Sunshiny Day

Panasonic DMC FZ-5
Focal Length: 22mm
Aperture Value: f/3.2
Shutter Speed: 1/4 sec
ISO - 80

So I'm pretty sure that sunshiny isn't a word but luckily this blog isn't concerned with spelling or grammar. Nevertheless today is indeed one of those few sunny winter days. On the agenda today will be a bit of a road trip up to Edmonds, where I took pictures with my original Olympus some 5 months ago. Hopefully I'll get a good sunset, but at the very least the Cascades have a great deal of snow on them so that should make some nice pictures. Anyways not much new really, finished one midterm so maybe my posts will increase. That's it for now, maybe if I'm feeling energetic this evening I'll post another picture, though I doubt it.

Jason 

Train Tracks

Olympus E-500
Focal Length: 25mm
Aperture Value: f/4.5
Shutter Speed: 1/60 sec
ISO - 100

This by the way is a control switch for a railroad track. Kindof hard to tell or maybe not... Either way the weather around here is getting a little better so I took the opprutunity to take a few photos around my father's house. Got some decent ones, some will show up here and others on my Deviant Art account, a new addition to my photography life. So here it is, my DA account address. http://usarca2001.deviantart.com. Hope everyone enjoys it, I'm hoping that it will lead to some increased networking. We'll see... Still working on studying, kindof, so that is it for now...

Jason 

Working and Studying

Olympus E-500
Focal Length: 14mm
Aperture Value: f/22
Shutter Speed: 8 sec
ISO - 100

Here's a nice photo of Seattle at dusk. Playing with a slower shutter speed and different apertures. I'd say it turned out pretty well. Saddly though my sunset pictures did not work out so well. Oh well got plenty of other good photos.
On the webpage front should get something accomplished this weekend, hopefully in the form of an update. We'll see, no promises. Well that's it for now I have a midterm to study for so blogging might take a back seat for a little while...

Jason 

Statistics

Panasonic DMC FZ-5
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture Value: f/3.3
Shutter Speed: 1/40 sec.
ISO - 80

Well for all those viewers in California here is another photo from my trip to Mountain View. I'm going to break today from my normal routine of talking about myself and photography to tell you, my viewer, a little bit about your fellow viewers. I use Google Analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics/) to determine what kind of exposure that I am getting on a daily basis here on my blog. I've started tracking my exposure since the 15th of November of 2005 and here is what I've learned.
For the most part I average about 4 visitors everyday. My maximum visits in one day occured on November 16th and January 16th; with a total number of visits of 11. I have had a total of 212 visits since November 15th(not unique); about 60 percent of which were unique. The majority of my visits are from people directly typing in http://raptimagery.blogspot.com, or from bookmarks. The vast majority of my visitors are from the United States, followed by Canada and then the United Kingdom. Within the United States most my viewers are from Washington (where I'm from), then Illinios and third California. My page has been viewed in a total of 9 states and 10 countries in four continents, no one yet from Africa.
Well those are the stats after about two months. I feel that I've done pretty good so far and hopefully the next two months will show even more improvements and more visitors. Unfortunately my comments aren't reflecting my number of visitors so I encourage everyone to send a few comments, providing me with feedback with what you like and what you don't. This will help me focus my photos to my audience. That's it for today. Thanks as always for viewing.

Jason 

Oh What to Post...

Panasonic DMC FZ-5
Focal Length: 28mm
Aperture Value: f/4
Shutter Speed: 1/200 sec.
ISO - 80

It's starting to get harder and harder to determine what I want to post and what I'm going to put on the website and what is just crap. I decided that I'd save some of my better pictures from my E-500 for a future update to the webpage. Along the lines of the webpage I've done all the post processing and added borders to all the images so it is simply a matter of putting those images on webpages and then upload to the server. I was hoping to finish that yesterday but I was distracted by dinner and a movie. Maybe this week sometime.
What I will say about the next set of pictures is that it shows a marked improvement on my composition and subject matter. I'd say that my images have improved a great deal since I started this whole blog and webpage experience. I've had a bit of feedback but I would still like some more so that I can mature as a photographer, it's important trust me. Anyways I do appreciate you taking time to take a look and hope you enjoy the photos. That's it for today...

Jason 

C-17

Olympus E-500
Focal Length: 150mm
Aperture Value: f/6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/400 sec
ISO - 100

Well this shot took a bit of doing... I sent this one to my brother, who also does photography (http://www.thephotoevangelist.com), last night so I'll simply quote from my email...

