For those who know me, they know photography is a huge part of my daily life. Most of my college buddies remember me as the guy who had some type of camera always with me, taking pictures, (some incriminating) of our daily lives. It's ingrained in me.
Well for the past 3 years I had used a very reliable Canon 30D. As time wore on I began to outgrow it. Not to mention camera technology began to really make it look dated. It was time to upgrade. For the past 6 months id been watching rumors of a new line of camera from Canon. Then it was announced, the Canon 7D was real! I pre-ordered mine as soon as I could.
Well finally after almost two months of waiting, it arrived! What a beast. Thats the best way of putting it. I kind of feel like someone who had been taken from the 1970's and dropped down in 2009.... in terms of camera tech. haha I know, that's a bit of an exaggeration. But people who had been shooting with more recent models, like the Canon 50D, might just think "ok the 7D is cool and all". But to me, its a massive jump in every aspect of photography. Everything I had wished the 30D could do, the 7D does. It man is it fast. For example, a long exposure shot of say... 30 seconds, would sit processing in my 30D for at least another 30 seconds. So i would sit and look at the little dark screen, watching the red buffer light flicker. With the 7D, the shutter of the 30 second exposure closes and in roughly 1 second the image appears! Thats the dual DIGIC IV processors doing their job. Sweet!!
Its body feels very similar to the Canon 5DMKII. Those who have one will feel like their holding their 5D when holding the 7D. Even the controls are similar. Its very comfortable to grip, feels solid, but not too heavy. Ive got the BG-E7 battery grip on mine, which does increase the weight a bit, but I'm so used to shooting with a grip I don't think I could go back to not using one. Its really nice.
One of the first things I noticed when taking the 7D out for some night shooting is its sensitivity to light. Its SO much better than my 30D was. I was shocked. I can shoot at a slightly lower ISO than I could with my 30D to get the same result. This is good because it means less "noise" from a long exposure. Im also in love with the large view finder. I didn't realize how much the 30D was cutting off from the eyes view. I look through the 7D's view finder and I feel like im suddenly looking through a full frame camera's view. I know im not, but I can see that much more! Its really.... eye opening. hah Another feature new to me is Live View. My neck likes this feature. As now I can take low to the ground shots without having to either lay flat on my stomach or painfully bend my neck to see through the view finder. Its real easy to look at the bright 3 inch screen and compose my shot.
Anyhow there are so many bells and whistles on this camera its mind boggling. I could go on and on about it, but I'll just close by saying I have zero buyers remorse over this baby. Its an investment in my photography and has met all of my expectations. If you're on the fence about getting one and you don't mind shooting with a 1.6x cropped sensor, get this camera... NOW. Oh and dont worry about digital noise. Its even beating the Nikon D300s in noise tests! Really kicking it in the nuts at ISO3200 and higher. I love it!
As you can see, im happy with this camera. :-)
Friday, October 30, 2009
Gouls, Goblins and Cross Dressers!
There are few places I could go which would fit that title. In this case it was the Oak Lawn Halloween Block Party! If you're into people watching, this was THE place to be. I would have to guess there were at least 10,000 people packed into a 6 city block radius. In the epicenter of this mass of humanity was the center attraction... the runway. On the Runway, participants line up and take turns having their character introduced to the jam packed crowd on each side of the barriers as they make the walk down the path. The crowd in this area is crushing to say the least. It wasn't easy to move even a few feet and trying to do it while wearing camera gear was that much more difficult!
While at the block party I think I saw every type of costume there possibly could be. And even some of the most creative ones id never thought of. It was my first time this event. Id been invited a few times in the past but never made it. I'll definitely have to go again next year. Big thanks to Craig and Bex for the invite. It was a blast.
So, until next Halloween Oak Lawn... I'll be back!
While at the block party I think I saw every type of costume there possibly could be. And even some of the most creative ones id never thought of. It was my first time this event. Id been invited a few times in the past but never made it. I'll definitely have to go again next year. Big thanks to Craig and Bex for the invite. It was a blast.
So, until next Halloween Oak Lawn... I'll be back!
It's a Parade!
On Saturday October 17th I headed up to Whiteboro Texas to catch the annual Peanut Festival. This small North Texas town has held this even for something like 70 years (from what im told). It had been about 10 years since I had been and I had a free Saturday, so I packed up the camera gear and drove north.
I was surprised to see how much the festival had grown since my last visit. Back when I last attended, the booths' filled Main Street and that was really about it. Fast forward 10 years and the festival now fills Main Street and extends 2 street deep on each side. Not to mention the crowd, it seems, has about tripled! But this was a good thing for me as a photographer. With the parade, the old west gun fighters show and plenty of people to observer and take pictures of, I knew it would be a good time.
I started out the morning by taking my spot on the parade route on Main Street. I had to really jostle for position with a bunch of cub scouts, but I found a spot! As the parade vehicles rolled by, I was able to get a number of really fun shots. The photo in this post was one I really felt captured the day. An old war vet riding in the back of a pick-up truck waving to the crowd. The Peanut Festival and Whitesboro are really classic Americana and this parade showed it. I think if anyone from another country was to be visiting here and attend this parade they would be thinking "this is what I picture when I think of small town USA".
