Sean Mullins Photography

Boston Subway Light

2011-10-13T01:08:00.002-06:00

I just got back from a wonderful trip to Boston with my Dad. I made a few frames along the way. Here's one from the Stoney Brook subway station in SW Boston.

Calling Out West (band portraits)

2011-09-28T23:37:00.004-06:00

Well hey there stranger! it's been awhile. Anyway, I had a great shoot last week with Calling Out West, a Denver rock band who are preparing to release their EP entitled "Apollo". They have a a show on October 7th. More info here https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=247667018609232.

This was my first shoot with the new lights and triggers, so I'm really happy with the results. I may add a third light here soon. I'm really starting to get into the strobist stuff. I'll try and update this more often.

Amon Amarth Live in Denver

2011-05-07T17:19:00.002-06:00

A selection of frames from the savage Viking metal performance!

Destructive Iowa Tornadoes

2011-04-12T15:48:00.004-06:00

What can I say. It was an amazing chase, and my first in Iowa! Unfortunately, several towns in Iowa took severe damage. It looks like several of the tornadoes were EF-3 strength. Ill let the images do the talking...

The Mapleton, IA tornado viewed from the south. This tornado destroyed more than 60% of the town. Fortunately no one was killed, despite several injuries. We had no idea the tornado was impacting the town at that time.

Tornado near Arthur, IA, seen from highway 20.

EF-2 damage in the town of Early, IA.

Recent Work

2011-02-25T22:21:00.003-07:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. Here is a few recent frames. Look for more activity during the Spring!

Tex's Saddle Shop

2011-02-25T21:57:00.003-07:00

One of many hidden treasures in Santa Rosa, NM. Pictured here is Olen Taylor, a legally blind saddle-maker and painter. This guy is going to be famous when he is finally discovered.

8/16/10 Deer Trail and Brush Colorado Tornadoes!

2010-08-16T23:19:00.003-06:00

Holy Cow! What a year for tornadoes in Colorado.I Chased with Mark Farnik and Ben Toms today and we scored four tornadoes! Two near Deer Trail and two more 70 miles North, on the South side of Brush. We had a really nice boundary to play with and storms had a chance to produce only a few tornadoes before moving off the NE to SW oriented boundary. Very photogenic tornadoes!

Tornado near Gary Colorado, somewhere South of Brush

Possible tornado near Deer Trail

Debris from a tornado near Gary

Funnel aloft near Gary

June 10th Deer Trail Colorado Tornadoes

2010-07-06T03:44:00.002-06:00

What an amazing day! Colorado has had a fantastic year for tornadoes. This more than made up for missing the Campo Tornadoes. After a series of cell mergers and interactions, this storm anchored on the southern end of the chain of supercells and spun like a top, dropping 3ish tornadoes.

I have seen tons of supercells but nothing compares to this symmetry! Tornado #1 ongoing.

Looks like we had a weak satellite circulation associated with Tornado #2

Tornado #2 looking epic.

June 21st Weak Tornado Near Yuma Colorado

2010-07-06T03:07:00.002-06:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. Many more will be posted in the coming days. Had a solo chase on June 21st. I left late and core punched, emerging under the rain free base East of Brush. This brief tornado never fully condensed but I was able to confirm rotation at the cloudbase and on the ground. Yuma got smashed with baseball sized hail shortly after this. I called it a day and went back west to witness an awesome rainbow and sunlit towers.

5/22 South Dakota Tornadoes Report!

2010-05-23T15:57:00.003-06:00

Quite simply, this was the best chase of my life! Jon Merage and I were surprised to hear that V2 called a down day so we headed up North, towards Pierre South Dakota. A small patch of CU formed NE of Pierre and developed into a violent supercell. We watched the thing from birth till death. Fortunately, no injuries or deaths were reported but some unfortunate damage was done to farms north of Bowdle.

This storm had incredible structure! This is looking South from the North end of the Hook. Wrapping up so nicely, we just knew this was going to put down tornadoes.

An early tornado South of Highway 12, about 5 miles West of Bowdle. Not sure if this continued and developed into the wedge or not. It almost appeared to be the same circulation. We will have to go over the radar data.

After the tornado crossed Highway 12, we blasted East and turned North on Highway 47. I somehow managed to "click" this shot handheld from the driver's seat enroute to the wedge intercept. The storm really began to look plain nasty at this point.

So, we headed North on 47 and see this earth devouring beast of a tornado. This is at 10mm so it looks much further away.

And here is is at 20mm. Ears popping at this point as they did several times during the chase. The data from our mesonet should be very interesting.

Ok, this is the wedge grinding through a farm North of Bowdle on 47. Very scary moment here as a policeman appeared to drive directly into the circulation towards the damaged farmstead to check for survivors. Fortunately, he appeared a few moments later. No injuries were reported here despite the damage to the farmstead wich looks to be at least EF-3 in strength.

I will have a link up soon to the amazing footage that Jon Merage got. Be sure to stay tuned to that.

May 22nd South Dakota Violent Tornadoes!

2010-05-22T21:54:00.002-06:00

Massive Tornadoes in South Dakota today! Just a quickie here. Plenty more to come, trust me.

2010 Lightning Drought Comes to an End!

2010-05-18T00:21:00.002-06:00

Today marked my first chase in New Mexico. We had a late start due to car complications and were unable to deploy with the rest of the V2 crew. We headed West as soon as the car was ready to go but V2 called off operations for the day before we could get to the storm. So we settled for some sunset lightning before heading to the hotel. Decent Lightning Finally!

We will deploy on tornadic storms tomorrow!

May 14th Texas Tornadoes

2010-05-14T22:21:00.004-06:00

Vortex 2 had an amazingly succesful day in West Texas, intercepting at least 3 tornadoes south of Notrees Texas. The initial tornado was a large stovepipe from our view, followed by a large cone that never fully condensed, occuring simultainiously, followed by a thin tube that also did not condense fully, despite an obvious ground contact.

Lets start with tornado #3, considering its the only decent picture of a tornado I got all day.

Tornado #1 in progress with #2 forming to the left, starting as a cone.

Tornadoes #1 and #2 on the ground simultaniously.

Tornado #2 at mature stage.

Outflow dominant storm near Douro Texas on I-20.

We were well northeast of the first 2 tornadoes but had a very nice intercept on #3. Looking forward to going over the data. It was also a very scary day for Midland Texas, with several tornado warnings in the area and massive flooding.

May 10th Tornado Outbreak Report

2010-05-14T00:30:00.003-06:00

Vortex 2 deployed on destructive tornadic supercells monday. We started the day with a plan of intercepting the storms as they moved E/NE from the I-35 urban corridor. We spent most of the day in Stroud Oklahoma, just Northeast of OKC. Storms fired and we dropped Southeast, ending up East of Seminole Oklahoma. Probe 8 intercepted a large tornado just north of the Highway 56/9 intersection. 22 tornadoes have been confirmed with widespread damage to several counties in Oklahoma and Kansas. 2 deaths were reported from this outbreak.

Paul Markowski, Associate Professor of Meteorology at Penn State briefs Vortex 2 participants about the action plan of the day.

Last minute repairs and modifications shortly before the chase.

The Vortex 2 Probe team awaiting initiation in Stroud Oklahoma.

Large tornado about to cross highway 56, just north of highway 9, East of Seminole.

Outflow dominant storm. This was the 2nd target storm of the day for V2.

Tornado damage on the north side of Seminole.

Monday was simply crazy, terrifying, and horrible, especially for the residents who were affected by these storms. Extremely fast storm motions and unfavorable terrain made a very difficult deployment for V2. Hopefully, our data collection efforts will prove valuable and further the cause to improve warning times and accuracy for the general public.

I have several more chase reports upcoming...

April 22 Eads Colorado Tornadoes

2010-04-25T15:00:00.002-06:00

Jon Merage and I got a late start out of Denver and blasted Southeast through Limon to just North of the Eads Colorado area. We had no data so I called Dan Cianca who told me a tornado warned storm was coming up from the South. Thanks Dude! We peaked a hill to see an elongated looking storm with several tornadoes on the ground!

We will have to do some video analysis to see how many different tornadoes we actually recorded. LCLs were very low and it was almost impossible to pick out separate mesocyclonic features. These tornadoes were occurring in an environment characterized by a 54/54 temp/dewpoint with incredible shear. We observed several multivortex tornadoes with assorted cones, trunks, and ropes, followed by a wedge. The storm seemed to die after the wedge so we headed into Southwest Kansas and caught a large tornado from a distance looking North from just West of Garden City Kansas.

