Occupy: Unacceptable

To date I have stayed fairly quiet about my opinion on the occupy Wall Street and other such protests that are going on all over our country. This has been for a very good reason, I have no opinion, I am employed, I am earning more this year than last, and for the most part I am happy. I don't feel that this puts me against occupy protests, but I certainly cannot pretend to know what these people are experiencing. But today as I am going through my news sources I find something that I feel is unacceptable in this country. Police Brutality. Lets establish that the police are there to protect the citizens as a whole, whilst upholding the Constitution. At this point in this country there have been so many cases of the police using extreme force in an attempt to break up the protesters. As far as my take on this situation I feel that while the cities and states may not like what the protesters have to say they need to respect the fact that in this country people have a RIGHT to say it. Have we forgotten what is the first amendment of the constitution?

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The constitution does not limit where, how long, and for what reason as long as it does not violate other peoples rights. Now the right to assemble has been challenged in the Supreme Court before in United States v. Cruikshank, 92 u.s. 542 (1875) and it was deemed that "...the right of the people peaceably to assemble for the purpose of petitioning Congress for a redress of grievances, or for anything else connected with the powers or duties of the National Government, is an attribute of national citizenship, and, as such, under protection of, and guaranteed by, the United States." My question is:

What Happened Here? How is this America?! Have we really forgotten that our country is based on the open exhange of ideas and the ability to peacefully protest the govenment?

We are always so critical on countries like Syria who are opening fire on their own citizens who are protesting in the streets yet President Obama has had nothing to say about a United States Marine Scott Olsen who was shot in the head with a tear gas canister and almost died. How is this not a violation of his rights that has been upheld over and over again by the Supreme Court? How are we any better?

Now I know that this was awhile ago, and at the time I had convinced myself that this was an accident, and then I saw the image of Dorli Rainey the 84 year old woman of Seattle who was pepper sprayed by the Seattle Police Department for protesting. This is the lowest of the low. She is 84 years old, how could she have posed a threat to the greater population in this protest.  The answer is simple, when you don't do what the police want they attack you. This is not legal and should not be tolerated. Here is an except from Dorli Rainey herself:

"Something funny happened on my way to a transportation meeting in Northgate. As I got off the bus at 3rd and Pine I heard helicopters above. Knowing that the problems of New York would certainly precipitate action by Occupy Seattle, I thought I better check it out. Especially since only yesterday the City Government made a grandiose gesture to protect free speech. Well free speech does have its limits as I found out as the cops shoved their bicycles into the crowd and simultaneously pepper sprayed the so captured protesters. If it had not been for my Hero (Iraq Vet Caleb) I would have been down on the ground and trampled. This is what democracy looks like. It certainly left an impression on the people who rode the No. 1 bus home with me. In the women's movement there were signs which said: "Screw us and we multiply." source

This country needs to remember that the only thing that seperates us from the countries that we attack for their human rights violations are are just those, OUR rights. We need to protect them. Just becuase you may not like what I have to say, where I am saying it or WHEN I am saying it does not mean that you have a right to attack my right to do so.

While I have no opinion on the protests themselves and while yes, I am fairly tired of hearing about them on the news I RESPECT and would die to PROTECT your right to do it.

United States Marine Corps. Sgt. Shamar Thomas from Roosevelt, New York said it best here:

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present Mr. and Mrs...

As many of you know I have been working hard the last few months helping Eric and Kati plan their wedding. Well, the day is finally here, today we will don our tuxes, we will go to the Circle D farm and Eric and Kati will get married. Last weekend I was lucky enough to be able to go to another wedding with Eric and Kati and I was able to get some really good lighting and some excellent timing. So since its there wedding day, and I know that a picture is worth a thousand words, here is my two cents.

Eric and Kati,
I hope nothing but the best for you as you begin your lives together. I am so happy for you.

CONGRATS GUYS!

