Fishbone Concert Cruise

This shot was taken on a Concert Cruise event, on a yaught circling Manhattan Island.  The main act was Fishbone, of whom I am a huge fan since I discovered them opening for the Roots a few years ago.  Since then I've listened to most of their albums and always wanted to see them perform live again.  My amazing girlfriend Pat surprised me with a pair of tickets for their show.

I brought my full gear, and somehow managed to survive in the crazy crowd carrying my Rebel XTi with attached battery grip, 430EX flash, and new 28mm 1.8 prime.  Though I'm really happy with the shots I managed to take, I'll never take all that equipment to a crowded concert ever again.

This shot is one of my favorites, and shows what kind of energy Fishbone performs with.  The man on the mic with the purple sax is frontman Angelo Moore, with John Norwood Fisher on the bass, and Rocky George on the guitar.  I'm looking forward to seeing them again sometime soon.

Pat on the Balcony

Pat and I decided to try the new reflector on her apartment balcony one day. It wasn't the easiest shoot; I had to hold the reflector with my free hand while using my camera with the other. But we had fun with this shoot. The light conditions were perfect.

Holding Hands

I was back at Rittenhouse Square this past Sunday. It was one of my favorite spots to shoot candid street shots, and this is the perfect example why: you never know what you're going to see. I had to rush to take their shot, as they were walking pretty quickly, but I was lucky enough to be able to center them well in the frame. I'm also glad my camera was able to focus quickly, because it would have been such a waste had this shot been blurry.

Tibet Protest Outside the UN

I was in New York City, taking photos outside the UN. I've been there before, but haven't witnessed a protest with this many people involved. It was a good opportunity for me to take journalistic style photos. This was my favorite shot of the set, mostly because of this person's look at the camera.

Lazy Morning

I took this the day after celebrating New Year's Eve. We were all in Sean's condo in Atlantic City and in no rush to leave. Everyone's used to me and my camera, and how I don't want any posed shots. When I have the camera out, I want everyone to pretend like I don't exist. You never know what kind of shots you'll get that way.

Tu-Anh

This my friend Tu-Anh, who I met up with one Sunday for a shoot. We took many, many shots, but this happens to be one of my favorites. She wanted to show off her purse, but what I really like is the playful expression on her face, the way her hair covers most of her face, and how she's looking back as if she was walking away.

Waterworks Restaurant Dining Area

This is a shot of one of the Waterworks Restaurant's dining areas. Though you can't tell from this picture, the window on the left provides a great view of the Schuylkill River... and Interstate 76. One of these days, I'm actually going to try the food there.

Waterworks Restaurant Servers

This photo was taken at the Waterworks Museum, right underneath the restaurant. The museum was open for the guests of the Ellipse award dinner, for which I was the photographer. As I was down there, I talked for a bit with the servers. They asked me for a picture, and I was happy to oblige. I used the flash for this shot, but the light still looks pretty natural.

33rd and Race Panorama

Lately, I've been experimenting with the Canon Photostitch program that came with the new camera. It automatically mends the photos together seamlessly. However, if you look closely at the photo above, you can see where the overlaps aren't perfect. That's because I didn't use a tripod to pan the camera on a constant axis. I still like how it turned out, even if it isn't perfect.

32nd and Market

This is a photo I took a long time ago back with my Canon D30. At the time, I was living on 32nd and Market, so it was very convenient to go out and take shots. This shot was taken around 5:00, so there were plenty of people walking on the sidewalks to get back home. If you notice weird reflections, it's because I left the UV filter on my lens, which caused some flare. Next time, I'll remember not to use the filter, but I still like the result of this shot.

Xandu Bar Display

On Friday night, I went to Xandu, formerly known as Egypt nightclub. I was there to photograph a friend's event. The trance music wasn't my type, but I didn't mind being there. While I was walking around, I noticed this bar display that was especially colorful, so I had to take a shot of it. It was pretty dark in there, so I put the ISO at the highest value. My original shot wasn't as perfectly centered as this, so I did a bit of cropping and other things in photoshop to get the shot to look like this.

