Welcome to San Juan, Puerto Rico

After a grueling 17 minute flight from St. Thomas we made our way to the San Juan Ritz Carlton for the second week of our vacation.

Not much new on the photographic front to report, the Nikon AW100 is definitely dead.  I have not had a chance to take many other images but we will have our chances as we go to the El Yunque rainforest tomorrow and we visit the Camuy caves Wednesday.

Looking forward to getting my D700 out into the rainforest, caves and especially Old San Juan.  Here is  one from our new beach

Isla Verde beach

Having a great time, my equipment not so much

Just wanted to update everyone on my new photo gear and how it is doing on vacation.

The Benro tripod A2197 is great.  Small, lightweight and very portable.  It is a big plus to have a tripod that packs flat.  Highly recommended.

My Zeiss 35mm 1.4 lens.  Fantastic quality, superior finish and mechanics.  I am sure I am not good enough yet to squeeze images out of this lens that wow me, but I will work on it.

This shot is with my Nikon D700 and the Zeiss 35mm 1.4

My Nikon AW100, spent two days in the water with some stunning shots.  On the third day I do not know if I was swimming too aggressively but I got water inside it.  Not sure if it is able to come alive again but I am disappointed to say the least.

Update to add, the AW100 is dead.  I suspect that a small nylon strap that I have to connect the camera to a float strap, may have become lodged in the battery door when I closed it there by letting water in.

My fault, I like the camera and will replace it.

Here is a shot before it stopped working.  Thanks for reading, I will update from Puerto Rico in a few days.

Vacation once again

I have been absent from my photography and my blog for far too long.  It has been a difficult year for my family but we are slowly getting back to normal and this vacation could not have come at a better time.

Back in St. Thomas, USVI for a week and then we will be spending the next week in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  New camera equipment is traveling with me as well, a Nikon AW100 underwater camera, a new Benro travel tripod and a Zeiss 35mm lens.  I am looking forward to testing all of them in the coming days.

Getting some air

The Skim Slam 2012 competition was held on Saturday, June 16th and I managed to get a few shots.  Check out www.skimcaribbean.com for the results and more images.

Ft. Christian

The fences have come down but the fort is still not open.  The detail is very interesting, I intend to go back and shoot more images of the sides that are now in view.  Hopefully someday this structure will be open again.

Till the next time, I'll be posting events from our trip for all to see.

Think Tank Giveaway

Very cool Think Tank photo bag giveaway

http://blog.thinktankphoto.com/in-a-bag-thinktankphoto-competition/

I use and love Think Tank bags, I have three of them and they are all useful.  I use the Think Tank Airport Takeoff as my travel rolling bag.  It takes everything I need to my destination and acts as a storage locker for my gear.  Best of all, it fits in the overhead bin on most planes.  I use the Think Tank Shapeshifter bag that I pack inside my suitcase.  This backpack that folds flat is great for travel. Very slim but with tons of storage, it goes to the beach, the mountains or just city shooting.  Last of all I use a SlingoMatic 30 as my travel light bag.  I like over the shoulder bags if I am just out for a few hours and the SlingoMatic from Think Tank is awesome.

Enter the contest, you will be glad you did!

http://blog.thinktankphoto.com/in-a-bag-thinktankphoto-competition/

Weekend Photo Shoot 11/11 - 11/13

Well it was an interesting weekend, I was working on a free lance shoot, creating some web content.  A beautiful fall day, brilliant sunshine, blue skies, just the right amount of clouds.  Got to wander some areas I had not seen before.  Most of the content that I was working to create was static, architecture, buildings, random city scenes.

A few times I had the opportunity to grab a few shots for myself.  With fall being my favorite time of year, I always look for things that reflect the season.  Here is one such shot of some fall grasses with great color in the background

Fall grasses

This park area was very tranquil, the sun gave me a chance to capture some great light, shadow and color.  This next shot of a simple bridge give me color and contrast between the leaves and the metal structure.

