Joshua Gunther Photography

Serendipity

2012-02-15T18:33:00.001-08:00

Serendipity, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
This is from a very awesome parking garage I found while urban exploring. What blows me away every time is the colors I find due to all the light temperatures. Most people find my images kinda unbelievable but I assure you I haven't messed with the colors accept for a simple white balance adjustment from warm to cool in lightroom. I haven't added any extra saturation or anything to this image. Its simply a result of time of day and the blending of 5 exposures to grab all the light in an HDR.
As you can see there are warm(Yellow), blue, green, and white lights blubs all around LA. Makes for truly surreal images, particularly at this time of night.

Bunker Hill- Los Angeles

2012-02-13T18:35:00.001-08:00

Bunker Hill- Los Angeles, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Angels Flight Railway

2012-02-09T14:15:00.001-08:00

Angels Flight Railway, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
My wife had to work late so I ran downtown last minute to go shooting. It was a beautiful night with a full moon and beautiful clouds in the sky! I found myself close to the Angels Flight trolley and decided to take it to the top to see where it might take me. Looking back as I walked away from the station I couldn't help but to stop and capture this beautiful site with the full moon peaking through the clouds!

LA Natural History Museum

2012-01-31T19:37:00.001-08:00

LA Natural History Museum, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
A few weeks ago Jenn(My wife) and I went out on a date to LA's Natural History Museum. We had a blast walking around and checking out all the cool dinosaur skeletons and what not. We both had never been there before and were excited to check it out. To be honest we were a little underwhelmed by the museum but it was still fun to get out and explore our city. Speaking of exploring LA have you seen this ad? The museum actually gets a big shout out in it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhkDdayA4iA&feature=related

Totally Awesome!

FYI, this was actually a handheld HDR! I was inspired by +Elia Locardi and his amazing shot in the Dubai underground so I thought I would try and pull some off myself. :O)

Heavenly Light

2012-01-25T18:07:00.001-08:00

Heavenly Light, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
Grabbed this shot while heading back from Cannes in the south part of France. It had been raining hard in Ax so we took a drive out to Cannes to get away from the rain and enjoyed a beautiful day out on the beach! It was wonderful to see the heavens open up and pour out its light from above in almost a very spiritual way. At least that is what I think of every time I see this shot.

Passon of the Christ- Notre Dame De La Garde

2012-01-24T13:12:00.003-08:00

Passon of the Christ- Notre Dame De La Garde, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Fire Dancer

2012-01-24T13:12:00.001-08:00

Fire Dancer, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
Continuing our exploration through my photo archives I bring to you a photo from a Kauai Luau that I took while on my honeymoon a couple of years ago. The motionblur really captures what it felt like to be there watching this in real life! The fire dancers were spectacular and made for a wonderful night for my new wife and I.

I will say however that there was one particular guest that didn't like me taking pictures with a 70-200 lens from our table and in his drunkenness tried to start a fight with me. I opted to be the bigger person and move off to the background to prevent any further confrontation. But It left a bad taste in my mouth though and separated me from wife for a little bit to let things cool down. Non the less I got this cool shot and made for a wonderful memory for my wife an I!

Colors of Fall

2012-01-18T17:59:00.001-08:00

Colors of Fall, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
Here is another photo hidden in the depths of my photo library. Hope you all enjoy this one!

Kauai Rainbow

2012-01-17T17:50:00.001-08:00

Kauai Rainbow, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
I'm continuing my series of photo's I just recently re-discovered in my photo library from my honeymoon a while back!
Hope you enjoy this one! Kauai is so beautiful, I can't wait to go back someday!

Kauai Rainforest

2012-01-12T18:14:00.001-08:00

Kauai Rainforest, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
Lost in the photo library----I took this photo on my honeymoon about a year and half ago! As you can see I'm now finally getting around to posting it! Its been lost in my vast photo library for that long

Does anyone else struggle as much as I do to keep your photo library organized? Luckily I had some extra time over the Christmas holiday to do some "spring cleaning"-data management style- and its really helped!

Now finding some of my favorite photos is much easier thanks to some new collections I have setup in lightroom!

FYI- Map location is a total guess since I was in a helicopter!
Hope you enjoy this one!

Payette Lake McCall Idaho 02

2012-01-09T18:46:00.001-08:00

Payette Lake McCall Idaho 02, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
Just wanted to post one more of the beautiful Payette Lake before we get back to the LA stuff! It was nice to be out of the city for a few days and remember what mountains look like! Oh I miss Idaho!

Anyways lots of new photo's to post. I just need to not be lazy about getting them up here!

Payette Lake McCall Idaho

2012-01-06T16:45:00.003-08:00

Payette Lake McCall Idaho, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
Just another view from our day out on the crystal clear Payette lake. Sill praying for snow for Brundage!

Into the Cosmos

2012-01-06T16:45:00.001-08:00

Into the Cosmos, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
My Brother, Sister, wife, and I went on the most amazing hike today to Payette Lake in McCall Idaho. Much to our surprise the lake was already starting to freeze over and we were able to walk out on the ice. It was crystal clear and had little air bubbles in it to let you know that is was ice and not just water. In taking this picture with the sun off in the distance its almost reminds me of looking up at the stars! Hence the name for this photo :O) Hope you enjoy!

Downtown LA

2011-12-23T13:42:00.001-08:00

Downtown LA, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
Well Friday as finally arrived and I'm now officially on Christmas break! Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas this year! Many Blessings to you, your families, and your kids! God Bless!

LA Live Walkway

2011-12-22T17:06:00.001-08:00

LA Live Walkway, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
This is kind of a random image but there is something I just love about it. I'm not sure why but- hey- I just DO! Art is like that sometimes. We just........Like it...... Anyway I hope you guys ......Like......This one too! :O)

Staples Center- LA Live

2011-12-21T17:38:00.001-08:00

Staples Center- LA Live, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
Another shot from my most recent adventures downtown. Can you believe I have never gotten a shot of Staples center before? Crazy I know. It actually was the night of a pre-season game so their were tons of people around. Hope you enjoy this one!

JW Marriott Hotel- Downtown LA

2011-12-21T12:57:00.001-08:00

JW Marriott Hotel- Downtown LA, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
I spent sometime shooting around LA Live last night. It felt really good to get out and do some photography in my favorite place- Downtown LA. Christmas is quickly approaching and I'm really looking forward to some photography in my home town of McCall Idaho. Hopefully some pictures of snowy mountaintops will start showing up on my flickr page soon. :O)

The Lonely Lagoon

2011-12-19T18:19:00.001-08:00

The Lonely Lagoon, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
This is one of the lagoons on the Dreamworks campus that the artists get to enjoy. You will often find people sitting on this bench reflecting on ideas that often shape our films. Its a very power creative spot but looks rather lonely at night after all the artists have gone home. :O)

Lakeside Building Dreamworks

2011-12-06T19:07:00.001-08:00

Lakeside Building Dreamworks, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
Here is a shot of the beautiful Lakeside Building on the campus of Dreamworks Animation.

Into the Storm

2011-12-02T17:10:00.001-08:00

Into the Storm, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
If you saw my last picture you will remember that I shot a beautiful sunset on Thanksgiving day. This picture is the view directly behind me! I just love the blues and pinks that happen in the opposite direction of a sunset! It mesmerizing how beautiful it can be! I hope you all like this one!

Walt Disney Concert Hall

2011-11-28T17:47:00.001-08:00

Walt Disney Concert Hall, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
Grabbed a few shots of the Disney Concert Hall while I was out shooting a couple weeks ago. The fun part as always is waiting for the buses to go by. You always get the best blursssssss from buses. hehe.

Top 10 Night Photography Tips

2011-11-15T21:04:00.000-08:00

Here is my Top Ten tips for Night Photography!

Remember that light bulbs in the city can be all different color temperatures! Meaning that you can get green, blue, yellow, or white lights in your images! This is what makes night photography so fun, you never know what colors your going to get. Don't believe me, just check out the image above from LA.
Remember that no clouds = boring sky's and boring images! Clouds always make for more dramatic images and amazing sunsets so be sure to check out the weather and look up at the sky before you head out. Often times I actually wait for a rainy or cloudy forecast. Obviously this won't work for shooting Stars but for cityscapes it adds so much more to the image!
Setting your white balance manually can really make a difference! Even though you can change it later in Lightroom/Camera Raw its always better to see what your getting while shooting. Pop into Live view and scroll through the different options and see which ones look the best. Depending on what time of day it is, "Daylight", "Tungsten", or "Florescent" are most often the winners.
While in the dark, focusing is easiest for me in live-view. 99% of the time I set my focus to manual, turn on live-view, check focus on my subject OR set to infinity and leave it. This saves me a ton of time and hassle with my 5D trying to focus in the dark. Plus it gives me the best peace of mind to know my images will be tack sharp knowing I set the focus myself!
Shoot Blue Hour! 99% of my shooting is done a half hour before sunset and about 1-2hrs after giving me the best results for a rich blue sky, dramatic light, and amazing sunsets. Time of day is everything!
Always keep shooting just a little bit longer then you think you should! So many times my best images are the ones I shot at the last second right before I left to go home. Always keep watching the light. Its changing all the time. You never know when you might find magic!
I always try and get as close to the 30sec exposure limit as I can. Exposing for that 30sec gives me the greatest chance of getting car/bus blurs in my images or just simply avoiding capturing a person walking through my shot. In crowded places its inevitable that people will walk in front of the camera. At 30seconds there usually isn't enough time for your sensor to register them if they keep walking. Having that long exposure really helps!
When doing traditional long exposures at night, always try and exposure your images about 1 stop over the base exposure. Often times night images are underexposed so giving your images a little extra exposure really makes a difference. This also follows the "expose to the right" idea. You will have a lot more data to work with in camera raw if you exposure a little more to the right. Try it!
Keep an LED headlamp in your camera bag. You never know when you need an extra light source or just a flash light to find your way back to the car. An LED headlamp can be used to light paint an object or just add a little extra fill to a super dark place. Overall its just always good to have one handy.
Capturing the "true to life" scene is not always the best at night. Remember that at night your image sensor is more like an oil painting. The paint doesn't dry very fast so you have plenty of time to paint the light in. Take advantage of it and try exposing longer then you think you should. The results might surprise you!

