The Yosemite Experience

Well, I am back from Yosemite. It really is amazing how this place emerges from out of nowhere. We drove the 140 from Merced into the West end of the park, and the landscape leading up to the park ABSOLUTELY RESEMBLES NOTHING like what is in the valley floor. Blows my mind. A lot of the National Parks have a "seamless" transition in the landscape leading up to the Park (or whatever destination), but the only other place I can think of that comes...

Yosemite

A few days from now, I will be in Yosemite for the first time - and I am stoked! I haven't been out shooting really since Thanksgiving. Crazy, I know. I have upgraded cameras twice since May, and have been out shooting maybe 7 times. This year I will be out shooting a bit more than last year. The weather forecast for Yosemite took a huge turn in the last few days. Last week, it was sunny and mid to high 50s all week. Kinda boring - well, really boring! Star trails and shooting "fire falls" are the only things I would want clear days for. Now it...

From the Archives

One of the reasons I bought a Nikon D700 was due to its' legendary low light performance. I am sure you have noticed more and more night shots with the Milky Way and star trails and such. This is due to better sensor technology - which makes it sooo much easier to execute more dynamic shots. Sure this could be done in the film days or even during the "toddler" stage of digital, but it was harder. One of the they very few times I wished I had newer...

New website soon - and new gear

It has come to my attention that my Zenfolio subscription is set to "expire" on February 15th, this upcoming Friday. The renewal fee is $120 for the premium, which I think it is called. When I signed up last Feb, it was $80. My domain name is paid for, and that is like $10 a year. Even before I got the email from Zenfolio, kindly reminding me that I need to pony up $120, I was looking at alternatives. Don't get me wrong, Zenfolios' customer service...

First impressions with the lovely Samyang 14mm

Gotta love the quickness of the USPS - I bought this lens on FredMiranda on Friday evening, and it is mounted on my D700 on Monday! First thing that I noticed is the size of this lens. It is much smaller in size than I expected. No doubt it is larger and heavier than my Tokina 17mm was, but I was expecting a beast of a lens - not sure if I am disappointed in that respect :). The size is probably closer to that of a Canon 17-40L or Tokina 11-16,...