Macro Flower Shot

I took this photo a long time ago with my dad's Nikon D200 and his old 105 mm f/2.8 macro lens that was meant for his film camera, the F4. This was taken on a bright, sunny day, but even so, I still had to use a tripod because it was difficult to control my shaky hand.

Reading Terminal Market View: part II

This is another photo I took along with the one in the previous entry. I didn't do as much photoshop work on this one, as I wanted to keep the warm colors. I also liked the fact that I could fit the entire condo building in by rotating the camera.

I would love to get a chance to get a better view of the city by going up one of the higher buildings. Unfortunately, I'm not sure which buildings have an observation deck for the public.

Reading Terminal Market View

I went to the car show today with my parents, as I always do every year. While waiting for my mom, I took this photo through the window glass. I used the kit lens at the 18mm setting to get the widest angle of view.

The colors of the original photo were much warmer than this one. I decided to try some photoshop work on it to achieve a certain look, which I'm pretty happy with. I wanted to give the impression of a cold, bleak city.

Zoey

This weekend, it was my little cousin's 12th birthday. The basement of the house was full of kids, but I saw Zoey just sitting with the stuffed toys in front of the fireplace. She actually likes posing for photographs, so it wasn't difficult at all to get her for this shot. The light was dim in the basement, so I had to stay as still as possible to get a clear shot. I wish everyone was as comfortable in front of the camera as her.

New and Old Canon

While I was at my grandfather's place to celebrate his birthday, the topic of cameras came up. I remembered that he had my dad's old camera, so I asked my grandfather if I could see it. It was interesting to compare the two cameras side by side, with my current camera on the left. Both cameras have the 50mm 1.8 lens, but the old 35mm film Canon AE-1 on the right uses the FD mount lens. The EF (electrofocus) lens that the all the current Canons use is the model that replaced the FD.

I took this photo with my dad's Nikon D200. Soon after using the Canon AE-1, he switched to the Nikon F3, then got a Nikon F4, then finally went digital with the D200.

That Canon AE-1 is now mine. I can't wait to get a battery and some film for it so I can try it out.

View From Spring Garden Bridge

This was taken with my old digital SLR, the Canon EOS D30. I went out in the city around around Christmas time because I hadn't used the camera in a while. Most of my shots were taken at the art museum, but on my walk back, I noticed the light looked great against the city skyline. I didn't have my tripod with me, so I struggled in taking clear shots, especially because of the wind. Luckily, I managed to get this shot.

Tip-Off

This Saturday was my first FACAA game, so I decided to bring my camera along. Plus, I never really got to try sports photography before. This was the tip-off the day's first game, while my team would play 3 games later at 2:00. The light in the gym wasn't the brightest, so I cranked up my ISO to 1600 to get the fastest shutter speed available.

I have other shots from the games, but my timing and focusing was off. I guess I didn't do too badly for my first shot at sports, but I hope I do better next time. As for the game, I was happy with my 13 points and the win.

Family at Jefferson Memorial

For Christmas, I went with my family to Washington DC. Since I just got my new camera, I wanted to go to the tourist spots to take photos. Unfortunately, it was raining that day, so I didn't have a chance to take any outdoor shots. This photo was taken inside the Jefferson Memorial.

My flash hasn't worked well lately, so I took this with no flash using my 50mm 1.8. I made sure to center everyone between the columns so I would have a nice, symmetrical look.

I guess I'll have to come back to DC when the weather gets better.

Betsy Ross Bridge

I was taking the NJ Transit train home to Cherry Hill on a Sunday morning. Usually, when the train goes on the bridge to cross the Delaware River, the view isn't all that great. But on this day, there was a bit of fog, and I thought it looked pretty ominous out there. This is what I saw when I looked out the train window, so I grabbed the camera while I still had the chance.

It was pretty difficult to get a good shot since the bridge's trusses would sometimes block the view. I had to be patient and have good timing, but I managed to get this photo.