2016 Landscape and Nature Favorites

It's hard looking back on the year and reviewing your favorite photos.  Each photo has a meaning behind it and a reason why you took it.  Take for example, one of my waterfall photos.  I had a day to go on a hike with my kids.  It wasn't so much about the photo but the first time my kids had ever seen a waterfall in real life. The meaning behind that particular photo is more about the memory of the hike with my boys than the actual photo.  I did have a few like that this year.  Take for example my first entry from this year.  It was extremely dark, so the boys were all able to see the milky way clear as day without all of the light pollution of the city.  They were fast asleep when I went back out to do this star trail.   I was also able to capture the following photo for some very special people in my life that had never seen anything like the photo I provided them.

M's Pub, a famous building burned in a massive fire earlier this year.  I was able to stop by and capture a couple of photos as the OFD worked hours on end to put out the blaze.  The frozen building left behind made for a beautiful photo.  My first trip to Arizona made this years pictures.  I was amazed at the sun bursting to light behind the red mountains.

The hawk photo is a staple in my yearly pictures.  We have a couple that get really close during soccer games, so I always spin for a shot.  This year I happened to catch the moon in the photo.  The ginger bread man in the tree was a dedication to a young boy who passed.  I thought this was a touching tribute in the trees of the arboretum.  The old 370 barn was a sad photo.  This barn was famous as it was one of the last standing embodiments of the old days of Omaha.  This barn was torn down and the property sold to make way for a commercial development.  It was a lonely reminder of the past in an area booming with new development.  This may have been my favorite photo of the year.

I caught the Perseids meteor shower this year.  While I only caught a couple of meteors, my favorite photos of the night were the two panoramas of the milky way I was able to capture at 3 in the morning.  Also took a photo of the first supercell this year.  That was an interesting experience.  Disney was in there.  Last but not least was the first Husker game for my oldest.  That one I am going to print big, not because it was the best picture but rather the meaning behind it.

I did do some other photo stuff this year and those hold a place in the memory bank as well, but these are my nature and landscapes for the year.  I hope everyone had a wonderful year and hope to continue to provide you with more of a view from my lens in 2017.

Wide Angles

So, I have been neglecting my blog for the past couple of months.  It hasn't been on purpose, just super busy.  I am going to try to start posting every Friday something new or old that I have shot in the missing month.

So, today, I am going to tell you about the amazing little lens with a huge front element called the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 lens.  I primarily wanted this lens to shoot some landscapes, HDR, and Night photography.  Landscapes and HDR have been some of the most common shots for this lens over the course of the last couple months and I look forward to giving it all its due when it comes to night photography once the mosquitoes die off for the fall.  Always better shooting when you don't have to worry about those pesky little things.  Only problem is the Milky Way is best viewed from our area June through September.  So, we will have to see what the fall and winter have in store.

This lens is really wide and really sharp.  I have caught myself a couple of times having the tripod legs in the photo, that is how wide this lens it.  It does however produce some stunningly wide shots and handles sun flare and chromatic aberrations very well.  It is definitely a favorite in my bag and goes with me everywhere.

Here is a sunset shot late in August.