Burn After Seeing

#Photography #LA #LosAngeles #StaplesCenter #E32016 #E3 Here are some pictures I took near the Staples Center on Pico. Some of the places that I took pictures of in 2014 have been replaced by future luxury apartments. Those older pics can be seen at  http://patrickabandy.blogspot.com/2014/06/pico-street.html . Also, if you missed my pictures from E3 2016, they can be seen at  http://patrickabandy.blogspot.com/2016/06/e3-gaming-expo-2016.html . Feel free to check out the rest of the blog and listen to some music while you do! 

#blackandwhitephotography #blackandwhite #SanDiego #sunday #photography #Olympus Here are some photos I took of people at Balboa Park in San Diego. I started out with pictures of buildings and plants, but started noticing many people on their cell phones. This changed my focus to capturing people enjoying a Sunday afternoon.

#photography #streetphotography #DTLA #LosAngeles I paid a visit to the Fashion District in downtown and decided to try my hand at up close street photography. I used my Olympus OM-D E-M1 with the Sigma 30mm f2.8 art lens. At some point I figured that getting up close would get me punched in the face but nobody seemed to mind (or at least that's what I think). Here are some of the photos that I took.

#Moon #Photography #FullMoon #Moonrise #GetOlympus Here are some pictures I took last week from Altisima Park in Rancho Santa Margarita CA. My son's baseball game ended and I noticed the moon slowly rising over the mountain around 6PM. I used my Olympus OM-D E-M1 camera with a 75-300mm lens.

#blackandwhite #photography #beagle #GetOlympus I don't own a dog because I'm one of those unlucky people who is allergic to some animals. While my son was playing his baseball game, this nice gentleman was letting the children play with his dog. When the dog got animated, I heard him say "Camo" and he calmed down. I'm going to assume that was the name he was given because he listened. Here are some pictures I took with my Olympus OM-D E-M1 and converted to black and white. Beagles are calm dogs and I think this one knew I was taking his pictures because he stopped moving for each one.

#MtBaldy #Photography #GetOlympus #iphone My wife found a great deal on Groupon for Snow Tubing at the Mt Baldy Ski Lifts (http://tinyurl.com/baldygroupon). It was the first time my kids have been to the mountains and it turned out to be a fun trip. I wasn't sure what type of weather to expect so I only brought my Olympus OM-D E-M1 with a weather sealed 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 lens and my iPhone 5. Here are some pictures that were taken on the way to Baldy and at the top of the first lift. As a side note, if you're going with young kids, the lifts only hold 2 at a time and 1 adult must accommodate 1 kid. If you're a family who has 2 adults, and 3 kids or an odd number like that, you may have to ask someone to ride with your kid or go with a bigger group. I lucked out on not bringing my 2 nephews for this one. Also, I've learned that 2 year old kids probably don't like the trip down because it looks like you're falling off the mountain. My daughter cried for almost 30...

#Sunday #Beach #Photography #GetOlympus It's been a while since I took some photos and posted them on the blog. I felt that once I learned how to start taking photos it became harder because I wanted everything to be framed and perfect. I finally got over that hump and decided to take some pictures at Aliso Beach County Park in Laguna Beach. I think I ended up taking around 150+ photos, but here are some of the pictures I liked out of the set. BTW, Happy early Thanksgiving to people in the states!

#GetOlympus #Pentacon #Fotodiox #Photography I recently picked up an old prime lens made in Germany around the 1960s. The Pentacon 135mm f/2.8 (Meyer Orestor 15 blades) lens is also known as the Bokeh Monster due to the creamy blur it creates when you use it. Even though the lens is old and uses an M42 mount (screw mount), I was able to find an M42 to Micro Four Thirds mount from Fotodiox. The person who I bought the lens from took care of it like it was a newborn child and it is in excellent condition. Since my #Olympus OM-D E-M1 has stabilization on the body, I don't have to worry about blurring caused by the lens. The new Olympus bodies are probably the reason why old lens prices went from dirt cheap in 2010 to pricey today. When I was reviewing the lens with a coworker, we didn't realize there were several different versions of this lens. As a result, I actually ended up buying 2 different lenses on accident. The one that is very nice has 15 blades and the one that people...

#Photography #Irvine If anyone has ever tried to park at Mark Daily Park in Irvine (on a Saturday), you know it's almost impossible to do so. My son plays for the Irvine Pateadores and they had a game there this past weekend. While looking for parking, I noticed a fancy structure next to the park. The storm drain looks like it hasn't seen water in a long time and I thought about getting closer but chose not to lose my shoes in Swamp Thing's home. Here are some photos taken with my #GetOlympus OM-D E-M1 and a Zuiko 12-50mm lens.

#GetOlympus #Sigma #Rokinon My very first blog post in May 2014 was about the #photography equipment that I was using. I became a huge fan of Olympus when they released the Micro-Four Thirds Pen EP-3 and now most of my gear is from them. My main camera is now the OM-D E-M1. I took two pictures in May and since then, I've gotten some newer items and learned a lot more. At the time, I didn't know much about aperture, prime vs zoom lenses, focal distance, shutter speed settings, and f-stops. Auto settings produced some great pictures, but once I learned how to use the manual settings a lot of things changed. Interestingly, one of the things that pushed me to learn more about my camera was the fact I missed getting photos of the "Blood moon" in April 2014. Attempting to take pictures of the Blood Moon with a 40mm lens produced some great (being sarcastic) blurs. When I also tried to take pictures of a full moon on auto focus, that was a spectacle on its own. In any case...

Here is some of the equipment I use to take photos. The #GetOlympus Pen E-P3 will be replaced with the OM-D E-M1 this weekend.