From the Garage, originally uploaded by bubba911t.

Normally, I would never consider a shot like this. I always try to find “fresh” perspectives of Pikes Peak and this is definitely one since I rarely imagine a shot like this in my head. I happened to be going to a class a few weekends ago and after parking in the university’s parking garage, I saw what I thought could make an interesting view of the Peak. A decent storm was clearing, so unfortunately the summit can’t be seen. However, and for whatever reason, the inclusion of the staircase on the right is growing on me. The black frame on the top and bottom is part of the parking garage’s second level. Thanks for looking.

POTW: Graffiti, originally uploaded by Sheba Wheeler.

I got an email today from Richard Peterson, one of my photography instructors, about Adobe’s “Photoshop Express,” its new online photo editor with free storage and sharing. The application has been released as a beta, which means Adobe needs you to help them finish creating it.

Try it out, then sound off about it. What worked? What didn’t? What desperately needs improvement? Select the “Feeback” tab and give Adobe a piece of your mind.

Edit photos, create albums and share them online. The 2GB worth of photos you get to upload should be more than enough to get you started. Once your in, view and share your albums publicly or be nosy and browse community galleries and albums others have uploaded. Create your personal URL to share with friends and family.

I uploaded my submission to the Photo of the Week contest head on the Colorado 4X4 Shutterbug forum (image above) to try it out. The uploading process was fast and painless. I like being able to crop, rotate and tweak images. Plus it’s very convenient to be able to ship them directly into my blog or Facebook page. You can also upload any images you have online in PhotoBucket or Picasa. Users also get to take advantage of some easy retouching tools to give your friends that coveted glamour look minus the pimples and wrinkles. Get it now here.
Don’t leave us hanging. Let us know what you think!

Being home recovering from surgery has been not much more than a web surfing, TV watching haze. But today I came across a great article on Digital Photography School and, really, it’s rather inspiring.

Entitled, “4 Reasons Not to Write of Shooting in Automatic“, it actually makes some points so perfectly clear. As photographers who show any sort of interest in taking more than basic pictures you are quickly thrust into shooting in Manual mode.

For many that is great, for others they struggle with it but keep pushing with because that is what they are told “real photographers” do.

This article demonstrates but a few of the reasons that abandoning Automatic mode forever can actually hamper things.

Take a peek, then come back and tell us what you think.

Enjoy!

originally uploaded by Sheba Wheeler.

I was initially very uncomfortable when a close friend and work buddy asked me to do artistic nude shots of her as a birthday gift for her husband. Up until then, I hadn’t had much experience viewing nude photography that looked graceful and elegant — as everything I had seen up to that point looked smutty and soft core pornish (if that is even a word?!)

I knew that Teri trusted me. I had shot numerous photos of her family and children in the past. A woman who had at first shied away from the camera was suddenly ready to shine in front of it after losing nearly 50 pounds. If I could pull it off, the exercise would be empowering for both of us.

I did some research and talked to several of my instructors who truly know how to transform the body into its own landscape. Having new Alien Bee strobes and Wescott TD5 Spiderlites to experiment with was great. Teri’s wonderful attitude and natural beauty, some old school Madonna playing in the background and another friend with some killer make-up skills made this adventure a success.

I have some 300 images to edit by the end of the week. But I thought I would post a few images (with Teri’s permission) now in hopes I can convince viewers to come back later when I post up again.

Boys of summer, originally uploaded by Bullock Family.

Hard to believe, but baseball season is back here in Colorado. I don’t coach anymore, so now I get to practice being a photographer. Yesterday was my chance to play with my new Sigma 55-200 for the E-510. Overall I like the lens, but when the budget allows, I’ll go for a much higher quality Zuiko - maybe even the 70-300.

Going on a trip to Florida in a couple of weeks, and I didn’t want to hassle with carrying on my camera bag and laptop backpack. I looked around at the options, and there were some impressive ones. But I didn’t want to spend a fortune, so I would up going with the Caselogic EVA Hardshell Camera/ Laptop Backpack. It’s going for about $67 right now. The one I ordered arrived today. It’s about the same dimensions as my Targus laptop backpack (that I absolutely love), but with specific design for the camera and lenses as opposed to the laptop and general backpack versatility.

It is pretty rugged, and has a firm, waterproof base to keep it from falling over. The camera compartment is supposed to be totally weatherproofed (the zipper does have a seam seal). Kind of unfortunate they didn’t do that for the laptop zipper since laptops have similar environmental needs.

I don’t have my camera with me today (doh!), so I can’t properly test the fit of the camera area, but I do like the “shelf” system they have devised for the lenses and accessories. Everything I have will easily fit in here.

The laptop compartment holds my Dell 17″ laptop just fine. I was kind of concerned about this, until I realized that the 15.4″ in the description is the straight width of the laptop, not the diagonal screen measurement. With the laptop in it’s area, I am also able to fit a legal pad and a Lightroom book, which should be fine for this trip. If I were going somewhere that I knew I would have more cargo needs, I would take the Targus and figure out something to do with the camera.

Besides the Camera, Lens and Laptop compartments, there are two side zippered compartments that are big enough to hold miscellaneous items. In one of them I am storing the power brick and mouse for the laptop. In the other I have travel documents, business cards, pen, etc. Should be wholly sufficient for this trip. Attached to these side panels are straps and buckles, implying to me that I could strap my tripod or some other items to this pack. Caselogic has always built tough things out of ballistic nylon, so I would expect these to stand up to some pretty good abuse. There are also various loops you could use to attach carabiners or other devices to hang god-knows-what off your pack.

Even though it only just arrived today, I am suitably impressed. The real test will come in a couple of weeks when I travel to Florida, but I am going to use it daily for now to get a feel for it. So far I am comfortable recommending it if you are looking for an economical backpack for a laptop and camera.