Nikon Girl

This video is hilarious. Its so true that a Canon Boy couldn't possibly hook up with a Nikon Girl. Don't leave a thumb print on that lens girl! Hahaha!! That's great. I need some pink glasses.

_Vince

New iPhone

I lost my iPhone on Thanksgiving day. The real story is someone stoled it. It cost me $630 to replace it. Totally sucks but I need my iPhone. Its just like my laptop, got to have it. Can't live without it. I use my laptop to edit photos, keep updated on news and world events, watch TV on it and I use it for work daily. Amazing that my life revolves around this thing. I'll probably buy a MacPro for home next year and a Mac Mini to leave at work. This will eliminate the need to constantly open the laptop at work and at home. With SugarSync I'll always be in sync with all computers so no need to worry about not having the latest info on one of the machines.

I'm so bored I want to go back to work already.

_Vince

Staying Busy

I hate that I don't post as much as I want to. I always have things I want to share and talk about but it seems like I don't have time. This is not good. Too many things are happening in my life and I really want to share it. So I'll be making a conservative effort to blog more.

Anyways, so lets see. Some idiot ran into me on the freeway while I was riding my motorcycle. I didn't go down and I wasn't hurt that bad. Just bruised. I won't bother going after him for money because by the looks of him, he didn't have any. The dent in the side of his car will remind him to look out for bikers in the future.

I'm planning on going for a vacation in February. This is the first time ever that I will actually plan a real vacation. I won't talk about it much right now, just know that it won't be a vacation in this country. By the way, I might be going to San Francisco in a couple of weeks. Anyone want to go?? Hint, Hint??

The shot above was taken at the Miami Art Basel in 2007. Its just a snapshot but its very interesting. While I was there, I learned that there is a whole different world when it comes to selling photographs, sculpture and paintings. Photos like this can sell for thousands of dollars. I saw a photograph taken with a large format camera that wasn't interesting at all. It sold for $100,000.

I've been reading the books you recommended.

_Vince

Groovejet

This song takes me back a few years. I remember when I bought this CD. This song reminds me of when I went to Amsterdam for work. It was a totally different environment. In Europe this type of music is very popular. In fact its played there long before it gets here. Sophie is beautiful.

_Vince

eSata

I'm in a good mood. My usual Sunday mornings start by grabbing some coffee and reading on the internet. As I was reading, I looked over at my 1Tb drive and realized I need to fire it up because its been sitting for a while. I have another small portable drive used for Time Machine but I need a bootable drive at home. I haven't used it in a while because my PCI Express port stopped working after I installed Snow Leopard. Well today I decided to try to get it working....again. Last time I looked for the manufacturers website it wasn't there. Today it was. I found the driver I needed, downloaded it and it worked! Awesome!! Now I can utilize the 1Tb drive and its going to be really fast.

_Vince

Comic Relief

This makes me laugh! I've been really busy with work and personal projects lately. Sometimes I feel like I'm putting to much stress on myself but there is no other option.

_Vince

Lord of the Ants

Watching Hulu. I'll be asleep before this program is over. Never fails.

_Vince

Olivia

She is so adorable. I wish I had a daughter just like her.

_Vince

Starbucks_The Way I See It #17

The world bursts at the seems with people ready to tell you you're not good enough. On occasion, some may be correct. But do not do their work for them. Seek any job; ask anyone out; pursue any goal. Don't take it personally when they say "no"- they may not be smart enough to say "yes".

_Keith Olbermann

Herb Alpert

This song is so cool. I keep listening to it over and over. Even while I'm riding my motorcycle.

Sometimes the videos I choose have something to do with photography. Sometimes it can be creative lighting, filters or just the concept of the video that make it cool enough for me to want to share it. I love music and the instruments in the song are awesome.

You'll notice the photographer shooting a Nikon film camera. Like I do.

Someone needs to teach those people how to dance.

_Vince

School On Wheels

Last year I watched a documentary on homeless children in Los Angeles. I was immediate intrigued by the video and the stories that were being told. It was sad to see these kids who had a hard life and who struggled everyday. Kids who live in shelters, in cars with their parents or even on the streets. Going to school without eating breakfast or having clean clothes. Stepping over homeless adults sleeping on the streets. Walking through skid row to get to school. It especially hit me hard when they showed a little girl crying because she was embarrassed to tell her friends that she lived in a homeless shelter.

I did some research on the non-profit organization that was featured on the show called School On Wheels. The organization was founded by a retired school teacher named Agnes Stevens. She decided to start an after school program for homeless children. The program offers young students help with their homework as well as a safe place to learn after school. Although the kids and families are going through hardships, the ultimate goal is to keep the kids focused on learning and their education. The tutoring is on a volunteer basis.