How many colors can a light blub have?

2011-11-15T13:26:00.001-08:00

How many colors can a light blub have?, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Path to Dreamworks Land

2011-11-14T17:04:00.001-08:00

Path to Dreamworks Land, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
This is the pathway you walk when you come on to Dreamworks campus. Its gorgeous with all the trees and the fountain to greet you in the main square. Hope you all enjoy it.

LA's Many Colors

2011-11-08T17:46:00.001-08:00

LA's Many Colors, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
It always amazes me the colors I get doing night photography! Purples, yellow, greens, blues! I should call up city hall and thank them for putting so many different "color temperature" light bulbs out there for me to find. Sure makes for fun shooting! :O)

I'm so excited to be sharing some new shots!

Endless LA Onramps!

2011-11-07T18:15:00.001-08:00

Endless LA Onramps!, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
I had the pleasure of shooting with an awesome photographer this weekend - TIA International Photography- www.flickr.com/photos/tiascapes/ , who was in town for a visit. We hit up a few places around LA and clicked off some shots. It had been a while since I had been out shooting my beautiful home town! I got so inspired I went out the next night as well! Thankfully it was raining in LA (I know that sounds weird) which cleaned out all the smog and made for some great photography. I'm well stocked up on shots to share and process for the next few weeks! I can't wait. Hope you enjoy this one of the LA!

Making the most of the time we have!

2011-11-02T19:22:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to a movie with a good friend of mine to see "In Time". The critics have seemed to chew it apart but the trailer seemed interesting enough to take the time to go see it. I have to say, I LOVED IT! The movie opened up a pandora's box in my brain and I have been thinking about it ever since!

For those of you who haven't seen it yet, imagine our world in the future where the problem of aging has been solved and everyone's body doesn't age past 25. Instead of money, the world is ruled by "Time"! Those that make the most "Time" have the most "Money" so to speak. Those that make the least "Time" continually fight to stay alive and try and get more time! Most live day to day making only small amounts of "Time" just barely enough to stay alive. If you run out of time you die!

For 2 hours my brain was forced to think of our world differently in order to follow the characters through the story and empathize with the hardships of what it was like to always be watching your "Time" running out. By the time my friend and I walked out of the theater I was so caught up in this idea that it was hard not to think of my own life differently as a result.

In reality I don't have a green time stamp on my arm telling me how much "Time" I have left but to be honest it isn't really that far fetched to realize that we are all are counting down to some point in time when we will die. If I were to imagine my time stamp counting down from around 50 years or so bringing me to the ripe old age of 81 to be conservative, would I be making the same choices I am in my life? Would you?

Imagining myself staring at my arm, knowing that each second that clicked off was one more second GONE that I couldn't get back is really making me reflect. What am I wasting time on? Would I take more risks knowing that my time is short? Would I spend less time on email or games on my iphone. Take more pictures or watch less tv? Stop spending money on things that don't really matter? Spend more time with my wife and kiss her more?...........I could go on forever.

I only have one life to live on this planet and whether I like it or not my clock is counting down! I don't know about you but I don't want to waste another second on a life of wasting time on meaningless emails and facebook updates. I want a life full to capacity of meaningful relationships with God, family, and friends, rich experiences, LOVE, Passion, and meaningful work. Its time to take a long hard look at my life and start making some tweaks! The first of which is to stop worrying about things that don't really matter and start taking bigger risks and Dreaming bigger........The Clock is ticking........tick.....tick......tick.......

Boise's Beautiful Skys

2011-10-24T17:16:00.001-07:00

Boise's Beautiful Skys, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
I had a chance to fly home a few weekends ago to visit my Dad and Mom to celebrate my Dad's birthday! They own an RV, so I stayed the weekend with them in Meridian Idaho to enjoy some good food, a BSU football game(On TV), and a good movie to celebrate my Dad and enjoy just being together. It was wonderful to back in the beautiful sky's of Idaho and this is what I woke up to Saturday morning! Amazing! I miss Idaho so much and wish I could spend a month just photographing all the beautiful places I grew up looking at everyday! It kinda gets me depressed a little facing the trip back to smoggy LA to be honest! If any of you have a chance to visit Boise, or Idaho at all! DO IT

DreamCon Event Update

2011-10-13T15:36:00.000-07:00

Yesturday I had the awesome pleasure of participating in the DreamCon event at Dreamworks. The event went amazingly well and I'm happy to report that I sold some prints! I'm so stoked about that!

I also got to meet a really nice person named Amy Wagner who runs a blog and helps her husband, Stuart, with an Animation/Art/Comic Book Selling Business. check out her blog post of the event to hear all about what went on yesturday.

http://stuartngbooks.blogspot.com/2011/10/snb-at-dream-con-oct-2011.html

Overall, DreamCon was a huge step forward in the life of Joshua Gunther Photography and I can't wait to do it all again soon. The response and feed back of my work was super positive and encouraging and I learned so much.

Setting up a Photography Print Business in less then One Week!

2011-10-12T12:26:00.000-07:00

Today is a big day for Joshua Gunther Photography!

Today I'm going to attempt to sell my first round of gallery float mounted prints during an art exhibit named "Dream Con" on the campus of Dreamworks Feature Animation, where I work.

Every year Dreamworks Feature Animation puts on its own verson of "Comic Con" and encourages its artists to display and sell their work to the 1500 or so employees that reside on campus. Several DW photographers participate and I have wanted to as well for several years now. Unfortunatly the date always snuck up on me and I have never been able to pull a show together in time, but not this year! As soon as Dreamworks announced the date I sprung into action and I was able to setup a complete Photography Print Selling business in Less then a Week! Check out the Details below!

GETTING SOME PRINTS: There were several key things I needed to do to get prepared. The First was to order some sample prints to put on display so my fellow co workers could get an idea of the quality of the float mounted prints I was offering. My printing company of choice is "Lamiframe". They have the best quality, gallery ready, long lasting, durable, floatmounted prints I have ever seen or found in the US. They are simply amazing! Their customer service is top notch and ordering is super easy. I had several images from our trip to Europe that I was excited to get framed so all I had to do was upload my files to a special online drop box and within a week I had 5, 24x36 float mounted prints ready to hang on the wall! They so ROCK! Everyone needs to check them out!

....Talk to Lizzie, and tell her I sent you and she will take awesome care of you!...

Time: 15 minutes to Order, 7 days to have Products in hand!

RESELLERS PERMIT: The second was, get registered in LA county for a CA reseller's permit. This permit is essential for two reasons. The first is that it allows you to by products from suppliers at whole sale prices and resell them yourself. In my case it allowed me to get a bit of a discount from Lamiframe by them not charging me sales tax on my order since I'm agreeing to charge the customer sales tax when they buy my prints. The second is that it puts the burden on me to charge sales tax to my customers and pay the state quarterly any sales tax I collect. Its a bit more work for me but worth it in the end because it establishes Joshua Gunther Photography as a legitimate legal business in California. This is a huge and exciting step!

Time: 20 Minutes to fill-out the form, 25min drive to the CA Sales Tax Field Office during my lunch break at work, and 30 minutes, same day, to have Permit in hand!

NOW ACCEPTING CREDIT CARDS!!!: The third and probably most critical step is setting up some way of accepting and tracking payments! You want to get payed right? So the best and most important thing is to make it easy on your customers to pay you for your products or services! After attending a launch event of another friend who just started an amazing t-shirt company (Check it out here) I was amazed to discover that he was accepting credit cards straight from his Iphone using an amazing invention called "Square". I was so impressed by this I decided to look into it myself. Within three days I was able to order and received a credit card reader for my iphone, setup an account, and was ready and setup to accept credit cards! AMAZING! No contracts, or strings attached, just a 2.75% charge on purchases and the money shows up in your bank account the next day! So awesome!

Time: 5 minutes to order, 3 days to receive card reader, 5 minutes to download iphone app, 20 minutes to setup on-line account.

BUSINESS CARDS: The forth is new Business Cards. Believe it or not I had never gotten around to making some business cards. For this awesome project I used an online company that is awesome called "MOO"! The awesome thing about Moo is that they have flickr integration so you can make business cards straight from the images on your flickr account. Within twenty minutes I had my cards designed, ordered and on their way. The cards turned out beautiful and I'm so stoked to have them ready to hand out!

Time: 30 minutes to design and order, 4 days to receive!

MACBOOK PRO GELASKINS: I decided to make one last purchase that I have been thinking about for a while now. I have always wanted to order a decal (Gelaskins) that goes on the back of my macbook pro of one of my photographs. My thinking was, I'm often in coffee shops working on photos so I wanted to have something that displayed some of my work and maybe start up some conversations. Also, during DreamCon I wanted my mac with me at the table to advertise Gelaskins as as a possible print option as well. You never know when someone might ask you about it right? I figured it would be the icing on the cake to just bring the whole business picture together. Will see!

Also much to my surprise out of all the things I ordered Gelaskin was the first to arrive and looks Fantastic!

Time: 10min to design and order, received 3 days later.

So Just to recap!

Total Time Breakdown:

All Ordering: 2 hours on Sunday morning!
All Products Arrived: 3-7 days

Complete Photography Print Business Setup in 3 Days, Products ready to sell in a week and a half! So now my question to you is, whats holding you back from doing this yourself?.......Um NOTHING!!!!

NOW GO GET GOING!!!!!!

Ax En Provence Apartment

2011-10-11T17:52:00.001-07:00

Ax En Provence Apartment, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
This was my nephews apartment in Ax en Provence, France where my wife and I stayed for a visit back in June. Isn't it awesome? He has since moved back up to Lyon but it was sure cool to get to stay there. Its was really rainy while we were there which everyone kept apologizing for.........you should have been here a few days ago it was beautiful! Oh man I can't wait to travel again soon!!!!

