Stones and sea

Stones and sea, a photo by olmjohns on Flickr.

So I am continuing the gizmodo shooting challenges and having a lot of fun doing them.  I am really pleased with this shot.
The Challenge:
Capture a photo with the shutter speed of 1 second. No faster or slower.
http://gizmodo.com/5805415/shooting-challenge-1-second
My Comment:
After last week's challenge, I was looking forward to this week's slow shutter challenge. I took a number of photos at one second and wasn't too happy with them. I decided to drive down to our local beach and take some shots of the ocean at dusk. The way the sea ebbs out with each wave leaves a "fog" among the stones on the beach when the photo is shot at one second. I was pleased at how this shot turned out. It also captured an incoming wave in the upper right corner.
I brought my tripod with me and my shutter remote to eliminate any camera shaking.

Black Swan

Black Swan directed by Darren Aronofsky
2010
★★★✰✰
So I thought this was going to be a better film but I was a little disappointed.  The only thing that was interesting was Natalie Portman's spiral into crazy town.  The rest of the movie was way too slow.

Tron: Legacy

Tron: Legacy directed by Joseph Kosinski
2010
★★★✰✰
So I loved Tron.  I still do.  The computer effects are phenomenal.  I love the People Mover ride at Disneyland because at the end, you got to race through a tunnel with the light cycles.  So cool.  This movie was not as cool as the original.  At times, it seemed like a really long Daft Punk music video.  Sam was annoying and the weird digital Jeff Bridges/Clu got a little Polar Express creepy after awhile.  It gets three stars more on because the first film was so awesome.

Bumble bee

Bumble bee, a photo by olmjohns on Flickr.

So I have continued the shooting challenge.  I have actually started to do a few others at different websites too.
The Challenge:
Freeze motion with a shutter speed of 1/1000. No faster or slower. And no using a 1/1000 flash and a longer exposure. That's a great technique, but we're trying to have everyone approach this challenge from the same perspective.
http://gizmodo.com/5803159/shooting-challenge-11000-of-a-second
My Comment:
So I started early on this shooting challenge and decided I would shoot water. My first shots were of a bathtub running which were too dark. I upped the ISO and they were still no good. I added the flash and they looked great! Then I realized the camera forced the shutter speed down to 1/200 so those shots were out.
I tried water from the faucet and popping a water balloon which turned out fine but it was when I just playing around in my sister-in-law's backyard in Orange, CA that a bumble bee caught my eye.
Since I don't have a very good lens, I just tried to get as close as possible. The fast shutter enabled me to get the bee in flight instead of sitting on a flower. I wish I could have got a few more of the bee before he flew away.

Palos Verdes 5K Photo

So I got the photos from my race already.  So quick!  Not a bad shot.

Dinner for Schmucks

Dinner for Schmucks directed by Jay Roach
2010
★★✰✰✰
So I knew this was going to be a dumb movie.  I was super intrigued as it started off with Beatles music and awesome dioramas of anthropomorphic mice.  Then it just got dumb and boring.  Finally, when the get to the dinner party it got funny but it just felt lame.  This film could have been great if it was cast with different actors and had some tweaks to the story line.  It felt like an art/independent/Wes Anderson film but with an Anchorman cast.

Palos Verdes 5K Results

So I got my results for the race and they are good. Not quite as good as last year but still excellent considering my poor times on my previous races this year.