Deer Creek Shooting, Here We Go Again

2010-02-24T00:51:00.002-07:00

Two schools, 11 years. Who would have thought it could happen again, let alone in the same neighborhood.

Jefferson County Sheriff's officers set up a roadblock near Deer Creek Middle School, where an unidentified man shot two students Tuesday. Photo by Sean Mullins . smullin5@mscd.edu

Mackenzie Owens, a Deer Creek student, is comforted by her mother shortly after the shooting. Owens said "I saw the shooting. We only heard one shot." Photo by Sean Mullins . smullin5@mscd.edu

Ashley Marcon, a Deer Creek Student, is comforted by her family shortly after the shooting at Deer Creek Middle School. Ashley's mother said "she saw the victims come into the room after the shooting." Photo by Sean Mullins . smullin5@mscd.edu

I was in 8th grade at Dear Creek during the Columbine shootings. Today is a jarring reminder that these things can happen anywhere, anytime.

Things to Come!

2010-02-10T02:54:00.001-07:00

Spring cant get here sooner!

Best of San Francisco 2009

2010-02-09T01:03:00.002-07:00

This is pretty belated but oh well. Some keepers from my San Francisco trip last Fall.

Twilight at Tillamook Bay

2010-01-07T23:23:00.002-07:00

Happy New Year! I just returned from a fantastic trip to Oregon to see family and friends. Photography wasnt my top priority but I managed to get this shot during our one decent weather day on the Oregon coast.

This is looking NW from the pier at Garibaldi on the North side of Tillamook Bay. A 30 second exposure brought out nice saturated greys and blues while smoothing the water. The only post-processing was setting black and white points and sharpening.

Cheers and Happy New Year!

Cable Car Number 23

2009-10-21T12:50:00.003-06:00

Howdy all! This is one of many projects from my recent San Francisco journey.

Please allow a few moments for the slide show to load. Also, pause the music at the bottom of my page if you wish to enjoy this with no distractions!

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Life on Wheels

2009-09-29T01:04:00.002-06:00

Another recent project!

MSCD HipHop

2009-09-03T15:18:00.002-06:00

I shot some promo stuff for MetRadio the other day and was pretty happy with the shots so I figured I would share a few.

Columbia River Gorge Redoux

2009-08-14T02:08:00.002-06:00

Lower Ruckel Creek Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon.

I screwed up the white balance and a few other things so here is a much better version of the original shot!

This waterfall is a pain in the ass to reach. We had to scramble 2 miles up a creek with tons of fallen trees and mosquitos. The trek was well worth it as we were greeted with really nice light. I tried to add to the atmosphere by breathing on the lens to get a little glow in the highlights(thanks to Marc Adamus for the tip!). This is the cliche composition, but I will post the others when I have more time. Goodnight from Manzanita, Oregon!

6/14/09 Belated Kansas Tornado

2009-06-18T02:27:00.003-06:00

This was supposed to be the day before the day but ended up being the day! Our storm really looked like outflow crap but somehow managed to put down a short-lived tube. The tornado was in Haskell County, Ks. 2-3 miles west of the 144/83 intersection. There was no rope out stage. The tornado simply got destroyed by outflow lol! On a strange note, We bagged this tube the day after our obligations with V2 ended. Maybe there was a curse lol!

Casual Local Chase

2009-06-18T01:21:00.002-06:00

Headed east out of Denver today. I tracked the storm from Watkins to Yuma and had a blast. The storm tried hard to tornado near Otis and dropped some 3 inch hail north of Yuma. This structure early on was very nice, but I ended up with strange color casts from the Polarizer, which I am now ditching. Updates from the rest of the season are coming soon.

Random Storms

2009-06-13T00:00:00.002-06:00

I'm so far behind with photos right now so here are a few random selections. The latter half of the Vortex 2 project has been a blast. Only one tornado, but great storms, structure, and science have made this effort plenty productive. I take comfort in the fact that we need to learn more about non-tornadic storms as well. Tomorrow is the last day of the project so we are hoping for one more tornado obviously. I have many more images that will be spewed fourth randomly over the coming weeks...

Sand Hills Majesty

2009-06-07T00:42:00.002-06:00

A marginal day with a storm that struggled with the cap and anemic surface flow. Probe 8 sampled atomized rain drops, only a few hundred feet south of the hail core. The storm briefly produced epic high based structure and 1.75 inch hail before interacting negatively with an outflow boundary and becoming elongated. We are looking forward to a great chase day tomorrow where boundaries will play a key role in tornadogenesis and associated V2 intercepts.

Regarding today's photography: I tried a new post processing workflow to increase the dynamic range of the scene. It is essentially an un-tonemapped HDR with a simple mask in the foreground. The improper use of a polarizer caused an unnatural color gradient in the sky but I am happy with the global saturation of the image. I will surely be exploring this technique again in the near future.

Scroll down for an epic tornado on the previous chase!

High Plains Magic!

2009-06-06T03:02:00.002-06:00

4 a.m. update lol. Im seeing crap from lack of sleep and I hope these pix are toned ok. Anyway, a quick edit here. Cant go into details obviously but I saw my first Wyoming tornado! V2 got a great dataset and Probe 8 sampled rotating rain curtains just prior to tornadogenesis!

Vortex 2 Random Stuff

2009-06-05T01:17:00.003-06:00

Sorry for the lack of updates but all I wanna do after chasing is to sleep. Anyway, we have been roaming the plains for several weeks now with a nice break inbetween. The disdrometer ended up being screwed so we just have a mesonet now, which is better than nothing for sure lol. Had a decent chase today in the High Plains and damn near bagged a tube, but weak surface flow put the kiabosh on that. The weather is finally starting to shape up. We have several upcoming chase days over the weekend and next week. Im looking forward to collecting data in tornadic storms for once lol! Ill try and update more in the near future.

Probe #8 with nice storm!

On the road again!

Jon Merage and Aaron Kennedy get SASSI up and running.

Jon Merage troubleshoots with the data logger, just before the heat of the chase.

This picture sums up the month of May for Vortex 2, but thats all about to change.

This one is for the Chili's Sw Plaza Crew. Miss yall!

Lightning and Disdrometers

2009-05-15T18:45:00.002-06:00

We had a crappy chase on the 13th, missed tornadoes to our North and East, but managed to get some sick lightning. This storm was fierce! The lightning was purple and positive the whole time. No staccato here, just positive super plasma bolts lol!

In other news, we have attached the mesonet to the Durango, finally! We are also going to be attaching a torpedo sized Disdrometer, which allows us to measure drop size, distribution, and velocity of falling hydrometeors(rain or hail) while we are in motion. we are supposed to travel 38 mph taking readings with the Disdrometer. This thing is supposed to be mounted on aircraft so its pretty cool looking. To the best of my knowledge, we will be the only team in V2 with a Disdrometer capable of collecting data while we are in motion. So, its really awesome to have a unique research tool! Today appears to be the last good severe weather opportunity for several days. We will continue updating the vehicle and hopefully come back to Denver for a few days! Ill post some vehicle shots as soon as everything is completed.

5/8/09 Texas Chase Report

2009-05-10T14:00:00.002-06:00

100th blog post Woooo! Anyway, we intercepted this supercell just south of Saint Jo, Tx after a nice bbq dinner at the Rib Joint in Ardmore, Ok. We didn't have much hope for the day, but huge instability and marginal shear gave us some great structure and a possible tornado. Fires burning in Mexico made for a very hazy chase and wonderful sunset colors!

The above image was taken from Saint Jo, looking north at 9:53 p.m. Im not going to call this a tornado but it sure is damn tempting. I did have water on the lens so Im not discounting the fact that it could be an artifact or reflection. Anyway, a solid shear couplet was present at this time so... Opinions on this would be appreciated! Obviously, this image was globally edited heavily.

