#259/365
We had some friends come over for a visit tonight which was nice seeing as though we have not seen them in a while. They had a baby five weeks ago today and their life has changed a little since then. It was great to get together with them and catch up. After they left I realized that I didn’t do my 365 yet so my wife kindly offered to be my muse once again. This is probably my quickest portrait so far – 10 minutes from set up to break down. It turned out great but then again look what I have to work with.

Strobist: SB600 1/4 through EXYbox @ 3 o’clock and a white reflector @ 9 o’clock

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#258/365
I was watching my oldest boy playing his xbox and it gave me an idea to try to recreate one of the game characters. My imagination kinda got away from me and this bad guy was the result. Yikes!

Strobist:
SB800 1/64 through EZYbox @ 3 o’clock
SB600 1/16 with red gel, in my hood behind my head bare shooting up @ 12 o’clock
both fired with poverty triggers

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My Nephew loaned me his Official 2010 Winter Olympic Mascots to shoot for my 365. This was a big deal for him as they are his pride and joy – this one’s for you Mic. The Olympics are in full swing with some exciting hockey games coming up – GO Canada! Who are you rooting for?

What has been your favorite Olympic moment so far?

Please share with everyone in the comments.

Strobist: SB800 in EXYbox 1/128 @ 8 o’clock eye level
SB600 in lumiquest small softbox 1/64 @ 4 o’clock feathered.

Follow Me on Twitter @owenlaw

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I think this might just be my first self portrait in my 365. I am not opposed to getting my picture taken, I am just too lazy to set up the tripod and fiddle around with the self timer. This shot took longer than normal because of just that. I may do more in the future but for now you at least all know what I look like – scary eh? I like to pretend that I am the boss of the house but all you married men out there know the real truth – we can dream can’t we.

Strobist:
SB800 1/2 through 40 degree grid @ 6 o’clock
SB600 1/8 through 10 degree grid @ 11 o’clock

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I was at the mall this evening and as I was walking by the Disney store I saw this HUGE pile of stuffed animals. It was as if they were coming after me, “YOU WILL BUY ME!” There was one chipmunk in particular that didn’t care who he trampled over, he was bound and determined to go home with someone tonight. My kids are older now but when they were smaller I wouldn’t have dared to venture near this store – evil I tell you, pure evil!

No Strobist, just natty light. I love my 35 1.8!

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I wanted to shoot something for Bench Monday that represented how we all feel at our house about the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. We are all so proud of our team and our country! We were lucky enough to get a set of the must have “red mittens” back before Oprah announced them as being the HOT item this winter. You can not get a set now no matter how hard you try, which is funny seeing as though 10 days from now there will probably be a surplus. We had a blast shooting this even though it took a few takes to synchronize the jumps to get good air and not to catch any shadows on their faces.

Happy Bench Monday everyone!

Strobist: SB800 and SB600 bare 1/1 to overpower the bright sky @ 4 and 8 o’clock.

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It is awesome to see so much support for our country during the 2010 Winter Olympics. Today I went to a local park with my kids to go ice skating and there was a Dad there who was wearing our team jersey with such pride. I asked him if I could get a shot of him power braking on the ice for my 365 and he obliged. It was a beautiful day out today for some family fun and we were all cheering for team Canada in their game against team USA today. Too bad we lost 5-3 but the games are not over yet!

No Strobist today just natty light.

G’OH CANADA GO!

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#252/365
When I was a kid this is pretty much the only entertainment I had. There were no video games or ipods, just some square pieces of plastic an my imagination. Believe it or not it was because of Lego that I fell in love with photography. I made myself an imaginary camera out of Lego and would shoot everything I could, all with my Naked Eye – hence the name of my photography business 30 years later. I would play with this stuff for hours and I am happy to say that my youngest and his cousin do as well.

I have been wanting to practice more with Nikon’s CLS an I though this would be a great opportunity to play around. I popped up the flash, threw it into command mode and used it to trigger an SB800 and a SB600 and to top it off all in TTL. I have used CLS as a trigger in manual a couple of times but not to set the exposure as well. I have to say it worked not bad but the only thing is that every shot looks different. On the fly it would be perfect if you didn’t have tome to chimp out the proper exposure but if you want consistent repeatable results I don’t think this is the way to go, or I just need to get better at it – that’s probably it.