It wasn't long after I did my research that I realized I wanted to volunteer. I had to take a class and pass a LifeScan check. Only took about 2 weeks and I was accepted. I've been volunteering for 1 year now. Last March, my student and I were awarded student and tutor of the month! Makes me feel good when I help the kids out. I've worked with 2 kids so far. On the day I volunteer, I never know if its the last time I'm going to see the student. The parents can take their kids out of the program at any time. Because of the difficult situation the families are in, they may not stay in one place too long. If they do move on, my only hope is that the kids I tutored continue to work on their education no matter which way their life turns.

This is the first time I'm sharing this with everyone. Not even my family knows I've been volunteering. Hopefully talking about it will get someone motivated to volunteer or donate.

_Vince

Brothers

Miss you Steve.

Yellow Flower

D2x_F3.5_1/125th_ISO200

I've edited this photo before. I just thought I do a tighter crop to see more of the flower. I used a 1:1 crop in Lightroom.

_Vince

Amelia's Kids

Had a great time shooting Amelia's kids today! I almost forgot how much work it is running after kids and trying to get their attention. I also had a chance to shoot the kids with their Grandmother who is visiting from Indonesia. Had a great time as usual.

_Vince

Trust Me

Nikon F5, 400ASA Film

Click on the photo for a larger view.

Random Thoughts

Well here I am. Lots of things going on. I'll start with this: I recently replaced the hard drive in my MBP. I have about 300 gigs stored on external drives. It was ok but when I needed to get to my files, I'd have to take my portable drive out, plug it in and go find the file. Not anymore. Now everything is stored on my laptop. I should have done this a while ago. Its a 7200 rpm 500 gig drive. I can access all of my data immediately. Awesome.

For those of you who want or need to clone your hard drive for back up purposes or to do a hard drive swap, I highly recommend SuperDuper!, Carbon Copy Cloner or the Disk Utility that comes with a Mac. PC users go away. For those who have an Intel MB or MBP, before you use SuperDuper! or CCC, you MUST format the drive for GUID. I had a hard time figuring this out but for whatever reason, this is the only way that the drive will be recognized as a bootable drive. Otherwise, its just a drive with files on it. Read this for more info.

I'm a Mac user. My day job uses database programs that can only be accessed using Windows software. So I have to use Windows along side the Mac. I am using VMware Fusion software running windows. It works well and allows me to get my job done. That said, I am using a Beta Version of Windows 7. Its much nicer than XP Pro. I also like how the windows show all of the drives and folders to quickly navigate to. Just like a Mac. Microsoft sure knows how to copy Apple. A few things I like about Windows7. It is fast. Files and folders seem right there in front of me with very little navigating. I know I said a few things but thats all I can think of.

I'm obsessed with Backup/Sync programs right now. I still haven't figured out a solution for quickly syncing folders to the cloud between hard drive back ups. SugarSync is a cool program and it seems to do the job. Only problem is pushing huge photo files up every time I shoot is impossible. I will take hours to do. So for now I just need to keep plugging in and backing up when I can.

_Vince

D2x_F2.8_1/1000th_400 ISO

Doesn't this guy look like he's playing football? He was waiting for me to make a move.

Just to show you how my life is sometimes strange, five minutes ago I downloaded a program on my iPhone. The program allows me to view files in my iDisk and send files from my iPhone. Thought this program would be cool because you can't do that on the iPhone yet. So I paid $.99 for it and it was loaded in no time. As soon as I did that, I read a RSS feed in my Mail inbox from Apple that told me, Apple now has an iDisk app for the iPhone that does the same thing. What the hell? If I knew that sooner, I wouldn't of downloaded the other program. Why does my life work this way?

_Vince

Back at it

D2x_ F6.3_1/200th_100 ISO

I never know how to title these post. Downtown L.A. as usual. Shooting whatever is interesting. Click on the photo for a bigger view.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to you. You know who you are. Here's something to make you laugh. I can watch this video over and over forever.

_Vince

Michael Jackson Photos

Ok I guess I'm jumping on the band wagon here. I came across some photos of Michael and thought they were interesting.

Click here to view.

_Vince

San Pedro cliff

I've been using Aperture more and I really like it. Its fast and fun to use. I've noticed that Blogger tends to desaturate the photo a bit. So I have to over saturate the photo when I blog so it looks right. Shot with the D2x and 70-200 2.8VR.

_Vince

Nikon D1

10 years have gone by since the official announcement of the Nikon D1. Nikon's first Pro digital camera. Its good to see that Nikon is still on top with their D3X. Maybe in the next few years we'll see greater leaps in camera technology. 50 mega pixels before another 10 years? Its definitely doable. I'm sure Nikon has higher resolution cameras being tested in the field now. We don't know about them because its top secret. The cameras are usually blacked out and the CF card doors are sealed. That keeps the files from being "accidently" uploaded to the web for camera geeks to view the EXIF. In the next few years it will be interesting to see how far cameras are going to advance. We already know that most digital cameras now are able to take great pictures and print big enlargements. I think before long the average user won't care about the high resolution because it will only mean larger files and more computer processing. Its going to be a game of constant upgrade for both computers and cameras always outdating each other. If you don't want to play the game, buy an 8 x 10 and shoot like a real photographer.

