GR Challenge

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (June, 2019) - Blind Innocence played their last CA show before their tour at Gallager's in downtown HB. I decided to leave the other cameras at home and showed up with just the Ricoh GR in my pocket. For those who haven't been to this venue, it's pretty much a dungeon from a lighting perspective. The lights do cycle, so if you time them at certain areas on the stage you can get brief moments of light. Christian had the best and most consistent light on him. Mark was pretty much in darkness the whole time. I shot the Ricoh in manual mode at ISO 12,800. While the autofocus struggled (I don't use the autofocus assist beam), I was able to capture the images below.

Grrr...

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (May, 2019) - Why in the world would a guy with a cabinet full of film, digital and video cameras buy another camera? This month I picked up a newly released Ricoh GR III. I don't necessarily have a good answer to the question, but wanted to explain my reasoning. These are small, pocketable "point-n-shoot" type cameras. While I have many cameras, I also have a very wide palette of things that I shoot. I shoot sports, landscapes, portraits, etc. and each requires specific gear. What I found is shooting has become a big production. Every time I go out, I have to plan what body, lenses, bag, flash, stands, tripod, etc. is appropriate. Because of this, I find that sometimes it's too much work and I'll just use my phone. What's that old saying, the best camera is the one that is with you? In addition, I recently started printing at home again and found that phone photos don't cut it. On the surface the Ricoh looks like a point-n-shoot, but it is actually much more. You can shoot full manual and sync it with external flash/strobes. It has an APS-C 24 MP sensor and captures in DNG RAW. The files are clean and very printable. Anyway, this is my story and I'm sticking to it. I am carrying it with me daily to replace using my phone for daily captures. Below are some samples from the GR III.

Class of 2019

OMAHA, Nebraska (May, 2019) - Traveled to Omaha this month for my niece's graduation from Creighton University. She is the first of this generation to graduate college in our immediate family. A great accomplishment, and look forward to the rest of the family to follow. The weather was all over the place. When we landed, it was 94 degrees. The next morning it was 50 degrees and raining. The remaining days were split where we got some nice mornings and then rain. I got out with the camera on one of the nice mornings and captured the images below.

Flash Portraits

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (April, 2019) - Shot these portraits with two Godox lithium ion flashes and Magmod modifiers. The batteries are insane. Shot approximately 750 images over three hours and the batteries were still full! Highly recommend these flashes.

Skyway Vagabond

BOLSA CHICA ECOLOGICAL RESERVE, (March, 2019) - The end of March brought fantastic Spring weather to the wetlands. Bryan (@bryanlc) and I drug out the long glass to experience the wildlife. Here are some images from the morning hike.