Steve Jobs 1955-2011

Steve Jobs and his wife after his last Keynote as Apple CEO

So as most of the world has heard by now, Apple's co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs has passed away. I don't think its possible to really comprehend how influential his life was and its certain that his legacy will live on in the attitude and ideals behind the company. So being that I am not only an iPhone, iPod, and Macbook owner I thought that I would post a story that was reported on Vic Gundotra's Google+ last month after Steve stepped down as the CEO of Apple.

"One Sunday morning, January 6th, 2008 I was attending religious services when my cell phone vibrated. As discreetly as possible, I checked the phone and noticed that my phone said "Caller ID unknown". I choose to ignore.

After services, as I was walking to my car with my family, I checked my cell phone messages. The message left was from Steve Jobs. "Vic, can you call me at home? I have something urgent to discuss" it said.

Before I even reached my car, I called Steve Jobs back. I was responsible for all mobile applications at Google, and in that role, had regular dealings with Steve. It was one of the perks of the job.

"Hey Steve - this is Vic", I said. "I'm sorry I didn't answer your call earlier. I was in religious services, and the caller ID said unknown, so I didn't pick up".

Steve laughed. He said, "Vic, unless the Caller ID said 'GOD', you should never pick up during services".

I laughed nervously. After all, while it was customary for Steve to call during the week upset about something, it was unusual for him to call me on Sunday and ask me to call his home. I wondered what was so important?

"So Vic, we have an urgent issue, one that I need addressed right away. I've already assigned someone from my team to help you, and I hope you can fix this tomorrow" said Steve.

"I've been looking at the Google logo on the iPhone and I'm not happy with the icon. The second O in Google doesn't have the right yellow gradient. It's just wrong and I'm going to have Greg fix it tomorrow. Is that okay with you?"

Of course this was okay with me. A few minutes later on that Sunday I received an email from Steve with the subject "Icon Ambulance". The email directed me to work with Greg Christie to fix the icon.

Since I was 11 years old and fell in love with an Apple II, I have dozens of stories to tell about Apple products. They have been a part of my life for decades. Even when I worked for 15 years for Bill Gates at Microsoft, I had a huge admiration for Steve and what Apple had produced.

But in the end, when I think about leadership, passion and attention to detail, I think back to the call I received from Steve Jobs on a Sunday morning in January. It was a lesson I'll never forget. CEOs should care about details. Even shades of yellow. On a Sunday.

To one of the greatest leaders I've ever met, my prayers and hopes are with you Steve.

-Vic"

I know that as the world mourns more stories will come out about him, but this one has been in my head every time someone talks about him since I read it last month. Its an attention to detail that not many of us have, and a passion that 99.9% of the world does not have.What I really like about this story is that it not only shows that as a CEO Steve worked 24-7 365 but also shows an attention to detail that not many CEO's can say that they have for their product or their company. He will be missed by many people and is one of the few people that many of us can point to an actually say "You made my life better". Well today as we remember his legacy I would like to say this: "Thanks Steve."

Source

Distracted Driving

On October 1st, 2011 the Maryland General Assembly Chapter 471 or Senate Bill 424 went into effect. What this law does is adds a modification to the existing law where "...a person may not use a text messaging device to write [or], send  OR READ a text message OR AN ELECTRONIC MESSAGE while operating a motor vehicle…". While like most of us I agree that this would be a great things, less distracted drivers, few accidents, I also feel that this represents a disturbing trend. Violators get a 70 dollar and a one point fine on their license. I don't feel that a quick glance at your phone while driving is the problem here. I feel that this law is misplaced and feels more like a new tax to me.

Before you get upset, let me tell you a story. A few days ago my wife and I decided to walk our dog up to the local shopping center. To  do this we had to cross a few roads and while we were crossing the street (in a crosswalk) we almost got ran over by a woman who was turned around yelling at her kids. I feel that picking on cellphones and people who are reading text messages in a world where constant communication is a must is simply blaming on small thing for a much larger behavior, distracted driving. In my opinion this is like blaming the air on the fire and not the match or the fuel. Not a perfect metaphor but I have seen and witnessed many incidents where people are either yelling at kids, spouses, reading books, air drumming (guilty), or something else that is distracting them from the road. This is the actual problem, NOT the phone itself.

In addition the law will be really hard to enforce, you can read it here. From what I take from it I have my Iphone. The law states that this section does not apply to the use of a global positioning system, well since GPS is built into my phone doesn't that make it a GPS unit? They have GPS units that play music, how is that different? In addition many would say that the law says "Text messaging device" means a hand held device used to send a text message or an electronic message via a short message service, wireless telephone service, or electronic communication network" wouldn't every traffic enabled GPS device also qualify here? What about OnStar? That totally communicates through an electronic communication network. So this brings us to the final distinction, "...a hand held device". Okay so if I get a window mount for my Iphone and I am texting from there does that now mean that this device no longer qualifies and I not breaking the law?

Martin O'Malley needed to not pass a law that attacks a certain device being used a certain way and instead attacks an entire behavior, distracted driving. Pull people over for turning around, looking at the back seat and talking to their passengers, this is VERY dangerous.  The reality of the situation is that people are just going to hold their phones in their laps, farther away from the road, and this will make an even more dangerous situation. The law is almost unenforceable and I plan on keeping a copy in my glove box in the event I get pulled over.

Doing things with people you Love

So this has been coming up a bit in my personal life, so in an effort to talk about things more I will discuss it here. Some of my only memories of Germany as a youngster was not wanting to go to places like castles, gardens, and the other cool things I now want to see in Europe. Since I was young I really had no choice in the matter and was dragged along to 13 different countries on various trips. The entire way to our given destination I remember being upset at not being able to play Sega Genesis or Nintendo all day, but once there ended up having a ton of fun. Something like that happened to me last night. I don’t love baseball, I don’t watch it when it’s on and I had had a really long day at work so I was exhausted. But since my Dad had invited me as his first choice I did not want to let him down, and knew that I had never been able to go to these night games because I worked a night shift at MICROS.  I went to the game expecting it to be what I had envisioned, a long drawn out affair that would be full of some really awkward moments where I don’t understand what was going on and ending up with the O’s loosing. It could not have been farther from the truth, besides the O’s loosing. I had a BLAST being with my Dad, talking to him taking part in the game with him. Baseball is something my Dad loves, and being there with my Dad doing something he loves it made me love it. We got to talk about all sorts of things, we got to really bond and I was beaming the entire time. I really want to go to another one and it’s a shame that the season is almost over. I got to meet all of the people he knows there and we got to really enjoy each other as adults. I knew that my Dad and I had a lot in common but going to the game with him just reminded me how cool of a guy he really is. I guess the lesson here is sometimes there are things that you think that you will not enjoy, but if you go into it with an open mind you may be surprised to find that you have a ton of fun.  At the end of the night I thanked my Dad, gave him a big hug and was honestly sad that the night was over. Last night was one of the best “Father/Son” outings of all time. Thanks Dad.

No Kids Allowed

So in the next month I will be going to not one but two different weddings. The weddings are going to be very different and I am sure to have a good time at both. But last night I was standing and talking with one of the brides and it brought me back to my wedding and all of the hard work and planning that goes into that day. The bride I spoke with last night has politely asked their guests to keep infants out of the ceremony and is getting quite the backlash from her family regarding this. Her opinion is that she does not want a child screaming through the ceremony and then having it immortalized on tape. I remember that this was something that we had originally considered for our wedding and reception. In the end we did in fact get a sitter so that our guests with children would be able to enjoy our wedding with us as adults. Since issues like this have been in the news recently, see here. the question that I have is why is it so offensive to want to enjoy my eating experience without your kids ruining it? Why is it so bad that I want to be able to take an airplane flight without listening to a baby cry for six hours, honestly? Now, being that many of the people in my family have children I understand that they are part of your life, I love your kids, seriously I do. But why do people find it so upsetting when one business says that you cannot bring your kids? They way I see it is that if the business can sustain itself without child patrons, the only people who are affected are the kids themselves. You do not have to go to those establishments, but maybe I want to. I am not offended when you bring your kids to the museum that I am at, I realize that its just as important to their education and they have a right to see these things. I guess my rant really is why are so many people outraged by the idea that establishments could exist without the support of children.

Leave replies, I would love to try to understand that parental side of it.

IT - Lessons in Frustration

I have decided to take this blog in another direction, besides posting things about my hobby (which I have had less and less time to do) I will also be making this just my personal all around blog. I need a place to post about my life and I really like this blog. Don't worry I will eventually get back to posting about my photography but for today:

Working in IT can often lead to many interesting things happening on a day to day occurrence. Today, I looked in my inbox for tickets and found a ticket saying that a machine needed to have java updated. I figured that since my boss assigned the ticket to me and that it needed to get done that I would be proactive, connect to the machine remotely and update the software. So I do just that, they take software upgrades pretty seriously around here so I felt productive for getting that done. I have to leave my desk to take care of another issue, when I come back everyone is asking me why I connected to that machine, why I updated java and why all these things were done. My issue with this is that if everyone but me knows to not update a machine, why would you assign me a ticket for that machine KNOWING that I am the kind of person who would get that done. Very frustrating.

Sugar Loaf Mountain

Wow, I am really sorry that its been so long, I guess I will go ahead and catch you up on a few of the things going on. Spring has finally come and I have really been chomping at the bit to get out and do some photography. I will have to post more often, but hopefully soon some things will come up that will allow me to hopefully do just that. So for now I will post another picture that I really like.

I really enjoy the grains of the wood and how they really seem to show the age of the wood. I was at Sugarloaf Mountain in Maryland this year for a day and I was trying to get these great mountain view scenes playing with my new 28-135mm Canon lens and at one point I ended up looking down at the park bench I was sitting on and found this shot. The dead leaves just fresh from their winter tombs and snapped this photo. Still one of my favorite brown photos.

Sugarloaf Mountain was not the best in the early spring and the day we were there was quite cold but its all over my list for the fall when the leaves start turning. Not a lot to the mountain but its one of the highest places in Maryland meaning it will have a great view of the rolling hills here.

Makes an excellent background if your looking for one I can send you the watermark free version if you pop me a line.

The City of Brotherly Love

I was recently asked how do photo trips get planned? What consideration goes into what lenses to bring, where to go, what time of day? My answer was of course spend as much time as you can planning, go early, and as far as lenses bring as much as you can. The trip that Corey and I took on November 29^th was anything but one of those trips but still turned out brilliantly. Sitting in my house one night Corey and I both realized that we had the upcoming Monday off. At the same time we were watching Man vs. Food on the Food Network and he was in Philadelphia. At the same time both Corey and I found that this would be the perfect opportunity for a photo trip to the City of Brotherly love. We departed rather early our eyes set on the Liberty Bell and Constitution Hall. The trip to Philadelphia was uneventful but the day was filled with so many prospects and of course Cheese steaks.

We found parking fairly easily and started into the Liberty Bell museum. The place is nothing but Top Notch and was very informative. The entire complex in the center of downtown Philadelphia was phenomenal.  The light was fairly harsh and getting a picture without twenty other tourists in it was not easy, but I was able to snatch a few courtesy of a zoom and getting in front of little kids to take a picture.  I really liked the way they did the Liberty Bell, lots of natural light from all different angles really gives the bell a very different look from different sides.  Maybe its because I am a guy but I really enjoyed the “blue” side which was a result of the skylight behind us.

The outside of the building where the Liberty Bell is

Shortly after we headed over for our guided tour of Independence Hall. If you are Philadelphia you really should consider the tour it’s a free tour but you do need to get tickets. It was breath taking knowing that some of my family were in Philadelphia, when the Constitution was being signed. They were consequently hanged for assisting the British, but neat nonetheless. Its a really neat piece of my families history.  Apparently there was an Act passed by the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1783 that stated the Doans were "robbers, felons, burglars, and traitors". Its an interesting story that ends up with Abraham and Levi being hanged. I would recommend looking into the story. 

