I caught some close ups with my 50mm and switched to my 18-200mm for wide angle. This is one of those times when I wish I really have a super wide (ie. 14-24mmm). The sky, although it didn’t live up to my expectation, wasn’t all that bad. What’s worse is the “pile” of ships (freight vessels, private sail boats, etc) on the ocean; once I arrived, I knew there would be lots of post-processing cloning to do. I set up a SB800 shooting through an umbrella on camera right with a SU-800 on a SC29 cord so it can trigger the flash. Apart from giving directions to the model on posing, everything else was pretty easy (ie. Aperture Priority, dial down EV 2/3 and pump more power to flash, etc).

In the end, I shot something like the following…

First shot when the sun was still out with 50mm

My favorite out of the three. Looking good Grace!

Looks better when cropped in my opinion

As always, leave a comment and let me know what you like, dislike, and let me know how I can improve.

You gotta love the accidental dust particles (it’s not a bug, it’s a feature)

Don’t mess with him

Usually Kevin is nice, but …

As always, leave a comment and let me know what you like, dislike, and let me know how I can improve.

The top LED screen is totally borked and the side of the body is dented. On top of that, after some testing, the MODE and EV button also no longer works. None of my lenses were damaged. (Above photo shot with point and shoot triggering a SB800 via SU-4)

I knew the LED was broken right on the spot when I picked up the bag and opened it. The security woman was in shock also. She turned and gave me her manager’s card in case I want to seek compensation (which I fully intent to do). Although she mentioned that it’s very likely that PNE will not cover this, I phoned her manager right away and left a voicemail. So there, one careless mistake killed my D200. Unlike some other photogs, I don’t have a backup body (I’m not a pro shooter yet).

So what now?
As I said, I intent to follow up with PNE compensating for this. However, every plan needs a backup plan, because I still need to shoot. In case things go south, I will need to either repair this or buy a new camera. If I choose the latter, I’ll probably aim for a FX (full frame) camera so I can use it for the next five years or so which puts the price to almost $3k after tax. Where on earth will a high school student get that much money? Well, I’ve turned to the internet for help (and not just the internet, but everyone). If I plan for the worst, I need to raise $3k (and let’s hope that my D200 can be repaired and for less). The whole point of this blog was to document my progress (hence no ads), but it has been a tragic day, and my progress, unfortunately, has to temporarily stopped until this is resolved. Therefore, I’m asking you to donate any amount to help me, a high school student, so I can continue my creative shoots as well as to learn photography, my favorite hobby besides messing with my computer. If you can’t help financially, at least help spread the word by Tweeting. After this gets resolved, I promise you that I’ll be devoting even more time into photography!

EDIT: Disclaimer: I know this has arose some controversy (see comments), but I’m not trying to score a free camera. I know I have the option of purchasing a used D200 or D300. However, support me if you think I have the potential. And if PNE does cover this incident fully, the money that I received from the Internet will be donated to charity in the name of the Internet.

$839.82 raised so far
I will be updating how much you guys have raised. I’m also throwing in $500 myself to start.

Update 1: A big thank you to @thenetworkhub @AminPali @simon_li @mor10 @xploreja, and @danudey for spreading the word

Update 2 (April 4): Thanks to all of you who donated. I really appreciate it.

Update 3 (April 6): Dropped of D200 to Nikon Service Centre to see if they can fix it. Called PNE Guest Service manager again and left voicemail. Called their various other number and left voicemails. I have yet to talk to a human being.

Update 3 (April 7): Got in contact with PNE and they need to see the estimate from Nikon repair before giving me a firm answer as to whether they will cover it or not.

Update 4 (April 13): Nikon Canada replied saying that my camera is “economically not repairable.”

Update 5 (May 5): PNE replied after seeing my Nikon report giving me the choice between a new D300 or cash, I replied and chose D300.

Update 6 (May 26): It’s been a month and they still haven’t given me my replacement camera. I contacted them and instead of buying a new one, they “found” a way to repair my camera. The compensation was not what I had agreed to; however, I’d just like to keep on shooting.

Update 7 (May 30): As promised that I would donate the money received via internet since PNE is taking up the cost in fixing my camera, I started sponsoring a child through World Vision.

Update 8 (June 5): I picked up my repaired D200 from PNE and looked at the repair receipt. Apparently, Nikon Canada fixed it for them even though Nikon had said it was not economical to repair. Corporate relations? At this point, all I cared is that I have my camera back and ready to shoot (after a two month of hiatus).

What about the concert?
Since this blog is about photography, David Kim sent along some Muse concert photos. It was a great concert nonetheless. All of the following photos were shot on a point and shoot.

It was another assignment from my photo class. However, this time, it’s in film. Of course, if I’m going, I would bring my dSLR with me. So off we go, thinking we could catch the sunrise… except there isn’t any. Although Edwin and I were disappointed, it wasn’t all that bad considering that the weather report says it will be raining. The day became even better when a couple came by to feed the geese/birds. Note to self for next time: bring bread crumbs for birds if shooting in the wilderness. Anyhow, it was more or less a casual shoot and it didn’t last long before both of us were hungry.

