French Teacher

My daughter has a lasting friendship with her high school French teacher.  Madame is also a big fan of Walt Disney World.  Last year, we all meet up at Epcot and, before we parted, I photographed them with the France pavilion in the background.

My daughter and her French teacher with Epcot's France pavilion in the background at Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida.

My daughter and her French teacher with Epcot’s France pavilion in the background at Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida.
Nikon D700/28-300VR, 1/320s, f/9, ISO 200, EV 0, 40mm focal length, fill flash.

This is a good example of telling a story in a photograph.

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View 282: Hockey Through a Fisheye

A fellow photographer brought me a Nikon 10.5 f/2.8G DX Fisheye Lens to use  on my Nikon D7100 Digital SLR camera at last Saturday’s Syracuse Crunch Calder Cup Playoff game against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.  I had never used a Fisheye lens before.  I was excited to put it to the test in a venue I knew well, the Onondaga County War Memorial where the Crunch play their home games.

Syracuse Crunch players Andrej Sustr (2), Vladislav Namestnikov (18), Tyler Johnson (9), Ondrej Palat (12), Philippe Paradis (63) and Cedric Paquette (17) watch from the bench during a Crunch power play against  the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in American Hockey League (AHL) Calder Cup Playoff action at the Onondaga County War Memorial on Saturday, June 1, 2013.

Syracuse Crunch players Andrej Sustr (2), Vladislav Namestnikov (18), Tyler Johnson (9), Ondrej Palat (12), Philippe Paradis (63) and Cedric Paquette (17) watch from the bench during a Crunch power play against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in American Hockey League (AHL) Calder Cup Playoff action at the Onondaga County War Memorial on Saturday, June 1, 2013.
Nikon D7100/10.5mm, 1/320s, f/8, ISO 4000, EV +1.0.

Notice the extreme distortion of the Fisheye lens.  You have to be very careful when using it so the distortion works in the composition and not against it.

Syracuse Crunch fans fill the Onondaga County War Memorial on Saturday, June 1, 2013.

Syracuse Crunch fans fill the Onondaga County War Memorial on Saturday, June 1, 2013.
Nikon D7100/10.5mm, 1/160s, f/8, ISO 4000, EV +1.0.

The War Memorial has a curved ceiling which helped in the above photo of the fans seating around the ice hockey rink.  Since the seating curved round the end of the ice surface, the fisheye distortion worked very well.

Syracuse Crunch fans react to a second period Crunch goal against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Syracuse Crunch fans react to a second period Crunch goal against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Nikon D7100/10.5mm, 1/50s, f/8, ISO 4000, EV +1.0.

The above photo I thought would work if the Crunch would oblige with a goal.  Five minutes later, they did and I got the shot.

Could this lens be used for portraits?  To find out I enlisted the help of the Crunch’s team mascot, Crunchman (on the right), and super fan, Bolt.

Team mascot Crunchman with super fan, Bolt, at the Onondaga County War Memorial.

Team mascot Crunchman with super fan, Bolt, at the Onondaga County War Memorial.
Nikon D7100/10.5mm, 1/60s, f/8, ISO 4000, EV +1.0.

I kept them in the center of the composition and let the background wrap around. There was some distracting elements on the edges which I cropped out.  I was looking for an In-Your-Face kind of photo. What do you think?

The Fisheye lens was a fun change up and nice way to add excitement to the game photos. The game itself was won easily by the Crunch, 7-0, who will move on to the Calder Cup Finals starting next weekend.

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Assignment Gift from Denmark

If you have not seen it, below is the gift given to me by Birgitte of My 2008 BlogI tried to convince her once to change the title to reflect the current year.  I did not ask again as she was quite happy with it. 🙂

Birgitte was one of the first to comment on my blog and to swap links with me as we both started blogging around the same time.  She has supported my assignments from the beginning.  I, and many others, have enjoyed her blog over the years and learned about Denmark’s customs, landscapes and people through her photos and words.

Birgitte’s gift is very special to me.  The creation of photo collages is one of her many talents. I have studied her collages and learned how to put my own together. I have used collages frequently on my blog mainly because of her examples.

NOTE: I have some additional news about the rest of this year’s assignments at the end of this article. Please, scroll down to see. Thank you!