Finally we decided to walk (which was in retrospect a bad idea as I did not wear a coat) to get Cheese-Steaks. Only 14 blocks and about half the city away we arrived at our destination.  If you have ever been to Geno’s or Pat’s for a Cheese-Steak you I am sure have your opinion about which is better. This is exactly what Corey and I were here to find out. The two competing restaurants are located literally across the street from each other and work in direct competition. We started with Geno’s where we ordered a “Provi-Wit” and then ordered the same at Pat’s. Needless to say we both felt that Pat’s was the better of the two.

We walked back to the car and began the two and a half hour drive home, having enjoyed another photo trip. The sunset over Philadelphia was breath taking and Corey and I discussed how crazy it was that we drove from Baltimore to Philadelphia for some cheese steaks. Just goes to show how fun photography days happen.

I'm on top of the world, looking down on creation

Yep! I did it, after years of not being able to get back up to the in-laws house for the Holidays Tina and I set off on our great adventure. We decided to drive from Maryland so a certain four legged creature of ours could come along on the trip. The drive took a long time but went swimmingly. We got to the Phillips house on Saturday evening and exchanged our Christmas gifts. Sunday was a bit of a down day with Church in the morning, and then nothing major that afternoon. We called it an early night because "This van will be leaving our house promptly at 6:00 AM Monday Morning. That's right, Mr. Phillips had planned a ski trip. We headed to Stratton Lodge in Vermont. The complex there is amazing, multiple lifts, a gondola, and many buildings that different paths lead to. It was VERY cold, it was -1 when we arrive and hovered between 0 and 10 degrees all day.

Luckily I was rather warm all day as we were bundled down in gear nice and snug. After doing some little paths, a few slows and what not we decided that it was time to head to the top of the mountain. The gondola right to the top actually took awhile and as this small enclosure we were in got farther and farther to the top my confidence in my skills was lacking.   By the time we go to the top of the mountain I was worried that I would never again see my great state of Maryland. But to be serious the view of the mountains and Vermont was fantastic. Given that we had just had lunch I was nice and full and we began out trail to the bottom. The first time we took a longer winding green that afforded us multiple picture opportunities. The hardest part about shooting in this environment was keeping my lens clear and keeping the camera in one piece. Luckily Tina decided that she felt confident that she would not fall and opted to take the camera. In fact the picture your looking at to the right was taken by her!

Check out these trees at the top of the Mountain!

The day progress without me taking too many falls, and overall I was able to hold my own but but the time the afternoon had set in fatigue was setting in. Having gone past it once before Tina decided to shoot some video of this awesome slope that as built under a bridge. So I proudly present, me skiing.

Pier 5 - The Tasting!

Okay, so if anyone who knew me and my wife read this blog and you asked them about us and the things you read here they would not be surprised to tell you that were random, fun, energetic people who jump head first into all things we do. Tina accepted my proposal on December 26th 2008, and let me tell you have I have never been happier.  What a great year 2008 was, however come December 26th 2009 we still had no place to get married, no plans, no dress, no invitation, not even an announcement. Our families never ended up throwing us an engagement party and by the end of that year we were thinking that we would be engaged forever. Now don't get me wrong it was never for a lack of trying, we had visited thousands of places, Tina may have tried on every dress in the Tri-State area but looking back on our wedding when its not right its not right. In January of 2010 I started a new job, and that put an even bigger hamper on things happening for us. Until we found Pier 5 in Baltimore.


Fitting very snuggly on the Harbor and inside our budget it was a great place to get married. The view was fantastic, the staff enjoyable. It was a hotel, it was a ceremony ground, and it was a reception all in one. What we had left to do was taste the food we were preparing to spend an enormous amount of money on. Never fear, we booked the place in February and the "Wedding Blitz" began. Come May almost everything was on cool down mode when we went in for our tasting in hand. Having just got my T2i a few days earlier of course the camera was in hand to grab pictures.  It was a dream day, could not have asked for better weather and in reality, it was really exciting because it served as a prelude for what to come. We were sat down by our coordinator and began to iron out the specific details, she showed us all sorts of dishes and she sat us down and we began to indulge ourselves in some of the most fantastic food we've ever had. The crab cakes (pictured above) were some of the best I personally have ever had and in sitting in the heart of Baltimore Harbor I would not expect less.

