KEEPING AN EYE ON THE BALL

I've been clicking away. Imagine, I invest in a camera for the purpose of doing storyboards, and I have yet to get a gig -- oh, wait, that sounds like whining. Where was I? Oh, yeah, so I've been doing portraits of the lovely wife -- some serious, some fun. Frankly, I'm thankful I didn't take up photography as a profession. The competition there is more fierce than in illustration. Sure, anyone can do both, but illustrating well takes far more work than pressing a shutter-button. Okay, okay, it requires technical knowledge and a good sense of aesthetics to compose a shot well, but frankly, given the budget for the right equipment and the time to play around a bit, I suspect I could get up to speed rather quickly in photography. That may only be so because I'm bringing my illustration skills to the table when shooting pics. However, if I were a photographer, I doubt the move into illustration would be just as easy. I'm not here debating the merits of one over the other, but merely noting that the competition is fiercer in photography because the learning-curve isn't quite as steep. At this point I've angered serious photographers, so I'll be quiet now. . .

LENS GEAR

In case anyone was wondering --and I'm quite certain no one was-- I thought I'd share the lenses with which I'm currently shooting (the accompanying images were swiped from the web, for the sake of full disclosure). First, being new at this, I knew I'd need zooms, because, let's face it, who has either the money to acquire or the means to carry a plethora of prime lenses? So zooms were the order of the day. Figuring I'd need something on the wide-end and something on the telephoto end, I read all I could on what would cover most general purposes for both ends. After weighing all the choices, I decided on the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM and the EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM. This leaves me with a gap in the 55-70 range, but I figure that range could be covered by the 17-55 by means of cropping a wider shot. I think the only other lenses I'd like are a 100mm macro, a 400mm telephoto, and a 50mm prime. Of course, money doesn't fall from trees, so those will have to wait. In the mean time, I'm satisfied with what I have, which are great lenses to work with.

My friend told me photography would be addictive. I suspect it's only exceeded by the addictive power of crack.

BABE-O-RAMA

Well, that was a short break. I'm back to posting photos. Hey, what d'ya want from me anyway? It's not like I don't have an online portfolio to post my artwork. Might as well post my photography here (okay, I do have a Flickr account, but no one would likely ever find that unless I told them).

Moving right along... I thought I'd post a portrait I shot of the wife. This isn't one of the more provocative images I shot of her, but for some reason it's one of my favorites -- so far (since I intend to shoot lots more hard-drive-consuming photos whenever the opportunity presents itself). I really dig b&w photography, and if I could only pick one, I'd pick b&w over color any day. It isn't that color photos aren't great, it's just that there's some mystery to b&w that I find appealing. Anyway, since this is my space, I'm going to post whatever I dang well please.