Month: October 2010

New print available – Tree Skier

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I have a new limited edition print available so I thought I would post up some shots of one already printed up and framed.  This is a photo of Austin Ross skiing across a fallen tree in Whistler, BC.

This example is printed at 24″ x 16″ on archival photo rag and then sprayed with an archival spray on top to keep it looking perfect for a very very long time!  The printing is done by a company who I consider to be the best professional printers in Vancouver.  I can ship anywhere and shipping is charged at cost.  If you have a specific image of mine that you would like to have framed then this can also be arranged.  Christmas is on it’s way and a nice framed print is always a great gift !  Click through for more pricing information and print options.

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CalDigit AV Drive review. USB 3.0 comes to the Mac!

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Let’s face it, we all spend more time at our computers than we want to these days.  With digital camera manufacturers pushing megapixel and file sizes higher and higher, and HD video becoming the norm, we are constantly in need of more hard drives.  On top of a need for reliable storage space I’m always looking for a way to speed up my workflow and hence spend less time in front of the monitor.  A couple of months ago storage solution specialists CalDigit announced a new addition to their external drive lineup, the USB 3.0 packing AV Drive.  On top of this they simultaneously released a Mac compatible PCI USB 3.0 cards as well as an Expresscard USB 3.0 adapter for Mac laptops with expresscard slots.

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Apple launches the tiny 11.6″ Macbook Air – How will it work for traveling photogs ?

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Apple has this morning launched a new Macbook in their lineup, the 11.6″ and  Macbook Air.  The Macbook Air in itself is nothing new, it has been around for for a few years though I have yet to meet anyone that actually uses one.  The similarly sized and better specc’d, cheaper 13″ Macbook Pro was always a no-brainer when choosing between the two.  Apple has addressed this today with the introduction of the smaller 11.6″ Macbook Air.  Much thinner and much smaller than a 13″ Macbook Pro you can begin to see some advantage to this solution if you are really looking to travel as light as possible.  Now I am always looking to shave a pound or two off the weight that I carry when I’m traveling. My camera gear weighs me down big time!  And often when I am away, all I need to do is update the blog, check some e-mail and download and backup memory cards.  I had high hopes for the iPad initially because it could deal with the internet side of that problem, but it failed miserably on the memory card download a backup side of things.  But the new Macbook Air can handle that without issue, 2xUSB ports allow me to connect an external drive and a memory card reader and for my SD cards, the reader is built in to the body.  As Steve Jobs said in the presentation, this is what happens when a Macbook and an iPad hook up!  But there is a lot more to it that simple portability….. read on.

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Ad for Atomic Skis

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This is an ad for Atomic Skis that I shot in Alaska last spring time.  It was shot with a Canon 1DMKIV and a 300mm f2.8 L IS with a 1.4 teleconverter on it.  The helicopter dropped me off on an opposite ridge to the line the guys were skiing on so I was quite some distance away.  The skier in the shot is professional freeskier Tim Durtchi and the guys from Poorboyz Productions were also on hand to film the action for their movie Revolver.  I knew Tim was going to do this trick off the cliff so I

Pushing flash X-sync to the limit

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For people that shoot fast moving action with strobes like myself, we are always worrying about sync speeds and flash durations.  Today I’m going to talk a little bit about flash sync and give a quick example of how you can push the boundaries of what can often seem like a very limiting factor with DSLRs.

One of the first questions people ask when they start experimenting with flash is “why does my camera not allow me to use a shutter speed higher than 1/xxx second?”  If you scan through the specifications of a camera you will see one called x-sync.  Typically listed as between 1/180 and 1/250 of a second, this is the fastest useable shutter speed of your camera when using flash. The best way to get to grips with it is to understand exactly what is happening in that split second after you press the shutter button.

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