Return to blogging & a new camera lens!

So I never gave this blog much attention, now that I am working on changing my role at work I think it would be helpful practice to update this blog on a regular basis.  I will make this a place I share the photos and videos I am creating.  There will be commentary on tech related things, I find myself talking back to podcasts, from now on I will turn those thoughts into blog posts.  A place to share neat or funny things I see, and just a semi personal journal to collect and share my thoughts.

A few weeks ago I placed a low-ball bid on E-Bay for a lens I have been curious about for a while. Lo and behold I was the winning bidder, and less than a week later it was in my hands. Meet my new Sigma 17-70 f2.8-4 Contemporary Lens.

Being part of Sigma’s “Contemporary”  line of lenses this 17-70mm lens is meant as an upgrade or replacement to your camera’s “kit” lens without the shocking price of a professional lens.  Sigma dubs their professional line of lenses the “Art” series.  I do have one Sigma “Art” lens in my collection and they are truly superior quality lenses.

I first had an experience with the older brother to this 17-70 lens when I briefly had Sigma’s SD Quattro camera in my possession. That camera came with an “Art” lens of its own, a 30mm f1.4 prime lens. While it was a high quality and sharp lens to use I found its output to be almost sterile and boring.  I had also ordered a somewhat older 17-70 f2.8-4.5 lens to use with that camera and found I really enjoyed using it. I found it to be a very versatile lens with pleasing output.  It’s not going to win an sharpness contests, but the further I get into photography the more I realize that is not the only quality of a lens. Plus, only the most fervent of pixel peepers could really tell the difference, it is plenty sharp. There are also factors to consider when choosing a lens, such as color rendition, Bokeh (the blurry background), and contrast to name a few.

If anyone considering this lens for themselves happens to find this post, here is what makes this lens a good choice.  First off, it lets in twice as much light as your kit lens. This means you can get better pictures in low light or use a higher shutter speed than you previously would have been able to to freeze the action.  It also obviously will get a bit wider, though honestly there is not much difference between 17mm and 18mm. However 70mm on the long end versus the 55mm your kit lens likely reaches is a very nice and welcome feature if this is to be your only lens, or at least the one you take with you. It’s build quality and image quality will be noticeably better than what your kit lens produces.  The longer reach and wider aperture should allow this lens to make some very nice portraits if that is your thing, put your camera in aperture priority, set the ISO at 100, or as low as it will go (assuming you are outside or in a well lit area), zoom to 70mm and shoot away!

I took the new lens out to a favorite local park of mine a few days ago to put it through it’s paces, Morningside Nature Center.  The park features many miles of hiking trails and an 1800’s Florida living history farm.  The weather was uncooperative as it tends to be in the afternoon in this part of Florida, it was overcast with on and off light rain.  So I looked for some flowers to shoot in my short time there as I didn’t want to spend too much time out in the weather. The lower light levels allowed me to test out the lenses Image Stabilization, which woks great I might add. I managed to find a nice Passionflower and some clumps of Coreopsis, our state flower.  Here are the results of my brief hike, I look forward to using this lens more in the future.  So far I am happy with the photos it is allowing me to make, they certainly have that pleasing look I remember and I would recommend it to anyone looking to upgrade or replace their “Kit” lens!

A Passionflower with a Passionflower bud in the foreground. f11, 1/13 second (thanks to image stabilization) ISO 100

Passionflower with a few raindrops. f8, 1/30sec, ISO 100

Passionflower again, from the top. f8, 1/15sec, ISO 100

And finally a Coreopsis, the Florida State Flower. f11. 1/25sec, ISO 800

Thank you for reading, have an awesome day!

All images copyright Wesley Hetrick, do not use without permission!

Early Morning at Sweetwater Wetlands

This past Saturday I met with some other photographers from my local photo club at Sweetwater Wetlands Park in Gainesville Florida.  I recently received an annual pass to this excellent park on the edge of Paynes Prairie for my birthday, I look forward to visiting much more throughout the year to come.

The park is designed to help naturally clean wastewater runoff from Gainesville, in the past this wastewater would dump directly into Alachua sink and directly into the Florida Aquifer without any natural filtration.  A series of man made wetlands allow the runoff to be naturally filtered and also gives local wildlife access to a good source of food.

We started the day just after sunrise at 7:30 AM, the moon was still high in the sky. This time of day is known to photographers as the “Golden Hour” for the excellent light that is cast early in the morning and just before sunset.

Once inside the park we found lots of wild birds scouring the shallow waters for their morning meal.  This Common Moorhen was one of those birds.  The Moorhen is in fact very common in the park and gets overlooked by the birders that frequent the park.

Next we saw something a bit more rare, a Green Heron.  I find the name of this bird to be quite confusing because it is not green at all.

As we attempted to continue along the curved boardwalk a Great Blue Heron landed on the railing in front of us as to say thou shall not pass.  We both stopped for a while watching each other and us taking photos but eventually it continued on as did we.  Here it is in the heat of the standoff.

