Apr 5th, 2021
I enjoy placing my photos on canvas. It’s somehow pleasing to see a finished photo on fine canvas hanging on a wall in our home. I typically use EasyCanvasPrints. They are an outfit located in Texas and I have been using them for over 5 years for all my canvas print jobs. They are extremely fast and their quality is superb.
I have literally every wall in the house with a canvas print and I love them.
Sep 5th, 2020
I’m a firm believer in minimalism. There’s no need for expensive photo equipment to take great photos. This shot was taken with just 3 simple LED photo/video lights and a small Nikon SpeedLight used as a bounce. Those LED Light Panels cost me roughly $80 all together. And the light stands I put them on were Amazon Basics stands that were also only $9 each. The room had two windows that allowed some daylight to illuminate the subject a little. Two of LED panels were placed on either side of subject’s face and the third just below the camera pointing upwards to fill in any shadows under the chin and eyes. 
This three light setup is really simple to put together and packs away quite easily in a ‘bat bag’ used for baseball practice.
After turning on the lights and setting my SpeedLight for 1/4 power, I took a few test shots and checked the exposure. I run a D3300 – a decent 24Mp camera by the way – it gets the portrait/headshot job done. I set my camera for ISO400 and f/5.6 and adjusted everything else accordingly. Editing in post was straightforward. Just a slight White Balance correction and punch it up a tad in saturation was all that was needed to create the intended look.
June 9th, 2019
At the end of May I was lucky enough to take a few days off and spend it in the Russian River Valley. This is a picturesque area north of Sonoma California with beautiful wooded areas filled with Sequoias and Pines as well as plenty of trails to ride and hike on. I was based out of Guernsville, Ca for most of this trip – a small town on the Russian River. It’s so peaceful up there. In fact, at night while I slept I had to turn on a fan just to have a little bit of noise going while I slept due to the silence being so deafening. But the AirBnB I stayed at was beautiful and I had a lovely time there.
I also visited Jenner California which is a pretty seaside town at the mouth of the Russian River where it opens to the sea. It was there that I took the image below. Such a peace little gem by the water Jenner was. I had lunch at a place called Cafe Aquatica. If you’re ever in the area try this place out and while you’re there order the Avocado Toast – its amazing.
While I was there I made sure to visit Russian River Brewing Co. as well as Bear Republic Brewing. Both had lovely tasting rooms or brew-pubs and amazing food to go along with the great tasting beer.
August 5th, 2018
Last week I went to Napa and Sonoma for my birthday and found a very interesting small winery called Viader Wines. They gave a tour of the facility and showed me the fermenting vats and several hundred barrels of wine kept in a cave like structure underground. The people were very friendly and enjoyed showing me the grounds and explaining the whole wine making process including some special techniques for growing the vines. Since Viader is predominantly on a hillside with a 30% slope, some special wine making magic was learned from visits to Europe and the Mediterranean during the 80s by the owner Delia Viader. Growing on the slope of a hill makes Viader fairly unique in the Napa Valley.
The operation is family run and purposely kept small. You may call it a boutique winery since they only do about 100+ barrels a year. Also, since they are up on a hillside, they have amazing view from the wine tasting room. Definitely recommend visiting this place the next to you go to Napa. Here is an article about their 2015 Black Label which earned 92 points in Wine Enthusiast. Incidentally, I purchased a bottle of the Black Label and I’m saving it for a special occasion. You can also read an interview with Delia and Alan Viader here in California Winery Advisor.
December 2nd, 2017
When I was 18 years old I had a part-time summer job at a photography store in my hometown of Poughkeepsie NY. There was an older gentleman there by the name of Carmine who managed the store and taught me a whole lot about cameras. I even learned how to fix a few cameras. You know some of the common problems with cameras back then such as the shutter sticking or rolls of film always being out of focus. I found the job to be fun and exciting and it introduced me to a whole new world. The first camera that I bought with money that I earned from working at the store was a Pentax k1000. I used that camera every single day for at least a couple of months straight. After that camera, I bought a Minolta 7000i which was used but still in great condition. That camera I had for a good 4 to 5 years. After that summer job I kept in touch with Carmine dropping by the store from time to time and showing him the latest pictures that I shot. I moved on from that photo store to other part-time jobs during my college years…. however photography stayed in my blood. 🙂
Fast forward 25 years later I find myself getting back into the game. I recently picked up a Nikon D-series camera and some lenses from KEH, an online retailer, and then bought a tripod and a few other things from one of the only camera stores left in San Diego area, George’s Camera. Looking forward to new adventures with this camera and all that life has to offer.
Dan