Way off topic... Purchased some new Toto Toilets! Toto Toilet Review

Ok, this has NOTHING to do with photography, but it is one of those events that must be documented :-) Since the economy hasn't been the best, we decided to look at saving some money on our monthly bills. Our water will has been averaging $150 every two months. So to help save money and personally jump start the economy, we purchased a few new toilets and I am now officially a toilet expert! On top of this, the Santa Clara County district is offering $125 per potty installed, and California State also has another $100 rebate.

We had a 1.6 Gallon Kohler Rialto that just wouldn't flush anything down. Obviously one of those early models that hadn't been redesigned, just the amount of water decreased. Our other one was a original coral color 5 gallon American Standard. I did tons of research and checked out many sites. Almost every person and plumber recommended to go with Toto.

Within Toto, there are many bells and whistles. We opted to go with a Toto Eco Ultramax 1.28 Gallon, Standard Height (for the kids!), with elongated bowl. In our master little bathroom, we went with the Toto Gwyneth . It has SanaGloss (some magical surface that makes it sterile and easy to clean), "Comfort Height" which is a little taller than normal and the super cool "Double Cyclone" flush system. This is also a 1.28 Gallon toilet. We looked at the Aquia II, but didn't like having to reach behind you to push the buttons. The .9 gallon flush is a great idea. The Verdict?! Both are awesome toilets! The kids love the soft-close seats that close automatically without waking up the house. Both are super quiet and really flush great! I highly recommend either of these - you can't go wrong! Our water bill should be lower in the next few months (although I think the kids like flushing them TOO much!).

Feel free to post comments, ask questions or check out my landscape photography :-)
Enjoy! John

Best Buy Black Friday ad and Prices Appear to Suck!

So much for bargain basement deals... looks like retailers still don't have a clue. Engadget is reporting that Best Buy's Black Friday ad doesn't really have anything breathtaking - or worth sitting out for hours to get a bargain. As normal, better deals can be found online or can't be found at all. Everytime I actually go in a Macy's, you never see any of the top tier name brand merchandise on sale. Oh well. Time to wait for the after Xmas sales.
Enjoy!
John

HDR with Photomatix Pro - Now at version 3.1

I just noticed that Photomatix Pro is at version 3.1 (October 24). It looks like a nice list of features including a Lightroom Export Plugin as well. I generally will only use HDR to blend images that are too challenging to do manually. HDR has gotten a bad reputation from folks who just crank up the settings on an image and create an unnatural image. It is a great tool when used widely. Another tip is to take the final HDR image and then blend that back in with your initial starting images. Back to work and more editing.

Enjoy!
John

New HIgh-End Camera Bag - Gura Gear

I just finished listening to the latest episode of "This Week in Photography" which had Andy Biggs talking about shooting on safaris and his new line of photography gear bags. This is a brand new photo backpack called the Kiboko by Gura Gear. It looks like an awesome bag and at $399 it better be! It uses sail cloth material to save weight, be durable and water resistant. I might have to try one out! The one thing it appears to NOT have is storage for a laptop which would mean I would need to have another backpack just for that and other loose gear. Maybe they have another version in the work! I currently use a Lowepro Rover Plus which is ok - it has a slot on the back for a computer but the main disappointment is the top compartment is one big area but everything you put in it can fall down into the lower compartment! My pens, keys, coins all keep falling down into the lower section behind the padded comparments for the lenses (meaning they are essentially lost!)

I will keep you posted if I try out the Gura Gear! Cheers, John

Outing at the Park

We walked over to Serra park in Sunnyvale this past weekend with the kids and had a fun time! I took the Nikon beast (Nikkor AF-S 28-70 f/2.8 ED) lens with me and had some fun shooting the kids! Laura loves the monkey bars - so much that she has blisters on her hands! Henry was totally goofy and running around everywhere! We gathered up leaves to bring home and had fun with those as well. Always great to share a few nice pics! The whole gallery is located here. The sun was low and getting ready to set allowing me to capture their faces with only the natural sun glow and awesome bokeh with the 2.8 lens! Wow... they keep growing up! Enjoy! John

Happy Halloween from Sunnyvale California

With the kids now 3 and 5, Halloween has been up and coming on the family calendar for weeks now! Laura had her Halloween carnival at the elementary school and then the countdown started until we were going TRICK OR TREATING!!! The threat of rain was on us for the entire day, but we lucked out and didn't have any. Here is a shot of the gang heading out for Halloween! Those are my three on the left! Laura is a kitty cat, Henry is a jumping rabbit and Mary is the sheriff! Now -- time for my cut of the candy!! Cheers, John

Nikon should add Video to the D300 and D3!

I have been shooting with the Nikon D300 and absolutely love it. It is a real solid camera, low noise, great features. Nikon recently introduced the D90 and added one cool feature - 720P video! Since the D300 and D90 are VERY similar cameras, Nikon SHOULD be able to add 720P video to the D300 and D3! Especially in light of the new Canon 5D mark II also having video. Nikon has been awesome at being competitive recently. They should keep pushing the edge! Since companies are not able to add major features to their products for free (due to revenue recognition issues - this is why Apple defers revenue for the iPhone), I would be happy to pay Nikon to add the feature. Nikon would win with this - they already have my $$$$$$ for the camera, and now they could get another $100?!? out of me for this new feature. This is NEW money that Nikon would have never seen - it isn't like I am going to go out and purchase a new camera for this feature. I already paid $1800 for this camera! I know that new features come out every day - but when you pay $1800 for a camera and a few months later a $999 camera has an awesome feature, you have to think of your installed base. Give Nikon early adopters something we can use! This is called incremental revenue. Come on Nikon!

Any one else? What do you think!? Nikon should get with the plan.
Enjoy
John

Vote for my Nature's Firefalls for the Aperture Nature Workshop Contest

I have entered my Nature's Firefall photo in the Aperture Nature Workshop Contest again at Photrade. This is a NEW contest with a possible opportunity to go shoot with pro's in Yellowstone National Park. I haven't been there but would LOVE to go. Please vote for my photo if you like it. Thanks for your support. I promise to share all the stories and photos with you should I win! You will need to create and account to vote, but that should be easy to do! Thanks! John

Vote for my photo!vote

(edit - It turns out it is actually to go to YOSEMITE!! yay!)

Back from Yosemite and Mono Lake in Fall

I just spent 5 days shooting up in Yosemite and Mono Lake looking for Fall Colors. I will post pictures shortly! The fall colors are running a little lake this year. On top of that, it was 90 degrees when I left Sunnyvale and a cold front came through dumping 6 inches of snow in the mono lake area and drove temperatures down to a high of 30! It was a little cold. Why was I up there? I was talking a workshop from Michael Frye through the Ansel Adams gallery in Yosemite. It was a fantastic course with both shooting and lightroom/photoshop instruction. I picked up quite a few new things and really appreciated the 1-1 instruction from Michael and his two other assistants, Robert and retired park ranger Mike Osbourne. More stories from that later after I get the pictures posted!

Enjoy!
John

Apple releases new MacBooks and Macbook Pro's!

Some pretty sleak new laptops were introduced by Apple this week. I use macs when I work on my photography and having some horsepower to work on photos is essential these days. Working with RAW files in Lightroom and Photoshop, creating panoramas, creating multiple image compilations, the speed of your mac really helps. I think I will need to look at getting one of those in the next year :-) Or, feel free to purchase 5 of my photographs and I can move that up sooner! Enjoy! John