The Negroni is probably my favorite cocktail.
1 part gin
1 part sweet vermouth
1 part campari
Stir with ice, strain, serve with a twist of orange.
This one was on the rocks, but it was still tasty.
Category: General
Day 355/365 of the 2009 Challenge. The theme is "Necklace".
I recently had the opportunity to rent the Canon 300mm f/2.8 L IS lens from Pro Photo Rental. Full disclosure: I received this lens at a discounted rate in exchange for writing this review.
The rental process itself was very good. The Pro Photo Rental web site is easy to browse, and it’s easy to find the equipment that you are looking for. There are sections for Canon, Nikon, and Olympus. Lenses, bodies, accessories, and lighting equipment are listed by brand. It only took two clicks to get to the lens I was interested in. The rental calendar is located on the page with the lens, so you can select the days you want the lens right away. The rental calendar is color-coded, showing at a glance the days that the lens is available. This makes it very easy to pick the days that you want the lens, and you know right away that the lens is yours for those days. The checkout process is straightforward and pretty much what you would expect. The return shipping label is included with the shipment, and returning the lens is as easy as putting the return label on the box and dropping it off at the closest UPS shipper. The only thing I didn’t like about the rental process was that there is no email confirmation when the return is received by Pro Photo Rental. I asked them about this, and they assured me that this feature is on the list of things they want to add.
Within a few days, a large case arrived at the reception desk of my office. The receptionist called me and said “There is a strange package here for you”. When I went to pick up the package, I could see what she meant. The lens arrived in a hard plastic case, looking more like something from a James Bond movie than the plain brown boxes that usually arrive via UPS. The interior of the case was filled with high-density foam, forming a pocket for the lens to rest in. It was reassuring to see that the lens was packed and shipped properly. A few test shots confirmed that the lens was in perfect working order.
My first reaction was “Wow, this lens is big!” My next reaction was “Wow, this lens is heavy!” Mounted on my 5D Mark II, it makes the camera body look small. It was time for some shooting! But first, I wanted to see how the 300mm compared to my 50mm. Here are the comparison shots:
At 50mm, Coit Tower does not stand out at all.
At 300mm, Coit Tower becomes the focal point of the photograph.
Most of my photography is in and around San Francisco. I carry my camera with me everywhere, and make time to shoot every day. So to test the lens, I used it as my walk around lens for several days. The lens performed flawlessly. It is very sharp, very fast to focus, and the stabilization makes it easy to shoot handheld. However, the lens is heavy. It is not exactly comfortable to carry around for long periods of time. It also is not a subtle lens. People will definitely notice that you are carrying it. Trying to get candid street shots is more difficult with a lens like this, since your subject may notice that there is a huge lens pointed at them.
One nice thing about street shooting with a lens like this is that it allows you to capture details that are just too far away to shoot with other, smaller lenses. This image below is of 580 California Street. The statues are at the top of the 23 story building. However, with the 300mm lens, they are easy to capture from street level.
The image stabilization, combined with the wide aperture, make it possible to shoot at night without a tripod. Obviously, a tripod would be preferred, but even handheld images like this can be captured:
f/2.8, 1/30th, ISO 3200
Perhaps the most obvious use of this lens is nature and sports photography. I did not have the opportunity to shoot any sporting events with it, but I did attempt to use it for some nature photography. I was able to capture some images that I was happy with, including the diving pelican at the top of this post, and these two photographs. If you look at the original size image of the seagull, you can see the amount of detail that it is possible to capture with this lens.
If you are looking for a fast, sharp lens with a long reach, the Canon 300mm f/2.8 might be just what you are looking for. It is tack sharp, focuses quickly, and performs like you would expect a high-end lens to perform. Just keep in mind that it is heavy and bulky — quite a bit heavier than the 300mm f/4 L IS. I would also highly recommend Pro Photo Rental for your rental needs. It is easy to find the equipment you are looking for, and the customer service is excellent.
Happy shooting!
You can see all the photos I took with this lens here.
