Snow was falling on Penn State’s University Park campus in mid December 2013. Students had organized a vigil in front of the central administration building, Old Main, as a memorial for the Sandy Hook victims killed one year earlier. These images were taken after the event.
This past week I was in Europe, in Germany and the Netherlands. Thursday I was stuck inside all day due to rain, but after dinner the rain let up and I went out with my camera and the very nice (and relatively inexpensive) Tokina AF 12-24mm f/4 AT-X 124 Pro DX II Lens. This is about half the price ($495) of the Nikon equivalent and is a solid, great performing lens. The challenge I set for myself was to just use this lens, no switching, forcing me to think in wide angle terms. The f4 setting let in a fair amount of light and the D7000 range resulted in (I think) decent photos.
I have often been told by professional friends that giving yourself an assignment is the best way to keep yourself engaged and learning in your photography. I have done this in various ways, but especially in just taking pictures of what I see everyday. A recent post on Digital Photography School makes the same point. I even have an entire flickr set just for backyard photos. These few show some extremes in lens length.
Penn State’s Old Main during a recent snow shower.
Just a few snaps while we all get ready for Christmas. The lights on the boy was an experiment that worked in the sense that it should me what not to do. These two pics are the only ones that looked decent, but I will try it again in the studio over break.
I was in San Francisco for business this week and only had my iPhone 4S with me. I snapped these first two shots with that. The image of the “guest” asleep in front was taken a year before with a D7000. As I noted at the time on my flickr account,
The mild weather no doubt contributes to the large number of homeless people in San Francisco. The Samovar Tea Lounge is a beautiful and amazing place for tea and treats at the Yerba Beuna Gardens. It is very expensive, however, and the condition of the gentleman in the foreground shows in stark contrast to the average Samovar customer.
The iPhone (or any phone camera) makes for a nice surreptitious shot. I certainly would not (and did not) hide the fact that I was taking a picture, but it is so common place now that no one took notice. I like the active expressions of those engaged in conversation in this picture.