5/5/09 Texas Chase Report

2009-05-06T14:53:00.003-06:00

We started the day in Norman and traveled to Abilene, Tx. Towers began to go up along the warm front to our Northeast and we blasted to Breckenridge, Tx. The first storm moved north of the WF and died but the second one rode it, started to hook out and move Southeast. It chased us, along with 300 other chasers down to I-20 and began to weaken as it moved off of the WF and a 700mb warm air intrusion ate it. We observed many wall clouds but no tornadoes obviously. Northwesterly 500mb flow prevented this storm from sustaining a strong mesocyclone. The core prevented adequate inflow from reaching the meso that was located on the Northwest side of the storm. I still hate NW flow events! Beautiful storm though...

A Dying Storm and Thoughts on Tommorow

2009-05-04T15:09:00.003-06:00

We chased May 1st in North Texas and saw the storms near the Seymour area. Nothing too photogenic untill the storm began to die. Im really digging the files the 30D produces, as long as I dont underexpose lol!

Regarding tommorow's chase potential: Im on the fence with this one but we are so close to the target area, Im not sure I could turn it down. The cap looks to be quite strong, but this could be a good thing if we can get one isolated storm. Low level shear looks pretty good, despite the upper level winds causing venting over the inflow. LCLs could be crappy with 25-30 degree spreads but will improve as storms move away from the heat axis. Im sure if we get a storm, it will be impressive, just not sure about tornadoes as of yet. If the NAM holds true, Im looking at a target on I-20 between Sweetwater and Abilene.

Chasing North Texas Tommorow!

2009-05-01T02:02:00.002-06:00

Bedding down in Norman, Oklahoma for the night. Targeting near the triple point in North Texas, likely near Seymour or Throckmorton. H5 winds look marginal but the WRF throws a 45kt impulse right over the triple point at 0z, we will see lol. Anyway, the 4km WRF shows one booming supercell with a hook in our target area. It will be nice to wake up so close to the target!

Chasing Today

2009-04-30T10:29:00.003-06:00

We are leaving a little late but Im sure we can make Northern Oklahoma well before dark. We will drop south from Hays, Ks and see if we can get some OFBs working for us. After the chase, we will head to Norman, Ok. where we will spend the next 10 days prepping Jon's vehicle before the madness begins. Stay tuned!

Meh...

2009-04-29T03:01:00.002-06:00

April 26th, 2009 will go down in my mind as a failure, despite seeing a tornado. Our targeting was good and we got on the Roger Mills County storm to see the first tornado. We should have continued north to see the next, larger, tornado form near the Canadien river, but we decided to blast South to more discreet cells coming up from the Red River. My photos simply suck and are horribly underexposed but here is a few anyway. I will post a report and better pix from the non-tornadic storms on the 25th when I get more time.

Big Time Tornado Potential!

2009-04-25T11:17:00.003-06:00

Sitting in Amarillo and after a nice lunch at Chili's will head to the Shamrock Tx area. Today is looking impressive with huge helicity values and higher dewpoints than forecast. Upper and mid level winds look to favor manigable storm motions! Check for twitter updates.

Chasing Saturday and Sunday

2009-04-24T19:03:00.002-06:00

Im heading to Amarillo, Tx tonight for a couple of nice looking chase days. The GFS and NAM still differ regarding the placement of surface features, so I will go with a blend of the two, which looks like the Eastern Texas panhandle, into Western Oklahoma. Im alittle unsure about the target for Sunday, but I imagine it may be slightly further south than than Saturday. Stay tuned and watch my twitter for updates.

Candlelight Vigil for Columbine

2009-04-21T15:05:00.003-06:00

Photo by SEAN MULLINS/smullins.photo@gmail.com
LITTLETON, CO - Hundreds of people gathered Sunday, on the 10th anniversary of the Columbine shooting, to mourn the loss of the 13 students and faculty who were killed in the attack.

Photo by SEAN MULLINS/smullins.photo@gmail.com
LITTLETON, CO - The family of Dave Sanders gather to celebrate his life during a candlelight vigil at the Columbine Memorial on Sunday, April 19, 2009. Sanders, a faculty member at Columbine, was killed during the attack on April 20, 1999.

Photo by SEAN MULLINS/smullins.photo@gmail.com
LITTLETON, CO - Mourners gather at the top of the Columbine Memorial during a candlelight vigil on Sunday, April 19, 2009.

Photo by SEAN MULLINS/smullins.photo@gmail.com
LITTLETON, CO - Maggie and Elizabeth Hickman mourn the deaths of the 13 Columbine students and faculty during a candlelight vigil on Sunday, April 19, 2009. One day before the 10th anniversary of the deadly shooting.

Photo by SEAN MULLINS/smullins.photo@gmail.com
LITTLETON, CO - A candlelight vigil was held on Sunday, April 19, 2009. At the Columbine Memorial, to remember the 13 students and faculty who perished during the school shooting.

Opinionated Discussion: This was one of the more emotional stories I have covered. The Columbine massacre happened shortly after my family moved to Colorado from Oregon, and only a year after "Kip" Kinkel went on a rampage at Thurston High School, in Springfield Oregon. These unfortunate events had my family taking a second look at inserting me into the public curriculum here in Littleton. It was very important for me to get out and document this event, and I feel it is necessary for everyone to be reminded of what took place here, not only for safety awareness but for the families that continue to suffer from their losses. My thoughts are with all who suffered in this tragedy. You will never be forgotten!

Self Critique: I have become quite rusty with the PJ stuff over the past few months. Gosh, the last thing I covered was the MLK Parade. Anyway, it was a pretty tough setting. Emotions were running high and the amount of PJs was clearly upsetting some people. Its our job to tell these stories and every PJ at the event was quite respectful, even when the Sanders family asked a few PJs to stop taking pictures. My frames are just ok with the exception of the Hill shot which I really like because of the layering. It was my first candlelight vigil so I did learn quite a bit. I was able to get away with 1600 ISO, which was good, and I didn't even have to put the 50 on like I planned. If I could do it again, a wide, fast prime like a 24mm 1.4 would be perfect. I feel my pictures lack that identifiable Columbine aspect, such as someone wearing a Columbine shirt with a candle or the school in the background or something to that effect. lessons learned and will nail it next time.

Sean

Preliminary Target For Thursday

2009-04-15T03:56:00.002-06:00

Kit Carson County is my pick for an isolated supercell around 21Z, on the nose of what appears to be a small dry-punch feature. Only a brief window of opportunity will exist for tornadic potential as heating and instability will obviously be quite limited. I'm encouraged by an STP of 5 and and dews approaching 50, which is doable by high plains standards, especially considering the low LCLs created by small Temp/Dp spreads. Anyway, it should make for a great lightshow at least.

Belated 3/23 Chase Report

2009-03-26T01:14:00.002-06:00

We had a nice cloudy drive to Wichita on Sunday and woke up in the target area Monday morning. We intercepted our first supercell near Kingman, Ks but it quickly left us in the dust as it appeared to be on the verge of tornadoing somewhere near Cheney Reservoir. We drove back to Wichita and south on I-35 as storms were beginning to erupt in northern Oklahoma way too early. We got position on the dominant supercell just east of South Haven, Ks. The storm was rather elongated but managed to produce a few brief tornadoes. Overall, the setup failed to meet our expectations but we had a nice go of it for the first chase of 2009.

In other news, it appears we are in for some heavy snow here in Western Littleton. I'm looking for 15-20 inches here at the house before all is set and done. I will possibly be shooting some heavy snow action tomorrow. Look for winter weather updates.

Plan for Monday!

2009-03-22T21:27:00.008-06:00

Had a nice cloudy drive to Wichita this afternoon. It doesnt look like we will have to go far for tomorrow's setup. Nice 100kt upper jet and a 70kt mid jet = pure forcing! Anything on the dryline will be spinning like hell. Upper 50s dews look just fine with the shear, and 1km SRH around 250 looks good for a possibility of strong tornadoes. We have a few guests on this trip and we are looking forward to sharing their first tornadoes tomorrow evening. As always, we wish a safe day to all who chase or reside in the path of these storms.

OMFG!

Sundays Target is Garden City

2009-03-22T09:51:00.003-06:00

The RUC paints a nice CAPE bullseye near the Garden City area by 0z. The H5 impulse will be early and may cause subsudence in its wake, but hopefully, storms will manage to fire. Any storm that goes up in this area will have a good chance of becoming a supercell. Expectations are not high but we may get a nice storm near sunset. Updates coming after the chase.

New Video From June 12, 2008

2009-03-18T20:39:00.002-06:00

Jon Merage just put this great video on YouTube for our viewing pleasure.

