Mark Cassino Photography - Mark's Blog

The Signature Artist Cooperative is readying it’s 32nd seasonal gallery! The gallery will open it’s door on December 3rd with an artist reception from 12-5 on December 4th. This year the gallery is located in Westwood Plaza at 4502 W. Main Street in Kalamazoo, MI. I will only have three pieces in the gallery again this year, but will be hanging around at the reception.

On Saturday, December 10, the Kalamazoo Nature Center will host the 2011 Buy Local Art & Gift Fair. Lots of artists this year and a really fun event. I will be on hand to sign copies of The Story of Snow from 1-3 PM. For more details, click here.

Here is one of the three images I’ll have in this year’s Signature Gallery - Chicago A.M. - printed up for a 24 x 28 inch frame:

Here are a few snaps from an October trip to the South Haven Beach. It was mid October, two weeks after the B&W shots a couple of posts down, but a similar wind storm was raking the beach. This time I took the Pentax K-5.

Here’s the light at South Haven, along with some sea gulls. When the gulls saw me taking a picture they all turned to see what I was photographing - silly birds. (Click on the picture for a larger image.)

Some nice high seas:

But the rough water didn’t keep a handful of brave souls from venturing out into the surf:

There’s a flock of geese stringing along in the air just over the horizon on the left edge of the frame…

This guy managed to catch air a few times:

A few fun hours at the beach. The K5 acquitted itself remarkably well - though I’ve had it for a few months now I really haven’t used it much. The high ISO performance is remarkable - all but the first show here were taken at ISO 1600, the first one at ISO 800. (Of course, I worked a bunch of digital voodoo on all of these.) For lenses I used a Sigma EX 70-200 f 2.8 for the first and third shot, and a Sigma 135-400 f4.5 - 5.6 for the rest. I’ll be adding that to my review post sooner or later.

Not much to offer these days - here’s a late October shot of a stubbly field under a heavy fall sky. Pentax Mz-S, Neopan 400 pushed to 1600, HC 110 Dil B, Deep Red Filter #29: