Terrell Photo Walk

Brian led the Terrell part of Scott Kelby's worldwide photo walk project. It was nice to hang out with other photo buffs and look for pictures just for the fun of it. It is also intriguing to see what photos other people see and capture from the same place and time.

I decided to take minimal equipment, and just try to work creatively with whatever I took. To mix it up a little bit, I took a manual focus Canon T90 film camera along as well.

Digital - (I was shooting for the Tribune as well)

Canon 5D, 24-70mm, Lensbaby Composer

Film -

Canon T90

55mm f1.2

20mm f2.8

And the results...


The Lensbaby really is a fun toy and deserves more time on the camera.

There is a group on flickr with photos from several members of the group...

Have a great weekend everyone... take some great pictures!

Don J.

Uh oh.... EastTexasVideo?

There are a lot of good reasons to have a decent point-and-shoot camera, and the EastTexasPhoto household has been due for an upgrade for quite a while.

With the wife's blessing (she needs a camera too, you know) I looked at reviews, stuck with Canon and ordered an SD4000 is. I only had today to play with it before Mrs. EastTexasPhoto takes it out of town for the weekend, but so far I like it a lot.

Upside- reasonably simple interface and functionality. It should be easy to master the fun features. It is small, and at 10 megapixels, it is plenty of file size with what is supposed to be quite good low light performance. The lens is f2.0 at 24mm equivalent, and iso goes up to 3200, but I haven't played with it in the dark just yet.

Downside- no total manual control capability. Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority are in there though. I'm pretty sure that if I want to shoot manually, I will just use an SLR.

The other interesting possibility is that this camera shoots HD video. I am way behind the video learning curve, but here is a quick ride through Terrell after work. I'm just checking that iMovie and YouTube, Blogger and my brain are all cooperating. Apparently I seriously killed the video quality in the process, but it is fun anyway...
Music is the Steep Canyon Rangers playing on my truck radio.

When she returns, I will test further...

Don J.

Quick Pic - Sports Portrait

Had some fun this morning doing a quick set-up for a portrait of Matthew Rich, who has qualified for the Junior Olympic Nationals event in Sacramento, California. He is in the decathlon... 10 events over two days.

This was shot with the Tribune's 50D, two Elinchrom BxRI500s and a small Canon flash with a red gel for the back wall.


See his story in the Thursday Tribune.

There is still room for folks in the Terrell part of the Worldwide Photo Walk on Saturday.. grab a camera and have some fun with other shutterbugs. For visitors outside of the area, you can also go to that link to find a photowalk near you.

I'm expecting a new point-and-shoot camera to arrive tomorrow. Review to come.

Have a great rest o' the week,

Don J.

Photo fun on the Web July style

I hope everyone in Easttexasphoto-land is having a great summer... and staying cool. I am getting super-excited about the opportunity to retake the shot above this fall.

I'm probably just going to add a link to the Boston Globe Big Picture blog to the page. It is always greatness.

Sports/Action is about 50/50 on preparation and luck. #1 on this post is a healthy dose of luck though. #14 , 16, 17, 27- you get what you get when you are doing something that crazy.

#21-Sometimes you get the bull...

#33-I think the bull made a comment about his sequins.

#39- this is how photography and journalism eventually changes things. Images like this (and the others showing the wounded bulls) can make people stop and ask "Why?."

The photogs at DMN have their own blog going too... some nice stuff from the big city.

Further proof that mastering light is more important than having the latest camera....*

*that said, I am really wanting to make the leap to a 7D or 1DmkIV before football season, because when you can't control the light, gear really can make a difference.

Finally, no matter what camera you are using, if you are in the East Texas region, go on a photo walk with Brian and get some great shots around Terrell's downtown area. I will be there covering it for the Tribune and getting some fun shots as well. On Film.

Have a great rest of your week,

Don J.

Quick Pics - Terrell July 4 celebration

It was a nice evening at Ben Gill Park in Terrell for the annual July 4 celebration. The North East Texas Symphony played a nice set of patriotic music as well as some big-band and show tunes. Their conductor was an excellent photo subject (I'll do a whole blog post on that later) because he was very animated and expressive. It is fun to watch people who are very involved in their art.



Americana at its finest... so baseball in the park on July 4 seems appropriate. All that time shooting sports pays off.


And of course, there were fireworks...


Happy Monday, everyone

Don J.