Also, it appears that Monday has some serious tornado potential as a strong negative tilted trough enters the plains. I'm going to wait for a couple more model runs before doing a forecast. So far, I see a few issues regarding cloud cover and surface heating. otherwise, we have great shear and upper support for a significant severe weather event.

SMM

The Solution?

2009-03-16T03:57:00.002-06:00

This isn't quite wide enough on a 1.6x crop camera such as my 30D, but on a 5D, it would be an ultra-wide. One could tilt the focus plane and be shooting Very Sharp Lightning at F/3.5, regardless of the distance from the camera. The Canon TS-E 24L doesn't have autofocus, but who uses AF at night anyway? This along with the newly released, albeit expensive TS-E 17L, present real, mostly overlooked options for the Low-Light Stormscape photographer. I'm curious to hear about other stormchaser's experiences with these lenses. For $800 used, I might just have to pick one up.
A cool article can be found here if anyone wants to read up on the advantages of TS lenses.

A New Look

2009-03-13T03:52:00.005-06:00

Bigger is better right? From here on out, my photos will be posted in GRANDE size! A few more changes are also upcoming before terrorizing the Great Plains in a few weeks. Consider this blog Under Construction!

Twittering Through the Storm Season

2009-03-12T21:29:00.003-06:00

Hey everyone. Sorry for the long period of silence. I havent had a whole lot going on aside from busting my butt at work, saving for stormchasing. Im setting up a Twitter account for real-time updates during the entire storm season. Ill see if I can get this thing to post directly to my blog but for now, updates will be sent to this location- http://twitter.com/SeanMMullins. Look for more updates in the coming weeks.
SMM

Retarded Sigma Lens!

2009-02-12T00:45:00.010-07:00

Well, I saw that this was released a few months ago but have yet to see a review until tonight. Seriously crazy stuff! Doesn't look that huge next to a Canon 600L.

Check out this link for the review if you are so inclined.
http://www.juzaphoto.com/eng/articles/sigma_200-500_2_8_ex_dg_review_test_hands_on.htm

In other funny shit...

Already?

2009-02-04T16:33:00.007-07:00

Well, Ive been watching this for a while now, and now that the GFS has been consistant for the past few runs, ill bite tentatively. Im eyeing a potential Cold Core Tornadic setup in western KS on Sunday. West/Central TX could also see some action with the stronger jet core in that area, as well as more availible moisture. Due to work constraints, I have to sit out the TX setup either way, so Ill focus on the CC setup.

Winds back nicely around the surface low sitting in Eastern CO, creating some mean looking shear profiles with the H5 winds shooting out of the SW at 50kts.

H5 winds could be closer to 55-60kts somewhere during the 18-0Z timeframe.

Nice little CAPE bubble shows up just to the east of the vigorous surface low.

H5 temps barely meet the criteria for a CC setup, but ill take anything I can get.

Im hoping the surface features will work out with an unimpeded warm sector, nice dry air intrusion, and slightly higher dewpoints than forecast.
If this run verifies, I think we could see some tornadoes around I-70 north to the tri-state intersection. Ill have a close eye on this one to say the least.

Denver MLK Marade 2009

2009-01-20T03:23:00.012-07:00

I ventured down to City park Monday to document the MLK Day celebrations. I made some pretty crappy pictures but I feel they are pretty much on par with the local papers and such. I need to shoot more so i don't get rusty while I'm taking the semester off from college.

Up to 20 thousand people marched in Denver's annual Marade on Monday in honor of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Jessica and Bridget Johnson of Denver show their support Monday for President elect, Barack Obama while honoring the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the annual Denver Marade. The Johnsons welcomed the warm, sunny weather after last year's Marade was frozen with temperatures well below zero.

Thousands gathered at Denver's City Park Monday for the annual Marade in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Ample song and dance accompanied Denver's annual Marade as up to 20 thousand people marched down Colfax Avenue Monday.

Wallace Garrison of Denver shines his portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in preparation for Denver's annual Marade.

My First Audio Slideshow!!!

2008-12-11T15:16:00.003-07:00

This slideshow was created for educational purposes only and was used as the final project in my photojournalism class. The music is used within the strict guidelines of fair use under the Copyright Act title 17, section 107 U. S. Code. Let me know what ya think yall!

Saturday Gay Rights Protest in Denver

2008-11-17T22:25:00.008-07:00

I shot this for a photojournalism class assignment. All in all, it was a pretty fun shoot. I blasted almost 800 frames between my cameras lol! I had a hard time choosing which photos to include in my final edit but this is what I came up with. Ill spare you from the captions this time!

First Measurable Snowfall for Denver!

2008-11-14T09:28:00.003-07:00

I woke up early for this one and eagerly awaited the snowband to arrive from the north. We got about 2.5 inches with light snow still falling. We were only a week away from Denver's latest snowfall record but managed to avoid that just in time. The cute kid in the pictures is my nephew, Asher.

Pre-production Design for my new Website

2008-11-12T01:46:00.004-07:00

Ive been brainstorming ideas for my new website and after some time, have arrived at this design.
The layout mimics Marc Adamus' website, albeit quite poorly. There will be plenty of elements to make it unique, especially since Im not using the template that he paid someone thousands of dollars to create. Its going to be interesting to see if I can peice together a website from a series of TIFFs that I have produced. If anyone has any ideas about how to do this, using Fireworks or Photoshop, please get in touch. Im going to host with Google considering they are huge and can get me the best bang for my buck. Once again, any constructive critisism is much appreciated.

Avs vs Kings September 24th, 2008

2008-09-30T21:39:00.009-06:00

Avalanche preseason opener, What a blast! Despite the shootout loss, I thought the boys did a great job even with a few defensive giveaways. Better to get it over with in the preseason. Ryan Smith was all over the place with 2 goals and an assist tonight. Also got him in a cool moment when a puck flew over the glass into the crowd as he turned to make sure everyone was ok. Im going to the Dallas game tommorow so look for more pix from that one.

AVS 2008 Burgundy White Scrimmage

2008-09-30T21:35:00.007-06:00

Assorted pix from the game. Too lazy to caption right now.

9/18/08 Poster and Updates

2008-09-18T23:42:00.003-06:00

This poster was created for my first assignment in Digital art and Design class.

Its been a little while so here is a few updates for everyone. My new website is in its planning stages. Its going to be a photography website obviously that will be showcasing my photojournalism portfolio as well as storm chasing photos and digital art. I will also be selling prints and licensing photos through the website. This blog will continue to be my stream of thoughts throughout the whole process.

Procession for the Future Street Puppet March 8/26/08

2008-09-02T14:20:00.008-06:00

Photo by SEAN MULLINS / smullin5@mscd.edu
Advocates for the legalization of marijuana were out in full force on Tuesday. Greg, of Denver, a marijuana user, lost everything after being charged with felony marijuana possession when his house was raided by police last week. Greg said he uses marijuana for medicinal purposes but does not use it legally under state law for the fear of Federal intervention.

Photo by SEAN MULLINS / smullin5@mscd.edu
Vietnam veteran, Ron Kovic and members from Iraq Veterans Against the War gave a press conference on Tuesday at the Veterans Memorial in front of the State Capitol Building. Kovic called for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and a renewed focus on the Taliban in Afghanistan, who attacked the U.S. in the first place.

Photo by SEAN MULLINS / smullin5@mscd.edu
Jonathan, a graduate of the Metropolitan State College of Denver, Supports Iraq Veterans Against the War Tuesday, shortly before a speech by Vietnam veteran, Ron Kovic at the Veterans Memorial in front of the State Capitol Building. Police presence at the event was for security purposes only.

Photo by SEAN MULLINS / smullin5@mscd.edu
The Word Trade Center towers were one of several mockups placed in front of the Denver City and County Building Tuesday during the Procession for the Future Puppet March. The march was organized by The Backbone Campaign in cooperation with Recreate 68.

Photo by SEAN MULLINS / smullin5@mscd.edu
Members of Code Pink and the Backbone Campaign unite at the Procession for the Future Street Puppet March near Civic Center Park on Tuesday. The pictured giant replica of the U.S. Constitution was signed by thousands of attendees and protesters and paraded through the streets of Denver.

