Back Indoors . . .

. . . and practicing dark field lighting with diffused light. So basically I am back to photographing crap I find around my house. This time it is a small wooden carving I bought in Jamaica a long time ago.



Strobist Info:
Two Vivitar 285's 45 degrees left and right through diffusers (printer paper) at full power.
One SB-800 overhead at 45 degrees through diffuser (napkin) at 1/4 power.
Shot at f29 with all strobes about 1 foot from subject .

Learn how to light at Strobist

Grand Canyon, AZ (Part II)

Here are a few more photos from our trip to the Grand Canyon.

A willing model . . .


The beautiful Ribbon Falls. For a sense of size perspective, you can see a guy standing at the bottom of the falls in a blue shirt.


This was a cool rock formation higher up on the cliffs around Ribbon Falls.

Grand Canyon, AZ (Part I)

I recently spent 4 days at the Grand Canyon. A few friends and I started at the North Rim, hiked down, day-hiked/explored, and then hiked up the South Rim. All told, we hiked 30 miles and gained/lost 13,000 feet of elevation. Friday night's overnight lows at the North Rim were in the high 40's. Saturday's daytime highs at the bottom of the Canyon exceeded 130 degrees in the sun. The combination of extreme temperatures, heavy backpacks, and extremely strenuous hiking made this one weekend of leisure that certainly had to be earned.

Here are a few pics from the weekend. Stay tuned, there will be more . . .

Looking north from the South Rim.


After Day 1 at the bottom, I wanted to see the part of the Canyon we were in from a higher elevation. So Day 2 I hiked up 1,200 feet above camp and headed towards the Colorado River. This is a view of the switchbacks at the bottom of the South Kaibab Trail ending at Black Bridge (which can be seen at the bottom center of the pic).


This is one of the cabins at Phantom Ranch. We slept in tents during our stay but periodically visited the Canteen at the Ranch for Lemonades, Cocktails, and a little AC.


Finally, here is a deer skull we hiked past along the trail.


As I said above, stay tuned because I will be posting some more pics soon . . .

Telluride, CO (Part II)

It took a little leg-work, but we were able to find a fantastic campsite that edged up to a beautiful meadow and looked across to a 14,000+ ft. mountain (I think it was Mt. Wilson). Here are two shots of the kids (and me - the big kid) goofing off taken from near the tents looking towards the fire pit (exposure/strobist information at bottom is same for both shots).

Shannon & Casey (or should I say Billy the Kid and Jesse James!)


Corissa & I


Strobist Info
Two Vivitar 285's and one SB-800: Fired full power. Vivitars are on either side of subjects and SB-800 is 45 degrees camera-left
ISO: 100
Aperture: f11
Shutter Speed: 1/250

Telluride, CO (Part I)

The family and I went up to Telluride, CO for a little R&R in the mountains. We (Liz, Shannon, & myself) met up with Jeff (Liz's brother), Jenn (his wife), and Casey & Corissa (their two kids). We had a blast sitting up in the mountains for a few days and soaking in the energy of beautiful Telluride. We just arrived back in Phoenix a few hours ago and are exhausted so I have only one picture to post for now (I will post more in a few days).

This is Bridal Falls and the 'house' atop the falls used to be a hydro-electric facility that provided electricity to Telluride years and years ago - it is now an historic monument.

"I hate you . . . "

" . . . and you're not my real Dad!"

Ha ha - of course my Little Bear doesn't think that but this sure is a nasty look.




And this one? I guess this one is the "it's-104-degrees-outside-and-I'm-stuck-inside" look. He is quite a ham for the camera.



Strobist Info
Two Vivitar 285's: Fired 1/2 power on either side of subject
One SB-800: Fired 1/4 power directly in front of subject
ISO: 100
Aperture: f29
Shutter Speed: 1/250