Ahh, dumplings with peanut and soy sauce for breakfast. This place would not rate above a C in California and I have no idea how old the cloth in the bottom of the steam trays was but the service was friendly, the food good and the company was excellent. 12RMB fed four of us for breakfast daily, that's roughly $1.85USD. Of course we did bring our own water but when a case of 24 was ~$4USD that doesn't add much to the cost.

This was a 'grab' shot that existed for all of about 10 seconds when our hosts sister walked up and stood next to her. I would have liked to meter better but I saw it, framed it and got two shots off before the situation changed. Shutter was slow so I even with IS it ended up a single useful frame. I really like the shot though.

Taken in a street market in China this fall, I really love the overall feel of this image. I am putting together a gallery of offerings from the trip that will help support future travel efforts. I'll add a link when I get the portal online. All the shots from the trip were shot with available light and my 5D. It was a challenge but the 5D AWB is AWESOME, personally I think it's better than my 1DMIII.

Forever getting sucked into high contrast, I love dark backgrounds when using my lighting although getting some egg crates would definitely help with my spill management. This was a first attempt at mimicking a favorite shot of my friend Duane's that he took of his daughter.

Sometimes the stress of shooting just gets to me so I have to think of new and innovative ways to express my frustration. EJ helps this with an experiment in exposure management using a couple of soft boxes and seeing just how much fun we can have with them.

Okay, so my abstract artist or background guy suddenly came along and said to me...shoot this, you'll love it. It looked okay on the small screen but I am much more fond of it on the large screen and may even do a print of it. Let me know what you think. And guess what it is...:)

Deathmatch or welcome to my parlor. This was a long and drawn out battle...the fly is going to get it in the end but I tried a couple of different techniques with my not so macro 24-105 just to see if I could pull them off...it was fun, not for the fly though.

Well I never got around to posting my shots from WPPI so I thought I'd throw a few in for good measure. Worked in a class with Claude Jodoin of Rangefinder fame and got to see a lot of ideas with strobes, scrims, meters and other effects. It was interesting and I learned a lot. Met a trio of ladies from Utah that also were at WPPI and had the pleasure of getting to hang out and shoot some on the strip. The last shot in this list is actually in front of Caeser's and believe it or not, while we were shooting there was a guy getting busted by bicycle cops only 30 feet away. Stay focused in the right places young Jedi.

Fun with slow shutters and strobing flashes...this action shot of my son captures his swing including as seen in the out take below, the ball changing directions. Shot with my Canon in 50hz strobe mode at a minimal power setting it seems to have worked out kinda cool.

Exploding out of the gate at the PRCA Rodeo in Lancaster/Palmdale, this bronco was frozen with the gate door open so I waited that extra second before I fired. ISO 6400 at 2.8/320 did the trick. It was an exciting rodeo and we all had fun.

You can view the complete selection at PRCA Gallery. Everything from barrel racing, bull riding, bareback and bronc busting. Almost all of the photos were taken at ISOs 3200 and 6400.

Malara running full bore for the camera. Tracking was pretty good considering I was laying on the ground upside down with her running like made around the yard. I wouldn't do a 16x20 of this but she had fun. Only used Picasa touchups for fill light, contrast, straighten and sharpen...okay, that's more than a little but like I said, it was for the fun of it.

The commute today was busy with a multi vehicle accident on the 14 in Rosamond. Many support personnel on the scene with helicopter, heavy wrecker and lots of other EMS folks. The responders had everything well in hand and when I spoke to the crew chief for the helicopter, he indicated that the crew working on the injured was one of the best he knew. The tractor trailer looked to be carrying lumber/trusses and the smaller vehicle was in rough shape. I was able to shoot from the highway and the bridge with my 24-105.

My take on the lunar eclipse from the Antelope Valley. The wind was ripping tonight and my hands felt like they were going to freeze off. The family enjoyed the adventure. Many minutes of totality, or at least cool red colors. Exposure waas tricky as was keeping the tripod steady. Live view was awesome and worked great to help with framing.

Laura Tsaggaris came to town last night at my friend Al's house and played an awesome set. She is a fantastic folk guitarist with a great voice, wonderful presence and excellent playing. She is in California for a week or so (you can find her on myspace) and she is definitely worth a listen. I only caught about four songs and will be doing the iTunes thing for them. I caught a few shots of her from the front row and put together this poster to share. She was great.