Notre Dame Sunset

2011-10-07T17:12:00.001-07:00

Notre Dame Sunset, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
This photo blows me away for several reasons. The first of which is the simple fact that I might have totally missed this photo all together. When I setup for this shot that night I was waiting more for blue hour. I shot a few HDR brackets as test shots and then sat and waited for the shy to get more blue and for them to turn the building lights on. When I did my first round or processing I went straight to the later shots never really taking a look at the test shots I did earlier in the evening. Fast forward to last night, I was finishing up the last of my post processing when on a whim decided to try one of these HDR's......was I blown away!!! I had no idea the colors I was to discover hiding out in my raw files. It just goes to show me that I'm still really learning what really makes for great HDR and what doesn't. Man I was glad I gave this one a shot.

I can't stop looking at the sky on this one too. There is something so mesmerizing about it. You guys really need to tell me what you think as well because I know this shot is really pushed into the artistic-surreal area of things. Let me know if you think its too much. I can't decided myself.

Canon 70-200mm f4L IS Review

2011-09-29T22:25:00.000-07:00

Very rarely (if ever) do I write lens reviews but after spending a day at Disneyland were I got to borrow my brothers Canon 70-200mm f4L IS lens I had to blog about it out of sheer photography bliss!

Its been such a long time since I have had so much fun walking around taking pictures. Normally I have a bag full of prime lenses and a tripod that I carry and that covers me for the majority of my night photography and works great when your staying put waiting on the light to get good. I started shooting with primes because,
      A- they are often sharper,
      B-they are better in low light getting down to apertures of f:1.4-2.8,and
      C- they have the most depth of field potential for portraits and other things.

The biggest problem with primes lenses is that you have to switch lenses to use them! Lets face it folks, Its a real pain to switch lens when your walking around all day in a place like Disneyland! I ran into this problem a lot while walking around Europe. You can check out my blog post about what I learned from that here. Bottom line, its heavy and cumbersome to carry all that gear around with you in any situation where your just walking around.

So for the first time in a long time I resolved to take just my 5DmkII, my Black Rapid Sport camera strap, and this one Lens for the day and see what I thought of it!

Camera Setup: To get a good idea of what this lens could do Depth of Field wise I set my 5D to aperture priority and set my f stop to F4 and left it there the whole day! The only thing I changed throughout the day was my ISO depending on how low the light got on dark rides/rooms. Here is what I discovered!

I love ZOOMS: Its so wonderful after months of only prime lenses to be able to compose a shot from the position I'm standing from. Often times you don't always get the choice to move your legs or change positions (in the case of being in line for a Disney ride) to get the shot. Having a zoom to be able to compose just the way I like it on the fly was so much fun! It was refreshing and freeing and made for an awesome day.

5DmkII + 70-200mm F4L IS = Not that heavy! I walked around the whole day with that combination on my shoulder plus a sweatshirt tied to the strap, and didn't notice the weight AT ALL! This was not the case in Europe walking around with a shoulder bag full of primes, and a camera on the other shoulder. I was in agony almost everyday due to the weight on that trip. To put it another way, the day before I competed in the Malibu Triathlon and walked around Disneyland all day the next day and I barely noticed the weight at all! It made for one of the most enjoyable photography days I have had in a long time! (I'm curious how the 70-200mm f2.8L II IS compares weight wise)

70mm f4 1/20sec ISO 3200

IS(Image Stabilization) is AMAZING! There were times when I had my 5dmkII set at ISO 6400 and I was still able to take a picture at 1/6 of a second at 70mm and still get the shot! Now its not the most sharp picture I have ever taken but I got the shot nonetheless and without IS there would have been NO way. I have never experienced the power of IS until that day and I was impressed with how much it really did help. I'm a total believer now.

DOF Is excellent! If you notice from some of the pictures from this post you can see that I'm getting excellent DOF at f4. I'm sure at f2.8 I would get even more but honestly f4 is really perfect for most situations. There were times when having just a little more light in the lens would have really helped in dark rooms but for the most part I'm really happy with it! I'm not sure spending an extra $1000 to get the f2.8 IS would really be worth it after using this lens and if its much heavier I would really think twice.

Sharpness is Awesome: As you can see from the photo's I had no trouble getting super sharp and crisp images. The glass is flawless and wonderful.

Overall the bottom line is that I had more fun walking around with a camera then I have had in a long time! I would highly recommend this lens to anyone who wants a good all around walk-about lens. The 70-200mm focal range is perfect for almost all situations, especially detail oriented shooting, and compresses the frame in such a pleasing way. Hope you all enjoy the pictures!

My Brother and I

70mm f4 1/13 sec ISO 3200

70mm f4 1/6 sec ISO:6400

70mm f4 1/20 sec ISO:6400

My wife Jenn, and my Bro Jon

My Beautiful Wife!

Dreamworks Clock Tower

2011-09-27T21:51:00.001-07:00

Dreamworks Clock Tower, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
They put up a new clock on the clock tower at work. It fits so well that its hard to believe that it hasn't been there always. I think it really brings it all together.

World or Color

2011-09-22T17:40:00.001-07:00

World or Color, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
My brother, wife, and I went to Disneyland on Monday to celebrate the completion of the Triathlon this last weekend! One of the treats of the trip was seeing the "World of Color" spectacular! Its is truly amazing and every time I get to see it I'm just blown away. This shot is pretty much straight out of the camera except for a little tweek to the contrast and black levels! So awesome!

Santa Monica Reflections

2011-09-21T18:23:00.001-07:00

Santa Monica Reflections, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
I had a wonderful weekend with my Triplet Brother and Wife this last weekend. My Bro and I competed in the Nautica Malibu Triathlon as part of the Dreamworks Team and had a blast. We both did really well with my bro getting an exceptional time of 1:39:00 minutes! I'm still shaking my head about how well he did concidering that it was his first Triathlon ever. So Crazy!
Anyways we had a chance to do a little photography as well on one of the nights he was here. This was my chance to share a little bit with him all that I have learned about night photography over the last several months. Hope you all like this one, as always I got a little creative with it. :O)

Dreamworks Waterfall

2011-08-29T17:44:00.001-07:00

Dreamworks Waterfall, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
Here is another image from around Dreamworks at night that I did for a demo for the Night Photography class I have been teaching. I tried something a little new with this shot by adding an LED light behind a rock to try and illuminate the water fall (It was really dark by then). The cool part about this is, because the color temperature of the LED light is different then the other lights it created some cool color contrast to the photo that I think looks pretty cool! Let me know what you think!

The Curvy Path

2011-08-26T17:53:00.001-07:00

The Curvy Path, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
This image was taken on the campus of Dreamwork Animation, (where I work) during a Night Photography class I have been teaching over the last couple weeks. There is just something so fun about this curvy path that I love. Hope you all enjoy it.

The Traitors' Gate

2011-08-22T17:37:00.001-07:00

The Traitors' Gate, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
For a daytime HDR I thought this one turned out rather well. I hope you all like it. Missing London!

Heavenly

2011-08-18T17:56:00.001-07:00

Heavenly, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
No HDR on this one. Pretty much straight out of the camera! Oh man I miss Paris!

Mandarin Oriental - Las Vegas

2011-08-12T17:33:00.001-07:00

Mandarin Oriental - Las Vegas, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Via Flickr:
The beautiful Mandarin Oriental! Can I just tell you how much I love the city center! It is so awesome! Stay at the Vdara its awesome!

St Paul's Cathedral-London

2011-08-11T12:06:00.001-07:00

St Paul's Cathedral-London, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

I'm really thinking a lot about London today hoping that these silly riots would stop. Come on guys I got friends out there!

Cosmopolitan Hotel- Las Vegas NV

2011-08-11T12:05:00.003-07:00

Cosmopolitan Hotel- Las Vegas NV, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Take Flight

2011-08-11T12:05:00.001-07:00

Take Flight, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Exit through the gift shop!

2011-08-04T16:52:00.003-07:00

Exit through the gift shop!, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

The Griffith Observatory is probably one of my most favorite places to go and hangout, particularly as the sun is setting. The beautiful views of La, the wonderful architecture of the observatory, and the fun hikes you can stumble upon are so fun to discovery. Plus its open late, so it makes for a great location when you have nothing else to do after work and just want to get outside with a special someone.

Because I have been there so often, I really tried to capture this place in a fresh new way this time around. This is a shot of a hallway just outside the exit to the gift shop. Incredible hard to capture with no one walking by. Luckily I had very long exposures on my side, which helped, but still really tricky. Anyway I hope you like this unusual view. :O)

Griffith Observatory- Los Angeles

2011-08-04T16:52:00.001-07:00

Griffith Observatory- Los Angeles, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Had a chance to swing by the observatory last night and snapped a few pictures. Jenn and I were with a friend of ours that was visiting LA from London and she had never been. Its such a wonderful place and I love going up there.

Little Tokyo City Hall- Los Angeles

2011-07-29T09:41:00.001-07:00

Little Tokyo City Hall- Los Angeles, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Jenn and I had a chance to head downtown and enjoy dinner in Little Tokyo. Luckily we took our camera's along and I had a chance to snap a few pictures. I grabbed this quick shot of city hall that I'm pretty stoked about. Hope you all enjoy it. Hopefully I can get back to shooting my favorite back yard, LA, sometime soon!

Aria- Las Vegas

2011-07-28T13:06:00.001-07:00

Aria- Las Vegas, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Sorry its been a while. I have a lot in the works with Joshua Gunther Photography. Stay tunned for some fun updates!

HDR Night Photography Tips:The Magical Blue Hour!

2011-07-17T18:21:00.000-07:00

Tower Bridge-London "Blue Hour"

Greater London Authority- "Blue Hour"

As I'm sure some of you have figured out the main imagery at Joshua Gunther Photography has been focused around HDR Night Photography. This particular type of photography is my absolute favorite and the type I spend most of my time pursuing.

Over the last year I have been honing my work flow into a set of setting and conditions that seem to work really well for this type of photography and I'm exciting to start writing and sharing these insights on this blog. Its my hope that these tips would help and inspire others who enjoy this same type of photography. So with that in mind I'm excited to share my first tip with you about the Magical Blue Hour!

Read more below .....

Blue Hour: What is it?

They call it blue hour because just after the sun sets the sky turns this deep rich blue color only lasting about a half hour to about two hours after the sun is below the horizon.

