First picture with new camera (Nikon D300)

I just picked up my new camera today! The Nikon D300 just hit the shelves last week, and I had my name on the waiting list at West Photo, the serious pro shop here in Minneapolis.

This is my very first frame after taking it out of the box on the kitchen table this evening. Nothing special, I'm just really excited that it's finally here, and so I'm sharing the excitement with the rest of you!



Nikon D300, ISO 3200, 50mm, F 1.8, 1/80 sec

Beckham fever at the Metrodome

International soccer star David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy played an exhibition game with the Minnesota Thunder at the Minneapolis Metrodome yesterday. The attendance was four times the Thunder's season average as Beckam fans mobbed the dome to see their star. At the end of the game Beckham gave his jersey to a young fan in the stands.

Note: The photos in this collection were shot by Eric Bowen for Competitive Image ( http://competitiveimage.us) as the official photographers of the Minnesota Thunder.

Wireless photo upload for almost any digital camera

Holy crap is this cool!! Your photos automagically uploaded from your existing camera to your website as you take them!

Eye-Fi has created a 2gb SD memory card that also has WIFI built in for $99. The Eye-Fi card automagically uploads your photos to your PC and/or the photo website of your choice whenever it has a connection to a configured network (generally your home network).

I hope they come out with a CompactFlash version too (none of my cameras use SD).

The only obvious downside is that this will probably suck your camera battery dry quite a bit faster.

Sign me up!

http://www.eye.fi/

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/eye-fi/

An apple a day

Benjamin enjoys a freshly picked apple in the orchard on Saturday.

Twin Cities Marathon Winners

My photos of the eventual mens and womens winners of the Twin Cites Marathon. Taken at the Seagate water stop at mile 15.

Mykola Antonenko: 2:13:54


Svetlana Ponomarenko: 2:34:09

Note: The photos in this collection were shot by Eric Bowen for Competitive Image (http://competitiveimage.us) as the official photographers of the Twin Cities Marathon.

Twin Cities Marathon Photo Essay

Yesterday's 2007 Twin Cities Marathon was the hotest in the history of the event. Hundreds of volunteers manned water stations along the course to provide drinks to the sweltering runners. In addition to water the runners were served PowerAide, a blue energy drink for CocaCola.

The following is a photo essay that tells the story of a few of the thousands of blue PowerAide cups provided to runners.


6:43am - Volunteers fill PowerAid cups at the Medtronic water station at mile 19 of the marathon course.



7:39am - A runner in the Twin Cites 10 Mile race grabs a cup of PowerAide at the 3 mile point of their race. The temperature is already over 70 degrees.


7:42am - A Twin Cities 10 mile runner gets a drink and waves to a friend at the 3 mile water stop.


11:02am - A line of volunteers pass cups to runners in the middle of the pack at mile 19 of the marathon.


11:29am - The heat of the day has slowed runners to a walk in a sea of discarded cups at mile 22.


11:56am - A volunteer rakes up discarded cups at the last water stop at mile 25.

Note: The photos in this collection were shot by Eric Bowen for Competitive Image (http://competitiveimage.us) as the official photographers of the Twin Cities Marathon.

My Fellow Americans!

Benjamin working on his stump speech.

Jack's favorite shirt

I shot some senior pictures today for the son of one of Anna's teachers. Jack has been wearing the same shirt for his class picture every year since 7th grade, so I had to find a way to highlight it. The answer was to desaturate all the other colors except the red of the shirt.

(Click on the photo to see the rest of the photos in the set.)

Guthrie Theatre light

We visited the new Guthrie Theatre in downtown Minneapolis for the first time last night, lots on interest lights and reflections making for fun photography... Here Dan Trockman looks out a window on the cantilevered bridge which reaches over West River Road towards the Mississippi river.

