Springtime Spores - 26 March 2023 - 4x5
Gambrills, MD - March 2023
Moss sprouts spores in the early springtime.
Moss has been a favorite of mine since I can remember being alive.
I visited this forest to record a short segment for a video on lens architecture, and couldn't resist taking a few shots of my favorite plant? Epiphyte? Bryophyta? Idk, I'm not a scientist-
Of course, 'twas shot on my trusty GH5, using the also ever-trusty and new to me, Lumix 12-35mm f/2.8 II lens, with an attached K&F Concept Slim Fader Nano-X Variable ND-filter (I love this thing so much, no weird purple cross and it's SO smooth).
30mm - ISO 400 - f/3.2 - 1/640 sec.
The Glaring Donkey - 21 January 2023 - 4x5
Westminster, MD - January 2023
A donkey in a shed, sheltered from the light drizzle.
This donkey resides on a farm. I shot this on my GH5 with a Lumix G X 35-100mm f/2.8 II.
It was a bright day, allowing me to shoot at the native ISO of 400. Desiring a shallow depth of field, I kept at f/2.8, and moved the shutter speed to 1/400th of a second.
The result is a moody, directionally lit composition with the donkey's blank expression at the forefront.
68mm - ISO 400 - f/2.8 - 1/400 sec.
Walk off the mall - 22 December 2022 - 4x5
Washington, D.C. - December 2022
It was meant to rain that day
but it was too late to reschedule.
Thus I grabbed my only weather-sealed lens, the Panasonic Lumix G X Vario 35-100mm f/2.8 II ASPH Power O.I.S. lens!
While a bit tight given the 2x crop factor on micro four-thirds sensors making the lens have an effective focal length of 70-200mm, I was able to make it work.
But I now really, really want a weather-sealed wide-angle lens, like the 8-18mm from Panasonic...
60mm - ISO 3200 - f/2.8 - 1/60 sec.
Points of Life - 3 September 2022 - 1x1
House! - September 2022
Some flowers showed up so I made my sister's room into a makeshift studio.
Utilizing many high-powered lights without any diffusion available created a lot of sharp edges, which did well for the highly textured flowers I had access to.
I kitted by GH5 with some macro rings - 10mm, 16mm, and 21mm. It's not possible for me to tell which I used here, but the lens was likely the Lumix G X Vario 35-100mm f/2.8 II.
I heavily darkened the blacks and shadows in order to make the background almost solid black, and to make the crevices between the lens-facing "spears" look like caverns.
This shoot is where I took the popular Green Crab Spider 1 photo.
100mm - ISO 100 - f/14 - 2 sec.
Imposing Tower - 11 August 2022 - 4x5
Annapolis, MD - August 2022
My first REAL attempt at night photography.
Taking a long walk through Downtown Annapolis with friends and a camera, nearing sundown, opportunities for photos were sparse.
Back then, the widest lens I had was the Lumix G X PZ 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6, and it wasn't, how can I say this...good.
The relatively slow speed of this lens, combined with the mediocre-at-best glass makes me kind of hate it. And the power zoom "feature" is more of a hindrance. Anyways, I think I was able to produce a passable night shot with it!
14mm - ISO 2000 - f/3.5 - 1/60 sec.
Post Editing Transformation of Jelly Bogle - 13 August 2022 - 2x1
Rock Hall, MD - August 2022
Underwater Jellies!!!
At the Eastern Neck National Wildlife Reserve just above Kent Island lies a certain "Bogles Wharf."
Jelly fishies apparently like there so I saw some. There must have been 10 dozen, all fairly close to the surface. I was able to get 3 good shots, but this one is the best by far. The jelly was sharp and there was enough contrast to pull its details out in post.
200mm - ISO 500 - f/8 - 1/400 sec.
Severn Streaks - 30 July 2022
Annapolis, MD - July 2022
The first of many visits to the Severn Bridge...
Late on a Saturday night, 20:40 to be exact, I set up my GH5 on the sidewalk of the Severn River Bridge just outside the Naval Academy.
My goal was to stack several images to create the car light streak effect. Unfortunately, the rate of cars on the road was depressingly low. I took 6 photos over 3 minutes and compiled them in Photoshop.
The result is a messy mix of lights and dark, oddly exposed splotches from the car bodies.
45mm - ISO 100 - f/20 - 3.2 sec.
Seagull Brawl - 26 May 2022
Scotland, MD - May 2022
My first destination with my beloved GH5
Point Lookout State Park lies on a peninsula at the intersection between the Potomac and the Chesapeake Bay and also receives the honor of being my first *real* photography location.
If it weren't for the raw file data, I wouldn't know this, but at my first location shoot, I went full manual - what I almost always do. This was 3 days after my GH5 arrived on my doorstep, and I was already goin' full manual!
97mm - ISO 125 - f/5.6 - 1/500 sec.
Targetting Eye- 20 January 2020
A Place, MD - January 2020
The first photo I took on a hefty camera~
This was in early 2020, about 3 months after I got my first chunkster camera - the Panasonic Lumix FZ80, and was shot on that. I consider this first photo I took that be acceptable to a reasonable degree - and it's blown out af (the whole face is 255, 255, 255)
195mm - ISO 500 - f/5.7 - 1/1000 sec.
