Money saving tip

I have discovered that bicycles are great! Just like how cars are also great. The only differences between the two is one requires money to run. April this year I decided that all of my in town commuting would be done with the bike. The first bike I had was a good one, it wasn't the best for commuting though. It had big meaty 2.1in thick tires with fairly low gearing. The two disadvantages with that were the tires creating a lot of rolling resistance, which required me to try harder to keep a high pace, then the gearing is mean't more towards climbing. Climbing was not something I did too often. The bike was a 19in Diamondback Response. It was a really nice bike, had the all Shimano components and performance 6in disk brakes. My friend let me barrow this bike for a short while.

Shot at 75mm: ISO320: f/4: 1/60th

While this was the only bike I had to use, I was looking for a road bike to replace the beast of a mountain bike the Diamondback was. Doing research, I learned many things about both mountain bikes and road bikes. To the outside eye, they both seem to get the same job done. Which is true, they each both have their advantages. I'll get to that a bit more at the end. Looking through craigslist I found the perfect frame. It was a Bridgestone 400 frame. The midrange road frame. All I had was the frame, fork and front derailuer. I began to do some research on which parts would fit best on the bike and also fit me. About a month later I came across another Bridgestone at a swap meet. This was a huge bike, HUGE! It was a complete bike, which is why I bought it. The wheels, tires, stem, and handlebars were all in good condition. The crank did not fit, the 400 frame took a different crank arm than the complete Bridgstone had; neither did the saddle. Still needing parts I kept looking through Craigslist for affordable parts that I would be able to use. I found a place called, "The Fresno Bike Kitchen". I found the address and went to the location. I told the guy running the shop what I wanted. I other words I wanted the bike to run. The rear wheel was off true, I needed a seat post, a saddle and crankset. Finally about 2 hours later and $55. The bike was complete. A single speed road bike. No derailuers, no extra cables, and no shifters. Simple is what I wanted and simple is what I had.

Shot at 15mm: ISO100: f/5.6: 1/125th

I still have the bug, since the day I got the bike running, I have came up on 5 other bikes. Half of them run and the other half needing some help.My main focus still being on the road bike, on making it a really light bike and also keeping all of the strength. Having put at least over 1,000 miles on the frame I still get excited before each ride.

After having some behind the bar experience. I learned how the road bike excels in the road, and how the mountain bike excels on the trails. When I rode the MTB, it worked just fine. It took me to work and took me around town, nothing to brag about. On the other hand the bike worked wonders on the trail. The meaty tires gripped the loose dirt and made the bumpy ride tolerable. the riding position was just right to peddle and continue to flow through the bumps and turns as I stood. All of the components held on tight when the ride got rough. The trail is where I can brag about this bike.

The road bike, this bike also gets me to work and around town just great. Almost too great, it's so smooth and quiet. With the simple drivetrain and thin smooth tires. The bike gets me going at a good speed and I don't struggle staying at that speed. The high gear is a bit tough getting going, but right after that I can speed up quite fast. When sitting in the crouched position I can accelerate and keep a high cadence at a high speed with ease. I get to work sooner and don't tire myself as much.

Weekend Update from previous post.

So this past weekend I was supposed to have a really great photographic experience, I was excited by limiting my equipment and limiting myself with the single lens I chose. Prior to leaving on the trip I was told we were going to the beach on the morning on the day of the concert. That added to my excitement since I will have another location to photograph the band members. (Also I would have the chance to use my skimboard again!) We ran a bit late on the departure but we were still doing good on time since we left the day before. 10pm we finally get on the road down the 99 south towards Los Angeles.

The drive begins well, no obvious problems. Everyone is in a good mood, nothing can go wrong. We stop at a gas station about 20 miles north of Bakerfield to get more snack and goods. Here is where I finally got to see what this van looked like.

Old van, but it was still handling this trip like a champ so far. So after 20 minutes we decide to continue driving. We pass Bakersfield and finally get on the I-5. The Grapevine is now approaching. It struggles a bit, spinning the engine a bit high. This is with 7 passenger, weighing about 1,400lbs and a trailer carrying all of the bands equipment. Then the moment we were dreading hit us like a speeding train. The van loses power and it shuts off. AH! None of us could believe what had just happened. Still on the incline near Fort Tejon we pull over. Not knowing what is wrong, the van will not crank over whatsoever. We finally do get it to crank but it does not start. Everyone begins to slowly lose hope. "we're not gonna make it to the show". I have a bit of automotive knowledge and I suspect that we either ran out of fuel, or something in the ignition went out. Stranded on the I-5 isn't helping with the situation, since we have no tools nor extra fuel. After about an hour we finally gather money and find the cheapest tow to the closest gas station. This being at 2am.

