Hello once again!

We hope that everyone is having a fantastic summer so far even though the weather has for the most part been total shi  garbage . One of us has been very busy this summer and the other one has been on vacation for the better part of it ...seeing as how yours truly is typing up the blog as we speak and not on another camping/ motorcycle trip you can make the assumption that it is indeed Robert who has had the laid back summer thus far . (nope...not bitter though).

What has happened since the last blog posting you ask? Well, we were fortunate enough to have one of our good friends Blair from Nitro Image to invite us out to Saskatoon to shoot some pictures of the race cars out at SIR. Unfortunately it started to storm later on in the afternoon so we packed up our gear and headed back to Regina only to find out that it ended up clearing just in time for the jet cars to run . We had a great time anyway and a huge thanks to Blair for getting us ringside seats!

We also held a Nightscapes fieldtrip and if you can believe it we even had fantastic weather with NO evening thunderstorm! Everyone had a great time and we are looking forward to announcing more fieldtrips in the near future.

Alright ...onto some photos:

 

The photo above and below were shot out at Dallas Valley Ranch Camp when I went along one day with my daughters class to help them with canoeing. They were both shot with my little waterproof Pentax Optio W80 point and shoot camera which just goes to show that you don't have to spend thousands of dollars in equipment to get decent results.If it isn't glaringly obviousto you already...the photo below did have a bit of work done to it in Photoshop.

 

We will now move on to a couple of the pictures that we shot in Saskatoon out at SIR:

 

Lens (mm): 100
ISO: 400
Aperture: 14
Shutter: 1/160
Exp. Comp.: 0.0
Flash Comp.:
Program: Aperture Priority

The above picture that I shot was tweaked in photoshop to render the photo black and white while keeping in the blue.

 

Here are a couple of shots of our buddy Blair from Nitro Image doing what he does best




Lens (mm): 70
ISO: 200
Aperture: 13
Shutter: 1/125
Exp. Comp.: +0.3
Flash Comp.:
Program: Aperture Priority

 

Blair then took a few pictures of us. Not sure why I'm laughing so hard in this picture but I'm pretty sure that this was shot prior to Robert dropping his lens against the railing! That being said all of the equipment did survive the fall




Lens (mm): 200
ISO: 200
Aperture: 13
Shutter: 1/30
Exp. Comp.: -0.3
Flash Comp.:
Program: Aperture Priority

The above shot was obviously my attempt at being artsy fartsy while trying to stay out of the way of the completely suffocating clouds of burning rubber

 

Surprisingly enough Robert is seen photographing a motorcycle. Who knew that he held an interest in that subject matter???

We will now move onto a few pics that I shot from our Nightscapes Fieldtrip that we held a few weeks back:

 

Lens (mm): 38
ISO: 400
Aperture: 29
Shutter: 1.0
Exp. Comp.: -0.7
Flash Comp.:
Program: Aperture Priority

The above shot was taken right around 8:00 PM as the sun started to go down.

 

Lens (mm): 17
ISO: 400
Aperture: 20
Shutter: 5
Exp. Comp.: 0.0
Flash Comp.:
Program: Aperture Priority

 

Lens (mm): 17
ISO: 400
Aperture: 22
Shutter: 30
Exp. Comp.: 0.0
Flash Comp.:
Program: Aperture Priority

As you can see the above "ghost" image of Rob was done with a 30 second shutter speed throwing in a quick flash thus the transparent look.

 

Lens (mm): 44
ISO: 400
Aperture: 11
Shutter: 1.0
Exp. Comp.: 0.0
Flash Comp.:
Program: Aperture Priority

Below just for fun the image of our huge winter storm last year was thrown in. With all of the garbage weather that we have had this spring/summer so far putting the image in for what we have to look forward to in the coming months just seemed appropriate lmao...yuck! 

 

And with that wonderful image we will conclude this entry of the blog. Please check back within the next month for a new entry covering our trip to Palm Springs in the middle of July. Can you say insanely hot...yep!

 

Thanks for checking us out and get out there and take some pictures!!

Devona & Rob

 

Hello again everyone! I know, it has once again been quite a bit of time between entries. There is no excuse so that being said we are just going to get on with what has been happening... add some photos and business as usual...voila!

{Once again, I, Rob Weitzel, will add a note or two here in these funny little bracket things. Most of what needs to be said is summed up by saying "Sorry we have not published more blogs and more podcasts and to those of you who submitted images for the podcast, we are even more sorry. Fact is, we really like doing this stuff but unfortunately it all takes time to produce and that time is time away from things that generate revenue to help pay for gigantic lens.. see below. We will try to do better. Fact is, I may actually have time to find a photo to publish next time around - RW}

So, what has been happening? Well, not as much outdoor shooting as we would like unfortunately due to the fact that suddenly we have been inundated with massive amounts of rainfall. How massive you ask? Well, they said on the radio the other day that Regina received the most rain EVER for the month of May. Personally it just makes me happy that one day I can sit around a nice cozy fire and tell my grandkids that I was actually around to witness said event... yeah right!

Okay, enough jabbering... let's get to some pictures:

About a month ago Brooke and I headed out to our friends acreage and rode around on the quads and motorbikes. Rob bugs me because he says that this photo shows my white knuckles... yes, it has been a long time since I had been on a bike but we had a blast


My daughter Brooke quadding with Trey... she had too much fun!

Now onto some photos from our PeopleScapes field trip, the last photo field trip that we held. Originally it was scheduled for one date but it sold out in a few hours so an extra date was added and two were hosted back to back. The weekend was perfect weather-wise which has been extremely rare and from the feedback we have received it sounds like everyone had a great time and learned a lot. At some point in the future an image gallery will be added to the website with a selection of images from each field trip.

Shooting the shooters Also keeping an eye on our models and really hoping that the tree branch didn't break and plunge them into the lake! 

 

Rob "using his hands" to help show the participants what to look for when making images of two people together.

 

Shutter Speed - 1/1250th sec, F 5.6, ISO - 640, Focal Length - 85mm in aperture priority mode. Note that this image also has some pretty obvious edge burning done in photoshop. Obvious so you can see the effect. Usually a little more subtle.

 

Here is a shot of Tina that I took as the sun was starting to go down.

 

Some more pics of the field trippers.

One model and a million different perspectives as you can see from the shooting positions of those with cameras.

 

Oh wait, can it be??? Yes, another picture of Rob with his arms raised in the air now there's a surprise  

 

Giving a little bit of feedback. See, I do actually work on the field trips!

 

 

Shutter Speed - 1/80th sec, F 6.3, ISO 160, Focal Length - 38mm. Here is a picture that of Bill taking a picture. Take note that the focal point of the photo is in fact Bill's back and the combination of focal point and aperture used render the model in the distance to be soft.

 

The next two images were given to us by Larry Burkowsky who was one of the participants in the workshop.

 

Great composition and exposure!

 

He also shot this one of Rob. Something just seems wrong about a guy in a Tilley hat throwing a football... hmmm.

 

The perfect end to a perfect day... beautiful colours in the sky

We did have one opportunity to actually go out and take about 10 shots in between the rain and wind a little while ago. Here is the fruit of that labour...okay, truth be told it was nowhere near labour...been there, done that lol...

Rob taking some pics out of the back of his truck. Seriously, i think he needs a much bigger lens lol...