Most night photographers love shooting around this time, myself included, because the lights of buildings/cities have just turned on and the deep blue color of the sky contrasts beautifully with the warm lights of buildings and cityscapes. This contrast of colors are what I think really excites our senses and are what make night shots so pleasing to look at. Also, there is something magical about the specific blue color during this time of day that is richer and deeper then the blue color that we see during the afternoon for example.

Veer Towers Las Vegas- "Blue Hour"

Blue Hour: How to capture it.

Arrive 30min before Sunset and shoot up to 2hrs after!

A great rule of thumb is to try and get to your location about 30mins before the sun sets. This usually will give me the opportunity to shoot the sunset if its good and setup for Blue Hour. Blue Hour usually starts about 10-15 minutes after the sun has dipped below the horizon and is typically richest in the direction opposite the sun. This Blue color will last anywhere between 30 min-2hrs. The length of time you have before you lose the blue color all together varies greatly depending on the time of year and the latitude/longitude of your location. For example over the fourth of July weekend I was in Las Vegas and Blue hour only lasted 30 minutes. However in London around early June, Blue hour lasted at least 90-120 minutes. The best tip I can give you is to just keep shooting until you notice the sky is becoming too dark even with a long exposure time. That is a good clue that blue hour is pretty much over.

Blue hour can sometimes turn into Purple hour- Fear Not.

When your shooting around this time you need to be aware that the color temperature of the world around you is changing at an incredibly fast rate. At around sunset the color temperature is usually around the "daylight" color temperature but about two hours later your more then likely around a "tungsten" color temperature. While shooting in LA my skys start out blue but can quickly turn into purple depending how how late I keep shooting and the conditions I'm in. I have found that this can be corrected with the white balance settings in lightroom but often times the purple color can be really pleasing to look at. So if your sky's end up being a different color then blue try not to worry too much. Part of the fun of night photography is discovering what colors are going to show up in your images anyway.

Example of Purple Sky During Blue Hour

Shoot quickly, your time is short.

Remember that blue hour is over very quickly, so if you have a lot of locations try and move fast. While in Las Vegas over the fourth I only had time to shoot about 5-10 setups of the buildings in the "City Center" complex before I lost all the available blue light. Luckily the buildings were pretty much right next to each other so I didn't have to go very far to take my next picture. If I needed to get to the other side of the strip I would have missed blue hour completely trying to get there in time. Best tip I can give you is prioritize your shots and try not to change locations unless you have too or be in a place where you can get several shots accomplished one right after the other.

Find what timing works for you!

The only true way to find out the best timing for "Blue hour" is to get out there and experiment. Everyone's location is different so what is working for me on the West coast might be different for someone else. Best thing to do is get out there yourself and find what works for you.

Overall have fun and Happy Shooting!

Gear Review: Post Europe

2011-07-13T22:47:00.000-07:00


Camera Strap, Camera Bag, Tripod

I thought it would be good to share some of my thoughts about my gear after traveling Europe for two weeks. I spent so much time in the pre-planning that I wanted to share what worked and what didn't work so maybe some of you would benefit from the information and I can better remember it myself for future trips.

Just to get us all on the same page its probably good to give some context and explain that this trip to Europe was a vacation with my amazing wife Jennifer.
The reason I'm explaining that is that I don't want to give the false impression that this was a photography trip or that I went to Europe solely for photography. It was a vacation, first and foremost, and a chance to spend some quality time with my wife to celebrate our first year of marriage together. Lucky for me, my wife is amazingly supportive of my photography, and encouraged me to take time during our trip to do what I love most, which is taking pictures. I'm so blessed to have that support and I know that many of us fight to keep a good balance between both picture taking and our loved ones. I know I struggle just as much as anyone.....More on that subject later......

With that said though it provides an opportunity to explain how well I did with carrying around all my gear while still trying to enjoy site seeing like in typical touristy fashion

Click to see more below.....

Camera Bag, Tripod, and Camera = heavy: I carried one camera shoulder bag(with three prime lenses) on one shoulder, a black rapid strap with a 5D and Lens on the other, and hand carried a carbon fiber tripod in my left hand and I was amazed how heavy this all was. After months of sitting in front of a computer walking around with camera gear all day was a real change. My back and neck both struggled the first few days getting use to carrying all this on my shoulders. It took several days for this to become tolerable and eventually I didn't notice it as much. Even after getting used to it I was amazed at how uncomfortable this two shoulder bag/strap setup is and I think I might go back to a backpack setup to take the extra stress off my shoulders.

Carrying a Tripod: Even with a super light tripod, (mine is about 4.8 pounds without camera, 8lbs with), It still was pretty cumbersome and a pain to carry around. The 24L RRS is a little longer then I thought it would be and just a little too long to be able to lay it sideways on my shoulder bag and it be comfortable. I did use it everyday which justified carrying it but I wasn't as happy as I had hoped. I did figure out a way to hang it off my camera bag so I didn't have to have it in my hands all the time but that put just a little too much extra weight on my shoulders then I liked. Overall there were times when I wished I didn't have to carry it and times when I was so thankful for it. I think every photographer deals with this dilemma. If I had my choice I would have left it at the flat during the middle of the day when the light is bad and had it with me from golden hour on. Problem is that when your site-seeing you never know where and when you will be somewhere. So....it was with me all the time and when I used it I was glad I had it.

Looking like a photo tourist: This did bother me a little bit. I had so much gear around my body that I was a little self conscious of how touristy I actually looked. It also didn't help that my wife also had a camera and was stopping to take pictures as well so we definitely drew several looks our direction. Usually I like to keep a lower profile and be more like a photo ninja then tourist but sometimes you just have to go with it and enjoy what you love and not worry about what other people are thinking. However my photo touristy look did pose a little bit of a problem in some places where I really wanted to do some HDRs with my tripod but feared being harassed by security knowing that pictures were not allowed. Feeling like I stuck out like a sore thumb prevented me from being a bold as and I wanted to be sometimes.

Gear I didn't use: I purchased "the green pod" a bean bag tripod that I thought I would use in situations where I couldn't use a tripod. Unfortunately I didn't end up using it at all and it sat in my bag the whole trip. The other piece of equipment I got was an LED video light that I thought I would use while taking pictures at night for either portraits or to light up objects during long exposures. I didn't end up using it on the trip but plan to use it for other projects in the future so it wasn't a total waste of money. I also didn't switch lenses as much as I thought I would. I did use every lens at least once but I mainly had my 16-35mm lens on most of the time. I did use my 50mm more then I expected on this trip and also my 135mm f2 to capture people or closeups when I started to get bored of the 16-35mm. Overall I think using a backpack will be better next time since lens changes weren't very often.

Things I used all the time: My Black rapid camera strap! This was a big hit for me since I was able to use my strap and also keep on my RRS L bracket on at the same time. The strap was comfortable and easy to use. I love it! Everyone should own one of these.

Things that saved my butt: Rain covers! It did rain a little bit while on the trip. I was really glad that I packed rain covers for my camera and bag. They came in handy on the really rainy days when it was totally down pouring and there was nothing we could do but get wet. The camera covers I have are glorified plastic bags that were $5 at the camera store and work great. Plus they are small enough to not take up any extra room in the camera bag and are easy to carry around.

Things that went wrong: My favorite lens, the 16-35mm f2.8, broke a few days into the start of our trip. Luckily we were in a big city (London) and I was able to find a camera store that could take a look at it. It was a bit out of the way but easy to reach by "tube" and I was able to make it there without taking too much time out of our day. The store took a look at it and noticed that a screw had come loose and was locking up the auto focus system. Within 5 minutes the screw was glued back down and the lens was fixed much to my happiness. It is never a good feeling when something breaks at the beginning of a long trip especially your favorite lens. I'm really thankful I was able to get it fixed so quickly. The other thing that went wrong was that I lost one of the rubber feet to my tripod while site seeing in the "Tower of London". This was really frustrating since the tripod was brand new and with a missing foot getting the tripod level was going to be much harder now. I had some grip tape with me and was able to tape the bottom of the leg to prevent any scratches or damage with using it without the foot and made it through the trip like that. When I got home I was able to call up RRS and get some replacement feet for $8 each and I'm back in business now.


One of the few times I was really bold!

Things I would do differently next time: Thinking back on the trip, I wished I didn't worry so much about getting in trouble for taking pictures. Being in an unknown country I often worried about having a run in with security over trying to take a picture. Often I would see really cool HDR opportunities but wouldn't get the tripod out because I was worried about getting in trouble. I just didn't want to deal with that. My wife had a camera and not hearing as many stories as I have was much more bold and got away with a lot more pictures then I did. Next time I'll try and be more bold and go after the pictures I want until someone tells me other wise.

I still felt like I had too much gear. Its the boyscout in me I'm afraid but all in all I actually felt like I did better then I ever had before in this department. The extra planning really did payoff and going from place to place with all my gear really wasn't all that bad.

Next time, If I'm blessed to be going solely for photography, I might try to arrange a "Fixer". Sometimes trying to get the picture you're after is easier if you have someone who lives there helping you with the inside track. They can arrange photo permits or clear things with security before hand, or drive you to locations only locals know how to get to. Next time I might try this approach and see if it helps.

Overall it was a very successful trip and I had a blast. I'm still dreaming about French cafes, good espresso, macaroons, beautiful architecture, and the sound of French accents all around me. I miss London and the wonderful people and the beautiful tower bridge. I can't wait to go back! Hopefully it won't be too long of a wait!

Veer Towers- Las Vegas

2011-07-06T18:09:00.001-07:00

Veer Towers- Las Vegas, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Hung out at the Vdara over Fourth of July weekend and managed to take a few pictures around city center. This is probably my Fav from the trip. The Veer Towers are just awesome! Hope you all enjoy this one!

Happy Fourth of July Everyone!