I must say that if it weren't for Zack and Brian and the folks that gave me the GREAT orange ear plugs, the evening would not have been possible. Courtesy of Zack and Brian I had GREAT access to angles around the stage shot all night with my 5d and no flash (which made for some wild shots when the lighting got more difficult). Backstage was GREAT with the band members and great company and conversations with everyone. The people at the event were polite and pleasant throughout the evening. I can't say enough about how well the event was run, security was handled and sound controlled. Granted, the volume was way louder than ANYTHING I normally listen to but that's why the ear plugs were PRICELESS! So I've been thinking about some of the things I learned.

1. AIDS in Africa is devastating the nation and they need our help.
2. World Vision is doing something about it, support them.
3. Everyone can pull together toward a common goal.
4. The Vineyard has their act together in so many ways.
5. People worship differently in different places but love the same GOD.
6. People listen to different music but serve the SAME GOD.
7. GOD is great and worthy to be praised, in many different ways, not just mine.
8. God blessed us with our senses to bless others, take care of them.
8a. THANKS FOR EARPLUGS!
9. I look forward to serving as photographer for more events at the Vineyard if I have the chance.
10. God is good, all the time. Even when we can't and don't understand. Serve Him.

Grace be with you!

The main event of the evening, Project 86 from Orange County was the epitomy of intense. These guys were louder and harder than both of the opening acts combined. Band members Andrew Schwab, Randy Torres, and Steven Dail had the crowd prepped by the openers and when they took the stage at about 9pm, the wave of sound was overwhelming. All the proceeds from the evening were directed to help World Vision take care of AIDS orphans in Africa and I must say the crowd got there money's worth in support of a good cause. If you haven't seen the experience yet, it's available at the Vineyard through Monday so don't miss it!

Josh, Daniel, Dan and the guys from Empire of Light rocked the house at Desert Vineyard in Lancaster as the second opener for Project 86. Josh's hard core style and the driving music was an intense experience. You can find them on MySpace at Empire of Light. Josh's voice is amazing and while they are a bit more METAL than I can listen to, the experience and the energy was pretty amazing. I hope everyone who got to hear them enjoyed the show and even more so that everyone took the time to see the World Vision AIDS Experience that was just across the hall from the concert. There were people going through the event throughout the evening and everyone I talked to was amazingly polite. Meeting Josh after the show was great and having the opportunity to shoot the event was incredible.

Daniel, Josh, Jenna and Lane of His Coming Day performed Friday night at the Desert Vineyard in Lancaster, CA in support of the World Vision educational event on AIDS in Africa. The band played old and new music from the more mainstream to songs that specifically reached out to today's youth.

Shots from a recent dance party I attended. I took this photo for the guys with the intention of trying to create something cool and unique. As you can see, the ceiling and background definitely made it unique. I was able to do some quick edits, clean out the background (somewhat challenging as I was tired), drop in a gray backround, difference clouds to liven it up and added a selective 'coolness' filter from lightroom. Et voila, I thought it came out pretty well. It does well up to 12x18 and with some fluidity on the background removal, I think it would go bigger. I hope the guys like their unique and somewhat intimidating shot.

Ken Ham, world renowned speaker and president of the Answers in Genesis, speaks at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds, Poppy Pavilion in the Lancaster, CA. His message is one of the importance of the biblical record of Genesis and how it is really the foundation or bedrock of all that Christians hold dear.

Ken's engaging manner and candid approach to presenting the creationist viewpoint on what works and what doesn't in modern science. Using examples of fossilization, the differing dates resulting from comparative analysis of things ranging from sedimentary rock, lava flows and other geologic formations, Ken expands on the scientific details in an easy to understand but convincing fashion.

In between sessions, Ken took time to talk to individuals and small groups who waited to discuss his position and other areas of interest.

The audience was comprised of many local residents including a number of aerospace engineers, government personnel, and many homeschool parents. It was encouraging to see the diversity of people who chose to attend and participate in the event.







Ken will be speaking again tomorrow at the Poppy Pavilion from ~6:00pm to 8:30pm and there is a store on site where educational materials can be purchased.