Strobist: SB800 (don’t know the power setting, CLS chose that for me with no compensation) through a lumiquest mini SB @ 4 o’clock
SB600 (don’t know the power setting, CLS chose that for me with no compensation) with a DIY bounce card @ 8 o’clock

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I had to stop by Ikea today on my way home from work and I saw this crazy lamp just screaming – “take a picture of me” so I pulled out my walk around camera (D40 with a 35mm 1.8) and as I was pressing down on the shutter I felt tap on my shoulder. “excuse me sir, you are not allowed to take any pictures here in the store” d’oh! I tried explaining to the security guard all about my 365 project but he wasn’t having any of it. I was kinda taken a back as I have never been asked not to take a picture indoors before, probably because I am normally quite leery about doing so but I just couldn’t pass up this crazy lamp. As luck would have it, or I thought, while the guard was scolding me another patron was taking a picture with their cell phone of some item that they were thinking about buying. Now usually I’m rather compliant and not that confrontational but I asked him how come he wasn’t stopping them and he said back to me that Cell phone cameras are OK – ??? I guess my D40 was just too professional looking and his corporate spy radar was triggered by my suspicious actions. Ah well, I kinda got the shot anyways and I sorta like the fact that it isn’t tack sharp – it adds to it if you ask me. How could I not use it after the trouble I got into for taking it – my way of stickin it to the man.

Have a great weekend everyone – see ya tomorrow.

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First off I would like to thank everyone for all the views, favs, and kind words for yesterday’s pic of the day. A whole bunch of people have made me their contact and I am super excited to see all your streams.

I love silhouettes, I would rather they be from the sun in Hawaii but I guess I’ll have to wait a bit longer for those. My super sister in-law stopped by today and after a little begging, she agreed to be my shot of the day. As you all know first hand, being a photographer these days means MANY hours behind a computer. I’m a mac, how about you. My work station (that sounds to corporate), my portal to the world is in my den and at night my monitor lights up the whole room. I can just imagine what it looks like from the other side of the door, well I don’t have to imagine anymore now do I – see above. I gave it a little boost for this shot with a strobe but you get the idea. Here’s to all my fellow photographers that spend endless hours in front of these fabulous machines, thank you for bringing the world to me each day.

Strobist: SB600 1/64 no diffuser with CalColor 90 blue gel @ 12 o’clock

Thanks for stopping by, Owen

Click_Here to ask me a question, I’ll answer most anything.

Every day I am amazed with how much power these little speed lights have. I used to be a “natural light” only shooter until I found the strobist blog. I have been reading everything I can get my hands on to further my knowledge of off camera flash and continue to try to “see the light.” Flickr is awesome for opening your eyes to what is possible in every facet of photography. I follow many great photographers and am inspired by them daily. They push me to try things I would never have though possible and I can’t thank them enough. There are so many great photographers out there but here are a few that can bend light at will and are worth following if you don’t already.

Chris Florio
Craig Sharp
Normand Desjardins aka Cafe Moka
Adrian Payne
Joricel Celis aka Joey
Alex Zyuzikov

and of course the pioneers of off camera flash -

Dustin Diaz
Ed McGowan aka isayx3,

and at last the master himself David Hobby aka Mr. Strobist

This was a fun shot to do, I have been wanting to do a levitation shot for a while but didn’t really know what or how I was going to shoot it. This just came to my today as I was coming out of sedation during a minor surgery I had – must have been the drugs :p This shot is a little tribute to all that I have learned so far and to acknowledge how much more there is still to learn.

Strobist: The most strobes I have used so far for one shot:

SB600 – 1/64 in EZYbox @ 9 o’clock
SB600 – 1/4 bounced off of ceiling @ 5 o’clock
SB800 – 1/64 stoffin pointed at curtains @ 10 o’clock
old Minolta Maxxum 4000 AF 1/16 through 45′ umbrella under subject @ 6 o’clock

SB600’s triggered by poverty triggers, SB800 in SU4 mode and Minolta by peanut slave

Click_Here to ask me a question, I’ll answer most anything.

#248/365
I drove by the post office today and saw these vans/trucks all lined up waiting for their turn to load up.  I don’t use the mail that often but there is a certain sense of romance associated with mailing a letter.  Even to this day when I get something in the mail it’s like Christmas, just so long as it isn’t from that jerk – “BILL”.  My hand writing is terrible so thank goodness for email but there is still something to be said about good old pen and paper.

Click_Here to ask me a question, I’ll answer most anything.

#247/365
My son’s school was selling the official Team Canada Mittens and I bought a set for everyone in the family to help support our team.  I don’t know if you have been watching the winter Olympics but they are so captivating this year.  Canada won their first gold yesterday and in hopes of may more I decided to post a little tribute to all our athletes. It is crazy but everywhere you look you see these mittens, even here in Edmonton.  Way to go Canada in supporting your country.  I would also like to offer my heart felt sympathy to team Georgia and to the friends and family of Nodar Kumaritashvili, it was a terrible tragedy and our hearts go out to you.

