FotoWeek 2017 Opening Party - 360 Views

Last night, I attended the opening party for DC FotoWeek, an event that is celebrating it's 10th anniversary.

(Click Here) to learn more about FotoWeek.

I took the opportunity to shoot some 360 degree panoramas with my new Ricoh Theta V, a badass little dual-sensor camera that makes these immersive images easy to produce.  Almost too easy.

Be sure to check out the final one, it's a funny little few second video of a toddler on the dance floor who takes an interest in my camera.

Here they are.  DON'T FORGET TO SCROLL AROUND AND ZOOM!

You get much better controls if you click on Theta in the bottom left of each image.

Post from RICOH THETA. #theta360 - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

Post from RICOH THETA. #theta360 - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

Post from RICOH THETA. #theta360 - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

Post from RICOH THETA. #theta360 - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

Post from RICOH THETA. #theta360 - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

A view from the fireplace:

Post from RICOH THETA. #theta360 - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

And finally, that video clip:

Autumn Color

I got out in the autumn colors today, from a vantage point at Bear's Den overlooking the Shenandoah Valley, less than an hour from home.  Here's the overall scene (don't forget that it's interactive - you can zoom and scroll around in the 360 degree panorama image if you click on image):

Post from RICOH THETA. #theta360 - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

And here are my favorite shots from the day, all shot with my Nikon D810.  The first two with the Nikkor 200-500mm, the rest with the Zeiss Milvus 50mm f1.4 (amazing lens!).

7 Day Black & White Challenge

My friend and co-worker nominated me to take part in a photo challenge on facebook, specifically, a 7-day black and white challenge.  The images are to be presented without words or description, and should not include people as subjects.

(Click Here) to see the challenge.

I’ve shown my results for days 1-4 above, all shot with either my iPhone SE or iPad Air.

Great fun, so far.

UPDATE:  Here's the final three

Dmc-365.blogspot.com

A new way to see “the Bean”

I frequently joke that the only thing to photograph in Chicago is the damned bean.  Honestly, I have to stop saying that, as this weekend in Chicago, where I’m attending the International Leica Society (LHSA) meeting has been quite engaging.

But, it took the Ricoh Theta V to make what I think is a unique image of the bean.  This was shot standing directly underneath it.

And here’s the interactive version.  Go ahead, scroll, zoom, look around!

Click Here!

Reed in the Darkroom - 360 degree view

Check this out.  I just got a new Ricoh Theta V camera, which uses two ultrawide angle lenses and two sensors to capture 360 degree spherical pictures.

Bringing together the old with the new, I shot an image in my darkroom with it.

Post from RICOH THETA. #theta360 - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

Be sure to scroll and zoom! Look up at the ceiling! Pretty darned cool, right?

DMC-365.blogspot.com

At the Skate Park

Had a blast today shooting around a bunch of uber-talented skaters and bikers.  The Nikon D810 just does everything right.

Still summer day out in the kayak.

I'm working on a nice collection of images from a recent trip to the Desert Southwest.  Just thought I'd get this posted in the meantime.

Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum

I live very close to Dulles Airport, and the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum.  The museum is incredible, and the collection includes many one-of-a-kind aircraft, including the Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.  Yet, I've always had trouble photographing there.  Essentially one huge open space, it's difficult to focus on any one thing or type of aircraft.  I'm shooting a jet fighter, and there's a biplane or helicopter, also in the field of view.

Well, today, I tried something different.  In order to isolate my subjects, I shot with a long telephoto lens (200mm f4 Micro-Nikkor, manual focus), which allowed me to focus on details of various air and space craft.  I cropped tight enough that the identity of any given aircraft is not obvious.  I also used a strong flash.  This allowed me to close down to smaller apertures, increasing depth of field, but more importantly allowed me to make anything in the background go completely black.  In other words, I only lit what I wanted to see, and the ambient light in the background was too low to show up in the pictures. 

Here are a few of my favorite results:

DMC-365.blogspot.com

Live Dead '69

Last night, I attended an amazing live music show at Bright Box, in Winchester, Virginia.  A celebration of the Grateful Dead, the show was called "Live Dead '69," and featured former Grateful Dead pianist Tom Constanten, Slick Aguilar of Jefferson Starship and the David Crosby Band, and Mark Karan who played with The Other Ones and Ratdog.

All of these images were shot on the Nikon Df, with the Nikkor 20mm f1.8 AF-S, Nikkor 85mm f1.8 AF-S, and Nikkor 50mm f1.4 AF-D lenses.  Processed in Lightroom to emulate Ilford Delta 3200 film, a treatment that I really like for live music images.

DMC-365.blogspot.com

Today on the National Mall

Leica M9, Fujinon L 5cm f2.8 LTM Lens

DMC-365.blogspot.com

A (Holga) Day in the Life

I decided to pull out an old, neglected camera today, the cute little Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX1.  I was in the mood for some low-thought, low-effort shooting, so I mounted the 25mm f8 Holga plastic toy lens.  Here is what I captured today:

DMC-365.blogspot.com

Spooky Stuff

 

Panasonic DMC-LX100

DMC-365.blogspot.com

A Portrait

 

Made with the early 60s Nikkor 5.8cm f1.4 lens on Nikon Df.  Amazing.

DMC-365.blogspot.com

Through the Generosity of Friends

Today, a wonderful friend gave me an incredible gift.  It is a Nikon F, black, with the plain prism, and a beautiful example of Nikon's first f1.4 normal lens for SLR cameras, the 5.8cm f1.4.  The most important feature of this kit is that it belonged to his father, a master photographer with an amazing history, but I'll write about that some other time, once I'm sure he's comfortable with me sharing his family history.

The camera body is serial number 6430001 making it the first in the production batch that began in November, 1960.  The lens was produced early in a batch that ran from March, 1960 to March, 1962.

The 5.8cm f1.4 Nikkor-S is a very special lens.  Famous not for sharpness outside of the center or lack of aberration, it is known for producing a very unique, pleasing image.  So much so that Nikon introduced a modern version in 2013.  Quite expensive, the new lens has many of the same qualities of the original, but with modern autofocus, etc.

(Click Here) for a nice review of the modern version on photographylife.com

(Click Here) for the story of how and why the original lens was developed. 

I can't wait to try the camera and lens out together with film.  So, tonight I mated the lens up with the awesome Nikon Df body and shot this:

 

iso 2000, f1.4, 1/125 sec

Note: This is my first post with a new blog editor, as it seems my favorite, blogsy, is no longer available.  I apologize for any format weirdness 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

01/20/2017 Inauguration Day

 

Happy New Year 2017!

Happy New Year to all of you! We continued our yearly tradition of running a 5k together (my best time yet), followed by traditional Japanese new year food (Osechi ryori):

 

From my family, please have a wonderful 2017!

 

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com