I got my big gun back last month from Canon repair. The problem was fixed but now it back focuses badly. I've got a ticket open and hope they will fix it. Stay posted. BTW, this is a composite. The lens align from the actual test was cut and pasted into this image.

Bristow Chrysler Plymouth sign

I saw this sign a few months ago on Flickr. I had to go to google streets to find it. I left work Friday afternoon to get to Bristow for sunset. All the way down the Turnpike things were looking great. Spotty clouds for interest but plenty of sun to light the sign. Of course, when I pulled off the turnpike this huge cloudbank covered the sun. I took some brackets while I was waiting for a hole that never came.

The wind was howling and I never could get the branches in the lower part of the picture to align in the bracketed shots, so I used one shot and worked it over in HDR Efex Pro (single shot), Viveza, Color Efex Pro, and Lightroom 4 Beta. Canon 5D Mk II, 24-105.

New BridgeQuest Recon

After our successful BridgQuest Meetup last year, I thought I would organize another one. I have been shooting a lot of Truss Bridges lately and they are relatively easy to find on Google Maps. Toan and I decided to get an early start and so had breakfast at Jimmy's Egg. When we walked in, we found Jim and Leona Jordan who were on their way back to Bosque del Apache New Mexico.

We went to a couple of bridges that we had been to before including one that is very close to a winery. How about a little tasting after the shoot?

There were a few I had listed that were inaccessible or just not very interesting. I was running down the interstate and caught a truss bridge out of the corner of my eye just after Stroud that I didn't have listed. I doubled back to look for it. Found it plus this giant spherical oilfield storage tank. Later, we went to Shamrock which is almost a ghost town. Very enjoyable day.

Wintertime shut-in blues

I've been somewhat busy during all the bad weather. I registered at Lynda.com and have taken a class in Premiere Elements 9, which I have downloaded. Now, I intend to shoot more video this year.

I also got my new Eye-Fi Pro X2 card to work with my new 60D and my laptop in an ad hoc network. Pretty cool to take a pic and have it show up about 20 seconds later in Lightroom.

I also have fiddled with my "Flash on a Stick", getting it to work very well with the "Commander" mode of the 60D.

Can't wait until Spring

TDPG HDR Workshop

We had a great turnout of 25 HDRistas at Stokely's Event Center shooting and learning about HDR photography. Stokely's, is a wonderful place, with many old neon signs that bring back wonderful memories. Neon is challenging to shoot, however, and is an excellent subject for HDR.

After shooting, we adjourned to Tally's Restaurant for Lunch and processing. Vlad and I went over the different programs that merge the bracketed images to an HDR image.

Many thanks to Brian for arranging the shoot with Stokely's and to Vlad and Brian for help with the teaching.

Toan and I went to the Cage Matches in Ft Smith last Saturday. We really had a great time. Very challenging shooting conditions. Shooting through the cage in really harsh light at 6400 ISO. Stopped off for a sunset shot of the old railroad bridge across the Arkansas River. Got a nice shot but it didn't show the bridge's best feature - a span that raised like a drawbridge.

Mitch and I met up and went to shoot an abandoned stone house he had seen from the Cimmaron Turnpike. It was pretty far gone but it had the remains of some living room furniture in it. An old open tub washing machine was in another room.I think we got some pretty good images. Then we went to look at the old Highway 18 bridge over the Arkansas river at Blackburn. This one lane bridge was made famous by Kevin in some of his model shots. The bridge has a 5 ton limit, which means it is in pretty bad shape. We went across and it felt pretty creepy.

All in all, a pretty nice afternoon. Now to charge up all my batteries for the club's Pot Luck Dinner and Still Life shoot tomorrow.