 0.4s, ISO 200.