Over the Kern

Here's a short time lapse sequence that I shot while on my rafting trip. The night time part would have been longer but I was shot after a day of rafting. The music is Jewel.

Oh, and this is my 600th post!

singled out

Can you tell I love my new lens?

smoke break

Took this while on the Photowalk around Santa Monica. The leader suggested we look for interesting light and see if something came into it. I thought the back lit smoke was pretty cool.

Epic Movie

A few days ago, while I was taking the kids for a walk around the neighborhood, I decided that we should shoot a movie. I've got this fancy pants camera that shoots video so I might as well use it. Of course my boys were all over it. We weren't incorporating fairies or princesses in this one, so my daughter bailed. What you'll see is the result of minutes upon minutes of painstaking work and attention to detail. Continuity watchers, take the day off; there's nothing to find here. Script scrutinizers, you'll find no holes here. Quite simply, this is independent film making at it's best. Enjoy.

Swimmin' in the bokeh

Oh man. My family was recently blessed to receive some unexpected money from a family business. To celebrate, everyone in the family got to pick out something fun. I of course was very responsible and gave money to a worthy organization and th...who am I kidding, I bought a new lens! Yes, shocked reader I got a lens that is a veritable bucket for catching light. I give you the Canon 85mm 1.2L.

What's so great about this lens? It has a maximum aperture of 1.2 which means the depth of field is extremely shallow. Backgrounds will be more blurry and distractions will be less. It is also extremely sharp even at 1.2. Most lenses are not their sharpest wide open, but this one is.

What is this lens best for? People. And that's how I intend to use it.

The Proposal

The way it should've happened.

Last Rays

I'm back!

Whew, I'm back. I had a great weekend of rafting and hanging out/getting to know a bunch of guys. Oh, and I got to take some pictures too! We were in Kernville, which is about 3 hours north of L.A. I could not believe how clear the skies were up there. I have never seen the Milky Way so distinctly. One guy brought a for real telescope and I got to see some of Jupiter's moons! Yes, that Jupiter. That was awesome.

I thought I'd start the picture extravaganza with this star trail one. It looks like the middle of the day, but it's actually about 11 p.m. The combination of long exposure (around 25 minutes) and a bright moon give it that daytime feel.

More to come!