2011-07-06T18:08:00.001-07:00

Happy Fourth of July Everyone!, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Now get yourself on down to a Pub, Bar, Beach, Backyard and Enjoy sometime with your loved ones!
Best
Josh

Greater London Authority- Square

2011-06-30T11:21:00.001-07:00

Greater London Authority- Square, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Greater London Authority - City Hall

2011-06-17T23:18:00.001-07:00

Greater London Authority - City Hall, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Pompidou Paris

2011-06-16T22:31:00.001-07:00

Pompidou Paris, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Pairs: Day 4

2011-06-07T18:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long wait between posts. We lost internet while in the south of France so I wasn't able to update about our travels. Here is the recap for our forth day in Paris. (FYI, this was written by my wife Jennifer)

Today was our last full day in Paris. Tomorrow morning we take a train to Lyon where we will hang out with the Garcon family & explore several towns in France. The next time we will see Paris is at the airport for our trip home.

It has been an amazing 4 days here. Way too fast. We have pushed hard trying to see as many things as possible, but also tried to slow down and live the "Parisian way"...a life of rest, romance, and an attempt to enjoy the small pleasures of life.

So today we...

--Attended the 11:30am International Mass at Notre Dame.
--Had lunch at a cafe across from Notre Dame. Josh enjoyed his omlet, Jenn's salad was only okay. It took us 4 days to realize that the best cafes and restaurants are a few blocks away from the main tourist attractions. The ones closest to the tourist attractions in our experience have not been great and are ridiculous in price.
--Next we had a lovely stroll down the Seine River and made our way to the Louvre! We spent the whole afternoon there until it closed at 6... we saw the Mona Lisa (so much smaller than I expected), Venus de Milo (amazing!), Victory of Samothrace, a beautiful collection of Rembrandt's depiction of Christ, and an interesting collection of Egyptian antiquitys. We could have been at the Louvre for days... there are 35,000 pieces of art, and it is calculated that it would take a person 9 months to see everything. Wow.
--The Louvre was spectacular to see all the art, but after several hours there, we were tired, overwhelmed by crowds, and our feet hurt. But the minute we exited... we found our cure. Beautiful fountains surround the famous pyramid outside the Louvre. Many people were relaxing by putting their feet in the pools and resting. It was an amazing way to end our time at the Louvre.
--After our rest time, we put our shoes back on and went to Cafe Fleur in the St. Germaine. We stopped in for a cup of hot chocolate, our guidebook said it was legendary, and boy were they right! We enjoyed sipping the best hot chocolate we've ever had while joining in the Parisian art of cafe people watching.
--Our chocolate cravings satisfied, we explored the restaurant district of St. Germaine finally settling on a quiet bistro. Our last meal for the most part was a bit disappointing, but the dessert made up for it as we had creme brulee that arrived to our table set on fire. And it tasted every bit as good as it looked.
--Our day ended with watching the sunset over Notre Dame. Josh worked on shooting some night photography while I took some photos and people watched.

We are back in our flat... packing and sad to see our time here end. Merci beaucoup Paris. We hope to be back again soon!!!!

Off to Lyon....

Paris: Day Three

2011-05-28T15:23:00.000-07:00

We are exhausted from all this fun! We are soar, tired, happy but grumpy, our feet hurt, and we are falling asleep a weird times still.....but we love every minute of it!!!!

Got up early and headed over to "Le Cordon Bleu"- Paris, and took an amazing cooking class called "Cooking with Champagne." This is where Julia Childs learned to cook in France! We had a blast spending most of the day there (8:30-3pm)
Got home and took a break to plan the next two days making sure we don't forget anything we really want to do.
Headed over to Lemoine Canele' and got some "Sans Gluten" (Gluten Free) Macaroons. Mmmmm! How we are going to survive without these small treats at home I don't know!
Stopped in our favorite French cafe (finally found it!) of the trip "Le Camps de Mars" and had some coffee and tea and people watched.
Feel asleep on the grass in front of the Eiffel Tower from pure exhaustion.
Headed back to the flat to eat the dinner we made at "Le Cordon Bleu"but stopped at a cheese shop for some Brie, and a wine shop for some Rose wine. Anyone know of a cheese shop in Glendale?? We loved this place.
Enjoyed our dinner we made earlier in our cooking course- Oyster Jelly appetizer, Sole Salmon with Fish Sauce and Veggies, Bavarian Cream for dessert.
Took a 30min cat nap
Headed to the Arch De Triumph to enjoy the sunset and take some photos
Caught the last elevator ride up to the top to enjoy the view
Headed home to get some sleep so we can enjoy our last day in Paris tomorrow

On the list for tomorrow....Notre Dame, St Chapelle, Loove, possibly the Montmartre district if we have time.

Sorry to keep republishing....Finished a photo after all and just got it posted!

Paris: Day Two

2011-05-27T15:40:00.000-07:00


Photo by Jennifer Gunther

After our late night excursion to see the Effel Tower light up at 1am, we definitely slept in this morning. We slept in a bit more than we intended and didn't wake up until 12:30pm!! Silly jet lag I think is still affecting us a bit.

Once awake we quickly got ready and headed out the door. Here's what we did today....
--Grabbed breakfast and lunch (for later) at a few markets in our neighborhood. We have the cutest neighborhood and flat by the way!!
--Took the metro to Musee d'Orsay. After waiting in quite a line to get in, we were mesmerized by a fabulous collection of impressionist & post impressionist art. We went in every gallery there and stayed until they kicked us out at closing time at 6pm.
--Next we took the metro to another art museum, Centre Pompidou. While neither of us are drawn to modern art, we were super intrigued by this controversial modern building in the middle of historical Paris. We first went to a very posh restaurant on the top floor of the museum called Georges and ordered martinis as we stared at an amazing view of all of Paris. After our drinks we walked around the 3 floors of modern art exhibits. As we suspected, the art was not really to our taste so we didn't spend a ton of time in there.
--We then walked down to Notre Dame and Josh caught the sunset in his photographs. The sun sets around here at 9:30-10pm!
--Finally, we ended our day in a cute little cafe near our flat. I loved my meal of roasted chicken & mashed potatoes (Europe really knows how to do potatoes!), but Josh's meal of steak & potatoes was only so-so. We are still looking for that great Paris cafe. We did drink some great wine & ended our meal with some creme brulee. Mmmmm.

Now it's time for bed as we have a big day ahead... a cooking class!!
....................................................................................
Sorry guys, no Josh photo tonight, We are taking a cooking class tomorrow and I need to get the extra sleep! Hopefully I'll have time to post one tomorrow!

Paris: Day One

2011-05-27T03:53:00.000-07:00

Jenn and I are enjoying our first day in Paris! Some of the highlights from the day have been.

Taking the Eurostar from London to Paris
Exploring the Metro and RER trying to find our vacation rental.
The view of the Eiffel Tower for the first time.
A terrible lunch at a restaurant that won't be named.
2 Hours sitting in the park in front of the Eiffel Tower waiting to check in for our rental
Amazing Dinner at Brasserie Thoumieux- I had the Chicken with mash potatoes and Jenn had the Veal. Also I had the most amazing starter made from calamari,cheese,and egg yoke.
2 hours of Heaven running around taking pictures of the Eiffel Tower and Arch De Triomphe
Late night trip to see the last sparkle of the lights before they turned off the Eiffel Tower lights!

Tower Bridge

2011-05-25T17:58:00.000-07:00

After the last several days we have discovered that traveling is hard work! We are loving every minute of it however the body is sometimes weak....as they say.

Today started off with some much needed rest! We slept in until 12 and didn't make it downtown till about 1:15. Our plan was to go to lunch and then head to the National Portrait Gallery.

We picked a lunch spot close to the museum that our guide book recommended named "Rules." It actually is the oldest restaurant in London and dates back all the way to 1798. It was a very posh place so we felt a little under dressed (okay, a lot) but once we got over that it was a blast. The food was AMAZING! We each had a garden salad with blended peas, lima beans, goat curd, radishes, cucumbers, and mint. One of the best salads I have ever had. For the main dish I picked their duck and I have to say it was probably one of the best duck dishes I have ever had! It had this amazing sauce with peas and panchetta (the British love their peas). Oh man, I'll have a hard time not remembering that dish from this trip. Jenn ordered smoked salmon, which was smoked and cured at the restaurant. The real star of the meal for her was the tea. We've decided that while the food is good in England, the star of English is the alcohol. We've had amazing tea, wine, and other types alcohols here. The coffee is okay... Josh knows that the best coffee is in France. :)

We had such a good time at lunch that by the time we walked out it was already 4:15 (3 hour lunch!) and we had to meet Steph at St Paul's Cathedral for the Evensong Service at 5pm, so no museum trip. We bypassed the tube and decided to walk down "The Strand" to St. Paul's instead. We stopped off a couple places at this happening street for some souvenirs. First stop "Hotel Chocolate" for some tasty souvenirs. Second stop, the Twinings Tea Shop for some loose leaf tea. What is really amazing about this tea shop is that its actually the original from 1706. It just blows my mind that I can walk into a store and buy tea from a place that has been selling it there for 305 years! Crazy. Jenn stocked up on 4 different kinds of tea that should last her for quite awhile. Let us know if you'd like to come over for authentic English tea!

St Paul's Cathedral is the most magnificent cathedral I have been in to date. I think it is probably my new favorite! The service was beautiful and the sound of the choir filled the church in a way I can't describe. It was neat to sit and receive a service in this way while looking at the majesty of the cathedral! So cool to be a part of that.

After that we headed to a pub for some drinks. The first one we tried was to full so we headed up at the Doggetts and had a drink catching up with Steph and reflecting on our day. It's been such a blessing to have great conversations with her in person, we miss her dearly! At the pub we enjoyed hard ciders (Jenn--Berry, Josh--Pear) and some gluten free "chips" aka fries.

Next we headed east to the Tower Bridge to do some photography. This was one of the photos I was really excited to take on this trip so Jenn and Steph were nice enough to indulge me. They found a restaurant close by called "The Stranda" and had some food (meat & cheese) and drinks while I spent about two hours taking photos. I was definitely in a happy place, and as you can see from the Photo above, I think I nailed it. The cool part was that I actually got to witness the bridge going up! Several people I talked to said that they hadn't seen that happen in a long time. It was awesome to witness and I felt very special to be apart of something that doesn't happen very often. I also had a chance to talk to several people that walked by as I was shooting and it was fun to meet some new people.

Finally we headed home to pack and get ready for our train to Paris tomorrow. Train leaves at 8:55 am so I better head to bed and finish packing!

Next up fun adventures around Paris!!!!

