The DC area is being hit by some more snow (we’ve already had about 20-24 inches) — some areas will get at least another foot. So being stuck at home, watching the news, and keeping an eye on things, I figured I’d take a shot of what’s keeping me warm (coffee and donut) as well as what’s keeping me from going stir-crazy (iPhone with Facebook, Twitter, and the new Google... 

I know several of my fellow photogs (well not just photographers I guess, but lots of people I know!) are big coffee drinkers.  After Christmas when my son was born, I made use of my Keurig B30 Mini Brewer as well as frequent trips to 7-11 for coffee.  While sitting in the hospital room, playing with the [awesome] Crumpler 7 Million Dollar Home I bought from someone on Fred Miranda, I noticed my... 

The weather the last couple of days has been miserable!  Very cold, very windy — and did I mention miserable?  Pulled a few of my recent “cold weather” images to share.  One is from around Thanksgiving, when it was cold and rainy.  The rain was hanging off the ends of the branches just right!  It was featured on RedBubble in the Rain Drops & Water Art and Split Tone Black... 

A few weeks ago I stopped by the store and got my wife some flowers (got them at Costco — they have a great florist section!) and they looked really nice so I got my Sigma 150mm Macroout and took some close-ups of the petals.  I used a Nikon SB-600with Sto-Fen Omni-Bounce Diffuseroff-camera (camera right and behind me a bit), bounced off the ceiling, controlled by Nikon CLS to add light as... 

It’s snowing like crazy out there, and here in the Washington DC / Northern Virginia area they are calling for anywhere from 10 to 25 or so inches of snow.  According to the weather this morning, they’re saying it may be more than we got in 1983, when the last big blizzard hit the area.  Photographers all over the region are out taking pictures, or at least will be once the snow settles... 

My “Lone Leaf” photo has been featured on RedBubble in the “Tone It Down!” category (black and white / sepia images)!  I’ve really been enjoying RedBubble and have gotten lots of great comments on that shot.  It was taken while hanging out on the front porch, the last leaf on the tree.  The direct link to Lone Leaf is here (available for purchase there, and is also... 

Yesterday I went to shoot at a pumpkin patch in Delaplane, Virginia, with friends Kim Baker and Dawn Casey.  The sky wasn’t that great as it was raining most of the morning, and it was crazy windy, but we stayed about an hour and a half and got some decent shots.  A bit of tweaking in Lightroom made the sky pop so it added to the image rather than detracted from it.  Overall I’m happy... 

On Friday, my friend Geff and I headed over to Meadowlark Gardens after work to do some macro.  Got a few nice macro shots, but my Sigma 150 also became a portrait/wildlife lens, as I stalked a great blue heron down and got a nice shot of him up close.  He flew away after a while, but it was pretty cool to be within 20 or so feet of him before he got a bit spooked.  Enjoy!  Read More →

In my last entry, I posted a few shots I had taken with my new Sigma 150 Macro.  Below are 2 more … well 1.5 really!  The first one is on the last entry as well, but with a filter applied to give it an entirely new look!  I like the darker version, what do you think?  The second image is a daisy I shot at lunch the other day while swatting mosquitoes off my neck.  It’s pretty much... 

Picked up a new macro lens (finally!) from Adorama using the Bing.com cashback bonus.  Here are a few test shots from it — lens is a Sigma 150 f/2.8 Macro.  I still need to practice with it some, I really do like the focal length of it — a few bee shots (not sharp due to camera shake) I was far enough away to not worry about getting stung!  Have to keep shutter speeds up at 150mm though,...