February 17, 2011

My first Podcast 'appearance'


I'm not exactly sure if you are 'on' or 'in' a podcast, but in the height of the blizzard, I spent some time talking to Dave Warner of LensFlare35.com.  He emailed last night that the webcast is online.  The weather was reaking a little havoc on the connection but it is fun to listen to.  


Here is a link to both the podcast and the on-line discussion http://www.lensflare35.com, thanks to Dave for having me on the show!

February 6, 2011

Former House Speaker and the Gipper


I covered a job last night for a friend (who had a more glamorous assignment in Mexico) and photographed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at the centennial celebration for President Ronald Reagan.  Enjoyed shooting and listening equally.

The blizzard of 2011

I had every intention of heading out into the thick of things to shoot the worst of part of the 22 inch snowfall but I couldn't even get out of Union Station Tuesday night when the snowfall started.  I had my Widelux with me...ok...it's actually the more affordable Russian knockoff called the Horizon Perfekt.  Not the coveted Widelux F8 that Jeff Bridges had made famous again, but for a third of the price the Perfekt is a great option if you are interested in a 35mm swing lens pano camera.  I also shoot with an XPan, which is fantastically sharp but lacks the unique character a moving or pivoting lens can create.   

After taking an incident meter reading in the melee at the bottom of the steps I was ready to quickly spin around and take a shot of all the madness.  The lens takes about two and half seconds to makes it rotation, a little more then halfway thought the exposure I started getting yelled at for slowing everything down.  I'm not positive but I think the blurry woman on the bottom left of the frame (in front of the smiling guy) was the 'yeller' but I'm not positive.  I hope she got home OK.  I finally did!
  
Since moving to Chicago I've wanted to get the quintessential parking lot glacier shot that is synonymous with the wintertime in the Windy City.  I haven’t quite got the shot yet but I’m getting closer.  These smaller snow mounds were shot two days after the big snow.

February 3, 2011