Dan's blog about Photography and things

 Never been to an air show... What's taken me so long?  It was pretty cool.  I've seen these aerial maneuvers on TV or YouTube, but seeing it live makes all the difference.  It was the Leesburg Airshow  held annually.  This one was on October 1st.  They're doing some crazy stuff up there!  They've provided a shuttle service from a nearby pick up area and the admission was free.  Can't complain about that.  I've always enjoyed aviation and the level of precision needed to fly these airplanes safely.  I've seen all the episodes of Air Disasters on the Smithsonian channel, so yeah I know all about aviation...  Restored vintage DC-3.  The "Yukon Sourdough" Here is an article about it . For this outing, I used my Leica Q2M camera .  I love the simplicity of this camera.  It was how photography used to be: shutter speed, aperture, and iso.  Those three things are the trinity of photography.  If you know how these three things are related to each other,

Over the summer I had the chance to hike the James Muir Trail (JMT) that runs along the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California.  This trail starts at the Yosemite Valley and ends at Mount Whitney summit, which is the highest point in the lower 48 states at 14,505 feet.  The trail is 211 miles long with total elevation gain of 47,000 feet.   Click here to see the entire gallery Me by Garnet Lake  This was not a "photo" expedition for me (even though I did take a small camera and took around 4K photos!) I had many reasons why I didn't want to make it a photography trip.  Do you want to know why? Ok. My hiking crew.  Mt. Ritter in the back there yonder. Reason number 1).  This was my first real through hike.  For you newcomers a "through hike" means to hike in one session or outing, the entire length of a particular trail.  I've done multi-day section hikes on the  Appalachian Trail (AT) before, but for this hike we scheduled 23 days.  So, this was not just a

I'm starting out on a series of photographs that's very exciting for me.  It is a completely a different approach.  I was playing around with the idea few years ago but now I decided to explore it some more. Canon 5d MK3 Click to see the entire gallery I caught the flashing meteor just as it was about to crash on the earth… Just kidding. This was done with long exposure and deliberately moving the camera for the desired effect.  The meteor is just the sun. Click to see the entire gallery Yes, it does look like an impressionistic painting. I assure you that there was no photoshop filters used.  Saturation, contrast and some tinting was used to get the colors the way I like it. Click to see the entire gallery This approach is so interesting for me because even though the image looks like an abstraction, it was derived from real life.  So in a way it straddles the world of your imagination and reality.  Or better yet, it blurs the boundary between the two rea

Canon 5D MK3, 50 1.2L, with 600EX-RT triggered by ST-E3-RT Click to see Portfolio  I've always held fast to the notion that there is nothing more beautiful of a light source than the natural light and I still do. I sometimes like to at least try to prove myself wrong. The reason being is that I believe that your ideas can, and should change… At least welcome the notion of that change. As it is true with many of my photographic ideas, some of the ideas have roots that goes way back.  I was flirting with the idea of shooting nature with electronic flash. Yes, that's sacrilegious to many including myself, till I realized that while believing in something strongly is good, holding onto something too strongly can lead to stagnation. And as we know, stagnation leads to death! Yes, Death! (repetition for dramatic effect). Canon 5D MK3, 50 1.2L, with 600EX-RT triggered by ST-E3-RT Click to see Portfolio  So today I headed out to the woods to test out this idea. Armed wit

I got to this little park in Leesburg and thought, 'Any other place would be better for pictures.' I usually think this when I get to a site. Shame on me, I know. Thinking about all the wonderful pictures that I'm missing out because I'm not in Bryce Canyon or at Yosemite. Or because the light is not right, it won't be good and such. Fuji x-100 See the entire collection So today I said, "The hell with it… I'm just going to use what is here and now and make the best of it." No excuses.  Matter of fact, I didn't even bring my big camera, Just my point and shoot (fuji x-100). I started to scan around to see if there's anything interesting. Fuji x-100 See the entire collection Where do you decide to see things from dictates your perspective of the photo. I knew that the snow on the ground was something that I was not used to seeing at this park so I headed into a small area of brush where the tall grass held onto the snow more than th