Photo by SEAN MULLINS / smullin5@mscd.edu
Boulder resident, Morgan, age 22, made the commute to Denver Tuesday with hopes of protesting with the We Are Change Colorado group at Civic Center Park. Morgan pointed out several anomalies in the 911 attacks while explaining the while thing was an "inside job."

Photo by SEAN MULLINS / smullin5@mscd.edu
Joby Weeks, 27, of Denver, voices his opinions about the attacks on 911 and what he believes to be an inside job at Denver's Civic Center Park Wednesday. Weeks said, "we have a government that is more dangerous than the enemy it claims to be protecting us from."

Iraq Veterans Against the War March 8/27/08

2008-08-28T00:47:00.018-06:00

Photo by SEAN MULLINS / smullin5@mscd.edu
The Backbone Campaign's executive director, Bill Moyer, leads the incarcerated costumes of President Bush and Dick Cheney through the Iraq Veterans Against the War March wednesday. These costumes were used in several protests on the streets of Denver.

Photo by SEAN MULLINS / smullin5@mscd.edu
Zack de la Rocha, left, Tom Morello and Tim Commerford from the band, Rage Against the Machine join protesters at the Iraq Veterans Against the War March Wednesday. The band played a free concert at the Denver Colosseum before the protest that ended near the Pepsi Center.

Photo by SEAN MULLINS / smullin5@mscd.edu
A police officer watches as protesters, led by members from the band, Rage Against the Machine march down Arapahoe street, toward the Pepsi Center Wednesday.

Photo by SEAN MULLINS / smullin5@mscd.edu
Iraq Veterans Against the War march down Broadway towards Arapahoe street. Three thousand protesters took part in the march that ended peacefully after sunset wednesday.

Photo by SEAN MULLINS / smullin5@mscd.edu
Peacefull protesters march down Arapahoe St. in support of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Photo by SEAN MULLINS / smullin5@mscd.edu
The Metropolitan State College of Denver is closed for the Democratic National Convention this week. The march for Iraq Veterans Against the War made its way across the Auraria Campus on the way to the Pepsi Center wednesday.

Photo by SEAN MULLINS / smullin5@mscd.edu
Veterans and civillians alike celebrate when the protest, conducted without a permit ends peacefully. The crowd dispersed as a meeting was arranged between one of presidential candidate Barack Obama's aides and a veteran spokesman to discuss the immediate withdrawl of "all occupying forces".

Photo by SEAN MULLINS / smullin5@mscd.edu
Disabled Vietnam War veteran, Ron Kovic celebrates as demands from the protesters are met and a meeting is arranged with an aide from Obama's campaign.

DNC Comes to Denver

2008-08-25T00:39:00.003-06:00

This morning marks the first day of the DNC. I will be covering all four days of the convention. I will be shooting for the Met and freelancing for local media outlets. Follow the adventures of my colleuges and myself here:

http://metrostudentmedia.blogspot.com/

Gearing Up For Fall Photojournalism

2008-07-24T23:59:00.009-06:00

An ode to a fantastic summer filled with ample golf and stormchasing! What more could a man ask for? Im getting ready for another photojournalism class so i figured this would be appropriate. This is my most sucessful photoessey from last simester and involves a round of golf played by my Father.

Ive also upgraded my photo system to include a Canon 30D camera. So another $645 down and Im ready to go with 2 body setup. No more changing lenses and missing shots!

Ken-Caryl Valley Storm 6/25/08

2008-06-26T03:24:00.006-06:00

What a nice suprise! A sweet, photogenic storm went up over the Ken-Caryl Valley right at sunset. This thing had cool structure and awesome lightning. The first shots are in my hood and the last one is out at Castle Pines Pkwy and I-25. Im really happy with these shots! This will help ease the pain of having to miss tommorow's tornadic setup in South Dakota.

Ducking For Cover!

2008-06-23T13:14:00.002-06:00

This was taken somewhere south of Wichita, Ks. On June 12th.

Jon and I were both ducking for cover as this struck about 50 yards from us. The photo was taken at 10mm so it looks further away than it really was. I was really lucky to be stopped down and have the shutter open at this point. June 12th was a frustrating day with a cold front crashing through the area. We had all but given up home. we were hunting for a place to get dinner in Wichita as a huge supercell formed right over the southern part of the city. We were unable to get east of the hook due to traffic, street flooding, and road construction. More supercells formed to the southwest and we were able to intercept these after dark for some killer lightning. The bulk of my chasing this season is behind me. I will save my money for the outbreaks in August and September barring a potent tornadic setup closer to home. I will continue to shoot storms and lightning in the Denver area throughout the summer.

5/22-5/24 NEW VIDS!!!

2008-06-09T20:54:00.004-06:00

Here is the video courtesy of Jon Merage. His video and editing skills are fantastic and these vids bring justice to these tornadoes like no photograph can do.

Multiple tornadoes near Orlando, Ok. on the 24th!

Hoxie, Ks. Multivortex madness on the 22nd!

More of Jon's videos can be found at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/jmchaser

Fantastic Nightime Tornadoes in Kansas!!!

2008-05-30T22:18:00.011-06:00

Another Amazing chase!!! I finally was able to take tripoded shots of a tornado at night with lightning. We were just north of Belleville, Ks. observing this tornado.

Well, this is pretty much the money shot. Focus was a little off and ISO 800 left a little something to be desired but I am thrilled regardless.

Awesome Tornado!!! This image is heavily edited.

Finally!

Another Killer shot. I was loosing it as I reviewed this image on my camera.

Very Nice Structure! It was hard to tell how many seperate tornadoes were observed.

Action in Kearney, Ne. Earlier in the day.

Nasty looking wall cloud. Not sure if there was a tornado here.

This was sooo close to touching down.

We started the day in Goodland, Ks. noticing that the SPC had their risk way too far east. All it took was an easy drive to Hays and and north to Kearney, NE. The Kearney storm was fierce but visibility was an issue. We watched power flashes and a rain-wrapped tornado pass through north Kearney. We abandoned the storm near Grand Island, Ne. and dropped south to a new supercell near Beloit, Ks. We were pretty late for this one but after shooting lightning in Concordia, Ks. we booked north to Belleville with hopes of a nightime tornado. Obviously, we got our wish and some great shots to boot. A few tornadoes and a possible wedge were observed north of Belleville. This and previous chases in May have all lead to tornadoes. We are going on 5 consecutive chase days with observed tornadoes, Fantastic!! Hopefully the trend will continue with minimal loss of life and minimal damage to property in the effected areas.

5/24 Oklahoma Tornadoes

2008-05-27T17:42:00.009-06:00

2 tornadoes on the ground here. The one in the foreground moved right at us as the other tornado roped out. This storm offered very little in the way of visibility after these tubes.

Our attention quickly focused on this tornado that came right at us.

Majestic tornado in its weakening stage.

A nice CG blasts right through the RFD of the decaying supercell.

Intense lightning right over the highway.

This day offered two potential targets, one to the north in Nebraska and one to the south along an outflow boundary in north/central Oklahoma. We didnt like the instability forecast for Nebraska so we blasted south to Oklahoma where a large tornadic supercell was already ongoing. We were quite late to the storm but that didnt stop us from seeing 2, possibly 3 tornadoes. This was also the only real quality lightning op for us over the 4 days.

Despite a really great stormchase, many people lost their lives and homes in this tornado outbreak. The tornado in Parkersburg that killed at least 6 has been rated an EF-5 by NWS Des Moines, the first in Iowa since 1976. My thoughts are with all who were affected by these tornadic events.

5/23 Tornadoes in kansas

2008-05-27T17:32:00.005-06:00

Nasty EF-4 Tornado to the south of Quinter, Ks. On an intercept course with us. This was my first time being chased by a violent tornado.

The tornado went multivortex as it crossed the highway before wedging out north of Quinter.

Contrast enhanced image of one of the tornadoes north of Ness City, Ks.

Another Amazing day! We watched the Quinter, Ks. EF-4 tornado cross I-70 right infront of us. It was a nasty looking cone south of the highway but transformed into a multivortex tornado as it crossed the I-70. Unfortunately, the road network in the area sucked, offering no paved road options north out of Quinter just as we experienced on May 22nd of last year. Many chasers found them selves stuck in the mud around the Quinter area. We blasted east after seeing this tube and dropped south to the next storm. We go stuck behind the ROTATE armada but witnessed two more tornadoes north of Ness City, Ks. The light was very low and I had to use a high ISO so the pictures kinda suck.

