The Ivory Hut

 
My internet friend Scott Thomas regularly posts photo assignments, and I always intend to comply but never seem to be able to make the deadlines. This time, I promised myself, I’m absolutely doing it.

 
Well wouldn’t you know it, I have about an hour and a half before the deadline, and I’m just writing this post now. Nice going, you over-achiever you.

 
The current assignment is “White.” I had no clue how to approach it, so I took the easy way out: food.

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One of more controversial debates going on right now in the world of photography is HDR photography, short for High Dynamic Range photography. Please don’t ask me for an accurate explanation of the terms or even how it works. The first time I even heard of the term was during the MPIX New York photo tour last year. During the opening question-and-answer session, Rick Sammon explained that while the human eye sees about an 11-f-stop range, a single photo can only capture maybe 4 f-stops. Combining multiple exposures of the same photo can hopefully replicate the same amount of detail that ours eyes can see, from the details that are hiding in the shadows to what appears blown out in the highlights. You therefore expand the range visible in a photo, hence the HDR acronym.
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Since I’ve been sick and stuck indoors for what seems like forever, I’ve been spending some time doing some housekeeping over at my Flickr account. It’s slow going, but eventually, I’ll get everything there organized properly. Really, I will. You can take my word for it because, well, it’s my Flickr account and not my pantry. If it were the latter, you might have to wait longer. Or at least until I run out of food to photograph.

 
See? It always comes back to photography.

 
But first, an update. As you all know (yes, all five or six of you who read my blog), I’ve been shooting with my beloved Canon Powershot S5. Canon has since replaced it with newer models, but the S5 will always be special to me. It’s the camera with which I explored the world of macro photography, and the camera that’s stood by me as I experimented with all sorts of homemade photo devices, like my string-pod and my styrofoam cup ring flash diffuser.

 
Well, now my S5 has a big brother. Back in September, I happened to be the astounded recipient of a Canon 5D, along with 3 lenses that, in my opinion, pretty much set me up for life. And while I still dearly love my S5, I had already felt for a long time that it was time to step up. That this sweet system came into my possession was simply too good to be true, and every time I pick up the 5D, I still can’t believe my good fortune.

 
One immediate benefit that’s been quite significant is that I no longer spend as much time using Photoshop. Most of the photos I’ve taken with the 5D (like the flan recipe, and the bar) have pretty much been straight from the camera. I use Lightroom more than Photoshop now, and I love spending less time post processing, because it means more time for other things.

 
That said, I know that a number of you visit here for point-and-shoot tips, and I want to assure you that you’ll still be getting those. In a way. After all, what I try to offer isn’t really camera-specific. Never has been. I’m a firm believer in mastering the basics and understanding concepts, because then you can apply that to whatever situation you’re in and whatever equipment happens to be in your hand at the moment. And I’ll be writing a lot about the basics. Besides, that may be all that I know, anyway.

 
So, as a nod to the basics, and a tribute to my S5, and as a reward for getting through about 5% of my Flickr photostream, I want to bring you a few of my favorites, all taken with my Canon S5. Let no one tell you that a point-and-shoot can’t take gorgeous (at least, I think so) shots. Whether it’s macro:

 
Or supercalifragi-telephoto:

 
Whether it’s frisky bugs:

 
Or statuesque ladies:

 
By day:

 
Or night:

 
What really matters is finding what’s beautiful in your eyes, and knowing how to use whatever you have to capture it.

 
If you want to see more of these shots, I’ve started putting them in their own set in my Flickr page. Just click on the mosaic below to view the page. I’ll be adding to it as my organizing progresses, and I’ll even add a set for my pre-Canon S5 shots, for the photos taken with an even older Canon Powershot A40 and the often-ignored still capture mode of an old canon DC10 videocam. Oh yeah. I’m bringing retro back big time.

 
 
And now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some coughing to do.

Hmmm … what could I have been doing the other day?

I have been going nowhere with posting on this blog lately, it’s almost as if I were a giant spider who suddenly realized she’s in the middle of a mine field.

That sooo did not make sense.

Maybe I should just keep quiet and post photos instead. Like these shots from an Indian wedding we attended on our trip to Trinidad almost two months ago. Yes, it’s been that long. So long, it’s almost as if I were a a giant roll of dough in the hands of an expert noodle maker in China who—never mind.

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Aren’t the colors rich and vibrant? And look at those glittery things!

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Pretty, yes? And shiny, too! So shiny, it’s almost as if they were giant newly-minted coins coming off the presses with the light of a thousand suns bouncing off of them. Except, a thousand suns would probably melt the coins, as well as our eyeballs, so maybe instead of suns, it can be a thousand flourescen—never mind.

Excuse me while I go in search of my senses. They were apparently last seen wandering around the customs area of Newark airport, disoriented and hungry. They were so lost, it’s almost as if they were a giant … me.