I still have fond memories of capturing this image. The father of the bride, a past attendee of one of my Master Classes, hired me to photograph his daughter’s wedding. They were a great family, and the bride and groom were a terrific couple to work with.

This image was taken a few years in Chicago. It’s great to work with a couple who knows photography and gives you complete latitude to do any thing you want. Plus they understood and provided all the time in the world to do it ;~) The perfect wedding – right? It really was very refreshing to be working without many of the time constraints of a regular wedding.

The couple loved the setting on the golf course. We did several images around the grounds but I really wanted to get a photograph by this bridge.

We were losing light so I kicked the ISO up to 800. Asked my assistant to judicious position herself behind the couple with the flash 1/2 power and fired away. We did several – the “kiss” was my favorite.

Camera specs: Canon 5D was fitted with my 24-105mm lens and set to 70mm, F5.6 @ 1/125 second, ISO 800. Enjoy. -David

Used by permission of DigitalProTalk. © David A. Ziser Photography

The Lens Guard is constructed with 0.25″ (6mm) of a soft, cushiony inner core made of closed-cell neoprene (diving suit material), encased in a tough, 0.08″ (2mm) Santoprene outer cover.  This powerful combination absorbs impact and prevents scrapes, scratches, and harmful bumps. It’s lightweight, too.

The Lens Guard features a built in tether that can be connected to your lens, camera strap or camera body.

The Lens Guard is not designed or intended to fit over a lens hood.

This was taken at the KY Classic Combined Driving Event at the Kentucky Horse Park October 9, 2011.  Combined Driving Events are based on Three Day Eventing in the ridden world.  Like ridden eventing, there are three phases. This shot was taken on the marathon course (equivalent to x-country).  Combined Driving can be done with various horse configurations, a single horse, a pair, a tandem hitch, a four in hand, etc.  There are specific divisions depending on the configuration and whether they are horses or ponies.  This photo is obviously of a four in hand of horses.  Four in hands have two wheel horses that do most of the pulling, and two leaders that have to be very forward and fearlessly lead the team.

In this shot, I like that the left leader horse is jumping through the turn. The driver is Koos de Ronde, a world class competitor from the Netherlands.  The man leaning in the back is called a navigator and he has a very specific function and a lot of responsibility.  He is leaning to keep the carriage balanced.

This photo hopefully captures the strength, power and agility it takes for these horses to compete in this sport. It also demonstrates the skill the driver possesses to negotiate the obstacles, which are like mini mazes, at speed!  Especially with 4 horses!

(de Ronde was on the Dutch team that won the Gold Medal at WEG in Combined Driving in Lexington 2010.  In this photo he was driving Misdee Wrigley Miller’s 4 in hand of Dutch Harness horses.  Misdee owns Hillcroft Farm in Paris, Kentucky.  She is also a strong combined driving competitor and competes all over the world.)

Hand Held – Cloudy conditions – Rebel T21, 70-200mm, 2.8 IS, Aperture Priority 7.1, Focal length 70mm, ISO 400, 1/400, Exposure Bias -0.2

Janeene Jennings

www.knightskyefarm.com

I’d just read an article about finding good photography subjects in everyday places.  The subject was a ho-hum parking lot.  The author showed how he got a very cool photo in that lot.   It inspired me.

A short while later, I was driving through town and saw a parking lot that caught my eye.  It featured brightly colored trash cans, picnic tables, and bike racks. I didn’t have my camera, shame on me, but that afternoon I went back, camera in hand, and clicked away.  Now, this parking lot was not ho-hum, but I would not have noticed it had I not been looking at parking lots in a new fashion.

This is my favorite photo of that lot, and of the last 6 months.  It taught me to look for inspiration in the mundane.  Plus, I love all the color.  I even like the handle.  It says to me, “Grab this fun surprise and don’t let go.”

Canon 20D, 75-300mm lens

Amy Nickell,

Marketing Director, DeluxGear

The end of the summer in the UK had been marked by grey skies, cold weather and rain. So when the forecast stated that we would be getting the back end of ‘Hurricane Somethingorother’ my ears pricked up! Waves!

About 30 minutes drive from my home is a little south Wales resort called Porthcawl. Here is a harbour wall with an old gas fired lighthouse perched right at the very end. High tide was scheduled for around 6.30pm so I gathered up my gear and set off – aiming to arrive at the location around 3.30 – plenty of time to reach a good location and get set up.

