The Nothing

Took some time last weekend to get some shutter actions.  Walked all over PDX, and avoided the Red Bull Flutag event as much as possible.  It was a nice day out, so I knew a good percentage of Portland’s population was down on the waterfront watching people jump into the river.

The image attached is one of my favorites.

I up and fell off the frame of the photograph back in May.

I got frustrated, and, well, scared.

I was almost fired because of my photography.

The rundown of what happened:
As you may know, I like photography - I’m particularly fond of reptiles. I’m not going to call myself a good photographer, but I’m learning and am rather proud of some of the images I’ve produced. To help myself learn and grow I created this photo-blog. Its a place for me to talk about the pictures I’ve taken that I’m most proud of. Talk about the equipment I used. That type of thing. On there I also have some photos that I had made available as prints.

Sounds fine right? [Read more →]

You’ve heard it all before - back up your images.

Yes, do it. Right now.

DVD burner? can get a lot images on a DVD… CDR? not as many images, but works just the same. Multimedia server (ie networked harddrive array) think thats the route I’m about to go.

Over the weekend I lost my C: drive. Also lost video and my power supply, so I ended up building a new PC. The one I was using was about 7 years old, so it was time for some catastrophic failure. [Read more →]

it’s not too often I post something without a picture, and this is one of those times…

Yesterday while doing some research on Mangrove Snakes (Boiga dendrophila) ended up digging through a large box of old magazines.  An online search revealed a Boiga article in the Nov/Dec 1995 issue of Reptiles and Amphibians magazine.  While seeking out this issue, I found another issue with an article about Herp Photography by Michael Havelin published sometime in 1993.  Michael has LONG been a great photographer and I recognized his name from a variety of resources.  So I made sure to put that issue aside while I continued my search. [Read more →]

Continuing to worry over focus issues, I spent some time at work taking some photographs of animals that I hadn’t taken pictures of already. Some things occurred early in the week that prohibited me from taking as many photos as I had hoped, but I did find myself with a bit of time on Thursday to fire off a few rounds.

My target - the Waxy Monkey Tree Frog (Phyllomedusa sauvagii)

I’ve liked this frog since we got them in. They’re incredible animals. The like higher heat (basking spot hits 90F) and like things dry (we spray only every few days). They have a waxy secretion that is their namesake which helps hold in moisture. They’re fairly slow frogs, not prone to jumping, and seem fairly comfortable being handled. I’d have to say they’re ideal for some photography… [Read more →]

The Misses and I headed out of town for a weekend getaway to Bend, OR. The hopes was to go out and see if we couldn’t catch a few reptiles for some great shots, but, alas, the weather didn’t cooperate. The other weekend it was 80F. The weekend we chose to go on barely broke the freezing mark. No reptile would be out.

Fortunately, all was not lost [Read more →]

Managed to get the Skyport receiver working after a little abuse.

Today, as I mentioned yesterday, was another PDX Strobist meetup. The venue was Vegas Dance Lab with models provided by SugarQ Burlesque Troop. Needless to say, some good fun was had.

The above picture was one of the last of the day for me. I had my crappy Viv3700 high camera left with my DIY straw grid, and used someone else’s Sunpak behind the model for back/hair lighting. I did have to do a bit of brushing in post production because Daron (owner of the Sunpak managed to get in the way and in the shot…
[Read more →]

Tomorrow is another pdxstrobist meetup. And, what do I discover, my Skyport receiver is dead. LED lights up like it is charging, but it’s not powering on. I charged it for several hours and still not getting anything. I’ve gotten a flash to trigger twice while continually hitting the “test” button on the transmitter and the pwr button on the reciever, but thats not going to work for me.

and, of course, i have no idea where the receipt is…

Pictured is a Black Milksnake (Lampropeltis triangulum gaigeae) that I did a small photoshoot to prepare an ad to be posted on KingSnake.

I’m not happy with it.  This was the best of the whole shoot (granted, on a few shots) but there is no clarity.  Every shot was focused on his head, and not a single one was actually in focus on his head.

I’m going to be giving it another try today. [Read more →]

just picked up a used Sigma 28-105mm F2.8-4 lens today.  Similar in focal length and better in aperture than the L glass I rented the other week.  Granted, it’s no replacement for L-glass, but it a good decent lens.  And, most importantly, the price was right!

I did get the Lowepro Fastpack 250 the other week.  I’ve been dealing with a cold for the last week, but will have a review up shortly.  So far I’m a fan of it.