Fishing at Racine Harbor - Racine, Wisconsin

My friends Jim and Manny and I went to Racine Harbor this morning to try our luck.  Before Jim and I got there, Manny reported over the phone that several fish were already caught by others who were there before us.  After we got set up, in just a short time, Jim caught a nice 10 lb. female King Salmon (Chinook).  That fish did a number of aerial somersaults for us!  It took a while for Jim to land it!  Later, he caught a smaller fish, but lost it just before we had the chance to net it.

The winds picked up later and the entire harbor emptied out except for the three of us.  Eventually, we decided it was just too windy to continue.  Jim filleted his fish at the fish cleaning station on site and we headed for breakfast.

Still wanting to catch something, I suggested we head to Kenosha Harbor to give it a try.  We didn't catch anything, but we saw several fish jumping.  The fish were not ready to bite.

We'll try Racine again next week if the weather permits!

The Racine Harbor had a very nice fish cleaning station (see photos below if you aren't squeamish.)  Like last week's fish, this fish was loaded with eggs!  Manny took the eggs and it will become bait for the future.

I've already eaten this fish!  Not bad at all!  I find that if you take off the skin of a fish, a lot of that "fishy" taste (and smell) goes away with it.

All images below taken with a Lumix DMC-LX5 camera.

Final Night Photography Class for 2012

Last night was the last night photography class for 2012.  Here's an image from that evening.  Chicago looks really nice at night!

14 lb - 34 inch - King Salmon - Kenosha Harbor

Last week I reported that I finally caught a fish out of Lake Michigan after years of trying from the piers and never getting anything.  That fish was a 21-1/2", 2 lb Northern Pike.  Well, today, my friend Jim and I went back to Kenosha Harbor in Kenosha, Wisconsin and tried it again.

This time I caught this monster... a 34", 14 lb King Salmon that's just starting to turn bad!  Jim helped again with netting the fish after about a quick 3 minute fight.  I lost another fish just a short time before this one was landed.  It looked to be a brown trout, but it broke off just when it was perhaps only 10 feet away from me.  I was really disappointed.  But moments later, this fish tugged at my line!  Initially, I thought it was another brown trout, but advice from others and looking closer at the fish's photos, it's definitely a King Salmon.  Check out the black jaws... it's a trademark of a King Salmon.

After getting the fish home, I filleted the fish to find that it was a female LOADED with eggs!  We are going to use those eggs the next time we go fishing.  I gave half of the fish and the eggs to Jim and I kept the other half.  Since the fish isn't fully turned yet, it should be ok to eat... I hope!

This photo was taken once again with my LG cell phone.  Not bad for a 3.0 Megapixel camera!

The photos below were taken with my Lumix DMC-LX5 camera (it's around my neck in the photo above!)

9/11

"We will never forget..."

The "Skunk" Is Over! - Northern Pike Caught at Kenosha Harbor - Kenosha Wisconsin

 
For years, I have been "shore" fishing Lake Michigan in hopes of catching a fish.

Sure, I can catch a fish when on a boat in Lake Michigan because the captain sets up the fishing lines in the right depths, uses electronic fish finders and trolls the waters moving the boat at around 2 mph.  But to try to find fish myself from the shores of Lake Michigan meant I was on my own to entice fish to bite my lure.  For years, I never caught anything.  I was always "skunked" walking away with nothing.

Still, I kept going out there in hopes that one day, I'd get a fish.  Well that day was yesterday!  While hoping to catch a Salmon, I happened to catch this guy... a 21.5", 2 lb Northern Pike!  This guy hit my line fast and hard.  At first, I wondered if I had a fish on the line, but after reeling in the line, I knew I had a fish as it was fighting back trying to get the hook out of its mouth.

When he was netted and brought in, he tossed and turned in the net and actually spit the hook out.  Good thing we had a net!  My friend Jim was with me and did the netting for me.  He also took the photo of me with my cell phone camera since I didn't have my normal "fishing camera" with me.

It didn't take long to catch this fish once we got started fishing, but that was the only fish we caught all morning.  We were out there for 4 hours.

We'll try it again next week!

Night Photography of the Chicago Skyline with Balanced Exposure Students 8-27-12

What a great evening!  Thirty-five of the Balanced Exposure students joined me as we learned how to photograph the Chicago Skyline.  It was a "sell-out" event and I had to turn down quite a few students who wanted to attend, but 35 is about the limit I can handle and teach properly.

I will offer this again in the future, but due to most of my evenings being taken up with classes at the school itself, this evening was the only one I had open for 2012.

These images were taken with a Nikon D4 and Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 lens.  The moon photo was taken with the Nikon D4 and a 300mm lens borrowed from one of my students.  It's been cropped tight, but we can still see the craters on the moon.  Too bad it wasn't a full moon, but it was still fun to shoot it.

Professional model Jessica joined us as well so the students were able to try photographing a subject in the foreground while continuing to get a great skyline in the background.

We all had a great time and we will definitely do more of this kind of location classes again.