5/22 chase report with 3 tornadoes in kansas

2008-05-22T22:04:00.004-06:00

Jon Merage and I woke up in Colby and travelled south to Scott City, Ks. It wasnt long before the first supercell formed to our southeast. We tracked the storm north where we witnessed a brief tornado near Monument Rocks, Ks. We continued north past I-70 where we witnessed the rope-out of a tornado south of Hoxie. After that, we headed east of Hoxie where we filmed the birth and almost full life of a large tornado. The tornado started out as a multi-vortex cone and quickly morphed into a large, full condensation cone with violent movement. Some may have called it a wedge but I like cone better. We tried to follow the storm north but encountered downed power lines and broke off the chase. We are in McCook tonight and wont have far to drive for a very similar setup with fast northerly storm motions. I will have pix up soon.

Significant Tornadoes Possible Today!

2008-05-22T10:04:00.003-06:00

Jon and I woke up in Colby, Ks. This morning. We really dont have too far to go but may drop south just a bit. There is a risk for strong tornadoes in southwest and west/central Ks. Will be posting a report later tonight assuming we arent dodging supercells near Mcook, Ne. after dark.

(Update)Nasty Weather Coming Next Week!!!

2008-05-16T20:42:00.008-06:00

(Update)
The GFS just updated here before bedtime. Things are looking better and better for the possibility of an outbreak late nextweek, likely on friday. The ECMWF model is in fairly good agreement with the GFS so this gives me confidence that these models are not full of crap. We are going to be out starting wednesday where there will be a chance for tornadic storms after dark. The cap on wednesday looks crazy now but this could change. Either way, we are in full chase mode starting next week.
(Update)

This spring has been very active for severe weather in all the wrong places. Unfortunately, we have already had many deaths as a result of tornadoes in Oklahoma and Arkansas. Next week is showing some pretty big potential starting Wednesday and possibly lasting through saturday or longer. The GFS forecast model is painting a pretty picture for us stormchasers but lives could also be in danger. I really havent seen a trough like this since Greensburg. The atmosphere is going to be primed for huge supercells with ample moisture and INCREDIBLE forecasted shear and upper energy.

Really nice mid and upper energy progged for central Kansas on Wedensday with 50-70kts at 500mb.

Decent moisture and a dryline with dry air punching in from the southwest. It will be nice to chase in west/central Kansas for once!

This thing BOMBS out at 978mb!!! Surface temps are going to be nearing 100 in sw Kansas. Im pretty worried about the cap on this day (18c at H7) but we will have some pretty strong forcing. We will have to wait and see how it developes.

Upper winds are INSANE on Friday. Almost 100kts at 500mb!!! And 125kts at 250mb!

Friday just looks downright nasty! Although it may be a squall line with linear forcing perpendicular to the dryline.

This of course could all change but the GFS has been fairly consistant in bringing this trough into the plains. Everything looks to be in phase so it will be interesting to see how strong the cap is and how the surface features set up. Jon Merage and I will be out Wedensday through Saturday or longer. We will go wherever the storms are, including Missouri, Iowa, and Arkansas if nececarry. Im ready for some Naders!!!

(Updated Video)4/23 Texas Chase Report

2008-04-28T02:41:00.014-06:00

Link to video courtesy of my chase partner, Jon Merage.

A frustrating day. We woke up in Clayton, NM after driving through the night. We slept in when we should have been on the road at 8 am heading south down to I-20. We had lunch at Chili's and wasted even more time. We werent counting on the main round of storms firing so early after the grunge-fest moved out so we were planning on a 6 or 7 p.m. initiation. The storms didnt wait and there was tornadoes on the ground as we were coming through Lubbock. We blasted south to catch the LaMesa storm. We must have missed the tube by only a few minutes judging by the incredible structure and severe rotation.

This is the view we got as we emerged from a precision core-punch into the middle of the hook. We only encountered quarter sized hail as GR2 was estimating 3.25 inch hail sizes.

This thing had amazing structure.

The LaMeso!!
I only managed snapshots on this chase due to driving and lots of rain.

Strong rotation almost overhead.

Pretty awesome looking storm in its decaying stages (note the dual level inflow).

Nice little sunset storm as we headed back north to our south KS target for the next day. I would have stopped and tripoded but this thing refused to put out any CG's

The next day yeilded no pictures but only video. Jon Merage is reviewing the video to verify if we saw the tornado near Bogue, KS. It looked like a nice tube for sure but we are not certain that it was on the ground due to hills and no line of sight. We were also late to this storm as we missed the spectacular daytime structure while holding out on our south target near Medicine Lodge, KS. It was a bad call but we couldnt convince our selves that the NW, KS storm would produce based on low surface dews and weak surface winds. The storm of course moved into better air and turned into a monster. Im looking forward to more successful chases in the near future.

Sunday 3/30/08 Storm Shots!!!

2008-04-01T21:29:00.007-06:00

Well, what can I say? It was an awesome first chase of the year. Only a few possible brief tornadic circulations were observed but we will have to check the video. Overall, it was a fantastic trip for photography, at least the 30th anyway. Our targeting was precise and our choices were strong. The 31st was a really frustrating day and the 15% hatched tornado risk did not verify. We were right infront of the only tornado reported in Oklahoma but could not verify a touchdown due to poor visibility through trees and hills although witnessing damage in the area. I will have pix from that up later. Im going to skip a lengthy chase report here. These shots are in no particular order.

Killer Sunset with a mini LP Supercell in the distance.

This is the main supercell shortly after initiation.

This is well after dark here shortly before the cell was tornado warned as an increasing low level jet strengthened the storm. We flirted with several supercells in the area after dark.

The first supercell beginning to go outlow dominant

Several of our friends including the Carlsons, and Tony Laubach, sampled this core as we were listening to the hail roar from a safe distance.

3/30/08 Chasing Update

2008-03-31T01:03:00.002-06:00

Today, we chased in Western Oklahoma just south of I-40. Im proud to say we targeted around 10 miles away from the main storms of the day. We chased a few different supercells well into the night and observed several wall clouds and funnels but no tornadoes. We will chase Central and Eastern Oklahoma tommorow before bolting back to Denver in an attempt to make class the next day. Pictures from today's chase will follow when I get back to Denver.

Luongo Pulled During AV'S Ownage!!!

2008-03-27T01:17:00.009-06:00

This is a slideshow depicting the struggles of the Canucks. All of these are shot from the 3rd level with my 200mm f/2.8L and a 1.4x tele-converter. I really need a camera with a spot meter to get consistent exposures. These are roughly edited.

Milan Hejduk had 2 goals and an assist tonight, earning 1st star of the game next to Peter Forsberg and Paul Stastny. Ben Guite scores a goal as Luongo flops in his net.

Cody McLeod goes 5-hole on Luongo to continue the 4th line production.

The AVS celebrate the timely goal by #55 Cody McLeod.

A late scrum shows the frustrations of the Canucks.

This pretty much sums up the night for a HOSER!!!

3/20/08 Possible chase next week

2008-03-20T18:05:00.002-06:00

The longrange GFS model is hinting at a possible setup in w/c OK or north TX. Quality moisture will begin working northward by early next week. This is right on time with last year's March 28th setup. hopefully this will pan out unlike the last time I looked at the GFS this far out.

2/22 Snowboard Shots

2008-03-05T15:28:00.007-07:00

Nothing seemed to be going on today so I headed up to the Ruby Hill Snowboard Park to get some shots for my photojournalism class. My buddy Kyle tagged along so I could get some shots of him on the boxes. Overall it was a pretty decent shoot despite crappy light and a severely cramped park. It was tough to isolate my subjects from the ample distractions in the backgrounds. I utilized my Sigma 10-20mm and Canon 200mm 2.8L lenses. I tried a few with fill flash against the sun with little success.

2/19/07 Baseball and Fast Pitch Softball

2008-02-20T14:48:00.006-07:00

I have been shooting quite a bit of baseball and softball but this was the first time with the new 200mm f/2.8 lens. All of these are shot wide open at f/2.8. I found it hard to beleive that these are so sharp at f/2.8. This lens is truly amazing and I found I didnt miss the zoom one bit. Im not used to shooting at 200mm wide open and I should have stepped down to f/4 or f/5.6 to get a larger depth of field on the subjects in a few shots. Unfortunately, there was no batting practice today so I focused on the pitchers and catchers. I cropped two of these just a tiny bit.

