A 14mm prime

If you had a 14mm prime, what would you take photos of? We are having this discussion in the clubhouse… and I was kind of curious what everyone thought.

Daily Photo – Name That Bird!

We had left Dunedin, in the very south of New Zealand, before switchbacking our way up a steep mountain to visit this castle. It’s called the Larncach Castle, and it was very beautiful. The gardens were immaculate, and there were many interesting subjects for photography.

I found this little guy over by a pond and bent over with my 14-24mm to take a shot. You have to get in close with this lens, and I felt a little strange getting so close to such a strange beasty. Anyone know what it is?

Filed under the categories: Dunedin, New Zealand, Travel

The Hobbit in New Zealand

It’s funny that I happen to be in New Zealand while all the financial wrangling about The Hobbit movie’s future. It’s all they talk about on the local news and the radio!

I only have a cursory understanding of what is going on, but I believe it had something to do with the unions, and the movie studio was getting a bit worried about committing a bunch of money to something unstable. At the last second, the NZ gov’t jumped in to toss $10mm in guarantees into the deal to ensure that the 2-part movie is made here.

Daily Photo – From Bilbo’s Hobbit Hole

When I was in a little town called Matamata, which Peter Jackson’s team selected as the perfect place for Hobbiton, I was lucky enough to receive a private tour from Ian Brodie (see Hobbiton Tours for more info!). Ian is also quite the HDR enthusiast (see Ian’s Photo Website), so it was great to spend several hours with the guy! I put a video of us together below… and we talked a bit about taking photos of the party tree.

After that, we got to adventure inside of Bilbo’s actual hole! Cool! I turned around to take a photo from the inside out. The huge tree there is the famous party tree, where Bilbo had his birthday party with Frodo before he slipped on the ring.

Video – HDR in Hobbiton

I took this video earlier in the year with Ian. You can take the tour too! Just go visit Hobbiton Tours, and be sure to say hi to Ian if you see him while running around Hobbiton!

Filed under the categories: Matamata, New Zealand, Nikon D3X

Your Favorite Sci-Fi book?

What’s your favorite sci-fi book?  I know we have a lot of well-read people around here, so I wondered about your suggestions!  I have some of my favorite books listed here on the “What I Like” page.

Daily Photo (Photo Mystery) – The Martian Chronicles

I am proud that one of my books is a signed copy of Ray Bradbury’s book.  I don’t think it’s my favorite book, but it’s got that nice patina of awesomeness that comes with early-age science-fiction.  Part of my problem, frankly, is that I can’t get some of those wonky images out of my head that were implanted by a low-quality movie version I saw on TV as a kid.

So…  today’s photo mystery… exactly where was this taken?  Let’s have some Google Earth links !!  Hehe…  it will be interesting to see how close (exactly) people get.

Filed under the categories: Nikon D3X

Movie Recommendation:  The Fall

The Fall – IMDB Info

I know…  you don’t come here for movie recommendations, but I’ll make one anyway.  If you’ve never heard of it, then you’ll be in my boat earlier in the year.  I don’t even know how it missed my radar… but it did!

If you love beautiful imagery and unique epic movies, give this one a run.  I’m interested to see what you think!  Today’s photo reminds me a bit of it, because a lot of the cinematics in the movie are from beautiful and bizarre places around India that have been featured here on the blog!

Daily Photo – Halls of India

I understand that many of these royal halls used to be inlaid with rare stones. I can’t even imagine what it was like… since they are already beautiful and detailed with all the stones missing! I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a re-creation of one of these, even where the stones are fake. One place that comes to mind is the Amber Room in St. Petersburg, but I haven’t been there yet… although it’s on the list.

Filed under the categories: Delhi, India, Travel

Daily Photo – Horse in Window

I can never decide if I enjoy naming photos or not!

I think I enjoy it when I come up with a good name, and I don’t like when I come up with a boring name. Let’s take this one for example: “Horse in Window.” I mean, how uncreative can I be? What’s wrong with me?

