Vietnam Memorial

While working in Washington DC recently, my wife and I took the opportunity to wander around some of the monuments and memorials.  I have seen these in books and on the news, but it was a totally different experience to see them in person.  The Vietnam Memorial was one of the places we visited.  While shooting this and the other monuments and memorials, I struggled with trying to find and create unique images.  (I just did a Google image search for "Vietnam Memorial" and it returned 4.3 million results.)  So, my question to you is: did I succeed in capturing this memorial in a unique way?

Images were created using the Canon 7D and the Canon 24-105mm f/4.0L IS lens.

Mom's Flowers

If you know my mom, you know that she grows some pretty fantastic flowers.  We were at mom's yesterday for Father's Day, and I just happened to have my camera with me, so I grabbed a few shots.

Images were created with the Canon 7D and the Canon 24-105mm f/4.0L IS lens.

Hollywood

I spent a few days in California recently for work.  We stayed at cool, old hotel on Hollywood Blvd.  One morning, I took a wander with my camera.  I had slept a little longer than I had planned, so the sun was a little further up than I had wanted.  Despite the strong light, I was able to get some decent images.

These were created with the Canon 7D and the Canon 24-105mm f/4.0L IS lens. 

In the Garden

A couple of images taken in my garden yesterday morning.  It looks like we should be getting some good fruit and vegetables this summer!

Canon 7D - Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro

Little Planets

My friend Tony posted an interesting image this morning that used a technique I had not seen before.  In a nutshell, it takes an ordinary image and turns it into a "little planet".  Tony was kind enough to share a link with a tutorial on how the effect is achieved.  The process is actually pretty simple, the tricky part is using the right image.  I tried this with a bunch of images and got varrying results.  Here's a few of the good ones.  (No, you can't see the bad ones)

This first one is created from a single image that was taken on Lover's Beach in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico earlier this year.

This is a single light painting image.  More of a sea shell feel to this one.

This is a single image of New York City, taken from the top of Rockefeller Center.

This is the view looking North, towards Central Park.

Another view from Rockefeller Center, this time looking South.

I love how the Empire State Building stands out.

This one was created from a 9 image, 360° panoramic image taken on top of an old gun bunker at Ft Tilden in New York.

This image of San Francisco was created using the panoramic banner image at the top of my blog.

Uh, Daaaad

This sideways look over the glasses is usually accompanied by an "Uh, Daaaad"  and is her response to being teased.  I get this look a lot.

Canon 7D - Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro

New York City Panorama

This is a 180° view of New York City, taken from the top of the Rockefeller Center.
You can see that the software struggled with the foreground and with some of the buildings,
but overall, it is an interesting image, and a great view of the city.

This is 6 images taken with the Canon 5D Mk II and the Canon 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye lens.

The images were converted to jpeg in Lightroom 3 and stitched together in Photoshop Elements 9.

Ft Tilden - Bunkers

On my recent visit to New York, my brother and I spent a morning wandering around  Ft. Tilden.  This is an old military base that was turned over to the National Park Service in the early 70's.  When active, the base served as a coastal artillery installation and eventually was used as a missile base as well.  The area is now overgrown with thick, coastal forest.  It is a bit surreal to be wandering the trails and come upon one of the massive gun bunkers, shelters, or barracks.  The largest bunkers housed a 70 foot long gun that shot 16" projectiles as far as 25 miles out to sea.  Pretty amazing to stand there, no more than about 10 miles from Manhattan,  and contemplate why these were built.  Now, the structures are in disrepair, overgrown, and covered in graffiti.  If you are ever in NYC and have a bit of time to kill, it is worth making the trip to Ft Tilden.

Images were created using the Canon 5D Mk II and the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L and Canon 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye lenses.