25 Assignments

25 Assignments

Birgitte, your most thoughtful gift touched me deeply.  The Internet with its instantaneous communication and different ways of presenting our thoughts through photos, images and words, has brought me friends from all over the world.  None more dear to me then you. Tak, min ven.

Assignments for the Rest of 2013:

There will be one in July (think Summer) and one in November.  September’s assignment will be skipped this year as I will be taking a long vacation for most of the month.  I feel I will not have the time while traveling to do it properly. As you can imagine, I am putting in a lot of planning for a trip of this length.  I will post more details as it gets closer. Still over 100 days before I leave. Not that I am counting. 😀

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Assignment 25: Recap

Wow…25 Photo Assignments and now Recaps.  I can not express how much fun and satisfaction I get when I see all your contributions to each of these over the years. We have gone from simple to complex photography to abstract and meaningful subjects. I learn so much from each of you and each other which each one.

Thank you all for your time, talents and continued enthusiasm.

I was not sure how this assignment would go.  I know people think and feel passion in their own way.  Some may not even be aware of theirs.  I will start there.

Carsten was not sure if he knew his passions.  I suggested he review all his blog posts to see  if anything popped out at him.  He went a bit further back and reviewed his photography over the last ten years.  I was particularly amazed with the photos he posted which were all taken on or about May 22nd of various years to coincide with the assignment’s deadline of May 22nd. I do agree with his discovered passions including the new family members who had their own timetable for arriving in Carsten’s heart and passion. The last clause is something most of us photographers would add, too.

I was not surprised at Simone’s selected passion.  It was her work with the bird of prey centre which first brought me to her blog. It has been a joy to watch her improvement in capturing the magnificent creatures she shares on her blog. You must click through to see the owl in flight photo.  She even included a photo processed in another passion of hers I have noticed: Black and White photography.

Amy-Lynn has a love for all living things both big and small and for those who move freely or live planted firmly in one spot. Her prose and photography leave no doubt her passion for the outdoors.  She also has a way of explaining things in words which pull it all together. Her posts are more than that.  They are essays to be enjoyed and pondered over.

Truels states his passion is Nature.  Everywhere he has traveled, Truels has shared his adventures mostly with nature photography. The post he shared is one of seven in a series from Assedrup in Denmark. I encourage you to look through all of them to see it through his photographic eye.

Mike is still young in his photographic journey and is not sure he has any specific passions within photography.  I feel he has some but they could morph as he continued along this photography timeline. He sure did spot and photograph the prettiest dandelion which says something.

Birgitte sees patterns or can create them in her famous collages. She has an eye for things  most people look at but do not see.  Her photographic inspiration could be a forgotten nick-nack on a shelf or footprints in the snow. Not to mention seeing how light and shadow can change things normally not noticed. She gives nice presents, too.

Scott, as in me, sure does not hide his passions but did talk about why they are so.

Karma presents her passions in life which intersect nicely with her photographic ones. From nature, flowers to birds to dance, gardening and the call of the open seas, a true plethora.

Nye is a master gardener (compare to anything I have tried) and have enjoyed watching her garden grow each year for an envious distance.  Her enjoyment of photographing events has opened my eyes to ceremonies and celebrations from southeast Asia. Like America, her vision is a melting pot of photographic delights.

Debbie gives us some news which often happens to people who follow their passions. Others take notice and move us in directions not foreseen.  Click to see where they are taking her and enjoy what moves her.

Robin whose passions are easy to see on her blog.  However, I like how she noticed the obvious ones were skin deep and what she sees and feels was different.  It is something many people find over time, experience and knowledge.

In conclusion, I am borrowing a quote from Robin’s blog…

Finding one’s voice is a process of finding one’s passion. ~ Terry Tempest Williams

I will be back on Friday with news on the future of these assignments.

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View 281: Joy of Throwing Rocks

Spent some time on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario today and enjoyed watching this little boy partaking of the age old fun of throwing rocks into the water.

A little boy throws a rock into Lake Ontario from the beach at Brennan's Beach RV Campground and Resort near Pulaski, New York.

A little boy throws a rock into Lake Ontario from the beach at Brennan’s Beach RV Campground and Resort near Pulaski, New York. Nikon D700/28-300VR, 1/125s, f/11, ISO 200, EV 0, 300mm focal length.

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