 

Getting all artsy fartsy with my photos and yes, the one above did go through Photoshop.

 

This one is titled "I'm a Ford"... yep, original Shutter Speed - 1/6400th sec, F 4.0, ISO - 400, Focal Length - 200mm.

 

Shutter Speed - 1/5000th sec, F 4.0, ISO - 400, Focal Length - 70mm

The above photo is a great example of getting a silhouette when your subject is backlit. Also, it shows how the 70-200mm lens can be used for close ups as well as distant objects.

Well everyone, that's all for now but if you can believe it, we have already started working on images for the next blog. With luck it will even get published in a timely manner...wohooo!  In the next blog will be some of our adventures from a photo shoot this past weekend out at SIR race track as well as some mountain biking adventures. They keep telling me that your butt eventually just gets used to that 4" wide seat that they put on most mountain bikes but after riding up and down hills this afternoon it will take a lot more convincing... as well as icepacks

Until next time...keep shooting and have fun! (For those of you who know who Hal Johnson and Joanne Mcleod of all the "keep fit and have fun" commercials on tv over the past 20 years, I just actually recited that in my head as I was typing the keep shooting and have fun bit lol).

Devona & Rob

 

Hello again everyone! I know, it has once again been quite a bit of time between entries. There is no excuse so that being said we are just going to get on with what has been happening... add some photos and business as usual...voila!

{Once again, I, Rob Weitzel, will add a note or two here in these funny little bracket things. Most of what needs to be said is summed up by saying "Sorry we have not published more blogs and more podcasts and to those of you who submitted images for the podcast, we are even more sorry. Fact is, we really like doing this stuff but unfortunately it all takes time to produce and that time is time away from things that generate revenue to help pay for gigantic lens.. see below. We will try to do better. Fact is, I may actually have time to find a photo to publish next time around - RW}

So, what has been happening? Well, not as much outdoor shooting as we would like unfortunately due to the fact that suddenly we have been inundated with massive amounts of rainfall. How massive you ask? Well, they said on the radio the other day that Regina received the most rain EVER for the month of May. Personally it just makes me happy that one day I can sit around a nice cozy fire and tell my grandkids that I was actually around to witness said event... yeah right!

Okay, enough jabbering... let's get to some pictures:

About a month ago Brooke and I headed out to our friends acreage and rode around on the quads and motorbikes. Rob bugs me because he says that this photo shows my white knuckles... yes, it has been a long time since I had been on a bike but we had a blast


My daughter Brooke quadding with Trey... she had too much fun!

Now onto some photos from our PeopleScapes field trip, the last photo field trip that we held. Originally it was scheduled for one date but it sold out in a few hours so an extra date was added and two were hosted back to back. The weekend was perfect weather-wise which has been extremely rare and from the feedback we have received it sounds like everyone had a great time and learned a lot. At some point in the future an image gallery will be added to the website with a selection of images from each field trip.

Shooting the shooters Also keeping an eye on our models and really hoping that the tree branch didn't break and plunge them into the lake! 

 

Rob "using his hands" to help show the participants what to look for when making images of two people together.

 

Shutter Speed - 1/1250th sec, F 5.6, ISO - 640, Focal Length - 85mm in aperture priority mode. Note that this image also has some pretty obvious edge burning done in photoshop. Obvious so you can see the effect. Usually a little more subtle.

 

Here is a shot of Tina that I took as the sun was starting to go down.

 

Some more pics of the field trippers.

One model and a million different perspectives as you can see from the shooting positions of those with cameras.

 

Oh wait, can it be??? Yes, another picture of Rob with his arms raised in the air now there's a surprise  

 

Giving a little bit of feedback. See, I do actually work on the field trips!

 

 

Shutter Speed - 1/80th sec, F 6.3, ISO 160, Focal Length - 38mm. Here is a picture that of Bill taking a picture. Take note that the focal point of the photo is in fact Bill's back and the combination of focal point and aperture used render the model in the distance to be soft.

 

The next two images were given to us by Larry Burkowsky who was one of the participants in the workshop.

 

Great composition and exposure!

 

He also shot this one of Rob. Something just seems wrong about a guy in a Tilley hat throwing a football... hmmm.

 

The perfect end to a perfect day... beautiful colours in the sky

We did have one opportunity to actually go out and take about 10 shots in between the rain and wind a little while ago. Here is the fruit of that labour...okay, truth be told it was nowhere near labour...been there, done that lol...

Rob taking some pics out of the back of his truck. Seriously, i think he needs a much bigger lens lol...

 

Getting all artsy fartsy with my photos and yes, the one above did go through Photoshop.

 

This one is titled "I'm a Ford"... yep, original Shutter Speed - 1/6400th sec, F 4.0, ISO - 400, Focal Length - 200mm.

 

Shutter Speed - 1/5000th sec, F 4.0, ISO - 400, Focal Length - 70mm

The above photo is a great example of getting a silhouette when your subject is backlit. Also, it shows how the 70-200mm lens can be used for close ups as well as distant objects.

Well everyone, that's all for now but if you can believe it, we have already started working on images for the next blog. With luck it will even get published in a timely manner...wohooo!  In the next blog will be some of our adventures from a photo shoot this past weekend out at SIR race track as well as some mountain biking adventures. They keep telling me that your butt eventually just gets used to that 4" wide seat that they put on most mountain bikes but after riding up and down hills this afternoon it will take a lot more convincing... as well as icepacks

Until next time...keep shooting and have fun! (For those of you who know who Hal Johnson and Joanne Mcleod of all the "keep fit and have fun" commercials on tv over the past 20 years, I just actually recited that in my head as I was typing the keep shooting and have fun bit lol).

Devona & Rob

 

Well everyone we are finally getting some time to add a new entry as life has been a bit of a whirlwind as of late. What's new...what's exciting since we last blogged you ask? Well, in a nutshell there was a quick trip to Mexico, a few workshops and a Winterscapes fieldtrip among a billion other things!

Let's start this blog by having a brief discussion on the weather. In my furthest memories (which as aging takes hold granted are only a few years at best sometimes) I cannot recall ever having almost a month of hoar frost and fog filled days. One would think that out of all of them there would have been ample opportunity to get out and shoot at least one photo of such wierd meteorological events right? Wrong. Oh well, moving forward there is always next year. The one thing that did become abundantly clear throughout the gloom was that sunshine is my friend and I would have a really really hard time living somewhere like Vancouver!

Well...enough idle chit chat about weather and gloom. Let's move on to some pictures. We will begin with a trip that was taken with my cousins to sunny Mexico... this was a different kind of trip as normally my bag would be absolutely stuffed with at least one if not two digital slr's as well as a wide variety of lenses but this time my photography equipment consisted of a Canon Powershot G9 and a Gorillapod (fancy mini tripod)...yep, that's it folks. There is something to be said on rare occasion for just taking a break away from everything and that is exactly what happened... lot's of reading, walking on the beach and sitting by the pool. {Yep - this girl is learning from the best - remember me, damn near a month in Costa Rica with a stinkin point and shoot - Yes, I will once again provide semi-useless, strangely bracketed comments - RW}

ISO - 200, F 7.1, Shutter Speed - 1/100th Nothing beats taking long walks along the beach to destress!{Where exactly is the walking in this photo? - RW}

A shot with my cousin Rachel... what you don't know is that this took several takes as we were trying to look casual in between getting pelted from behind by the waves. {I thought I recognized the enema smiles}

 

Rachel's re-enactment of what must have happened to the windshield on this golf cart.{Speaking of which, at first glance I thought this was another enema pic but alas, I noticed the comment about the windsheild}

 

ISO- 400, F 4.5, Shutter Speed - 1/30th

The above shot was in the back of the resort. Very cool architecture and very "Italian" like. As you can see by the EXIF data a tripod was used for this shot as the shutter speed of 1/30th sec was too slow to be handheld... the image was also converted to black and white in Photoshop.

 

It is impossible to go to Mexico and not sample some of the tequila. This picture is indicative of two things... 1)  This was definitely not my favorite sample of the day. 2) Without a shadow of a doubt this proves that I do not always have to look like a supermodel (if that were possible) to be in the blog...

 

If you ever find yourself in Puerto Vallarta going to Pipi's and ordering one of their margaritas is an absolute must! Another must is hailing a cab within roughly half an hour after consuming such a beast to go back to your resort for a short siesta lol...

 

ISO- 200, F 3.2, Shutter Speed - 1/320th sec.

The above image was shot while lying on my lounge chair by the back pool. 

 

We had the opportunity to go whale watching one day. {and all you got was a piece of tail}

 

The best part of the whale watching excursion was coming across a huge pod of dolphins {and a time share pitch I'm sure}. There must have been at least a few hundred of them and they surrounded our boat.

 

Men with machine guns and smiles on their faces... interesting.

 

ISO- 200, F 2.8, Shutter Speed - 3 seconds.

These buildings were right outside our balcony and I loved the way that the light hit them at night. This image was shot at about 9:00 PM

Cocktails at the pool bar...for the record most of them were not mine {anymore}... we were there with a big group who just weren't in the picture!

 

ISO - 50, F 4.2, Shutter Speed - 1/400th sec.

The crab above was more than a little bit creepy. Everytime that the shutter was about to be pressed he would either do this little twitch thing or jump. He (or is it she??) was actually about 6" long and the image was shot about 2" away.

Okay... back home from Mexico and onto some more local pics!

A good friend of mine is starting up a new comapny called Vino Tapederas so I wandered over there one day and shot some pictures for her. Check out the website especially if you love having the odd drink in the great outdoors! {We would love to but you failed to provide a link right folks}

Rob and I were out with a great group yesterday as we conducted our Winterscapes 2010 fieldtrip and had a fantastic time! Below are a few images from the day.

 

Holy paparazzi !!!

 

Artsy fartsy chain link.

 

ISO- 160, F 4.5, Shutter Speed - 1/5000th sec.

 

Same shot in essence but converted to black and white.

 

A few images of the participants.

 

ISO - 160, F 5.6, Shutter Speed - 1/160th sec

 

This image has some special significance as it was none other than Shane (pictured above) who went through the ice in our Winterscapes fieldtrip last year... go figure.

 

My version of "footprints".

I have found that sometimes the more things change, the more they stay the same. The first image below was shot when Rob and I were out at Buffalo Pound a few years back and the one following was shot yesterday. 

 

_________________________________

Now for my two bits - RW

Four days last weekend were spent in semi-sunny Lloydminster, AB where we gave a bunch of mini seminars. We had fun and they were very well received. Chances are we will head back there at some point. Being the driver of a rather large half ton this should not likely come from my mouth but my god there are a lot of large trucks in Lloydminster. Not often anymore that I'm stricken with truck envy but admittedly was on a few occassions. That said, that town needs to enlarge its parking spots accordingly.

On the trip we had a couple of spottings, the first being a bald eagle sittting on the ground just outside of Hanley, SK. We drove about a mile past it before looking at each other and saying "What the hell was that, a bald eagle?" with neither of us wanting to sound like an ass. After another mile decided to turn around. Upon approach we had convinced ourselves that the sighting was more likely an oil barrel with a bit of snow left on it. Well damned if that oil barrell didn't fly off into the air when hassled by a couple of ravens snacking on a deer carcas. You know how the rest of this story goes.... wind chill below freezing and Rob in a t-shirt and cowboy boots standing on an ice patch trying to mount a body on a 400mm and get some form of shot of this. I should really know better.

Closer to Lloyd we had a bit more success however I was still unable to stand up in the damn boots so just grabbed my 70-200 and blew off a couple frames. Hardly a show stopper when it comes to semi-wildlife but I just wanted you to note a couple of things compositionally speaking. Said subject matter (Elk) are composed on the bottom 1/3 horizontal line. The close crop on the animal on the left and the space on the right side of the frame make for "room to move". 

As for "ass vision" which is my own term for hindsight, I should have grabbed a bit more depth of field by increasing my aperture value. This was shot at F3.5 at 1/800 so had some room to move.

Tripped over a little more wildlife hanging from the trees in Bud Miller Park.

 
A little bit of fill flash here to soften the shadows in the face and if you look close added some nice catch light to her eyes.

The rest of the month has been fairly quiet as far as shooting for fun goes... sometimes I wish photography was a hobby as hobbyists tend to have more time to shoot.

1/500 @ F2.8 - +1EV - ISO3200
I know you have heard it said before but eye contact is everything. Not necesarily with the camera but with the activity yrou subject is engaged in

Changed it up a little with the Future STARS portraits this time as the typical portrait was getting a bit old. Went for the single light low-key in an attempt to do something a little more adult with the little guys. Who would have thunk that the biggest challenge would be getting them standing.

Make sure that you get out there and enjoy springtime with your camera in hand!

As always, thanks for visiting and your interest in our blog. Comments, questions, concerns and credit cards are always welcome. For convenience, please subscribe by clicking on the "Subscribe" Button on the Main Page of this blog. This is a mechanism that will provide you with notification each time we publish a new blog. For information on photo workshops and field trips please visit http://www.thosetwophotographers.com/Classes.html

Our Services can be explored here and our Portfolios here.

You are also more than welcome to subscribe to our podcast by searching for thosetwophotographers in iTunes. Industry news, tips, and interviews with photographers are just a few of the things your ears will tune into.

Cheers!

 

Till next time,

 

Devona & Rob

 

Good morning Everyone,

 We just wanted to add a quick little note to let you know that we are aware that we have fallen a wee bit behind on our podcast and blog entires as of late   That being said we should have a new blog up by mid week and a new podcast within about a week. 

 Thanks!

 

Devona & Rob

 

Welcome back everyone! The title says it all as this appears to be the crappiest Saskatchewan summer and fall weather-wise on record! Coming from someone who really can't stand the cold or winter in general this is going to prove to be an awfully long year and the thoughts of a hot winter vacation are already dancing through our heads. (That said, which Devona entered, I'll add that September was one of the warmest one record but because everyone is back at work and busy getting their kids into school for the year, it tends to go rather unnoticed)

Okay...enough complaining about the weather as the sun has actually began to poke out for the day . We are starting to settle into the new format of alternating our podast and blogs every two weeks which is working well as this way we can bring you lots of images and information. Life has been extremely busy as usual with teaching on tour throughout the province for Tourism Saskatchewan with visits to Fort Qu'Appelle and Moose Jaw and in the next few, Kindersley, Prince Albert and Tisdale. If you are wanting to attend or know anyone in these areas who would be interested in attending, just get ahold of your local Saskatchewan Tourism office and they can get you signed up.