What I had not realized going into this was that there would be so many decisions that needed to be made that day. If we were to do it all again I really would have asked for a cheat sheet so that we could go in with some answers. I think in that two hour session with Pier 5 we made about 70% of the decisions for the wedding. Everyone goes into the wedding knowing that they want a cake but when presented with 30 different cakes picking out the "perfect" one can lead to a prolonged argument. We spent most of that morning picking out napkin styles and what types of wine we wanted and in what order we wanted things server. The picture to the right is what we finally decided on, yes we had a conversation about what folding of napkin we wanted. Needless to say my my Dad and I were enjoying the food and the drinks while Mom and Tina worked out the fine details. I don't want to sound uninterested but in reality Dad and I could only argue about the color of the tablecloth for so long.

After it was all said and done we all headed outside and took a look at where we (less than a month from then) would be getting married. Shooting in this light was a little difficult but I was able to get some of my favorite pictures perhaps ever of my future bride. She just looked so calm and in control that day. Which considering everything we had done was surprising because of all of the decisions we had made. Needless to say, a lovely May day.

As Always I would LOVE some comments people. I see the hits your leaving, I know your here. Say Hi!

HDR - High Dynamic Fun in Washington DC

I read quite a few photography blogs and the more I do the more I find photographic techniques that I would really appreciate being able to try. Having seen HDR photography years ago I have always been fascinated by the idea that you can take three independent photos shot at very different EV compositions and combine them into one incredible photo. Being that we live about 40 minutes from our nations capitol I figured that a trip into DC would be the perfect chance to take some HDR photographs. Taking them can vary from camera to camera but I was able to find an excellent guide on how to configure the Rebels to automatically change the exposure in between shots. This allows you to take the three shots quickly, and reduces the risk that the camera will move in between shots (which ruins the photo). That being said, I would not recommend attempting this without a tripod, seriously you need one.

Tina agreed to accompany me down to DC for the day with the explicit understand that this was a photography trip. We started the day out with almost no plan, we went to the Washington Monument and got alot of really great shots there and then continued to wander about the city setting up some fine HDR shots. Tina and I were engaged at the base of the Capital building so DC has a special fondness for us.

So let me start by showing you my favorite of the bunch, I am going to upload all three of the original images and then upload the changed. This image is perhaps the best of the bunch at showing the power of HDR.

 

So as you can see from the top three image we have an underexposed, a properly exposed, and an over exposed. What this allows you to get the best of all images, in the underexposed image you get great quality of image in the Lincoln Memorial. In addition you get great blues. In the properly exposed image you get the green of the grass and the color of the dirt path that you would expect. Finally in the over exposed image the detail of the tree is incredible. This is unseen in the previous two images and it leaves you with a wonderful image. To my luck the woman in the right third of the image was not posing for me, she was trying to take a picture of the Washington Monument and was holding really still, I set this up and just snapped away.

Final Product:

HDR Image of the Lincoln Memorial

As you can the see the end result is quite pleasing as every single part of the image is properly exposed. This is information that the human eye cannot physically see. This is why I love it. The sky is so blue and all of the colors just pop! Its HDR baby!

So the next information that people typically ask is how do you do HDR? I would recommend the HDRsoft suite, its simple to use, elegant and interfaces beautifully with Aperture. A great walkthrough can be found here.

Looking from the Lincoln Memorial.