Amazing Big Ben!

2011-05-24T16:24:00.000-07:00

My wife and I had an awesome day today! It started off with a little bit of camera desaster when my 16-35mm f2.8L decided it would be fun for the focus ring to start locking up. Luckly I was able to find a camera shop in London that was able to take a quick look at it and fix it. I guess there was a screw that needed to be glued down that was catching on the focus ring. Much to my relief It was easily fixed and we were able to go about our day.

On the list for today was the...

Successful navigation of the tube for the first time unassisted
Camera store to repair lens
Lunch at a local sandwich shop
Tower of London- saw the crown jewels, bloody tower, the white tower and traders gate. All the wonderful things the Tower of London has to offer.
Boat ride from the Tower to the London Eye
London Eye- view extravaganza and tourist overload
Laid down in the park next to the London Eye and watched the clouds go bye
Dinner at "Giraffe"- had the lamb burger-hmmmmm, the waitress was super funny
Globe Theater: saw "All's Well that Ends Well"- Amazing
Back to the flat to get some sleep

The only bummer for the day was that I lost one of my tripod feet while walking around the Tower of London. My tripod still works but is a little lop-sided now and I'm just so frustrated at myself that it fell off. I tried to find it but no luck! Such a bummer

Day One: London

2011-05-22T16:13:00.000-07:00

My wife Jenn and I have safely made it across the pond and have arrived in London for the begining of our two week trip abroad. Its my hope to post one picture a day of our travels as well as write down some notes of all we did each day. Hopefully we can keep this up for the rest of trip so people can enjoy some of our travels right along with us.

Here is what we did on day one!

1.Rode double decker buses for the first time.
2.American Church in London--Fitzrovia
3.Lunch at Marlborough Arms, had Pimms for the first time, Pub--Fitzrovia,
4.Took bus to the British Library and saw rare and hand written Codex Sinaiticus, Beethoven; Mozart's compositions, Handel's Messiah, Jane Austin's diary and writing desk, Magna Carta, an original copy of Cantebury Tales, Great stamp collection
5.Took the tube to Green Park, went to Buckingham Palace to say hello to queen
6.Walked through St. James Park, saw the birds and variety of quacking
7.Walked the route of the royal wedding
8.Walked by Westminster Abbey with the modern day martyrs on the the front doors including MLK.
9.Walked along Parliament, Big Ben
10.Went up White Hall. Saw 10 Downey Street where the Prime Minister lives
11.Changing of the guards
12.Trafalgar Square...
13.Dinner at Byron- awesome burger place in London
14.Walked around Covent Garden
15.Took pictures on Hungerford Bridge

Heading Out!

2011-05-20T15:33:00.001-07:00

Heading Out!, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

My wife and I are about to head out on our trek through Europe! My Goal is to post one picture a day while we are gone so keep checking my photo stream for glimpses of what we are up to!

Also check out some of the blogging I have been doing all about prepping for the trip. Subjects include
Best Travel Tripod, Packing Light for Walking around, and how to stay present in the moment!

See you guys soon!

Walking around Europe with lots of photo gear?

2011-05-20T00:08:00.000-07:00

As I continue to prepare for our trip to Europe I have been trying to think of as many creative ways I can think of that will make the hours of walking around the streets of London, Paris, and Lyon as comfortable as possible with all of the photo gear I'll need. I won't need every ounce of gear all the time so the best plan is to actually take two separate bags. One big bag for traveling from place to place and one smaller bag for walking around with. I'll give you a description of what I have come up with for both.

SMALL BAG: SwissGear - ZINC Messenger Digital SLR Camera Bag - Black

In the past I have carried around a back pack but because I'm mainly shooting with Prime Lens now I needed something that I can easily and quickly reach into and make lens changes quickly. I searched high and low and the bag I settled on is a simple over the shoulder bag from Swiss Gear (and its cheap). Its small enough to fit comfortably in front of me but big enough to carry all three of my lenses with room to spare. It also looks a bit more low profile then most bags.

IN THE BAG: Lenses, Memory Cards, Shutter Release. THAT IT- trying to be as minimal as possible, any extra weight will get old really fast

CAMERA STRAP: Black Rapid Sport

In an effort to keep a low profile, I want to use a different camera strap then the one Canon provided. It has always bothered me that the camera strap broadcasts the model to everyone who can see me from 20 feet away. The last thing I want is to attract thieves who are looking to score some gear to know what camera I'm carrying around my neck. I may actually tape over my model number as well just for extra coverage.

The camera strap I went with is the Black Rapid Sport! This is an awesome camera strap and is really comfortable walk around with and should work out great.

I'll also be walking around with a tripod which I'll either just keep in my hand or I'll attach it to the shoulder bag in some way. I bought a simple shoulder strap that I'm hoping to attach to the tripod so I can carry it around my neck as well but I'm not sure its going to work.

My Travel Bag

BIG BAG: Think Tank Airport Acceleration (Backpack)

This is the bag that I'm going to travel through airports, trains, and hotels with. Its big enough to carry everything I could possible need as well as carry some of the just in case items that I might or might not use along the way. This bag will also carry my macbook pro, miscellaneous snacks, power cords, chargers, converters, books, and other items.
One of the things I love about this bag is that it has great security options. There is a built in lock for my computer as well as zipper lock rings so that I won't have to worry about people getting into my bag without me knowing it.

MY GEAR LIST:

Canon 5DmkII
16-35mm f2.8
50mm f1.4
85mm f1.8
135mm f2
3 memory cards
Shutter Release
Tripod.
Extra Battery
LED Video light (Can be used as a flash or light for night shots)
Macbook Pro
Power cord, Canon Battery charger, Iphone charger
250gb Hard drive- flash card BK
CF Card Reader
LED Headlight (I take it everywhere....its really useful at night!)
Camera Rain Cover/ Bag Rain Cover (you never know)

NEW GEAR EXPERIMENTS:
There are a couple items that I'm hoping to try out for the first time on this trip. These are items I have never used before that I'm hoping will turn out to really useful.

LED VIDEO LIGHT: Instead of carrying a flash with me, I'm hoping to carry this inexpensive video light instead. Because I mainly do night photography as my primary focus, having a video light like this can be really useful. First of all its dimmable. Without having to deal with remote triggers or TTL I can very quickly adjust the light level up or down. This makes it quick and easy for portrait work or just adding a little extra light to a scene if needed. I can also use this during long exposures as well. For example to light different foreground objects or to do some creative light painting with gels and what not. I'm hoping it will be pretty useful.

THE GREEN POD: The last time I was in France the use of tripods for photography was sometimes prohibited. This happened often in churches and some museums. For this reason I'm hoping to use this bean bag tripod in place of my big tripod. Hopefully by placing it on a chair or the floor I'll still be able to do some bracketed exposures for HDR in these type of situations. We shall see how it goes.

I'm hopeful that I'm fully prepared for any scenario, photography wise, I might encounter on this trip. If anything, all of this prep work has put my heart at ease knowing that I'm ready for anything. Now all I have to do it relax and prepare for two weeks of awesome vacation.

Best Travel Tripod 2011: What to get for Europe Part 3

2011-05-09T14:33:00.000-07:00

This has probably been one of the harder posts for me to write. Mostly because I feel so conflicted about the money side of gear choices that I have been wrestling with while on my search for the right tripod for Jenn and I's trip to Europe. Gear for me has always been a hard struggle, because like most new photographers, price has always been an issue and I have often choose the cheaper option only to get burned later when my gear starts to fall apart . Its gotten to the point where I'd much rather spend the money and purchase things I'll have forever then go through the pain of replacing it a year later. Even with this attitude its still hard to justify certain purchases. It often becomes a big mental battle trying to figure out what the right thing is to do.

After my last post, I had left Samy's camera after returning my first choice, the Gitzo GT1531, leaving me without a tripod. Because a tripod is such an important part of my photography at this point I have had to start looking for a plan B. This brings me to a company called "Really Right Stuff".

For those who aren't familiar with this company, they are regarded by many photographers as the best tripod company in the industry. I have heard their name many times before and haven't heard one negative thing about them......

......well except their prices!.....

When your the best I guess that means there is always a catch. Many photographers talk about Really Right Stuff as the holy grail of tripod equipment and that if you really want the best, you go with them. So maybe its worth it if it will last me.....I guess I'm willing to take the risk to find out!

Really Right Stuff is like most tripod companies with a lot of big differences. The first is that all of their stuff is made in the USA. In fact made not to far from me in San Luis Obispo, CA. Also all of their tripod parts are machine milled rather then metal cast so the quality and tolerances of their products is incredible high. Also they pride themselves in making the best carbon fiber legs in the industry and have scientific tests that suggest their strength to weight ratios beat all others. Also their vibration reduction properties of their tripods are better then anything on the market. This is probably the most important thing to hear since vibration is one of the biggest concerns with HDR image capture. Their tripods are very quick to setup with the use of quick release leg locks which I always prefer over the leg clips. Also something that is really unique to RRS is the use of customized L bracket camera mounts for use on their ball heads. This allows the user to very quickly switch the camera into a vertical position without having to adjust the ball head or move the tripod. That is a huge advantage for speed! So with all that being said....I'm hooked!....Wait how much is it? I'll let you guys head on over to the site to check it out for yourself. Ouch.....

TVC-24L

Anyways, after calling and talking at length over what to pick, I decided to order the TVC-24L Tripod with BH-40 LR Ballhead. This is actually a new model at RRS. Its the same size as the TVC23 folded up, but it has an extra leg section that brings it up to 66.75 inches tall when fully extended. This is fantastic since I'm 6'1" tall so this model will work much better for my height.

Only problem is....Its not out yet......AND......it may not be out before we head to Europe!

Uggg.....Ok this tripod search is getting annoying. Even after finding the perfect tripod I might not even be able to get it. So in the mean time I have been looking for a plan C just in case I can't get this one. I have to get my hands on something before we leave.