After the parade I walked up the street a bit and found my seat again for the Old West Gun Fight. It was really entertaining to watch the 6 actors dressed in the old west theme act out a dispute, settled with riffles and revolvers. Ah.. America!! ;-) Watching the reaction of the people in the crowd as the guns went off was almost as interesting as the gun fight itself.
I continued to walk the street after the fun fight and found myself infront of Eye of the Storm Photography. It had been so long since Id last been to Whitesboro, I didn't even realize someone had opened a photo studio right on Main street! That someone turned out to be a friendly fellow photog named Mike (I can't remember his last name!). We immediately started talking shop as he showed me around his studio. It was a real treat that I didn't expect to find up in "the boro". Mike's a super nice guy and a great photog, so if you're ever up in the Whitesboro Texas area, stop in and say hi.
I left the festival around 2pm with a memory card full of photos. I had a pretty good time, better than I thought Id have. I may just have to venture up there for no real reason at all. There's some great photo opportunities!
I was surprised to see how much the festival had grown since my last visit. Back when I last attended, the booths' filled Main Street and that was really about it. Fast forward 10 years and the festival now fills Main Street and extends 2 street deep on each side. Not to mention the crowd, it seems, has about tripled! But this was a good thing for me as a photographer. With the parade, the old west gun fighters show and plenty of people to observer and take pictures of, I knew it would be a good time.
I started out the morning by taking my spot on the parade route on Main Street. I had to really jostle for position with a bunch of cub scouts, but I found a spot! As the parade vehicles rolled by, I was able to get a number of really fun shots. The photo in this post was one I really felt captured the day. An old war vet riding in the back of a pick-up truck waving to the crowd. The Peanut Festival and Whitesboro are really classic Americana and this parade showed it. I think if anyone from another country was to be visiting here and attend this parade they would be thinking "this is what I picture when I think of small town USA".
After the parade I walked up the street a bit and found my seat again for the Old West Gun Fight. It was really entertaining to watch the 6 actors dressed in the old west theme act out a dispute, settled with riffles and revolvers. Ah.. America!! ;-) Watching the reaction of the people in the crowd as the guns went off was almost as interesting as the gun fight itself.
I continued to walk the street after the fun fight and found myself infront of Eye of the Storm Photography. It had been so long since Id last been to Whitesboro, I didn't even realize someone had opened a photo studio right on Main street! That someone turned out to be a friendly fellow photog named Mike (I can't remember his last name!). We immediately started talking shop as he showed me around his studio. It was a real treat that I didn't expect to find up in "the boro". Mike's a super nice guy and a great photog, so if you're ever up in the Whitesboro Texas area, stop in and say hi.
I left the festival around 2pm with a memory card full of photos. I had a pretty good time, better than I thought Id have. I may just have to venture up there for no real reason at all. There's some great photo opportunities!
Friday, October 02, 2009
Summers Last Gasp
As I pulled into the garage last night while coming home from work, thunderstorms were really building up and rains were coming down heavy. But it was odd because the sun was still shining through the north end of the clouds where the storm had not reached yet. I looked out over the back yard with the sun shining towards the house, I got the idea for an interesting shot. Even though it was fall season, it felt like a warm summer shower. I grabbed my camera and laid down on the kitchen floor with the back door open. This allowed me to shoot slightly into the sun and the falling rain, using some un-mowed weeds around the back porch as a subject. I really thought the glow of the sun through the cat tails with streams of rain coming down really captured the feel of the moment. It was nice.
The Night Shift
This past Tuesday night, with nothing going on after work, fellow photog buddy Rocky and myself decided to head North out of Denton and into more rural parts. Our original plan was to experiment with some light painting techniques and see what kind of interesting photos we could come up with. After about an hour of trial and error, neither of us were getting anything we thought worthy of keeping. We began to wander around in the dark shooting anything that captured our interest. Across a crop field and the distant high way was what appeared to be a cement mixing station for some local construction. With a full moon over head and the glow of big Dallas on the southern horizon, I had the idea for this shot. A 15 second exposure to fully capture the feel of the night. I liked the tilted horizon, as the telephone wires lead the eye across the scene. Anyhow, it was a perfect night for shooting. Cool fall temps, barely a breeze blowing and great weather. I'll be doing more of this for sure. And maybe I'll even get a light painting shot im happy with.
Last One Out...
Sometimes the weather here in Texas just doesn't cooperate. Or sometimes im really busy. Or... sometimes im just not in the mood to load up my gear and go out shooting. So, I dig through my archives for favorite photos that I never made public at the time I took them. This would be one of those photos. I liked this one the moment I took it. But for some reason or another, it got shelved for other shots from the day. This old shack sat on the back side of the abandoned farmhouse property. The summers sun was dropping in the background casting long shadows across the grown up weeds. This was a fun location to shoot. It was remote, silent and interesting location. My buddy Rocky was shooting with me at this location as well. He and I both enjoy finding these forgotten, rural locations and capturing the feeling of abandonment they leave behind. I called this photo "Last One Out", because my eye was drawn to the front door of this shed. Laying in the grass in the same place it had fallen when its old rusty hinges gave out, it made me think of the phrase "last one out, close the door". Well, it was easy to say the last person out left that property at least 30 years ago. No one is returning to close that door.
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