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Believe it or not, the chilly month of February is already halfway over. And it’s about this time of the year when the hockey season really start to heat up as the playoffs approach.

While the pros are over in Vancouver playing for their native lands, the amateur leagues are still going strong, and I have two games lined up for the next coming Sundays. And the good news is, we have the same awesome seats that we had for our last game – 3rd row from the glass!

Coming Prepared

If there was one thing I wasn’t happy about with my shots from the last two games I shot at, it would have to be bumping up the ISO to 400-800 in order to capture the action with my f/4 – f/5.6 telephoto. As a result, I had more noise with my 20D and my Rebel XSi than I would have hoped for.

Well, this time I’m planning on bringing along a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS that I’m renting from CameraLensRentals.com. Having an f/2.8 lens should give me the option to increase the shutter speed from what I’ve been using or bump down that ISO a bit (or both, in some cases).  I’ll lose a little range by going down to a max focal length of 200mm from my 70-300mm lens, but it should be worth it.

The great thing about renting is that instead of shelling out $1,700 for this lens, I get to use it for 2 weeks for only about $150 w/shipping, etc.  The fact that I have 2 games on back-to-back Sundays was a big motivator for going down the rental path rather than just making do with my own gear.

Both games should be a lot of fun, and I hope to add even more intense hockey action to my growing portfolio.

– Kris

With only 18 days left before we leave for Maui to attend the Maui Photo Festival, I still have a ton of things to do to get ready. Our Maui trips are typically relaxing, two week vacations spent relaxing, travelling around the island, and of course, taking lots of photos. This time, however, it’s more about business than pleasure, and I’m really excited about it.

Aside from finalizing the travel arrangements, which are starting to get creative, here’s a short list of things I still want/need to do before we takeoff for Maui.

• Shop around for a new tripod. Something sturdy, lightweight, and with a ball head top
• Finalize the photo selection for my portfolio, finish editing and order the prints. So far, I have about 12 photos, but could easily reach 50 if I’m too indecisive
• Order more business cards from moo.com. I had some made up earlier in the summer, which were awesome. That was before I launched Maui by Photo, though, and didn’t have any contact info on them.
• While at moo.com, test out those cute MiniCards, which seem like a neat way to promote the Maui by Photo site
• Decide on which classes I want to take at the festival. More than a few that fit what I’m after.
• Schedule the excursions at the festival, namely that doors-off helicopter tour.
• Add a Maui portfolio section here at the site, other than just the Viewfinder page.

That’s a pretty big list, and as daunting as it feels to type up, I’m sure there’s still a few things I’ve left off. I’m not too stressed out about it, though.

First of all, it’s Maui, so it’s going to be great no matter what. Secondly, we’re heading to the island 3 days before the festival starts, so we’ll have that time to ourselves and to take in a few sites on Maui that we haven’t gotten to yet. Yes, after 4 trips (and a total of 50 days) visiting Maui, there are still many, many things we have left to experience.

To put the ultimate end to what’s going to be a great learning experience for me, the day we leave, September 20th, is our wedding anniversary. We spent our anniversary on Maui two years ago, and getting to spend it there again is going to be lovely. And we won’t be alone, either, as we’re planning a little get together with some of my Maui friends on Twitter, and there’s a good chance that list is going to get a little longer after networking with other Maui photographers.

As fast as this is all coming together, I imagine the festival itself is going to come and go in the blink of an eye. When it’s all over, I’m sure I’m going to not only know more as a photographer, but also have such a great experience to look back on.

But that’s for afterwards. Now it’s all about just the preparation and actually getting there. More to come, for sure.

I hope everyone had a happy 4th of July this past weekend. After an impromptu excursion into downtown Chicago two weeks ago, we decided it would be fun to go checkout the Taste of Chicago fireworks in Grant Park this year. Of course, I had all my camera gear in tow, and have posted the results in a new photoset on Flickr: Taste of Chicago Fireworks ‘09

This was my first serious attempt shooting a fireworks display, and I was generally happy with the results. I had a pretty decent setup with my travel tripod only about a foot off the ground, my angle view finder for the initial focusing, and my remote shutter release for the no touch, no camera shake firing.

Since the majority of the photos were taken with the same focal length and composition (the trees at the bottom of the frame) the Flickr slideshow view of these photos has a pretty nice effect. All in all, I think it was a great evening, and I look forward to taking in the show again next year, and any other fireworks displays I might find during the remainder of the summer.

More Photos

Our seats for Wednesday’s game were even better than the ones from last year. 12 months later, I was back out there with a newer camera, and some satisfactory results. As I reported back from my last hockey shoot in October, I was running into some focusing problems with the Rebel XSi that seemed rather automatic with my Canon EOS 20D previously.

My main goal was getting some up-close action shots, which not only meant shooting in continuous mode, but also shooting in JPEG mode and not RAW. Switching to JPEG mode gave me the ability to shoot up to 53 continuous captures, as opposed to only 6 using RAW mode (Source: Canon Rebel XSi Specs).  While I didn’t come close to 53 shots in a row, I did end up with close to 1,100 photos from the game. Needless to say, that required a little bit more time to review and process afterwards.

In the end, I selected just over 50 of the better photos from the night and uploaded them to Flickr. Here are a few of those as a preview, and you can view them all on Flickr if you’d like to see more.

Flickr Photoset: Hawks vs. Sharks – 3/25/09

View More

Well, the holidays have come and gone, and I don’t have many projects planned for January right now. There was the thought of going back to the forest preserve where I took these Autumn photos and get similar ones for Winter. Well, a freak warm spell over the last week or so pretty much erased all the record snowfall we had, leaving me with nothing.

But I’m not too concerned, as February is going to be another busy time for me. The last two weeks of the short month will be spent on Maui, one of my favorite places to shoot. And when I say busy, I mean busy. Here’s just a quick look of all that I’m planning to cover while on vacation.

The Stars
Seeing the stars at night has to be one of the most exciting parts about going to Maui for me. Well, maybe that’s going a little too far, but trying to capture the heavens above paradise has been hit or miss in the past.

The first year, I had total beginners luck, while recent attempts were spoiled by some cloudy weather at night. How about this year? We’re heading up to the top of the Haleakala Volcano, which means we should be well above any clouds and making for some even more stunning astrophotographs.

The Whales

Last year was an amazing experience shooting the whales, but again, that was luck. It was the end of whale season, and the ones like you see here were just a few procrastinators. This time, it’s smack right in the middle of the most active whale watching part of the year, so there should be a ton of chances to expand on my limited photos so far.

Beaches
What’s a trip to Maui without time at the beach? We plan on visiting a few new beaches every trip, so it will be good to get some more shots.

As I’m learning, beaches aren’t the easiest thing to shoot, either. Sometimes, there isn’t a single cloud in the sky, which sounds like a perfect opportunity. Well, too much sunlight just drowns out all of the colors in a photo. Too many clouds? Still working on those conditions, too.

Shots like this one, I try to take advantage of a few passing clouds, looking for that quick moment when the sun is hidden so I can snap away.

Gearing Up
I only have a few new things I need to get together before our trip. I have my eyes out for a new tripod, but getting a new one isn’t a necessity right now. I do need to get my Canon EOS 20D cleaned, which I found a local shop I need to call. There is also the manner of renting a telephoto lens and possibly an extender for my Rebel XSi, which will allow me to capture amazing whale photos from the lanai (balcony) of our ocean front room.

More details on the new gear as they come in.