Ultrawide Heaven . . .

Woot! I got my first ultra-wide lens (EF-S 10-22mm f/2.5-4.5 USM) a few weeks ago and headed out with a buddy to downtown San Jose on a rainy night to use it really for the first time. It's money! Here's a few shots from the crawl.

Through the car window where it was all wet [ ISO 2000 - f/4.5 @ 22mm - 1/30 s ]


Civic Auditorium @ Downtown San Jose [ ISO 200 - f/22 @ 10mm - 30s ]


Pinkberry @ Santana Row [ ISO 2000 - f/3.5 @ 10mm - 1/30s ]


Sino Restuarant @ Santana Row [ ISO 1600 - f/3.5 @ 10mm - 1/30s ]

Back from the photo posting hiatus . . .

My time has been filled with travel, work and general laziness. ;) I've been slacking on the photo posts and taking pictures in general (oh no!), but on my travels to Paris & Amsterdam for a half-vacation/half-work trip, I did manage to take a few shots that I ended up liking.

Paris is gorgeous. I love the laid back atmosphere. The food....to die for. I swear the secret is in France's butter.

The Paris skyline from the top of Notre Dame. Holy cow, why couldn't elevators been invented in the year 1100? So many steps on a hot day in a narrow and windy passageway, not good! Still, it was worth it for the views. [ ISO 100 - f/9.0 @ 40mm - 1/250s ]


There were a couple of non-working fountains that made great for getting reflections of the Eiffel Tower. [ ISO 200 - f/2.8 @ 33mm - 6s ]


Another picture with the reflection with the full Eiffel Tower in the image [ ISO 250 - f/2.8 @ 24mm - 0.6s ] and a shot from a corridor leading to the entrance of the Louvre [ ISO 200 - f/4.0 @ 55mm - 1/250s ]

      

I don't know why I love this picture. Maybe it just says a little something about Paris life on the weekend. So many people come out and walk, run, play tennis, float there remote control boats or just to soak up the sun during the summer at the Jardin du Luxembourg, it's just a great place to people watch and take in a few candid photos. [ ISO 200 - f/2.8 @ 17mm - 1/4000s ]


I didn't get as much time to visit the sites in Amsterdam, unfortunately. Something they call work got in the way of that. I did manage to see a few things. Went to the Van Gogh Museum, the Heineken Brewery tour, some little thing they call the Red Light District and some of the most amazing graffiti I have ever seen.

I'm telling you, a photographer could spend days just taking pictures of the graffiti in Amsterdam. So colorful and artistic and just prime for the picking for awesomely color saturated photos. [ ISO 640 - f/3.5 @ 20mm - 1/40s ]


Old spigots that were used for testing beer during the brewing process in the olden days at the Heineken brewery tour. I was only supposed to be allowed 2 ice cold Heinekens on the tour, but somehow I managed to drink 5. Oops. [ ISO 1000 - f/2.8 @ 35 mm - 1/40s ]

New York Instance . . .

Took a few days off from work to enjoy New York City and had a blast. Some of the things I did in no particular order:

* I ate a lot . .
* Was surprised that Paul McCartney was performing live on Letterman's studio balcony right after getting off the E train from JFK on Broadway & 53rd
* Saw puppets singing about the internet & porn
* Ate some more . . .
* Got a view of Central Park that I've never seen before
* Saw a princess and an orge "butt kiss with a fart" and sing about happily ever after
* And I ate a little more . . .


This shot is surprisingly taken at Central Park. I never knew that it had a waterfall! [ISO 100 - f/22.0 - 1s]



So much to see in Central Park. A view of a pond through the railings of a bridge. [ISO 100 - f/4.5 - 1/125]




A window to "The Loch." [ISO 100 - f/7.1 - 1/60]



A night shot of the Rockefeller tower before a security guard yelled at me to close up my tripod at midnight. There were only 10 people or so in the whole courtyard. Who was gonna trip? Boooooooo! Oh.....note to self, "Need wider lens, 17mm on a crop sensor isn't enough!" [ISO 100 - f/9.0 - 1.3s]



A couple of shots in the West 4th Street Station of my girlfriend, of which, I can't decide which one I like better. You tell me. [ISO 400 - f/2.8 - 1/15]

All my babies are back!

Finally, my first day back with my full arsenal of gear. My EF 50mm f/1.4 USM (my fault) and my EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM (not my fault, bad electronics!) are back in my hands after two months in the shop.

Took a few shots out at Lake Chabot on the way home from work and I think all's in working order. Yay!

Reflections of a windy & rainy day...

My first blog post ever. Why blog now? I have a reason that I think is worth while (finally). This blog isn't to detail the days of my life, but to detail the journey of me becoming a better photographer. I thought it would be interesting one day to look back at the days of my hobby starting out and seeing how I progressed from the beginning to whatever point I get to.

Without further adieu, the first image.

I grabbed this shot on the way to lunch at Pier 23 while walking through a puddle filled parking lot on a muggy SF Sunday after a night's worth of rain.