Hot Box Girls

Canon 7D, ISO 1600, 200 mm, f/6.3, 1/100

 It feels like an eternity since I last posted, but things have been strange since I last updated this site.

In the past couple of weeks I’ve emptied out my savings to by my dream camera, gotten threatened with small claims court, had that weird stomach virus that’s been going around, and have been to two plays involving the public school system in two weeks.

I bought the Canon 7D almost two weeks ago and I was all set to shoot with it last weekend, but I ended up getting sick from Friday until mid-Sunday afternoon. Then work came about and I was very busy and just didn’t have time to do anything.

The weekend before that, I went with a friend to go see her daughter in a production of “Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory”. It was a good production, but had some technical difficulties early on, but the children who were in the play powered through it and they were very entertaining.

My friend’s daughter played the part of Charlie and did a wonderful job in her portrayal of the character.

Abbey as Charlie ( third from left )

The second production was held by the Somerville high school and featured my best friend’s daughter Jenn. I have known Jenn since she was born and when she requested me to come to see the production she was going to be in, I couldn’t  help but say yes. The fact that she mentioned something about me being like an uncle to her had nothing to do with it.

::sniff::

Sorry, had to wipe a tear away.

It was another fantastic production from a school and the arts program that is supported by local businesses. It just shows me how important art truly is and why it shouldn’t be cut from any budget. It doesn’t matter if it’s music, acting, drawing, painting, photography… anything. It just needs to be supported, because it really does make a difference in so many lives.

As for my photography… I’m going to slowly learn everything about what my new camera has to offer and I also now have the benefit of carrying my XSI with me everywhere I go. I feel like my canvas has been reset and a palette of new colors has been placed before me!

I hope that everyone is having a great week!!!

-The Visual Geek

Fraggled

Canon XSi, ISO 100, 50 mm, f/4.5, 1/5

This photo is of my friend ( and muse on occasion ) Amy. I would post a photo of her without a scarf, but then….


SHE WOULD KILL ME!!!


Either that or she would give me a very sad face of sadness and then I would feel guilty enough to take it down.


Not this time, this time she doesn’t have a choice!!!


As for the rest of my current photo happenings: Last Sunday I broke down and ordered the Canon 7D from Best Buy and saved about $300, and that was with express shipping. It came on Tuesday and I was set to play with it over the weekend.

Oh the weekend…. the glorious weekend, where I came down with a temp of 101.3 on Friday morning and spent my time in bed until Sunday mid-morning.

So, yea… my Canon 7D is saying “WTF, you don’t love me?”

My response: “I love you so much that I didn’t want to get my germs all over you baby.”

And then the men in the white jackets came in and hauled me away.

The End.

PS: 7D shots coming soon. Unless they don’t let me out.

The Final Countdown

Canon XSi, ISO 100, 200 mm, f/8.0, 1/160

I’ve been going back and forth over the past few days, over how I’m going to make the purchase of the Canon 7D. I thought that getting it at Best Buy would be the way to go, because I have a few coupons that I thought would be helpful and get me some nice benefits coming back at me.


I guess it was to good to be true. Instead, I’ll end up getting it from Best Buy at about $300.00 less, than what I would pay at a local photo retailer. I’ve decided to just do it and will be ordering my camera over this weekend and will have my new camera in hand by next week.


I’m very excited about taking this next step up and have been waiting patiently for this time to come for about a year. It’s time and I’m ready for it.


I can’t wait to meet you 7D!


-The Visual Geek

SIPA & POPA

Citgo, a photo by Matthew Wallace on Flickr.

From Flickr and it directly relates to anyone that posts/reads/creates on the internet.

Help raise awareness about PIPA & SOPA

Two bills are currently being considered in the U.S. Congress: PIPA the “Protect IP Act” and SOPA the “Stop Online Piracy Act”  Both are designed to address a legitimate problem – foreign-based websites that are engaging in digital piracy and trafficking in counterfeit goods.  Unfortunately, we and many others believe that these bills miss the mark.  These bills have the potential to stifle innovation, require censorship of search results, impose monitoring obligations, and change the way information is distributed on the web.   Government regulation of online activities is a slippery slope and these proposed bills fall down that slope without truly addressing the issues that ignited this debate.

With the pending votes on these bills, Flickr is joining other sites on the web on January 18th to help raise awareness about the potential impacts of this legislation.

If you would like to participate in this awareness campaign, Flickr is letting members darken their photos — or the photos of others — for a 24-hour period to deprive the web of the rich content that makes it thrive.  Your symbolic act will help draw attention to this issue and let others know about the potential harmful impacts of these bills.

If you are a concerned about these bills we encourage you to learn more at netcoalition.com.

If you are a U.S. Citizen you can also get information on how to contact your representatives in congress at protectinnovation.com.

Frozen Fenway

Canon XSi, ISO 100, 55 mm, f/9, 1/25

On Saturday afternoon I received a great Christmas present, as I was invited by my friend Ames to go and attend a game at Frozen Fenway. The rink was built at Fenway Park back in 2010 for the Boston Bruins vs. Philadelphia Flyers game. ( The Bruins won in overtime by the score of 2-1. )


Each year since then the rink is put back in place and Frozen Fenway hosts college and high school games. I will admit to knowing nothing about college hockey, other than catching a game on occasion. Usually, the game involves a Beanpot and if you live outside of Massachusetts or the New England area, you probably have no idea what I’m talking about or just don’t care. If you live within said region, you know that it’s something to look forward to each year, more so if the Boston College Eagles are going to face the Boston University Terriers.

