The Canon 7D makes its first stop at the "Favorite Spot"

Goal number three in my previous post on my 2012 Photography Goals has been demolished. Goal number three was to be content with my aging Canon 350D for one more year. However, that plan changed late last week when Penn Camera announced they we filing for Chapter 11, and subsequently announced a liquidation sale of their inventory. I hinted to the executive finance committee (aka my wife) if we were going to upgrade my camera this may be the time to make the jump. Surprisingly, she agreed.

The let down was all Penn Camera had available were floor models of the Canon 60D and 7D. We didn’t make the purchase.

We ended up finding a great deal on a Canon 7D from bestpricecamera.com. I chose the 7D for two reasons. First, unless I turn pro (extremely unlikely) or the technology becomes irrelevant (probably not for quite a few years) the 7D is a camera that can sustain my hobby for the foreseeable future. The Canon 60D matches up closely, but I was extremely concerned I would break the flip and tilt LCD screen, rendering the camera usless. When you are looking at the price difference between the models it made sense to upgrade to the 7D. With the online deal I found that difference was about $250.

The image above was taken this morning from the favorite spot. The image isnt that great. I braketed three images and processed them very minimally in Photomatix. I have a lot to learn.

I have an awesome wife. That is all.

Early last fall a friend contacted me because he wanted to use several of the photos I have posted here for a vacation property he was decorating. Of course I was humbled, and the project was learning experience like none I have endured since picking up a camera. What stuck out to me most about the experience, though, was the photos he chose for the project. With the exception of one, the four photos he chose were part of an experiment exercise I tried one quiet summer afternoon. The experiment wasn’t  created by me, but was published by the Digital Photography School, you can read it HERE.

The basis of the article was to limit the number of photos taken during the session (resist roboshooting, and slow down), fix the focal length of the lens being used (focus on composing shot in the camera vs cropping in lightroom), and to keep ISO and aperture settings constnant. For those who were film camera photographers if this sounds like familiar to the regular constraints of  film camera photography  that was the precise point of the exercise.

2012 Photography Goal #1

Slow down and think and don’t take so many photos.  I accumulated 10,749 photos in 2011. The vast majority are a blurry over or under exposed waste of hard drive space. Not every shot will end up framed in a friends beach condo, but I’ll be a better photographer if I slow down and limit myself.  Ideally, I would like to cut this total in half, so 5,350 total shots, or 445 per month.

All of my photos are edited in Lightroom, Photomatix, or both. I have Gimp loaded on my PC, but get frustrated when I try to use it. Photoshop is the industry standard, but I have never used the software.  This puts me at a disatvantage with my photographer peers. 

2012 Photography Goal #2

Learn Photoshop.

My DLSR is old, it a Canon 350D. My lenses, for the most part, are never wide enough, or fast enough for the conditions I am shooting in at the time. The tripod I have can barely support the weight of my 70-300 lens. I don’t have a cable release. The list goes on and on.  Looking back at the experiment above there is far more to photography than having great equipment. It helps, of course, but never required. 

2012 Photography Goal #3

Be content, at least one more year, with the equipment I have. At this point I can’t take a better photo with a better camera, it would be the camera doing all the work. The exception to this rule may be ro purchase a fast(er) zoom lens in the 16-70mm focal range, or a fast 30mm or 50mm prime. Both of these would improve my photography.

Anyway here is my favorite photo from 2011, enjoy!

We can hope, right?

Here is a photograph from an early spring 2011 trip to Quiet Water’s Park in Annapolis.  We enjoyed walking the trails with the kids and enjoying a (somewhat) warm spring afternoon along the banks of the South River.

I have decided to try a new feature to this space.  On a regular basis, tentatively on Tuesdays, I am going to link to another photo blog out there in cyberspace.  Generally speaking this will be a new photo blog I have discovered, but I am sure I’ll link to a few I have followed for years.  So take a minute and click the link, you may find something interesting.

Today’s link is PHRANKSPHOTOS365, a photo 365 project by Frank Wallace.  Frank hails from Oklahoma, a place I have never visited.  I stumbled on the blog earlier this week when he posted a photo of a Cedar Waxwing.  Take a minute and visit, I think you’ll enjoy what you find.

I leave this morning for a rare out of town business trip.   Business travel used to be a regular part of my work week, but over the past two years I haven’t traveled at all for work. I can’t say I am looking forward to the trip, but the traveling aspect is a welcome change to my normal routine  Fortunately, I’ll be back late Tuesday night.

Today’s photo is from 2008.  It’s from the Lake Claire Beach area of Cape St. Claire. I caught this shot at the end of a long day out taking photos with my, then middle school aged, daughter. We spent the afternoon traveling to three spots around Annapolis taking photos and spending time together.

This photo has sat unedited in the archives since it was shot almost three years ago.  I am not sure why, but it has.   Happy Monday everyone!

Reading PA, June 2011

The name says it all, have a great weekend everyone!

Cayo Costa Island, Captiva Florida

As we begin December here is another image from our trip to Captiva Island, Florida this past September.  Winter is not especially harsh in Maryland, but I would much rather be in shorts shelling on Cayo Costa than shoveling my driveway.  Nonetheless, winter is close, summer is a long way off the radar.