We start this post with a quick tip on sports photography and post the following couple of fastball images Rob shot this summer as an example of keeping your focus point precisely on the action and moving it when necesary. Here the focus point is on the base runner when he first hits the dirt but as he comes up out of his slide and the participants and crown would turn their attention to the umpire to make the call, so too moves the focus of the photograph. 

An attempt at a summer holiday resulted more in a race to log about 4,700 kms than any opportunity to relax. That said, Rob did manage to find a couple of opportunities to make photos for the sake of making photos, rather than paying the bills. The following are those photos

Port Renfrew, British Columbia just outside the doors of the Big Fish Lodge. Great hospitality, great food and endless photo opps.

Lens (mm): 70
ISO: 160
Aperture: 6.3
Shutter: 1/3200
Exp. Comp.: -0.3


Lens (mm): 70
ISO: 160
Aperture: 6.3
Shutter: 1/640
Exp. Comp.: -0.3


Lens (mm): 70
ISO: 160
Aperture: 9
Shutter: 1/800
Exp. Comp.: -0.3


Lens (mm): 120
ISO: 160
Aperture: 5.6
Shutter: 1/800
Exp. Comp.: -0.3


Lens (mm): 140
ISO: 100
Aperture: 16
Shutter: 1/1.2
Exp. Comp.: 0.0


Lens (mm): 200
ISO: 250
Aperture: 7.1
Shutter: 1/1600
Exp. Comp.: -0.3


Lens (mm): 28
ISO: 100
Aperture: 22
Shutter: 1/30
Exp. Comp.: +0.3


Lens (mm): 16
ISO: 200
Aperture: 7.1
Shutter: 1/800
Exp. Comp.: 0.0

Lens (mm): 29
ISO: 100
Aperture: 6.3
Shutter: 1/400
Exp. Comp.: +0.3


Lens (mm): 50
ISO: 100
Aperture: 22
Shutter: 1/10
Exp. Comp.: +0.3

Botanical Beach - Little tiny worlds.





And back on the prairies...

Lens (mm): 20
ISO: 400
Aperture: 5.6
Shutter: 1/6400
Exp. Comp.: -0.7

Before we move onto some current images I was feeling nostalgic the other day and decided to go through some of my old images to see what was happening a few years ago and came across this one which still remains an all time favorite shot almost 2 years ago to the day...please note that there was no snow on the ground! 

Lens (mm): 17
ISO: 100
Aperture: 5
Shutter: 1/500
Exp. Comp.: 0.0

We actually managed to get out shooting with some good friends back in August choosing to stroll quite aimlessly through a local graveyard. Here are some of Rob's images from that evening: 

Lens (mm): 80
ISO: 100
Aperture: 4.5
Shutter: 1/400
Exp. Comp.: -0.3

Here is a shot of "our buddy who shall remain nameless so we'll call him Norm" doing his best "I'm a Cannon" impression

Not even a huge camera can conceal this smile.
Lens (mm): 115
ISO: 1000
Aperture: 4
Shutter: 1/640
Exp. Comp.: -0.3


Another good friend whom for now we will call Mel... keep in mind she's not a big fan of getting her photo taken so if we happen to go missing you all know who to look for


Lens (mm): 22
ISO: 100
Aperture: 9
Shutter: 1/60
Exp. Comp.: -0.7

 

One big happy family... even The Big Guy came and joined us! Not sure how it so happened that not only did Rob get photos of everyone we shot with, he also ended up with some photos to post?

Here is another blast from the past that Rob shot last year sometime... the lost little sister of Elvis... go figure

Just for fun here is one of Rob that a friend of ours shot in Don's Photo during the launch party for the new Canon 7D. Larry points camera, Rob raises hands like being mugged. What's up with that? Pretty good at high ISO said camera is.

Devona covered the University of Regina's Cougar Trot as Rob was busy shooting University soccer.

Every year this guy leads the runners through the course on his bike...keep in mind that there are a ton of different age groups that run this race so you do the math on the miles he puts on! Makes me tired just thinking about it!
Lens (mm): 200
ISO: 200
Aperture: 2.8
Shutter: 1/1250
Exp. Comp.: 0.0

 

Lens (mm): 200
ISO: 320
Aperture: 4.5
Shutter: 1/2000
Exp. Comp.: -0.3

 

Lens (mm): 126
ISO: 200
Aperture: 8
Shutter: 1/125
Exp. Comp.: +0.3

 

Lens (mm): 200
ISO: 200
Aperture: 8
Shutter: 1/125
Exp. Comp.: 0.0

The above two images a panning effect was used. Essentially using a slower shutter speed and moving the camera parallel to your subject as you shoot thus creating a very blurred out of focus background but sharp subject.

Yippee... we have a winner!

Lens (mm): 200
ISO: 200
Aperture: 5
Shutter: 1/1000
Exp. Comp.: 0.0

Now for a couple of Rob's Cougar basketball images. There are times when you really need to think about your crop when composing images. Occasionally as a pro you are called upon to shoot to a crop factor/ratio and format that does not necessarily suit the sport but due to page or website layout requirements you have to be a little creative in those compositions. Basketball is by no means a horizontal sport but these images still suit the space alloted by the Cougars website.

Lens (mm): 70
ISO: 3200
Aperture: 2.8
Shutter: 1/500
Exp. Comp.: +0.3

 

Lens (mm): 90
ISO: 3200
Aperture: 2.8
Shutter: 1/800
Exp. Comp.: +0.3

 

Lens (mm): 200
ISO: 3200
Aperture: 2.8
Shutter: 1/640
Exp. Comp.: +0.3

From the gymnasium at the U of R to Devona's living room just for the sheer fun of it , photos can be made anywhere. On occasion people have asked Devona what her images look like straight out of the camera...prior to any editing of any kind. Well, today's your lucky day Norm people

Below are two images ... obviously the first one is the one straight out of the camera and the second one has gone through some playing around in Photoshop:

Lens (mm): 100
ISO: 100
Aperture: 5.6
Shutter: 10
Exp. Comp.: 0.0

 

Rob has just fiunished four days on his knees shooting the CSA BMO National Soccer Championships held in Saskatoon last weekend. Fortunate for our fingers but unfortunately for the photos, the games were all moved indoors to the SaskTel Soccer Centre.  This brings to mind another tip for those of you learning photography and looking for oppotunities to shoot major events to add to your portfolio. Check with the organizers first, know the rules of the game, be courteous and have good etiquette, stay out of the way of the game and get permission to go where you want to go. If you want to shoot at a major event, you will need credentials or accreditation to move beyond the position of the regular fans. Find out if said event has an official photographer and if so, introduce yourself and make that person or organization aware of your position and intentions. If you are there on behalf of a particular team, you still need permission if you have not been previsously acreddited by the organizers or the sanctioning body... If you don't, you are a fan.

