The Starving Lens

Click on image to view my photos from this event

On Sunday I joined the DFW Photography Group for the Midtown/Uptown Dallas Walk-About meetup event. We meet at the Starbucks in West Village located on Cole Avenue between Blackburn and Lemon Ave. There was free parking in the garage located in West Village so that was nice. Over 30 people signed up for the event but since it was raining we only had 9 of us actually show up. We all caught the 10:15 Trolley and rode it into downtown. The trolley was free to ride also. Then we walked around the Arts District and Downtown working our way back into Uptown. The rain wasn’t too bad for the most part and when it did get a little heavier we would take shelter in a parking garage or under some awnings. We all mostly carried our cameras under our rain coats to keep them as dry as we could but it was a constant battle to keep the lenses wiped clean of the rain drops that would accumulate. Having the smaller group that we did allowed us the freedom to move around at an easy pace and just shoot what we wanted. I normally wouldn’t have gone out shooting in the rain like that but the it really gave a neat wet look to Downtown in my shots. This was my first meetup event with this group and everyone was really friendly and helpful to those with questions. Everyone out there was of varying experience levels with cameras ranging from professional quality to point and shoot cameras. We had lunch at Jake’s Hamburgers (I hear great hamburgers are becoming a tradition for these events) and it was nice to sit and get to know everyone. I look forward to joining the group for more photo meetups like this. I posted a bunch of my best photos from this event on my Flickr account and those can be viewed by clicking on the image of the church above. I hope everyone enjoys these photos as much as I enjoyed taking them.

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68 of 365: Warp Speed, Mr. Sulu

Here is another attempt at motion blur photography. I set my camera up on the tripod which I had wedged in the back between the two front seats. This held the tripod firmly and allowed me to keep the dash in focus while blurring the outside. I used my wide angle lens at 24mm with an aperture of f/8.0 and ISO 200. The shutter was open for 1.8s to capture the blur and correct exposure.

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67 of 365: Bamboo Up Close

This is a closeup of some decorative potted bamboo plants. I liked the colors and the abstract nature of this shot. It would make for a great wallpaper on one of my monitors.

This video has been making its way around the interwebs and photography websites. He berates a “professional” wedding photographer for using an entry level camera with a kit lens, taking shots with poor exposure and having inferior image quality. It goes to show that Judge Joe Brown knows a thing or two about photography. He also mentions that he posts photography on a regular basis. I wonder if he uses a Flickr ™ account?

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66 of 365: Dart Rail

I was downtown doing a photowalk when I saw the Dart Rail line coming by. I decided that it would be a good time to try a motion blur shot. It’s gonna take a few more tries to get this method down.