The Prime Mover

I have been using more prime lenses rather than zooms lately. I am getting very nice results using them.
Even with their limitations they are sharp and in most cases faster and most prime lenses are smaller and lighter.
With my first 35mm camera all I used with it was prime lenses, I had a 28,50, and a 135mm for it. This set of lenses did a fine  job for me for years. The first zoom lenses I bought was 80- 200mm and it was one of the worst lens I have ever seen in my life. Later zooms I owned were much better, but I still think prime lenses have the advantage in sharpness and contrast.

This past weekend I went out on a day trip with a group of some photographer friends and used only prime lenses.
Here are some of my results.

Out Shooting Again (finally)

It has been a while since I have had a chance to shoot any personal photography.

 Last month my friend Chris and another photographer had their latest exhibit open at a gallery in Lansing, so I went to the shows opening and we got a bit of a chance to catch up.  We decided to make a shooting trip out to the lake shore in Muskegon Mi.

I worked with Chris for a number of years before he left the company and started a studio of his own. Now he spends a great deal of his time teaching photography at a community college in Lansing.

For the Birds

Here are 2 examples of shots I took this past weekend. At the "Birds of Prey" shoot at the SWMCCC Summer Weekend of Photography.

SOFOBOMO 2010

I just recently finished and upload my 2010 SOFOBOMO PDF book project. If you are unfamiliar with is it's an annual event that gives participants a 30 day window to shoot, produce and upload a PDF phototbook. Here is a link to the project SOFOBOMO HomePage

This is my second year of participation. Here's a link to this year's effort 2010 and this is a link to my 2009 effort.

Check them out and let me know what you think. Also go to the project home page and check out some of the other books there.

Improvement

Not to long ago someone asked me what was the best way they could improve as photographer. I think that my answer caught them by surprise judging by the look on their face. I simply told them to go out and shoot.

In order to learn the craft of photography you do need to read, take a class or seminar, take part in workshops and utilize any educational opportunity you can. But it does no good to learn about something and not put it in to practice. The doing is where the greatest learning takes place. You learn from making mistakes and correcting them, but you need to participate in order for that to happen.

Why Argue?

For some reason photographers like to argue.
And some of the things they argue seem mighty silly to me.
Here are some examples of exactly what I mean.



6 Things Photographers Like to argue about

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Playing around in the studio shooting smoke yesterday.

Urban Explorations

Last Sunday I went to Gary Indiana with a group of Flickr photographers to do a bit of Urban Exploring. Brian the guy who set up the outing brought along some lights and two nice young ladies to model for the group.
We started out in a old abandoned church and after a while a group of us went a few blocks away to an abandoned bolt factory and did some shooting there.
I was a good time and I am sure a lot of good images were made.