I had noticed this plane doing it’s touch and go’s but didn’t think it would fly right over where I was. I had my wide angle lens on when I saw that I was going to fly just about right over where I was and switched my lenses faster then I would have liked; I think it took my like 2 seconds total to switch… But I got the shot!

It was great fun... I spent just about all of yesterday doing photography, which is why I haven't posted in a while. But I hope this makes up for it and the cose to 400 pictures I took in the last 24 hours. Sadly though I've been having problems with my xD card and lost about 100 pictures, some really good one, but what can you do right? Well that's it for now. Still trying to update the webpage and all that.

- Jason 

The Good with the Bad

Olympus E-500
Focal Length: 45mm
Aperture Value: f/9
Shutter Speed: 1/250 sec
ISO - 400

There are of course good and bad things when you finally decide to change cameras. First of all depending on if you change horizontally (a similar class of camera) or vertically (a differnt class) there presents different problems. So far all of my changes have been verticlal, moving from a simple point and shoot (Olympus Stylus 410) to a more complex point and shoot (Panasonic DMC FZ-5) to a Digital SLR (Olympus E-500). Each time there has been a learning curve that had to be mastered before I could fully use the camera effectively.
Currently I am facing one of those learning curves a much steeper one then before. Moving from a point and shoot to a Digital SLR is a whole different world. Mainly there is very little assistance before you take the shot. You don't get the ability to roughly see how it will turn out but rather have to rely on your knowledge of aperture value and shutter speeds. Of course you can cheat and using the fully automatic mode, but where would the fun be in that. But as with any camera you must know what it can do, what it can't do, and simply how to do what it can do. I am still very much in that stage with my new camera, and my results are marginal.
On the positive side of things a vertical change should give you better pictures, especially since I both raised my megapixels and quality of camera and lenses. There is also an intangible result, passion. Yes that's right getting a new camera gave me a new found passion for photography, not that I wasn't passionate before but I find myself wanting to take pictures all day of everything. Now maybe it's the sound of a shutter, which I believe to be one of the greatest sounds in the world, or maybe its just wanting to play with a new toy. Either way I've taken hundreds of pictures in the last 48 hours. Hopefully I will continue to have time this weekend to do the same. Well that's all for now, the rambling is over; for now.

Jason 

New Camera

Olympus E-500
Focal Length: 45mm
Aperture Value: f/7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/160 sec.
ISO - 100

Well here it is ladies and gentlemen the first picture that I am posting from my new Digital SLR camera. I did a few test shots yesterday with it, just to get a feeling for it, during the breaks in the rain. Unfortunately today there has been absolutely no breaks in the rain so photography is kindof out of the question, at least outdoor photography. Hope you can tell the difference, you may not as the image is so small but take my word that the full sized images are incredibly sharp even at 100% magnification. All in all photography life is good.
Not much else to report really. Since I've only had the camera for a few days I haven't really had time to take webpage worthy shots, not to mention the weather hasn't exactly cooperated with me either. I should be updating the webpage this weekend or something soon with the last set from my Panasonic DMC FZ-5. More then likely I won't start continuously posting images from the E-500 for another few weeks, still working on my image base. As always though if you are interested in photos you see on here or on my webpage shoot me an email and I'd be happy to make prints or send you the file for a nominal fee. And as always thanks for taking a look and hope you come back repeatedly.

-Jason 

Photography News

Panasonic DMC FZ-5
Focal Length: 6mm
Aperture Value: f/3.2
Shutter Speed: 1/200 sec.
ISO - 80

Well here's a change... I actually have something photographic to post today. In fact something very important to report in my journey to be a semi-professional photographer. Yesterday at about 5pm I purchased my first Digitial SLR camera. An Olympus E-Volt 500 to be exact with the two lens kit. Needless to say I am a happy camper. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures to show yet from the new camera, though I have taken some.
What you do get today is some more of California and this time not a drain. This picture was taken about 10 miles south of Half Moon Bay along the side of the road. Hope everyone enjoys. I should begin posting pictures from the new camera in a few weeks, we'll see... That's it for today.