10 second exposure, Tokina 12-24mm @ 24mm & F4, ISO 400, Nikon D200

35W bridge finally open to the public

Today was the first full day that the public was able to get a good view of the 35W bridge collapse up close and personal from the nearby 10th Avenue bridge, which has been closed since the collapse.

The bridge was crowded with people trying to snap pictures over the new 7 foot chain link fence. I shot this photo by holding my camera over my head on a monopod and using the self timer.


Usually, I just pick one photo for these posts, but today I couldn't make up my mind. I'm titling this second one: "Unsafe at any speed".

Moonrise over Lake Harriet

The moon rising over sailboats on Lake Harriet, a few blocks from my house in Southwest Minneapolis.


This was a 30 second exposure, which is the longest exposure that you can shoot on a Nikon D200 without using the manual "bulb" setting (which requires you to use a stopwatch and a shutter release cable).

My basic approach for night shots like this is to set the shutter speed to 30 seconds, ISO 800, and then adjust the aperture to get the image I want.

Yum Chocolate!

Haley's dad Dan, keeps the messy chocolate girl at arms length.

Making the play

Derrick White of the St Paul Saints minor league baseball team slides for a catch under the lights at Midway Stadium in St Paul.

The tree of hearts

An aspen tree near Frisco, Colorado.

Happy smile

Sylvia was actually in midair jumping in the inflatable "jumpy house" at the moment that this picture was taken. Normally I would delete an image with closed eyes, but I something about this one caught my attention...

Never Forgotten

Sgt. John Kriesel with the photos of Brian McDonough and Corey Rystad, the men who died when his vehicle struck an IED in Iraq in December 2006.

Ready, aim, fire!

British soldiers fire at the French troops during a reenactment of a French and Indian War battle at Fort Ticonderoga, New York.

Waiting for the main event

The flower girls watch Jeff the bagpiper warmup before the wedding.

Ham Lake Forest Fire

A burnt sign at the trail head of the Magnetic Rock hiking trail on the Gunflint Trail north of Grand Marais, Minnesota.

Old world craftsman

Marco plows the vegetable garden plot with Bess and Tess

Jets and kites

The first dance

Andrew and Megan's first dance. I was a guest at this wedding, not the photographer, but I had a fun time taking pictures anyway.

Oh say can you see...

Young runners at the 2007 Get in Gear 2K pay their respects to the flag before the start of the race.

The easter bunny brought hula hoops?

Chas shows Anna how to hula hoop at the annual Jones/Barnum/Bowen Easter brunch at the Scottsdale Conference Resort.


The colorized black & white effect in this photo was achieved by desaturating everything except the shade of violet in the hula hoop.

Late night at the airport

I had to kill a few late night hours at the Minneapolis airport this weekend after my flight had a mechanical problem. Everything was closed, so I had to take pictures...


Snoopy was the only one who seemed happy to be there.

Winter horses

Belgian draft horses show their winter coats at "the farm" in Grand Marais.

Anna's Nature Table

Anna shows off a dead bird that hit the picture window at the farm.


We have a favorite children's book in our house called 'Anna's Table'. The story is about a girl who collect things like dead dead butterflies, and interesting small animal bones to display on her "nature table" at home. A child's personal Natural History Museum...

Our Anna thinks this book is great, so we had to put this little bird in a box for the day, even though it's probably not practical to really keep it.

Snow fun

Anna enjoys an afternoon outside playing in the snow.

Aaah... Sun!

Haley enjoys a sunny March afternoon outside.

Got gas?

Dan Trockman, a Blake School teacher, uses his snow day to snow blow his driveway in Linden Hills.

All is still, all is bright

A lull in the snow storm... two feet forecast by Saturday.

Something to smile about

An Iraqi family finds something to smile about even as American soldiers search their home.

More than a number

Staff Sergeant Jason Hausauer, of the Minnesota National Guard, has been away from his family in Fargo North Dakota for almost 18 months.

The hug

Marine Corps Colonel Bristol says goodbye to one of the Army soldiers he has commanded and fought with for the past year.