Perhaps you are asking, why the long list of do's and do nots. Well Rob had a bit of a run-in this past week with a sideline fan. This person showed up on the sidelines with a big chunk of glass, and a bigger chip on his shoulder. When greeted with a friendly hello, a pat on the back and a comment regarding the less than desireable lighting conditions (something pro photographers often, like other humans, do, greet each other), he talked about how he had a large lens and big camera body that he thought somehow more capable of absorbing light at F2.8 that someone elses 2.8. Rather strange for a person who then went on to talk about the multiple parties that were paying him to be there and how his name should be on the tip of the tongue of every sports image connoisseur on the planet, stranger because Rob had never heard of him. Alarms were sounding and Rob, who has worked the sidelines of major events all over this country was left feeling a little less than comfortable. Given the described chain of events, Rob inquired as to this individual's credentials. Turned out that he was only in posession of a fans pass yet somehow had made his way onto the sidelines of a national event due to the fact that he had a big lens. Let's just say security was a little lapse. PEOPLE, big glass does not give a fan the right to be in a place they should not be. Fans do not carry liabilty insurance, they do not neccesarily understand the impact or possible impact their position and their equipment may have on the athletes or officials.

Anybody remember why professional photogs are granted a right to be on the sidelines? It's not because they are taking pictures of their kids and not because they need photos for facebook. It is because, the players, the fans, the teams and the sanctioning bodies want and accurate photographic description of what takes place on the playing surface.

Why is a cheering photographer a problem? They change the dynamic between the players and the photographers. Professionals are paid to document a game, and we understand the game is not about us. Whether taking pictures for a team, a league or and individual. We are there to document what happens. If a team or player thinks for a second that we are on one side or another, their reaction, when faced with our camera, changes and thereby impacts the story that we can tell through our photos. Fans do not belong on the sidelines. The photos are about the game and the players, the wins and the losses, the cries of pain and joy. I've seen people at games take photos from the sidelines, go and drink some beer with the fans and then come back, take pictures, get in the way of the game, cheer at the home team and holler at the opposition. How does this make the opposition feel and how will the players react when they look into the lens of one of us who really does have some professionalism in our conduct and really do just want to tell a story of a game? The players game.

On the lighter side, with all the 70-200 F2.8 lenses and big bodied DSLRs being sold, perhaps someday we will justs get to the piont where there will be 39,000 photogs at a sporting event and 12 people in the stands. Beer service will be spectacular.

I too am a sports fan and appreciate that those who read these posts are often fans who want to better understand how to make good sports photos. I believe everyone should have the right to do so. Just follow the proper channels and avoid impacting the game.

Weather aside, Rob's weekend was pretty hairy.

Lens (mm): 165
ISO: 6400
Aperture: 2.8
Shutter: 1/800
Exp. Comp.: 0.0

 

Lens (mm): 200
ISO: 6400
Aperture: 2.8
Shutter: 1/800
Exp. Comp.: +0.3

 

Lens (mm): 100
ISO: 6400
Aperture: 2.8
Shutter: 1/1000
Exp. Comp.: +0.3

"If the shoe doesn't fit... don't wear it!"

Lens (mm): 200
ISO: 6400
Aperture: 2.8
Shutter: 1/1000
Exp. Comp.: 0.0

 

This past week Devona and a few friends were able to go way up in the sky to shoot a few photos of the city and had a blast even though it felt like it was about -40 up there with the wind chilly

The above two images were shot with a technique called HDR. Basically you take a minimum of 3 shots all at different exposures and then you blend them together using a program rendering all of the highlights and all of the shaded areas. Not something the imaging latitude of a camera, or even the human eye, can really see.

Lens (mm): 104
ISO: 100
Aperture: 5.6
Shutter: 2.5
Exp. Comp.: +0.3

Lens (mm): 200
ISO: 100
Aperture: 5.6
Shutter: 3
Exp. Comp.: +0.3


Lens (mm): 97
ISO: 100
Aperture: 5.6
Shutter: 5
Exp. Comp.: +0.3

The above 3 images were shot by using a technique called zoom pushing...or pulling. With your camera mounted on a tripod ensure that you have a bit of a longer shutter speed and then as soon as you release the shutter either zoom in or zoom out with your lens while the photo is being taken. The result is a pretty neat effect. This also is used quite frequently with photos of flowers etc.

Rob and his buddy Brian went out quadding in the snow and slush yeasterday out by Kennossee. They spent about as much time on the quad's as they did trying to get them unstuck! Here are a few pics that Rob shot of the day with his Canon Powershot G10:

 
Lens (mm): 6.1
ISO: 100
Aperture: 8
Shutter: 1/60
Exp. Comp.: -0.3 

Lens (mm): 6.1
ISO: 100
Aperture: 8
Shutter: 1/125
Exp. Comp.: 0.0

This image very shortly after Brian "smelt the swamp gasses". 2.5 hours later, this machine was free thanks to bracing the second quad up against one of the trees in the background and winching the stuck one from behind combined with a come-along jack on a second tree and way, way too many f-bombs.

Here's Rob covered in mud with a huge smile on his face... what is it about boys??

 

 Below is an image that were taken last night. I decided to play around with it for a bit in Photoshop after I had already gone in and tone mapped it to get the effect of highlights and shadows.

I input the following image in place at the bottom of this blog only to see if our friend and consistent reader has the intestinal fortitude to make it all the way through to the bottom of this rather longish installment of our blog. Consider yourselves caught up. Now get your ass out there and shoot.

Hi Ben!

Hello once again everyone! Yes, as you can see by the title I as well as most people who live in Saskatchewan are just a wee bit seasonally confused right now. Is this what one refers to as an Indian summer or just what feels like it after such a shitty poopy summer??? Regardless of what it is called we'll take it as it is much better than the alternative of snow on Labor Day!

 

If some of you are wondering what the heck is going on with our podcasts it's really quite simple... iTunes and our server were suddenly not loving each other very much. That being said we have just gotten the problem resolved and are once again up and running!! That's right everyone... just head over to iTunes and search for ThoseTwoPhotographers under podcasts and voila, there we are! Once you are in there you may as well just hit the subscribe button and then they will automatically download everytime a new one is published...oh yeah, and rate us... highly please

 

What have we been up to as of late? Well pretty much a little bit of everything. Rob is still shooting pictures for the Saskatchewan Soccer Association all over the place and he will soon be very busy with the University of Regina Athletics pictures as well. We also just wrapped up our Northern Golf Course photos shoots and are about to begin touring around the province once again teaching workshops for Saskatchewan Tourism. On top of that we still hold our photo workshops at Don's Photo at least one if not two evenings a week and are also teaching through the Cathedral Community Association here in Regina. There are also a bunch of smaller projects on the go...like my full time job (Just kidding everyone that works with me... really)

 

I'm sorry if I seem a wee bit distracted but the Vikings/Browns game is on in the background and I am waiting for the announcement that Brett Favre has dislocated his hip due to the fact that he has decided that it is once again a great idea to come out of retirement to get pummeled by linemen who are 6'7" weigh 350lbs. and are 25 yrs old! He doesn't need the money I'm sure and even if he does he can always go back to acting as the cameo appearance that he did in "Something About Mary" is still widely talked about... sure is last mention of sports and then we will move on to photography... how many of you watched the round of gold that Tiger Woods played yesterday at the BMW Championship?? He shot a 62... it's magic...enough said.