This shot is slightly out of focus but I like the composition here.
Tac sharp, unbelievable.

It would have been nice to have 8fps and captured the whole sequence.

If you look at the ground under the catcher, the extreme shallow depth of field with this lens at f/2.8 is illustrated nicely.

The color, sharpness, and contrast are superior with this lens. This is the best $450 I have ever spent on camera gear.

Skate Shotz

2008-02-18T00:57:00.006-07:00

It was hard to turn down 60 degree weather in February so I headed out the Clement skate park. My photojournalism instructor, the world renowned Kenn Bisio has removed my ability to use zoom or autofocus in order to help me see in focal lengths. I understand the purpose for this but my keeper photo rate has decreased severely. No zoom would have been fine but autofocus could have really helped here. Regardless, I did manage to capture quite a few good shots of some local skateboarders. My special thanks to Ryan, Brandon, and Jonpaul for working with me on this day. These shots are taken with my 70-300 and 10-20mm lenses at the long or short ends of the zoom only.

Ryan does a flip trick on the quarterpipe
Jonpaul leaps over a trashcan. This kid rips for his age.

A tighter crop of Jonpaul before clearing the trash.

Brandon gave me some really great shots today

I did use my new 430EX flash here. I still have some work to do with the white balance here. Notice the purple tint.

In conclusion, this was a pretty decent day. I found it was almost impossible to use my new 10mm lens so the 70-300mm was employed for much of the day. I will take the 28-90mm lens for my next skate shoot. I also want to try shooting this park at night, using the new flash to its full potential.

Am I Going Crazy?

2008-02-13T00:57:00.005-07:00

Ok well that about does it. I have spent quite a bit of cash lately on camera equipment. I pulled the trigger on my photojournalism/sports lens, the Canon 200mm f2.8L prime lens. I have been noticing that I am always shooting at 200mm with my 70-300mm zoom so why bother with the zoom? Anyway, the Canon 200mm f2.8 along with the Sigma 10-20mm and Canon 430EX flash means that I have spent $ 1125 on camera gear this month. I think it is safe to say I am going to be selling all of my cheap ass tamron and Canon kit lenses as im almost broke.

My New Baby 1/25/08

2008-01-25T17:13:00.000-07:00

Finally!!! After nearly a year of searching for a nice used copy of this lens, I found one for sale on Craigslist. This is like the 3rd time that Craigslist has came through for me for buying and selling camera gear. Behold the Sigma 10-20mm f4.0-5.6 EX DG. This lens shows less distortion and better sharpness than its Canon counterpart, the EF-S 10-22mm. This lens is also built way tougher than the flimsy Canon EF-S. After some testing, I concluded that this is a sharp copy and the lens does not have the decentering issue that some others have reported. I will use this lens for panoramic photo composites and up close action sports shots. I will be shooting with this lens tommorow and will post the results soon after.

The lack of a spinning focus ring promotes the use of filters.10mm doesnt come without distortion but this lens will do great with landscapes and action shots. GO GO GADGET ARM!!!Gawd I cant wait to take this stormchasing!!!

1/4/08 Dark Art

2008-01-04T21:56:00.000-07:00

I am fascinated with the way the foreground leads you to the water while adding to the intimidation factor of the cliff face on the other side. I will be playing with this shot for a while as I think it has some serious potential as a fine art peice. Leave comments!!! I need feedback.
This shot also has potential but I find the halo to be distracting. I will re-work this one when I get some time.

I thought these turned out kinda cool despite not being realistic. The HDR treatment makes for some ghostly halos and evil contrast. These are fully intended to be art peices and they are mainly for shits and giggles. The original shots were completely uninteresting but I found that HDR + B/W can make something out of nothing. I am also toying with the idea of adding some old photo treatment suck as crackling and torn edges. We went digital for a reason right?

1/3/08 First Post of the New Year

2008-01-03T00:39:00.001-07:00

Oregon Coast Shots

Slightly before sunset just north of Manzanita, Oregon. I tried to get a wave smashing into this rock but it fizzled.

This was taken before the first shot but I love the really warm light that is hitting the waves and rocks.

This was the only sunshine I saw during my whole trip. We got a nice break in the clouds around sunset as we were heading south towards Manzanita on 101. I waited at this spot for half an hour for the light become optimal and began shooting away. All three of these shots are HDR but were edited to portray what I saw with my own eyes. I had no GND filter so this technique was used to capture the full dynamic range of the scene. These are pretty much the best shots from my trip. Unfortunately, the trip to the Columbia Gorge was a disaster but I am working on one possible keeper from that excursion. I had wanted to get a shot of Portland with Mount Hood in the background but it remained hidden in the clouds. The trip was a failure from the photography standpoint but being able to spend quality time with my family more than made up for that.

50mm Denver Abstracts

2007-11-14T21:59:00.000-07:00

These were all taken with the plastic fantastic 50mm f1.8 lens. I should keep this lens on my camera more often. it was really fun to play with focal points and depth of field at f1.8.

HDR Panorama 9/14 near Altus OK.

2007-11-06T11:52:00.001-07:00

I put this one together the other day usung Photomatix for the HDR and Stiched using CS3. This image constists of 5 frames with 3 shots for each frame bracketed at -2, 0, +2 EV. The autostitch feature in CS3 is simply outstanding. My next project is to create giant photo-composites with perhaps as many as 20 to 30 shots per image.

10/13/07 Kansas Night Chase

2007-10-16T15:30:00.000-06:00

We started the day in Denver with little hope that the cap would break by sundown. Stopped in Great Bend for dinner and just fineshed when storms fired north of Dodge City around 8 p.m. We were treated to an awesome lightning show and some decent storm structure. Our chase ended around 1 a.m. near Wakeeney, where we bunked down for the night. Notice how the lightning is casting shadows upwards in the last two shots. I havent seen this in my lightning shots before.

Chasing Saturday and Sunday

2007-10-12T16:09:00.000-06:00

A really nice autmn severe weather episode appears to be in store for parts of Kansas tommorow. Unlike last week, the forecast models have remained consistant in depicting a really nice severe weather day. The cap will be an issue tommorow but we will be positioning our selves on the nose of a dry punch where airmasses are colliding. A 60-80 kt upper jet will begin to enter the area around 0z and hopefully will provide some decent forcing. Based on the latest NAM model guidance, I am inclined to target near Oakley Kansas. The Merage family and myself will be on the road by 11:00 a.m. tommorow morning. Jon Merage and I will also be staying out for sunday's potential setup in central KS or south central NE. Finally a decent chase opportunity!!!

If the cap breaks, this will be the most likely area for tornadoes Surface based Cape approaches 2500 J/Kg

Fall Colors. 50mm fun

2007-10-05T21:11:00.000-06:00

I wasent able to make it up to the mountains for the fall colors but had some free time today to check things out near the South Platte river. These are all taken with my plastic fantastic 50mm f/1.8 lens. Going chasing this weekend so expect pictures from that by teusday.

Avalanche Burgundy VS White Game

2007-09-16T21:18:00.000-06:00

It was a great day indeed. The start of the 2007-2008 NHL season is only days away and this game was a great taste of what we have to look forward to for the upcoming season as well as the future. The tiny Air Force Cadet arena has a maximum capacity of only 2800 and lets hockey fans get up close and personal with their favorite players. As a rabid Avs fan, I spent most of the game taking pictures and evaluating our new players. Several rookie prospects took part in the game including Chris Stewart, T.J. Hensick, and J.D. Corbin(DU). Chris Stewart and T.J. Hensick clearly are the top rookie prospects. Stewart was surprisingly quiet during the game but T.J. Hensick lit it up with 2 goals and 2 assists as well as a shootout goal. Current high scoring players included Milan Hejduk, with two goals and Ian Laperriere, with a goal and two assists. Overall, the team is looking amazing. With good goaltending and a healthy defence, this team can go deep into the playoffs and compete for the Stanley Cup. The Avs play at Phoenix Monday and will be at home to take on the L.A. Kings on Wednesday. I will be attending the L.A. game and will offer updates shortly thereafter.

Mark Rycroft had several scoring chances but couldnt finish. Injured, Jose Theodore, Brad Richardson, and Cody McCormick can be seen behind the glass in this shot.
Goaltender Tyler Weiman, shuts down one of Hensick's many scoring attempts.

