5D Mark III and a Trip to The Dog Park

  It is finally here, I've waited over a month after I ordered the camera to receive it, due to it being recalled and the long pre-order list. I now finally have my 5D Mark III. I've been waiting for this camera to be announced in the beginning of the year and it wasn't until the week after my birthday that it was announced by Canon. After having my Canon 30D for over 6 years, a 1.6x APS-C crop sensor camera body. I have been through a lot with that camera and have taken it across the country from Washington D.C., Texas twice, and Colorado. When I was in Washington D.C. I went with my classmates from the MSU Reporter to the Lincoln Memorial at night in the pouring rain. Luckily I had a rain covered camera bag, but that couldn't keep the body dry enough when I took it out too shoot. After that the shutter button on it has never been the same. Now that I have a back up camera body I will be able to part with it and send it in to get the shutter button repaired.

Canon 5D Mark III

   First off this camera feels so great in my hands, the ergonomics of it are fantastic. In fact the overall feel of the camera is outstanding, from the battery door to memory card door and the soft touch grip of the camera, it just has a better build to it. This is all exciting to me because I am coming from a Canon 30D. The new auto focus system with 61 AF points compared to my 9 point AF of the 30D are in no way equal. 99.9% of the time I use the center focus point which is the fastest functioning AF point. When I picked it up and set sights on our Bernese Mountain Dog Aspen, the 5D Mk III just nailed the focus on his eyes even in a dark room. Compared to my 30D it search for seconds to find something in a dark room and a dark subject.  That improvement alone amazed me. The image quality output and large rear LCD are beautiful.

   I am very excited to be shooting with a full frame (35mm) digital camera and look forward to taking more photos and sharing them with everyone. Check out a few photos below I shot the first day I received the camera. All the photos were shot with a 24-70 L f/2.8 . I will be spending a few weeks just trying to figure out all of the custom functions and play around with making videos as well.

  My future posts may consist of reviewing the camera and answering any questions people have for me. Please leave your comments and questions below. Thanks!

   Of course Aspen had to be my first model.

Aspen

2 Puppy Old English Bull Dogs at the North Rochester Dog Park

A boy throws Frisbee at the dog park in the late afternoon

The Road Home

    I am continuing my goal to take many more photographs this year and I feel I am going back to my interest in photographing the surrounding agricultural activity. Everyday I drive 45 minutes to work along a winding two lane asphalt road. Some days it takes me longer to get there due to combines in the fall or tractors with discs or planters in the spring.  During that commute I am guaranteed to always see some interesting wildlife such as a Bald Eagle in a field, or some gorgeous light early in the morning or late evening. 

   One project I have been interested in doing has been to document a farmer and their work. I would love to find a farmer willing to let me follow them around and stop by every so often to doucment their way of life that supports so many people in the world. 

    The landscape of old barns and silos are dwindling away and being replaced my tilled land or new steel sided buildings. Over time these iconic symbols will vanish due to deterioration and replacement. For now I will make sure to stop and get out to shoot some interesting images of what I see. 

Winona County farmer tills his land with disc in the March afternoon.

Cattle gather on a green hill top with calves to graze.

Burr Oak tree emerges with leaves

Spring Thoughts

    There is something to be said about the sights, smells and feeling of the sun warming your soul during spring. It is the fresh air and and unfettered feeling of being able to comfortably walk outside with out a coat on anymore. The environment becomes alive with the sounds of song birds singing and chirping. The contrasting beautiful green pushing up from the ground amongst the brown decaying grass sends a vibrant rejuvenating sight to my eyes.

   I look for this year to bring a lot of different things in life with many new adventures. This year I have the great honor of photographing two weddings with amazing couples. With that there are plans to shoot some engagement photos as well. The season change means it will be a great time to get out and start doing outdoor portraits again.  It is going to be a lot of fun working with the couples and getting to know them while capturing photos of their love for each other.

 
   I will leave you with some spring foliage photos from around the yard.

Canon 30D with 50mm f/1.8

Lilac bush - Canon 30D with 50mm f/1.8

Elm Tree - Canon 30D with 50mm f/1.8

 I was out practicing shooting with my Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens to play with the beautiful Bokeh and it's macro focusing abilities. When I came home Friday afternoon I had to act capture some photos before it became too dark.

Shooting With Film

     Over a month ago my great friend Mike asked if I would want his 35mm Nikon SLR. I was excited he was willing to give me his Nikon N50 with two lenses and some film. I promised to use it and was excited at how much fun it is to use. Not only is the camera body light and responsive the lenses are great. One is a Nikon 35-80mm and the other is the Nikon 80-240mm, both really good lenses that are easy to carry around.