Day 132/365 of the 2009 Challenge. The theme is "Small".
Day 91/365 of the 2009 Challenge. The theme is "Mischief".
My Neighborhoods photo collaboration project, week 13: The Tenderloin.
The Tenderloin is a dense downtown neighborhood located in the flatlands on the southern slope of Nob Hill, nestled between the Union Square shopping district to the northeast and the Civic Center office district to the southwest. It encompasses about fifty square blocks and a conservative description has it bounded on the North by Post Street, on the East by Mason Street, on the South by Mission Street and on the West by Van Ness and Ninth Streets.
Pictured here is the former location of the Black Hawk nightclub. The Black Hawk was a legendary San Francisco nightclub hosting a spectacular range of jazz talents during its heyday from 1949 to 1963. It was located on the corner of Turk Street and Hyde Street. The site of the Blackhawk is now a parking lot. The building next door on Hyde Street (now housing the 222 Club), where the tape recorders were set up to record the Miles Davis album, still stands.
(Source: Wikipedia)
This post was inspired by Brian Auer over at Epic Edits, who wrote a great post with his favorite photos from 2008. I was going to try to pick my favorite photo from each month, but with over 7,000 finished shots to look through, it was taking too long. So here are my favorite three (sometimes four) shots from each month of 2008. This post will also be entered in Jim Goldstein’s “Your Best Photos of 2008″ project.
January
In January I started experimenting with geotagging. I still do not have the discipline to geotag 100% of my photos, but I’m getting better.
 |
|
 |
 |
February
In February we drove to Santa Cruz to do some shooting. We also drove up El Camino Real from San Jose to Burlingame, shooting neon along the way. I came back with a lot of neon from that drive.
 |
 |
|
|
March
March was marked by a trip to Utah, where spent a couple of nights shooting neon around Ogden and Salt Lake. I also participated in a show at the 3rd Street Grill in San Francisco along with three other artists. This was the first public showing of my photos, and it was a lot of fun!
 |
 |
 |
April
In April Melissa and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. She surprised me with a hot air balloon ride over the Napa valley and the Canon 10-22mm EF-S lens to shoot it with!
 |
|
 |
 |
May
In May the company I work for sent me to the Berkshire-Hathaway shareholders meeting in Omaha. I was out late every night — you guessed it — shooting neon. I also attended a photowalk along 23rd Street in Richmond.
 |
|
 |
 |
June
A highlight of June was attending the Chihuly show at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. The de Young has a sane photography policy, which makes it a fun place to visit with a camera. I also shot the graffiti at the Coliseum Yards in Oakland, and did some night shooting around the port of Oakland.
 |
|
 |
 |
July
July was a busy month photographically speaking. The July Challenge was to shoot one light fixture per day for the month. I really enjoyed that challenge, and it has made me much more aware of the lights in places that I go.
 |
 |
 |
|
August
In August I joined Thomas Hawk and Justin Korn for a night time photowalk and light painting shoot on Treasure Island. I also made a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium to shoot the jellyfish exhibit before it was closed.
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
September
Seeing the Psychedelic Furs at an Oracle sponsored event on Treasure Island was probably the highlight of September.
 |
|
 |
 |
October
October found me exploring the buildings of Embarcadero Center. There are quite a few photos that are waiting in the queue to be processed.
| |
 |
 |
November
Several photowalks during the month means that there are still a lot of photos to be processed from November.
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
December
This was a month of neon. The shorter days meant more time to shoot at night. I explored Oakland and San Leandro with Thomas Hawk, spent a weekend in the central coast area of California shooting neon, and started playing with a Polaroid. There are literally thousands of photos waiting to be processed from December.
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
Just testing a trackback on another blog:
http://www.scribkin.com/2008/06/18/trackback-this/
Day 5 of the April Challenge.
That’s the largest 5-digit prime number. And now it’s all mine!
Do you want your own number? Just click the number above to get yours!
This is complete silliness, of course, but it’s fun nonetheless.