When I am editing photos, and the muse visits, I am like a man possessed. I can rip through a bunch of photos and make some nice little creations. But then I click “Save As…”, and I just blank out on a name. I think the creative part of my brain for making photos is different than the part for naming things.

I do enjoy writing, and I often find that the words flow easily. This bit of me seems disconnected from the photo-editing bit, though.

There is a small slice of solace, I think, in considering the names of some of the great paintings from my impressionist heroes. They have names like “Girl in Field” and “Sun on Water.” Not too exciting, but they do stand the test of time. But “Horse in Window”? I think not!

Filed under the categories: Montana, Nikon D3S, Wyoming, Yellowstone

Daily Photo – Natalia on the Farm

After getting back from one of those long hikes in Patagonia, I stayed with my Russian friends at a small hotel in El Chalten. It was a little family-run operation and the daughter Natalia helped out by running errands and these sorts of things. I took her around with me to take some photos in the little town, and she was happy to pose! It was plenty easy to find all kinds of interesting backgrounds, since El Chalten is a picturesque little town with old buildings, horses in fields, and mountainous backdrops.

Filed under the categories: Argentina, El Chalten, Patagonia, Travel

Daily Photo – Balloons at Disney

I’ve been trying to capture a shot of balloons at Disney forever… it took a while before I found something with which I was happy!

Do you know these balloons cost $10?  TEN DOLLARS!  A ten dollar balloon…  but they do light up.  So that’s kinda cool.  What isn’t cool is that you have to buy one for every single kid in your retinue.

One other cool thing (kinda secret) is that if it ever goes flat or pops, you can bring it back to get a free one.  Technically, you could even bring it back the next year and still get a new one.  This might go against the spirit of the deal, but it is a ten dollar balloon for the love of Disney-god.

Filed under the categories: Disney World, Florida, Nikon D3X, Orlando, Travel

Go Visit Tim Wilson!

When I was in Queenstown, I popped into an art gallery… I do this all the time, of course… And I’m usually kinda “ho-hum” about it… wondering, “Why does THIS GUY have a gallery?” That sounds horribly elitist, yes? Yes, it does… but I think many of us do this, yes? Yes, we do.

Anyway, I did NOT have those thoughts when I saw Tim Wilson’s gallery! This guy is great! You have to go visit his website at TimWilsonArt.com. No doubt, you’ll see what I mean. After I was staring into his paintings for a while, it turned out he was right behind me, lurking, watching me enjoy his work! We ended up having a few chats over several days… what a cool guy. I’m always happy when I meet an artist who is as cool as I imagine he might be!

Tim has lived in New Zealand his whole life, and only recently moved down to Queenstown… It’s all about the light and the landscapes down there… maybe I’m starting to sound like a broken record about this, yes?

And if you make it to Queenstown, be sure to come into his gallery to see these things in person. No doubt you’ll be impressed with his website… and everything looks even more amazing in person.

Daily Photo – Bright Morning, Stone Hut, Grass Roof

It’s so hard for me to imagine how these Icelanders used to sleep in these stone huts in the olden days. I don’t care how many stones you put into the walls, I don’t see how it can possibly keep out that Icelandic wind! Those must have been some tough people back in the day. The grass roof is always a nice touch, but I can’t imagine that’s helps a lot either.

This was taken around 2 in the morning, just as the sun was starting to rise off the horizon again. I found this place by happy accident. About 3 hours earlier, I took a gamble and drove up a random dirt road that spiraled up a mountain. I was doing my best to follow the sun by navigating around the topology, as best I could remember it. I had spent the last week or so driving around, up, down, and through mountains, so I was getting to know the area pretty well. I finally felt good enough to begin instinctively navigating around the landscape.

Filed under the categories: Iceland, Nikon D3X, Travel

New Video – On Eden’s Farm

I had a wonderful evening with Eden Brackstone, even though he uses a Canon. I can overlook these trifle matters, but I do not forget them lightly.

