Photo Adventure Guild

2012-02-01T16:41:00.000-08:00

Splash

2012-01-20T20:50:00.001-08:00

D7000, 35mm f/1.8 lens, cir polarizer, frozen fingers.

Canadian Geese in Japan

2012-01-16T03:45:00.000-08:00

Some birds in Japan. We call 'em "Canadian Geese," but when we asked what they were called we were told, "I don't know... ducks?"

On a specific day in August and April, the sun sets directly in the center of Mount Fuji. This creates the "diamond Fuji," which is rather famous.

Here is the link for all your diamond fuji needs.

Solargraphy

2012-01-10T07:45:00.000-08:00

A project I have been playing with. Solargraphy! This exposure was taken over a weeks time, from the window in my garage. I have another seven at my parents farm, in mid july they will be ready to post.

New film scans

2011-12-21T17:31:00.000-08:00

Just got my scans/slides back in the mail today. Fuji Velvia 50 and Pentax Spotmatic

Birds

2011-12-11T19:34:00.000-08:00

EP3 with PixelHK TW-282 Test Time Lapse 2

2011-12-10T19:53:00.000-08:00

Just another test, trying out the EP3 for timelapsing.
I wish that the EP3 had an AC power source option, or I wish that -at least- you could replace the battery while on a tripod. But alas, you can't.
Youtube link HD - Check it out in 1080p.
*Keep your eyes on the far table for some "animation".

Hardware: EP3, Samyang 8.5, TW282
Software: Virtualdub

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Previous Timelapses
EP3 Timelapse test 1
Sunday Night Photography
Scott's Testing Videos
Another youtube Timelapse of mine D40 with Flash, clicking remote every 30 seconds. Ghetto-lapse.

just a timelapse test-a-roony

2011-12-09T04:09:00.000-08:00

Youtube link
Full-screen HD is cool.

(music was the first "i feel lucky" choice on youtube audioswap... it fits.)
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Previous Timelapses
Sunday Night Photography
Scott's Testing Videos

Victoria

2011-12-03T23:21:00.000-08:00

Pretty sure that this is what I was taking a picture of....

2011-12-03T22:32:00.000-08:00

From this post by Scott: "Portrait of a Photographer".

Gotta admit, Canadian-prairie skies are best skies.

Black River

2011-11-25T19:29:00.000-08:00

Complete with ugly mechanical vignette from my getto variable ND filter.

2011-11-11T19:12:00.000-08:00

Boxes of diamond drill core with gold!!!....but no diamonds

World's saddest donkey

2011-11-09T16:55:00.000-08:00

Not only is it stuck in a zoo but look at it's funny colours.

Hole in the ground

2011-11-08T19:35:00.000-08:00

Overexposed monochrome, just for you Marc

Also: http://redoubtreporter.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/plugged-in-don%E2%80%99t-overexpose-when-shooting-monochrome/

Business and Photography

2011-10-19T19:01:00.000-07:00

Now would be an interesting time to be in business school, as there're so many good "topics" which you could write about relating to photography.

-Blackstone acquiring 44% of Leica.

-Sony and Nikon production in Thailand halting due to flooding (half a year after one of Nikon's Japan manufacturing sites was hit by the earthquake.

-Canon releasing a new Professional DSLR before Nikon, as they have "tit-for-tatted" each other business-wise for so many decades.

-Nikon releasing their strange new mirrorless interchangeable lens system a few months after Pentax released theirs (the Q)... and of course, the imaging sector of Pentx being bought out by Ricoh just after the release of the Pentax Q. Ricoh, themselves, having a strange "interchangeable sensor and lens mount" thing going on.

-Kodak looking at bankruptcy.

