Posting a new photograph here every day isn’t easy! I usually try to work ahead so that I have a number of photographs queued up in advance. (No, I’m not really up at 4:00 a.m. Pacific every day finishing up and posting a new photo… ;-)
About a month ago I found myself in the difficult position of having no new photograph ready for the next day’s post on more than one occasion. Fortunately, this happened at about the time of my annual ritual of reviewing all of my photographs from the previous year. This year that amounted to more than 10,000 frames. Not surprisingly, I found a few interesting photographs that I had forgotten or which didn’t make sense to me originally.
During the past few weeks I’ve had more opportunities to get out and shoot. In fact, right now I have nearly two weeks of photographs queued up for posting here. I had the opportunity to spend a rainy afternoon at the Getty Center in Los Angeles at the end of December, and a series of photographs from that adventure will appear soon. I also had the chance to make a quick visit to the Big Sur coast yesterday and I have a few new photographs from that trip that will appear soon – including a new shot of the Rocky Creek Bridge area that I think I like a lot.
Black and white photograph of the interior of a donut shop late in the afternoon on Christmas Eve.
As in many photographs like this, I hope that there may be more to it than meets the eye. I won’t tell the whole story, but here is a bit of background. I had been involved in an online discussion of the merits of shooting “old school” street photography using primes, and specifically limiting oneself to a 50mm prime on a 35mm film camera. Though it isn’t the point of my post here, I’ll just say that I’m skeptical about the value of that sort of limitation given a whole bunch of boring photographic philosophy. In any case, as an outgrowth of that discussion I thought it would be fun to head out on foot armed only with my full-frame camera (sorry, no film camera at all these days!) and a 50mm prime and just see what I could come up with. So, I walked out my front door and did some photography.
It was late in the afternoon on Christmas Eve, so few businesses were still open, and it was late enough in the day that the last-minute shopping traffic was diminishing and things were becoming rather quiet. Few people were even out walking. I mostly walked but I also photographed some shop windows and buildings and so forth, and when I passed this tiny donut shop I first did an exterior shot of the closed business that included a weathered wooden and brick wall and some sad-looking holiday lights. Then as I passed the front of the shop I decided to put my nose against the window and peer inside. The low light from the late-afternoon sun was directly behind me and casting some very harsh and flat light into the interior, but I was intrigued by the arrangement and shapes of the tables and chairs, the shadow cast by the Christmas ornaments hanging in the window, and by the odd juxtaposition of a poster of the work of a certain photographer that is barely visible on the wall.
This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
The weather service was reporting very large surf along the Pacific coast today, so I decided to head down towards Point Lobos and do some photography. It seems that I wasn’t the only one! Point Lobos was so packed that there was no parking left, and many cars were parked out on the highway. I changed plans, kept driving south, and ended up shooting along the Big Sur coast instead.
A number of Canon lenses are eligible for an”instant savings” price right now. But act soon since these prices are only in effect for about two more weeks until January 16. This list includes the rebate amounts and links to the lenses at B&H Photo/Video. Given the recent increases in Canon lens list prices, this may be a good opportunity to save some money on that lens you have been waiting to purchase.
(Note: Some of these links may go to pages that also include items not eligible for the “instant savings” and it is possible that the links may change – check the pages you arrive at via these links to verify that they include the savings before you make your purchase!)
Highlights from this list?
Obviously, all four of the excellent EF 70-200mm lenses are on many photographers’ “must have” lists – and all of them are included in this program.
The 24-70 f/2.8 is a “core lens” for many full-frame shooters.
Both of the ultra-wide (on full frame, or just “wide” on cropped sensor) L lenses are on sale. The 17-40 is a wonderful lens for stopped down landscape and similar shooting on full frame bodies, and the 16-35 is a great choice on full frame if your main need is for shooting hand held in very low light.
The 85mm f/1.2 L is certainly a fine lens, and for the those who need it this is a good savings. (Frankly, the vast majority of 85mm prime users will be at least as well served by the much less expensive non-L f/1.8 edition.)
For cropped sensor camera shooters looking for (what I regard as) the “best” lens for high quality general use, the EFS 17-55mm f/2.8 IS may be ideal. For most cropped sensor camera shooters – even the most “serious” – I think it is a better choice that either the 17-40 or 16-35 L lenses.
The EFS 10-22 is pretty much the only Canon option for those who want ultra-wide angle coverage on cropped sensor bodies, and many people (especially landscape shooters) rely on this lens.
(If you find this information and other resources posted at this site to be useful, please consider purchasing through these B&H Photo/Video links within the post. You’ll get the same price and your purchase will help support the operation of this site. Thanks!)
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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