This was the first shot when I arrived on the deck. Pretty neat considering there was no sunrise.

Edwin tried to throw rocks at the geese, but they don’t seem to care.

With a mid range zoom, this is how close I can get from the geese. They really don’t care. Maybe it’s just the morning.

As always, leave a comment and let me know what you like, dislike, and let me know how I can improve.

As I said, the primary lighting was from a single strobe. Since I used Nikon cameras, it made my life easier by having CLS (Creative Lighting System). For the lens, I used a Nikon 50mm f/1.8. Not only is this lens inexpensive, it’s also very sharp and distortion free when compared to my zoom lenses.

The photo above the text (with Kevin holding the bat) is not upload to Flickr. The reason is that I reached the limits of CLS. When CLS fires the pre-flash, it hit the garbage container and caused a hot spot right in the center of the frame. Rather than throwing it away, I decided to pull a Dave Hill effect on it. And voilà…

My favorite out of the shoot.

Yup, every assassin wear these gloves.

You can’t escape you know. The fences only lead to the garbage containers.

As always, leave a comment and let me know what you like, dislike, and let me know how I can improve.

During the summer months, you can find me in some of the most remote regions of BC and the Yukon, where I work in the mineral exploration industry as a prospector. The immense landscape and unparalleled beauty of the north is what inspired me to pick up a camera in the first place, and over the years I’ve gone from taking random snaps with a little Canon Powershot, to working on a book documenting my experiences within the exploration industry with my Pelican-protected Nikon.

I spend my winters working (and playing, of course) as a snowboard/ski photographer, providing images for editorial and commercial clients around the world. Home base for me is Whistler, but travel is the norm in the action sport industry – I drove nearly 20,000 km this winter, hitting 13 resorts across BC, Colorado, and Utah, and shooting with world-class riders along the way. Increasingly, the focus of my winter work has been on backcountry riding and I plan to push my ’studio’ into some of the province’s most isolated regions next season.

William has asked me to be a guest blogger for Shutter Moment, and I’m stoked to have the opportunity to share with you my experiences exploring and photographing a British Columbia seen firsthand by very few. I’ll try to keep things fresh on here but if you need more Strain than Shutter Moment has to offer you can read my personal blog, stalk me on facebook, follow me on twitter, or find me on flickr.

Cheers,

Strain

Now onto the trip. My hotel was near Times Square, so getting around was easy. At first, NYC seemed old and filthy comparing to Vancouver. However, after staying there for short of a week, I began to love it. The subway was definitely helpful once I figured it out. My trip involved visiting a lot of art museums and a lot of sight seeing. There wasn’t much time for shopping, but I did manage to snag a Nikon AF-S 105mm f/2.8 VR Micro. I’ll give a review later since I haven’t used this lens fully. Luckily, I was also in time for the St. Patrick’s Day parade. It was a lot of fun since I got inside and shot beside the parade. Meanwhile people wondered what news channel I was from, I snapped some amazing photos. I should try this in Vancouver sometime when we have a parade. At this point, my words are probably boring you so let’s look at the photos.

Taken on top of the Empire State Building. Binocular is lid by a SB800 with regular Nikon CTO gel and trigger by CLS

On my way to Museum of Modern Art. Stopped by Saint Thomas Church and took this.

St. Patrick’s Parade at Central Park

Awww…

There are more in my NYC Trip on Flickr. Be sure to check it out. As always, leave a comment and let me know what you like, dislike, and let me know how I can improve.

Or as I describe it. From left to right: Fashion designer, beach boy, russian hacker, and um, normal person?

Somehow I managed the carry all my gears to our office. The plan is to shoot against a white wall so we don’t have a background once we place the images on our site. Well, good luck to that plan. The shoot started off in the wrong direction (panic!). There was a open window with no blinds to cover the harsh sun light. The flare bounced off the wooden floor and cast a nasty green color in Kevin’s glasses. I placed a 43″ diffuser and turned it into a giant softbox: problem solved. However, I found that one flash couldn’t light the scene, so I had to drag my shutter a bit. At the end, I think I was shooting at around 100mm 1/50 at f/5.6.

Since our office is actually an shared office, we constantly have colleagues going by. One of the companies actually booked an afternoon session right on the spot since we look pretty professional. Stay tuned for the edits of that shoot.

Simple 45 degree strobe shoot through umbrella, most-boring set up, made the shots below. It turned out to be quite mysterious. That and the sky and the not-able-to-pose, David, created something unique.

Bonus: experimental shot, shot in complete darkness. The flash was fired through a bunch of stuff, mainly, a logo of our apartment.

Who’s idea was it to shoot in the park again? We were attacked by a bunch of mosquitos. So far, I’ve counted 5 bites.