-The first non-Japanese CEO of Olympus lasted only 6 months. He was kind of fired a few days ago and told to "get a bus to the airport," or something to that extent. Apparently he didn't get along with everybody else (it's said to be differences in culture and business decisions). A few days after leaving the company, he outed the company for some of its bad business decisions and share-price dropped 23% in a day. The next day, he followed with more comments, and the share price dropped another 8%. He welcomed Olympus to try suing him.
(Rounded up news in order: 1, 2, 3, 4)

My (abridged)opinion of Olympus is that they have excellent engineering, design and production teams, but their management, accounting/finance, and marketing departments are, to say the least, lacking.
CEO news aside, their newest products (the 3 pens) are excellent products and good prices. However, every shop still is overstocked with the 1st and 2nd generation at similar prices, so they are, I assume, unenthusiastic about the new products. I think this is mostly due to marketing. Think about it: why does everyone assume that if they want to "get into photography" they need a Nikon or Canon DSLR? Why do those who are too intimidated by the big black DSLRs, but want something serious, go for the Sony NEX cameras? Which, when measured by features, image/build quality, lens choice, price, availability and whatnot are quite similar.
Maybe the same reason the Nikon EM failed 30 years ago. "Hey girls, do you wanna play with a big-boy camera, but you aren't smart enough?" Great marketing line (my rough interpretation.) If you market it that way, no men will want to buy it, and girls will be too insulted to buy it (though somehow Sony has convinced people that the girly NEX is perfect for everybody.)

Also, this is mostly just what I see in Japan. And by the way, I love my Nikon EM, and my Olympus EP3.

In the business world of cameras, it is, indeed, an interesting time.

A little exhausted...

2011-10-19T05:11:00.000-07:00

Barn

2011-10-19T03:30:00.000-07:00

This actually isn't too interesting, but I was cleaning out some drivespace and found this picture of me attempting some long-exposure light-painting. Kinda cool turnout, weird blue lights.

Blue winged blue bird

2011-10-17T17:57:00.001-07:00

Day and Night

2011-10-11T07:22:00.000-07:00

Around the farm

2011-10-06T19:44:00.001-07:00

Weekend in Canmore

2011-09-26T19:23:00.001-07:00

Summer Borealis

2011-09-10T07:48:00.000-07:00

Burn'em Wood

2011-09-09T21:34:00.000-07:00

Another Day On The Water

2011-09-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

Stuff in my yard

2011-08-12T20:23:00.000-07:00

Some photos of the visitors I've seen at my new place

Praying Mantis,plese excuse the workin' man hands.

Ruby-throated hummingbird

Male purple finch

Male gold finch

Female purple finch

Funnel Cloud

2011-07-15T20:32:00.000-07:00

Crazy weather here at work.

2011-06-21T19:39:00.000-07:00

Protective wall of foam

2011-05-29T19:02:00.001-07:00

Regor

2011-05-29T06:36:00.001-07:00

Here's a sneaky shot of a pro photographer at work.

flower

2011-05-08T01:37:00.000-07:00

Took this back in Canada.

A night out on the docks

2011-05-01T04:02:00.000-07:00

Ana and I went out to experiment with some camera gear and have some fun with low-light photography the other night. Good times.

I doubt any of these turned out, haha.

Oh,and look! A new lens. This has been one of my dream lenses, and I found one in a little shop over here in Japan on a wicked deal (19800Y). Ana bought it for herself, and now I'm jealous! It's really really nice.

It's about time

2011-04-13T11:31:00.000-07:00

Still no northern lights

2011-04-12T18:54:00.000-07:00

I'll settle for city lights

Who knew teaching could be this fun?

2011-04-06T05:07:00.001-07:00

Pic related (though I haven't had any time for actual photographing lately, haha).
This is what one of my lessons looked like:

Bonus points for spotting all the wrong stuff.

A least I got some'n

2011-04-04T19:23:00.000-07:00

Last night I went chasing the northern lights. Doesn't work so well when it's cloudy. I opened the camera's shutter and went for a walk, when I returned this is what I got.

Big bridge

2011-03-27T21:33:00.000-07:00

Pictured here is the Park Bridge. Over 1300 feet long and 300 feet high it carries traffic above the Kicking Horse River. Touted as a feet of engineering it was constructed in very short order, 21 months ahead of schedule. The bridge was opened to traffic in August of 2007. I first crossed it in 2008 on a motorcycle trip to the west coast. I had vivid memories from my younger years of a great road full of tight turns and covered in avalanche shelters. As I rode I waited with anticipation for that road of my memories. I arrived in Golden, the twists and avalanche shelters of my memories were missing. Unbeknownst to me, I had sailed over them on the Park Bridge. The new route is quicker and undoubtedly safer, but I miss the old route.

