November 19th 2011

This was the day that I rode my bike so long my muscles burned and my veins pumped with battery acid, then I rode some more. The reason was simple, El Tour de Tucson. I had initially decided to attempt the Tour de Tucson about 6 months before race day. Leading up to the event the goal was simple, to ride as hard as I could for as long as I could. I had been told by experienced riders that your last training session should be at least half the distance of the whole race. Total distance of the race was 111 miles, so my goal would be at least 55 miles for my last training session. Fast forward to November 15th 2011, my last training sesssion before race day. My total distance clocked was 66.43 miles in 5 hours 46 minutes including stops. I've included a map of that ride for those interested. I felt pretty good after that last training session and felt confident in finishing the event strong. November 19th 5:30am, wake up and begin to stretch out. 6:00am begin drinking water and eating toast with peanut butter. 6:20am load up the bike and begin the drive to downtown. 6:35am unload bike and install wheels. 6:45am arrive at starting line with literally thousands of people. 6:50am a group of men sing the national anthem and it sounds pretty awesome. 7:00am and we're off to the races. At this point my mentality was to get as far to the front as I could. The large packed exits downtown Tucson, through the turns lots of water bottles are lost and people are already starting to crash. After the drexel wash passing I remount my bike and as I start pedaling away I feel contact on my rear wheel. Another rider trying to pass me takes me out and I take a tumble to the ground. As I look up hes gone and nowhere to be seen, but I try to carry on. This is when i realized my front wheel had a broken spoke and was pretty bent. Sitting on the side of the road watching the race pass me by so early on was pretty devastating. Thanks to the bike patrol I was able to true my wheel and continue racing. The El Tour de Tucson was something I will never forget and I am incredibly glad I was able to experience it. I ended up finishing 2,982 out of 8,500, which I am content with for this year considering it was my first time and with the crash. Can't wait until this year's event

Getting the bike ready downtown

The pack

Yours truly #3851

And we're off

Leaving downtown

The starting/finish line

My racing partner, Jordan Estabrook

Damage to the handle bars during my crash

Glass Eyes

Like I said in my last post I would discuss some of the new lenses I have recently acquired. Lets start this topic with understanding two commonly used terms in the photography world. Full frame and Crop sized. A full frame sensor that captures the image in your camera is the same physical size as a 35mm strip of film. A crop sized sensor is either 1.3x ,1.5x or 1.6x of the 35x24mm area. I have included a picture to help understand. Now I would like to discuss something vital when it comes to using lenses and the way they can work for you. When talking about any kind of lenses you have two different formats, full frame and crop. Full frame format is designed for use on a full frame sensor camera body. Crop format is dsesigned for use on a crop size sensor like a 1.3x, 1.5x or 1.6x. Most camera manufactures do not allow use of crop format lenses on a full frame body but allow use of full frame format on a crop body. Here is where that is very important, depending on the size of your crop sensor this changes the focal length of the lens. The physical size and optics of the lens never change but your camera sees it this way when its taking a picture. To make it fairly simple, My Nikon D80 is a 1.5x crop factor so when using any full frame format lens you simply add half of the focal length to the lens. For example when I use my 50mm it is now a 75mm, the same goes for zooms. When I use my 70-300mm its actually a 105-450mm. This only happens on full frame format lenses used on a crop size body. Crop bodies have specific lens formats for the different sizes the DX and so on. You may be asking yourself what this all relates to. In a fairly simple way money, regardless if you are using a Nikon or Canon dslr you can take advantage of having a crop sensor and using a full frame lens. Older Nikon f mount lenses can be bought for a fair price in comparison to alot of the new lenses on the market. Obviously the older lenses do not have nice features like auto focus and metering but the glass is really nice. Along with having nice optics these lenses can be had with large aperture for a fair price. Its not for everyone but its something to think about. I hope this helps you understand using lenses and what they can do for you. If not here a link thats very in-depth Click here.

Nikon 70-300mm f/4-5.6G

This is a good lens for outdoors during the daytime that offers a 450mm focal length at a fair price.

Tokina 2x converter for use with Nikon f mount. Aperture ring adjustment only with certain lenses. When used with G lenses aperture is stopped down to highest value as aperture is body controlled.

Soligore 80-210mm f/3.8. This is a good lens for indoor sports and weddings at a fair price.

This is a big and heavy lens, but very worth it

Vivitar 24mm f/2.0. This is a good lens for candid indoor shooting

Also works well for outdoor photos with a "dreamy" look.

My favorite lens I currently own. Amazing low light performance and so sharp even at f/1.4!

Nikon 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G. This is a great all around lens for the price.

The 18mm focal length is a great length I enjoy using.

Just Shoot It

I"ve been doing some random shooting lately without much planning. It often yields interesting results because of the random subjects that are waiting to be photographed. These subjects with the combination of photoshop can yield some great shots. On a side note I've been acquiring some very nice pieces of optics lately. My next post will be all about that though. For now here are some recent examples.

Put me in coach

I've been trying to get into the field more and more recently. During the week this can be difficult for me with my main job occupying so much of my time. With that being said I do most of my midweek shooting at night. As i've discussed in previous posts night shooting is something which takes some thought and actual practice. There are multiple ways to go about it but I'll narrow it down to two styles of shooting and the equipment needed. The two styles are pretty simple, hand held and tri pod mounted. If you like the freedom and mobility of hand held you're going to need a "fast" lens. Pretty much everyone preaches "fast" lenses of any type as they truly do open your possibilities in extremely low light conditions. "Fast" refers to the maximum aperture a lens is capable of. Anything under f/3.5 is considered to be "fast". If you have no idea what the hell i'm even talking about regarding aperture then let me take a few steps back. To get a properly exposed picture you have three basic settings you can adjust to get your desired exposure. The three settings are shutter speed, aperture, and ISO (sensitivity of the sensor). Going back to aperture, the lower the number the bigger the opening is in the lens, which in turn draws in more light. So a lens with a maximum aperture of f/1.4 is going to be able to draw is far more light than a lens with a maximum aperture of f/3.5. The other style of shooting at night is using a tri pod and long exposures. Using this method you dont need a fast lens whatsoever because your shutter speed is so long its drawing in plenty of light needed to properly expose. With a remote shutter release its possibly to have exposures last multiple minutes which can create some really interesting looking photos. I really enjoy trying out both styles because theyre so different and always keep you on your toes. Here are some from my most recent outing. As always, thanks for stopping by.