Back to my old ways, Temple Photos!

I was very bummed to have missed some incredible sunrises the last few days, determining to NOT miss them this day I got up a bit early and swung my the Oquirrh Mountain Temple on my way to work. While I did't get as awesome of a sunrise as I had the last two days, I did get some shots I like. These are all HDR and played with a bit in Photoshop... why not?

The first one is the most straightforward shot. 6 closely bracketed shots... well a set of three at -2, 0, +2 and another set biased a 1/2 stop darker and then again shot at -2, 0, +2 and all bunged together in Photomatix. Slight levels/brightness/contrast/unsharp mask bumping, and correction of perspective and here ya go:

I can't even begin to remember everything I did to this, the B&W conversion was done in Photomatix, multiple layers of light gaussian blur masked to fix a few things, strong vignette, leveling perspective correction....

These are a bit more straight ouf of Photomatix, with less correction, not sure if I like these better then the first, may need to play more with these bad boys!

Which do you like more?

Ah... How do you say?...... Mode of Transportation!

I will state at the outset that I am a liker and user of Public Transit, I use it when I can and it is not unreasonably slow. That said, on days when it is raining/slushing/snowing I would almost rather be in my own truck. Then I think about it and really want to slap myself for even letting the thought cross my mind.

I work every few weeks at a large teaching hospital in the city for extra cash. This allows my wife and I to keep our sanity... and home... the last two times I have worked I have gone back to riding the bus/train combo to get there. It takes about 25-30 minutes longer but is much less stressful. I have also taken my camera both of the last two times to document the trip. Probably won't be doing it much through the winter, as there will be little light to work with... Anyway and without further ado here is documentation to prove that I did indeed do my bit to save the environment... and other drivers from my driving!

Pick me up....
Waiting in the rain.

On foot here, stairwell of the parking structure I walk up/through to get into the hospital.

Going home on an empty train. Except for the really shy lady who refused to have her picture taken.

There is something melancholy about windows with rain on them, sometimes melancholy is good.

The view from the other side of the camera. A local TV station has their new studio on the ground floor with the backdrop being the street. I occasionally like to look in, just not when they are filming. The idiots that stand there and do silly things make me ill. I have always wondered if I would even be able to talk sitting on this side of the desk and camera!

Beautiful Fall Day.....

Last Saturday started off rough. I had had a rough day on Friday at work, didn't sleep well, and woke up tired and dyspeptic. When I surfaced in the pre-dawn hours I had this feeling that I needed to go for a walk. So I did, slapping on my old Manual focus 24mm f2.8 prime. This is one reason I love Pentax and want to buy the Limited lenses that they sell. Small and optically really good, they are awesome to use. What I have now I call my poor mans limiteds, which have the famous Pentax color but are Manual Focus and Manual exposure setting (with a little help from the camera). Anyway, I am glad I have small primes to put on and carry because if I had to have my Sigma 17-70 on for a walk like this I would be much less likely to carry my camera.... and would have had to just try to remember this glorious morning that our creator made just for little old me. He knows I am a sucker for sunrises and he made me happy!

10 shot panorama, hand held.

Later in the morning I took my kids to my parents to rake leaves, during breaks I shot a few more artsy shots.

This one probably looks a little dumb, but I like it anyway!

Final Version.... I think....

I have had a few folks say that they thought this was a little blue, but the sky was kinda blue. I may go back and get crazy with another version some day, but right now I LIKE this one!

Two new images of the Draper Temple

I have been wanting to shoot this bad boy for awhile, I finally decided to try this morning, I have envisioned a crazy sky with darkling clouds to create a contrast between the light of the temple and the darkness of the world. Symbolism, a picture is worth a thousand words right? So anyway, here is what I got. I kinda like them!

Taken with Pentax SMC 28mm f3.5

Taken with Pentax SMC 24mm f2.8

Special Requests

I have had a few requests for different temples over the last year. I am still figuring out how to get the time to really be there when the light is just right and get what I want. With three young children my time is limited, and besides I like my wife a lot and want to be with her too.

I had a slightly different request recently though. Our local congregation is having a special craft night, and they asked me for several Sepia toned shots of our local temple to use. Not having much use for B&W of temples, let alone Sepia toned ones, I had to scramble a little, because of course, I said yes!

I set out to tone some of the shots I already had, and also tried to take a couple more as just for fun shots. Here are my just for fun ones. Taken on Successive days. The shot at the top of the post is the the one they chose to use, and is a toned HDR from the spring of 2009 before the open house, and is one of the first shots of the completed temple I took.