-Jason 

Back Home

Panasonic DMC FZ-5
Focal Length: 16mm
Aperture Value: f/3.2
Shutter Speed: 1/40 sec.
ISO - 80

Well I have returned from my trip to Mountain View, CA. Other then the circumstances of my visit it was a good trip. For the most part the days were temperate and there was certainly alot of sun. On the photography front I did get some pictures taken and most of them turned out very well. Spent a little time at Half Moon Bay and a little south of there and took some pictures of a beautiful sunset over the Pacific Ocean. So that is certainly something to look forward too.
Trying to return things to normal around here; not to mention look for an apartment. This month has already proved to be interesting and shall remain so. We'll see... That's it for now enjoy the picture and it's good the be posting again...

-Jason 

Out of Town

As of about three days ago I left home to attend two funerals in California. For this reason I will be indisposed and unable to post till around the 9th of January. Unfortunately my hotel room in California, despite the fact that I'm staying near Silicon Valley, does not have internet access. I should be back to my daily posts on or about the 9th. Hope everyone has a Happy New Year.

Jason

Changes...

Panasonic DMC FZ-5
Focal Length: 6mm
Aperture Value: f/2.8
Shutter Speed: 2 sec.
ISO - 80

Whew... Decided to do a few changes. First of all I am now hosting it on my own server, well the one I'm paying for from Yahoo anyways. So now the blog is also hosted at http://blog.raptimagery.com, as well as it's previous resting place at http://raptimagery.blogspot.com. It is my understanding that it will rest in both places. We'll see after I post this one.
Here is another picture from my outing on Christmas Eve in downtown Seattle. Can't remember what peir I'm on but obviously I'm looking towards Harbor Island. Hope you all enjoy. Trying my hardest to link my actual website to my blog, we'll see how that all works. Thanks again for viewing my website. I will say I may be MIA for the next week as work seems to take up most my time these days and then school starts back on the 3rd so bear with me. That's it for the day after Christmas...

Jason

Merry Christmas

Panasonic DMC FZ-5
Focal Length: 6mm
Aperture Value: f/2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/4 sec
ISO - 80

Merry Christmas everyone! And for those who do not celebrate Christmas, a big Happy Holidays to you all (I like to be equal opprutunity). Here is a nice shot from downtown Seattle looking into the Seattle Art Museum on Christmas Eve, it wasn't open sadly. Sorry its been a long time since I've posted, been insanely busy with work. Nothing new just waiting to go back to school. Hope all is well and everyone is enjoying their holidays.

Jason 

"If you want to make God laugh...

tell him your plans." -Woody Allen


Panasonic DMC FZ-5
Focal Length: 16mm
Aperture Value: f/4
Shutter Speed: 1/400 sec
ISO - 80

"I think that its brainless, to assume that making changes, to your windows view will give a new perspective." -Death Cab for Cutie "Blacking out the Friction"

I little thought about moving... Luckily I'm not looking to change perspective, at least not through moving, but rather to close a few distances. I will say that being aware of your "windows view" will give a completely new perspective. Tomorrow I go and look at a new apartment building, very close to where this picture was taken in fact (though I'm not lucky enough to be able to afford such a view). It many ways it will be an end of a phase of my life as I've lived in my place here in SeaTac for close to 3 years, it was my first apartment as well. Moving on is a good thing though and I look forward to being actually in the city! But enough about my life and philosophy, as that's certainly not why you are here, well perhaps not...
On the photography front I'm steadfastly working on my post processing for some images, on top of my blog posting every night. It's certainly getting harder with working so you'll all have to bear with me. Additionally with the holidays just around the corner well you get the idea. But enough excuses from me, enjoy the picture, playing a bit with color temperature on this one in an attempt to make my photography more complex. Hopefully it worked...

Jason 

ICE

Panasonic DMC FZ-5
Focal Length: 20mm
Aperture Value: f/3.2
Shutter Speed: 1/40 sec
ISO - 80

Well I regret to say that I did very little work on my webpage this weekend. I had of course meant to but good intentions don't necessitate action. I did however, sleep alot this weekend and talk ALOT of pictures. So I'll have even more fresh content for my webpage whenever I update it.
Spent a good portion of today having my hands frozen as I took photos at a park with a waterfall, or several waterfalls, in Olympia. Got some great ice pictures, one of which is posted above. This one didn't turn out how I wanted, probably because by this point the heat of my car was beckoning me and it was my last shot. But it did turn out decently and is here for your viewing pleasure.
Should have some very nice waterfall pictures posted either here or on the webpage shortly, so stay tuned. My break is going to be breakless, as I'm going to work all through the break, so don't know how much work I'll be getting done. We'll see I guess. That's it for now, time for some tea and then sleep.

