My "Nature's Firefall" selected best image of the month....

Some great news I got today... my "Nature's Firefall" (you know, the one with the oozing, lava-like waterfall lit up at sunset that looks like the old Yosemite Fire Fall where they pushed a burning fire off of Glacier point?!) was chosen one of the 'best images of the month' in the Northern California Camera Club competition. The official name is the "Northern California Council of Camera Clubs", or N4C for short. My"Nature's Firefall" image can be seen here:


I am off to shoot in the Grand Tetons this weekend for my first time. The weather forecast is calling for rain and snow!! Hard to believe after the 90+ degree weather we have been having here.

Enjoy!
John

Silicon Valley Open Studios 2008 Finished!

Thank you to everyone who stopped by this weekend and for those who weren't able to make it, I will be having other viewings. It was QUITE the busy weekend with about 150 stopping through on the two days! The official launch of John Harrison Photography is on its way! For those that missed it, I had over 30 pieces on display (very NICELY displayed, courtesy of Master framers and designers, Darlene and Nelson Frick). The filoli flower cards and new shoe garden cards were a hit!!

As I had stated, I will be donating 10% of proceeds to Sunnyvale Community Services with a 1-1 match from Symantec. For orders that are still coming in, I will include that match. This is a fantastic organization and they do quite a bit to support the Sunnyvale area.

My Mom came out for the event and it was great having her here! (thanks Mom!). Special thanks also out to my wife (Mary) and kids. I could NOT have done it without them. Everyone has been extremely supportive in launching this new venture.

It was really nice just being able to show people some of my work, see friends and meet new people as well.

So onto the next event!

My next shoot is the Grand Tetons in a few weeks and then I am getting ready for the Filoli exhibition in June.

Enjoy!

What do I shoot with? Nikon D300 plus a bunch of lenses

A number of you asked what kind of Camera I shoot with. I just upgrade to my third camera in 3 years -- my wife, Mary, hopes this isn't a trend! I should be happy for quite a while with the current setup! (really!)

I will make the first caveat... it is the photographer, not the camera! Some of my pictures on the site were taken with my 3 Megapixel Olympus C-3040 that we bought 8 years ago! Ok, good tools and awesome toys DO help!

Equipment I am using:

• Nikon D300 Body (previously D80 and before that a D50)
• Lenses
  
• Sigma 10-20mm (fun lens for super wide angles)
• Nikon 18-200VR
• I have a few other lenses including a nice portrait lens, but those are the primary ones.
• Benro Tripod and head (This is a Gitzo clone)
• Filters
  
• Lee .9 Hard Stop graduated ND Filter
• Singh-Ray 3-stop Reverse ND Filter
• Lee .6 soft ND Filter
• Lee .9 soft ND Filter
• Lee Holders (moved to 4x6 filters now)
• Computers
• Macbook Pro 15"
• Mac G4 1G Dual Proc
• 22" Apple Cinema Display
• Printing
• Epson 3800 - Prints up to 17"x25" prints
• Paper
  
• Epson Premium Luster (REALLY nice all around paper)
• Epson Exhibition Fiber (REALLY expensive but REALLY nice black and white and color prints!) They unfortunately don't make it in 17x25 which is really dumb imho so I am not using this for my large prints.

I will do a posting later on the top things to get to be able to take nice prints -- you DON'T need all of the above if you are just starting out. I will leave you with this --- USE A TRIPOD!!! That is the best tip that I can make as a photographer starting out.

Enjoy!
John

Silicon Valley Open Studios in Sunnyvale!

Well, I am getting ready for my first Gallery showings. I am in the midst of printing, framing and getting ready! It should be fun!

Enjoy!
John