Sunset Silhouette

The Dominion Coal Terminal on the east bank of the James River in Newport News, Virginia is silhouetted by the setting sun. Canon G15, 1/40 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 80.

Triple Rainbow

A passing rain shower just before sunset resulted in these three rainbows. I took the photo on the deck at Bubba's Seafood Restaurant and Crabhouse in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The seafood is good at Bubba's but the view is outstanding, a must see place for dinner in Virginia Beach. Canon G15, 1/100 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 200.

More MB20

More from last night's Matchbox Twenty concert at Richmond's Landmark Theater. From right to left - Paul Doucette on rhythm guitar, Stacy Jones on drums, Rob Thomas vocals, and Kyle Cook on lead guitar. Canon G1X, 1/160 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 3200.

Concert photography can be difficult with bright fast moving subjects and rapidly changing intense lighting. We were setting about 9 rows back and no cameras with removable lenses were allowed. So I took the Canon G1X point and shoot mainly because of it's large sensor with good high ISO low noise performance. The camera struggled all night with auto focusing. I shot almost all of the photos with at least -2 stops of exposure compensation to get the band members properly exposed against the dark background. Even with spot metering enabled the camera tries to balance all of the blackness and without exposure compensation the people would be overexposed. I should have taken taken the Canon G15 because it's lens is a stop faster and its auto focus performs better even though it gives up a little in high ISO noise performance. I shot 200 pictures, 55 were totally unusable, blurred, over exposed or out of focus. Another 100 or so are OK but just not good photos. So I ended up with about 40 decent pictures and a half a dozen good ones.

MB20 @ Landmark

Kyle Cook and Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty preforming at Richmond Virginia's Landmark Theater as part of the 2013 Winter North Tour. Canon G1X, 1/160 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 3200, focal length 117mm (35mm equivalent).

Bottoms Up at Can Can

Champagne glasses await the celebration at Can Can Brasserie in Richmond Virginia's Carytown the "Mile of Style." Canon G15, 1/160 sec @ f/3.2, ISO 400.

1/4 Life Crisis

My trainer Daniel Vazquez,a.k.a Quez, celebrated his 25th birthday today. For a couple of weeks he has talked about getting old. So his mom surprised him by setting up Fitness Together Ghent with custom water bottles warning all of his clients of the impending crisis. She had healthy snacks for all of us at FT each with a customized "Quez Quip" about Daniel. All in all it was great fun. You should join the party at FT, get fit and meet some great people. Canon G15, 1/80 sec @ f/2.5, ISO 400 in macro mode.

Old Point Loma Light

Built in 1855 the Old Point Loma Lighthouse at the entrance of San Diego Bay only operated for 36 years before being replaced. The lighthouse was constructed atop the cliffs on Point Loma with the light 422 feet above the water below. As a result, it was often shrouded in fog and invisible to the mariners it was intended to guide. So on March 23, 1891, the light was extinguished and moved to the New Point Loma Light just 100 yards closer to the shore but nearer the cold Pacific shore and clearer nights.

The lighthouse as seen from the Pacific side, Canon G15, 1/1600 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 200.

Looking up at the five foot tall 3rd order Fresnel lens from atop the stairway, 1/125 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 200.

Finally the view looking down the stairway from the top landing, 1 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 200.