I was a Terriers fan for awhile, but slowly became a Boston College fan over the years, because of my friend Ames, who brought me to this event, was a student there and also a friend/former co-worker with one of the assistant coaches. The matchup for the night was the Boston College Eagles vs. the Northeastern Huskies and from the reaction B.C. was getting, it was going to be a battle.

What struck me as strange was that the Huskies fans outnumbered the Eagles fans. That usually doesn’t happen, because Boston College is near Fenway Park and you would think that there would be droves of B.C. students/supporters attending the event, but it was the complete opposite. The Northeastern fans were loud, but still can’t compared to the fans of The Boston Bruins.

I had a great time and got a few photos, one is of my friend Ames that will be up in my next post that I’m happy with. I had one shot in mind, but it was so cold out that my trigger finger was in pain and I had a very hard time, between the shaking and stinging/pain of my finger. It was a missed shot, but it’s something I had to let go of, because it just wasn’t going to happen.

In other news: I’m close to getting my next Canon and can honestly say that the excitement is starting to build. I was going to wait until my taxes came back, but in a weird turn of events… I was able to put a good amount of money into my camera savings. I don’t know why or how it happened, but I take it as a sign from the universe that I’m meant to take the next step up.

The question is what camera will I get. I was waiting to find out if Canon was going to release a new DSLR within my price range, but so far they’ve only released some new Powershot cameras that I have no interest in. ( Already own one and it’s a good camera. )

I hope that everyone is having a great start to the week!!!

-The Visual Geek

PS: Have you liked my Facebook page? https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Visual-Geek/149231858426383

You’re looking beautiful today Mrs. Cleaver.

Canon XSi, ISO 100, 50 mm, f/6.3, 15

I’m excited about doing something on Saturday that I just found out about today.
There is going to be some challenges to photographing the event, but it should be a very fun experience.

I have to charge up all my batteries and get ready to brave the elements, but that’s something I’m ready to do, because I LOVE HOCKEY!!!

-The Visual Geek

the Millenium Falcon

Canon XSi, ISO 100, 50 mm, f/10.0, 87

This was actually a Christmas ornament I won at yankee swap at a friend’s house during a party.

I had my eye on it before hand, so I’m was very happy that I won it.

Setting up the background and taking a macro of it only seemed natural.

Thanks to Justin for making such a great ornament!

-The Visual Geek

The one that started it all.

Canon SX100 IS, ISO 80, 6 mm, f/8, 1/640

Three years ago I went on my first trip alone to visit a friend in Ohio. Yes… Ohio.

Other people want to visit exotic locations that may have the words “tropical paradise” typed in the brochure.

My pick was Ohio. There were two logical reasons for this choice. The first being that my friend, who I’ve known for years invited me to crash at his place and thus, money would be saved on a hotel.

The second choice was also a major factor for me: Cedar Point ( The amusement park known for it’s amount of kick ass roller coasters ) in Sandusky Ohio, was a day trip away from his place.

It was sort of a double bribe on his part. Free lodging and my passion for roller coasters was a double whammy against me and something that couldn’t be turned down.

What I didn’t realize at the time, is that going on this trip would re-ignite a passion that was there in me, but I had completely forgotten about.

It started on a trip to the Easton Mall for an IMAX screening of The Dark Knight. We had gotten their early, but we lucked out as it wasn’t that crowded on that day and we got great seats. Afterwards, we decided to get some iced coffee and hang out.

I had bought a new camera specifically for this trip with the functions that go beyond point and shoot. It was the next step up from that and I had already started to shoot in “manual” mode.

After walking awhile, we decided to just sit back and watch some electronic boats at this large fountain located at the center of this outdoor/indoor mall. It was crowded on the outside of the mall on that day and in retrospect, a perfect place for me to do some street photography, but at the time I didn’t even know what the genre meant.

I was just sitting there, when I noticed a small boy running along the edge of the fountain. I set up my exposure for the fountain and the daylight sun that was providing enough light and waited. He ran right into my view and I took about six shots in a row, but this is the one that caught that perfect moment in time.

When I look at this one photo, I remember everything from my trip to Ohio.

• The fear of getting on the plane and taking off ( yes, I hate flying )
• The joy of meeting a friend that I had known for years, but hadn’t met yet.
• The adventure of playing my very first Dungeon and Dragons game with people who were very dedicated to the game.
• The excitement of going on each roller coaster at Cedar Point, the hot and humid day, and the mega slush that ended the day to cool us off.

It was a great trip and in the end it re-ignited my passion for photography and all that comes with it. My plans for 2012 included buying a new DSLR, finding a new website for myself ( because Blogger isn’t cutting it ), and moving myself forward with this passion, because this is the one thing that I want to do.

I also realize that I’m not giving myself enough time to shoot. I plan on shooting, but then other stuff keeps getting in the way. My 2012 promise is to actually book myself time and keep to it, letting nothing else get in my way.

I hope that everyone has a great start to the New Year and please, remember to keep safe. Don’t drink and drive and if you see other’s about to do it, speak up and encourage them not too.

-The Visual Geek

Ginger

Canon XSi, ISO 100, 50 mm, f/5.0, 1/60

I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas or whatever holiday you celebrated this year.

At least the Gingerbread man had a great Christmas!

-The Visual Geek