Bread

2011-03-24T02:50:00.000-07:00

Thought my older sister would like this one. From a tiny irish-pub called "Giggle" on St. Patrick's day. Seriously, the place is only 7 feet wide and maybe 20 feet long.

Nice Morning

2011-03-23T19:47:00.000-07:00

Long Exposure at YEG

2011-03-19T21:56:00.000-07:00

Went on a romantic date to some random range road near the Edmonton International Airport. Here's what I got.

fuji-san

2011-03-17T23:36:00.000-07:00

Big ol' Fuji looked nice today, and I just happened to be carrying a camera. Here are some boring shots of it. Enjoy; click 'em for full(er) size!

You can see the switchbacks that I hiked last summer.

That photoshop plugin to remove powerlines really sucks.

Not sure why, but I really enjoy this photo.

It's been a while

2011-03-06T18:45:00.000-08:00

With all the commotion of buying a house (3500kms away) and being sick more often than not, I haven't had much time to photograph much of anything. I've pulled together some pictures because I felt like.

blue

2011-02-25T01:10:00.000-08:00

2011-02-14T21:21:00.000-08:00

Portrait of a Photographer

2011-02-11T22:00:00.000-08:00

Oh Sony

2011-02-08T19:25:00.000-08:00

>Micro4/3 system gets introduced, open to anyone. Team members include Olympus, Panasonic, Sigma, etc.
>Sony makes their own stupid proprietary "E-Mount" not allowing others to join their team.
>Micro4/3 system is awesome. Lots of people jumping on board. Sony is sad.
>Sony releases system specs to other manufacturers.
>Have we learned anything here?

From dpreview
Sony has officially confirmed it will be sharing 'basic specifications' of its E-mount for free to manufacturers of lenses and mount adaptors starting April 1, 2011. A company statement says 'this move will open the way for manufacturers of various lenses and mount adaptors to develop products conforming to 'E-mount' specifications...

And I guess here's a picture, 'cause this is not a camera-rant blog, but a photoblog. Right?
I call this one "Four Foreign Noses"

Temple

2011-02-08T02:40:00.000-08:00

Chinese Temple in Yokohama, Japan
Excuse the grains; I've been mostly just using my D10 point and shoot lately.

Official Nikon T-Shirt

2011-02-07T16:07:00.000-08:00

I know that this isn't "photography-related" as much as it is "camera-geek-related," but hey... I figured a few of you would really like this shirt that I picked up at the awesome Nikon outlet store in the Gotemba shopping outlet center.

Coffee Love Is Art

2011-02-06T15:55:00.000-08:00

I found this beautiful little shop/gallery/cafe in Gotemba, which is a fairly quiet and homely city in the Shizuoka prefecture. Everything about this little building is exciting.

Click for the full-sizes. I cropped them so that I could upload some 100% crops with blogger's image size limitations.

Syncrude Oil Refinery

2011-01-09T12:20:00.000-08:00

Stuff!!!

2011-01-02T16:08:00.000-08:00

Lunar Eclipse Part II

2010-12-21T00:26:00.000-08:00

Edmonton Lunar Eclipse Pictures December 21, 2010

2010-12-20T23:38:00.000-08:00

The setup: equivalent 600mm focal length.

Hoarfrost

2010-12-12T21:04:00.000-08:00

Winterography

2010-12-03T01:19:00.001-08:00

Going on a drive with Scott

Interesting post

Foggy sunset

Hoar Frost*

Pronounced "Whore Frost" but also known (apparently) as Radiation Frost.

Wussy Rig

2010-11-30T15:33:00.000-08:00

This rig does all the work while everyone just sits around.

Well...

2010-11-29T23:24:00.001-08:00

Funny, I was going to post this one because it comes with a funny "reaction" story. I was at a little cyber-cafe downtown yesterday, and a friend of mine who works there was looking through these Muttart pictures. She exclaimed that this one looks like (and I quote): "A woman's thingy." And thus, I shall entitle my photo as such.

