Learning

f-stops, apertures, bokeh, dances of light, sources...
There is so much to do, so much that changes, so many ways to make a difference and many more to be the same. Let there be light.

What I have found that matters is to always be in a state of learning, no matter how much knowledge is thought to be known. Knowledge is like a library, that can be withdrawn when sought upon, but knowledge is also a barrier to creation. Only in naivete is the innocence of sight truly realized and expressed.

When art is a burden, bury it.

I love the myth how a Phoenix burns to ashes and rises yet again.

EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro

This is without a doubt on my list as a sleeper lens in the Canon line-up. Not only does it completely own up to the MACRO specification, it also performs excellent as a portrait lens. It is also very good for just walking around. It is light to carry, has excellent build quality, and goes down to f/2.8. The bokeh is very creamy, and sharpness probably only bested by the EF 135mm f/2.0 prime. I highly recommend the purchase of the ET-67 lens hood (pictured)

This particular shot was taken with my trusty Canon SD450 pocket camera at 4 exposure values and merge and mapped with Photomatix.

It's all happening at the Zoo

I went to San Francisco Zoo last weekend and that was a blast. The weather was outstanding, although abnormally warm for January. I did get some great photos of all kinds of animals. Merkats (pictured) are really fun to watch and photograph. They are so playful and curious.

The Zoo itself is quite large although, buy a lot of the old zoo areas are run down and cages empty. The newer areas are excellent and provide viewing on two levels. The Children's Zoo area was very good my favorite part being the Birds of Prey. I have never been that close to a Golden Eagle or Great Horned Owl. 

I think I will go to Oakland Zoo next.

Lag

It has been 3 months since my last post. That is bad. A blog should be daily.
I have been busy with all kinds of things I should have written about. So much can happen in so little time.

I have really been learning a lot, and developing new ideas, and yet it is always hard to find the time to really create and concentrate the way I would like to.

Where I am at:
I think the digital medium is a huge sandbox that has opened up photograhy to the masses. This is good overall, but it has also brought a lot of issues and one for me that is very hard to deal with is simply 'Art', or 'the moment'. I struggle with how I can simply shoot a litany of frames and deal with issues later, things that can be 'fixed'. While this is truly a good thing, it is also a very bad thing in my humble opinion. For me the whole desire and attraction of photography is the timing, capturing that dance of light on something at that perfect moment. In my time with digital and all it's amzaing tools I find the moments are still captured, but they tend to be altered in development. For the sake of my eye and the later viewing, I have switched to shooting black and white JPG on my Canon 30D. This gives me serious limitations, that I will have to say are producing better results because I am more thoughtful of the frame. Typically shooting RAW leaves a lot of areas for a lot of correction. Typically shooting color leaves a lot of area for opinon in the mind. Black and white is very focused.

All is well, life is alive.