Catskills 2019

October 23, 2019

One of my favorite new traditions is visiting the Catskills in the middle of October. It was one of my first blog posts on here recapping my first trip and now a year later I’m writing a similar post.

There are few things as beautiful and as peaceful as New York State in the fall. As someone who grew up in the Northwest fall just meant more rain. But here in the Northeast it means amazing fall colors.

The Catskills certainly didn’t disappoint this year. Could not have asked for better weather or better colors on the leaves. This Catskills adventure was also my first adventure with my full pack of camera gear. Thankfully, despite some lingering back pain from a previous trip, it didn’t weigh me down too much and it was nice to have all my tools with me.

While the colors are certainly fading up in the Catskills, the colors are just starting to change here in the city, so hopefully this won’t be the only fall photography here.

Enough about the trip, on to some photos:

Website Redesign

September 29, 2019

It’s been a heck of a year! A year ago I launched a simple portfolio online to begin to showcase my work. It was a random assortment of travel photos, mobile photos, and landscapes. It was really just a landing page to get my name out.

Over the last year though, I’ve been hard at work behind the scenes and behind the camera. It’s been a year a growth and opportunity. I expanded not only my camera system but also my portfolio. I moved beyond a random assortment of photos and you’ll see now more thematic types of photos throughout the page - as a reflection of what I’ve been working on these past 12 months.

I truly want to thank all the people who have supported me through the last year in helping to make this a real thing. Couldn’t have done it without all the support from friends and family - especially those who got in front of my camera.

So consider this a relaunch of sorts. A renewed chance to show my work. So if you’re interested in working with me feel free to reach out! I’d love to tell your story.

And just like that first post a year ago I get to share another photo from my time at Photoville:

Venturing into Film

November 20, 2018

I’m constantly trying to find ways of making myself a better photographer. From reading on techniques to watching videos on composition, I try to constantly improve when I’m not behind a camera. I gave a lot of thought to this as I have tried to return to photography after a several year hiatus.

It is this spirit that led me to film. And so, several weeks ago, I was gifted a mint condition Pentax K1000 SE. I actually already had some Pentax lenses, I picked them up on eBay along with an adapter to mount on my mirrorless, so I was already set to go.

While I’m certainly not abandoning digital in some quest to rediscover film (though I have enormous respect for those who do), I am hoping it will make me a more conscious and patient photographer. I have found, over the last couple weeks of film photography, that with a very limited number of shots to take I was far more diligent about the photos I would take - except for the couple times I forgot to set the ISO when I put in a new roll of film.

I think it was that diligence that after two rolls while walking through the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens I got few photos that I wouldn’t share here - probably helped that it was also a beautiful day with beautiful fall colors. While I’m not likely to abandon digital as my primary photography medium, I am looking forward to many many more rolls of film in the future.

Windy Days in Flushing

October 27, 2018

Today we are facing a bit of a Nor’Easter so there will be no photography this weekend. I did get out last weekend to Flushing Meadows for a bit of photography. It was an incredibly windy day but beautiful - though the clouds did move in later in the morning.

With the clouds moving quickly, I decided to do some long exposure shots around the park. You can see from the meadow photos just how strong the wind was. The last photo especially, the camera got caught by the wind and resettled in a new position. I don’t usually post photos that aren’t great but I kind of like the effect.

Hopefully next week will be a little nicer.

Catskills

October 14, 2018

This is the first same day blog I’ve done, so everything is fresh off the sensor. Today I spent the day up in the Catskills enjoying some fresh air and nature. It’s always a pleasure to get out of the city and away from the hustle. While the day was far from perfect - it was overcast for most the day - but I got a couple good photos.

I will say there was just so much to do and see in the Catskills I didn’t even scratch the surface. Which almost certainly means many more trips to see more. I’ve been dying to try some astrophotography and it seems like there are some perfect sites up there that would be perfectly dark.

I’m going to keep it short for now, as it’s been a long day that started around 5am, so I’ll let everyone just enjoy the photos.

Walk in the Park

October 08, 2018

I had the pleasure yesterday of doing some backup photography for a run on Randall’s Island - a relatively large recreational island situated between Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan.

What you might notice about my page is that people is not something that I typically take photos of and certainly not action shots. As such I don’t really have the equipment to do this type of photography - I have a series of primes, more than half of which are manual focus. As you might imagine, shooting folks running with a manual lens is not easy. However, I was just played backup to another photographer so it wasn’t a huge issue.

And of course I got a couple keepers:

I did get a chance to do some other photography while I was out there, as the island has been nicely maintained and they have a great variety of plants and flowers. So as I was walking back from taking photos of the runners, I took a couple shots for myself.

You can see the results below:

That’s it for now. Hopefully, the weather will get a little less grey here and photos of fall will begin to pop up on this blog.

Till next time.

Welcome

September 29, 2018

Hello world.

I’ve been taking photos for the majority of my adult life. The first photo I remember taking was with a panoramic disposal camera at the Grand Canyon when I was in my teens for a family trip. It wasn’t till I was in my 20s that I got my first real camera - ultimately to take to Iraq with me. It was in Iraq, and after, that I began to really develop a passion for photography.

This is my second attempt (my first one was back in 2005) to do a photoblog and a website. I hope to use this space to keep a curated portfolio and to document my photo adventures. While I would like to keep this blog updated on a weekly basis, in all reality it will be closer to every two to three weeks. Hope to hear from all of you over time.

Now to some photography…

Last weekend I spent Saturday down at Brooklyn Bridge Park at the Photoville festival, which brings together artists to put on small exhibits inside of shipping containers as well as printed in large-form in the open air. It was great to see not just great work, but also work highlighting issues of societal importance.

One of their sponsors was Leica and, very excitingly, they had a loan program, where you could take a camera out for a 90-minute spin. As much as I love my Panasonic, the opportunity to borrow a Leica for a quick bit was too good to pass up. So I borrowed an M10 with a 28mm. I caught this shot while wandering around the park (trying to figure out how to work the camera and lens). This was one of the few shots that was both nicely composed and in focus. I think this photo captures the elegance of a beautifully designed camera.

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