Naturally I bolted over. I lamented the fact that I sold my razor-sharp 100mm Canon macro lens this spring to buy more accessories for my new 7D camera. Then I had an epiphany: during some free time at work last week I stumbled upon the fact that my 10-22 wide angle lens will focus to around four inches! That’s very close, and means I still have a “macro lens” in my arsenal. That’s what I used on the butterflies.
As I said, I think the other participants blew my shots away. You can venture over to BisManPhoto.com to check them out. Sign up for an account and wait a little while until you’re approved. New members are screened manually to avoid spammers. Once you’re on, you can participate. Hopefully you’ll be intrigued enough to join us on future photo walks!
Then I got my new camera and have had a very hard time finding some night skies. Usually when they were clear, the moon would pollute the scene with unwanted light. That or I just wasn’t able to break away at night to try for some cool shots. This weekend I did get a chance to hang out with the new camera and some other gear. One of the reasons I wanted to upgrade my camera was for the new one’s better performance in low light, and I was not disappointed.
This brought to mind the fact that this bridge is fantastic in every way EXCEPT for the absence of a sidewalk on the north side! Thanks to this omission, it’s darn near impossible to get a clean sunset photo during the summer, since one must look northward to do so. I say “almost” because I still have my ways…
Step one was to crouch in the grass, hiding the houses just over the hill. That introduced another problem, however. Because the sun was off to my right, the side of the sign that I wanted in my photo is actually in the shadows. No problem, just use a flash, right? Sure…except that crouching low made my flash blast the grass in front of me as well as the sign. Not desirable.
Then I realized that I had my remote flash cable in the truck as well as my monopod. I attached the camera to the monopod, then tethered my Speedlite to the camera using the aforementioned cable, and I was in business. The monopod helped me steady the camera with one hand. With the other I held my flash high and aimed it at the sign. A few clicks later, I had the photo I wanted. The sign was no longer a dark shadow, and the grass wasn’t illuminated. Then it was time to go home, get on a motorcycle, and enjoy the rest of the afternoon.
I like old weathered signs like this. My favorite one appears in this post from almost exactly three years ago.
So I’ve got a new primary imaging tool. Does that mean I’m abandoning my faithful Canon 20D, a camera which has provided me with over 55,000 photos and not once given me any hassles or failed? Nope. Instead, it means I now roam the countryside with TWO cameras. I look forward to seeing what kind of images I can bring home now.
As this post’s title indicates, this is also my 55,000th photo through my trusty Canon camera! I’ve checked online and seen reports of this model racking up hundreds of thousands of exposures without issue. While I dream of an upgrade, I plan to keep this camera around and in service for years to come. Maybe my boys will learn photography with it!
Favicon Plugin made by Alesis