Sorry I haven’t written anything for a few days, I’ve just been swamped trying to get my act together for December. First order of business is crazy Chad’s Christmas party tonight out near Metrotown. Next week is my Christmas party at work, which is out on the water at Bridges, so that should be a good time. A Cleaner Version Of Me I’m now seven days without any type of booze at all, and so far I haven’t really noticed that much. In fact, my bank account is in pretty decent shape thanks to not going out for dinners and drinks after work at all this week, which is rather nice. Thanks ...

The moon looked really cool tonight, so I popped on the longest zoom lens I have in the house, the 70-200mm f/2.8L, and fired a few shots off of my balcony. I think it turned out not bad, considering I hand held it. If I had an extender I could probably do an even better job. ...

So, I know there are a bunch of programs available on the Mac for doing photo work and what not, but I’d like to ask everyone what they use on a daily basis. I have for the most part made due with iPhoto, but the organization capabilities of it suck, and I end up with directories full of photos without any real means to identify them. Unfortunately, I also need something with a relatively quick workflow (photoshop is too slow to use for me except in extreme cases). Any recommendations? ...

I’ve been stuck on the computer all day, so I figured I would go out and get some fresh air. Of course, like most walks I go on, I brought along my trusty camera. This is a shot of the sun setting over False Creek. ...

So this afternoon I headed down to a little church in east Vancouver to shoot some photos for Vancouver fashion week. Thanks to Urban Vancouver I have been able to acquire a media pass so that I basically have full access at all these events (something that I didn’t realize until today, since the pass I received today was exactly the same as the one I had on Thursday night). Today was a mix of dresses and lingerie, and I had a really great time hanging out with some of the people I had met at the opening night gala the other day. And to be honest, while I have seen some amazing fashion and some ...

This weekend in Vancouver is the annual Vancouver Fashion Week. I had the opportunity the other night to attend the opening bash down at Bar None in Yaletown. I had a really great time taking photographs and interacting with a lot of the local models and clothing designers. There are events all weekend, so make sure to check out their main web site if you are interested in seeing some local fashion. I just got an email saying I was on the guest list for the swim suit portion today, so I may have to head out and check that out, even though I really don’t have much time this weekend. I also ...

One of the main advantages of digital photography over film photography, at least in my mind, is the ability to view the histogram shortly after taking the shot. While viewing the image on the LCD is obviously an advantage as well, it’s difficult to tell if the shot actually turned out based on a small image on a 2-3″ LCD. An example histogram from Luminous Landscape A histogram shows you how many pixels in the image (shown on the vertical axis) are at each intensity level (0-255 typically, shown on the horizontal axis). If the histogram is bunched to the left, that typically means the image ...

As I mentioned in my last blog entry, the other day I had a chance to photography my first wedding. All in all, it was a pretty rewarding experience. The day started at around 11am for me and Hesty. We suited up, did some last minute charging of equipment, and then got in touch with the groom. Normally the photographer heads over to the where the bride is getting ready for some photos, but Kim’s aunt wanted to do those ones, so I was relieved of that duty. We met Mike and the groomsmen down at the Holiday Inn in Langley to get ready. In true Chilliwack style, Mike, instead of hopping in the ...

Last night I had the chance to photograph the wedding of two of my old friends. It was a great experience, and I’m fairly satisfied with how the photos turned out, considering how dark it was both outside and inside the reception area. I’ll do a full write-up on everything I learned about shooting a wedding, but right now I have a turkey to eat. I shot over 1000 shots at the wedding, and I’ve slowly been sorting them. I put about 150 or so of them on Flickr if anyone is interested. There are still more I have to process and put together, but there’s enough that it’s fairly good representation ...

I’m in a hotel in Langley, and I’ve started to sort the photos from tonight. Having been to the location and having spent some time with old friends, I’m feeling a lot better about tomorrow. Danika, the flower girl I’m really glad I got a chance to try out a bunch of photos in a real setting, because I made a few mistakes that I likely won’t make tomorrow. I’m gonna keep this short, because I still have lots to do. Next blog entry will probably be Sunday after everything is over. ...

