Early spring sports can be either warm or really cold - yesterday it was REALLY COLD. The temps up in Georgetown for this lacrosse game were in the mid 30's with the wind blowing about 20 mph. Chilly! This field is up behind the school but up a long hill. So I dragged my sorry butt up the hill carrying my three ft. ladder to sit on and the Canon 7D with the Canon 300 f2.8 on a monopod. I was there to shoot both teams but I decided to sit at one end. The team shooting at the end i was at was not having a good day and only got off two shots in the first quarter, they did get a little better later in the second quarter. I managed a few good shots even though I resembled an ice cube. This shot was made at ISO 400 at 1/1000 sec at f4.5.

Ardelle's Maiden Voyage This is one of my favorite videos of the Ardelle project that our team here at Gatehouse Media North did back in the winter and spring of 2011. We all had a blast doing it and we were fortunate enough to win a first place for a couple of the portions of the project. We won first place for Digital / Print Convergence and first place for video.

Peekin Pie Recently I was coming out of an event at a local hall and noticed this cute pup in the window of a real estate office. I made the shot with an iPhone 4s and did the post processing in Snapseed which allowed me to zip things up a bit and to add a blur around the outside of the image to focus the attention on the dog.

Happy Easter everyone. The early morning service was a little chilly but sunny and clear as a bell. We could see the coast of NH and ME from Squam Rock. This shot was made using the Canon G15 in manual mode. The aperture could only be stopped down to f8 but it still gave me a nice star. I have lived on Cape Ann my whole life and the early morning service at Squam Rock has been a part of it for a good portion of it. 

During the cold weather I had a great opportunity to shoot some great stuff this week. Harold Burnham and Bruce Slifer are building a giant lobster trap for Maritime Gloucester. It's all made of red oak that is milled on-site. They estimate that the finished trap will weigh in at around a ton. All of these shots were made with the Canon 5D Mk lll and the 16-35. I also used the 24-70 on my 7D which gave me a great range of a bout 16-112 between the two cameras. The images were really outstanding.

blues-3991 James Montgomery - Canon G15 ISO 800 1/50 @ f2.8

blues-3943 James Montgomery - ISO 3200 1/80 @ f 2.8

blues-3934 Jon Butcher - ISO 3200  1/100  @ f 2.8

blues-3929 Charlie Ferren - ISO 3200  1/250  @ f 2.8

blues-3988 James Montgomery - ISO 800  1/25  @ f 2.8

What a night rockin' the blues at the Shalin Lu Performance Center in Rockport. A great performance by these stars playing the blues. These photos show what a point and shoot can do if used correctly. I shot these with a Canon Powershot G15. Using a P&S for this stuff is pretty difficult with the performers moving around quite a bit. So I took up the challenge and the results amazed me. This little pocket mighty is impressive even though the sensor is about the size of half my thumbnail. The image stabilization worked really well for the slow shutter speed stuff and at 3200 I was, well blown away. I have not printed any of them yet but when I do I'll be sure to post the results. For the most part I was really happy with how things turned out. The focus is fast but not for this stuff. Shutter lag is also an issue. But hey, it's a point and shoot!

So I was disappointed with my Canon G1X as you can see by a different post (below). I decided to buy the new G15 and am in love with it. I will post some things when I get a chance and I have stuff to show but so far I am amazed at what I can do that I could not do with the G1X. The G1X was very slow and big. The max fstop at 112 mm was 5.8 - what? The G15 is 2.8 at 140 mm. the lens is so much better I can't believe it.

halibutsnowH-1 halibutsnowH-2 I had a great morning after last nights snowfall. I headed out to Halibut Point State Park in Rockport for some snow pictures. It was brutally cold with the wind blowing about 30 mph. But the snow was beautiful on the north side of the trees. The light was just starting to come around but was not really in a great place and my photos early were not as good. I need to go back at 3 PM and see what it's like. The top image of the quarry reminded me of sea coral and thus this image which captures the snow in that way. The second photo reminded me of white chocolate covered pretzels. Both of these images were made with the Canon 5D MKlll and the 24-70 F2.8 L.