Frontyard Stars...

 

After I get home on Monday and Friday nights(I have to travel to cburg on those days) I like to look up at the stars for a while.  Lately with the clear skies I have been able to enjoy the nice band of stars that make up the Milky Way. 

 

Not a bad view if I do say so myself:)

 

During the day the view is a little different, just below the treeline in the image is our neighbors property.  It is inhabited by about 15 old cars, a swan statue, and a goat tied to a chain that gets moved around(to mow the lawn presumably).

 

 

 

12k ISO @ 1.8 - Sigma 50mm

Living Slow...

I live a mile-and-a-half from a not very busy highway in Southwest Virginia.  Basically, turn left after Galax towards Pipers Gap, and go until your Verizon Wireless phone stops working, and it's on your left just past the 'two dogs'(listen for my rooster's mangy crow) Life around here can be as slow as you want it to be, it really is something else(something awesome)

I will take my camera and a little Yorkie down the road, and take photos of flowers, cow pastures, bugs, dogs, turtles... anything that will stay around long enough to get photographed. 

The other morning I was taking a photo of a pasture covered in fog when a couple of the more well known locals came walking about,  the 'two dogs'.  You see the 'two dogs are kind of celebrities on our road.  So much so that if you were to get directions on how to get to our house, you might hear something like "once you see the two dogs, it's on your left after two more houses".

You see, the 'two dogs'(I don't actually know thier names) like to lay in the street and bask in the sunshine, while greeting anyone that comes by.  Whenever I go running, the dogs will come meet me and run with me to the end of the road and back:) 

After a great church service this morning(about 'Margins in Life'), I know I need to make my life just a little bit more like the 'two dogs'....  Take it easy, go for walks, lay out in the sun, and be nice to everybody:) 



Don't let her sad face deceive you, her tail is a waggin'




The Sigma provides nice sharp focus



The mornings get foggy more often as the season starts to change:)

Hope you all had a great Sunday:) 



Barbed Wire, Spiderwebs, and Red Sky

I am hoping you will enjoy these images from the Parkway.
The fog was thick as I left the house well before sunrise. It scattered just enough to allow me to see some really nice color.

On the way back I grabbed a few macro shots of some barbed wire near the house.



A soft landscape shot at 1.4




More 1.4 Landscape

 

A classic North Carolina Scene taken by sticking 3 images together.  Shot with the Sigma 50





I am under the impression that young spiders, new to the web-making scene, use these barbs as practice:)





Refraction... I shot this with apertures 14, 6.3, and 2.8.   The 2.8 image left only the largest drop in focus, with everything else out of focus.  6.3 allowed a few more of the drops to come into focus, but still not the results I wanted.  At 14, the shape and detail of the barb shows just enough while not being distracting.



Thanks for looking:)  Feel free to leave a comment or a question(no need to log in)

A new dress, a new lens

The gf recently got a new dress, so I got a new lens to match the occasion.  After going back and forth for quite sometime, I ended up purchasing a Sigma 50mm 1.4 over the Canon 50mm 1.4.   It's kind of a gamble when you buy third party lenses, but I feel like this one paid off.  The images are awesomely sharp, the bokeh is very creamy, and the lens feels nice mounted to the camera(bigger/heavier than the canon).  I have shot with the Canon 50mm 1.4 multiple times and have nothing negative to say about it, but lets face it, after almost 20yrs, Canon should consider an update:)

Among other lenses considered were the Ziess 50mm 1.4, and the Canon 50mm 1.2L.  I had almost decided on the Ziess, but its straight aperture blades and manual focus were a bit of a killer, especially since it retails for $300 more than the Sigma.  I briefly considered the Canon 50mm 1.2L, but realized that with that much cash($1350), I could purchase a lens, a tripod, and a plane ticket out west:)  This was a no brainer with my current photography habits:)

Here are some images of my wonderful girlfriend Ashley:)  All shot with the Sigma 50mm 1.4.  And all shot mostly wide open.  Enjoy...