This is a photo from my Canon 1Ds MII that I sent to canon repair after it stopped turning on.  They sent it back saying it had water damage and that they can’t fix it. The neat thing is that it came back working…. Neat. I am not sure if i should trust it but I have been shooting away with it so hopefully it will remain working :)

Here are some photos of the water damage.

Playing with lights in our new home

I like the red chair a lot so here you have it.

and a ring flash! :)

…I would like to take this opportunity to mention to all my friends in Alberta (and other places that are starting their long winters right now) that we have flowers and green all about us :)

Just tossing that out there :)

So Darren & I went to see Art Brut Rock out at the Biltmore! It was fun. These photos are not nearly as awesome as the ones that I took at Richards On Richards a few years back but they are OK. The Show on the other hand Royally kicked ass. It helped that I was 2 feet away from the band. Despite the group of drunken, barely of age, hipsters girls wearing large framed 80′s spectacles with the lens pop’ed out that were bound and determined to bounce me out of their way.

It was here that he started telling us that we should form a band. I wanted to yell back that after the Richards On Richards Show in March 2006 we did.  this was the Show that made Darren & I start our musical exploits that resulted in My Friend Lisa

I heart these Cuff links. I want Cuff links that say my band name :)

I was so bloody close to the guy! I sorta wished at the time that i Had brought a 24mm lens. I am glad looking at these that i stuck with the 50-1.2

… did stuff, like drive to Shannon Falls where I took photos of my shoe….

…and of leafy ferny type plants…..

….and we hung out at beaches at epic sunset……

…with kayakers…..

… and it was fun!

New West had a large assortment of awesome walls waiting to photographed here is a few of the more awesome :)

Photos of my wet rainy beetle. These are actually from the archives of the instiute circa 2007

Yuppers it is Xmas morning.  A time where people are happily opening presents and having breakfast etc.  Basically Christmas is a perfect time to be out and about taking photos of stuff hassle free. :) I am thinking that I am going to make this Christmas photo wander a Jerk tradition for there is no one out and about other then me and no one to yell at me for taking photos Tonnes of fun!  This morning I braved the -31C temperatures to collect some awesome photos

Camera: Canon 1Ds Mark II Aperture: 1.4 Shutter: 1/1000 Lens Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L USM ISO: 50 Date Taken: Dec.25.2008

Camera: Canon 1Ds Mark II Aperture: 1.4 Shutter: 1/1600 Lens Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L USM ISO: 50 Date Taken: Dec.25.2008

Camera: Canon 1Ds Mark II Aperture: 1.2 Shutter: 1/2500 Lens Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM ISO: 50 Date Taken: Dec.25.2008

I figure that it is time to tell my Canon EOS 5D story.  Some of you may have been able to decipher the story from my random Facebook updates and Twitter rants over the last year, but the story is this.

Way back in September 2007 I decided that I would buy a Canon 5D to supplement our compliment of canon gear.  Basically I was getting it with the intention of using it for photo walks, and to have a decent backup camera in the event that one of our Canon 1D/s’ died at an event. (knock on wood) I didn’t buy it with the intent of using it all that heavily, I just wanted a good alternative camera just in case it was required.

During this last year and a bit it has seen around 30,000 shutter actuation’s. That might seem like a lot to some of you but my Canon 1Ds Mark II averages about 5,000 to 7,000 a week for the better part of the year.  What is the reason that number is so low? Well that would be because it has been sitting in Canon’s Calgary repair depot for more then half of that year.

Seriously it has simply out of the blue stopped working three times, and it was sent back once not fully repaired.  Four times it went in! While I generally like the camera, it takes nice photos and is comparatively a nice light camera that is decent to operate, I am really wishing I had bought another used Canon 1D Mark II instead. Which, incidentally, is exactly what I did eventually end up doing because the 5d was never available.

I have been so burned by this camera that I am not sure that I really ever want to shoot with anything other then pro gear again.  I have it back from repair again but to be honest I am really just waiting for it to stop working randomly, so much so that I really don’t want to use it.  We will have to wait, use, and see, I suppose. Of course, the warranty is now also out, which just makes it that much more awesome.

So yesterday after a band practice – that I am not going to talk about – I was drug out to the Media Club to see this UK band called Frightened Rabbit and I am glad for it. COMPLETE AND UTTER GENIUS!! I had given one of their albums a spin the other day on Coaxial‘s recommendation, but I didn’t make the connection that the band that I was listening to was the same band we were seeing, until part way though the first song. Also this was the first show that I had seen at the Media Club and while it as packed I was still standing ten feet from the stage for a wicked show, which makes it my kind of venue :)

In other news, I am having a really hard time visualizing what I am going to do for my “Scenes From A Movie” entry. For those that are not in the know, Stephanie had this awesome idea. A group of us pulled the names of a bunch of awesome movie directors from a hat with the idea that we take a photo in the style of the director. I pulled Akira Kurasawa and Stanley Kubrick out of the hat. Akira Kurasawa I didn’t even know who he was until I pulled his name.  I know of his work, I just didn’t realize that it was his. The only Kubrick movie I have ever seen was The Shining and that was a long time ago.

I have noticed a couple of themes that are prevalent with both directors. I have noticed that Kubrick loves the wide lenses! Both A Clockwork Orange & 2001 A Space Odyssey has scenes that heavily used extremely wide angle lenses, nearly fish eye in some cases. I may use something like that in my Kubrick photo. Kurasawa was a genius with framing and such.  There are a lot of scenes in The Seven Samurai that are shoot throughs (shooting with an object in the foreground that you shoot through to the actual scene beyond) as well as other fun framing so I may experiment with that. He also painted his story boards, so experimenting with that may be interesting. All said and done I have nothing really.  I will watch more movies and see what comes of it I guess.

Today was also a hang out at VGH day so I wandered about and took some photos.

This is my absolute favorite graffiti in all of Vancouver! And I guess it would fall in to the category of mural rather then graffiti but I don’t care I like it! :)