I had the honor of being selected as one of the official photographers of the International Ballet Fest of Miami 2011. Here are some of the photos from the first weekend of performances. Please feel free to browse the gallery and “Like” your favorites!
At the 2011 Florida Renaissance Festival, I had an opportunity to shoot some portraits. Not your usual “people in period garb” shots. No, I was given the opportunity to shoot raptors – birds of prey. Granted its a small series (only six shots) but I hopefully captured the beauty of these creatures. Enjoy
Tis the season for group holiday luncheons. Coworkers everywhere the holidays are observed gather at restaurants and homes to celebrate another year of working together and getting the job done. Such is the case at my day job. On Friday, December 3, 2010, we did just that. After a couple of weeks of planning and voting on a place to eat, we selected an Argentinian steakhouse at a local shopping mall.
Being the photographer in our group, I brought my gear along to take our annual group photo. Coincidentally, another group from our office was there celebrating as well. So when it came time to take a group shot, we had quite a few more people than originally planned. We gathered outside the restaurant (which was located on the outer edge of the mall) and began to organize ourselves for the shot.
That’s when the Mall Cops showed up. Apparently, it is illegal to take a photograph of a group of happy, well-dressed, well-fed people in front of a white wall. I explained to them that this group of coworkers just finished their Christmas luncheon in the restaurant and, as we have done for the last 16 years, were planning to take a photo to commemorate the event. He explained that photography of the mall structures was banned because terrorists might use it to figure out where to plant bombs.
I calmly explained to him that terrorists wouldn’t be using $6000 worth of camera gear and a troupe for 30+ semi-besotted white collar workers to discretely photograph key structural details of the entire mall and perhaps they should concentrate on guys furtively snapping shots with their camera phones instead. They too have no sense of humor.
A supervisor arrived and I repeated my explanation, adding that this group had just dropped about $800 to the restaurant. He reiterated the party line about photographer-terrorists, but since I managed to keep a level head and explained to him that the only recipients of the photos would be the people I was photographing, he grudgingly let me go ahead and take the photos.
I suppose it was a good thing that I didn’t point out that the mall administration was delusional to think that they have the power to repeal the First Amendment.
I’m done now.
With the release of the Pentax 645D in March 2010, the blogosphere has been abuzz with speculation as to how well the new, (relatively) low-cost entry into medium format digital would fare against the established leaders in the field. To this end, I browsed the DXO website and came upon data for the 645D. I was tipped off to this information via Nikon Rumors, who did a comparison of the 645D and the Nikon D3x.
So with a little deft browsing, I whipped up a quick comparo of the 645D vs Hassy H3DII-39 vs Phase One P40+. Here is the overview page. There will be an analysis after the jump.
The image gallery from our London trip has been posted to Zenfolio. Here is a slideshow:
Images are available for purchase.
Just returned from a little photo safari to Paris and London. Here’s a slideshow of the Paris shots. Will add London shortly. The slideshow contains links to my gallery where you can order photos if you like.
It’s the new year and it’s Renaissance Festival time in South Florida! This year the Florida Renaissance Festival is taking place in two venues: first (and running through this weekend) is at Historic Virginia Key Park in Key Biscayne, FL and then next month at Quiet Waters Park in Deerfield Beach, FL.
The Renfest is great fun for the whole family and a wonderful opportunity to take photographs. I took my students on assignment there last weekend. Here is an Animoto slideshow of shots from the Key Biscayne Faire;
The National Association of Hispanic Public Administrators (NAHPA) is sponsoring an art exhibit in the lobby of the Stephen P. Clarke Center in downtown Miami. The gallery features the work of many local Hispanic artists as part Hispanic Heritage Month and runs through October 30th.
I have the following three photos on display there:
And here is the display itself:
This shot was taken from the balcony of my friend’s condo on the 29th floor. Shot handheld using my Nikon D700 and Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 zoom in 12-bit NEF and processed using Apple Aperture 2.1.3.
This condo happens to be the tallest building in Miami Beach with total of 48 stories right on the beach. Amazing place.
This shot will be part of my collection going on display in early October of this year in Coral Gables, FL. I will post more details as they become available.
With Olympus finally letting the micro four-thirds cat out of the bag, has the Next Digital Age finally dawned?
You’re probably thinking “What has Carlos been smoking and can he send me a couple of pounds?” All I ask is that you hear me out for a second. Let’s take a critical look at the technological developments in digital camera design in the last few years.