I'm glad I posted a news article highlighting some great nature-oriented abstract shots, but I have decided to scrap the contest because I'm just too busy. I got a job and am REALLY far behind on my photography (I am slogging through pictures from December! And I've taken over a thousand since then!).

Hopefully I will be in some upcoming shows/art venues, namely the Issaquah ArtWalk on May 1st. I have yet to hear back from the coordinator, but I will keep being persistent with my e-mails.


I have a large variety of shots on the way, lots of animals/insects, flowers, and landscapes, and a handful of people as well.

Oh, and I also did a slight redesign on my website. I split some pages and condensed others, and made the gallery picture bigger. If you've looked at my site before, I'd love some feedback, and if you've never looked, I'd love it if you took a look! [link]


Until next time!

I recently wrote a News Article ([link]) called Abstract Attack! It's going to be part of a series of news articles on abstract photography and what it means to the DA community.

In conjunction with that, I am soon going to be hosting a contest focusing on Abstract photography. Although I don't normally like contests that force you to take a new picture instead of being able to submit an old one, I'll be making an exception for this contest by making it a "must take a new picture for this contest" type of competition.

If you would like to be a judge for the contest, please note me. I'll be checking galleries to see that you've taken a fair share of Abstract photographs


The contest will start soon, within the next week depending on how many judge requests I get, and I'll post another journal when it officially begins.

So in December I was very lacking in the "update my dA account and my website", so I'm planning on making up for that in January with a ton of picture submissions

I got so involved with work and the holidays (blah blah excuses excuses) that photography, and especially post-processing, took a back seat and I did very, very little work during December. I did manage to take some pictures in the snow before the rain washed it all away, and I should be getting to those pictures by the middle or end of this month.


In other news, my wonderful girlfriend bought me a sweet tripod/head combo for Christmas! It's a Manfrotto 190XB with a 804RC2 head.

It. Is. Awesome. SUCH a crazy improvement over the cheap, generic, lightweight plastic Kodak tripod I've been using for almost 2 years now. It actually extends the camera to my eye level, all the way up at 70", which is fantastic.

So expect some much better panoramas (can you say triple levelers?) and macros from me with these two new pieces of equipment.


Oh, and thank you to everyone who has commented or favorited my work or added me to their watch list over the past month and a half. I am getting to all those comments and I do appreciate every single

I am in the midst of choosing a whole lot of stock pictures to upload.

I haven't updated my stock site (~happeningstock) in...well, in a long time, and my girlfriend suggested that I add some things to it.

So, I will be uploading probably upwards of 100 pictures to my stock account over the next week or two. It will be pictures from this entire year, either rejects for my website or pictures I liked, but didn't like enough.


In other news: thumbshare dozen!

I am the proud owner of a (slightly used) Nikon D300! I purchased it earlier today, along with a Nikkor 18-200mm VR lens and a SB600 flash (my first flash!) for the fairly low price of $2000, which I think is a pretty stinkin' sweet deal.

I'm really excited about using this new camera and lens. The new low-light capabilities and higher resolution are very appealing to me, seeing as how I'm starting to get more into animal photography and am selling more of my prints lately. The combination of the D300's ridiculously good high-ISO performance with the extra 4-ish stops of light the VR will give me (and the great "superzoom" range) are perfect for opening up new fields of photography to me.


I am especially interested in starting to do "hey why don't you pay me to take your individual or family or pet or whatever portrait" work, and I feel much more confident in the abilities of my camera now. I will probably use my 60mm f2.8 Macro to take portraits, since it is purported to be quite good with portraits (it is exceptionally sharp in every situation I've used it in so far, so I don't doubt it's portrait capabilities). If anyone has any pointers on getting into this ultra-competitive business, on a modest budget, please let me know!


None of this will drastically affect what I post on DA and my website, but it will almost definitely mean that I am taking MORE pictures overall. I have not been able to really test the 18-200, so I might post a review of that lens soon.


Thanks to everyone who watches me (and takes the time to read my journals )! Your support is very much appreciated.