Waunakee Front Porch Project

The Waunakee front porch project was created out of inspiration. This inspiration was from other photographers that were taking to their neighborhoods to document families during COIVID-19. I was also inspired by my daughter and all the children of the neighborhood playing separately. There are good things to look for right now. To keep our spirits a little higher during one of the darkest periods of our countries history.

We are in some pretty surreal times currently. Shelter at home is becoming more normal now. We are in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s been scary, isolating, and uncertain. It has also been a strange blessing for our family by bringing us closer, working from home has allowed me to see my daughter grow up a little every day, and it has also given me a chance to be active by walking around our neighborhood several times a day.

Walking around Waunakee, in particular my neighborhood of Southbridge, you can see lots of little kids riding their bikes. Chalk art lines the pavement and in every driveway and some of it is quite impressive. I never would have thought seeing chalk art would make me happy. But it does these days. It’s all pretty different, I wonder if life will ever be as care free as it was before?

As a photographer I wanted to do something positive. Give something to my neighbors. A photo perhaps, a keepsake. Something positive from this chapter in all our lives. Stay safe!

My new Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS II

You know the feeling you got when you were a kid opening a present? Yup, that happened to me today when I got home from work and to my surprise a package was waiting for me a few days earlier than I expected! I immediately opened it up and spent the rest of the night learning and playing with my new Canon glass.  I've wanted this beast for YEARS! 

Currently, I shoot mostly in 18mm-24mm for real estate and 85mm for portraits. I decided to invest in a telephoto lens and settled on the Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS II. This thing is a tank, better yet...a beast! It weighs in at 3lbs which I thought would be fine to manage hand held but it is going to take some getting use to. So far, I am pretty darn amazed at how sharp the zoom is and how quiet and quickly it focuses too (like instantly).  I love the close focus that you can get with this too since it is able to focus at 4 feet/1.2m close. I can get a little closer to my subject.

On the technical side, the optics on this thing are sick! There are 23 element in 19 groups, that is pretty crazy. And something that Im going to need while building some muscles using this baby is Canon's Image Stabilization, which is rated for 4 stops (16X ) reducing in camera shake greatly!

This will be a staple in my photo bag for portraits, nature, and street photography. The background just melts away, such a great Bokeh can be achieved with this lens. I look forward to throwing up some photos from my scheduled shoot this weekend. 

 

 

canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS II lens