I nearly went into work today, but still felt a bit under the weather this morning and decided to rest a bit more. So tomorrow, I’m going to head into work and see if I can pull off a full day. I tried to go to the clinic tonight for a check-up, but there was over a two hour wait, so I’m going to try again in the morning on my way to work. Also, this weekend I’ll be attending Mike and Kim’s wedding as the primary photographer, which is both exciting and a bit stressful. It’s not hard to grab a camera and take a bunch of photos, but it is hard to be prepared, both technically and mentally, ...

Yesterday, after dropping Boris off at his place so that he could get ready to go to Spain, I went down to Broadway Camera to see if I could play around with a Canon EOS 40D camera. I had called the day before to see if I could actually purchase one, but unfortunately they said they were already completely sold out. So imagine my surprise when, after asking if they had any in stock (which was basically a rhetorical question for me), they said “yeah, we have one here.” Unfortunately for me it was the box that contained the kit-lens, when I really wanted to just purchase the body only. The lens ...

So, I called around this morning, and the first trickle of the Canon 40Ds are hitting stores. Unfortunately, Canon is behind on manufacturing them, and there are tons of pre-orders, so the average Joe won’t be able to buy one for some time. I have my name on a wait list, and I’m pretty sure I’ll get mine on Tuesday, should I still want it. But since today was payday, and I have money sitting aside for it, I think I’ll probably get it. ...

For those of you who are expecting free prints, rest assured they will be in the mail soon. I have most of them printed out already, and am just figuring out the best way to get them to you guys. I’ll do my best not to miss anyone, but if you haven’t received one by the end of next week, drop me a line and let me know. ...

I told myself before the upcoming wedding that I have to shoot that I would buy what will probably be my last lens for a while, Canon’s EF 24-70 f/2.8L lens. I have a wide angle in my kit, and a medium telephoto (although mine is currently being repaired, it is absolutely great for flattering portraits), and a fixed 50mm prime lens. However, everything in my kit is fairly special purpose, which means I sort of have to know what I am shooting before hand and make sure I have the right lens on. Canon’s best all-purpose zoom lens is the 24-70 f/2.8L. It’s from their professional series line, ...

Well, I’ve had a few sales on the photography website already, so thanks everyone for plugging it — I really appreciate it. I’m going to canvas a few stores this weekend and see if I can get some of my stuff into the local markets. I’ve been racking my brain for a few out of the box ideas, so hopefully I’ll be able to take the marketing a bit further. I’d like to get some of my work nicely framed and visible in a few areas with high traffic. If anyone has any friends or know of any businesses that wouldn’t mind a few photos on the wall, let me know! For those of you expecting free ...

I purchased my current digital SLR in December of 2004. It is a pretty decent 8.2MP SLR from Canon’s prosumer line, which is sort of the cross over from the consumer to the professional lines. It’s a really awesome camera, and it’s been great to learn on. That being said, technology has continued to improve over the last few years, and my camera is becoming more and more out of date. The main problem (if you can call it that), is that my camera has a 1.6X crop factor. What that means is that the CMOS sensor inside is smaller that the size of a 35mm film, so part of the image falls on the ...

One of the first things I wanted to do after getting back from my vacation was to finally put together an online place for people to buy a few prints of some of my better shots. I’m not entirely sure I’ll make a dime, but lots of people have asked me if I sold some of my city shots, so now I can finally say that I do. If you want to check some of them out, you can check out photography.duanestorey.com. If you have a blog and want to help advertise, that would be awesome. I’ve put on some google adwords, so if anyone does a search for Vancouver specific photos, I should start coming up ...

As I mentioned yesterday, I have launched a photography website at photography.duanestorey.com. I’m going to give the first 20 people who link to it with a small write-up a free 8×12 of their choosing from the galleries. So, if you’re interested, do a quick blog entry and then post a comment here. Send me an email with which one you want and where you want it sent to, and I’ll take care of the rest. Thanks everyone. ** UPDATE – Thanks to everyone for linking. With the emails and comments here I’ve received, I’m pretty sure I have more than 20. So while I appreciate all incoming links ...

Today I got paid for my first photo gig, which is pretty exciting. I’m currently setting up an area dedicated to photography, and it should be done sometime this weekend. I’ve set up a professional account at smugmug.com where I can put some of my better photos from around Vancouver and make them available for purchase. This will also let me sell wedding photos etc when the time comes. I’ll post more information when it’s all done. ...