My Cross Country Vacation

I went on a two week vacation two weeks ago. My main goal was to capture images that I would not be able to create near my home town. Since this was going to span over 2,000 miles. I was sure to capture some really good images. I hope. I'm gonna pick the top ten images that I think are worth sharing. All of these images have minor edits, only to correct color and other minor things.

This first image is of the boring desert in Texas, this state is the largest in the union and also the most boring state to drive through. This is actually the coolest view of the western part of Texas are hills like this. Other than that, there is nothing.

About an hour away or so from New Orleans, we drove through hurricane territory. There were all kinds of houses like this all throughout the coast, it was really wierd to see. The shoulder on these roads wasn't big enough to stop on so I just did my best to capture this as we drove by. I asked someone at the Gas station at the nearest town why these house were all built like this, they said that this prevent them from flooding when hurricane season is there. These are really nice houses and cool looking too. I asked myself why would they build house in such a dangerous spot. Know one knows the force mother nature can put out, especially in this specific area. I think land is super cheap here.


Also swamps are huge in the southern part of Louisiana. There is just acres upon acres of swamp everywhere. And has plenty of wildlife to go with it. I was told that there are more alligator in Louisiana than there is in the Everglades of Florida. So I did find an alligator. It was small but very scary looking.

I did it.

I have gone digital, been shooting film for about 4 years, and just last week I made the step-up to digital. I bought a Canon 50d. I know it is about to be replaced, but I think that I will be just fine with this. Plus it's not so much what the body is, its the glass that makes the images. With that in mind, I bought an EF 50mm f/1.4. This lens is something else, the DOF is just amazing! My original plan was to get the cheap 1.8, and after some research the 1.4 is really worth the extra $300 dollars. The focusing on this 1.4 is way better than the 1.8. That in itself it a huge plus. It has been about a week and I haven't actually taken this out for a real shoot, but I do have some shots that I was just messing around with.

This is a rag on the kitchen counter, shot at 1.4. This is how it came off the sensor, no edit at all. I'm not used to shooting with good lenses, especially at under 2.0. I'm really happy with this lens! Though I did have thoughts towards the EF 28mm f/1.8. Since I am using a crop sensor. Either way I'm happy!

I don't regret buying the lens and body. Now that I have a digital as my primary, I now can't be afraid of using good film with my film SLR. Its a win win now. I have a shoot soon, I'll return with an update on that later this week.

14mm

Just about two weeks ago, a buddy let me barrow his fisheye lens. I knew he had this lens for some time, but I never bothered to ask him if I'd be able to take some shots. Until now.

This shot here I took off of the Golden State near Fresno. A friend of mine bought the new 7d, so we were out shooting long exposures. Most well actually all the shot were taken with the 7d. This was the only shot taken with my SLR. This lens is actually really impressive. Its the Canon 14mm EF f/2.8. On the APS-C crop sensor the fisheye-ness isn't too extreme. On my full frame 35mm you can really put this 14mm to use.

This next image was the second picture I shot with this lens, and this is incredibly wide. I read the specs on this and it has a 183 degree view. This can only be seen with a full frame sensor or a 35mm film SLR.
I wish I had a comparison shot of the same scene with the 14mm to show the actual difference between APS-C sensor and the great full frame! I do have this image which was taken with the same lens on the 7d.

Here you see a real conservative fish eye shot. Not as exaggerated as the first two, but still gets real amazing shots. This last image was not processed at all just came straight off of the sensor. This really limits the capability of the lens, makes it seem like it's shot with my 28mm from film SLR. Not saying this lens is crap on these limited cameras, it just needs the 10mm to have the same effect. That also comes with a higher price.

All in all this lens performed much better than I had expected. It has a fast aperture and a decent AF. Soon I will buy this lens, but first there are other goodies I need to get.

Ciao!