Screaming

2010-11-29T17:15:00.000-08:00

I totally stole this idea from Marc.

Views from Above

2010-11-29T14:29:00.000-08:00

Dan's Muttart Photo #1

2010-11-29T14:23:00.000-08:00

Dan, who doesn't know anything about cameras, took some wonderful photos at the Muttart. Here's a good one.

2010-11-28T21:59:00.000-08:00

From our Photo shoot at the muttart, I picked this one, out of the bunch, cause its Marc, and no one wants to see that. Taken with my Pentax ES II 35mm

2010-11-11T19:57:00.000-08:00

Scott could take pictures...

2010-11-11T01:49:00.000-08:00

...even BEFORE he bought an expensive camera:
I love everything about this image, and Scott took it with some crappy p&s many many years ago.

Grainy 190 second exposure

2010-11-10T02:11:00.001-08:00

Astrophotography

2010-11-06T20:42:00.000-07:00

As I left work this evening I noticed how clear the sky was. I figured it was the perfect time to try some astrophotography. Here's some of my favorites.

Psychedelic Blown Out Long Exposure

2010-11-06T07:25:00.000-07:00

f/22
0.77s
iso 200

on a bright sunny day yeilds interesting results

Rule of Thirds?

2010-10-30T20:20:00.000-07:00

More like: Rule of Center
This one isn't as nice:

Salmon

2010-10-26T20:11:00.000-07:00

My better half and I left late on Friday hindered by the usual delays. We headed westbound with the prairie fire in our eyes on a shotgun trip to the B.C. interior. We were in search of a spectacle that occurs once every 4 years, the Adam's river Salmon run. This year was set to be a banner year with over 2 million sockeye salmon expected to reach the 12km stretch where they were born. We were slightly apprehensive that we may have missed the main event, which typically occurs in the earlier weeks of October. As we rolled west the sun fell quickly behind the horizon. Always vigilant to the hazards of driving at night we scanned the ditches, we had already spotted a coyote a two cow moose. As we rounded a bend traffic slowed then stopped. After a lengthy delay, traffic started to roll slowly westbound. A few hundred feet along the reason for the delay became apparent, first the contorted carcass of a moderately sized bull moose then the contorted carcass of a van, car or truck, too mangled to tell. Both were lying on their sides, both were complete write-offs. Back on route and that much more vigilant we crossed into Canada's most majestic park, Jasper national park. Shortly after our entrance a massive bull moose attempted to imitate the previous one but our vigilance prevailed and us, our truck, and the moose continued on with our journeys unharmed. Weary from the late night driving and long miles we settled into a rest stop and the comfort of sleep.

Late Saturday morning, 800kms behind us we pulled up to the Adams River. Perhaps foolishly, we were surprised by the number of vehicles parked in the grassy lot. Stepping out of the truck the stench of rotting flesh was apparent. We approached the river bank, crowded with curious onlookers from various countries. Once the river came into sight so did the salmon.

They filled the corner pool, shoulder to shoulder, tail to head. The mass of elongated red bodies could almost be mistaken for red weeds, the way they moved with the current and blanketed the river.

For as many that were alive an equal amount were decaying on the shores having succumbed to the strain of their journey;

a 500km upstream journey in fresh water that slowly poisons them.

The females bear a striking appearance with their crimson red bodies and olive green heads. The males are even more striking with the same colours and a grotesque humped back and kype jaw.

>

The males jostle for position, biting and bumping. The battles create a powerful spectacle often taking place in waters no more than 2-3" deep, leaving 2/3 of the muscular fish exposed to the air.

Eggs are visible on the dry cobblestone shore, their lives over before they really began. Eggs are also visible on the river bottom.

The few that survive will come back to complete the circle of life that is portrayed so vividly for a few short weeks in October

Planes

2010-10-10T20:39:00.000-07:00

iphone

2010-10-08T20:18:00.000-07:00

Marc suggested I post some iphone pictures so here they are.

"The cheap CMOS sensor of an iPhone does not expose the whole thing at once, it scans from left to right. If you take a picture of something that moves very fast (like an airplane prop) you can get some crazy pictures out of it since each column represents a slightly different time."