Here is a quick list of pros and cons for RRS
Pros

Best carbon fiber legs in the industry
Best vibration reduction
Highest quality machine-milled parts
Best ball heads in the industry with use of L bracket camera mounts
Largest leg support weight- 40lbs (others I looked at only 17lbs)
Really light weight- under 5 pounds including the Ball Head!!
Rubber twist legs locks
Ratcheting angle leg stops
5 Year Warranty
Made in the USA

Cons

High Price
Doesn't Include center column (Extra)
L bracket not included (extra)
Bag or carrying case not included (extra)

RRS Is not for everyone. I'm not even sure if its even for me totally. Spending that much on a tripod has been really hard for me but I'm hopeful I'm making the right choice. I only want to do this once and all the other tripods I have looked at haven't lived up to my expectations. Hopefully this will be the last tripod I'll ever need.

Wish me luck!

Part 1: http://joshguntherphotography.blogspot.com/2011/04/best-travel-tripod-2011-what-to-get-for.html
Part 2: http://joshguntherphotography.blogspot.com/2011/04/best-travel-tripod-2011-what-to-get-for_21.html

I'm a Mostly Photo Adventure Finalist!

2011-04-27T16:17:00.000-07:00

I am so ecstatic to announce that one of my photo's is a finalist for a weekly photo contest featured on the Mostly Photo Adventure website. Check out the link and be sure to vote for me on twitter before May 1st using the special hashtag- #MostlyPhotoAward4

I'm so excited and honored you guys I can not even tell you! I have been a huge fan of Leo Laporte and Lisa Bettany and its so amazing to be featured on their site!

Also I'm going to post a short excerpt from their show that features my photo but be sure to check out the site to watch the full episode over at Twit Live! It always has a ton of information and worth checking out if you want to learn more about photography. I have learned a ton over watching the last couple episodes.

http://twit.tv/photo (I'm on episode 6)

Pre-Travel Photography Fears: Will I get good shots???

2011-04-26T00:04:00.000-07:00

.....I immediately felt a huge sense of insecurity wash over me. "If I can't go out in my own backyard and shoot good photos how am I possibly going to get good photo's while I"m in Europe?".....

Last night, after a wonderful Easter Sunday, I noticed that the skies of LA looked amazing and that it would be a perfect night to head downtown to shoot some LA photos. My wife asked me if I wanted to shoot for a bit. At first I said no, feeling a bit tired after a full days activities. That tired feeling didn't last long though before my excitement completely overwhelmed me and I just had to get out there and burn off some of this stored up pre-Europe excitement.

It was a beautiful night and I managed to find a great spot to shoot and enjoyed several hours of clicking off frames. I came back home feeling alive and super confident that if a night in LA was going to be this fun, Europe was going to be even better!

I quickly downloaded them into Lightroom and began editing. After about an hour, much to my disappointment none of my shots seemed to be turning out. I immediately felt a huge sense of insecurity wash over me. "If I can't go out in my own backyard and get good photos how am I possibly going to get good photos while I'm in Europe?" Its a feeling I'm sure every photographer has felt right before a big photo shoot, photo assignment, or photography trip. That ever present fear of failure. To be honest its been a hard feeling to shake today.

But in the mist of feeling down there are always a few things that I try and remember that always help put a day like yesterday back into perspective.....

#1 thing to remember while your on vacation is be present in the moment!!! That far out ways getting a good photograph! If I spend the whole trip just trying to chase the shot and miss out on special moments with my wife it will be a wasted trip! Living the trip rather then photographing the trip is key!
Shoot by the numbers! Even the best pro photographers don't nail it on every shot. More often then not a photographer will take hundreds if not thousands of shots for a handful of really amazing ones to take home, so try not to sweat it if something doesn't work all the time. Just keep shooting
Gear isn't everything. You can try and be prepared as much as you can but when it comes down to it that extra piece of "just in case" gear will just be extra pounds you have to carry around. Try your best to only take what you need.
Remember that its a vacation! Its ok to put the camera away and just kick back and enjoy yourself! Sometimes I put so much pressure on myself to get out there and do something amazing I forget that my photography is about fun and the enjoyment of it. Thinking about it in any other way is just going to turn it into work....which is what I'm suppose to NOT be doing right now!
Always remember that if your having fun you will take better photographs. Sometimes trying too hard puts too much pressure on yourself and it can totally ruin your photography. The nights I have been out there just having fun have been the nights that have always turned out well. Just go out there and see what happens. Worrying about it too much will take all the joy out of your experience.

Keeping these things in mind helps me focus on whats really important.... Having FUN!!!!

Best Travel Tripod 2011: What to get for Europe Part 2

2011-04-21T23:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, so we left off with me explaining the various models I have been looking at in the hopes of finding the best travel tripod I could find. There were several great models to choose from and one that kept standing out in my mind as the better investment.

"I picked the Gitzo GT1531...but there is a catch"

I choose the Gitzo GT1531

So on a Saturday afternoon I headed down to Samy's Camera to make my final choice. I looked at a few of the models again and after a lot of back and forth I decided I would purchase the Gitzo GT1531 Tripod. It is most expensive of the models I was looking at but when you factor in that 90% of my photography these days is being done on a tripod and the time spent with cheaper gear that has fallen apart, I decided the Gitzo was the best investment. This tripod would last the longest and be the most comfortable to walk around with.

So after a quick transaction and a good hand shake I headed home in nervous excitement to start this new journey with a brand new tripod......well so I thought.

After arriving home I said hi to my wife, gave her a quick kiss, and headed to the living room to explore this new equipment. I had decided not to purchase a gitzo ball head since I already had one from my old tripod (Manfrotto 488RC2) that I was comfortable with and decided it should be fine for now. I was already looking at maybe investing in a Really Right Stuff ball head since I have seen/heard several recommendation from around the web that they are by far the best. Using my old ball head would give me a little bit more time to think through maybe going with them.

With tools in hand, I got to work removing my old ball head. It took a few minutes unscrewing the old set screws that permanently attached the ball head to the old tripod but with a little care, and my tongue sticking out, I managed to get it off. I then examined the instructions from Gitzo on how to attach a ball head to their tripods and much to my surprise there really wasn't much information except for a few pictures of a hand twisting a plastic plate to the top of the main shaft, which was already there. After scratching my head a little, I kept thinking that there most be a more secure way to attaching the ball head then just screwing it on by hand? I jumped on my computer and did some searches and nothing? So I decided to just try it. I twisted my Manfrotto ball head onto the top of the gitzo. Twisted hard and that was it. Hmmmm, I guess that was easy.

Now that the ball head was on the tripod I tried to loosen the main lever that controls the ball and quickly the ball head loosened from the tripod. Hmmm that doesn't seem right I thought. So I tightened it back on and tried again and sure enough after several attempts the Ball head kept coming loose from the tripod. Big problem here guys. If I can't lock the ball head to the tripod there is a chance that my camera may fall off while walking around. NO BUENO!!! not to mention the frustration of having to always worry about it coming loose.

So I called Samy's Camera back to ask them if there was any way I could secure the ball head more permanently. My old $80 tripod legs had set screws why doesn't the $600 one have them? Seems to not make a lot of sense does it? Samy's didn't seem to know either but suggested I bring it back to the store and we could look at it. Frustrated I hung up and decided to go back tomorrow and get it checked out.

The next day I stopped by Samy's after church and we looked at my tripod. The verdict, after asking several people, is that Gitzo only uses friction on this level of tripod to secure their ball heads. The sales person quickly suggested I return it I guess understanding that there was no way I could walk around Europe with a ball head that might come off and within fifteen minutes I was out of there with a return receipt.

So NO tripod and totally disappointed!

TOTALLY Back to square one folks!

Ugh. So more research and more blogging to follow as I try and figure this out before we leave for Europe. Stay tuned!

Part 1: http://joshguntherphotography.blogspot.com/2011/04/best-travel-tripod-2011-what-to-get-for.html
Part 3: http://joshguntherphotography.blogspot.com/2011/05/best-travel-tripod-2011-what-to-get-for.html

Best Travel Tripod 2011: What to get for Europe Part 1

2011-04-18T23:57:00.000-07:00

My old tripod on the Right, New hopeful on the right

Now that the tickets are bought and my wife Jenn and I are officially going to Europe my brain has gone into overdrive trying to think about all of the things I'll need photography wise to get ready for our trip. One of the first things on my list is a new tripod!

My old tripod (left) which has served me well up to this point has started to fall apart and is frankly just too heavy and cumbersome to carry around Europe for this trip. I'm pretty sure it weighs around 15 pounds. Not to mention that I have lost all the rubber feet off the bottom and the hook from the main support tube broke off a couple months ago.... You have been a good friend my old faithful tripod but its time to go.

So I have started an in depth search for the best travel tripod I can find for a price that I hope doesn't break the bank. Here is what I have found out so far.

Number one thing I'm looking for- Carbon Fiber Legs. The reason I want to go with carbon fiber is for a few reasons. Its really light weight, really strong, sturdy, and pretty indestructible. The last thing anyone wants to do is carry around a heavy tripod for miles while taking in the sights which is why many people end up leaving it in the hotel room. Its my goal to be happy with, heck, even excited, to carry this tripod around and to get some great use out of it.

The only downside, of course, to carbon fiber is the price. It is expensive but I feel will be a better investment in the long run. (Trust me, just spend the money once and avoid the struggle I have been through replacing crappy gear with what I should have gotten in the first place. Not going to do that this time).

So here is the breakdown of the models I'm looking at. All of them are pretty similar for the most part, but are distinctly different in many ways which I'll explain in a second.

Starting from low to high price wise these are the ones I have been looking at.

The Induro CT214: About $400.00 at time of writing.

Induro is a pretty new company. As far as I understand it they are still trying hard to establish themselves in the industry right now so they often offer more to try and grab new customers. This tripod actually looks like a great deal. Its the cheapest of all the carbon fiber tripods I have looked at. Its a little heaver then the others coming in at 3.3 pounds. It has three sections on the legs vs the two section on the Gitzo and 5 on Benro. It advertises really strong carbon fiber using a special 8 layers of crisscrossing which the company says makes it really strong. My only hesitation is that often the cheapest is not necessarily the best. And I did notice that even though the legs are really strong, all the support materials are either made of plastic or magnesium alloy which isn't too bad but I wonder how long they will last. Overall its a good place to start.

The Benro C2691T: About $536.00 at time of writing.

