Damn the iPhone, but it still rocks.

(Photo by Jonny Carroll) I can take a picture with a 400mm lens and hold it steady at slow shutter speeds. But for some reason in the picture you see of me trying to take a photo during a timeout of a football game i could not hold the iPhone steady enough to take a somewhat sharp photograph. Yes I know it's because the phone is compensating for the crappy light at the field thus the blurry photo.

My company 400 is going to the shop for repair. It's a work horse lens for me. I use it for sports and spot news. I take good care of the lens I guess the constant use of the lens wore out the parts.

Next update will be a soccer game on Friday then my vacation the following week. Maybe even some paintball.
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Borrowed 400 and

Well I am back with a borrowed 400 as I patiently wait to shoot the University of North Texas, Tulsa University football game at Fouts Field. The only thing that will drive me crazy at this field will be the shadow that will come across the field at around 7pm. Its not to big of a problem but drives me batty because it's at least a four stop difference.

I will try to post from the field before or during a break in the game.

It's an hour before game time. Time to get the game face on.

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Test 2 for text

Test test text text text text text text text text text text.

UPDATE
While not the greatest way to do it still its pretty cool to blog from the iPhone with a picture. But not as cool as the 32oz bottle of hot sauce which will gets inaugural opening in the near future.

Bee-ing patient

Recently I shot the picture of a bumblebee landing on a sunflower at a home in Denton. The thing is it took me at least an hour waiting for yellow and black stripped bug to land on that specific flower.

Several things I had to get to make the picture work.
1) The bumblebee had to be in the picture and it had to be in the right spot of the frame.
2) The light had to hit the bee and flower just right.
3) The wind had to stop blowing so the sunflower would stop moving messing up my focus.

The best comment I received was that the photo looked like a painting. This is probably due to the blueish/cyan background and that the bumblebee isn't sharp but instead shows the bug in motion.

Better lucky, than good.

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Football

I am still planning on posting a photo of the gear I take with me when shooting Friday Night Football. But, I forgot I was traveling to Spain for vacation (to celebrate two years of being married) and when I got back, well I was still in vacation mode. So I promise there will be a full report this week (maybe). To tide you over, here is a picture of my and fellow North Texas alumni and DMN shooter Vernon Bryant before a football game.

There was a time when Vernon and I would eat buffalo wings and drink Texas tea before shooting a North Texas football game for the student newspaper. Those times are well behind us.

I'll also post a few pictures from my trip to España next week. The picture to the left is from Feria de Abril in Sevilla. Spain has a very rich culture and old culture. Most of the places we visited are older than the United States dating back to the 12th century.

I give a shout out to Jake and Annette Zapata who were gratious enough to let my wife and I stay with them for the week.



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G Payne in the house

Welcome to the Blog of Payne.

Which is basically a diary without the little lock and key. And the little pink flowers printed on the cover.

So what do I plan to write here?

Mostly I will write about the art of photojournalism and my adventures pursuing that art. I have to say I was inspired to start a blog because of the strobist.com blog and of my friend Shannon Drawe blog. My blog will try to be different. But mostly its about me and the tools I use to do my job when covering news, sports and the in between. Well, got to run I have to prepare a resume and portfolio and eat dinner, oh and the dog needs a walk.