It was definitely time for a sleek refresh.
More to come soon to the gallery once I make a free moment between work, school, and upcoming travel plans!
Super Ecliptical
The supermoon eclipse on Sunday night was actually kind of hard to view on the West Coast, let alone get interesting shots of... as evidenced by the last lunar eclipse I tried to photograph in April 2014. Photographing astronomical phenomena is like trying to play with freaking Goldilocks - last time we had to stay up late for it. This time, it was almost too early and still too light out for a great shot. Last time around, I focused on getting interesting and clear shots of the moon itself by experimenting with exposure times and a tripod. This time around, I stepped up my game to think about interesting composition, but perspective wasn't working out in my favor. The holy grail shot I was going for was a huge moon next to some interesting landscape, but it wasn't dark enough yet when the moon rose and the eclipse started. And it was pretty hazy out by the beach. Seeing the extraordinary images pop up all over the internet, I'm sure I could have gotten it if I traveled for hours to a dark and isolated place with some interesting mountainous backdrop, but that wasn't going to happen given my schedule as of late.
Still, I'm pretty happy with the shots and loved the opportunity to bust out the tripod at the beach. As I posted on Instagram on the moment: Day 5: The beach, a tripod & my DSLR. I'm in my happy place.
Active Shooting Hours: 3 Review Hours: 2 Hours To Date: 283
So Long, Sweet Summer
The one criticism I've always heard from non-Californians is the fact that there aren't seasons here - just perfect warm, sunny skies (sans-humidity, thank you very much). I'm not sure if that's held true the last few weeks where we've hit 95, humid, and thunderstorms, which have wreaked havoc on our roadways and commutes... but I will say that the only sense that summer is coming to an end is the fact that I'm back to the stacked school and career routine next week. Before I dove into pre-term assignments and optimizing my calendar with syllabi, I did make it out to the coast to capture those summer rays to dress up my walls and give me something to list for when I'm in the throes of studying and winter. I also managed to get in some practice with sports photography at a work kickball tournament team-building, but I won't be posting those at the request of the subjects. Suffice to say that harsh lighting, shade, and moving subjects and spectators were all interesting and new challenges. I definitely think the 55-200mm kit lens wasn't necessarily right for the challenge - while it's a great generalist lens to have for 80% of situations, it's not amazingly fast to get those mid-motion images with sweet, creamy bokeh. In any case, sports photography really isn't my bag as I'm definitely the casual fan who appreciates specific athletes (paging Aaron Rodgers, Marshawn Lynch, and Ronda Rousey) as opposed to the fanatic who obsesses over fantasy stats. Not to mention it adds the whole new level of expenses in procuring decent seats/position for great shots to an already pricy hobby.
Active Shooting Hours: 5 Review Hours: 2 Hours To Date: 278