We finally cough up $125 to pay for the tow that is less than 10 miles. We put some gas in and are now finally excited to get back on the road once more. Again, nothing. The van does not start, we think that the battery must be dead or too low to start. We ask everyone to see if they could do us the favor to give us a jump so we can charge up the battery a bit. The battery reaches the proper voltage, so says the volt meter in the dash. Still nothing happens. By this time it is already 4:30am and the sun is beginning to light up the sky in the east. We decide to get some rest and try and find some money for a shop to take a look at it later. The morning hours go by and the mechanic shop finally opens. They are very nice and tow us to the shop free of charge. Then about 30 minutes later during there tests, the van decides to start up. They didn't fix anything, it just so happened that the wonderful Dodge Ram Van decided to start. We paid the $85 for the hours labor and got on with the trip. Everyone just got in a good mood, even with having little to no sleep.

After about an hour of driving the van shuts it self off as we are driving. This really made everyone mad. We pull over, wait a bit and then try and start it. The great thing is that is did start, then we continue driving. the van the began to shut off about every 10 minutes. We decided to just give on the trip and go home, the freeway was too dangerous for us to keep pulling over every 10 minutes. After the last roadside stop we continued on the freeway for the closest exit.

We pulled into a Shell Gas station. Here we began to brainstorm on what we were going to do to get home. Here were the main points.
1. We didn't have tools.
2. We were all running low on cash.
3. The van as is would not make it back to the valley.
4. We wanted the easiest way home.

We thought of ditching the van somewhere in a neighborhood and having a friend come down to pick us up and just go home. We then figured that this may come back later to the owner. That idea was scratched out. Then the best idea was brought up. Sell the van! We would get rid of the pain in the ass this van has been and we'll get some cash. The only place that would buy this van is a junkyard. We called all of the nearby yards. We got lucky and found one that was open and only 15 minutes away. They offered $250, that was a bit low and they then agreed to give us $300. That sounded good, so we set off to the yard. On the way to the yard we dropped a friend off at a U-Haul which was also 10 minutes away.

We get to the tow yard, happy and sad about getting rid of the van. We had to wait for about 30 minutes for the U-Haul to get to the yard. The office lady would not hand the check over until we had the trailer off of the van. The time finally came, the van had been emptied and it was ready to continue its life in Sunny Valley's Pick your Part Junkyard. I'll admit, I was a bit sad on leaving this van. It had to happen and it did.

Overall this experience was a first for all of us that were there. It would have been great if we did make it to the show and had a good time at the beach and had some good shots of the band and the good times to show. Though this adventure was also fun in its own way. I don't regret going on the trip and I'm sure neither do the rest of the guys, including the band.

Weekend Skill Build

This weekend I have a semi-shoot at a concert competition. Its gonna be far from home, I have never shot an event like this. I am not very sure on what to expect the shooting conditions to be like. The weather, lighting, shooting area, and freedom. This for sure will be a different experience for me, and I think after shooting I will have gained some skill at this event.

My original plan was to take as much equipment I can take. Now after thinking about it, taking all of these things would be a big risk. I'm not going to be a preferred photographer. That is where the high risk is. Especially being at a venue where there are many many people. So I will only be taking the body the 50mm and my battery charger. I may take my laptop just in case I fill up my memory cards. Since I will be very limited with my equipment I think this will allow me to learn everything about this super fast lens. Hopefully i'll be more comfortable shooting at 1.4. I am a bit excited for this though. I will be seeing some people I haven't seen in a really long time. I do Hope to come back with some really nice shots to show no one that is subscribed, haha. I leave you here with a picture to glance at before you click out.

I shot this without planning, I was on a bike ride on one of the river trails and then I just happen to look at the sky and this is what I see. The actual image off the sensor was quite a bit different. The Sky was very saturated. I had to tone it down quite a bit, and it still is a bit much. I was surprised how sharp this came out, especially since I shot this at f/1.4.

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.