 

Alright...so those of you in the football know are probably wondering what the heck I was just talking about when discussing the Vikings game as that was a week ago...well, let's just say that is when the blog was originally going to be published had it not been for some computer eroor on my part right when it was all done and ready to be published. In other words the whole bloody thing was lost so instead of starting all over that day from scratch I just took a week long break and will begin again

 

Alrighty then... onward and upward. Here are some pics that Rob shot of something a little bit different. The images below are of the Good2Go Fly Ball Dog Races that were held a few weeks ago at the Tartan Curling Club.

 

 

Lens (mm): 200
ISO: 6400
Aperture: 3.5
Shutter: 1/500
Exp. Comp.: 0.0

 

Lens (mm): 105
ISO: 6400
Aperture: 3.5
Shutter: 1/320
Exp. Comp.: 0.0

 

Lens (mm): 200
ISO: 6400
Aperture: 3.5
Shutter: 1/500
Exp. Comp.: 0.0

 

Lens (mm): 200
ISO: 6400
Aperture: 3.5
Shutter: 1/500
Exp. Comp.: 0.0

The opportunity came up to go shooting with some friends one evening out on some wildlife land. It was great to get out and just relax for a bit

 

Here is one of the pics that I shot that evening of a friend who shall remain nameless but for now let's just call him Norm. Needless to say he may not have been a huge fan of getting his picture taken

Different friend in this shot but once again pretty positive that if he hadn't been walking away he would also have given me the same reaction that Norm had.

 

We were walking along and came across one of the Geo Cache boxes that Sask Wildlife plants throughout the province. Inside the box was one of the Wildlife coloring books and who was in it but non other than my friend Jim...that's him under the arrow. You know you've made it when you have your own coloring book!!!

 

Lens (mm): 200
ISO: 500
Aperture: 3.2
Shutter: 1/800
Exp. Comp.: +0.3

  Same butterfly but different angle.

Lens (mm): 200
ISO: 500
Aperture: 3.2
Shutter: 1/640
Exp. Comp.: +0.3

 

Walking back to the truck after a long hard evening of shooting...well, not long actually as it was only about an hour and not too hard also as we only walked about the equivalent of two city blocks

Rob also had the opportunity to go out with our friend who shall remain namesless so we'll call him Norm to shoot some crop dusters at sunrise. Apparently they didn't actually get out to shoot them while spraying but they did get some great shots prior to takeoff.

 

Lens (mm): 200
ISO: 500
Aperture: 5.6
Shutter: 1/1250
Exp. Comp.: +0.7

 

Lens (mm): 170
ISO: 160
Aperture: 9
Shutter: 1/200
Exp. Comp.: 0.0

 

Lens (mm): 145
ISO: 400
Aperture: 14
Shutter: 1/500
Exp. Comp.: 0.0

 

Lens (mm): 50
ISO: 100
Aperture: 14
Shutter: 1/250
Exp. Comp.: +1.3

 

Lens (mm): 50
ISO: 100
Aperture: 18
Shutter: 1/40
Exp. Comp.: 0.0

 

Lens (mm): 16
ISO: 100
Aperture: 11
Shutter: 1/80
Exp. Comp.: +0.3

Next are a few picture that were taken when I was out at Elk Ridge shooting some photos of the golf course. If you have never taken the time to take a trip up North I highly recommend it as the scenery is absolutely beautiful and it's nice to get to see more than one or two trees at a time not to mention the wildlife!

 

Lens (mm): 200
ISO: 320
Aperture: 2.8
Shutter: 1/1250
Exp. Comp.: 0.0

 

Lens (mm): 110
ISO: 320
Aperture: 2.8
Shutter: 1/1600
Exp. Comp.: 0.0


Lens (mm): 118
ISO: 640
Aperture: 2.8
Shutter: 1/640
Exp. Comp.: 0.0



From there my car headed out West to a little town called Markerville, AB which is just past Red Deer to take a breather and do some floating and jetboating. My goal is to become a professional floater These images were all shot with my little point and shoot Optio W80 so there is no EXIF data to post underneath as these are just for fun.

Yep... as you can see from the picture above becoming a professional floater takes a lot of time and practice

 

Preparing one of the boats for a day on the river.

 

Hmmmm???? That's all that's going to be said about that as it is pretty self-explanatory.

 

We caught some Walleye along the way and decided to stop for a shore lunch... please check out the superb fire as it was built by yours truly

Taking it easy before we head back. What you can kind of see here but not too clearly is that Gary's face is swollen up like a balloon as he got bit by a wasp on the way up the river and is highly allergic! Poor guy ended up spending some time in the hospital after we got back

Well.. that's it for now everyone. Please take note that we are now going to alternate our blog and podcasts every two weeks so look for another podcast coming soon!

Take care and enjoy this weather as from what they say it isn't going to last very much longer

Devona & Rob

 

Good afternoon everyone! Yes, you are probably thinking what the H#**... 2 blog entires in just over a week...she must be mad!! Believe me yours truly was mad way before I ever started doing blog entries What has been keeping us busy lately? Well, to give you a direct quote from Rob "all I have is F'n soccer photos!" yep, that was his exact response when asked if he had anything to give me in the way of photos for the blog as apparently he had been a wee bit swamped with doing all of the provincial photos for the Sask Soccer Association. Not being able to speak for him but in my humble non-sports photographer view I do believe that all of the photos would eventually start to look like the same one over time. To further clarify so that I don't get chewed a new one...I don't mean to say that all of the finished and edited photos would look the same more like when going through and editing 15 billion images of soccer they may eventually start to meld together a little bit...there Rob... that should clarify enough that you have fantstically original photos even though the venues and subject matter are relatively similar.

Well onto some photos so that you can see what has been keeping us (more like me as Rob is doing non other than shooting more soccer today) busy as of late. Here are some of the photos that a few of our Nightscape Field Trip attendees took. The first one was shot by Tina and the second two were shot by Terry...please take note that no last names have been used so that we can protect the innocent

  

 

ISO - 200, F 10.0, Shutter Speed - 26 sec, Focal Length - 75mm

 

We didn't really shoot much of anything throughtout the fielld trip as we were lending a hand to those in attendance but I did take a shot from the parking lot before we departed:

 

From here we will move pretty much straight to a nice relaxing four day vacation that I took last weekend. This trip will ne named the "Devona needs to desperately take a break before she loses her marbles" getaway I didn't do a whole heck of a lot but shoot some photos and fish which are two of my most favorite things to do.

 

ISO - 100, F 7.1, Shutter Speed - 1/200th sec, Focal Length - 100mm shot with a Tokina 100mm 2.8 Macro Lens

 

I do believe that for most photographers living out on the prairies it is impossible to go driving around without coming back with a picture of a canola or flax field. I liken it to not being able to only have 1 chip like on the commercials or not popping at least 1 bubble in a roll of bubble wrap... impossible!

 

ISO - 400, F 8, Shutter Speed - 1/400th sec, Focal Length - 17mm, Exp. Comp. (-0.7)

 

ISO- 320, F 5.0, Shutter - 1/500th, Focal Length-165mm shot with a Sigma 70-200 2.8.

While sitting on my parents deck shooting pictures of their flowers and gabbing a baby chipmunk came out and posed for a little while: (And for the record it may not be a baby at all as how is a person even supposed to be able to tell? It was small in stature anyway)

 

ISO - 250, F 5.6, Shutter Speed - 1/800th sec, Focal Length - 200mm

Wow...that was not nice Have any of you ever had the horrid experience of taking a sip of iced tea (or your beverage of choice) and instead of it going down into your stomach it decides to take a wrong turn and go straight into your right (or left) lung??!! I have been trying to recover for the past fifteen minutes and it has not been pleasant due to the fact that my throat still feels like it is on fire due to this nasty viral thing that is going around... yuck Right Devona, we're here to talk about photography.

