11x16 Canvas looking for a home

Printed on canvas and already stretch (with backing, wall mounts and rubber stand offs) UV Coated as well!
Figured I'd give everyone a chance to buy this little guy at a great price.
Shot with my Olympus E-30 with a 35mm Macro
This stunning shot has won a Cayfest 2010 Honorable Mention.
This is a close up shot of a non-native Green Iguanna, which was taken in the Dart Park Grand Cayman, as it was sunning on a brach in a sea grape tree.
Asking Price for this signed and numbered (2 of 3) limited piece is 125USD...A steal of a deal!!!
Contact bryonydphotography@gmail.com or bryonyd@gmail.com

Recent Works

 Shot using my Olympus E-30 and 35mm Lenbaby Insert Lens

 Shot with my Minolta 75mm Manual Focus Macro Lens

Shot with my Sony Ericsson 510 Camera Phone (with post production work)

Why is my camera is a Cactus today??!!!

So I'll start from the top...I have another job other than my photography...Not so shocking I know! Anyone starting out in the field of photography will tell you that you need some other means of cash follow to keep you fed and clothed...And just as importantly up to date on camera hardware, software and sometimes even training.

My dual life is quite an intresting effort, not difficult to manage most days... Most of my work life is spent as an Information Systems Analyst... I've been a PC technician from around 1999... I must say in those years I've seen so many changes and revolutions in my field that my mind still ponders on the days of old...How far we've come and how sometimes I can't help but Imagine that one day we'll be in some scifi film come true, I just pray it's one of the few positive dreamt up futures.

So what you may ask is the purpose of this post it doesn't seem to match the title...
Well here goes... Friday afternoon (at tech work) I was going through the motions of the standard day of customer request and repairs... When in a bit of misfortune lead me to a painful out come... I was repairing a PC that at the time was not even powering on... turns out that the CPU (aka the processor) was overheating, due to dust clogging all of the heat sink vents under the cooling fan.

I did some thing smart then something stupid...I unplugged the power to the PC (standard smart lol) and disconnected, then slowly removed the fan and heat sink by holding the plastic fan case (pretty smart...), which is clipped onto the heat sink... here's where the stupid comes in...The heat sink had to be removed in order to clean it correctly, normal an easy enough task...but for some reason all of a sudden I forgot the reason the computer wasn't working in the first place. Heat!!! Due to stress of the day or just plain lasp of judgement I pushed the two clips next to the metal heat sink with my two thumbs at the same time in an attempt to un-clip the heat sink from the fan... "Crack!!!" whoops the force breaks the already weaken by heat plastic clips and my two thumbs slam right onto the super hot metal!!! I drop the hot "potato" to the desk and the pain sets in!!

I see blood, but feel fire!!! Some how I'd managed to burn my thumbs and cut two nice little slices right in the crease where my thumbs bend just below my finger print!! Bit of bleeding and a lite burn blister..What happens next you can imagine.. I quickly patched myself up with paper towel and finished the job lol!! Replaced the damaged fan and heat sink... made sure all worked and was "cool" then "sheepishly" went on to deal with other jobs, with both thumbs sporting band aids...

So here's the thing.. Have you tried taking photographs with out thumbs lol it's near impossible I felt truly like a lesser animal, I couldn't bend my thumb correctly due to the stinging pain. Gripping my camera was like holding a small cactus.

I was sure now that my weekend shoots would be doomed for sure, I had two shoots lined up (none paying) but they were going to add to my portfolio not to mention really fun and I had planned both out for the last week in my head.

As I messed around with my camera trying to figure a way to hold and take a picture later that night, out of the blue both models at different times called up to rain check for later in the week... What bad luck :( ...I now won't get to try out all the new techniques I came up with for shooting without fully working thumbs :P

But I figure I'll just work on a few other shoots...Macro work anyone :) Gotta see how a real panda would take pictures :) no thumbs...minor problem :)   

Freelensing...a small adventure for the photographer brave at heart

So about a year ago (maybe more) I bought a Lensbaby Composser kit...with the "fisheye insert lens", the "creative kit" and a quite a few other little addon features.
After having fun for a few weeks and loads of experimenting with all of the different effects that could be gained from my new lenbaby system... I noticed something... I love being creative and experimenting, it's the main reason I enjoy photography...but I found that the cost of the lenbaby and extra nic-nacks had almost ruined my enjoyment. I kept having buyers remorse... and a couple weeks later I saw a post on a blog that made my buyers remorse go into over drive!

FREELENSING! It's like having a lensbaby system without buying one!!!
I figured... "Really, I gotta try this!" and I did and was I amazed! Using a 50mm manual focus lens I was able to hover and twist the lens in front of the camera body to create some of the most crazy and eye opening effects! It was a lensbaby with a build in aperture iris...(which lenbaby would later add to a 35mm f2.8 lens insert for a price).

I began playing with letting light in through the gap between the lens and camera body, to create streams of light halos and streaks... The added effect of using a wide open f1.7 created all sorts of fantastic bokeh to add to the dream like haze of the out of focus section of the photos. The "sweet spots" the name given to the section of the photo that is sharp and in focus, were just a little harder to achieve but were even more rewarding, after all you had to fight a bit more to capture your photo your way!

When it comes down to it, the lensbaby system is a great system to use and own.. don't get me wrong, you can have loads of fun using all the many different tools that go with the lensbaby... But just being able to un-clip your standard 50mm lens mid shoot, to add a bit of spice to your shots..that my friends is quick and easy fun!

I still use my lensbaby...I still freelensing...but now I have double the creative options!!!
If you don't owe a lensbaby and don't plan on buying one, but want to try your hand at all the sweet spot and blurry action.. Give Freelensing a try!!

Resources:

Everything you'll need to know:
http://content.photojojo.com/tutorials/tilt-shift-and-macro-freelensing/

P.S
Warning: Freelensing can damage your camera in a few ways please read the info and warnings from the link above.

Manually Amazing!!

A few months ago I bought a used 50mm Minolta 1.7 Rokkor (on ebay for a steal) lens which I have been using with my Olympus e-30, thanks to a cool little Minolta (35 mm film) MD lens mount to a digital 4/3 mount convertor.

After about 3 or 4 months of taking photos, this lens has easily become my favorite lens to use for portraits of models or pets, it takes mind blowing shots with it's fantastic shallow depth of field and amazing "Bokeh" (a japanese word meaning "blurred or out of focus background effect").  Not to mention that it's got a large aperture of 1.7, which has also given me a huge advanage when shooting in low light or when I just want a bit of an overexposed effect.

The fully manual focus on this lens is amazingly fast and with pratice it can make anyone question the Auto Focus Systems in most modern lens these days.  The lens is funny enough only 4 years younger than me! Produced back in the 80's it's an amazing little piece of hardware which can be used on just about any DSLR with just a few little adjustments and a simple mount adapter.

I never imagined something that worked out costing me just a little over 40 USD could bring so much enjoyment and pure excitement at being able to capture a shot that has almost a creamy surreal bokeh background. The skin tones pop ever so nicely, with a hue that is effected by the type of coating on the glass of the lens.

In closing I'd just like to say that everyone who is at all interested in trying their hand at recent the manual focus trend/upsurge (using older lens), to have a look around at the many many great options that are out there! But price for value I am over the moon for this beautiful little Minolta 1.7 50mm.

Resources:
Great site for reviews, lens specs and loads info http://www.mflenses.com/
Flickr is great for examples of what the lens can do! http://www.flickr.com/
And Ebay so you can buy one!!! http://www.ebay.com/