On the bike in the woods

The weather was cloudy with chances of rain, but that didn’t dissuade me from loading up my mountain bike and a backpack full of camera kit and heading out into the woods.  Wanting to spend as much time pedaling as photographing, I opted to drive to the Jonathan Run trailhead in Ohiopyle.  This trail is about a mile and a half long and runs to the main biking trail.  Almost to the main trail, another trail branches off called Sugar Run.  Both of these trails are mostly nice singletrack with some sprinkling of technical rocky sections, some nice flowy up and downs along with a few climbing sections.  The scenery is top notch and there was no one around.  I saw a single group of hikers all 3 hours I was on the trail.

Since we’ve had some rain the past few days and I was in the woods, the camera and tripod came along for the ride.  I brought only a prime lens kit which consisted of a 12mm, 23mm, 35mm and my 56mm.  The most used was my 12mm and 56mm.  Having only primes was a nice change of pace and made me think more about the shots I wanted and the angles.  I brought a variable neutral density filter and a circular polarizer as well to help with the colors and exposure times.  All in all, it was a great morning of riding and picture taking.

Portraits and Fast Cars

Since coming home from Panama, there hasn’t been much time for photography around my house.  Between work and other things, the camera has mostly stayed in the bag.  Once in a while I pulled it out for some quick portrait sessions.  With a few new babies in the extended family, I had some extra work.

Today was a chance to get out with some friends and hang out at the drag strip where some raced their cars.  Since I don’t own anything fast, I brought my camera.