 

This is a ____________ hawk. The blank will be filled just as soon as my buddy Jim looks at this blog and realizes that the need to find the name is relatively urgent. Actually...Randy, if you are out there reading this then maybe you could find it in your heart to contribute the name of said bird...please.

 This is going to be a warning to everyone who is reading this that now is the time in the blog that I am about to go on a bit of a rant which I really try very hard not to do...this is also the place where you will see me using "I" an awful lot as that is what happens when I get opinionated about something I'm sure that you have all heard about the new trespassing law and if you are like me you have heard so much about it that if someone even dares to mention the word trespassing it makes you want to grab whatever it is that is nearest to you (hopefully not nearest and dearest) and chuck it a mile and a half out the bloody window For those who haven't heard here it is in a nutshell... from now on if you are caught on any land that states that there is no trespassing you can be fined up to $2000.00 . There has been some major uproar (and about 1000 emails) regarding this new law and how it is going to directly impact photographers. Here is my take on it... I don't care and I am going to contiue to do what I have always done. Here is the way that I see it... I'm sure that this new law isn't directly going out and targeting photographers but more directly hunters and people driving quads, skidoos and anything else that can destroy or harm someones property. I have yet to have a land owner come up to me when I am passing through on my own two feet with a camera and tear a strip off of me for taking photos. I have however had the very pleasant experience of meeting new people and having some rather entertaining conversations about what a small world it is that we all live in. Like the old saying goes... "Take photos and leave only footprints"... or in my interpretation... "Use your head dumbass" Okay I know...enough already... here is my photo interpretation of what has just been spoken of:

 

And yes... I did it... I crossed the line:

 

Well everyone that is more or less it for this weeks edition. Rob and I are quite excited that all of the equipment that we ordered to once again begin doing our podcasts has arrived so we will be starting to post more before the end of August (yes Robert, I said before the end of August...no pressure though).  We are also starting up our classes at the end of the month which are now booking into the end of September and if you are wanting to attend but are unable to make those dates we also will be teaching classes at the Cathedral Community Association in October...wheeee....busy!! Oh yeah, and I guess University will be starting shortly which means that Rob will be once again spinning which he is actually getting better at doing

Have a great couple of weeks everyone!!!

 Devona & Rob

 

Yes... we did it again everyone...what is it that we did exactly you are all asking yourselves?? Well, we waited just a wee bit too long in between blog entries and this is the place where normally you would be reading about how it is strictly due to the fact that life has gotten beyond busy yada yada but there really is no excuse Okay, onward and upward as they say...no more crying in the beer. This posting is going to be relatively short as it is already getting on in the evening and it would be a real shame that after patiently waiting to read a blog for so long it suddenly became incoherent due to the blogger's lack of sleep

What in the world has been keeping us so busy as of late...well, in a really condensed nutshell (kind of the size of a hazelnut roughly) in the past month we have held a Nighscapes Fieldtrip and review, finished up our photo workshops for Sask Tourism, started a very large project shooting a bunch of golf courses in northern Sask. On top of that Rob has been shooting all over the province for the Sask Soccer Association and I have been spending my usual 40+ hours a week at Don's...yep, that's just one month. My calendar just got synced on my iMac and only now the realization occured that it is pretty much full into the beginning of October...yipee...

Without further adieu onto some photos:

 

A flower that I shot while up north at Rolling Pine Golf Course.

 

A few of the shots that Rob has taken for the Sask Soccer Association.

 

For this shot Rob dug a hole beside the tee box and popped up just as the golfer was in his follow through... very sneaky Mr. Weitzel... you remind me of the movie Caddyshack. I can just see you now with the piece of turf covering your head (at least you won't get sunburned that way). Yep... I'm going to pay for that


One evening there was a massive storm just outside of town so I packed up my car and headed out. The shot above was taken along the way and the shots below were taken a wee bit later.

 

A few tips for shooting lightning for those of you who are wanting to attempt it. You absolutely need a tripod...a cable release is almost a need but let's say for now it would be a very strong want. It is a heck of a lot easier to shoot in bulb mode but that doesn't mean that you will want an exposure that is several minutes long. Usually the best results seem to come at around the 10-20 second range shooting at a fairly low ISO such as 100 or 200. You will need to set your lens to manually focus as there is pretty much absolutely no way in Hell H double hockey stick that you will be able to focus in auto The tip that will be the last one so that it stays the most fresh in your minds is to stay ahead of the rain and don't be a idiot hero by shooting in the middle of nowhere with your tripod all set up when the lighning is right on top of you unless you are trying for that elusive shot of smoke billowing out of your own head which I wouldn't highly recommend due to the fact that it probably wouldn't turn out anyway due to the fact that you are in the dark at ISO 100 or 200 and your lens is set to manual focus. By the time you managed to get your camera reset your fingers would most likely be too singed to be able to press the shutter to get the shot anyway Sorry guys, not too sure where that ramble came from... onto some more pictures:

 

I wonder if this cute little gal that Rob shot knows that her leg is on backwards??

 

A shot of the clubhouse Rob took while up at Candle Lake.

 

I title this one "Soccer Team At Sunset" . Actually I'm pretty sure that Rob didn't exactly title this soccer team picture that he took

For the picture above I stacked a circular polarizing filter over a ND4 so that I could get a 5 second exposure at midday to make the water have a bit of a dreamy effect.

 

This last photo was shot off of my parets deck out at Fishing Lake a couple of days after Canada Day. Our neighbor does a big fireworks show every year and unfortunately this year I missed the shot of the Fireworks shooting out of his a@* due to the fact that I was laughing so hard they are all out of focus. You're thinking that this is a joke... wrong... he had a pie plate wrapped around his waist and they were attached to his waist so when he bent over...well, you get the idea

That's it for now everyone. Sorry for the lack of information underneath all of the photos but I promise that I will overload you on the next blog!

 Keep shooting and enjoying the summer!

Devona & Rob

 

Good afternoon everyone...or morning...or evening as it all depends what time you are reading this Hopefully you have all been getting gout... sorry...typo, don't want you to all be getting gout as that would suck...let's try that again ...we hope that you have been getting out with your camera in hand and enjoying this beautiful weather that we have been getting as of late. Today unfortunately it is pouring but that is most likely a fortunate thing for some of us as it will help with the mounds of work that have been stacking up due to lack of "office motivation". Seriously, is there anything worse than having to sit inside an office while looking outside and seeing that it is sunny and 25 degress?

What's new amd exciting as of late? Well, photo workshops have been keeping us extremely busy as we are right in the middle of instructing for Saskatchewan Tourism as well as our regularly scheduled workshops in Regina. On top of that we have just returned from teaching in Yorkton for a few days. Nothing like returning home last night just in time to repack to head up north for a few more days.

We also have been working on making our podcast on iTunes bigger and better so that upon our return (as well as the return of our new mixer which is on a slow boat from China) we can all look forward to that.

