I was looking back through some of my files and came across this one and I really liked the abstract nature of this shot and the great color.

This was taken at North Chagrin Reservation. There was an area right in the parking lot full of bluets so I spent about an hour shooting different angles.  This is my favorite.  Proof you don’t have to go far to find a photograph.

A lot of people write about “zooming with your feet” and tell you to go out an buy prime lenses.  Instead of doing this I thought I’d explain my experience using prime lenses.  The major advantage I get with using prime lenses is visualization.  I know that at a certain distance from a subject it is a certain size.  From experience I know how the frame will drop around that subject when I bring the viewfinder up to my eye.  This makes for a much more fluid process of making images.  There isn’t any fiddling around with the zoom ring to try to include or exclude portions of the image to frame it like you saw it.  So when I see the image its very easy to adjust the exposure and capture the frame.  I didn’t have to look around the viewfinder to look for things sneaking in on an edge or for some funny merger ruining the image.  I’ve captured what I saw and can bring that back the viewer.

My other thought is that it feels much more natural to shoot with a prime lens.  Which makes sense because our eyes are fixed focal length.  As we move around the world we change our perspective on an object.  Shouldn’t we do the same when we are photographing?

Here’s a little activity just to see how you’re really using your zoom lenses.  Go through your images and see what focal lengths you are actually using.  This may surpise you, it was a surpise to me.  Even though I have an infinite number of choices along the zoom range of a lens most of my shots were taken at either the widest setting or the most telephoto setting.  How is this for you?

The other day I was putting a photo book together of the images that were shot on my trip to Alaska this year.  While I was doing this I also was looking at a collection of images for a book for my Yellowstone trip in 2007.  The thing that was really struck me is the difference in the impact and composition of the images between the 2 trips.  This was a really nice surprise.

I have a couple things that I want to try in my photography in the coming year.  So stay tuned to the blog as the blog is one thing that I want to be more active.  I think if I make more posts that I’ll also shoot more (other goal).  I started this blog in Jan 2008 and only posted 32 times.  My goal for 2009 is to make 52 posts.

Well I’m looking forward to 2009 and all the photography that it will bring.  Happy New Year!

Winter has definitely arrived here in NE Ohio.  But I thought I’d post a shot I took back in October.  It was taken the day of the annual wood duck festival. There were quite a few other photographers there that day and luckily the ducks didn’t disappoint.  I was able catch this guy shaking the water off his wings.  I used LR2 to bring the water down about 1/3 of a stop this makes the duck stand out more and makes color in the water look more saturated.  Click the image above for a desktop sized image.

Today I’m sharing an image with you that won first prize in the waterfowl category in the Wood Duck Photography Contest.  It is a contest held by the Cleveland Metroparks during their annual Wood Duck Festival.  I took this image last year but reprocessed it because the background was a little too hot.  But with the extra touches it doesn’t distract from the main subject.  Hope to see some of you at the festival!

So, have you ever wondered what happened to your beloved goldfish when you set him free to live out his years in the beautiful pond in the metroparks?… This scene was quite comical and drew a crowd because the heron was not about to give up this trophy and I don’t blame him.  That is probably the biggest goldfish I have ever seen.  It had to have been 10in long.  The poor great blue heron tried for 20 minutes and at one point dropped the fish before it finally managed to finish off it’s meal.  A great blue heron are normally around 4ft tall and can have a wingspan of 5 1/2 ft.  Most of the time I see the herons catch very small 1-2 inch long fish out of this pond and never goldfish.  Needless to say I’m never bored photographing at the North Chagrin Reservation.  Click the image above for a larger version.

I got a new camera this week and had a chance to go out and do some shooting with it yesterday. The camera I got is a Sigma DP1 it is a point and shoot sized camera with a DSLR sized sensor and an excellent lens. One advantage of having a DSLR sized sensor is that fact that you have control over depth of field. On all other P&S cams the sensor is so small that even with an f/2.8 lens you can’t get a shallow DOF. The DP1 isn’t for everyone though, I’m still getting use to the fixed 28mm equivalent lens. I’m use to the telephoto lenses I use for shooting wildlife. With the wide angle you have to get pretty close to small things to make them a reasonable size in the frame. I’ve posted a few more shots on Flickr so you can check them out. I’m looking forward to shooting a lot more with this camera and seeing what it can do. Hit up the link below for a wallpaper sized image.

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Well it is dark gloomy day here in NE Ohio so I’m going to post a picture from last spring in hopes that it makes spring come faster. This was shot from the boardwalk in the North Chagrin Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks. I was laying on the boardwalk watching as the woodduck ducklings made their way across the pond. They as so light that they barely sink the lily pads.

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Well here is another shot from back in the October.   I had over looked this shot at first because the composition wasn’t to my liking.  I started playing around with the cropping and came up with something I think is pretty pleasing.  The geese in the backgroud add to the image and give it a little more depth.  This was taken nearing sunset so the light on the water and goose was nice and warm.  The most challenging part of taking this image is controlling the contrast in the black feathers and preserving the detail in the whites.

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