News from Billy Monday
Sally Freedman, 2008The Nikon D300
While I normally prefer to work with rangefinders, they do have their limitations. So for the last two years I’ve been keeping a Nikon D200 close at hand, in case I wanted to use long lenses, or to shoot moving subjects, or for any of the other uses at which SLRs excel.
The D200 is an excellent camera. It’s very solid body and (to me) nearly perfect ergonomics make it a comfort and a pleasure to use. It fits right in my hands and does nothing unexpected.
Several photographers had new D300s at my workshop in November, 2007. From that day since, I’ve had several opportunities to use D300s and have very impressed by the image quality on each occasion. It’s got the same solid build as it’s predecessor, and the ergonomics incrementally improved over the ‘200. 14 bit raw files made at ISO 3200 are really quite usable, and noise at ISO 400 and below is virtually non-existent. But the feature that got my wallet out of my back pocket was “Live View”, something that I initially thought was a marketing gimmick.
Live View, in so called “Tripod Mode”, make the camera a pleasure to use when mounted on a tripod. The giant screen clearly shows your subject and the days of squinting through the tiny viewfinder are over. You can zoom on your subject which helps in facilitating a very precise focus. It looks like I’ll need to start carrying a dark cloth, because I intend to be much more disciplined about using a tripod both on location and in the studio.
I’ve had a couple of nice sessions as I begin to get accustomed to this new body. Sally Freedman came in from Chicago and we worked both in the studio and in the woods and waterfalls around Frederick County. I’ll be posting more images we made together soon.
From the Mannequin Series, 2008The Illuminated Figure
I’m excited to have 5 pieces hanging in a show which opens Saturday, June 14, at Art-n-Soul Studios in Allentown, PA.
The Illuminated Figure, a gallery show featuring 5 contemporary photographers is an event created by photographer Scott Nichol, one in which I am honored to be included. The title is an apt description, for each of us in the show seem to have a certain luminous style, and I’m looking forward to finally meeting a couple of the other photographers.
My 5 pieces are from my winter “Mannequins” series, and one other piece is seen here with this post.
We will all be at the opening on the evening of the 14th, along with several of our models, but the show will hang until mid-July. If you’re so inclined, please come have a glass of wine with us at the opening, it would be a pleasure to see old friends and to meet new ones.
Way Out West
I’m on my way out to Utah to scout locations for my upcoming expedition. The western landscape just begs to be photographed. My model for this trip will be Candace Nirvana, and it looks like the weather will be on our side.
Weather here in the mid-Atlantic has not been so cooperative. We’ve had great gobs of rain and everything is soggy. The rain does make for super saturated greens in the landscape, and the clouds have also been tasty, so I’m not complaining. Here’s an image Susie B. and I made this week after a steep hike to a local mountaintop.