#23

One of our members started a great thread on the the ViewFinder forum, Your Favorite Image of 2009. I posted in that thread and I encourage anyone reading this to check out the great photos there. I also think it's worthwhile to go back through what you shot last year and find your favorites. It's a worthy and illuminating exercise. I guarantee you'll find some good stuff you forgot about. I sure did.

Anyway, I wanted to give my three favorites from last year their own easy to find page. Originally I followed the format of the ViewFinder thread and only chose one image. But then I started remembering other photos. In the end, I've got three different photos of different subjects - mountain bike, ski and a landscape. All three of these photos represent something new for me - technically and/or subject-wise.



The photo above was taken just after the sun went below the horizon. I took it with the Canon EOS 5D Mark II and I don't think I would have been able to take it with any camera I'd used previously. I am a big advocate for shooting with what you have and not getting too caught up in the rush to buy the latest and greatest. But sometimes a new camera can make a big difference. In this case the excellent high ISO image quality from the 5D Mk II allowed me to get a really beautiful image in low light without flash. Flash would have totally changed the feel of this photo and I'm really happy I was able to shoot it just like this. I love this photo.



The fall / winter landscape above isn't a technical achievement like the mountain bike photo. Other than having a lens long enough to capture this composition (Olympus Zuiko Digital 70-300mm ED), it was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. And that place was Salt Lake City, Utah. I moved here from California about three years ago and the move has been really wonderful for my photography. I love being so close to real mountains and find myself more inspired and motivated than I have been for years. This photo is something I'd been sort of waiting and watching for. Every early season snow I'd go out and shoot photos of snow on red leaves but I hadn't yet taken a photo I really felt represented the drama of the changing seasons. Until this day. I love the way you can see the change of season as you move up the slope. The reds, greens and the frosted peaks together are a real photographic highpoint of 2009 for me. I am really, really grateful I had the opportunity and made the effort to get this photo.



I took this photo on the last day of 2009. How great is that?! When I moved to Utah I hadn't really skied in years. I wasn't sure if I'd really get back into it but I was excited about having the opportunity to ski again. In California it just wasn't worth the effort. But in Salt Lake City I only have a half hour to forty-five minute drive to get to some of the best skiing in the world. And boy have I taken advantage of it! I'll never be the skier I could have been and I'll never be as good of a ski phtoographer as some of the pros I've met here. I just don't have the technical ski skills (or the huevos) to do the mountaineering that's required. But I have been totally inspired by the new subject. It's a great extension of my mountain bike photography and it brings a whole new set of physical and technical challenges that I am very much enjoying. If it was easy I wouldn't be nearly so motivated. This image is the powder day photo I'd been waiting to get - great snow a great skier and good timing bring it all together. Awesome powder photo - check

Thanks for looking at my favorite photos from 2009. If you've got favorites you haven't shared, post a reply here with a link. And also post them in almo's Your Favorite Image of 2009 forum thread. The more photos in that discussion, the better!

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#22

Been a while since I posted in this here blog thingy. But I thought this was the right place for a birthday post.



I moved to Utah a little over two years ago. This is the third birthday I've celebrated here. Well, it's actually the second. Cause the first year I was here, I was in Italy for my birthday. Anyway, last year on my birthday I got to ski untracked snow at Snowbird. That was a first for me and it was a an indicator about how my life had improved since moving to SLC. No powder this year, but I had an awesome ride in the aspens up in Park City with my wonderful girlfriend Jenni, and our friend Mike. This is the kind of ride I used to dream about. And now it's only a short 1/2 hour drive from my house. Life is awesome!



Here's some tech info to justify posting this here

I used two cameras - the Olympus E-620 digital SLR and my Canon PowerShot SD950 IS point-and-shoot.

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#21

This is where the magic happens.

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#20

I got the Olympus E-30 DSLR for testing a few days ago. I finaly got it out of the box yesterday, shot a video of it, and started shooting with it. And it snowed all day. Alta ski resort, where I have a pass, reported 11 inches this morning. So, I had to go do some field testing. It was not optional.

There's more to come on the Olympus E-30. I've shot a ton of photos with it already. And not all of them were on the ski slopes.

Olympus E-30 Announcement Article >>

Anyway, this was the first real powder day I've been able to take advantage of. I skied Snowbird opening day and it was great. But my legs weren't. I took it easy today. But I took my fat skies and I attacked it. Psyched for lots more powder days. Lots more.

