Saturday, January 29, 2005

On Assignment: Fulton County, New York-Day Five


"Town Square" by Wes Aldridge

After 5 long, cold and hard days, my assignment in Fulton County, New York has come to an end. I learned several things on this trip, the most dominate being buy some insulated underwear. A close second is shooting in the snow is a tricking thing to get a solid exposure and that close 2 f-stops rule really doesn't hold water when you are shooting color.

When I was heading out of town, I had to stop and grab this shot. In Johnstown, NY, inside Fulton County, the cityscape is heavily influenced with Colonialism, i.e., architecture. Stocks were used in colonial times as a form of public punishment. Believe it or not, there is still a set of stocks in the pubilc square downtown across from the old courthouse.

I thought this was pretty interesting and gave it a shot at night. The Canon 10D holds up pretty well in long exposures in the dark. The stocks were lit by a street lamp a good 30-feet overhead (see the position of the shadow for subject to light source angle). The shot was at ISO 100, f/22 (max aperture on my 24-70 mm L series lens)with a 30 second exposure. All of this is evident in the star formation in the lamp post in the background. Notice the shadow under the stocks. Not much digital distortion in the black shadow on white snow. If the 10D rocks this solid, I would love to see what either of the Mark II's can do. Anyone have an extra $4000 they want to give me to grab the new shooter with?