Let me show you a few more I took, the first is a view from the Lincoln Memorial looking down at the Washington Monument. The funny part about this picture is your not allowed to use a tripod on the Lincoln Memorial without getting a permit to do professional shooting. Yes, we were told by a department of Park Services employee that my $19.99 Dynex tripod from Best Buy (classy I know) was considered professional photography equipment. Being that I am one that always gets what I want I harassed the guard a little more and he finally told me that if the tripod touches the ground I can get arrested. So using my two feet and one of my wives I ensured that the tripod was not touching the ground, it was touching my feet and we took the pictures. The guard was none too happy but I feel in the deepest part of my heard that he enjoyed the loophole.

Next we have one of my personal favorites of all time, this one is the of the WWII Memorial's the cost of freedom. Personally, I love the WWII memorial, it has everything, but this wall is perhaps the moment where you remember that WWII claimed over 300,000 American Lives and this wall goes on and on and on. I love was HDR was able to do to the reflection of the pool, the depth of the stars, and not to get too sentimental it represents all that these brave young men were willing to put on the line for the cost of freedom. And while future generations have taken their sacrifice fore granted I hope that this image shows those brave souls that their cause was meaningful.

So that is HDR, I would recommend that anyone try it and see what results you get. 

As Always Leave Comments!

Product Review: Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Lens Review

For this post I am going to review the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 lens. Called the "nifty fifty" this lens is one of the most versatile lenses of my glass arsenal. I find that I get into very few situations where I am reaching for other lenses while I have this attached. For all but one of the pictures on my blog so far I have used the nifty fifty and its the lens that is most often attached to my camera. The lens is a prime lens (see definition here) it lacks any zoom, or rather you just have to use your focus to adjust what part of what you are seeing is in focus. I was told once that if your eye was a lens, it would be about 50 mm and so you have to think of it like your eye, no zoom, just focus.

Upside - When I was looking for lenses for my new camera I started reading reviews and looking at the price. Having used one of these gems for another camera before I knew I liked the portrait capabilities of the 50mm. However I had no idea how much I was was going to enjoy this lens. The best feature in my opinion and on of the main reasons that you would want to use this lens is the f stop of 1.8. Practically what this allows you to do is shoot movement in low light. I have found countless places (night time, clubs, basements) where a f/3.5 (which is fairly standard) would simply not allow me to capture moving subjects without doing an exposure time approaching 1 second.
In addition this lens is LIGHT it weighs nothing when attached to the camera so when carrying it around for hours on end you pretty much will not notice the weight of the lens. Lets be frank here, this lens never leaves my bag, I hate letting people borrow it, I hate letting people touch it, it is my favorite lens. Period. The other upside to this lens is PRICE, with an MSRP of about $100 USD this lens is by far one of the cheapest and best investments you can make early in your photography career.
In addition what I really appreciate about this lens is you can get a taste of what not only prime lenses have to offer, but if you like the f/1.8 you can get the 1.4 for about $400 and if you fall in love with that and are making boat loads of money you can get the 1.2 for a little over $1400. Canons next prime lenses other than the f/1.8 are all over 500 so for $1000 its a steal.

Downside - Okay lets start with some practical stuff, for $100 your getting an all plastic (minus the optics) lens. So no metal boot and from what I have heard the lens is quite fragile. While I have never dropped it, after reading these reviews I actually keep the lens in the box in my camera bag. Most of my other lenses just get a cloth container but this one kept its box. In addition I was not pleased that this (and no other entry level canon lenses) come with a lens hood. Its something that after getting too many pictures washed out by sunlight I went ahead and purchased on Amazon and I have not regretted. In addition this lens is quite noise when going from Macro to Infinity but since most of my photography takes place outdoors I had never really noticed it till an portrait shoot. When manually focusing as well this lens's small ring can become a hassle. I will tell you this, the downsides are outweighed by the versatility.