A bridge

Lots of images to go though, it was a busy day.  Until next time, keep shooting

Weekend Photo Shoot 10/29 - 10/30

A fantastic weekend for wandering and shooting.  We made a day out of it, shooting in the quaint little town of Fredericksburg, VA.  Loads of history and very picturesque areas but one thing that really caught my eye was some fantastic wall art.

We were told that this mural was painted by the former owner of the building and that he was a potter.  The scenes are of various people making pottery.  The bright colors are contrasted by the fading and peeling of the paint from the side of the wall.

Three men wall art

I have more images to go through from the weekend but there wont be many more days like this past Sunday before winter.

Stay warm and keep shooting!

Weekend photo shoot 10/10

Well today was an interesting day, I decided to get up early and go chase a sunrise.  Well worth the effort, I was rewarded with one of the best sunrises I have seen in a long time.  Beautiful crimson red on the water and fantastic clouds to to play the light off the water

Red Dawn

Not really sure how to top this one.  I know that sunrises/sunsets have been done by everyone but I can never seem to get my fill.  Hope you enjoy this one as much as I did seeing it and photographing it.

I spent the rest of the morning downtown in DC alternating between the Occupy DC rally and the Taste of DC food festival.  Very interesting juxtaposition of ideals and values here.  I will update with some images after I have had a chance to process them

Weekend photo shoot 9/10 - 9/11

Well after 15" of rain this week in Virginia I thought it might be worth the morning to take a trip to Great Falls National Park.  Normally a nice park with a smooth waterfall to view, it was today a raging river, brown, muddy and loud.

Raging Great Falls

The day was typical early September, warm and humid and really to late in the morning to capture any golden light at dawn.  We made the best of it, checking the overlooks for angles and waiting for the light but the river kept roaring and was surprisingly boring for so much water.  I tried to capture some other scenes and the rocks and late summer foliage made a bright green backdrop to the muddy brown river.

I still have some images from last weekends shoot to process and I am still searching for some art deco themed buildings for my living room.

Until next time, keep shooting . . .

Weekend photo shoot 9/3 - 9/5

Well it is Labor Day weekend, trying to relax and catch up on some Lightroom processing and hopefully some new photography if the weather cooperates.  As much as most people chase new equipment, I have been sifting through some older images shot with a variety of photo gear.  To my surprise, I have been finding some things that were much better than I first thought.

Soft light

This image shot in Maine is from 2009.  It was shot with my Nikon D90 and a Tamron lens that I no longer own. I never thought I really captured the scene as I remember it, however, when I sat down and processed it, this is the result.  I can smell the air, feel the fading sun and remember looking over the water at this beautiful scene.

Labor Day was overcast but still not too bad.  I shot some interesting things in downtown DC, I am still going through many of the images but this is one that was a lot of fun.  Playing with shutter speed to try and get just the right amount of movement on the Smithsonian carousel.

Holiday fun

Until next time, keep shooting!

Weekend Photo shoot 8/21 - 8/22

It was good to get out again, I have been very busy since my trip to the Virgin Islands.  I went in search of some interesting architecture images to add to our newly decorated living room.  Since we went for an Art Deco/40's supper club look, I wanted to find some buildings or architecture features that could be printed in black and white.

My first find were these lions at the base of the Justice Department outer doors.  Very cool 30's period relief on the metal, perfect for what I had in mind.

Knock if you dare

Washington, DC has many such features, some more visible than others.  My next stop was the Old Post Office Pavilion.  Unfortunately I was there too early in the morning before the August heat but I managed to get this great exterior shot

Old Post Office Pavilion

Although I am not sure that I will use these for my living room, they are good enough to be on my website Brian Shannon Photography.  I have some additional shots from the National Cathedral that I need to work on in Lightroom a bit more but I will post some of these soon.  In addition, the National Cathedral is now high on my list of places to revisit as I found some fantastic things to photograph.


Update, here is one that I am featuring on Brian Shannon Photography

Until next time, keep shooting.