His post today on Inauguration Day made me smile: link

What marketers actually sell

Yes, 21.

And HD video too?

Yes.

Cool.

Overall, I’m super impressed with the new 5D, in many ways it’s an incremental refining of an already amazing camera.  They added weather seals (not the bomb proof seals of the 1D series, but good enough for light rain), an AF-ON button and AF micro adjust.  The menu system is upgraded and so is the LCD.  All good things.

The ISO range is amazing, and the new Auto ISO feature is the most flexible and functional I’ve ever used (either Canon or Nikon), it even takes into account the focal range of the lens being used in determing shutter speeds in AV mode.  Cool.

A test shot (Straight out of the camera JPG, resized and mild sharpening for the web)

Canon 5D mkII, 200mm f1.8L, 1/800th, f1.8, ISO 400, 21 megapixel large jpg

The whole image:

The 100% crop:

I’ll post some video and some more thoughts soon.

Thanks to my friend Shawn Reeder for inspiring me this morning with his beautiful work.

A few images from my walk:

technical notes: I took the Canon 5D, 100mm macro and 16-35mm f2.8L II - I often use a fairly high ISO for macro shots to allow a higher shutter speed and minimize camera and subject shake.

This is their ‘front yard’

Thanks for looking - go for a walk, wherever you are, it’s worth it.

~Bill

Erin and I decided at the last minute to go to the workshop and also check out the Photo Plus Expo at the Javits Center in Manhattan.  We got plane tickets and a hotel reservation just a couple days before we left. (!!) Jason recommended the Belvedere Hotel and it was perfect, just 3 blocks from Times Square, we walked to lots of cool sights.  Manhattan is another world, even the short buildings are 10 stories, the taxi drivers really are crazy, the sights, sounds and smells are intense!  We got in Monday afternoon and took a taxi into town from JFK - had dinner at an Italian place in Hells Kitchen and then headed to Jason’s studio for a pre-workshop meet and greet.

At the workshop on Tuesday we spent half the day talking business and then headed out to shoot.  Jason had lined up two sets of bridal models (they were great to work with!).  We did two shoots, one in the afternoon where I was carrying the cameras and Erin was working the lights and one after the sun went down in Times Square where we traded off and I worked the lights while Erin shot.  It’s always a little crazy shooting with a large group of photographers but we got some fun stuff - check it out:

These are from the night shoot with Erin shooting, the first one is down in the subway with one of the subway cops.

I love this one! Great job honey.

Here’s a shot of the instructors and the models - great job and a huge thanks from both of us!

We spent all day Wednesday seeing the sights and doing SO MUCH walking! It’s such an amazing city. We started with a bus tour through Times Square heading south, we got off at Macy’s and did some shopping (we both needed warm hats, it was cold on top of that bus!). Macy’s is more than 2 million square feet of shopping (ya, I said million)… Then we got back on the bus and rode it to Greenwich Village. We had lunch and walked through the campus of NYU and then walked 40+ blocks back up to Times Square for a drink at the Hard Rock Cafe. After that we walked to the Rockefeller Center, rode the elevator up the tower and took in the view from 68 stories up. After that we took a horse drawn buggy ride through Central Park and back to the hotel. After all that we headed to Jason’s famous yearly party. He had over 200 photographers from all over the country at his studio - it was packed - we got there a little late (about 10pm) so it wasn’t super crammed but there were still lots of people there - it was fun to catch up with people I’ve met before, meet new people and get to introduce Erin ( ).

Here are a few pictures from our sight seeing:

Times Square from the top of the bus

The Bus Tour Guide - a character for sure

It’s good to be home. But we didn’t even come close to seeing everything, we’ll just have to go back.

2008 Mason County Dodge Truck Rodeo

Head over to the Mode Blog to see some more, or click here for the full gallery.

~Bill

The gallery is here if you’re looking to order some prints.

Looking forward to the summer season.

~Bill

These shots were all created in the desert outside of Vegas using bright mid-day sun and my little portable off camera strobe:

I had such a great time at WPPI and at the shoot on Thursday, I can’t wait till next year!

~Bill

The whole set of images and print ordering can be found here: Budd Bay vs Eugene (last years are still available too)

They have a new sponsor, Ballyhoo Pub and Restaurant, so the jerseys are new this year.

I also shot 10 games at a middle school aged girls basketball tournament. The gallery is here.

A couple of my favorites:

My calendar is filling up and things are starting to get busy for the new year, and I like that

Have a great afternoon ~ Bill

I didn’t go outside to check it out till it was just past ‘total’, so by the time I set up my tripod, it looked like this…