Photography « Robert's Blog

Archive for the 'Photography' Category

Aug

San Francisco & Marin Headlands Photography Workshop

August 15, 2010 9:40 PM

I had an exciting weekend where I took a photography workshop! It was a Father’s Day gift from my wife and kids, and since Father’s Day was a couple of months ago, I was very anxious for this weekend to come. The workshop was held by the Aperture Academy (www.apertureacademy.com) It was an incredible time, where I spent Saturday afternoon/evening (1pm to 9pm) taking great pictures of the San Francisco/Marin Headlands area. The other people taking the workshop are great people, and great people who share similar interests, such as photography, just makes for a great day.

We encountered awesome weather during the workshop. No fog interrupted our afternoon shoot. We started at Baker Beach, where we took our first photos of the Golden Gate Bridge. I also took the time to take water shots of the crashing waves, where I ended up getting my tripod and feet wet. We also ran into some fully nude people, as Baker Beach is one of the only beaches in the Bay Area where full nudity is legal.

From there, we went on to Fort Point. After being in the Bay Area for 10 years, this was my first visit to this historic landmark. The Fort had awesome architecture to photograph, and it had a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and San Francisco’s cityscape. I learned more about composition at this stop.

We then went off to Sausalito (another first visit for me) where we stopped to warm up with some hot coffee and eat some dinner at the Taste of Rome Caffe. Great little place right by the marina. This is where the weather wasn’t as cooperative. We headed out to Rodeo Beach to take pictures of the sunset, but the cloud cover prevented us from seeing the sun at all.

Finally, we headed up to the Marin Headlands to take some night shots of the Golden Gate Bridge. What a breathtaking experience to see the bridge at twilight. An even better experience is to capture the moment on film (digital film in this case).

I used Manual on my camera for all of my shots, which is a first for me. I had a great time on this trip, and I recommend others to take a workshop like this. Here is the link to the blog of our trip. Here are some of the pictures I took too.

http://www.apertureacademy.com/photography-workshop-sf-aug14-2010.php

~rb

May

Kata KT D-3N1-22 3 In 1 Sling /Backpack with Laptop Slot

By rnbarrios 2 Comments

Categories: General, Photography and Tech
Tags: bag, camera, kata

May 14, 2010 2:32 PM

Wow, it’s been 5 months since my last blog (which several people have pointed out). Laziness is most of it, but the other part is I haven’t gotten anything exciting in the last few months. You would think I’d have an iPad by now, but I don’t ☹ (by my choice though, as I’m waiting for gen 2 with a front facing camera).

So, we’re going to talk about a bag. Yes, a bag! Since I haven’t bought any gadgets, I’ll talk about the bag where I put my most favorite gadgets, my Canon 40D and Canon Vixia HF10.

The Kata 3N1caught my eye when I was in New York and visited the B&H Super Store (http://bhphotovideo.com). The bag comes in 3 sizes to fit your needs. The largest can fit a 15” notebook, camera with battery grip and Telephoto lens, plus room for 4 lenses and accessories. The smallest bag can fit a DSLR with a medium zoom lens and room for 2 lenses and accessories. I purchased the medium sized bag. I have it loaded with my Canon 40D, mid-size zoom lens, 2 lenses, my 430EX Flash, with room for the Vixia camcorder.

What makes this bag really handy is the ability to whip out your camera quickly when touring around. The camera is accessed through a side pocket that can be quickly opened by pulling on a tab that pulls back the zippers. The zippers are of high quality that they smoothly open quickly. You wear the bag with one sling that allows you to rotate the bag from your back into a fanny-pack like position across your chest. This gives easy access to the camera, and doesn’t require you to put the bag down. There is pocket access on both the right and left side, as well as the ability to wear the bag using a right or left sling, so this quick access method can be used by both righties and lefties.

Organizing the bag is a cinch. You can open up the bag completely, and the bag comes with many dividers to help keep your equipment snug and accessible. I configured my bag so that I can access my camera and flash from the quick access pocket. The other side is where I put the camcorder. The bag came with a flash card envelope that can be mounted in the bag using velcro. Also, the bag came with a rain cover.

The bag I bought came with a padded laptop compartment. It’s made for Netbooks 10 inches or smaller, perfect for my Dell Mini 9, but I was able to squeeze my 13” Macbook Pro into the pocket.

Finally, the bag is comfortable to wear. You can wear the bag with a single sling for the quick access, but for treks where you won’t need the camera immediately, you can wear the bag in a traditional backpack or a secure cross-strap configuration.

So here is my latest blog. I do plan on getting the new HTC EVO 4G http://now.sprint.com/evo/?INTCID=AB:UPU:HERO:041110:EvoPL:960×320 from Sprint next month, so that will probably be my next review.

~rb