Washington pictures are now up

I know I've been off of here for a little while, but I'm back! I just wanted to let readers know that I've posted quite a few pictures on the other blog from our trip to Washington State - there's a few neat ones, including the above image I took of a bear right across the river from us. If you want to check them out click Here.

Givin' it up to get the picture

I don't know if this is a real picture or a product of someone's Photoshop abilities, but assuming it is real, it's impressive that someone could give it up like that to get the shot he or she wanted.

It's also worth noting that this photographer is holding one expensive rig. The EOS 3 is one of Canon's finest film cameras, and the white lens, while I cannot tell you the focal length from this picture, is not cheap. Any of Canon's white lenses are almost always of the "L" variety, and they are pricey indeed, and a professional quality lens. I hope the photog's persistence paid off and the risk was worth it, because one trip or a wrong maneuver would probably cost four figures with that equipment.

The Humvee of photography lenses

Sigma, manufacturer of photography equipment, recently unveiled a mammoth photography lens that I can hardly even comprehend. These pictures defy description, so I'm not going to try. Take a look at this...

Take the biggest, baddest SLR you can find, strap it to the end of this baby, and it's gonna look like a dimple on a golf ball.

When I first saw this pic, my first thought was, "Holy Crap!" and not because of the model. The end of the lens has a bigger circumference than her head. The lens cap must look like a manhole cover.

Look how puny and funny the lens mount looks. The lens, a 200-500mm F2.8 (constant throughout!) weighs in at a whopping 35 pounds. It comes with its own handle, and LCD screen (see below). It's the understatement of the year that the lens must be mounted on a tripod. Just imagine trying to pick up the set-up of a camera attacked to this lens by the camera - S-N-A-P!

I love the fact that the lens has its own LCD. Cool.

A few technical details, just for the fun of it, from DP Review:

The APO 200-500mm F2.8 EX DG is the world's first ultra-telephoto zoom lens that offers a fast aperture of F2.8 at 500mm focal length. It covers the widely used 200 to 500mm focal length range, and maintains its fast F2.8 aperture over the entire zoom range. Four SLD (Special Low Dispersion) glass elements provide excellent correction for all types of aberrations and produce a high level of optical performance throughout the entire zoom range.

Shooting distance and focal length can be viewed on the LCD panel, which is an additional convenience for the photographer.

A filter can be inserted toward the rear of the lens, and a circular polarizing filter can be used with its ingenious rotation mechanism.

A dedicated APO TELE CONVERTER 2x EX DG II is supplied as a standard accessory with the APO 200-500mm F2.8 EX DG.

Its exclusive design minimises image degradation usually associated with teleconverters. When this dedicated teleconverter is used with the lens, it becomes a large aperture 400-1000mm F5.6 AF Ultra-Telephoto Zoom lens.

A 400-1000 lens? Rancid! I was telling my friend Jen today that with this lens, you could live in Los Angeles and tell your friends in San Francisco to "say cheese."

If I ever win the lottery and become a millionaire dozens of times over, I'd buy this for a conversation piece as much as to find some use for it. You'd need to win the lottery to afford it. The price tag is a cool $10,000 (estimated), but for those of you eager to lug one away, you've got time to save - it's not available yet.

Pictures via DP Review

Amazing lightning pic of Empire State Bldg.

This morning, I found this amazing picture of lightning striking the Empire State Building yesterday. What an awesome shot. I'd credit the photographer, but I've found it on multiple sites, and none of them have identified who took it.

Thunderstorms are one of my favorite things about summer. Anyone who has sat through a Philly thunderstorm on a hot, sticky evening knows who's boss - Mother Nature, as always.

I've always wanted to photograph lightning, and someday I will. It's not the easiest thing to photograph - when opportunity and luck meet, I just might get a good shot. I'd love to get one half as cool as this one.

Cool pic - change of seasons

I love this stuff. Someone spent a significant amount of time putting it together, and I'm guessing it was a dedicated photographer.

via

One smart photographer

I've got lots of political stuff I want to get to tonight, but I wanted to bring you some fun stuff first to take a break from all of the serious stuff. This is ingenuity that anyone can appreciate, but that a photographer should be able to appreciate even more...

Genius!

I'm sure that gets heavy after a while, but I bet this guy could make more than a few bucks if his location is right.

'Way cool.

We certainly have come a long way since the Polaroid, haven't we? I'm just old enough to remember how cool of an invention the Polaroid camera was. Those were the days.

The technology we now use to take pictures is flat-out amazing compared to what we had 25 years ago.

Some random pictures

One of my New Year's Resolutions that I'm happy to write I'm sticking to is to have a camera with me pretty much all the time. Every day when I make the long journey to my job, I bring my new trusty HP Photosmart R967 with me. As much as I love my Canon EOS 5D, it's not always practical for me to take it everywhere. If all else fails, I always have my Motorola Razr phone, which has a below average digital camera.

It's not like I expect to capture wonderful, perfect images in my every day travels, but that's not the point. I just wanted to have the following situation happen as seldom as possible this year: "I wish I had a camera with me!"

Having said that, I captured a few in the last week or so that I thought I'd share.

I got this one from my car on Super Bowl Sunday, on my way to the store. This was taken on the corner of Broad and Vine Sts. in Philadelphia. I wasn't aware that Marvin Harrison is a native Philadelphian, but he is - he is a graduate of Roman Catholic High School (the school above.)

Regardless of Harrison's pedigree, it's awfully brave for a school to put up a sign like that in Philly. I'm sure more than a few Eagles fans considered knocking out a few windows, at the very least.

Anyway, it's not often you see a prominent sign in Philly that's rooting for a non-home team, so it was worth a shot.

Once I got to Shoprite to do some Super Bowl shopping last Sunday, I parked in front of the car above, and I immediately reached for my camera. Really, it defies description. I don't have the words, other than to say that the stuff on the hood isn't some artsy design, unless you consider dive-bombing birds artsy.

Simply hilarious.

Once I reached the checkout, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the latest edition of The Globe. Evidently, the Bushes have separated. Who knew? And why isn't the mainstream press picking up on this story? *Laughing*

Anyway, I have many more pictures of the serious variety that I will post later in the weekend - including Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam and the Super Bowl. I know, I know, I've been promising them for a while, but I just finished up what can only be described as a super crappy week. So, this weekend's catch-up time.