Holy Cow PTTOW Was A Big WOW - An Innovation Summit

Last week I had the insane privilege of being house photographer (aka fly-on-the-wall-with-a-camera) for the innovation focused PTTOW Summit at Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. PTTOW stands for “Plan To Take On the World,” and considering the people and ideas that were presented…seems like it’s not just our world they’re talking about - everything from keynote speaker Singularity University’s Peter Diamandis declaring that they’re almost ready to intercept and mine asteroids, which got a heck of a gasp and reaction from the crowd who were sure they heard him wrong until they asked him to repeat it, to Kweku Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s grandson, who gave a riveting and emotional account of his grandfather’s legacy and what the family is doing to make sure that legacy lives on (yeah...I teared up...), to Vice Magazine’s Eddy Moretti talking about how Vice’s rebel media message has managed to infiltrate the mainstream dialogue on what’s going on the world before showing off some of the innovative media group’s latest projects. Anyhow, click past the break for a gallery of some of my favorite images and moments from the week’s festivities.

Flanked By Firs And Braving The Bridge – A Mirrorless Camera Pacific Northwest Photo Trip – Part 5

For the final couple of days, we returned to some of the same general areas we were at the first couple of days. This time it was raining fairly heavily and didn’t let up, so we took this opportunity to actually capture scenes with the pitter patter of the rain hitting the leaves of the trees on it’s way down, the drops dancing on the miniature tide pools and ponds surrounding the river. After a few hours playing around on the riverbank bordering Lucia Falls, we decided to head across that bridge you saw in the second post in this series near Moulton Falls, and we got on the other side of the river, which ended up just being another magical playground of various floras and faunas flanked by a grove of douglas firs.

Cheez Whizzed In Stumptown - A Mirrorless Camera Pacific Northwest Photo Trip - Part 4

So we decided that day 4 was going to be our "takin’ it ‘easy for all them sinners” day (extra points if you get that reference…). After charging it pretty hard the past 3 days from sunup to well past sundown, we were understandable a bit groggy this morning so decided to sort of ease ourselves into the day and let the day play out on its own, especially since we had already got more footage than we expected in the can. We decided to play it close to home and started off by heading into the Forest Hills Park that spoons the city of Portland from the west side.

Guided By The Youth (And All The Purty Colors) - A Mirrorless Camera Pacific Northwest Photo Trip - Part 3

The second complete day of this thing was a bit of a lesson in just going with the flow and seeing where it takes you, even if it means thwarting your original vision and plans, especially when conditions that are beyond your control dictate those decisions.

Going Green. And Greener. And Greenest. – A Mirrorless Camera Pacific Northwest Photo Trip – Part 2

So this was the first full day of this thing, and the weather forecast told us it was going to be 100% chance of rain. Not exactly what we wanted to hear, but, well, that part of things we can’t control. We headed out to our first location anyway to see what would happen, and the fact that it was hailing and there was ice induced accidents on the side of the road were not encouraging signs. However, once we turned off the main highway onto Lucia Falls Road towards Moulton Falls, our first destination, divine intervention stepped in and it started to clear up. Literally, the clouds parted, and the sun began to shine.

Photofocus Does It Again - Notch Up Another Point For The Samsung NX300

I'm absolutely humbled to have my second Featured Image on the Photofocus homepage. This is crazy. Thanks to Melissa Niu, Scott Bourne, Richard Harrington and the entire Photofocus team for this ridiculous honor.

To DSLR Or Not To DSLR? That Is The Question - A Mirrorless Camera Pacific Northwest Photo Trip - Part 1

So when he called and said he needed a ‘wingman’ for a video and photography project, I was already in. When he said he’d pay me, I lost my frickin’ mind…literally…the gig I’ve been dreaming about for…well…ever. Yes. Done. Let’s go. Can’t talk too much about the project just yet, but essentially, the man behind bringing the world’s best magicians to the forefront, Murphy’s Magic’s Director of New Product Development Jason Brumbalow, who I also worked with at VectorMount for GoPro, was recruiting me to go help and guide him through making a series of nature videos and photographs in the Pacific Northwest for a personal project. I was humbled and I was immediately in.

An Afternoon Admiring Ansel Adams At The J. Paul Getty Museum

So for those of you not in my Google+ orbit, I wanted to share a set of images made last week when I went to check out the Ansel Adams exhibit at the The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California. While we were prohibited from taking pictures in the exhibit itself for very valid reasons, I highly recommend checking it out if you're around...standing in front of a perfect silver gelatin print of "Winter Sunrise" almost brought me to my knees.

Let The Topanga Gradient Take Over Your iPhone!

Every now and again I throw out an image I feel fits well as a background for the iPhone, and now is one of those agains. Here's an image I captured last week on the Samsung NX30 as the sun was dropping behind this Santa Monica Mountains ridgeline overlooking Topanga Canyon, California.

I Ditched The DSLR And, Wait For It, Didn't Miss It! What Have You Done To Me Samsung!?

So this weekend marked a milestone in my photographic adventures - I went fully 100% mirrorless. As a participant in Samsung's Imagelogger program, I've been playing with their NX300 for the past several months and I must admit, I was extremely surprised and pleased with the quality of images it was producing. However, while I used the NX300 to produce most of my personal images, I had always brought it alongside my normal DSLR kit that I was using for jobs. However, things may have just shifted.

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