Nikon

FIRE ON THE FORTH

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Storm chasing across the South Dakota back country on July 4th was in and of itself an incredible experience (photo of the storm below), but upon returning to the cabin an old truck was already ablaze, with sounds of crackling and popping--almost as if fireworks were left in the front seat--filling the night sky.

In the distance the lighting from the storm lit up the sky as fire fighters from Waubay began to pull up.

Not only was the car on fire, but it had caught a large, dry field across the road on fire, too. Hardly any wind was present, surprisingly in retrospect because of the storm, so it never was out of control, but it did spread a considerably. 

Quite the show.

THE STORM IN THE DISTANCE

WAUBAY FIRE DEPARTMENT

DOWNTOWN PORTLAND IN TWO PARTS

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“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” – Elliott Erwitt

Daytime in Downtown Portland

Evening in Downtown Portland


ANIMAL EXPOSURE

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One of the first things new parents around Portland do is take their children to the Oregon Zoo, and while the zoo is a double edged sword in terms of child education vs. animal incarceration, it's still a worthwhile experience.

We started with a great breakfast at The Babica Hen in Dundee, and arrived at the Oregon Zoo at about 10:00am.

The bears were out, the cats were sleeping, and kids from the Boys and Girls Club were running about. 

Shot with Nikon D750  and Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II AF-S Nikkor Zoom Lens

NEW CAMERA, NEW INSPIRATION

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While in West Virginia for my sister-in-law's wedding I came to the conclusion that my current (at the time) camera simply would not work for event work. We were in a dark hall, with some significant back lighting, and the Fuji cameras had a hell of a time focusing.

It pains me to say it, because I love the Fujifilm cameras for their weight, ease of use, and tactile controls, but they are not ready for serious event work. With that said, we came home a couple of days ago, and I found myself ordering a new Nikon D750 with the following lenses:

  • Nikon 70-200 f/2.8G ED VR II AF-S Nikkor Zoom Lens
  • Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 ED AF-S NIkkor Wide Angle Zoom Lens
  • Nikon 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor Lens
  • Nikon 50mm f/1.8G AF-S Nikkor FX Lens

Unlike the Fujifilm primes these things are build like tanks, and as a consequence they weigh like tanks. I can't say I'm thrilled to switch back to Nikon, but you should never have to fight your camera tooth and nail to get it to focus in light that DSLRs have been able to for a decade or more.

Nonetheless, the camera and lenses arrived yesterday, and it was time to walk around my property in Dundee, Oregon (close to Newberg, Oregon) and find something interesting to photograph. The Nikon system is nothing like the Fujifilm system, for good and bad, thus muscle memory has not developed yet.

My daughter is an easy subject, so you'll see a couple of her here, and a helicopter buzzed our house so it was nice to see that the Nikon D750 was capable of focusing in fractions of seconds with significant back light. 

These were shot with the first three lenses mentioned above. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did taking them.