Well, the tide was on its way in and the wind was gusting around 40 to 50 mph – so all looked good. At around 5.30 the tide was well in and the sun decided it wanted to join in. For the next hour it was just wonderful!! I just shot away in both landscape and portrait formats and when the sun disappeared I would get my breath back ready for the next onslaught! What an afternoon. So many great opportunities it was difficult to choose ten photos, let alone just one.

Shot on a Nikon D300 using a Sigma 70-200 OS lens, handheld. ISO 320 at f9 gave me 1/6400 sec shutter speed. Focal length was 95mm (35mm equivalent).

Nick Jenkins ARPS AWPF

See my latest book, The Glamorgan Heritage Coast, featuring this photo http://www.blurb.com/books/2487928

Freespirit Images Photography http://www.freespiritimages.com/

I titled this shot “Transfer Knowledge”. These children are models. To get natural expressions we gave them a storybook, and we directed them how to enjoy the book. We gave them a little time to enjoy the environment, then we started to shoot. We used available light naturally by the sun.

Canon EOS 7D , 70-200 F4 IS L USM, 127mm, AV Mode F4, ISO 500.

Kustiyah Yasin, Jakarta

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1742448359246.2088973.1179817820&type=1#!/kustiyah.yasin

I had spent a glorious week earlier this year (April 2011) leading a great bunch of clients on a workshop on the Isles of Scilly, off Cornwall, UK. Apart from the first day it has to be said that the weather was a bit hit and miss for photography. Nevertheless, a good time was had by all.

The group left the islands on the Friday, except myself and two others who had booked to stay an extra night. Wouldn’t you know it? That night the sky started to hint at a sunset. The three of us were eating at a restaurant near our accommodation and watched, and watched. What was it going to do?

Suddenly, this amazing sunset crashed onto the scene – beautiful rays, great coloured clouds, the works. NEVER have the three of us run so fast! Back to the Guest House for the cameras, and, just in time, we caught this!!   Doesn’t it always happen this way?

Shot on a Nikon D300, using a Giotto’s tripod and a Sigma 24-70 f2.8 zoom lens set in Aperture priority on f18. Shutter speed was 0.4 sec. And, of course, the LensGuard was hanging off the lens!

Nick Jenkins, Freespirit Images Photography

http://www.freespiritimages.com/

The subject is a black swallowtail caterpillar that was discovered by my daughter while she was playing in the back yard. I had just picked up the Canon 50mm Macro, and I was itching to see how it would perform. This shot was taken with a Canon 50mm bumped up to f5.6  It was a hand held shot with an ISO of 400 at a shutter speed of 1/200ths and captured with a 20D in March of 2007. I called this shot Sharpillar, kind of a mix between a Chinese Shar-Pei dog and a caterpillar.

Mike Dowell, Co-founder, DeluxGear

I titled this shot “left behind”. I had just purchased the 100-400mm L lens, and we were on a family outing to the Cincinnati Zoo. As our trip was winding down, I noticed a busy group of bumble bees in the flower beds.  I remember thinking to myself,  “I wonder if I could actually catch one of those guys in flight?” I quickly set my rig for manual focus and settings, and to my relief, this was the shot of the day. It was a hand held shot with a Canon 100-400mm L @ 400mm with an ISO of 800 at a shutter speed of 1/500ths, f/7.1 captured with a 20D in April of 2007.

Mike Dowell

Co-founder, DeluxGear

The Battle of The Giants is the name of the South African Freestyle Dance Championships. The competition is held at Sun City every year, and for four years running I owned the rights to the event photography for it. It involved a mad rush of 20-hour days, RSI on the trigger finger, and trying to manage a team of photographers, editors and printers.

The last year we took 80,000 frames in 3 days and used some 65 printer cartridges.   Although we use hot shoe flashes in the indoor arena, we mainly use them for fill and use the high ISO capacity of the 5D Mark II’s for the rest.

Of all the years I ran the project, this is my favourite shot. I absolutely love the energy in the jump of the girl in the background and the seemingly effortless flight of the lady in white. The timing of both dancers and photographer (that would be me) could not have been better, and the absolute clarity of the image astonishes me to this day.

Canon Eos 5D Mark II, 70 – 200 F2.8 IS L, 70mm, F4, 1/250^th, ISO 6 400

David du Plessis

http://www.picturemyplanet.com/Picture_My_Planet._David_du_Plessis_Photographic_portal./Welcome.html