Alright alright, enough jabbering and onto the meat and potatoes ...or is it potatos??  Well, you know what we mean...onto the photos

 

One of Rob's magazine covers that he did for a client.

I headed out for a week to sunny California and Arizona at the beginning of the month.  There were many highlights along the way but one of the best parts was the fact that while I was away apparently the temperature back home was hovering right around 6 degrees. I thought about that a lot while I was lying by the pool in Scottsdale, AZ where the temperature never fluctuated much beyone the mid thirties Sorry... that was my evil side rearing it's ugly head.

 

 ISO  - 200, F 8.0, Shutter Speed - 1/200th sec, Focal Length - 37mm

 

Yes, just a little bit idiotic but you have to have fun sometimes right? Here my friend Carey is playing the role of the poisonous snake or insect and yours truly is playing the part of the unsuspecting victim


This was by far the strangest thing that we came across throughout the trip. You will soon see why in the pictures that follow:

 

Can you all say "alien under glass" kind of like pheasant under glass only completely different! No joke here people, this place was about 4,000 sq. ft of pure alien and UFO stuff. I swear they must have had every newspaper clipping, magazine article and photo of anything to do with aliens and UFO sightings. I backed out of the building while Carey and Kristen were getting the talk from the owners about where to go to find the best orbs in the vortex of Sedona.... nope, not kidding at all. I even took along a map so that we could find the orbs at night so that we could "just observe and have fun with them" as they told us...sure...Unfortunately we were unable to attend the UFO sighting fieldtrip that they hold twice a day everyday (not that that is supposed to indicate that there may be a bit of a money grabbing theme going on here).

 

Wait just one minute here...what is this... you just finished telling us all about orbs and vortexes and now on the way out the door you are telling us that you can actually fake a UFO photo &*% I swear, now I have seen everything!



ISO - 400, F 10.0, Shutter Speed - 1/400th sec, Focal Length - 28mm. Shot with a Hoya ND4 filter.

 

ISO - 320, F 2.8, Shutter Speed - 1/800th sec, Focal Length - 31mm.

Some cacti along a bluff overlooking the ocean back in Carlsbad, CA.

 

 

These really stood out along the hike...wonder if they are edible??? If someone out there wants to try and give us a shout that would be muchly appreciated


There is one thing that you should all be warned about when venturing into the realm of photography. While seeking that elusive "perfect"...or even "acceptable" image that you can go back home and show all your friends sometimes you tend to leave your brains back in the vehicle. This is not the first time that this has happened to me (shock and awe I know)... last year I slid down almost 15 feet of rockface as well as got attacked by a swarm of what I found out later was killer bees all due to the fact that I just didn't take that extra minute or two to plan out what I was going to do etc... luckily the results have only ever been various cuts and bruises and no broken bones The above photo depicts the oceanside cliff that I just had to scale down to get some photos... I'm sure that all of you hikers out there are thinking not too bad right? Well, now try to attempt it wearing flip flops and carrying one camera around your neck with a 70-200 2.8 on it and then another camera in your hand without a strap on it... brilliant move right... check. From now on more time is going to be taken before attempting these wonderful ventures...well, at least that's the hope

Alright...enough about vacation and back to reality! Here are some of Rob's picture that he has shot recently of baseball. I just realized that I have no idea why the statement was made that it was baseball as it is rather obvious that it isn't hockey



ISO - 640, F 5.6, Shutter Speed - 1/1000th sec, Focal Length - 350mm

Rob is surely running around like a chicken with his head cut off today ...or watching car racing and the US Open either way I'm not sure if he is going to grace us with his prescence or not in this blog but when he sent his images he also added comments to go along with them...

"Sports - Tight Action - Sometimes Eye contact matters, sometimes it is not required". - direct quote from Robert F. Weitzel

 

ISO - 500, F 5.6, Shutter Speed - 1/2000th sec, Focal Length - 400mm

 

 

ISO - 200, F 3.2, Shutter Speed - 1/320th sec, Focal Length 195mm, Exp. Comp - (-0.3).

The above shot is one of Rob's ... he made me laugh when he titled it "You, Mr. Photographer, Are Interrupting My Meal". That being said I have never professed to be very skilled when it comes to identifying birds... unless it's a robin, a seagull or a terradactyl I am pretty much clueless although I am trying hard to change that Seeing as how this bird remains nameless I'm going to call it a "black brown and white small seed eater" for now

 We recently had a rather large storm pass through the city and beyond and both Rob and I shot some photos... granted... Rob was exhausted and didn't leave the comfort of his own backyard.  Here are a variety of Rob's cloud shots along with some more of his inspirational prose

 

 

ISO - 250, F 13.0, Shutter Speed - 1/500th sec, Focal Length - 70mm, Exp. Comp - (-0.7)

 

ISO- 250, F 6.3, Shutter Speed - 1/500th sec, Focal Length - 16mm, Exp Comp - (-1.3)

"Finding Composition in textures and contrast - The Creation of a "Background" - These images move or direct the eye to a particular area of the image. This is accomplished with the placement of the lead or strong foreground element (The trees in each image or the white cloud in the bottom left of the purple sky). That area where the eye is lead to would be the most suitable place to add text or layer additional subjects. Ask yourself where you would add text to these images and why. How would you align the text, centered? right aligned? left aligned? etc." - another direct quote from Robert F. Weitzel (with the exception of the 2 spelling errors that I corrected).

I also ventured out into the wild not-so-blue yonder but soon realized that Rob was the smarter one as after heading East this is what I ran into:

 

No, that is not a pile of dust on the sensor. It is in fact massive hail surrounding my vehicle Unfotunately this is the price that is often paid when one likes to be a storm chaser. I am not posting my camera setting for this shot as this was hand held out of my running vehicle which makes this nothing more than a snapshot.

 After driving to get ahead of the storm it was possible to get a few lighning shots:

ISO - 100, F 16.0, Shutter Speed - 2.0 seconds, Focal Length - 55mm

 

ISO - 100, F 11.0, Shutter Speed - 2.0 sec., Focal Length- 81mm

Before we move on to the end of the blog I just realized that I forgot to add a photo of this little guy that I shot on my trip down south... as most of you know these little guys are everywhere down there and I'm sure that most of you have come across piles of them in your travels but I'm willing to bet that you have never come across one that was trained as well as him. While crouching down and taking some pics of him he kept turning his head and looking away everytime the shutter was pressed...I would move around so that he was facing me, go to take the picture and he would turn his head away again. This went on for about ten pictures until my patience was getting drained so I just finally told him to keep his head still...ironically enough he then did Yes, you can just call me the "lizard whisperer" from now on.

 

I also managed to stumble upon on of Arizona's famous beetles while at a rest stop along the way. Needless to say there is no image posted on the blog from me as this thing was about 4" long and there is no way that I was sticking around long enough!

I am very happy to announce that Rob now is the proud father of twins! Pictured below is the newest addition weighing in at around 2,000lbs and 76.2". She also boasts a towing capacity of 9,500lbs :) She will be a great addition to the VStrom 650 that he purchased last year. Please watch for my 2002 Honda Civic to be sporting some whizzy decals soon...yipee... am I ever lucky

Well, that's it for this addition. Please stay tuned as the blog will hopefully be getting back to a much more regular schedule as we have vowed to take it a bit easier over the summer so that means more time for shooting!

Devona & Rob