Back at it... sorta

Moved the office - only took 4ish months to get my HD's back up and running - nothing like going through and downloading a couple memory cards and wondering "where did I take that picture" especially the night shots. 

This next year I'll be looking into having pics hosted elsewhere for sale at the moment the prints page will be disabled until further notice. Also will be seriously considering and possibly will revamp the site into 2 sections Photos(video) and Music, music being drums, drum teching and whatnot which to be honest I enjoy doing more than say nitpicking a batch of 200 photos and editing 40 of em then nitpicking them again until I like 3 or none of them. Although having just typed that the thought has occurred to me that I'll nitpick the tuning on a drum just as much if not more so I guess its a wash...

eh

Finished my entry for the MN State Fair... missed entry by 4 hours. Oh well.

No - not gonna show it here, though it will probably reach the site sooner or later.

In other news, making a move towards video - but its going to be a slow process that most likely won't be seen here for awhile. 

hmmm

Seems like every time I think about adding to this, I'm not in a position where I can stop and write; then when I think about it again, the images I wanted to share here have been edited or put aside for awhile... 

exploring the twin cities at night 

...

Select Prints are available now. Others on request. 

In the meantime

Thinking about the upcoming Milky Way season, adjusting my arsenal (i.e. buying lens) and testing, in stupid cold temperatures, cause thats when the sky is clear. So in an attempt to save my fingers from imminent frostbite and expand my photoshop skills some (also his first version attempt was nice but lacking): Reworked a banner for a friend

https://www.facebook.com/oldplankwoodworks/

Check it out -  https://www.facebook.com/oldplankwoodworks/

18,264

18,264.

18,264 frames shot for 2015 [not including deleted rejects], I guess you could say I got serious about this photography thing again, 2014 only saw 715 make it to my library. Sure out of the thousands there are rejects still in the mix, and lets be honest - there's some shoot & pray as well (aviation, mechanical & biological) and can't forget the multiple shots for focus stacking (macro) and or panoramas; But still that's a lot of shutter movement... for a non-pro (haven't made any money from this, yet) Following are a small selection of some 2015 favorites from what I've edited, and can get inserted with ease - Enjoy!!

meh

It's been awhile with no updates because: I've either been lazy or excelled at procrastinating; However you want to look at it. Pulled down the MSF2015 from the main page, it's time was up, although I think it will become a book or something like that. 

In other news my adjusted work schedule interferes with getting out and shooting at night (too stinkin tired - and morning comes too flippin early) not that it matters a lot at the moment, the milky way season is over and my one telescope has an unfixed tracking issue, so deep sky photography is on hold until...

Still fall, but there's snow now - starting to scout some winter locations. Looking forward to freezing my butt off for some pristine white landscapes.

autumn... or ...fall?

My intentions of keeping this phlog updated more often are killed off by time shooting and processing or sleep... Yeah its sleep, I like sleep.  

So 700 some miles of driving over 2 weekends with hopes of updating the portfolios autumn selection left me with probably more disappointment than anything. The tree line I was planning a super pano on wasn’t there; the peak color wasn’t really peak; didn’t bring the telescope on what I thought was going to be a day trip with cloudy skies, that of course cleared up... Then to salt the wound a little, later figured out the telescopes tracking is jacked by bad gears so my attempt to start prep for deep sky astro is delayed. Nevertheless, I did get some keepers - autumn, night, pano & astro. Here's some of the processing that's been happening recently. Hardest part is deciding if I want to share any on IG or 500, as I can't decide what I should share. 

Though I don't care for all the extra photos in my library, I've enjoyed what I've found when bracketing - some of these overexposed images make for a different take on processing. Here some sumac is being cleaned up (get flippin hand cramps doing this) keeping the background blurred while the leaves keep their clarity

oh and then there's this beast - HDR pano - 60 some images (after knocking off 14 frames from the HDR process)

Supermoon Eclipse

So the last bloodmoon eclipse has occurred until whenever the next round is. I finally got out and shot this one, enough people looking for my photos of it will do that I guess. It was also a supermoon - but to be honest it didn’t seem all that super after moonrise, which I of course didn’t catch with a camera. 

I figured out there was going to be about 90° of separation between the moon and the milkyway core, so my location chosen was open to both events. As the eclipse reached totality the milky way (whats left of it for this time of year) was clearly visible... and that’s when I quickly shot the pano’s before moving back to the moon.

First stitch just isn’t gonna cut it

Now showing...

Sometimes I wish technology just worked without the frustration - batch processed my fair pics, it did it in no particular order, uploaded to the site and arranged correctly... only to have it partially randomized again - come on!

But anyways I've added 140ish Minnesota State Fair Pics to the site, Why? cause there's someone (besides me) out there with nothing better to do than to flip through 140 some pics.

This was a nice detour - but I'm going back to astro before the milky way disappears for the year and get my gear ready for some autumn landscapes - if it goes as planned, those will be combined.

the results are in...

I think this one will make the portfolio

1. I'm not a street photographer. However for a day mostly of not stopping completely to compose, I'm pleased with the keepers.

2. I haven't perfected adjusting 3 settings on the fly (Shutter, Aperture & ISO) - I blame it on a still new [to me] camera system

Laser show

3. A. The Zeiss 24-70f4 could be better. B. The Zeiss 55f1.8 is incredible C. The Sony a7II and a7S made for a great combo to split the day and night between D. I wish Sony had a crop sensor in a similar body style, don't get me wrong the a6000 did great but translating shutter/aperture/ISO control between that and the a7's wasn't exactly smooth.

I thought I got a good shot during the day, glad I went back

4. My shoulder is sore - but that could be worse I guess

The kids have been cut off - no more sugar tonight

5. 2 second handheld is... possible without crazy blur - but if you want to nitpick it, yeah no. 

Was trying to get the Ferris wheel, then this happened behind me. 

6. The guy shooting canon didn't look happy, but I'll give him points for hiking in the tripod

7. Just cause I like the number 7!

An experiment of sorts

The unfortunate ever occurring tragedy of the smashed cookie. 

Its been at least a few years if not more since I brought a camera to the fair, today I’ve traded in my tripod for a shoulder strap and quiet scenery for a rather active fair; decided to keep it full manual and so far its a few lessons learned, maybe I’ll try auto iso - indoors a little too dark outdoors a little too bright. (or perhaps I should just stop and double check settings before compose and click) nevertheless looking forward to the evening when it clears out some and the lights come on.

Phlog?

So if a "blog" is text and a "vlog" is video... A "phlog" would be photos right?

Anyways how about I just keep it shortened to: Log.

Here I'll add the photo's I'm working on (albeit bad pictures of my screen) and I suppose whatever else I feel like.

-- Ryan