Fishing with Balanced Exposure Students - August 26, 2012

Another outing with Balanced Exposure students aboard Lucky Dog Charters!

While we did not have the quantity of fish that the last outing had, we got a lot BIGGER fish instead!  In all, we landed 10 out of 11 fish with many of the fish in the 6 to 15.5 lb range with the largest caught by 14 yr old Matt!  He's holding it in the group photo below.

We got two Rainbow Trout (one was mine) and eight Lake Trout.  I ate my Rainbow Trout yesterday and I can tell you it was VERY GOOD!  Not "fishy" tasting at all.

All images taken with a Lumix DMC-LX5 camera.

 

Rustic

Photographed on 8-19-12 during the Photography Field Trip with my Balanced Exposure students.  Nikon D4 / Nikon 60mm f2.8 micro lens.

Moolah Theater and Lounge - St Louis Missouri

This past week, I went to St. Louis, MO with my wife and daughter.  One of the things we did was go to watch The Dark Knight Rises - Batman movie.

After attempting to go in the Chicago area but being unsuccessful in getting tickets to a matinee showing, we decided to see it in St. Louis.  My daughter recommended we go to the Moolah Theater and Lounge which is in the St Louis University campus.  $7.00 per person for a matinee.  Not bad.

But the real surprise was the theater itself.  The seats were all couches!  Loveseats, mostly.  Cozy!  I'd never been in a theater with couches for seating!  Of course the balcony had regular theater seating, but this was definitely different. And, there was a guy who actually played the organ while we waited for the movie to start!  I'd never seen that before!  He was actually really good too!  It reminded me of the old theaters you'd read about in the past where someone played an organ during silent pictures.  Cool!

And after the movie was over, ushers stood near the exits with a basketful of hard candy for you to take on your way out!

Totally unexpected and gratifying experience!  My wife didn't like the loveseat seating though as she felt it gave her a neck-ache having to lean upwards to watch the movie.  Oh well, can't win them all.  But I was happy with it.  Check out the theater if you are ever in the St. Louis area!

August 5, 2012 - Field Trip Students

One of the new techniques that the students learned was how to properly do "Fill Flash" while shooting outdoors.  Just a couple more Field Trips left for 2012!

July 8, 2012 - Photography Field Trip Students

Another fine Photography Field Trip group from last Sunday!  Luckily our 100+ degree days had dropped to the mid-80's!

Fishing With Students from Balanced Exposure

Yesterday, 5 of my students and I went fishing out on the Lucky Dog.  We caught 16 fish and lost 4.  Overall, a great day!  Weather was in the high 70's... we couldn't have asked for better weather!

The bite was fast in the beginning, but then slowed towards the end of our 6 hour trip.  Still, we all got some nice fish.  My largest was a 9 lb King Salmon, but we also got one at 10 lbs and one at 14 lbs!  Besides Kings, we also caught Coho Salmon and Lake Trout.

I hope to get another charter booked perhaps in August if I can find 5 more students willing to go.

Check out Captain Jim at Lucky Dog Charters for a great fishing trip!

More HDR

Plenty of water at the Des Plaines River Dam #1, but not much by this bridge.  Both processed in HDR.

Hitchin' A Ride - The Grove - Glenview, IL

Why walk when someone else will do it for you...

Photography Field Trip At The Grove - May 20, 2012

Once again, my Balanced Exposure students and I headed out to The Grove in Glenview, IL.  While they were busy photographing the various things there, I was busy photographing them!

Sometimes, the things people do become more interesting than the various attractions at a venue!

All images shot with the Nikon D4 camera / Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 lens.  Custom White balanced with the PhotoVision - 14" Pocket Digital Calibration Target.

Nikon D4 HDR Images from The Grove - Glenview, IL

I took my new Nikon D4 for a test spin at The Grove in Glenview, IL yesterday and shot these images for HDR.  Using Photomatix Pro, I was able to get the images dialed in so that they still looked like "photographs" rather than over-processed art.

Each image was shot with the Nikon D4 camera and the Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 lens.

Photography Field Trip at "The Grove" - Glenview, IL

A group of my Balanced Exposure students met today at The Grove in Glenview, IL to do a little shooting in the field.  I was very proud that all of the students seemed to know what they were doing with their cameras after having taken one of my introduction to photography courses!

I gave them some challenging things just to test them and they were all able to do it!  It really makes it worthwhile when you can see your efforts as an instructor being put in action.

While it was a bit chilly outside, we had plenty of things to shoot indoors as well.  We talked about lighting, composition, angles and other photography related things as we took our shots.

This is the first group of my students who have signed up for the Field Trip class.  More to come... every other Sunday until the end of September!

This image was taken with the Canon T2i with its kit lens.  See... I actually do have and use a Canon camera at times!  I bought it to help teach the DSLR Advanced class, but it comes in handy when I don't want to lug around that large and heavy Nikon D3 / Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 lens!

Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center

I spent the afternoon at The Illinois Holocaust Museum with my wife and had a "private tour" with a great volunteer named Roz. She explained the history of what had happened during those terrible years during the Holocaust.

I believe everyone needs to go to this museum to learn what happened, but also so that through education, something like the Holocaust will never happen again. Go visit: http://www.ilholocaustmuseum.org/

Million Dollar Quartet - Apollo Theater - Chicago

I had a great time tonight at the show "Million Dollar Quartet" at the Apollo Theater in Chicago.

My wife, daughter and I sat in the front row, stage left.  We were literally within a couple of feet of the stage.  I think this may have been the closest I've been to the stage of a play.  The stage at the Apollo Theater isn't raised... it's floor level, so it almost felt like we were sitting on the stage!

The music was great!  Obviously, the songs were all "standards" that we all know from Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley.  The actors did a great job imitating the legendary singers and they played their own instruments too.

The Apollo Theater is a very intimate setting. It is right next to the EL tracks so entering the theater, we were greeted by the noisy trains.  But surprisingly, inside the theater, we didn't notice the train noise.

It was fun to watch the show and spend time with my family.  Highly recommended!

Adobe Photoshop CS6 Beta Announced Today

Adobe has announced today the arrival of their new Photoshop CS6 Beta. This usually means the final version of CS6 is just around the corner. Not sure how many months this will be, but I doubt it will be within a month. They usually get feedback back from Beta users first and fix any bugs before the final release comes out. But be aware... it's coming.

If you have not yet purchased your copy of Photoshop CS5, you might want to wait. But how long is anybody's guess. Here are some highlights of what is being changed: http://www.dpreview.com/articles/2601746315/photoshop-cs6-beta-new-features-for-photographers

Also, system requirements are tougher too. While it will still support XP for PC users, you need to be sure the video RAM on your video card has at least 512MB of RAM or better. Obviously, the faster your machine the better.

For Mac users, 32-Bit operating systems will not be supported. You'll need a 64-bit operating system to run this new version of Photoshop.

Fishing - Government Pier - Waukegan Harbor

 

 

After a year away from pier fishing off Government Pier at Waukegan Harbor in Waukegan, IL, I finally got a chance to head out this morning.

I arrived around 5:30 AM this morning and there wasn't a soul to be seen out there!  But later, others started showing up.  I fished for about 2 hours and decided to leave.  It was great just getting back outside after spending the whole winter indoors, even though I didn't catch anything.  Really, I was more interested in seeing how well my Lumix DMC-LX5 camera would do taking photos out there!

These images were taken in RAW on Manual shooting mode and then processed in Adobe Lightroom 4.0.  As expected the camera did well as long as no bright light source was aimed directly at the lens.  When the sun finally came out, I tried shooting directly towards the lighthouse, but the lens flare was just too great to get any good photos.  I find this to be the biggest drawback to this camera's lens.  Other than that, the camera does a great job for such a small and compact camera!

I always shoot this camera in RAW format because the images come out so much better.  I post process all my images in Lightroom anyway, so why not shoot it in RAW?

To see what I see when out there, check out the video... also taken with the Lumix DMC-LX5.

I look forward to getting back out again in the near future!

Lightroom 4 is Shipping!

Lightroom 4 is now shipping!

I received my copy yesterday and installed it.  It's easy to figure out if you are familiar with Lightroom 3 already.  A couple of new modules have been added: a Book module and a Map module.  This should make laying out Photobooks really easy.  The new map module works with Google Earth so that you can easily find where your photos were taken, provided you have implemented a GPS with your camera.

Overall, Lightroom 4 seems to add a more powerful processing engine.  Controls seem able to make wider swings when the sliders are moved.  This should allow for some heavy duty modifications to fix images.  But because the new processing engine is more capable, computer system requirements are now more stringent too.  For Windows users, XP is no longer supported.  You need either Windows Vista or Windows 7 on your computer.  And for MAC users, your OS must be 10.6.8 (64-bit) or higher.

The nicest part though is that Adobe has drastically reduced the price of this software!  It is now available for only $159.  The academic discount version is only $79!!  Because I want my students to learn how to fix their images, I've dropped my training on Lightroom to $125.  And for continuing education students, it's available for only $60 for a two hour session.  We'll concentrate only on the Library and Develop modules during that time... the two modules that will likely be the most used.  And, for a limited time, I have the training at an even lower price!  Contact me for that!

Peter Frampton Reunites with his Lost Gibson Les Paul Guitar After 32 Years!

After 32 years, guitarist Peter Frampton is reunited with his lost 1954 Gibson Les Paul Custom guitar!  Read the story here on his 2/12/12 post.



Frampton talks about his lost guitar.

 
How they found the guitar.

Shtuff People Say To Photographers

An Unfortunate Choice of Vehicle Number

On my way to the photography school, I found myself behind an Animal Welfare vehicle.

While I appreciate what our law enforcement officers do (since I also worked in law enforcement in the past), I just thought that the vehicle number for this truck was an unfortunate choice in at least two different ways.

Can you tell why?