Political Pilgrimage

I'm headed to Washington D.C. for Barack Obama's inauguration in January. I have no idea whether I'll get a ticket or not; it goes without saying that demand for tickets is through the roof. But I'm excited to travel to another part of the country and take pictures!

I'm already planning which lenses I want to bring with me. While I would love to take my 70-200mm f/2.8 beast, I do not want to be lugging that around with me all day. As of now I'm going with my 10.5mm fisheye and my 50mm f/1.4, both of which are quite compact.

And I'm finally going to get Nikon's 18-200mm VR II lens. This lens was all the rage when it first came out. It was sold out for months. It's not a professional lens, so it isn't really suited for portrait or wedding work. But from what I hear it's a great walking-around lens.

I can't wait to walk around DC with it!

Sigma 10-20mm

I love this lens. I've been wanting one for a long time but was not sure how practical it would be. It doesn't stop down to 2.8. But then, it's wider than the Nikon, Tokina, and Tamron zoom lenses in the same category.

So I decided to go with a wider lens that was a tad bit slower. And it's a lot of fun! The above picture was taken at the Long Beach Grand Prix. They had an exhibit on green cars inside the convention center. I'm not sure if you can tell by the picture, but it's a Lexus sedan with a matte black finish. It looks very, very cool.

And it looks even cooler shot at 10mm; instead of looking like a regular car, it looks like the Batmobile. I was practically leaning right over the hood, and the car still looks like it's a few feet away.

I can't wait to try some portraits with this lens. They may not be flattering, but they'll definitely be interesting.

Canon's New Beast

I'm a Nikon person. Why? Because when I took my very first photography class, my professor used Nikon. She recommended that we use Nikon. So, I went out and bought a Nikon FM10 and a few lenses to go with it. When I bought my first digital SLR I contemplated buying a Canon, but Nikon had their hooks in me and I didn't feel like making the switch.

And after that I didn't give Canon equipment much thought, until I chanced upon a review of their newest camera, the EOS-1Ds Mark III (man, that's a long name). What caught my eye wasn't any cool features or interesting specs, but the price tag - $8,000. That's a good $3,000 more expensive than Nikon's top-of-the-line camera, the D3.

Not that it matters, since I can't afford either camera anyway. But it's nice to think that Nikon's best is more affordable than Canon's best. And when I really start raking in the big bucks, I'll lay out for a Hasselbad H3DII-39: a nifty $33,995. Just to show I've earned it.

Play With Your Toys

I'm the first to admit that I often suffer from gear lust - I have a a mile-long list of all the lenses, lights, camera bodies, studio gear, and miscellaneous gadgetry that I know will make my photography infinitely better.

And I'm the first to admit that it's a ridiculous theory.

People are quite capable of using the finest, most expensive camera equipment on the planet and producing nothing but garbage. And people can take a cardboard box with a hole punched in it and make amazing images.

So it's nice to take a cheap plastic camera, throw some film in there, and see what happens. No exposure meters, no LCD monitors. That excitement when you pick up your film from the lab and see what you ended up getting. It's definitely a change of pace.

I received a Diana camera as a gift, along with 10 rolls of film. I just developed the first roll; the above image was shot on Fuji Velvia 100. It was taken in San Pedro, overlooking the harbor. The unpredictable aspects - the lens flare, the vignetting - is what makes this kind of photography so much fun.