Truly, in my lifetime, there has never been such a groundswell of support, hope, and respect for an incoming American President.
From the election night, to the inaugural events, Baraka Obama has entered into a time in the US, where we are in some of our darkest moments, yet the positive light shown this man is overwhelming.

[photopress:obama5.jpg,full,centered] What would you say to him?
[photopress:obama3.jpg,full,centered] The Acceptance Speech
[photopress:obama_2.jpg,full,centered] Election Night
[photopress:obama4.jpg,full,centered] The whole crowd felt it

There are so many photo opportunities tomorrow as Obama-mania will be in full swing. Here is an historical event that is being witnessed by an entire nation. Even if you are not in Washington DC, the events being held all over the place have ample opportunity
Where will you be?
Heck on the West Coast, we’ll most likely be home( starts at 11:30 EST) having a cup of joe, but there are parties tonight all over the city.

Here is a question for a lot of our readers off the continent: What are your reactions and how are you reacting to this event?
Our last 8 years have been pretty dismal, and we’re all going to try to clean that up.
Is there a visual story you would tell about an international reaction?
Yep, we are all overcome with the dawn of a new day over here.
Does it mean that much over there, up there, down there ?

By the way, all of the photographs above we made with a Nikon D700, and a 24-70 mm 2.8 lens, our absolute favorite combo. Couple it with a 12-24mm 2.8 and a 70-200 MM 2.8 and it’s a happy time. The speed of auto focus, selection of focus points, floating ISO, and a ton more, we’ll cover in a Real World Review shortly.

Pete Souza is now going to be documenting the next 4 years of President Barack Obama’s life.
No stranger to the Presidential assignment, he previously photographed 2 books on President Reagan during his terms.

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His book, “The Rise of Barack Obama”, made it to the New York Times Bestseller list, after being released in July 2008.
And guess where he’s from…yep, Chicago. Who’d of thunkit?
Click his name above and check out some of his work.
Sure, he’s building his staff now, but I’ll bet if you haven’t been contacted yet, it’s a done deal.
From the NPPA announcment:
“Souza currently works using Canon 5D’s and he says that he hopes to upgrade to Canon 5D Mark II bodies soon, as well as Leica M8.2 bodies. He says the work of the Obama photography office will be mostly digital, but maybe sometimes film if needed. The White House photography office made the transition from film to digital photography during the George W. Bush administration. ”

Not in a creepy way, but in a geotagging way.
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Yep, the new Nikon P6000[photopress:P6000_left_gps.jpg,full,alignright] has built in GPS, so your photos will have the Longitude, and Latitude, embedded in the EXIF file of your photo.
Basically if you open your work in Lightroom, or soon in iPhoto, you will see a line for the GPS info.
Click it and it takes you straight to Google Maps. Like in this photo:
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Very cool.
But that’s just one of the features on this camera. And honestly, it takes awhile to lock into a GPS signal (almost 5 mins in an open area for the initial, then much faster)

What you are looking at here, is Nikon’s answer to the Canon G10.

How does it stack up??

We took each camera on a little trip to Paris, and had them both ready to go whenever we left the apartment.
On the immediate touch, the Nikon is a smaller, lighter, camera. Big plus, since a point and shoot is used when you don’t want to bring the big DSLR.
The Nikon glass was in a perfect range, 28mm -122 (equivalent) The ability to shoot RAW and JPG, simultaneously is a plus for us. Even though the RAW is a Nikon proprietary format, the main photo software programs have already posted updates to handle this in Mac and Windows.
VR (vibration reduction) stabilization is a sweet addition, especially in a small camera. Better chance of a sharp photo.
Yes, it can go to 6400 ISO, but you will pay for that with a bit of noise.
However, I’d rather get the shot and process in post, than not to get the shot at all.

And with an adjustable on-board Flash output, you can fill the scene as you need.

[photopress:EH_66.jpg,full,alignright]Now there are a few issues we had: Battery life – once we turned off the GPS, it improved, but still you should carry an extra batt. We always do anyway.
You see the GPS wants to update every 5 mins. so you are ready to geotag at will. There was a coupla times that as I reached for the camera, the battery was done. My bad.
The other part of that battery equation was the lack of a self contained charger in the box. Yes, you can get one, for an additional cost.
The only way to charge the battery is to plug in the camera with battery inserted, and the wired charger/ac device.
Not sure why that happened.

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Now remember, this is a point and shoot. NOT A DSLR, which you can pick up now, in a similar price point from Nikon.
And it does a fantastic job with the photographs. Excellent color, easy to maneuver controls, face detection, good manual controls, and very intuitive.
Barely had to crack the manual. Yep, just like you’ll probably do. Or not do (did that come out right?)

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You can add a full up speedlight and use the remote commander to make your flash work with it wirelessly.
But why? Use the camera, as it should be used, simply, and you’ll be a happy camper.

One of our favorite things about a high end point and shoot is the ability to turn off all sound. A little more stealth for your street work And this one has a nice long throw on the lens.
Here’s the straight deal: should you get the Nikon P6000 or the Canon G10?
Yes.
Not being flip, but really;
Each camera will give you excellent photographic results, depending on the operator.
Each camera will give you a RAW file, in each manufacturers proprietary format.
Each one will record a movie when asked.
Get a fast SD card to make sure your humongous file writes before you miss the next shot for each one.

[photopress:REG_1300.jpg,full,centered] actual LCD screen shot.

We dig this camera because it does what we expect, in a nice compact, light package.
Yep, lighter, so it had a better chance of being taken on a night out.
And right now, it’s a bit cheaper by about $20.00 USD, as the Canon has dropped to $409. and the Nikon to $389.00 at Amazon.

Here in the U.S., Ovation TV is a channel that has taken over where A&E has left off: programming all about art.
And that means photography in that mix.
Along with weeks of photography based content marathons, they also have been producing some original content.
Here is a clip from their channel looking at the work of Eve Arnold and her photographic relationship with Marilyn Monroe:

Find the channel on your TV and check in on their programming. Some real good stuff here.

OK, back to Sunday.

• Fahey/Klein Gallery
• JULIE BLACKMON – DOMESTIC VACATIONS
• Jan. 22nd – March 7th, 2009
• 148 North La Brea Avenue
• Los Angeles, CA. 90036
• Tel: 323.934.2250