Ryan's "Prime"

Taken with my favoritest lens (at least for crop sensors): the Nikon 35/1.8:



Once again I am falling back on black and white to cover for bad lighting conditions. I took this well after dark, lit only by floodlights.

This is a small segment of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Traveling Wall.

/rl

Mike's "Prime"

I don't really have a prime fixed lens for my current camera.  I have a couple off of my film camera that I did not take this weekend so I set the 18-55mm to 18mm and took a series of pictures at our farm.
I recall the fish eye picture Ryan took of his niece a couple weeks ago having a lot of depth of field to it, and thought playing with the shortest lens I had would be interesting.  In fact I played with it more the next day.  Each trip acquiring a few more ticks.  I would guess this is about a 30mm lens in the 35mm world?.

David's "Prime"

I chose the 30mm Sigma f1.4 as the prime lens as it gives me the closest field of view on my Nikon's DX sensor as a 50mm lens did on my old 35mm film camera.

This is a lamp fixture on the side of one of the buildings in the Santa Fe Railyard area.

Cory's Prime

I have two prime lenses, both from Canon: the 100mm 2.8 macro and the super-cheap 50mm 1.8. I chose the 50mm this week, as it is more of a general purpose lens than the other. During the week I took pictures of Maddy blowing bubbles, birds nesting on porches, and a concert at Ashley Pond. The first set was the best though, and here is a sample from it.

As a bonus, I took this picture in my favorite "shooting mode" for this lens: black and white with the contrast turned way up.

Next week: "Library"

"Prime Lens Week" due tomorrow. I won't put up the poll until Monday night or Tuesday due to the holiday weekend.

/rl

David's "Close"

A single white rose, shot using the new Tamron 18-270mm lens at 270mm. I'm about to travel around the UK for two weeks and rather than bring my usual backpack full of gear I'm traveling as light as possible. This lens will not be as sharp as my 70-200 f2.8 lens but at 1/3 the weight, and going all the way down to 18mm, will allow me to leave a lot behind.

Mike's "Close"

Sometimes when you close one door, you will find another one open.  Or was that a window?

Yes, I shot last weeks topic when I was down at Hot Shops last Sunday.  They have these big doors that have a weight and pulley system to keep them closed. 

Ryan's "Close"

How many blades do we really need for a close shave?



/rl

Cory's Close

I really don't know how this happened, but this fly clearly flew too close to the window.

Your interpretation of "Close" is due tomorrow

Next week is "Prime Lens Week". Toss out your zooms and show us your best photo with a prime lens. The subject is entirely up to you.

David - feel free to chime in on this topic if you want to clarify it.

/rl

David's "Illustration"

I decided to interpret this week's assignment a lot differently. I had the Casa Grande at the old Los Luceros ranch in northern New Mexico all to myself. The house furnishings are late 18th and early 19th century appliances and furniture - left in tact since it was last used as a residence. When I saw this stove I knew I had my image for the week. The text is taken from an actual Majestic print ad I found via Google's image search.

The photo I used can be seen in its original form here.

Ryan's "Illustration"

Nothing exciting this week. I just ran out of ideas.

I am working on a project to get a handle on 40+ sprinkler systems I am responsible for. In some cases the sprinkler tech drew illustrations inside the cover for the controllers.




I have been grabbing photos with my phone whenever I work on one that has a diagram. These photos will almost certainly come in handy at some point...

/rl

Mike's "Illustration"

I thought maybe I would need the help of an artist for this one, so I went down to the Hot Shops.  Since the definition of "Illustration" is looser than I often play this game, I figured any picture would do.

I have always liked this door.  It illustrates how welcome you are to come inside.

I did a new exercise this trip.  The only lens I took was a Nikkormat 50mm that is almost as old as I.  No flash but a tripod, and constrained myself to just those tools.  I find if forces me to think out the shots a little more.  I hind sight, the a wider angle would have been better.

You can to that here on a slow Sunday, and only the other photographers will ask you what you are doing.  Then you have to go look at their stuff, which is quite good.

Cory's Illustration

Most cars have their shifting pattern illustrated on the shifting lever itself. That makes it nice and easy to see where the lever should go for which gear. For some reason, the Beetle designers decided to put it on the ashtray instead. This makes the shifting pattern "the secret of the Beetle": if the ashtray is missing or replaced with a nonstandard one, you just have to guess where reverse is. Luckily, mine still has the illustration.

"Illustration" is due tomorrow

Next week we will do "Close". I don't know if that is the opposite of "far" or the opposite of "to open". Use your own discretion.

/rl

David's "Upside Down"

I saw the carnival pull into town around Monday and immediately knew where I was going to get this weeks photo from.

Ryan's "Upside down"

Mike obviously put thought and research into his photo.

I went for the low hanging fruit:



Yes, that's Maddy. She's upside down. In the words of Charlie Sheen: "Winning".

/rl

Cory's Upside Down

Taking a picture of yourself while hanging upside down makes your face look funny.

Mike's "Upside Down"

It was Jimi Hendrix who sang "My smile is just a frown turned upside down".  He also loved Fender guitars.  He also played them upside down.  Instead of using a left hand guitar, he took the Stratocaster style that you see on the left, and strung it backward, and played it upside down.

Maybe at first, it was all he had as an option, but the reversal of bass and treble strings being played with the opposite pickups gave him the sound that made him famous.  The guitar on the right is my 65 Fender Jaguar.  Jimi is only seen in one photo with a guitar like this, and though he holds it upside down, it is not strung backwards, so it was probably borrowed for the shoot.  Jimi did play it's cousin the Jazz Master on occasion.  He also borrowed a Fender Telecaster to play the famous son "Hey Joe".

Next week: "Illustration"

"uʍop ǝpısdn" is due tomorrow.

/rl

Ryan's "Drain"

This is a small portion of the Verdigre Creek, which drains much of the area where I hunt turkey.




/rl

Mike's "Drain"

If you have been to Zorinsky Lake recently, you will see that it has been "drained".  I looked all over to see if I could find the plug lying on shore, but could not.
A boy scout discovered a zebra mussel while collecting cans for his troop.  This is a Russian slug that has no predators in America, and can damage a lakes ecosystem.  Not unlike draining the lake.  

Cory's Drain

About a year ago I moved to what may be called "the south", which means that my house no longer has a basement. Instead it has a crawlspace that is full of dirt, spider webs, and pipes. Here are the drain pipes that normal people would hide under their basement floors, plainly visible for me to take pictures of.