[EXPLORED]

Taking photos is what's keeping me sane these days. It's almost like a form of therapy. I have so much stuff going on between school, work, and random film projects, it's rare when I have time to myself. Even when I have nothing going on, I still have the desire to be productive. This is when the thinking cap goes on, and I begin snapping photos of the things around me.



For Valentine's day, my girlfriend, pug, and I ditched classes and headed up to San Francisco for the day. With our cameras in hand, we walked around the city, strolling into stores that looked interesting. On Haight Street, there was one store, Loyal Army, that had an awesome collection of witty/random tees. There was one in particular with a pug on it that I had to have. It was fit for a girl so I bought it for Jenny. With our newly acquired shirt, we decided to do an informal mini photoshoot on a street running parallel to Haight.

I threw on the Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 D and started snapping away. I love how flat the 80-200mm makes everything look. The background that extends hundreds of feet past Jenny, looks like it's a backdrop set a few inches behind her. The shallow depth of field at f/2.8 really gives the image that added sense of narrow focus. My only qualm with the lens is how soft it is, especially at f/2.8. One day I'll own the coveted Canon 135mm f/2 L lens, but for now the 80-200mm is a great alternative.

After posting this picture on my Flickr, it began to blow up. It received close to 100 views the first day it was online. Someone left a comment on the picture saying that Flickr decided this photo would be one of the 500 "EXPLORED" photos of the day. Not too shabby.

Here's the photo that was featured on the "EXPLORE" page on Flickr.



On a side note, here are some other random photos I have taken in the last week or so!