Another common bird of the wetlands of Florida is the Red Winged Blackbird,  this is another slightly confusing one.  The male of the species is in fact a black bird with red on its wings, however as you see here the female is not black at all and also does not have any red on it’s wings or anywhere else.  These birds are quite talkative and they like to perch of the tall grasses found in the wetlands and prairies.

Springtime is especially pretty around Paynes Prairie and the wetlands. The pickerel plants produce a sea of the lovely purple flowers you see here.  I love the striking colors of these flowers and enjoy photographing them to try and capture that beauty for eternity.

Further along the trail we say a tiny Palm Warbler jumping from branch to branch of a small cypress tree.  I managed to capture the bird sitting still for just an instant, I really liked the color contrast and the lovely early morning light.

A bit further along another female Red Winged Blackbird was doing a bit of a dance on this tall grass, almost seeming impossible that this tiny grass could hold such a bird.

Then a moment later we heard a clatter in the air, a group of Black Bellied Whistling Ducks flew by in a Thunderbirds like formation.

As we were making our way out of the park to leave we saw this brightly colored Purple Gallinule looking for a bite to eat itself.  This birds bright colors are quite incredible.  I would love to capture one on or near the flowering Pickerel.

Just as we were leaving we noticed this Blue Flag blooming just near the waters edge next to the boardwalk.  Again quite a stunning color and a beautiful way to end the hike.

I hope you enjoyed these photos from our hike.  If you get the chance, a visit to Sweetwater Wetlands Park in Gainesville Florida is highly recommended. You can find more information at http://www.sweetwaterwetlands.org/

All photos copyright me, Wesley Hetrick (2018), please do not use without permission.

Shooting Film In A High Tech Way, My New Canon EOS Elan 7ne

It’s no secret that I love photography.  Whether it is with a cellphone, point and shoot, (D)SLR, instant, film, whatever. No matter what it is, if it captures an image chances are I like it.  I have many film cameras in my collection and I enjoy shooting with them.

I love the physicality of film and I also love the look of film.  I appreciate the sharpness and detail a modern digital SLR with a great lens can provide but when you see film you instantly know it is film and it has a certain magical quality about it.

Thats where my love of using film cameras end however. I don’t like manually focusing, I can, it’s not hard, but we have had the technology for decades and dammit I want to use it. I don’t like  figuring out the exposure with an old camera either. It generally means using another device a light meter or light meter app on my phone.  The built in light meters on many of these old cameras can be out of spec if they even had one to begin with and many times they were designed to use now outlawed mercury batteries. Sure you can pop in an equivalent sized zinc-air hearing aid battery but it will only last a few weeks and still you have a piece of electronics that are 40 or 50 years old running off a battery it wasn’t meant to run on.

Enter my new Canon EOS Elan 7ne, a 35mm film camera from the year 2004.  Yes, it is barely older than 10 years old and it features all the bells and whistles a geeky photo enthusiast like myself could ever want.

Since the 7ne is such a recent camera is uses modern batteries, has fast, modern multi point autofocus, an accurate light meter, and it rips through film at 4 frames per second, about as fast as my Canon T4i (650D) DSLR.

The most interesting feature of the Canon Elan 7ne is the eye control feature.  The camera tracks your eye movement and will focus on whichever focus point you are looking at.  This is no gimmick either, it woks amazingly well!  No more fumbling through a menu to set up which focus point you want to use every time you change what you are shooting, with the 7ne just look where you want the focus and the camera obeys your command and does it, amazing!

7ne Closeup, With Eye Control!

The shutter speeds are from Bulb to 1/4000 of a second. And the camera takes all Canon EF mount lenses of which I already have several that I use with my Canon T4i.  Even the image stabilization in the lenses that have it wok perfectly with this camera!

Canon EOS Elan 7ne – Top Down

There are tons more features like Ai Focus and Ai Servo focus, aperture priority, shutter priority, exposure compensation, bracketing, auto film wind and rewind of course.  A nice big bright viewfinder, a backlit top LCD readout.

Canon EOS Elan 7ne – Top LCD

I chose to also add the BG-300 Canon Battery grip.  This allows the 7ne to use standard AA batteries as opposed to the more expensive CR2 batteries.  It also adds a grip for portrait shooting and a second shutter button and exposure lock button for portrait shooting as well.

I purchased the camera used from KEH out of Atlanta Georgia, in what they call “Bargain” condition for $99. I have ordered from them before and have always had great service, the items are always as good or better than you expect.

EOS Elan 7ne – Rear

So to wrap this post up, I am excited about my new film camera.  I want to shoot more film than I have in the past and now I have the tool to do it! Film, with no boundaries!  Thanks for reading and checking this post out.  If you are a Canon DSLR owner yourself and would like to shoot film I highly recommend the 7ne, it will take any Canon EF lens you already have (does not work with EF-S lenses) and can be picked up on E-Bay or other places for under $100.

Saint Augustine Florida, Memorial Presbyterian Church

For part 3 or our Saint Augustine tour we have the Memorial Presbyterian Church. Constructed in 1889 by Henry Flagler using the same revolutionary poured concrete method used in his Ponce De Leon and Alcazar Hotels (Now Flagler College and Lightner Museum respectively).  Local coquina shells used as aggregate in the concrete gives these structures a unique look and color.  Lightner named the church memorial in honor of his daughter Jennie Louise Benedict who died the year it was built.  Lightner himself is interned there as well since his death in 1913.