    There is something about taking a photograph and not being able to "chimp" and check out the photographs right after to see how it turned out or decided to try something different and shoot again. Shooting with film will train you to make each photograph count. This can force you better execute your photograph by taking the time to think everything through that you are doing before you press that shutter button.

    I grew up shooting film and the only camera I ever had where I could instantly see the results of my work was by using a Polaroid camera. Sure I could see each picture after I took it, but Polaroid film packs are not cheap. I still had to be careful with each picture I took, otherwise I'd be begging my parents for more film.

    So if you get the urge to shoot an older camera I encourage you to do so now. I am not sure how much longer we will be able to ever take film to the store to get developed, or how many mail in photo labs will be around in the next 10 years to develop your film. But use this time to get out and shoot your film cameras and take your time to think about each photo before you take it. Make it count. I guarantee it will help cut down on the bad photos you later take with a digital camera, and you will come home after being out photographing with some extra space on a memory card.

    Then when you get your film developed you will actually purchase some prints, even if they are 4x6. How many of you take thousands of digital photos and have a fraction of what you shoot not printed because you can just look at the photos on your computer?

    Here are just some examples of some of the film I had developed recently testing the camera's capabilities out. I had them developed and scanned to a CD at the store.

Car windshield after rainfall.  Kodak Max 400, Nikon N50, 80-240mm Copyright Raymond Starin 2012

                              Aspen.  Kodak Max 400, Nikon N50, 35-80mm  Copyright Raymond Starin 2012

Picasso exploring the yard. Kodak Max 400, Nikon N50, 35-80mm Copyright Raymond Starin 2012

Spring flowers. Kodak Max 400, Nikon N50, 35-80mm Copyright Raymond Starin 2012

Thank you Mike, I can't thank you enough. You are one amazing friend!

Winter Photography

When it comes to winter in Minnesota, the past few years have been practically polar opposites in terms of precipitation. The lack of snow makes for great driving conditions, but unappealing settings for photos. So when you are looking to capture great photographs of winter I suggest thinking small. Like the photograph above I was lucky enough to stumble upon these ice crystals during a dense fog on this chain link fence. It is easy for to just stand back and take a photo of the frost covered fence, but the surrounding landscape did not provide for a clean focused image.

When you look at a subject you should always be mindful of what is going on in your background. If you have a busy or distracting background you will want to see if you can create enough "Bokeh" or a shallow depth of field with a wide angle lens. Use this to throw the foreground and background out of focus and keep your focal point tack sharp to draw a viewer's eye in to your subject. By using a large aperture ie. f/1.4 setting on your camera you can achieve this when you are zoomed in or at a long focal length.

Get out and photograph!

New Year

The big Twenty Twelve (2012) is finally in full swing and I am now halfway though January already. I know this will live up to be an eventful and great year. My fiance will finally graduate with her B.A. this
spring and hopefully start graduate school. I also have a lot planned in terms of focusing on my photography work. This year I have several friends getting married with plans to be their photographer, as well as more portraits to photograph.

While I have more opportunities for photographing more clients I have also been dedicated to growing my technical and proficiency in photography by studying more and reading.
So far this month Erika and I have been to another Land O'Lakes Dog Show in St. Paul, MN. Unfortunately the Bernese Mountain Dogs did not win best in show as we would like them to. Several of our friends in the Bernese Mountain Dog Club of the Twin Cities did win best of breed and placed very well over the  multiple day show.

We also were recently at the Red Bull Crashed Ice Competition in St. Paul , MN. Luckily it did snow this day, which I am sure helped the landscape of St. Paul look much more like winter, with our very long dry spell. Erika and I did not stick around too long since we could not see much of the race. We thought we will enjoy it even more when it will be on TV January 21st. I just wish there were better vantage points to view event or screens.It was really cool to watch from what we could see and nice to see Minnesota showcased for a winter event such as this.

It was incredible to see what I would guess would be tens of thousands of people in attendance at the event. The whole down town of St. Paul was lively with a Brad Paisley concert at the Xcel, and Sportsman show at the River Center, there was an over abundance of activity.


Come check out my website and view my more recent work or contact me. Also be sure to follow me this year as I will once again try my best to write more.

Land O'Lakes Kennel Club

It was a dog day at the Saint Paul River Centre when more than 2,500 dogs competed for their American Kennel Club honors. The Land O'Lakes Kennel Club Dog Show took place over 3 days of man's best friend competing. It was the first time Erika and I ever attending a Dog Show. Erika intends on breeding and showing Bernese Mountain Dogs some day, and I had a good chance to check out some sporting breeds for my self, specifically the Chesapeake Bay Retriever.

Junior handler presents her dog

The staging area for the handlers and dogs

A Pomeranian is inspected during the toy dog group best of show