Ian Laperriere threads a puck by the glove of goaltender Michael Wall.

T.J. Hensick leads the rush out of the defensive zone.

Defensemen Jeff Finger and Scott Hannan prevent crafty Tyler Arnason from getting a shot on the net.

Michael Wall stops defenseman Johnny Boychuk on a shorthanded breakaway.

Your 2007-2008 #1 scoring line- Joe Sakic, Andrew Brunette, and Ryan Smyth.

GO AVS!!!!

9/14/07 Avalanche training camp day 1

2007-09-14T16:43:00.000-06:00

Got up early to go see this. The shots were pretty good but noisy ass hell at 1600 ISO. Regardless, Im stoked for Avalanche hockey and you all should be as well. GO AVS!!!
Marek Svatos

Ryan Smyth and Joe Sakic

Paul Stastny and Kurt Saur

Peter Budaj makes a save

Again

And again....

Avalanche training camp tommorow!!!

2007-09-13T16:58:00.001-06:00

I will be shooting the Colorado Avalanche training camp tommorow at 9:00 am. I dont know If I will be allowed to shoot next to the glass. If I do manage to get next to the glass, expect some great shots of your 07-08 Colorado Avalanche.

Random Waterfall Gellery (HDR)

2007-09-05T22:01:00.001-06:00

I figured since I havent posted in awhile, I would add some shots. This is also to take my mind off the fact that I cant chase tommorow while there are tornadoes going down in Nebraska. I will be keeping my eyes on a possible storm chase early next week.

This is on Old Fall River road in Rocky Mountain National Park. RMNP

RMNP

Mt. Evans, below Echo Lake

Somewhere east of Breckenridge

8/14 Kinda crappy lightning

2007-09-04T21:52:00.001-06:00

Storm just north of Castle Rock. I was soo happy just shooting away getting all kinds of crazy lightning shots. I checked the lcd screen to see if the shots were in focus and they appeared to be. I got home and cursed the gods when I saw that only 2 out of 85 shots were in focus. Even these shots are kinda soft and have been only slightly cropped so they dont look bad. I need to get that 40D with the 3 inch lcd display.

8/23 Chase pix

2007-09-04T21:26:00.000-06:00

We intercepted a supercell near the Pawnee Butte Grasslands on the Wyoming border. The storm was at its strongest as we were approaching from the east. It displayed several wall clouds before it began to die as we closed in. A fantastic sunset spoiled us and I attempted to make use of assorted objects to render the shots slightly more interesting. These are all HDR and assembled using the Photomatix software. The first shot is over done, I know, but the others are pretty close to what I experianced.

Some old farming equipment made for an interesting shot.
Farming equipment and a dying meso.

Wallcloud in the distance.

Sunset at Two Butte Pasture.

7/19 Lightning

2007-07-19T21:19:00.001-06:00

Just got back from shooting some local lightning. Got a few good shots. No decent chasing for awhile, will update as needed.

2007-07-10T23:20:00.000-06:00

I went to the Avalanche rookie camp today to check out some of our up and coming hockey players. It was my first time shooting hockey and I quickly realized the need to use ISO 800 to freeze the action. The pix came out a tad grainy but not too bad. Tommorow and the next day look good for supercells south and east of Denver. This is a pretty nice setup for July and I look forward to chasing it. Here are the hockey pix and will update for the chase tommorow. By the way, #26 is Paul Stastny.

Chasing today/tommorow

2007-06-05T11:16:00.001-06:00

Jon Merage and I will head out of Denver on I-76 in hopes of bagging a good storm in the upslope flow regime. There is some tornado potential with the forecast helicities and instability. We will head to Valentine Nebraska after that to get into position for tommorow's potentially significant setup. Valentine will leave us along the SD/NE border and we will likely only have to go east a little ways to be in position. It is kinda hilly up there so that will be a concern. More updates to come.

4/23 Protection Kansas Tornado footage

2007-06-01T18:07:00.000-06:00

This is the long awaited Protection Kansas tornado footage that Jon Merage and I got during our most sucessful chase of the year.

5/29 Colorado Chase Report

2007-05-29T21:42:00.000-06:00

Got pretty much what we expected today. A decent rotating storm before becoming outflow dominant. Started the day in Denver and ended in Denver so thats nice for a change. It wasnt a very productive day for photography as most of my shots were out of focus but I managed to get a few keepers. Woke up to a 5% tornado risk and drove to Limon. A storm went up east of Castle Rock and quickly became tornado warned. We pulled up just as the warning came out and observed a weak wall cloud and decent storm structure. The storm chased us east and quickly crapped out but not before producing an awesome striated shelf cloud. Im looking forward to more Colorado upslope action in the coming months.

A quick HDR shot (I know, I still need to purchase the software but im broke) HDR does wonders for stormscapes but can also make them look fake, this is the original.

The same storm near Simla, just north of Highway 24

Photogenic outflow crap near Genoa

Ditto

5/21/07 Colorado Chase Report

2007-05-27T14:41:00.000-06:00

WOW, what a wonderful surprise. This was simply a travel day with hopes of maybe bagging some decent lightning near the Kansas border. We had nothing better to do so we hung around the storms that fired east of Limon. The storms kicked up a large amount of outflow dust and Jon Merage filmed a decent gustnado somewhere west of Burlington Colorado. A huge line of storms formed as outflows from earlier storms clashed. This new line of storms put the earlier dust farting rain showers to shame. As we approached Burlington, a fantastic sunset began to take shape . The amount of dust in the air created fantastic colors as the sky began to erupt in flame. I was in my element as I have never had a chance to photograph anything as beutiful as this. I shot over 100 images of this sunset, many of them bracketed exposures for HDR combinations. I put together a preliminary HDR shot of this at the hotel and the results are stunning. I will upload HDR shots when I save up the cash to purchase Photomatix. The single exposures by themselves are plenty entertaining. These shots have not been edited aside from resizing.

Fantastic, looking west from northern BurlingtonThis produced a suspicious cone shaped lowering. The beginnings of this can be seen on the right side of the image, just above the watermark.

The HDR version of this is absolutely sexy

5/22/07 Kansas Chase Report

2007-05-27T13:44:00.000-06:00

We began the day in colby kansas after a wonderfull surprise storm on the 21st. After a bite to eat and a quick data check, we headed east to WaKeeny. To our delight, we ran into Tim Samaras and Tony Laubach as they were gearing up their video/weather probes for possible deployments. Tim Samaras has a fantastic chase vehicle complete with retractible hail guards and touch screen computer monitors. Soon, the first storms began to erupt on the nose of a dry punch to the southwest. Our targeting was perfect as storms went up within 20 miles of the area. We drove slightly west to the town of Quinter where we observed the genesis of a beutiful supercell. We headed back east on I70 to Collyer where we headed north on dirt roads to track a rotating wall cloud heading towards St. Peter. We had to stop due to muddy dirt roads so we doubled back to the southern storm wich would soon become the dominant supercell of the day. There were very few landmarks on the dirt road network but I can tell you we heard some incredible hail roar somewhere between St. Peter and Hill City. It literally sounded like a giant ice maker in the sky as baseballs were colliding in mid air and pounding the ground. We observed a tornado from quite a distance as we were approaching highway 283 from the west. Upon reaching 283, we entered the circus and followed the storm with a hundred other chasers. The storm began to lose its strength so we blasted west on 24 towards Hoxie where a new supercell had formed. From Hoxie, we went south on 23 towards Grainfield as an impressive striated mesocyclone entered our feild of view. We watched the storm for quite some time before it became completely sheared over and began to take on a linear appearence. We tracked east once again on I70 back to Collyer where we stopped for lightning shots as day turned into night. The tornado warned squall line produced an incredible amount of lightning and provided for some great photo ops. We bunked down in WaKeeny at the best western before heading south to Perryton Texas the next day.

Tim Samaras fastening an adition to one of his probes in WaKeeny The supercell that would go on to produce a tornado near Hill City

Tornado southwest of Hill City

Tornado with a nice clear slot

Tornado from a distance(damn dirt roads)

3rd supercell of the day southwest of Hoxie. I am working on a few fantastic HDR shots of this storm and will upload those as soon as I purchase the Photomatix software.

Awesome lightning looking east from Collyer