While we did not venture into the church I have seen some photos from inside that are pretty impressive.  Here are a few of the photographs I made of the outside of the church on July 4 2014.

Memorial Presbyterian Church 1889

Memorial Presbyterian Church 1889

Memorial Presbyterian Church 1889

Memorial Presbyterian Church 1889

Saint Augustine Florida, Flagler College Photos

For part 2 of my Saint Augustine photography series we have Flagler College. Constructed in 1888 as a luxury hotel by Henry Flagler the buildings became Flagler college in 1968. Flagler college is a private liberal arts college. The hotel which was called the Ponce De Leon was the first of its kind to be constructed of poured concrete. Local coquina shells were added to the concrete as aggregate giving the concrete a unique texture and color.  The hotel also featured generator driven DC electric lighting with the system being designed by Flagler’s friend Thomas Edison.  Here are some images of Flagler College for you to enjoy.

Front Gate Detail of Flagler College in Saint Augustine Florida

Main Courtyard of Flagler college in Saint Augustine Florida

Some of the artwork in the main rotunda at Flagler College in Saint Augustine Florida

Decorative water spout at Flagler College in Saint Augustine Florida

Beautiful Grounds at Flagler College in Saint Augustine Florida

Saint Augustine, Florida Lightner Museum – Alcazar Hotel

During our recent trip to Saint Augustine for independence day we visited some of the sights around downtown.  One of those places is the Lightner Museum and former Alcazar Hotel.

Built in 1887 as a hotel by Henry Flagler the Hotel Alcazar provided a place for the tourists traveling his railroad to stay.  The hotel is one of the first buildings in the world to be constructed using poured concrete. The hotel closed in 1932 due to a slowdown of the tourism industry in Florida during the great depression.  The hotel was purchased by Otto Lightner in 1946 as a place to house his extensive collection of Victorian era artwork and artifacts. We did not tour the museum this time but Lighner’s collections are still on display for tourists visiting Saint Augustine to see.  Here are some photographs I made of the outside area of the museum. For more information about the museum visit http://www.lightnermuseum.org/main_lightner.html

The entrance way to the Lightner museum and courtyard.

Some of the architechtural detail of the Lightner Museum/Alcazar Hotel

The gardens that front the Lightner Museum and Alcazar Hotel. Notice the solid poured concrete walls of the hotel.

 

 

 

Happy Independence Day America

It has become tradition that my partner Kris and I visit Saint Augustine, Florida for the 4th of July every year. It is a little over 70 miles from home and offers quite a lot to do during the day as well as a spectacular fireworks show at night.

We spend the day seeing the sights and enjoying some good food and then settle in for a gorgeous fireworks show to end the night.  Here are what I think are the best of the fireworks photos I made this year.

It is only a little more than a year since I purchased my DSLR and I notice an improvement in my abilities over this first year.  I hope you enjoy these photos, I have more to share and I hope to be providing content on this blog more often. Thanks for checking in!

Independence day 2014, Fireworks show over the Matanzas Inlet in Saint Augustine Florida taken from the sea wall of the Castillo De San Marcos A historic fort from the Spanish Occupation of Florida. On the left you can se a part of the Bridge of Lions which spans the inlet.

Independence day 2014, Fireworks show over the Matanzas Inlet in Saint Augustine Florida taken from the sea wall of the Castillo De San Marcos A historic fort from the Spanish Occupation of Florida

Independence day 2014, Fireworks show over the Matanzas Inlet in Saint Augustine Florida taken from the sea wall of the Castillo De San Marcos A historic fort from the Spanish Occupation of Florida

Back From The Dead!

It has been ages since I have last made a post here.  I am sorry for letting this go for so long.  Full time job, Beer Blog, YouTube videos, hobbies, things just get in the way.  I have set wordpress as one of my browser start pages so that I may be reminded to blog more often.  Today I would like to share a recent photo of mine that I am really proud of.  I did this in the backyard this past Saturday.  I noticed the yard was covered in these tiny purple flowers so I grabbed my camera and got in really close.  As close as you really can with the kit lens my camera came with.  I was lucky enough to see this insect doing its magic with the flowers and it made a good photo even better. Enjoy this image and see you again soon!

Canon T4i with 18-135mm STM lens at 135mm f5.6

Photo of The Day #7

St. Augustine, FL July 4 2013

Canon T4i, 18-135 STM lens at 135mm

ISO: 100

f5.6, 1/800 second

Photo of The Day #6

After a brief delay, I have some more photos to share.  We spent the 4th of July in St Augustine, Florida.  I spent the whole day shooting and got some nice shots I will be sharing more from the day in the coming weeks.  Here is the best shot of the fireworks I made.

July 4 2013, St Augustine FL
Fireworks and the Bridge of Lions

Canon T4i, 18-135 STM Lens @18mm

ISO: 100

f8, 8 seconds