HDR Photography

I was just looking over my last several posts and realized I've not posted any images in some time. What kind of photography blog is this anyway?????

So, here's one of my more recent pieces. I'm just getting into HDR (high dynamic range) photography. It's pretty cool actually. I'm currently using a program called Photomatix to merge the images.

I shot these down on some backroad (don't ask me to remember the name) on the Palouse. We happened to be shooting an old harvester from the road when the property owner happened by. We could see that there were several old cars and trucks out in the field beyond and asked if he'd mind if we walked out and shot them. He was very gracious and told us to stay as long as we liked.

Here's one from that afternoon......

It's here!!!!!

The lens is here!!! Finally! It was better than Christmas to come home and find that it had arrived.
The honest truth though...... I was going to cancel the order on Tuesday because we bought a 4-wheeler. I started to freak out about spending the money and had decided to wait on the lens. I figured that since the lens was on serious back order anyway, it wouldn't kill me to wait a bit. When I came home and got online to cancel the backorder I had an email stating that the lens had shipped that morning. Oh well..... I wanted it anyway. :)
After work tomorrow a friend and I are going to do some shooting so it'll be fun to test it out. Hopefully I'll have something worthy of sharing........
Happy weekend!

Compensation.....

Just a quick update on the "Amtrak Experience". I was FINALLY (after 3 hours on hold .... not making this up!) able to connect with Amtrak customer relations. They ended up giving us $150 credit for future travel to compensate for the bus experience. I thought that was more sufficient being as the train ticket from Chicago to Grand Rapids was only $25. I guess the rest was for pain and suffering...... :)
Now we'll have to see where else we might want to brave via train.......

In Closing........

Well, I can now put my RitzCamera ordeal to bed. The pending charges on my credit card dropped. Whew! I will now be MUCH more careful with "unknown" companies. It was a good lesson in patience for me. Those of you who know me know that patience is not my strong suit.
So, I guess now it's just hurry up and wait for OneCall to get theirs in again....."sigh".

The "Real" Me......

Ok, I'm honored to be included guys, but this is SO out of character for me..... :) Very few people know the "real" me.
10 things you don't know about me. Hhhhmmm.... Ok, here we go!

1. I sleep with a teddy bear. I always have. I know, FREAK!

2. I can't STAND poor table manners. People who make "noise" while they eat make me crazy. PS. Not only do I not want to hear your food, I don't want to see it either.

3. I didn't see the ocean until I was 19.

4. I don't eat at buffets. Yes, Lyle already knows this. That's just nasty though..... Hello! Some people are shorter than that sneeze guard thing!

5. I have 3 sisters. I'm the "responsible, solid, dependable" one.

6. I have a nice voice, but I'm too self conscious to use it in public.

7. One of my biggest fears in life was always disappointing my father.

8. I was a published photographer at 16. ( I did some product photography and in addition to my wage I got photo credit in a national magazine. No biggie, but at 16 it was pretty exciting.)

9. When I was 7 years old I had a stuffed Cookie Monster that I loved. He got really ratty and lost a "googly eye" and my dad finally made me throw him away. I would go out to visit him in the garbage can outside every day until Dad took the trash to the dump. I can identify with Jude and his "Baba". It's traumatic! :)

10. I am extremely shy and don't like crowds or social gatherings that require petty "small talk".

So, there you have it. Some things you didn't know about me! :)
I think I'll tag Shebly. I know they're out of town, but she can catch up when they get back. :)

"The Lens" continued.......

Well, the saga continues.
When I got home a few minutes ago I checked my email and found another message from Ritz Camera to call and confirm my order. In case you missed yesterday's episode, we've already been through this. So, I called them back and got some guy with an incredibly thick accent who said his name was "John". Last night I got "Daniel". Come on Punjab, you're not fooling anyone here...... I'm not racist by any means but I hate it when companies outsource and then their CS reps tell you, in incredibly broken English, that their name is something like "Matthew" "Brenda" or "Christopher". Like that's going to fool you into thinking that you haven't just gotten some mass call center in India. Yeah, ok....I'm fooled. Whatever. Why can't they just say "My name is Rajib" or whatever it is? Is that a mandate from their company? I kind of feel sorry for them, actually. Anyway, I got "John" and he said that we needed to go through this little song and dance again. I asked if my order had been processed yet and he said "No, it ship tomorrow." This is what "Daniel" told me yesterday. At this point I'm getting a little cranky. I told him that I had been told the same thing yesterday. He just repeated "No, it ship tomorrow." I asked to cancel the order and he said ok. I also requested a cancellation number and he said he didn't have one. Something about just checking the order status on the web site in a few hours. I'm not totally confident that "John" and I communicated, but I'm praying he at least understood "CANCEL" and got it done. I plan to watch that credit card and if I see a charge I'll have to put a stop payment on it I guess. At this point I really don't have any other options.
So, feeling a little better about the whole thing I hopped over to OneCall to buy my lens. Guess what........ON ORDER!!!! AAAAHHHH!!!! NO NO NO!!!! I have to believe it was an error last night on the site that said it was in stock. I'm on their list to receive an email when it comes in and I never heard a peep and now the status is on order again. This sucks!
In the mean time, I checked my credit card online and I see there is a pending transaction for $1800. I called them to stop it and they said I can't do anything until the transaction is processed by the vendor. They said if I canceled the order I should see the pending trans disappear in 2 to 3 days. You can bet I'll be watching that one!!!
I'm going to go cry myself to sleep now........ :(

