New Lens; Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8

It's new lens time! Just arrived today, the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8. Probably around 60 - 70% of the shots I have ever taken in my career were shot with the older Tokina 12-24mm f/4 that I loved, but this new version is wider and faster; it's a win win. 11mm means, without getting too technical, that it is very wide. All those shots of tall buildings and beautiful landscapes are usually shot with a wide angle like this one. I took it out for a walk today in an absolutely gorgeous first day of spring in Boston, and I couldn't be happier with it. Check it out below.

 

Four Year Strong, Orange Amps & Alternative Press Magazine

Big News! Walk into any Barnes & Noble and most other bookstores across the entire country, go to the magazine rack, find AP Magazine (either the March or April issue), flip to page 77 and check out some of my photos! AP was a magazine I subscribed to for many years when I was younger, and Four Year Strong is a band that I have loved for just as long, so it's obviously really cool to see my shots when I open the magazine.

Gabrielle & Edwin, Boston Common Engagement Photos

Today I met Gabrielle and Edwin at the Boston Common for some really fun and unique shots. A guitar and playground both played a part in the day, and it was so nice to meet these two and have some fun for a few hours. Probably not a secret to anyone that knows them, they both have absolutely incredible voices. Make sure you make it to the end of the post for a super cheesy, but super adorable parting shot.

Good luck this October guys! 

City Walk

The iPhone, Photographically Speaking

I make no attempts at hiding my general all-around appreciation (verging on fanboy-ism) for apple products. I generally gobble up any form of apple products with a few exceptions; aperture, safari, apple tv and until about a month ago, the iPhone. I have been a verizon customer for as long as I know, and whole the initial fervor over the original version was not lost on me, it wasn't an option, and generally stayed that way up through the 4th version. Previous to my shiny new iPhoen 4s, I was an android user, and it honestly changed the way that I went about a lot of things in my life; it made me much less skillfull at getting around without the use of GPS, it helped me lose a lot of weight becuase of the ease of calorie counting, but one thing it could never quite do for me was to be considered a legitamate camera. 

I feel that the iPhone changes that. It is not anything special as far as cameras go, it's actually very underwhelming as a standalone camera. There is no optical zooming, meaning any time you zoom in you are degrading quality, essentially erasing any reason to zoom and the camera itself is entirely automatic, without allowing any creative functions. the beauty of the iPhone platform is everything that is not packaged with the phone itsself. the apps. From Left to Right Camera+, Slow Shutter, Instagram, Snapseed.

 The way I look at it is, the iPhone camera is pretty "ehhh", but when coupled with these apps, it becomes so much more. This is the single only way that I know how to capture an image, creatively process an image, save it, and post it to facebook all from the palm of my hand. It is something special when I am used to carrying my 6-7 pound camera rig, getting home, sitting down at my computer, offloading the camera, importing to lightroom, editing, exporting, and then uploading. It's a special experience.

In the post before this one, you can see serious images taken with a very expensive and heavy camera, with an equally expensive and heavy pair of lenses, processed on an expensive computer with expensive software, and I couldn't be happier with the images. I can't see that a compact camera will ever replace that experience, nor do I want it to. however, directly below, check out some images from the iPhone and what I was able to get out of them all in my hand in less than 5 minutes each. You may love or hate the images, that's fine. It's more about the potential results that I want you to pay attention to. If you are looking to get more into iphoneography, check this link for a free online workshop following the holidays.

What do you think? If you have an iPhone, do you feel that it is a legitmate capture device or is it just a distraction?