Jason 

Power!

Panasonic DMC FZ-5
Focal Length: 6mm
Aperture Value: f/2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/80 sec
ISO - 80

Another image from the Snoqualmie region. This one looking up at, I think, part of the power generation plant there. Unfortunately there was no way to get really close to these pipes so it was taken behind a fence. I think the fence though looks pretty good in the photo.
Lets see here as for other business still trying to work on my webpage. Should have at least something done tomorrow, we'll see. Well this is it for now. I'm going to play around with some black and white too.

Jason 

Tough Choices

Panasonic DMC FZ-5
Focal Length: 12mm
Aperture Value: f/3.2
Shutter Speed: 1/10 sec
ISO - 80

Here is a nice picture from Snoqualmie Falls. I may have over processed it however, tying to bring out the frost and the falls. Hopefully everyone enjoys it. Well lets see here business... The blog is picking up hits, not sure where they are comming from, Google Analytics lists most my referrers as unknown so if you want post a comment so I know what kind of response I'm getting and I'm always open to ways of improving this (even if that means I can't go on my little rants everyday).

Well I'm getting to the point that I'm using pictures that I would like to post on the webpage, but I don't want to overload my webpage like I used too have it, so I'm facing some tough choices. I might shut down my old images on Flickr and post the overload there. I'm just not sure yet. I'm going to try and figure it out this weekend, as I want to do some serious renovation to the webpage. Well I need to go and meet my brother for lunch, mmm Meconis haven't had it for years. More to come tomorrow!

Jason 

Snoqualmie Falls

Panasonic DMC FZ-5
Focal Length: 6mm
Aperture Value: f/8
Shutter Speed: 1/3 sec.
ISO - 80

Well here everyone is, Snoqualmie Falls for your viewing pleasure. This one was taken near the observation deck and didn't turn out all that well due to too much sunlight at a bad angle. I ended up having to compliment my lens hood with my hand as the sun reflected off of my filter. But I'm happy to report that this is one of the worst pictures that I took that day, not too bad though. I'll be posting the really good ones on my website as you might imagine so stay tuned.
Well tomorrow is the big day, my final in IR. So if any one deems it necessary send good thoughts my way around 8:30 PST. If not I should do just fine otherwise. What this means for you though is that I'm going to my "special" webpage updating retreat. So hopefully come Monday morning my webpage will be expanded upon. That's it for now though, I have to study some International Political Economy. Ah Globalization...

Jason

Finals (It's not like I've been studying though)

Panasonic DMC FZ-5
Focal Length: 22mm
Aperture Value: f/3.2
Shutter Speed: 1/10 sec
ISO - 80

Ok so I didn't post yesterday... I didn't realize that until I was driving home today, looking at some interesting cloud formations that I didn't take pictures of (I've said "didn't" three times in the alst two sentences). I did post today, as you know because you are reading this. I really must say I have no excuse for not posting yesterday I just never got around to it appearently. But today is a new day and a new image for everyone's viewing pleasure. Hope you all enjoy, still working on webpage issues so stay tuned. There are over 50 images on the webpage so if you haven't visited please by all means do so; http://www.raptimagery.com.
Well finals will be over in two days, just have an IR final. Of course that final is on the last day so I've had to wait all week to start my break, oh well what can you do... Well that's it for today, might post another image later; not sure yet.

Jason

Cold Afternoon

Panasonic DMC-FZ5
Focal Length: 6mm
Aperture Value: f/2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/25 sec
ISO - 80

Well unfortunately I was unable to do any work on the webpage today or yesterday, and as you may have noticed didn't post yesterday. Instead I spent this weekend helping my brother put up his Christmas Tree (all day yesterday, did get some pictures though), and hiking at Snoqualmie Falls (tooks tons of pictures including this one). All and all another good weekend for photography... Hopefully, you will all be happy to know that this quarter is winding down and my last final is on Wednesday of this week, wish me luck. This should give me some time to work on the webpage and photography over the break, we'll see. However, since I dedicated much of this weekend to things over then what I needed to do I must be going to do those things.

Jason 

Finals Phase One Complete

Panasonic DMC FZ-5
Focal Length: 17mm
Aperture Value: f/4.5
Shutter Speed: 1/500 sec
ISO - 80

Well all my papers have been turned in so for the weekend I'm free from writing and generally studying. I have one final next week, on Wednesday or something like that (I should probably figure that out). Anyways that should free me up for some photography this weekend so look forward to some updates to the website. Other then that business as usual. But I'm going to leave so I can do some photography right now! So take care and sorry for the short post.

