On my trip up to Bloomington earlier this week Jim Haverststock and I did some in-the-field shooting at Story.  As I walked around I found a new sense of the joy of shooting close-ups!  Using the Fuji X-E1 with it’s tack sharp 60mm Micro lens and setting the aperture at f 2.4,  it’s widest aperture, the shallow depth is astonishing!  I was able to focus on a single pine fraun and the single dew drop.  Using the LCD panel has allowed me to study compositions and check depth even better than through the viewfinder.  I’m finding this an extremely satisfying way to work in the close-up realm.

 

The use of shallow depth as in the shot below attracts the attention of the viewer and eliminates the distraction of the background, and in fact turning into a pleasing color filed!

 

 

Even stopping down to f 5.6 as in the shot of the Day Lilly below gives a soft muted background while maintaining enough sharpness in the center of the flower!

 

 

One thing you must be very careful about is keeping the sensor plain parallel with the subject, the  shot below of a face in a chestnut, is sharp at the bottom but not the top!  Bill Pekala and I have a lot of fun sending these faces back and forth, keeps us sharp looking for the face in the scene!

 

 

Practice using your depth to bring the viewers eye to the very point you want them to see!  Remember the eye always seeks sharpness!

 

 

So let’s raise a glass to using the aperture settings to focus the viewer’s eye!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

Today is the celebration of the declaration of our independence!  That liberty has been fought and paid for with countless lives over more than two centuries.  Every Memorial Day and 4th of July I go down and take out my copy of the the film, Saving Private Ryan.  I watch the last chapter and weep for how blessed we are as a nation to have had such a great price laid at the alter of freedom.  Celebrate your freedom today and thank those that have preserved it for you!  The link to that scene on You Tube is below, God Bless America!

 

Go to You Tube and typoe in Saving Priovatge Ryan

Watch these two clips:

 

 

Omitted from this scene is the line spoken by the elder Private Ryan when he ays, “Tell me I have lived a life worthy of this sacrifice!”  May we all ask ourselves that today, are we worthy of the sacrifice laid down for us?  Commit to be, for God and Country.  Happy 4th of July!

 

We will never be worthy of Christ’s sacrifice, thankfully He has only asked us to accept it!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

 

I just got back home form a two day journey to Bloomington, Indiana to visit with my dear friends Jim and Sue Haverstock, to celebrate her birthday, and give a program for their camera club, it was a blast!  One of the things I promised myself for “after Nikon” was more time with family and friends, and this was a great way to start that personal promise.  Jim and Sue are great friends, and wonderful photographers!  I had the pleasure of attending their gallery showing with Kendall Reeve’s at his Gallery, it was terrific, all are excellent shooters!  I also enjoyed seeing Kendall again, a great guy, new father, and runs a commercial photography business in Bloomington, and a; great Gallery, if you are ever in Bloomington you need to check it out!  Here is a link:   http://spectrumstudioinc.com/

 

Yesterday Jim and Sue took me and Jeff to Story, Indiana where the Story Inn and Restaurant can be found. I had a blast shooting around the property there.  The shots below are some of my favorites of the take.  Before I share them, I have to say the Bloomington Camera Club was fantastic, really nice people, and very warm, and inviting.  We had a lot of fun talking about what we all really love, our photography, all-in-all, a great night!  I think I’m going to like this retirement thing, but I’m not slowing down any!

 

We had a wonderful time, and I am looking forward to my next trip up to that region!  Thinking seriously about a Brown County Fall event maybe in 2014!!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

Photo Note:  All images Fuji XE-1, 18-55, 60mm Micro, and 55-200.

 

Well I’m without a job!  Thank you Lord, it’s been a great run, but I’m ready to start the next one!!!!  I will be traveling to Bloomington to visit with Jim and Sue Haverstock and their great club.    Will be my first talk in almost eleven years as someone other than “the Nikon guy!”  Will be fun.  So much fun stuff to come can’t wait to get started, but for now let me tell you guys what will change besides a check every two weeks!

 

When I took the Nikon job my boss, and friend, Bill Pekala said, “You can never talk off the record because even when you say you are not speaking for Nikon people think you are, you’re the Nikon guy!” Well at 5:o0 p.m. July 1st I’m not!  I will still be happy to help anyone I can with camera questions, but I won’t be the Nikon person, I’ll just be a photographer willing to help!  Here is a list of things you need to know going forward;

 

1.  I will only be available at my home phone, my cell phone and my email  billfortney@earthlink.net.  All my numbers are on the Contact space at the top of this page.  All other methods to try and reach me will be futile.

 

2.  I will check my email, but not 20 times a day, this is the start of a more “relaxed existence” so if you can’t get a response in 5 minutes don’t panic, text me, or call my cell or home phone!  As a tech rep I had to be ready at a moments notice, that’s not so much my description now!

 

3.  Sharing my thoughts, this is a tricky one, as a Nikon employee there were opinions I could not offer, after all I worked for a single camera company.  Now I am free to share my thoughts about many product, and equipment from many other manufacturers, and I will!

 

4.  I am committed to be a good, reliable resource about gear, and I will be doing tests, and lots of opinion pieces on the stuff we all love!  Unbiased and unpaid for my opinions!

 

5.  I’ve never lied to anyone on this blog, I have withheld information because of my position.  I hope to be more open and share information that will be helpful to my readers.  * I do not know any inside secrets and even if I did I could not share them, but I do have lots of information that I am free to share and I will!  44 years of doing this has given me a lot of what I hope you will find as valuable insights!

 

6.  The mission of this blog, and my life, will not change, my first mission is always to encourage people to get to know and love my Lord!  He already loves you!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

No that is not my new business!