The Benro series of tripods has been really intriguing to me. The advantage of these guys is that they started the movement of actually folding the legs backward against the main shaft to save space. This tripod folds up to a length only 17.7" including the ball head which is awesome. It also includes a ballhead as part of the price and a cool feature of being able to convert it into a monpod if desired. I love multifunctional creativity so thats a real plus!

Some of the downsides that I can see is that tripod has 5 leg sections. Great for conserving space but if I really want to use this as my main tripod having 5 leg sections is really going to cut down on stability. Not to mention that it takes a bit of extra effort to expand all those sections. The last thing you want is to take extra time setting up your shot. Particularly for Europe you want to quickly setup your tripod, take your shot and quickly tear down and move on, hopefully not making your wife wait too long :O). Speed is everything when your on foot particularly with your loved one. The other thing is I'm not sure how good the ball head is. I messed around with it in the camera store and it seems pretty good but I wondered how it would do long term.

Gitzo GT1531: About $612.00 at time of writing.

Ok now we are talking. The Gitzo tripods are regarded by most as the "top of the line". Their carbon fiber legs are super strong and light. The "Spider" is made out of compressed aircraft grade aluminum and from what I can tell every piece on the tripod is built to last. Its by far the lightest of all three at 2.2 pounds and just feels solid. It also has only three legs sections which makes it the fastest to setup of the three. The only downside to this it that its the longest when folded up. Its also the most expensive and comes with the least amount extras. All others come with a bag, strap, and sometimes a ballhead, ect. With Gitzo its legs only and thats it. Furthmore, this tripod looks like it would last forever and really would be the only one I would only have to buy once. This is probably my top contender at this point.
The downside. I'll need to either buy a Gitzo Ballhead or something simular to really take advantage of the choice. The Gitzo ballheads are not cheap and could possibly add another $200 or so dollars to this choice. Even more if I go with a Really Right Stuff ball head which I hope to explain to more about in my next post.

So which one did I choose????........Stay tuned for my next post and hear why I also returned it the next day sending me back to square one....

Part 2: http://joshguntherphotography.blogspot.com/2011/04/best-travel-tripod-2011-what-to-get-for_21.html
Part 3: http://joshguntherphotography.blogspot.com/2011/05/best-travel-tripod-2011-what-to-get-for.html

Special Announcement!

2011-04-17T00:48:00.000-07:00

Well Folks..... I have a special announcement.

I know I usually just post pictures on this blog but that is about to change. Why you ask? Is it because a meteor hit my head and all of a sudden my dyslexic brain is faster at writing then it was before.....well no...but It's actually because I have some good news. My wife and I are going to EUROPE for the first time together in a couple weeks! YAYAYAY

What does this mean for you all? More beautiful pictures from Joshua Gunther photography from beautiful places like London and France! Yay....I am so stoked.

But before that happens, like most trips I go on, the boy scout in me forces me to be prepared. So naturally I have a lot to do to get ready for Europe if I'm going to go and get some of these awesome pictures so I thought would share my journey with the world just in case someone might be listening.

So over the next few weeks we are going to be talking about exciting topics like. Tripods, camera safety, Bags, Camera Straps, and whatever else I'm thinking as I try and get ready for this awesome adventure. Hopefully I can share some useful information with you all and we can learn together!

yay so Stoked!!!! Stay tuned!!!

LA's 2nd Street Tunnel

2011-04-17T00:26:00.003-07:00

LA's 2nd Street Tunnel, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

110 Magical Blue Hour

2011-04-17T00:26:00.001-07:00

110 Magical Blue Hour, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

The Purple Haze

2011-03-02T17:45:00.001-08:00

The Purple Haze, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

I took this photo a while ago. It was actually for a time-lapse that I screwed up. The nice thing about it is that I now have many choices of an exact time of day, which is pretty cool.

I know that I have shot this location before but I wanted to post this last perspective because I feel it shows the vastness of the la landscape pretty well. I hope you all like it and don't feel its too redundant. :O)

Anyone want to go camping? I do!

2011-02-11T16:24:00.001-08:00

Anyone want to go camping? I do!, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

The Golden Arches

2011-02-08T10:29:00.001-08:00

The Golden Arches, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

As I learn more and more about night photography I have discovered that sometimes the best photo's happen long after then sun goes down. I had been shooting the sunset for about an hour and this was the last photo I took before heading out to meet a friend for dinner. It was pitch black under the pier and I couldn't really tell if my tripod was centered in the middle or not it was so dark. So I just crossed my fingers and let it rip. When the LCD lite up in the back I knew I had a winner. The lights from on top of the pier were turning the water gold and the last little bit of sunset was still in the sky! Moral of the story....Always keep shooting even when you think its too dark! :O)

Manhattan Beach Sunset

2011-02-07T10:03:00.001-08:00

Manhattan Beach Sunset, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Cold Rainy LA Day

2011-02-02T17:06:00.001-08:00

Cold Rainy LA Day, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Setting of the LA Sun

2011-01-31T18:08:00.001-08:00

Setting of the LA Sun, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Griffith Sunset

2011-01-24T17:35:00.001-08:00

Griffith Sunset, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

The City approaches

2011-01-13T15:17:00.001-08:00

The City approaches, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

The Golden Sky

2011-01-11T16:42:00.001-08:00

The Golden Sky, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

LA's Deep Blue Rain

2010-12-20T16:33:00.001-08:00

LA's Deep Blue Rain, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

The Sky Painted Red

2010-12-13T16:55:00.001-08:00

The Sky Painted Red, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Had a chance to grab a couple shots of LA from Elysian Park on Saturday due to the amazing encouragement from my wife! It is so awesome to have someone in my life that supports and encourages my passions for photography! Getting a chance to enjoy this sunset with her while taking photos was so life giving. I have been a little down lately because I haven't had the chance to get out during the prime light hours because of work so getting to go with her just lifted my spirits. And what an amazing shot I was able to get! I hope you all enjoy it!

LA Purple

2010-12-09T10:07:00.001-08:00

LA Purple, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Finally had the opportunity to get out around LA and take some photo's. Man I'm rusty it feels like. Also I hate taking photo's so late after the sun goes down(no blue skies) but I guess its what I have to do till the sun starts to stay up later. I guess this just pushes me to get up early and get some sunrise shots! Anyways I hope you enjoy this.

HOME

2010-11-30T18:30:00.001-08:00

HOME, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Had the opportunity to head to Idaho for thanksgiving to see my parents, triplet brother and sister, and brother in law. It was a great trip and snowed the whole time. It wasn't until the morning we left that i was able to run outside and grab a few photo's. Its pretty unusual to get this much snow this early in the season but a welcome site since most of the towns economy during the winter is controlled by the local Ski resort just a few miles away. Its was great to be home and get a little taste of the snow before heading back to the endless summer of LA.
Looking forward to getting back to my city shots but I thought I would post this in the mean time while I'm still thinking about home!

Hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving!!!

Y....M.....C.....A (Everybody sing it!!!!)

2010-11-10T18:36:00.001-08:00

Y....M.....C.....A (Everybody sing it!!!!), originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Hey Guys,
I know its been a while since I have had a post! Some very exciting things going on in the life of Joshua Gunther Photography as well as my personal life! The first of which is a new Gallery Show I'm excited to tell everyone about ! Also my wife and I just recently moved so life has been a little crazy as we have been getting settled and currently living with no Internet. Hence why I have no new posts........More to come soon! In the mean time enjoy this one!

Soothing Streams of Fall

2010-10-26T11:29:00.001-07:00

Soothing Streams of Fall, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

My Heart Longs for Fall

2010-10-21T18:29:00.001-07:00

My Heart Longs for Fall, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

I'm taking a brief pause of the La photo's to celebrate the changing of seasons this year.

This last weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to spend a couple days backpacking in the Smokie Mountains. This was a very special trip for me because my brother-Captain Jonathan Gunther USAF just got back from Afghanistan where he spent the last year serving our country. This was the first time I have gotten to see him since he got back and It was a wonderful trip seeing some of the best fall colors I have ever experienced! I can not tell you how awesome it was for me to get to experience a bit of the change of seasons seeing as how I spend most of my life in a "Endless Summer" over here in LA. It was very life giving and I am still dreaming about it wishing I could have spent just a couple more days!

Awww It was awesome....I hope you enjoy the pic!

LA Softly

2010-10-15T13:49:00.001-07:00

LA Softly, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

LA Arts Distric

2010-10-12T18:30:00.001-07:00

LA Arts Distric, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Highrises

2010-10-11T17:00:00.001-07:00

Highrises, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Bonaventure Hotel Los Angeles

2010-10-07T19:03:00.001-07:00

Bonaventure Hotel Los Angeles, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

LA Old meets the LA New

2010-10-04T17:58:00.001-07:00

I can not tell you how excited I am to share this picture! There are times when the processing happens in kind of a magical way and this photo was one of those experiences. Its that magic that get me so excited as an artist and is what feeds my soul to take pictures!

Now I don't normally do HDRs all that much but this particular night, another shot I was working on needed it because of a really bright foreground so I just began shooting all my other shots that night in the same way. Lets just say I'm so glad I did!

Special thanks to my friend Aaron Weldon for letting my take pictures from his downtown loft! You rock!

LA Criss Cross

2010-09-30T00:08:00.001-07:00

LA Criss Cross, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Lonely Parking Lot

2010-09-24T17:49:00.001-07:00

Lonely Parking Lot, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

City Bus Magic

2010-09-19T19:33:00.001-07:00

City Bus Magic, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

I love buses! They often give the best blurs when they go by and so I just love it when it happens. This was a particularly awesome night and the colors of the city just seemed to come alive last night! I hope everyone enjoys this one!
ISO 400, 16mm f16 for 30seconds

Santa Monica High Rises

2010-09-02T22:04:00.001-07:00

Santa Monica High Rises, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Twisted Metal

2010-08-31T14:14:00.001-07:00

Twisted Metal, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Operaretic Blur

2010-08-25T18:14:00.001-07:00

Operaretic Blur, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.

Streets of Green

2010-08-24T17:59:00.003-07:00

Streets of Green, originally uploaded by Joshua Gunther.