Strobist:  SB800 1/128 gridded pointed at the mitten @ 4 oclock
SB600 1/64 shoot through umbrella @ 6 o’clock low

Click_Here to ask me a question, I’ll answer most anything.

#246/365
So apparently there are special days for each day of the week while doing a 365.  I know that Wednesdays are bokeh, and I just found out that Mondays are benches but I do not know what the rest of the days are supposed to be.  This will be my first Bench Monday, I’m not sure if I am going to continue with the set days but it sounds interesting.  I would really appreciate it if there is anyone out there that knows all the different days if they could please enlighten me.

Strobist:  OFF CAMERA SB800 1/64 with lumiquest softbox bounced into creme colored wall @ 7 o’clock

Click_Here to ask me a question, I’ll answer most anything.

I made mention of the fact that I was invited to shoot the 2010 Canadian Birkebeiner today here in Strathcona County, just outside of Edmonton, Alberta.  The weather was as nice as could be expected mid February and the turn out was great.  There are several races throughout the day, all different distances.  This was the first of the day and the longest – 55 KM with our without a 5.5 Kilo pack on your back.  Athletes of all ages compete in this the big daddy of all the ski races.  The oldest participant has partaken in this race for over 20 years and he just turned 80 today.  Congratulations to all the participants and volunteers that made this event possible.

I will be posting more of the images on my blog withing the next few days, and perhaps one or more here on Flickr.  Thanks Bruce for inviting me and it was nice to shoot with new friends, Stephanie, and Paul.

Click_Here to ask me a question, I’ll answer most anything.

I have the privilege of being one of the official event photographers for the 2010 Canadian Birkebeiner Ski Festival that kicks off tomorrow at Elk Island National Park just East of Edmonton, Alberta. Thankfully the weather is supposed to be decent tomorrow, I had the fear that it was going to be -20.  The Birkenbeiner, Birke for short,  is a big cross country ski event  held every year here in Edmonton.  Skiers from all over the world come to the event so it’s quite a big deal.  I’m not sure how the Olympics are going to effect it this year but it promises to be very exciting nonetheless.  Watch for more shots of the actual event tomorrow here and on my blog.

Strobist: bleieve it or not it was just the pop up flash on my D40, albeit with a very tiny grid on it.

Once again processed only in Aperture 3.0.  Now that I am getting somewhat used to the program, I have to say I am pretty impressed so far.  I especially like the natural integration with other programs, however it is a real memory pig.

Click_Here to ask me a question, I’ll answer most anything.

I saw this girl’s goggles and it reminded me of Master Chief off of my kid’s video game Halo.  I couldn’t stop looking at them and the girl behind them must have though I was some kind of creeper.  I got my shot and hopefully I didn’t freak her out too much, no police were called in the making of this photo.

Strobist:

Great big yellow ball of fire. @ 6 o’clock

It’s 3 AM and I’m still up – crazy busy day today.  Here is a quick shot of what you see all over the place here in Alberta.  I liked the silhouette so I stopped and took a shot.  No strobist today, just a plain old post card from Edmonton.

The best camera is the one that you have with you.  My D40 with a 35mm 1.8 lens is my walking around camera.  It is small enough that I can throw it into my shoulder bag (my wife calls it my purse – WHATEVER!) and it takes pretty good shots for an entry level SLR.  It’s actually the camera that got me back into photography again after a 20 year hiatus.  My wife bought it for me for Father’s day a few years back – little did she know   I saw this lady from down the street and when I saw the fire hydrant + cute little dog, I knew I had to get down on one knee and capture it.

Aperture 3.0 came out today so I grabbed the free 30 day trial and took it for a test run.  I have been a Lightroom guy for the last 3 years but I might just consider making a switch.  There are a couple of things that I miss but it has some features that I wish LR had – perhaps it might in it’s next release.  If you haven’t ever tried Aperture, I would suggest grabbing the 30 day free trial and give it a go.  This image was edited completely in Aperture 3.0

Here is the image SOOC (straight out of camera)  Before any adjustments.

These were what we called action figures when I was a boy – oh no, i just hit a point in my life when that phrase is relevant – "when I was a boy"   I am in constant awe and disbelief with the things kids these days (another term that makes me sound old) have to keep them entertained.  When I showed these to my kids all they could say was "what do they do?"  Well what they did for me was keep me out of my Mom’s hair and hours of enjoyment "when I was a kid."

Strobist:
SB800 20 degrees snoot 1/64 @ 7 o’clock
SB600 10 degrees snoot 1/64 @ 10 o’clock
Both fired by CLS pop up

Flash light in BG for Sun Effect