Streaks of light

This was my first good star trail picture. I had tried 3 previous times to take a good night picture capturing the stars, and all turned out washed out or the battery drained before I could get a good exposure. This was especially true with my original D200 camera, which would eat an entire batter within 30 minutes. The D300 seems much better in this respect.

I am still trying to fine tune my settings, but this photo and the previously posted star trail were both taken with wide apertures (f/4.5) but varying exposure times. This one was taken with a 4498 sec (1 hr 15 minutes) exposure and the first image was taken with a 3596 sec (1 hr). It also definitely matters how close a light source is to the images you are taking. Both of these pictures I had to crop part of the right edge as the fire that was 3-400 feet away bled into the images.

Alls Fair....

The majority of posts will most likely consist of older pictures from times/places over the last 2-3 (since I have had a digital camera).

I took these pictures a month ago during the last weekend of the Fair. I barely got there as it was, and I unfortunately didn't get to take any pictures at night with the carousels or the other rides all lit up. Oh well, next year. The one good part was seeing all the animals. Coming from small county fairs that only consisted of dairy cattle, pigs, and a few sheep/chickens, it was amazing to see all the goats, horses, small animals, and longhorn cattle. Definitely puts Kent County to shame!

Here was a closeup of one of the longhorns, who seemed as interested in me, as I was in her.

Mount Borah... Quite the Hike

On Saturday, myself and two of my friend decided to climb Mount Borah, the highest peak in Idaho. The trail is 3 miles up with 5000 feet of elevation gain. Needless to say, its steep and challenging. It didn't help that I didn't do any hiking this year, and I was definitely not in the necessary shape.

After 5 hours of hiking and climbing along the trail, passing a section called "Chicken Out Ridge" (not for people afraid of heights), we finally made it to the top. The views were breath taking and the idea of sitting down, even for 20 minutes, felt amazing. Nothing felt better though than 4 hours later when we could get back in the car.

Here is a pic I took in my on going attempts to figure out Star Trail photography.

First Post and fun with 35mm

This is my first attempt at a photo blog, so we will see how it goes...

Went and shot today with a buddy downtown. I tired to only use my prime 35mm and the results were actually a lot better than I thought. You definitely learn to change your perspective when you don't have a zoom!

The lens is definitely a great upgrade and is crystal clear. Anyway here is my favorite picture from the day, it was shot in an alley off 9th Street between Bannock and Boise.