Long over due

Well I've been pretty slack lately in posting anything. The reason is simple, I haven't taken any new pictures the last 3 weeks....until yesterday that is. I'd been on vacation for about a week and didn't really feel like doing much of anything so I didn't. I slept late every day and it seems to me the morning hours tend to be better for some of the pictures I try to take. So yesterdayI didn't head out until about 11 or so and didn't bother with the nature trails since all the leaves are gone. Instead I went down to the Plaza. I don't have much I liked out of this set, but I did do some work with a single picture. I envision it as a set of 4 perhaps staggered down a set of stairs.









This one is actually from one of my first sets of pictures but I like it and I had a chance at a different, possibly better version I am still kicking myself over. First the picture and then the story.



This is a gate at the top of the stairs by Mc Cormick & Schmick's. I took the above shot from the north side, facing the south. Well yesterday I was at the bottom of the stairs leading to this gate and was waiting for a large group of people to go by. Just as I started up the stairs I saw this attractive young woman in raven black leggings, a bright red dress that came to mid thigh, a white turtle neck under it and raven black hair. My initial thought was this would make a great shot. Alas she was on the phone and any of you that know me, know I am much too shy to talk to strangers on the street so it didn't happen. I envisioned taking the shot in color with her under the gate, then converting all but the dress to black and white and leaving the dress in it's brilliant red. Oh well opportunity missed.

Hopefully we'll get some decent snow between now and Christmas and I can combine that with some Christmas light shots to fill up the next couple of weeks. Not sure what I'll shoot in January, but in February I'll be looking for opportunities to get shots of eagles along the river if I can find some decent vantage points. Not sure when I'll post again but rest assured I haven't forgotten about this project, I just got a little side tracked, and I'm having trouble coming up with subject matter...I need to find a model or something lol.

You've Been Mooned

Well I recently discovered my camera has an additional zoom. Yes I'm aware reading the manual would have clued me into this little fact a month ago, but if you know me you know, "I don't need no stinking instructions." In any event last night I set the camera on the tripod, and did a full zoom, plus the 4x zoom on the camera. I was merely trying to figure out if I could get this shot without spending $300 on a tele-converter lens which is how I have always seen this done. The shot wasn't great, but considering I didn't spend the extra cash I thought it turned out pretty good. I'll have to play with settings a bit more to see if I can get a sharper image.

Nothing new

Well for the first time since I got my camera I wasn't able to go out on the weekend and shoot. Saturday I spent a little too much time sleeping in. Sunday was spent doing more mundane tasks like getting tires for my car, and doing some remodel work for my parents. I might post some pictures from previous weekends later in the week, otherwise I hope to have some new stuff next Monday.

PS Congrats to Cagey on expecting baby v2.0.

The Windy City (not Chicago)

I went with a photo group Monday night to the Liberty Memorial to do some "city by night" photography. Oddly enough the first shot of the night was one of my favorites.









This next shot is of Union Station. The one thing that amazedme all night was that I never used a flash. Sure on the long shots it wouldn't do any good, but even on the short ones it was all shutter speed capturing the limited light.
















This one took me a few tries to get. My first attmept I was battling a gale force wind coming up the west side steps that almost knock the tri-pod and camera over. To top it off, I couldn't see the other photographer in the shot, I was having a little trouble seeing him in the low light through the view finder. Finally I got a tight shot of the Sphinx with the KCTV 5 tower in the back ground that I was satisfied with.
















What I liked about this one, was that with the high winds we were having (and dear God it was cold that night), the smoke was blowing off the top of the monument and being illuminated by the coals creating it.




















Finally, just playing around with the long shutter times, and trying a technique called zooming I got the following abstract of the Western Auto sign that is a landmark here in Kansas City.