Jason 

Beautiful Sunny Day

Panasonic DMC FZ-5
Focal Length: 38mm
Aperture Value: f/6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/1600 sec
Exposure Compensation: -2 step
ISO - 80

Well today was an absolutely fantastic day for photography. Saddly though I didn't do much photography. Saddly I was chained to my computer to write a few papers for school but I did get some photography in today, any chance I got really. Today turned into a break all the rules photography day. No rule of thirds, no subject, no foreground, no middleground and no background. I litterally was just pointing and shooting today. Got some great images though and after some post processing and cropping about 5 of the 50 pictures I took are going to make the webpage, and about 10 or more will make the blog.
This picture here went through a great deal of post processing. Again just doing a little playing with my camera. It is actually a totem pole at the Pike Place Market in Seattle, I played with the color temperature a bit to give it that color. Anyways I hope you like. This weekend I should be able to get some photography or parts of the webpage done, so stay tuned. Also I'd love as many happy thoughts about my upcomming finals as you can send my way. Thanks and that's it for now.

Jason

Older Picture

Panasonic DMC FZ-5
Focal Length: 6mm
Aperture Value: f/4
Shutter Speed: 1/250 sec
ISO - 80

Here is an older picture for the good of the group. It wasn't exactly the best day for photography but I kindof got my feet wet (literally) and wanted to share something of the day. Lets see here nothing new on the photography end, might do some updates to the webpage this weekend (after finals). As for me they finally figured out my financial aid and I'm almost up to where I was before they decided to play with it. Oh well it only went down about 1500 for a year. I'll manage, just with less coffee and or wine. Sorry about not posting yesterday had a raging headache. Well that's it for now. Keep checking back and visit the webpage, http://www.raptimagery.com .

Jason 

More Water

Panasonic DMC FZ-5
Focal Length: 72mm
Aperture Value: f/5
Shutter Speed: 1/400 sec
ISO - 80

I seemed to be pretty lucky with my timing yesterday. There were plenty of seagulls out yesterday so I got some great pictures of seagulls, whether that is a good thing or a bad this is a matter of opinion. Regardless here's a nice picture of said seagull, hope you all enjoy. Can't really find the energy to do more then post a picture and a few cursory words. So I bid you adeu and will try and post something profound tomorrow.

Jason 

Couldn't Resist

Panasonic DMC FZ-5
Focal Length: 6mm
Aperture Value: f/4
Shutter Speed: 1/400 sec
ISO - 80

Well I wanted to have a general policy on this blog to post pictures that will not be posted on the webpage but on this occasion I couldn't wait to post this picture. It was so perfectly time, so perfectly composed that it made for an excellent shot. This picture was taken by simply putting my camera almost on the ground and waiting for a perfect "wave" to come and hit this rock and then quickly moving the camera out of the way so that I wouldn't get it wet... So here it is, my best picture from today. So it's pretty obvious that I did go out shooting today so I have a fresh set of pictures. So I won't have to worry about posting and not having anything for my webpage.
No new news really on my end. The quarter is winding down so I should have lots of time in the near future to update the webpage and take more pictures. That's it for now though. Again I can't plug this enough; visit the webpage if you haven't (http://www.raptimagery.com) and if you are interested in prints shoot me an email (jason.hansman@raptimagery.com). Thank you all.

Jason 

Capital Campus

Panasonic DMC FZ-5
Focal Length: 12mm
Aperture Value: f/4
Shutter Speed: 1/100
ISO - 80

Here's my second try on this post... Well here is another photo taken from the Capital Campus in Olympia Washington, again during a sun break. This one is taken from the Capital Building facing the Governors Mansion. Sorry it isn't the best picture but I'm really running low on pictures right now, especially if I don't want to update my webpage with ones that have been on the blog. Should get a chance on Sunday to take some pictures.
Well sorry about not posting yesterday, it did end up snowing yesterday so it threw me off my schedule a little bit. Also I will more then likely not be posting tomorrow either as I have to work tonight and tomorrow. So the next time you'll get something from me is on Sunday, sorry but somehow I don't think that too many people will be disappointed. Well that's it for now, please while I'm away visit my website at http://www.raptimagery.com; and if you are interested in buying prints feel free to email me at jason.hansman@raptimagery.com and I'll get some out to you. Thanks and have a great weekend...

Jason