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#19

I took Jenni to visit San Francisco for the first time. She is the crab destroyer. I swear, I've never seen anyone so happy about any food. Crabs better get the word out.



Doesn't she look cute and harmless?



Now see the terrible reality of the Crab Killah!

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#18

Every year in the South Bay (San Jose / Silicon Valley) there's a huge Turkey Ride. It's a morning mountain bike ride up the infamous Kennedy fire road. I can't remember how long the ride is, but I think it has over 2000 feet of climbing and hundreds of people do it. Some guys ride up the night before to stash beer, and lots of people ride with trailers full of turkey, pie, and other food. This year a group of Philipino riders brought a whole baby pig! I've been doing the ride on and off for about 10 years and was pleased to get to do it again this year during my Thanksgiving trip to the Bay Area. I took the new Canon EOS 50D digital SLR along for the ride, along with the new Canon EF-S 18-200 IS lens and Tokina 12-24mm lens. The EOS 50D / 18-200 IS makes a very nice ride camera package.


All 2008 Turkey Ride photos >>









More 2008 Turkey Ride photos >>

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#17

It's been a while since I've posted on this blog and I think I have a worthy subject. Yesterday I skied the opening day for the 08/09 season at Snowbird. I heard someone say this is the second earliest they've opened. And it was epic for an opening day - 4 feet of fresh snow at the top. At least for a little while. I got one good shot at the powder and the next time I made it up to the top it was all tracked out. But I wasn't expecting much for opening day. One short powder run made it all worthwhile. Truthfully, my legs weren't up to the task. There were guys lapping the top who got in 5 runs while I could only muster the strength and energy for two. But this is early. My legs will come back!

I took the new Canon EOS 50D and EF-S 18-200mm IS lens with me. All but the two photos taken in the tram were taken with the EOS 50D. The two photos taken in the tram were taken with the Olympus Stylus 1030 SW waterproof/shockproof point-and-shoot. The Olympus SW has become my go-to point-and-shoot whenever conditions might be wet or treachorous. I think the 50D worked great. It's got 50% more resolution than my 40D, which means I can crop a lot. For ski action photos, where focus is top priority, having some room to crop is key. And because there isn't much to pre-focus on in the snow, I shot the action stuff in the Canon's AI Servo continous focus mode. My AF expectations for the EF-S 18-200mm IS lens aren't very high because it doesn't use Canon's high-performance Ultrasonic focusing motor. However, it seems to track pretty well because I got quite a few sharp photos using AI Servo. I am very pleased and think this will be a great all-purpose rig for me this winter.

I'm posting a slideshow video of my photos below and below that I'll post larger versions of some of them. For more, check my gallery.

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#16

Here's to sporadic blogging. Or schizophrenic blogging. I have a bunch of blogs and I never can decide where I should put what. So this one goes here. Sound good to you?

I just made the trip from SLC to the Bay Area and back again. 24 hours of driving - most of it somewhere between 85 and 90 miles-per-hour. I got a new point-and-shoot (Canon SD950 IS). I like taking pictures while I'm driving. Do I need to say more?

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#15

I just want to post a bunch of photos from the past few months, since I moved to Salt Lake City. I'm very pleased to be hear for the photo opportunities and awesome outdoor activities in the Wasatch Mountains. I believe I may have found my permanent home

All the photos below were taken on rides that are less than one hour from my house. Most of them are at altitudes of 8000+ feet. I love the Wasatch Mountains!

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#14

I just came back from a short trip to Yellowstone National Park with the Canon EOS-1D Mark III digital SLR. I was invited by Canon to come get acquainted with the Mark III and check out their free National Park workshops program. This is just going to be a quick post to share some photos from the trip. I'm working on a more extensive story on the workshops and a full pro review for the EOS-1D Mark III. But I have to say, both the workshops and the Mark III exceeded my expectations. I haven't checked out Nikon's traveling workshop series, but the Canon National Parks workshops are really, really great. Whether you barely know how to turn on your camera, you're a seasoned veteran, a film photographer, or you own non-Canon camera, you'll feel welcome and you'll learn something.





Canon's PR rep had a Canon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 L IS lens which I pretty much used the whole time. It made a great combo with the 1D Mark III because I never needed a tripod and I never needed to change lenses. I even got some wildlife photos on this trip. Usually, my wildlife images are of roadkill.







More Yellowstone photos >>

If you want to see some high ISO samples from the EOS-1D Mark III, check the post I made on the Canon Cameras Forum:

Canon EOS-1D Mark III Image Quality >>

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