I was at the CTA Oakton Street information meeting last night. Nothing special, went alright. Just trying to stay busy.
When this school year starts, I'll try to only be posting my best work instead of just dumping things everytime. It'll give me something to look at and be proud of. I really can't wait to get out of here and get this semester started.
I found out I have a wedding to shoot October 20th so that should be nice. I'll need a telephoto but I may just rent one.
Been busy trying to find assignments. For the most part, I've been doing alright but I could always get more. There's a few village hall type meetings in the Suburbs that I think I'd want to go to. I'm not really sure how I'd shoot it but wouldn't hurt to try. Other than that, I just google events and try to find what I can (and try to keep my camera on me 24/7). Speaking of which, I still need a few things but decided I probably won't be getting that telephoto anytime soon. I decided I'll invest in a 70-200mm f/4 from Canon or the f/2.8 by Sigma. That'll run between $400 and $700 when I do get around to it.
Anyways, for now, just want a battery and this Adorama remote. It's nice becasue it's got a 100 foot range. I've got a ton of ideas but I'll try em out first and see how it goes. It's $100 so not sure when I'll be able to get that. After I save up after books, I'll think about it.
Think I'm just going to buy the battery today. No use in having a camera if there's a dead battery in it....
Less than a month till school!! woot. I can't wait to get out of this place. I'm starting to hate being here. There's a few things to do here but it's no Macomb. As much as I'd like to take August off, I need the money so I'll stick around till the Friday before school.
Probably go to Chicago this weekend. Just walk around town and maybe hit up that Art Institute. Venician Night with the lit boats Saturday night. Might check that out too.
hasta luego.
yo
Yeesh, where do I start. Saturday, went over to the Lake to take pics for Janelle and the Aids Marathon runners. While we were there, there was a press conference on the lakefront dealing with BP dumping into Lake Michigan. Never been to a "real" press conference outside the insanely boring podium shots at school. It was cool to see all the News channels there with thier cameras. Really should have done some networking. Really need a new business card too.
After that, I headed home, got a movie and called it a night.
The next day, decided I'd try and find something to shoot. I checked online and saw Evanston was having an Art Fair so I headed out. Also saw a bike race but it started at 7am so I figured it was over by noon. When I got there, the streets were closed off and the bike race was still going on and ended up going on for another few hours to my delight. Never been to one of those and it was pretty awesome. First few shots were pretty bad but with the racers doing up to 40 laps, I had plenty of time to work on it. Did some panning, low angle and high angle. I liked how the pics turned out but since I've never shot a cycle race, I have no idea if they're really that good. I ended up staying at the race for a few hours and rode my bike back and edited pics for a few hours.
Definitely need to buy more memory. I got 3 GB right now but had to start deleting all the bad pics to make room towards the end.
Well it's Monday now and I just happend to come across an artist hanging up her work in the Library on my lunch break so I took a few shots there. For not having an actual photojournalism job, it was a pretty busy weekend and I loved it. I can only hope next weekend is just as busy if not more. I still have race pics to edit and then I'll try and submit the pictures to Geoff @ the Pioneer Press.
ADAM SACASA/ CHICAGO,IL Illinois Senator Dick Durbin answers questions regarding Whiting, Indiana's BP Refineries' plan to dump more waste into Lake Michigan after the Refinery implements its $3.8 Billion expansion. Senator Durbin, along with US Representative Rahm Emanuel, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and others are asking the company to stop.
Under BP's new state water permit, the refinery will be allowed to dump 1,584 pounds of amonia and 4,925 pounds of sludge per day into the lake.
In March 2004, the plant recieved a $58,687 fine for violations of the Clean Air Act.
Really like using this 50mm f/1.8. Felt a little restricting at first but I'm getting used to it. This was my first press conference in Chicago. I just happened to be down there with Janelle and her Aids Marathon traning group and they told me about this.
Anyways, I'm out to Evanston. Heard they got something going on over there.
I got home at around 5:30 to find the 2 boxes sitting on the bench inside. It's like christmas all over again. Went up to my room, opened the boxes and there it was. The most expensive camera I had ever owned. As much as I wanted to play around with it, I knew I had to charge that battery up first. The 50mm lens didn't look as flimsy as I thought it would so that was a relief. Since I couldn't really do anything with it, just went to dinner with the parents (it was actually my dad's birthday dinner) and just read the manual.
Since then, just been taking pictures of random things out and around the house with the 50mm. With the 1.8 apeture, the depth of field is really shallow. Can't wait to see how it does shooting sports or news. Hopefully don't expect too much and get dissapointed but either way, just about any picture is going to be better than my Panasonic Lumix FZ-20. It's so nice to have my own DSLR for once.
So far, I've bought a few things:
50mm f/1.8- $100
Circular Polarizer- $31
Neutral Density Filter- $9.99
UV filter- $9.99
Step up ring- $4.99
Extra lens cap- $5.99
I think thats it. Comes to a total of about $162 in addition to the $765 on the camera for a total of $927 if my math is right. Yeesh. Things I still need would be:
100-300mm f/4.5-5.6- $210
Canon BP511A 1390mAh Lithium Ion Battery- $40.00
After that, I think I should be set with my kit. I've got a $50 gift certificate for Amazon.com so that'll probably go for my camera sling bag. It's nice because you can just swing the bag from your back to the front, unzip and start shooting.
Lowepro Slingshot 200 All Weather Backpack - $86.18
So pretty much what all that means is that i'll be living like I'm broke. I mean I do have money right now but Thats going towards rent, bills, books, and food.
If Ramen didn't exist, I don't know how I'd make it through college.
And a few more things I'll be saving up for (maybe for next semester or year)
Canon 430EX Speedlite Flash- $223
Sto-Fen OMEW Omni-Bounce Diffuser- $13.35
Canon BGE2 Battery Grip - $148.85
Camera Armor for Canon 20D- $44.95
4th of July Parade was Wednesday. That's pretty much the only thing I went to for the holiday. Didn't really feel like going out to the fireworks. The parade was alright. Wasn't really too exciting but I just kept moving around trying to find something. I shot this parade last year and didn't like the pictures too much. This year, pics were a little better but still nothing special. I saw some good shots but couldn't get them becasue my camera is too freakin slow. arg.
I tried to get them to the photo editor but no luck. I just want an assignment before I head back to school.
Summer is blah. TGIF.