I think I'm going to vomit.........

Ok. I can't decide if I'm going vomit, cry, scream or just slit my wrists right now and have it over with!!! What led me to this place? A bit of history.......
I've been chasing the Nikon 70-200mm VR 2.8 for 2 weeks now. It's been out of stock EVERYWHERE!!!! I've tried OneCall (my first choice), Adorama, B&H Photo, and The Camera Corral in CDA. On order, on order, on order...... When asking when they would be in stock again, the same answer. "We don't know. They're flying out of here like nothing we've seen." Ok fine. I'll wait and just keep checking. I have checked for them daily for 2 weeks and they're still "on order". I even tried to buy the demo lens at Huppin's but they wouldn't budge. I even offered to buy a D300 body at the same time (seriously, I would have). They still wouldn't budge. This lens is a sweet lens. I mean, I have never seen such a nice lens. The clarity and bokeh are BEAUTIFUL! Not to mention the solid construction. I MUST have this lens. It's not an option anymore. It's become an obsession.
So, last night I was reading some reviews on Ken Rockwell's site. He has a link on his site to Ritz Camera, Adorama and Amazon for this lens. Of course, I already know that Amazon and Adorama don't have one. I clicked on the link for Ritz Camera.........drum roll please! (insert light from heaven and the Hallelujah chorus here).......THEY HAVE IT!!!! It's even the same price as it was at Huppin's. Fantabulous!!!! I'll take one! Usually, I have to agonize over a purchase like this ($1800.00) for days, sometimes weeks before committing. BUT I've done my homework, I know the value and this is the lens for me. So, I bought it. Here's where it starts to slide. This morning I checked my email and I have one from Ritz saying that I need to call their 800 number to confirm my order. Huh??? Didn't I just do that last night? You know, that little button that says "CONFIRM". The one you push after you give them your billing address, your shipping address, your mother's address, your credit card number and 4 or 5 secret codes relating to your credit card, your home phone, work phone, cell phone, neighbor's phone....and on we go. I thought we'd been through this already. So anyway, I called the 800 to see what the deal was. The deal is that they don't speak English. No, I'm sorry, that's not English. If English speaking Americans can't understand you, it doesn't count. So, I muddled through that conversation. What they want is the customer service phone number off the back of your credit card. I've never been asked for this before. So before giving them the number I called my CC company and asked them if that was "normal". They said that for large purchases online some companies call to verify the funds and such. Ok, that's fine. However, in the mean time I'm surfing the web looking for consumer reviews on RitzCamera. Bad idea. Why do I torment myself like this???? It's about 50/50 good and bad, but the bad is pretty bad. But, no one else has this lens and I'm dying for it. So, I press on. I called back to confirm, gave them the cust serv number for my card and checked yet again to be sure it was in stock. Yes, it will ship tomorrow.
So, by the time I got home from work today I had really been stewing about it. What if they're a scammy kind of outfit? What if the lens is damaged? What if it ends up to be a big ordeal? What if what if what if.....? My only saving grace in the whole thing is that no one else has the lens in stock. If I just keep telling myself this it will be ok. Right? WRONG!!!! I came home today and checked OneCall, just to torment myself I guess....... IT'S BACK IN STOCK!!!! I checked last night and it wasn't there. AAAAHHH!!!! What was I thinking????? I should have just waited. So now, I'm hooked up with some unknown, sketchy place with customer service in India. I could have ordered it today from OneCall. I even could have gone down to the store (Huppin's) and talked to Doug, my favorite sales rep, and taken one home tomorrow. WHY? WHY? WHYYYYYYYYYYY?
I'm crossing my fingers and praying that it arrives with no further issue. This is all so out of character for me. I NEVER buy from places I'm not familiar with. Usually, I'll make a small purchase or two to check them out. If all goes well, I'll buy something more significant. I don't know what I was thinking.............just shoot me!!!!
I'll keep you posted.