We were in Gibbston, New Zealand, about 20 minutes from Queenstown. After a wonderful dinner with his delightful family, I popped out onto his farm to shoot some HDR. He started recording video on his aforementioned Canon-thing, and put together the little dealio below. Enjoy!

Daily Photo – The Pond and the Sunset Stormclouds

Here is the final photo that was taken just before we started recording the video above.

Filed under the categories: New Zealand, Nikon D3X, Queenstown, Travel

Review Update

Click to Zoom

Have you seen the Nikon 50mm Review? It’s been recently updated with a few new photos for you.

Staying in Queenstown

I had a heck of a time finding a house that looks to the west, so I can selfishly take photos every evening at sunset! Here is a quick photo of a place in Queenstown in an area called Kelvin Heights. We found this spot on Bookabach.co.nz — which is a great resource for finding rental houses. Thanks for all the suggestions to use that site from visitors here on the site. I appreciate it!

Daily Photo – Horses at f/1.4

Everything looks better at f/1.4! Kids, flowers, horses, and anything else with nice details really look amazing at f/1.4. In fact, this is a tiny little secret in the photography world. Even a rookie can make something look pretty special when using this lens! Sure, it doesn’t always work out, and you still need good composition, but some extremely unique photos pop out from time to time.

By the way, if you get one of these lenses, a simple tip is to focus on the inside part of the closest eye. That usually works out very well.

I saw this guy on a little photowalk in Yellowstone. I gave the photowalk group an assignment — to find interesting stuff and take photos on aperture priority. This is one of the ones I came back with to present on the big screen. It was fun to sit there with everyone after the walk and compare/critique photos. I usually don’t have a chance to do that on photowalks, but the leisurely pace was a welcome change in my too-busy life!

Filed under the categories: Montana, Nikon D3S, Wyoming, Yellowstone

Daily Photo – The Lake in Queenstown

We are having a wonderful time in Queenstown and the surrounding area. We just can’t find a place with a bad view! Thanks again for all the suggestions and info on the various neighborhoods that people have suggested via email, twitter, and the blog comments!

Gordon from Camera Labs, who lives here, made a good point that living in Queenstown is a bit like living inside of a national park. There are beautiful national parks around the world, but you can’t actually live inside of them… so this is really a remarkable place. Even better, the main mountain range here is called “The Remarkables”!

Filed under the categories: New Zealand, Nikon D3X, Queenstown, Travel

Two to the Third

Sometimes, when I am out with people, talking about shooting landscapes, I talk about the light possibilities on partly-cloudy days. In today’s photo, you can see it is a partly cloudy day, which means the light changes every 5-10 minutes or so. Usually, it is so gradual, that it is hard to tell.

I find that most of my landscapes have three distinct areas. The foreground, the middle ground, and the background. If you think about it, each of these 3 places can have 2 lighting conditions: sun or shadow. So, you may have the middle in sun with the fore and back in shadow, or all three in shadow, or… you get the point. There are eight possibilities (two cubed). So, I run through in my head WHICH of those eight combinations I want. In this case, I wanted the combination where the foreground and the middle ground are well lit while the background was in shadow. So I had to wait about 15 minutes or so for this combination… [EDIT - thanks to commenters who corrected my math from three squared!]

Daily Photo – Sheep on the way to Paradise

This title makes it sounds a bit like they are about to be slaughtered… or maybe they are suicide-sheep, about to meet some sweet sweet virgin sheep in paradise. But no, this is not what I mean. There is a little town past Glenorchy, New Zealand called “Paradise”. I passed these sheep while on the way there.

I never made it to Paradise, truthfully. I turned around. It felt like such a long way to get here, and I had to turn around to get back to Queenstown before it got too late.

I took this photo with my new Nikon 28-300 lens. I love it so far! This one was shot at f/5.6, 70mm, and ISO 100.

Filed under the categories: Glenorchy, New Zealand, Nikon D3X, Travel