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Alex's Photography Weblog

"to see the world in a grain of sand..."

Christmas in September

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Photokina is the huge photography and imaging tradeshow held every 2 years – it’s coming up in September in Cologne Germany.

It’s where camera manufacturers often announce new models, new technology and new lenses. What will Nikon announce this year? Will it be a new D400? A new D800? I’m hoping for a new full-frame with HD video!

It shouldn’t cost more than $3K, and it should be a full frame sensor to make me happy! Don’t get me wrong – I love my D300 (both of them) but I’m looking forward to higher ISOs. I probably should have bought a D700 but it IS a first generation camera and I wasn’t quite ready at the time.

So what are my reasons for wanting a full frame sensor? Mostly a higher ISO with less noise; the insanely shallow DOF you can get; and (hopefully) HD video.

So what do you think Nikon will announce next month? And what are you hoping for?

A midsummer night’s dream

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Ah, the Friday of a long weekend at the height of summer…

The best time of the year for photography around here.  The sunsets are long and there’s usually dust in the air from haying activities, or construction so the colour of the light is redder and warmer. And what could be better that spending an evening with dogs? I love dogs – I love smart dogs…

I had the extreme pleasure of photographing some beautiful and highly intellegent gun dogs last night in the fading light of the day.  We started at about 7:45 and finished up an hour later. I used a WB setting a little oranger than the regular setting for sunlight.  Click here if you don’t know how to change your defualt WB settings – not available on all cameras though…)

Here’s my fav.

Here’s another. WARNING: in the next shots, the dogs is doing what they are supposed to do. It is a little disturbing, at least for me who is not a hunter or a fan of hunting, and an extreme animal lover. However, trained dogs are far better than untrained dogs, and the ability of these dogs to ensure that every bird is retrieved ensures that no bird will suffer, and that whatever is shot will be consumed and not unneccessarily wasted.

If you ARE a hunter I think you will appreciate the moment.

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Pandora Lives

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Have you seen Avatar? (If you haven’t it’s the only movie worth seeing at the theatre in a long time – but be sure to see the 3D version!)

Looks like Pandora has a clone here on planet Earth.

Avatar's Pandora on planet Earth

This infrared shot was taken in Penticton in June with a converted Nikon D70, and processed with my new Nikon Capture “pre-post-processing” method.

POI# 5 – A Father’s Day Tribute

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My dad is a great teacher so I was easily able to learn the basics –
aperture, shutter speed, and back then ASA film speed. He’d buy me
photography books for Christmas and birthdays and gently critique my
results.  In time I got beyond the "snapshot" and got the hang of the
tools, and started to take photos that expressed more than just "point and shoot." He introduced me (figuratively) to Freeman Patterson

(another POI), whose influential book, The Art of Seeing, sent me over the moon with delight as I saw just what kinds of cool images could be made with a little imagination.

So, that is really where and how I got my start. I suppose
this is how it is for many of us, we get exposed at an early age and it
just unfuses every molecule with that drive to create something. The
secret? Become exposed to it early; have a good teacher, practice often,
get good feedback, and keep educating your self.

Thanks Dad! Happy Father’s Day.

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Slow Turning

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The Winnipeg Folk Festival – that Woodstock-like pagan-ish 5 days of music and barefeet, beads and dreadlocks! I’m not a true fan of the event, but excellent musicians frequently play the festival, and summer outdoor concerts are just such a complete sensory immersion who could not love it.  I’ve been quite a few times to see my favorite artists play there.

Last year you might remember, Elvis Costello was the main event, and I got some great shots of him, looking right at me :-)

This year it was John Hiatt.  If you don’t know about John Hiatt, you should.  What a life – recovered from alcoholism, and cocaine addiction, and writes the most remarkable music.  His “breakthrough album” was Bring the Family, but he had many more before this too.

Here he is singing one of my favs – Have a Little Faith in Me…

john hiatt - have a little faith in me

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