An updated picture of our 7 week old grand daughter Myla, to have at our home - was in order and a series taken this morning while visiting our daughters home. Myla was in a very calm and happy mood. Here she is in my lap, talking to me and laughing at my playfulness. It's amazing how quickly newborns become aware and start to mature. Photo by Anne Watcher:

I was at my daughters this morning to see my new little grandbaby, and before leaving noticed her beautiful roses in the back. It is ironic that our daughters name is Roslyn - which could easily be associated with roses.

I'm not one for taking pictures of flowers and roses just because they are pretty and to document that beauty - - - but wondered what kind of mood or abstract I could find by looking for flower edges and small details and then shooting wide open at f2. These are 3 of what I came up with (E-3 : 50mm f2 : handheld):

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Some other Tag Lines from Photo forums today:

"GREEN Concept Car (powered by osmosis)"

"That's all that's left of General Motors..."

"Chevy doors, what kind is the trunk?"

"This driver really believes in going green"

This is my favourite wedding style - few in attendance, short time frame, incredible people.

Today I was fortunate to have my talented son Ryan work with me on this outdoor coverage that took place in the Goderich Ontario area, at Benmiller Inn and Spa. He was responsible for the detail shots and artistic shots, and I carried on in my normal style. I also find that the odd time Ryan has worked with me, I am incredibly inspired and looking for even more creative angles and shots than normal.

On leaving the wedding, Ryan and I commented on how nice such a small wedding is for it's intimacy and relaxed mood - - - also how wonderful and gracious not only this couple were, but also their family members on both sides. Ryan wondered if all the couples that I photograph weddings for are this easy to work with and so accomodating. Fortunately for me, they are - but this wedding and couple are right at the top of the list.

While the couple won't receive their Online Previews for a while yet, I had to open up a few files and process them on returning home last night from the wedding. Here is a small selection:

Up until recently, I really haven't had the need for anything otherthan my primary 12-60 f2.8 (24-120 equiv) and 50-200 f2.8 (100-400equiv) lens for my professional work. Theseaccomplish 90+ percent of what I require from my gear.

However I have dearly missed the beautiful look and extra speed that I enjoyed for several years, with my 85mm f1.8 Nikkor lens - - - and based on popular opinion of forums regarding slow focus speed - have stayed clear of the Olympus 50mm f2 and not really even tried it to see if it suits me.

One of the issues that I had with portrait lenses with my Nikon DSLRs, was that the popular 50mm f1.4 that I owned, was far too short (around 75mm) for my taste- and the 85mm f1.8 was used far more and produced beautiful images, but tended to be too long (around 128mm) in many tighter space situations. The perfect focal length for me has always been the 85mm to 105mm that I enjoyed with 35mm film cameras.

That puts the 50mm f2 square in my comfort range. And so after putting off the purchase, I finally bit the bullet and headed into the city to buy myself that lens tonight. And am I glad I did. The image quality is stunning, sharpness great even wide open, so small and light weight,and ooooohhh such beautiful creamy blur in the out of focus areas. I also have been lead to believe that it is gasketed to protect against the elements like my 12-60 and 50-200 - - - that is a biggy for me after destroying several cameras and a couple of lenses from being out in adverse weather conditions when I shot Nikon.

As soon as I got in my van, I had to throw the lens on my E-3 and test the lens out with whatever was in front of me (my dash for the most part).

1 ) - f2 @ 1/1000'th : 800ISO


2 ) - f2 @ 1/320'th : 800ISO


Just too sharp for portraits though - so I'll have to soften them down.This is a 100% full size 600 x 600 pixrel crop of a shot of Anne's face. I don't think she'll be too happy with the telltale signs of age that aren't nearly as evident in real life

3 ) - f2 @ 1/200'th : 800ISO


A few shots that I took along our 1 1/2 hour drive home from the camerastore. It was a beautiful night. These are taken after the sun had set,between 9:30PM and 10:00PM

4 ) - f2 @ 1/800'th : 800ISO


5 ) - f2 @ 1/40'th : 1600ISO


6 ) - f2 @ 1/60'th : 2000ISO


7 ) - f2 @ 1/60'th : 800ISO