Yo-seh-meh-tee (Yosemite)

Yosemite gets crazy amount of people each year, I think the number is in like the millions, I might be wrong, go ahead and correct me if I am. I am not exactly sure what makes this place so famous. It is a really nice looking valley/area compared to the rest of the Sierra Nevada. Nice enough that it makes it on scenery calenders with other locations throughout the world. I'll say some of those other locations are really beautiful. Seems like Yosemite doesn't compare, so I think. I know there is a reason for that. During my short visit, even in the rain, about half of the people there spoke a different language. Not just spanish or some asian language. But something much more foreign, a language that isn't normally heard around here in the central valley. Meaning that people traveled quite some distance to see these sights. Well one day i'll know the reason till then, here are some words and images I shot to show my short unexpected experience.

Its been so so long since I last went to Yosemite, and I finally went. It was unintentional actually. My mom and her husband had some friends from out of state come and visit for a week. They go camping somewhere every time. I don't mind camping but with family it isn't always the best. Any who, we go camping over near Bass Lake. We were out for three days and two nights. The beginning of the last day, I am just anxious to leave for home. We pack up and ship home... I thought. Instead of making the long awaited left turn onto hwy 41, we make a right. =/ A drive for what seems forever, about 40 windy miles up to yosemite. The closer and closer we got to it the cloudier and darker the sky got. As we gained elevation we were pretty much driving in the clouds. seeing all this actually cheered me up a bit. Since usually when you think of Yosemite its always sunny and clear, or snowy white and clear. Not today though. Everything looked super epic. Kinda like out of an old medieval movie. I then didn't really mind this detour.

Yosemite is like a drive through, it just makes this big circle around the park. Starting at the bottom and works its way up around and then back down to the exit. As you drive there are the famous lookout points. Those are the only areas we went to, the whole time it was raining and continually rained heavier and heavier throughout the afternoon.

In person, for some reason the clouds looked way way more "epic". In these images they do not do it its justice. Regardless I think these exposures came out fine. Now I wish we could have stayed longer to walk/explore better sights. Its ok though, yosemite is less than three hours away from my driveway. I can go there any day.

The Emerald City

I took this at the Pikes Place Market, but no way would you think this is there. When I look at it as is, I think of some pre WWII alley in Europe somewhere. I saw this on the super long up-hill walk to the extra expensive parking 5 blocks away. Only four people are showing, but it was actually really busy up at the main area of the market which is like just around the corner, kinda weird now that I think about it. This is one of the few images that stood out on the mini vacation I took.
I suppose I can put up a couple others for your enjoyment.

This is a pigeon, one of millions walking and flying and being annoying on the sidewalks. It gets me wondering why do these animals still exist? Who still uses carrier pigeons? If they aren't used. I would think there is no reason for them to continue roaming. No! I mean, annoying this planet. All they do is mooch off pedestrian trash and other trash. That is what I think of pigeons. Now the picture, this is how it was taken, all I did was subtract the color and add the filter. And I love it! : ) There is nothing I would change.

This is the skyline of New York City, if you believed me? I'm feel bad for you and I'm sorry for your gullibility or poor sense of famous landmarks. Any who, I'm not digging this photograph other than it's a cool feeling b&w picture and I got the opportunity to see this sight of such a badass city. You might be saying, "What don't you dig about this?" well my answer is, look at the upper right corner, then the lower left. Once you've seen both, look at the upper left and lower right. Now everything physical that you see between those four points. I don't dig. If you google Seattle Skyline, (<-click that, it's my help to you) then look at the images. What do you see? The same thing as this picture I took. Though, I can say that I have taken a picture of a major city skyline. You can also put a name/person behind this image, unlike other random google images.

This here is a pig, I heard it's quite known. Her name is Rachel, doesn't look like a Rachel to me or a female. So I'll refer to it as a pig. It is a bronze, life size piggy bank. I might have thrown in whatever change I had in my pocket. Hundreds and thousands of people visit the Pikes Place Market each year, so I wonder how much money that pig is given and how often it fills up. That pig would be the only baller pig I know,and it's fake. What's this world coming to, haha.

See ya.

my start

I blog... well yesterday I didn't. After this post, I can say I blog.Enjoy, I am. : )