Andrew Strain Photography

Same glacier as yesterday. All photos here taken with my K10D, the first three with the DA 50-200, and the B&W with the DA 10-17 Fisheye.
































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Some photographers will sit and wait for days at the terminus of an ice sheet, hoping to capture on film the awesome power of hundreds of tonnes of ice peeling away from the glacier and thundering to the ground below. I don't exactly have that kind of time while I'm at work, so I kinda figured I'd never manage to get a photo of calving in progress. Unfortunately, my camera was secured in its pelican case for the main event: about an hour after this, a block the size of several houses broke loose, shaking the ground as it crashed several hundred metres to the valley floor...

Before:



















After:



















Waterfall in the top left, for scale:
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I seem to have the worst (or best, depending on how you look at it) luck in the bush when it comes to wildlife: I don't see a damn thing. As a result, I've resorted to taking photos of arachnids to satisfy my weekly wildlife quota. This particular spider is seen dangling from the leaves of the ever-tender Devil's Club (which I'll be sure to devote an entry to at some point this summer). Both shots were taken with my K10D / DA 50-200, which isn't actually a "macro" lens; it's minimum focusing distance is 1.1m away, throughout the focal range. I found myself wanting to get much closer to my subject here... perhaps a true macro lens is something to add to my kit in the near future? At any rate, what the DA 50-200 lacks in macro capabilities, it makes up for with butter-smooth bokeh. Full Post and Comments

Pentax K10D / DA 18-55
After several days of non-stop downpour, the sun's rays transform the coastal rainforest into a natural steam-bath. I'm certain the high humidity is horrible for my camera...

Does shake reduction work? 1/5 sec @ 18mm (27mm equiv), handheld. Full Post and Comments

Pentax K10D / DA 50-200
The same Hawkair Dash-8 from a couple entries down, with a black and white treatment. Full Post and Comments

Pentax K10D / DA 18-55
The Unuk River flows through Alaska on its way to the Pacific Ocean; this is taken from the BC side looking south towards the border. National Geographic just ran an article, "The Truth about Tongass," July 2007, on the battle between logging and conservation in the United States' largest protected area; the feature photo is of a bear researcher on the Unuk River, taken just a few kilometres downstream of where I took this photo... Full Post and Comments