Sunday Night Photography

2010-10-04T16:48:00.000-07:00

Edit: Scott made a rad timelapse:

Scott and I went out for another awesome photo night. I think he's putting together a rad time-lapse.I discovered that my little Canon d10 is crazy good at long (maximum 15 second) exposures. Here is our setup (first location):
Shot with the d10, it looks like we're watching some kind of explosion or something.

A long sunstarry Nikon d40 picture with my lovely 135mm f/3.5.

Afterwards we took pictures of drilling rigs until the wee hours of the morning; I have some that I really like that I'll post later on.

Scott's Testing Videos

2010-10-01T00:33:00.000-07:00

Scott introduced me to sweet timelapse software that hooks up easily to our D40's. I've played around with it a bit (I have a project in mind), and he's already posted some vids.

I seriously can't stand these filthy things

2010-09-29T13:54:00.000-07:00

Other side of the Bwidge

2010-09-27T19:53:00.000-07:00

bwidge

2010-09-24T00:50:00.000-07:00

Grass

2010-09-18T21:23:00.000-07:00

Cold August Morning

2010-09-08T20:58:00.000-07:00

The title is a lie, it was actually Sept 1st. I like the picture but I'm not sure it was worth lugging the D40 + three lenses up a mountain.

Fishin'

2010-08-17T13:05:00.000-07:00

Done with my trusty D10. I just chose the in-camera Black & White (there's a first for everything!) while overexposing +2 entire stops.

Fujiscapes

2010-08-08T05:05:00.000-07:00

This is the view from where I lived this summer in Japan.

Below: I'm not sure which of these two I like better. This is in Numazu.

All Canon d10 pictures.

Real lightning!!!

2010-07-25T00:07:00.000-07:00

2010-07-23T19:33:00.000-07:00

Random assortment

2010-07-22T20:12:00.000-07:00

I'm Just A Baseball Monkey

2010-07-08T19:05:00.000-07:00

A quick snap just outside the baseball stadium in Chiba (near Tokyo.) I want one. So do you.

BARF LIGHTNING!!!!!!!!!

2010-07-04T21:06:00.000-07:00

Picture of Georgian Bay at 11pm, lights courtesy of the moon and the dog's collars.

Well hello there mister spider.

2010-06-23T21:25:00.000-07:00

"Get that light outta my eyes!"

"What're you lookin' at?"

Rainbows and plants

2010-06-20T11:54:00.000-07:00

Green thing

2010-05-20T15:17:00.001-07:00

Also, an ant:

Other than a whole bunch of tweaking, cropping, sharpening, straightening, etc. these are SOOCP&S.

Should've spent a few more weeks hibernating

2010-04-24T17:59:00.000-07:00

2010-04-21T21:56:00.000-07:00

Martha took this picture of her pups with my new 11-16mm f 2.8 Tokina. I like it.

Cool night air

2010-04-15T01:39:00.001-07:00

So Vanessa and I went on a quick post-midnight walk around our new neighbourhood.
-Kudos for manual focus here at 1.8; this is me fumbling around trying to figure out where the shutter button is.

-Two long exposures that kinda came out with funky colours; SOOCFTW.

-This is probably art, right?

-Oh my goodness!

Also: puking bokeh

Stuck at work ain't always so bad

2010-04-04T10:27:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of shots I've snapped while stuck at my remote Northern Saskatchewan work camp where I spend half my life. The site is only accessible by small plane. I really like the top one and the bottom one. Other people seem to really like the middle one so there it is

Tractor Meseum

2010-03-28T15:17:00.000-07:00

My three favorites from my efforts

2010-03-27T19:14:00.000-07:00

Tractor museum in Vegreville

2010-03-26T13:07:00.000-07:00

Went out for a bit as the sun was going down, made for a nice blue. All these have a bit of flash (maybe 1/32 power), fast shutter (1/500 or so), f/3.5 and 200 iso. Funny settings that produced interesting colors.

Sky Horse!

Shapes.

What's this? Tasteless post-processing AND no added vignette?

Straight outta the camera, my favorite of the evening.

Banff w/D40

2010-03-23T12:20:00.000-07:00