_Vince

San Pedro

This shot was taken last Sunday in San Pedro. I love shooting outdoors with no particular subject in mind. I have a few more shots from Pedro that I will post soon.

I'm playing around with Aperture. Its fast and the UI is easy to pick up. Capture NX2, Lightroom and Aperature all work amazingly well. I just haven't decided on one yet. Maybe I'll find that I'll use all three. Whatever makes my workflow quick, right?

Click here for a larger view.

_Vince

iPhone Blogger

Blogger is great! So far it's done everything I need it to do. New
features are always coming out. I know there are other blogging sites
but I'm happy with Blogger from Google. I just learned I can blog from
my iPhone. I can take a picture and email it to my blog in seconds.
Can you guess what starbucks I'm at?

New Stuff

New MacBook Pro's showed up this week and a new iPhone coming out next week. Although the new iPhone has a better camera and does video, I think I'll hold on to my original iPhone a little longer. I'd rather spend my money on a new desktop computer. I'm tired of firing up my laptop and connecting it to my Apple monitor to edit images. It was fun while it lasted but its time to have a dedicated desktop. Especially because I'll be getting the Drobo soon.

As luck would have it, my friend Russ Roca emailed me on Monday and told me he was selling my old F100 and he wanted to give me first dibs. I just blogged about buying another super clean F100 because I missed that camera. It was my first film camera.

Yes, I'm buying it back.

_Vince

iPhone App

It's pretty amazing what you can do with the iPhone. I can't understand why anyone would want any other phone.

Brushes is the app this guy used to paint this picture, with his fingers, on the iPhone. Can the Crackberry do this?

_Vince

My F100 is in for a check up!

Good thing I didn't spend a lot of money on this camera. I shot 3 rolls of film and all of the shots came out blurry! I used some cheap film just to test the camera out. I used different apertures to see how the depth of field looked. After the 3rd roll came back blurry, I knew for sure it wasn't me.

I'm a little annoyed with the guy who sold me the camera. I have a hard time believing that he didn't know it wasn't focusing correctly. The way I found out was by focusing on something at an angle. You can use a brick wall or an object that stands out in the middle of the frame. Then when you get the film back, you can see if the focus was actually in front or to the rear of that area. All of my shots where either completely out of focus or focused in front of what I set focus on.

Luckily, I recently found a Nikon repairman. This guy has been repairing Nikon cameras for many years. I could have sent it to Nikon but I figured I'd send it to him to see what he could do. He worked for Nikon for 15 years so I'm sure he knows what he is doing. I should have the results in about a week.

Nikon F100

I use to own a Nikon F100. It was my first film camera. I decided to sell that camera because I was using my Nikon D100 more than film. I sold it to a friend of mine who is a great photographer. He didn't want the vertical grip so I kept it. It wasn't long after I sold the F100 that I realized I made a mistake. At the time there was no full frame Nikon camera. Well actually there was, it was the Nikon F100 that I just sold! If I knew what I know today I would have never sold that camera. Years went by and I always wanted to buy another F100. I felt like I made the wrong decision and the vertical grip in my closet was always a reminder.

Before I finish my F100 story I need to tell you about the Nikon F5. I bought a Nikon F5 last year from a guy that runs a local camera store. I have no control when it comes to buying things especially cameras. All of my latest cameras where bought on a whim. None of the purchases were thought out. Whenever I'm in a camera store I always look at the old cameras. I saw a couple of F100's and asked how much they wanted for them. I think one of the F100's was going for $150. Normally I would have bought the camera but it was pretty beat. Then the manager said he had a F5 for $400 bucks! I immediately asked him what was wrong with it. To my surprise he said, "Nothing, I just want to get rid of it." I could believe it. A Nikon F5 brand new back in the day was $2,000. So of course I was suspicious. I made plans to meet him at his house to inspect the camera and to see how bad of condition it was in. The best way I can explain the exchange is like this. When he handed me the F5 I basically handed him the $400. It was a 9+ out of a 10.

Ok with that story told, back to the F100. So now that I had the F5, which is more of a pro-camera and twice as expensive as a Nikon F100, I still had a desire to own a F100, again. I knew it was only a matter of time before I convinced myself that I really needed to buy that camera. After 5 years, the time came. I was at a Starbucks last week and had some time to kill. I went to eBay and searched for Nikon F100's just to see if there were any near new ones for sale. I found one that looked pretty clean for $200. Again, didn't believe it so I had to email the seller to get some specifics. He told me he was the second owner and he didn't use it much. He was selling it because he needed the cash for his new studio. A few email exchanges later I figured what the hell and I purchased the F100. Time frame from first search on eBay to the online purchase was about 3 hours. I received the F100 this past Friday and just like the F5, its a 9+. Incredible that I've been able to purchase these 2 cameras at such a low price. Anyways the moral of the story is I am crazy about cameras. I think I'm more of a camera collector than a photographer. Whatever, it makes me happy.

