A couple of images of wall type post boxes I took while in The Lake District. The VR box was introduced during the reign of Queen Victoria and the GR box was produced during the reign of King George V. Many decades later, they continue to collect mail from the locals, and the occasional postcard from a bedraggled hiker.
Medic – Amanda Perez MUA – Summer Johnson-Makeup Artist Pentax 645D HD PENTAX-D FA645 MACRO 90mmF2.8ED AW S Lighting – White background. Octabox powered by Profoto Pro-7a as the main light. Small softbox as low fill. A medium size strip softboxes on both sides adding rimlight (powered by Profoto compacts). A fifth compact aimed at the background. Strobes triggered with PocketWizards.
While back in the UK, I went for a hike near Seathwaite, Cumbria. Depending on the altitude, it was either raining, sleeting or snowing. It turns out that Seathwaite is actually the wettest place in England and receives 124 inches (3.15m) of precipitation each year. It was however great to be back in the Lakes. If you’re ever wondering what inspired the likes of Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey, then add The Lake District to your itinerary next time you visit the UK. Just remember to bring an umbrella.
I was lucky enough to test out a prototype of the lens a couple of months ago. It’s big, heavy, and a lot of money. It’s also tack sharp, and with shake reduction built in, quite possibly the perfect travel lens for a 645D shooter. As I have an upcoming trip that would be ideally suited to this lens, I bought one last week, and have been using it both in and out of the studio. Here’s another image of Rie in the field of cosmos flowers. Camera settings were 1/200 f4.5 ISO400 I shot the image handheld. The bokeh in the background looks great and the sharpness of the image is excellent. When you open the image up at 100% you can see how I took the photo by looking in her eye. There’s me in the middle holding the camera. To my right is the farmer who wandered past and was press-ganged into holding a reflector. My friend, Shawn Miller, is standing just out of shot. He’s holding a Lastolite diffusion panel, the …
Do different 64GB SDXC cards perform differently when used in my Pentax 645D camera? Why is this question important? SD cards of the same memory capacity vary in price. Some claim “faster shot-to-shot performance” but does it make any difference with my particular camera. The cards: Transcend 64GB SDXC Card Price 4,769 Yen (Amazon Japan) or $46.99 (Amazon.com) SanDisk Extreme 64GB SDXC Card Price 6390 Yen (Amazon Japan) or $73.69 (Amazon.com) SanDisk Extreme Pro 64GB SDXC Card 12,819 (Amazon Japan) or 128.95 (Amazon.com) Whether purchased in Japan or in the U.S. there is a clear difference in pricing between the three cards. Prices shown are the best available prices on the Amazon websites as of writing. (Please feel free to click on the links, and I’ll make a few cents from any purchases you make. This is a bonus, but not the purpose of the post.) The camera: I’m using my Pentax 645D camera. It has twin SD card slots. I have them set up so that the camera writes the RAW DNG file to both cards …
Hisano Pankiewicz makes traditional Okinawan sweets. It’s been the family business for over a century. They have a small store in Naha called Jahana Kippan, which can also be found online at OkinawaSweets.com Her husband James is the owner of The Dojo Bar in Naha. Hisano needed a new portrait that can be used when promoting the company and introducing herself as a young Japanese businesswoman. We decided to keep the look of the shot simple and natural. Hisano was delighted with the image, and a happy client means a happy photographer. Hisano also gave me some coconut covered tougatsuke, as a thank you. Very happy photographer.
Planes with propellers. Awesome. Unless, of course, you’re a big German mechanic fighting with an archeologist.
The first of a series of computer geek / tech guru images I shot with my friend Keith last month. Unlike some of my other portraits, Keith really does this for a living. He’s also so nice that having spent all day reconfiguring and updating servers, he’s willing to stop by my home to fix / undo the latest technology based mess I’ve gotten myself into. Long live the nerd.
Meet Henry the Hiphopopotamus. He’s not a large water-dwelling mammal, but he is a little bit gangster. Inspired by a couple of kiwis…
Pete Leong and I had a fun weekend teaching the off camera flash workshop on January 19th and 20th. We covered pop-up flash, on camera speedlights, and off camera flash with TTL cords. Then we threw off our creative shackles, went wireless, and started to modify our lights. By the end of the weekend we were on the beach with our model Jovi practicing what we’d learned. A huge thanks to Keith, Bernice, Alex, David, Jessica, Lian and Ana for being such great students. Thanks also to Jovi for modeling and Summer Johnson for makeup. And a final thanks to Pete for sharing his knowledge with us all.
TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography 