Yum Yum Yum

We had dinner at the Westin in Detroit for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Man and Woman of the year dinner. Here's the dessert, and I cannot describe this dish we had in any other words other than "Yum."

Comerica Park and an engagement session

Taken during yesterday's engagement session around Detroit and Comerica Park.



See more photos from the session [here]

When I take a trip, you go with me

I'm in Mexico for the week and I thought I would give you a photo from every day of my trip. The first photo of the trip is one that I have taken before, but I had to try a different angle this time. This is the tunnel between the A and B terminal at Detroit Metro airport. The sounds are very soothing when you go through this tunnel, almost makes you forget you're underground in a tunnel (maybe that's the intent.)

Marathon Cups

This past weekend our daughter had the opportunity to cheer on her team at the Detroit Marathon. They were running for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and were running in my daughter's honor. As I was helping with the water station I noticed the cups being discarded by the runners after the race and couldn't help but tell the story with my camera. It was a beautiful day for a race, but not so beautiful for the cleanup crew.

Arch to the sky

An up close and personal look at the Circle of Labor in downtown Detroit.

Ren Cen Up Close and 18mm

Another photo taken downtown Detroit while at the Free Press marathon.

People Mover

Today I was downtown Detroit for the Free Press Marathon. The first thing I notice was the direction of the people mover. I have always known it to go in a counter clockwise direction, but today it was clockwise. Who knew?

More of Detroit

There's a lot of contriversy over Jay Leno providing a free show at the Palace of Auburn Hills (which is not in Detroit but part of the Detroit area.) I personally love all of the Detroit area. This part of Detroit needs a bit of work however.

Today, I cried

What's left of this building still houses many memories for me. Even though most of the structure is gone and many of the seats that I sat in can only be imagined, I still love seeing this building. I remember sitting in left field during the last game of the 1984 world series against the San Diego Padres. I remember seeing the sod fly up into the upper balcony from the joyous fans on the ground. I remember seeing the University of Michigan Marching band fear for their lives as they sat protected in their bus from the flying beer bottles and screaming fans. I remember walking on the catwalks to get to my seat. I remember being a bleacher creature. I remember my grandfather knew every single seat in this stadium and I was in awe of that fact. I remember this amazing place and when it was in all of it's glory. Today I cried for this stadium and the memories it holds for me.

Contemplation

I call this piece "contemplation" because I wonder what this woman is thinking. Ok, I know it's a statue, but go with me on this.

Symmetry

I was immediately drawn to this sculpture today because of the symmetry of the lines and how fluid it looked.

DIA Corner

Today we spent several hours admiring other peoples art work at the DIA. This atrium was begging me to photograph it. The lighting in this room was amazing and allowed me to really capture a lot of features in the architecture.

Generation Text at the Second City

Wow, what a performance! Generation Text was quite a hit at the Second City in Novi Michigan. This student show really generated a lot of laughs. Here are a couple shots of the cast:

I really enjoyed the show, and especially liked the club Cosmo skit.

Opening Day

Opening Day

The Detroit Tiger's Opening day was today. Every year I look forward to the start of baseball and the start of a new season. Will the tigers go all the way this year? Will their off season trades make a difference? The game was a loss, but the Detroit fans are winning with the start of a great season. Go Tigers! I have some great photos of the game, but none of them captured the essence of the game like this billboard.

Zig Ziglar and the Golden Tower

NewCenterGoldenTower, originally uploaded by edwardjohnphotography.

The New Center Area of Detroit is home to The Fisher building, the Fischer theater, and the formal home of General Motors. I took this shot through the window of my car while waiting at the stop light. Carrying my camera with me at all times is really an advantage when my eye sees such a well framed shot.

Carrying the camera with me everywhere is really helping me to become comfortable behind the lens and to really improve my craft. In order to get better, you need to keep working at it. Tonight I was listening to Zig Ziglar on the Inspiring Words of Encouragement podcast, and he said something that relates to this very topic. "You don't have to be great to start, but you do have to start to be great." Thanks Zig for making my evening.

Let the photo assignment begin!

You are witnessing the birth of a large assignment. A photo assignment with the goal of becoming a better photographer. Every day I will post a photo taken within the week along with a brief description of how the photo was taken and other aspects of the situation as the photo opportunity came to be.

My gear:
Nikon D80 - A great entry level digital camera with amazing features for the price
Quantaray 70-210mm f4.5-5.6 lens - By far my favorite lens if the light is right.
Nikkor 50mm f1.8 - A necessity for taking gymnastics photos in low light conditions.
Nikkor 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 - Standard lens that came with my camera and great for getting those wide angle shots.

And so the assignment begins:

Purple Tunnel

Calling this shot purple tunnel is a bit inaccurate because the tunnel changes colors continuously. I found this location while traveling through the Detroit Metro Airport from terminal A to Terminal C. The sights and sounds of this tunnel are intended to make you forget you are underground and give a peaceful feeling of tranquility. I looked a bit out of place and got many stares as I stood with my camera, but the shots taken were worth it. I used the 50mm lense with F6.3 and and ISO of 400. Wishing I had a tripod, because I could have used a lower ISO. I chose shutter priority on this shot in order to control the speed of the shutter at 1/25.

I welcome your comments and suggestions for improvement.

Thanks for joining me on this journey to become a better photographer.