Image by Jostailua

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/xapaburu/)

It’s been much too long; my suffering at high ISO I mean. Thanks to Canon USA and B&H Photo Video however my high ISO problems are solved!  I received from Canon my new EOS-7D, and from B&H my battery grip and extra battery. Most big name photographers you read about and hear from will repeat a mantra similar to “It’s not the camera, it’s the photographer.” I’d like to say that I subscribe to that theory entirely; except for when I don’t. The purchase of the 7D (Thanks Canon Loyalty Program!) is one of those times where I don’t subscribe to those “It’s not the gear” theories. For serious sports photography, it’s the gear. I’m sure plenty of people might disagree, but there is a reason that professional sports photogs spend $10,000+ on Canon 400mm f2.8 lenses for field sports, or $2500 for the new 70-200 f2.8 for just a smidge more sharpness and focus speed.

My EOS-1D is horrid at ISO 1600, and I would never even think about using it to shoot indoor NCAA DIII basketball, the images would simply be unusable – either blurry due to low shutter speed to keep the ISO reasonable, or too grainy and dark due to high ISO to get a usable shutter speed -it’s a no win proposition. My venerable and trusted 40D and I have been through some good times these past few years; as I’ve grown as a photographer my 40D was always by my side, keeping up with me. However, I’ve outgrown her and we both know it. She’s still a great camera, even indoors, but we both know that her ISO 3200+ performance and relatively slow FPS just wasn’t made for indoor sports.

That’s where the 7D fits in:

Dual Digic 4 Processors

Quality ISO at 3200 and 6400

8FPS continuous shooting

100% Viewfinder

19 point all cross type Auto focus

63 zone metering

I feel like Tim the “Toolman” Taylor with a big “Arr Arr Arr” manly grunt just reading that. I’m also a geek and my inner-geekiness has made me read the brochure about 20 times since I placed the order. More power, faster FPS, better ISO performance, faster AF, smarter metering; everything a boy could want in a camera. Tonight will be the first test for the new girl (haven’t named her yet), so I’ll have some comparison shots in a post later this week. Until then, happy shooting.

Boston, my adopted home. I love riding the T, I enjoy your magnificent history, I thrive on exploring your mix of modern and colonial architecture; but until this past weekend I had never gotten to see you at your best, under a blanket of fresh falling snow. Oh, I’ve seen Boston with 2 feet of brownish-gray week-old snow and it isn’t pretty; but new fallen fluffy white snow is a whole other matter, in short, it was splendiferous! (Yes that’s a real word) With a couple of my usual mates Jeff Tamagini and John Tammaro we set out for a day of shooting around Boston Common and Beacon Hill. The snow was falling, our hands were freezing, and we had a fantastic day or it. Due to the falling snow I was worried about compression so I put away the 100-300 for the most part and stuck to my goto lens, the Sigma 10-20. I was going to be really happy to have 2 or 3 real keepers from this shoot, but after getting home and only seeing ~80 shots on my CF card I started getting worried. I must be getting more selective with my shots (one of my goals for 2011) as I have a number of keepers and am really happy with the way the photowalk went.

I’ll have some more shots from this walk coming up soon, but if you get a chance to get out in Boston in the fluffy white stuff, do it! It’s well worth it.

Well, instead of my surgery giving me time to get out and go shooting, it made me incredibly tired and a veritable couch potato for a month. But it’s winter, one of my favorite times of the year and I’m ready to get cracking so a quick “Happy New Year!” to everyone, and new posts should start up soon!

So back to today’s post! This shot is from the Tuft’s medical center in Chinatown. the building on the right is the Tuft’s parking garage to be exact. I shot this on a lark due to the dramatic angles and lines leading you to the center of the photo, with that elevated walkway running perpendicular screaming “I’m messing with your lines!! HAHAHA”. Ok, so it sounded funny and maniacal in my head, in print, not so much. I feel like I should be in angles anonymous because I love angles, and corners, and funky polyhedrons. Curves are great, but there is something about sharp angles and lines that really gets my head going; but I digress.

I enjoyed the mostly subtle tones of the buildings, contrasted by the bright green posts and yellow hydrant, and all that cement and brick is just loaded with texture;  couple that with the angles and I thought it was just a cool architectural shot.

A brief post today as I’m at home with quite the sore throat, an early morning row along the Charles in the warm, inviting glow of summer’s fading sun.

Ever drive by a place a thousand times before you say to yourself, “Hmm, I think that would make a great photo.” Well, that is the basis for today’s post. I’ve driven by this part of the Framingham reservoir countless times, but I finally drove by it as the sun was setting and knew I wanted to get back. Unfortunately the day I decided to I had an equipment problem with my tripod so I was stuck to shooting handheld HDRs and I thought the day was going to be a loss. But persistence being what it is, I did come away with one shot that I enjoyed.

Continuing with what I thought was a successful HDR B&W from Rockport, today’s photo gallery are all traditional single exposure photographs from my NYC trip this past summer. Since I hadn’t been to NYC since I was a young teenager, it really was a bit overwhelming from a photographic point of view. I hope for those familiar with the city, I captured a little bit of the essence of what makes NYC a world class city.

A brief post today but with lots of photos. Homecoming 2010 has come and gone, the teams played their best, and the fans and alums (and photographer) had a great time. Today’s gallery is a few of the best plays of homecoming weekend.

My friends are often my greatest inspiration, such is the case today with this black & white photo of Rockport harbor. My friend Jeff Tamagini said it best, “Black and White still rules.”  Processing shots from our Plum Island trip, he was inspired by our mutual friend Rich, who is a veritable cornucopia of photography knowledge. Rich also encourages everyone to shoot outside their norms, whether it is getting me to shoot with a prime lens, or encouraging the use of black & white to simply and get back to basics. Although the sunlight was gorgeous and the colors warm and calming, I loved the way this photo looked when processed through a green b&w filter.