Above and below were taken with a Phase One P20 on a Mamiya RZ67 (110mm lens). The rest were all on the D700. The above is easily my favorite from the shoot.

Tried messing with gels over the strobes. Still need to work at it.

D700 + 85 1.4 + 50 1.4, Profoto strobes

Olympus PEN E-PL1, new lenses leaked | Photo Rumors.

Inspiring work from Ed Purnomo. More at edpurnomo.com

What I like about the iPad? It’s simple, it is a direct interface experience, it’s fast, it is perfect as a lounge-while-you-browse device among other things, and the price is fairly reasonable. The whole 3G with no contract thing is pretty cool too.

Probably among my biggest beefs is the rather deliberateness that Apple used in not including certain features, like a camera and multitasking, along with the closed nature of the device (sure, there’s an app for that, but it’s about principles). The on-screen keyboard seems like an after thought too, making what probably would have been most attractive with this device in my view, journaling and notetaking, a bit more hampered. Considering the capacitive touchscreen (no stylus or handwriting recognition), it seems like it wouldn’t be the most convenient device for transcribing lectures or sketching out whimsical photo thoughts. I imagine Apple will resolve the issues come 2.0, but some of these (the camera especially) seem like such a no-brainer, that it’s hard to not be cynical about the reasons for not including such hardware.

With that said though, I am particularly interested in something like Microsoft’s Courier project, which is very much journal and notetaking centric, and looks to be able to do all the other tasks you could with an iPad, including web browsing, music, and reading. But I swear, I’m not a Microsoft fanboy/Apple hater! Seriously guys! With that said, if by 2.0 the Courier has not materialized, and Apple does have those gripes taken care of, I could very well see this as a competent replacement for my current netbook. Plus, I really wouldn’t mind having an eReader device.

I should also note, the other tablet/slate offerings don’t catch my eye as much (such as the HP Slate), as it seems more like designers are grafting software onto the device, as opposed to developing a system that takes advantage of the format (why I like the Courier so much).

On to speculative news items, this time about camera gear. There’s rumors buzzing that Nikon will announce new toys on Wednesday the 3rd (one would think given they have a press conference scheduled), and according to NikonRumors, it’s going to be two lenses which (if real) I will likely sell off my Sigmas and 20-35 to get: the 16-35 f/4 and 24 1.4.  The 16-35 I would have to debate on more, as I may not need something so wide, and instead would be better off with a midrange zoom between 24 and 135. But the 24 1.4 is just too good to pass up for myself, and would all but complete the f/1.4 trifecta, plus cut down on the number of lenses in my bag by 1 (as the 20 and 28 1.8 would be gone).

The other news making me geek out a bit is some potential ILC (interchangeable lens compact) announcements and revelations in the pipeline. Olympus just effectively confirmed an EP-3 is on the horizon, and the current rumor is that it might actually be cheaper. $400-500 body only perhaps? I am also hoping that aside from price, physical size may be further honed to something more pocketable (I’m not holding out for miracles, but every millimeter counts). It also sounds like Nikon may finally be jumping into the game, but there’s no telling what they’ll actually do (sensor size, lens mount if any, timelines, etc). So will 2010 be the year I finally have a somewhat portable and pocket-readyish camera? I sure hope so.

Taking a studio lighting class this quarter. Did a session with Sarah, so check it out below.

Kept things pretty simple for the most part. It’s been a while since working with lights…

Decided to change things up and throw in a hot light while using a slow shutter speed.

D700 + 85 1.4, using a Profoto strobe and softbox, camera right for the most part.

Yellow tie, originally uploaded by Andross on Flickr.

I think this will be the last Ashley shot, certainly for a while. Time to move on to new projects.

Yellow tie, originally uploaded by Andross on Flickr.

Another Ashley pic, this time with some rope to mix things up.

A cello player in the partially destroyed National Library, Sarajevo, during the war in 1992. Photograph by Mikhail Evstafiev

via File:Evstafiev-bosnia-cello.jpg – Wikimedia Commons.

Just some snaps from the end of 2009. Went into Dallas with Greg and Lakshman.

Greg striking a pose.

Lakshman looking vacantly into space.

Really upset my focus missed on this.

Some crazy person. Literally, was passing out Obama money and rambling about who knows what.

Taking Lakshman off guard.

Lakshman ran into a friend from school.

Backtracked to find food. For some reason they put the specials in the bathroom…

Back to Victory Plaza…

They were soooooooooo wasted.

Happy 2010. 20-35 on the 700.

Ashley and fireworks, originally uploaded by Andross on Flickr.

I rather liked how this one ended up after a bit o’ processing.