Photo of the Week 11/16/09

While shooting a BMX event about a year and a half ago, I captured the image above. I had shot hundreds of very similar frames of the various races and wanted to try something a little different. I increased the exposure time and panned with the racers to blur the motion. This was one of my favorites because of the way it takes on an abstract appearance more like a painting than a photo. This image was captured using a Nikon D40x and a Nikor 18-200mm f3.5-5.6 DX Lens at a focal length of 95mm. The exposure was for 1/30th of a second at an aperture of f10 and ISO of 100.

Photo of the Week 11/09/09

A little over a year ago, I took a day trip out to the Salton Sea, while I was visiting San Diego, California. The strange, barren, and smelly landscape was utterly intriguing to me and I very much look forward to revisiting this location, though I hesitate to recommend it to others. The image above is one of my favorites from my trip. This image was captured with my Nikon D300 using a Nikor 17-55mm f2.8 lens at a focal length of 55mm. The exposure time was 1/80th of a second at an aperture of f7.1 and ISO of 100.

Photo of the Week 11/02/09

I captured this image during a recent kids' football game. While I was focused on capturing the action shots, I am always watching for moments like this as the coach of the team gives instruction to one of the players. This image was captured using my Nikon D700, with my Nikor 70-200 f2.8 lens at a focal length of 160mm. The exposure time was 1/1000th of a second at f2.8 and ISO of 500.

Photo of the Week 10/26/09

One of the things I hear a lot is, "You must have a nice camera!" This comment implies that a nice (read expensive) camera is required to take good pictures. There are times and places where this is true but more often it is not. Just as talented surfers have been able to ride waves on a house door, excellent photos can be made with lower-end equipment. And just as the best board in the world won't make me even a decent surfer, the most sophisticated cameras will never substitute for experience and skill. To illustrate this point the picture above was captured with my Treo camera phone (less than 2 megapixels) while I was in Belize, several years ago. The key here is the location, composition, and the time of day, which provides the great warm lighting.

Photo of the Week 10/19/09

I captured this shot of the strange path of a lightning bolt on the campus of Georgetown University in Washington, DC earlier this summer. This image was on my mind the following evening when I was photographing from the top of the building in the front left of the image and the skies remained cloudy. This image was made at an aperture of f22.0 and 4 tenths of a second at ISO100 using my Nikor 14-24mm f2.8 lens at a focal length of 14mm.

Photo of the Week 10/12/09

In the summer of 2008, I took an amazing trip to the Philippines lasting several weeks. As I was there primarily for a wedding, I spent time in several small towns traveling and staying with the friends and family of the bride and groom. One morning we went into the market in the town of Tigoen and I noticed a woman hunched over a pile of charcoal she was gathering together and apparently selling. Her face and hands were blackened from the charcoal dust and her ragged clothes barely covered her thin frame.

In order to not draw attention to myself, I shot several frames including this one while holding my camera at my side and talking with my friend. I like the authenticity of this image, her resolute expression and posture and apparent indifference to her clothing's lack of coverage, and the way the whites of her eyes stand out against the her charcoal-stained skin. This exposure was made at 1/160th of a second with an aperture of f6.3 and ISO 400 using my Nikon D300 and Nikor 17-55mm f2.8 DX lens at a focal length of 35mm.

Photo of the Week 10/05/09

Even before I knew its name, I was a big fan of the triangular shaped Flatiron Building in New York City. I got a chance to take a few pictures of the building this week and thought I'd share this one. This 9 exposure HDR image was taken using my Nikor 14-24mm f2.8 lens at 14mm and f22. The high aperture and an ISO of 100 enabled me to use a slow shutter speed range from 1/80th of a second up to 3 seconds for the exposures to blur the moving figures and cars.