IMGP7485, originally uploaded by MattB.net.

Wow, I'm super impressed at just how many really good dancers we have here in Gunnison! I've taken a lot of photos at the dress rehearsals (where I wouldn't block many views) and will get some galleries for ordering prints or downloads up shortly so come back soon if this is what you are here for.

I now have two big galleries of photos up. Thanks for looking!

Recital photos here

Showcase photos here

Thanks!
-Matt

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IMGP6862-Edit, originally uploaded by MattB.net.

My plan was to shoot the rising full moon through a gap in some rocks. It would have been cool but thick clouds to the East obscured the moon while it rose.

It was still a nice sunset and as this image shows the light was great!

I was only able to get this shot because I had my big A*300/4 along for moon shooting. These mountains are probably 20 Miles away but that is where the light was hitting. I couldn't fit this whole scene in the frame so I took a couple of overlapping shots from my tripod and stitched them together back home with Photoshop.

So what's my point? My point is to make lemonade out of lemons. If you get shut out from your mission look around and find a new one. This works for life too. 

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Two consecutive closing weekends, first at Crested Butte and then Monarch. Crested Butte has always been a little rowdy on closing day and this year was no exception. It was also really good skiing!

Costumes and even sometimes nudity have been popular closing day antics at the Butte. This year it was a little chilly for streaking but the costumes were out in force. 

At Monarch the following week it was more of the same. We had a warm day Saturday so we got the costumes out. I'm the hot dog. 

Finally it was back to great skiing on Sunday at Monarch with 13.5" of new snow. Fun!

I took all these ski shots with my Pentax K-5 and DA 18-55 WR lens. It makes for a versatile and weather sealed rugged package I feel confident taking on the mountain. 

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IMGP5340, originally uploaded by MattB.net.

A fun and unique event at Monarch on Saturday. It's like a sled race in kayaks that ends with a big splash in a pond. Fun and it makes me glad to have sealed camera gear unlike this woman getting doused on the right in this photo. Luckily her gear seemed ok afterward but I do like have the peace of mind to just keep shooting when I get sprayed like that.

There was a Warren Miller camera crew there too so watch for this in their next movie!

For more photos of this event check out my Flickr set.

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IMGP3156, originally uploaded by MattB.net.

I was happy to catch these images tonight of the visiting comet and the crescent moon together. There was a 20 minute window to get the shot in clear skies so a smaller one with these clouds. My son and I hiked to the top of a nearby hill and I got these with my Pentax K-5 and vintage Pentax A*300/4 lens. They were just barely close enough together for 300mm to work! Now I'm getting I'm excited for ISON in November!

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IMGP2896-IMGP3015, originally uploaded by MattB.net.

I haven't updated this blog in a while but I have been shooting. So have a look at my Flickr stream if you want to catch up. 

This image is a stack of 120 individual exposures of 10s each. I took it at Waunita Hot Springs Ranch when we stayed over night last night celebrating my son's birthday. 

It got clear after a storm day (of great skiing at Monarch) and the stars were really nice. So I set up for this, started it, and just came back later. Then I combined the images in ImageStacker. I'm happy with the result. 

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IMGP9486, originally uploaded by MattB.net.

Last week my wife texted me that a hot air balloon was over town and the late afternoon light was hitting it nicely. It was the end of my work day so I left as soon as I could get away and drove out to a spot where I thought I could line it up with some interesting background elements. Unfortunately by the time I got to the hilltop The balloon was out of the nice light and the photo wasn't going to be a keeper.
While I was there and I had my vintage Pentax A* 300mm f/4 lens mounted up I scanned around for other shots that might work. A glance toward the sunset in the west revealed these deer on the next ridge and this was the result. I shot a few frames as they grazed and moved down the ridge over the span of a couple of minutes. I liked the position of the deer in the frame so this was the keeper.

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IMGP8492-Edit, originally uploaded by MattB.net.

I captured this image from my driveway last night of the moon and Jupiter's conjunction.

They appeared very close together overhead in the night sky.

By blending two exposures I was about to get our moon, Jupiter, and some of Jupiter's moons in the shot. This would be impossible with a single exposure because of the difference in brightness between the objects. Jupiter's moons appear very small and faint while our moon is big and bright. So with one exposure for our moon and Jupiter blended with another exposure for Jupiter's moons we can show them all in one image.

To create this image I shot with my Pentax K-5, Pentax A* 300mm f/4 lens, and Vivitar PK-A R-PK 2x TC (which doubles the effective length of the lens mounted to it).

I took two consecutive exposures 2 stops apart and then combined them using Photoshop CS5 using a layer mask.

Too see the detail better, check out the large version.

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I got this photo from my deck. It was cold, maybe -15 F or so and foggy. The sun was rising behind the mountain, illuminating the frost covered trees. I had to get out there in my socks while the light was good! Not long after the sun came over the mountain and washed everything out.

I took a few shots with different lenses while the light lasted but the old manual A* 300mm f/4 ended up being the tool for the shot I like the best.

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We did a moonlight XC ski last night in some very cold temps. It didn't last too long but it was a beautiful night. The -2 temp was pretty tough and it was only getting colder (-20 this morning). The Gunnison Nordic Council has groomed tracks at Hartman Rocks now which is really nice. Conditions are thin so I'm hoping we get some more snow to make it really solid. It also gets warmer when it snows so that would be nice too!

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