Walking in NYC

I spent some time in New York yesterday walking around with my girl. While the goal was to see one of the fabulous camera stores in NYC, I also wanted to spend time just walking around the city.

I ran across several interesting scenes that would have been great shots, a sad looking man selling comedy tickets, a photographer photographing a couple of models (male and female in business attier), but I didn't bring my big camera with me, as I didn't want to have it's weight on me while I walked around. But, fortunately I had my iPhone with me. It has a pretty good built in camera, not the same as my 5D, but it will do well in a pinch.

As I wasn't making a photo walk, I was just walking around in the city, I found this to be a great option. Use what the camera you have with you and don't complain about having the wrong camera. Just use your eye to take the right picture with what you have, not what you wish you had.

North Carolina Waterfalls

I derive a sense of peace from water. It is a powerful yet relaxing combination which helps to recharge my batteries. Not all waterfalls are tremendous or spectacular, but they all are interesting. Each and every one is unique.

And I found two sites that document them.  North Carolina Waterfalls (.com) and NorthCarolinaWaterfalls.info have some great information about where to find waterfalls in NC. The first site details the site's owner's photographic journey throughout NC, the second has a spectacular map of all the waterfalls in Western NC. 

I know what I will be doing next week.

John

I'm hesitant to shoot weddings

The title pretty much sums it up. While I take some nice portraits, and I have shot some events in the past, I am a bit hesitant to shoot a wedding. A blog post at Lens Rentals pretty much sums up why.  I have neither the gear or the experience I would need to be a credible wedding photographer. For the most part, I tend to shoot people with the gear I have, and I keep the limitations in mind when I shoot. For a wedding, I would want a second body, a good long lens, and probably a second photographer to get the wedding at another angle. But that said, I don't know for sure what I would need.

And you would have to pay me a lot more than I am worth to get me to do it. That said, at some point I will probably act as a second or third (probably unpaid) photographer at a wedding or two in order to get that level of experience. After all, the only way to learn if you can do it is to try and do it.

No photo uploaded today but maybe I will get a couple up tomorrow.

Happy shooting,

John

Making great photos

This weekend I was reading Photofocus, a blog about photography by Scott Bourne. I read in it an article that reminded me of what I often think about when it comes to my own photos. In it, he stressed the importance of focusing on the picture, not the technique. When I hear critiques of a photo, I prefer to hear about the feelings the photos invoke rather than focusing on how the pic was made.  Composition, focus, colors are all important, but sometimes the focus is more on these than on the actual impact of the shot.

And to me, in the end that is what really matters.

Today I uploaded another pic of Taneak. Instead of focusing on how I made it, I prefer to focus on the feelings that it invokes. For me the first thing I think of is peace. 

New pic uploaded

I just wanted to say that today I uploade a new pic, this time of my friend Jennifer. I find taking picutres in a natural setting to be a great way to create an image that doesn't have the usuall look. It helps to use a fast lens as well, so you can blur the background, while keeping the image sharp.

I did do some post processing to make the image look even better.  Overall this is one of my better efforts. I hope you like it as well.

John