_Vince

Nikon F5 Commercial

It took me a couple of times to figure out this commercial. I'm not going to say why this video is so cool. You'll have to figure it out yourself.

_Vince

Nikon 70-200 AF-S VR F2.8

Found this picture when I was looking through my files. Its been on the internet for a few years now but I don't think most people have seen it.

I have the same lens and I love it just as much.

_Vince

Nikon D5000

When I heard rumors of this camera I laughed at the extra zero in the name. It seemed silly to have more numbers running off the camera. I didn't believe it. Well to my surprise, its here. To be honest I didn't keep up with the news because I'm tired of all of the cameras that keep coming out. Unless of course its a flagship or has new features that no one saw coming. Otherwise its the same thing. A box that captures light. Why do camera companies keep making these cameras? Here's what I think. Camera companies have the technology and tooling to make subtle changes and improvements a lot quicker than years ago. Think about it. Today I'll make a camera with a wide LCD screen. Next year I'll make one with a wider screen and a bigger battery. I'll rename the camera and add a couple of cool features (let's look past the leftover parts and old technology from last years model). Leak a few images on the web and what do we get? Sales! People who held off on buying the D90 will by this camera. Ok I don't know that for sure.

If you study cameras like I do, you'll know that this camera isn't new. The D5000 is basically a D60 and D90. For those of you out there that don't follow camera designs or don't study photography, you would think there was a difference. In my opinion, there isn't. Check this guy out. Shoots with an older 6 MP Nikon D40 released in November 2006. His pictures are great! If you want someone else to show you, look at Ken's pictures. These pictures were shot with a $250 point and shoot camera. Its probably cheaper now. If you have an old film camera you don't need a new digital camera. Read this.

My point is, you probably have a camera that is more capable than you think. Learn how to use it and have fun. If not go ahead and buy the Nikon D5000. We need to stimulate the economy.

P.S.

One feature that I'm interested in is the video. I'll eventually get one when it has true HD and full frame.

Super Duper!

I've been struggling with a solution for backing up all of my files for a while now. It would be easy if I had less than 15 Mbs like Corey. Then I would use my iDisk or Jungle Disk or whatever else is out there. There's no way I can benefit from these solutions because I have 300 Gigs. That is nothing compared to other photographers who have terabytes of data. But still, I have many files that are important to me and I have to keep them safe.

I've been using SuperDuper! and it's awesome. It is very easy to use and its perfect for me right now. Until I by a Drobo this is what I have to do:

1. Back up all new files to my 500 gig portable drive

2. Plug my portable drive and 500 gig My Book drive into my MBP

3. Launch SuperDuper! and do a Smart Update

The SmartUpdate checks the portable drive for new or changed files and transfers them to the 2nd drive. It skips any old or unchanged files. I then repeat the process with the My Book drive and another drive because I want redundancy. Its really fast and has sped up my backup process immensely.

I have friends who have lost data from a hard drive. Do yourself a big favor and learn how to back up. Its a terrible feeling once you experience the loss of data especially family photos.

My Birthday

I haven't posted in a while because I've been busy with a bunch of other things. With that said today is my birthday and my friend Corey sent this video to me. I'm not sure how he did it but it made me laugh so much that I wanted to share it with you. Funny thing about it was that he told me this was his Geeky way of saying Happy Birthday. So funny.

Who the hell are these people??

Lake Elsinore

Nikon D700, ISO200, F11, 4s

Barb Wire

Shot this downtown last week. For the first time in a long while, I actually shot for myself. Just taking pictures of interesting things and colors. I had fun. I shot all 3 of my cameras. Black and whites are more impressive if they are printed out. Actually, all photos are more impressive if they are printed out!

_Vince

War Photographer

I don't own a TV. If I feel like watching something I watch Hulu. 

I learned about an episode called "In harms way" from two photographers I ran into last Friday while shooting downtown. This particular episode shows 2 photographers shooting in Gaza along side the militants. Seriously insane, I might die any minute- Chaos. Seriously is it worth it? How much money can you possibly get for that? I wonder what the photographers families are thinking. The girl is shooting with a D300, a D3 and she uses a Mac! The guy shoots Canon and uses a PC. Sad.

If that isn't being in the mix, I don't know what is. I mean, can you imagine, trying to focus a shot, adjusting your aperture and then bang!! You've just been shot in the neck and you missed the shot. 

I'll stick with the portrait stuff without the tear gas.

_Vince