Port Wentworth is a small area outside of Savannah that is close in proximity to Jamestown. There are several new developments in the area, which fit rather well in the context of what I was attempting to do with contemporary landscape this quarter.

A quick stop at Kroger before heading out there.

Had a little dance party at the observation deck.

The light is from Savannah.

D700 + 20 1.8

D700, 50 1.4, and the 20-35.

Starting to upload the work I’ve been producing for my contemporary landscape class. It’s been somewhat of a struggle dealing with the subject, since my focus has been on the sterility of suburbia – and thus, it is inherently boring. So the challenge to make it interesting, at least on the surface, has made it frustrating at times. Regardless, I’m hoping to end up with something cohesive at the end of the quarter.

Jamestown is a suburban development out in Rincon, Georgia (20 minutes from Savannah). It’s very reminiscent of what I’d think of an early 50s development to be, with the presence of the country still being felt, plots of land being spaced relatively far apart, and every house being cut from a similar mold. Landscaping is sparse, unimaginative, and the people themselves were highly defensive about me and my friend being out there taking pictures. Granted I understood, but the fact that we were approached first and foremost with such a defensiveness, as opposed to amiable curiosity, was rather off-putting.

I think these two images (above and below) were my favorites from the shoot.

This is a water pump station. Probably the most geometrically striking shot I took while out here.

All with the trusty D700 and 50 1.4.

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

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.

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.

No, what I’m looking for is a 24 1.4 to compete with Canon’s, something like a 17-40 f4 (you know, to compete with Canon), and a proper digital rangefinder with a set of pancake lenses and HD video, to match up with Panasonic (however if they don’t hint at anything soon, I’ll likely end up with a GF1 regardless).

And now with Samsung finally announcing their own digital rangefinder, with an APS-C sensor to boot, it makes me wonder if Nikon may pursue such a route. My realistic prediction though is that Nikon will indeed announce an EVIL by summer, but won’t do anything daring like Olympus did in bringing forth the EP-1. We’ll instead get something similar to (maybe copied from) the Samsung, that is more an upgrade to the D5000, just without the mirror box and still pushed to consumers. And once again, the folks who call themselves photographers (and aren’t being ironic, unwittingly or not) get left out in the cold and continue to wait for a fleshed out digital rangefinder that doesn’t have a red Leica dot and accompanying price tag.

So as long as I’m in this pipedream rant, it would also be nice if Nikon took Thom Hogan’s advice and developed a digital FM2 – stripped down full frame sensor, no mirror, no LCD (an EVF instead), brutish metal body that could fit in a coat pocket, and manual control dials. Now that would be a beautiful thing.