In review, I would recommend this for anything but intermediate shooting, because the lens has no zoom because its a prime lens, and I don't shoot full frame there is a bit of a magnification that takes place and this can make it difficult to get large subjects completely in the image without being quite a bit back. But for all other shooting this lens pays dividends. At 100 dollars you really can't beat the price of the lens and its versatility, f 1.8 and since it weights nothing on your camera or in your bag I would consider it one of the first pieces of glass you should purchase

Pushing up Daisies

Okay, so there are stories behind every photo I take, some interesting others not so much. In reality this post is more about looking at the pictures and less about the story. My mother had one of her coworkers living with her for a few weeks before she moved to Australia. As a thank you she got my Mom this flower, I think its a Gerber Daisy. I first saw it the morning before my bachelor party, liked it and decided to take a few photos of it. The first photo I took was this one, I liked the angle and since she had it outside I got the nice horizontal lines of our house in the picture. I don't know why this flower was so appealing to me but I really enjoyed taking some photos of it that day. 

The next morning after some rain showers (and some money showers at my Bachelor Party) I was back outside getting some fresh air. Once again I had my camera and noticed that a nice droplet set had settled in on the flower. I snapped my final photo which, to this day is one of my most requested, and admired photos. I have read a lot of places that most photographers keep a water mister in their bag for instance where they want to add droplets and I am proud of the fact that mother nature did all of this herself, I just captured the moment. These photos really show off the power of the "nifty fifty" to give great bokeh (see definition here) as well as how fine the lens is. The colors I was able to get out of this flower are increadible and I was very pleased with this image.

Let me know what you think by leaving comments!

WEB SITE: Peter Lik - An Aussie with an Eye

I think I may try to once a week hunt down a website or a post that will really help your photography. This week I would like to introduce you to Peter Lik. Peter Lik is a world renowned photographer who specializes in landscape photography. While Tina and I were on our honeymoon we got the unique pleasure of wandering into his Key West gallery. Having no idea who he was at the time we decided to wander into the gallery. The photo that he had on display was the four foot version of "Tree of Life". I was breathless. That night we went to Braza Lena in Key West, who also had his work on display. Eating in this environment surrounded by his inspiring work was a joy and worth the price of the meal (which was also good).  Peter is an astonishing photographer, and has a keen eye for showing you a side of nature that we might overlook. He has a show that is going to be on the Weather Channel about his photography this fall. His blog, located here has decided as a "New Years Resolution" to try to give DAILY updates about photography, Peter, and their galleries. I really enjoyed their pieces on taking high contrast photography and shooting in the cold. That's my site for this week. If you enjoy his photography and have NOT been to his site your missing out. Let me know what you think of the website by leaving comments!

If you did not see the embedded hyperlink the website is here:
http://blog.peterlik.com/

A Streetcar named Desire



The rusty pull leaver of a street car
designed to clear snow off the tracks.

 More and more as I being to enjoy my photograpgy I find that I want to bring my camera equipment with me everywhere. I find that some days I even consider taking it to work "just in case". Halloween was no exception this year. As the wife and I have been really looking to get a dog and we were headed into Baltimore to go to a few dog pounds. I honestly cannot explain why  I took my camera with me that day, all I know is that the bare essentials, Camera and one lens. That day I took my T2i and my 50mm f1.8 "Nifty Fifty" and as we drove to the first shelter I drove by the Baltimore Street Car Museum. I had never really seen it and its really out of the way and looked like an interesting place. I didn't stop to take pictures then as we were headed to look at dogs, but I made a point to attempt to get back there before the day was through.

The Rusted Body of a Baltimore Street Car.

After going to a few shelters and getting some lunch in Federal Hill I asked the wife if we could just go back and take a few pictures before we lost the sun. While the museum had many street cards in amazing condition I was really interested in the two broken down trains they had sitting down the track from the museum. Not wanting to get into any trouble I go into the musem and ask the manager if I can go crawl through them and take some pictures. The owner, slightly confused and amazing that anyone would want to crawl through those heaps but he obliged and we headed down away from the station to take the pictures.

The Trains were rusted and had a "steam punk" feel as switches and gauges were all over the place. I took alot of pictures and really enjoyed the museum. It represents (much like its location) a lost part of Baltimore from the Hampden area of a time when Baltimore had street cars. The lesson that I learned here is to always have your camera on you as you never know when you may encounter a situation where the perfect light, perfect sun, perfect rust covered street car named Desire.