My Current Lens Line Up

Prior to posting off the Traveling 28, one of the requirements of the forum was to take a picture of the lens on your camera. These first two are my obligatory shots. Both taken with my wifes Canon Point and Shoot camera, using an optical slave to trigger an off camera flash.

This is my current kit, all the ones that are not on loan. From L to R

Front: K 24m f2.8, K 28mm f3.5, K 35mm f3.5, K 50mm f1.4

Middle: K 135mm f2.5

Back: Sigma 10-20 f4-5.6, Pentax DA 55-300 f4-5.8, Sigma 17-70 f2.8-4.5

Now you can see why I Like the primes, they are very small especially compared with the zooms.

(both Images taken with the Pentax A 28mm f2.8 Travelling lens.

My New/Old Lens: SMC Pentax 24mm f2.8

I have been on a lens collecting kick recently. I have a soft spot in my heart for old school photography. One lens, not a zoom, all manual exposure setting, manual focus. It seems to get my creative juices flowing. I have felt that my kit has a hole on the wider end. I was able to rectify that by the purchase of a 24mm lens from a fellow forum member on one of my photography forums.

Now you have to understand, Pentax always has made stellar prime lenses (i.e. non zooming) and the ones I have are no exception, though I have my doubts about my 50mm f1.4, it seems to have a different color rendering than the others... still a great lens just different. Anyway, in Pentax land we call this Lens Buying Addiction (LBA) which is an affliction that also brings great enjoyment. This lens may soon become my desert island lens, though my 35mm f3.5 is a strong candidate for that role as well, it is just SO SHARP! Though I haven't tested this lens much it seems plenty sharp and has nice color rendition.

This was taken the other day, handheld-braced on a ticket vending machine, 1/5 sec at f5.6.

Just goofing around on my lunch break, I find that the focal length is pleasingly wide without being extreme and distorting things. It also is just a nice size and handles nicely as well.

Colorful backboards waiting for ambulances to pick them up on the next run. The joys of working at a trauma center.

The Pointe of the Huntsman Cancer Center. I normally would have gone ULTRA wide 10mm or so and distorted things, this may be a better approach...

I loved these trees sitting on the landscaping, wish I had known about them before, I would have gotten my lunch to go more often!

f2.8, having that large of an aperture is always handy to limit your depth of field. I was surprised that I had this level of sharpness wide open.

The Walker Center in downtown SLC, I really do like the colors that this lens produces. and the lack of Vignetting.

As a landscape lens it does alright.

One of my first shots, I am going to like this lens!

Mirror Lake & Mirror Lake Highway

Had a fantastic chance to travel to Mirror Lake with my Dad and Mom, sort of a nostalgia trip. Anyway I thought I would post a few of these shots here. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say, my primary purpouse was to be there for my Dad not to take pictures per se. Anyway here are a few.

Bald Mountain in the mist.

A typical view across the lake, often would fish from areas like this.

Butterfly Lake, also a favorite spot.

Upper Provo River Falls, one of my more newly discovered fun stops on the road.

Beaver pond on the lower part of the road. It was a little swampy but beautiful.

On the Alpine Loop looking south toward the Sundance Ski Resort.

Haven't done much fall color shooting, but have enjoyed what I have done!

Playing with a Traveling Lens: Pentax SMC 28mm f2.8 "A"

In the Flickr Pentaxian group, we have been passing around a lens for everybody to play with. It is a Pentax SMC 28mm f2.8 "A" lens, the A stands for having an auto aperture setting on the aperture ring. It is an older manual focus lens, but a really GOOD ONE!

I will have it for awhile longer but decided to go ahead and post some shots when I had the chance. I may or may not include a description of what the shot entails, but as always you can click on the photo and enlarge it.

Rope with a bullet hole.

Sunflowers across the street from my parents.

Took the family to the Rio Grande Train Station in downtown last monday and had a great time. This is the light coming through the transom above the window and the rail posts on the stairs.

I just LOVE the texture and detail on these radiators, so I HAD to shoot one again.

Reflected light often has a special quality all of it's own.

Just for my friend Al Reid.

Ice box and a Juke Box? Sweet!

I imagine back in the steam era that this hotel was pretty cool and stylish, right across the street from the station, now not so much....

Now back to my Parents yard. MAN this thing is sharp!