Mike Hoff Photo

My Canon 85mm f/1.8 lens is one of my favorite lenses; it is sharp, fast, and the focal length is perfect for many applications. I bought it to shoot basketball with and it performed above and beyond my expectations with that, but now that I graduated from college I haven’t used it much, which is a shame for such a great lens. I essentially slapped on my Sigma 17-70 walk around lens and never looked back. Yeah I employed my 70-200 every now and then but, I did change lenses much.

The other day I realized just how underused the 85mm had become, I couldn’t remember the last time that I had taken a picture with it. I made a pledge to myself that I would use it for my 365 picture that day and that I would utilize it more often, maybe for some portrait work down the line.

As soon as I put the lens on my 40DI felt more inspired, something had changed and I had to adapt my shooting to it. I had fallen into a rut and my photos had suffered because of it. I hope to never reach that point again and to always try something new, be it a different lens, a different camera, or a new way of shooting. Art requires experimentation.

A few days after I got back from the Dominican Republic I passed a milestone in my 365, I’m now past the half way point. The picture that put me over the top is below, number 183/365.

I decided that I will be making a photo book with the best images from my 365 as well as having a few of them framed for my new apartment. I didn’t think that I would get this far in my 365, but now that I’m here I can’t imagine not finishing. It may not seem like a big deal to take a picture every day but it becomes very challenging. About six more months and I’ll be done, be sure to check back for updates. Check out the rest of my 365 HERE as well as pictures from the Dominican Republic HERE.

I have been home for a few days so Daisy has appeared in a few of my 365 photos. I may soon have to do a no daisy in 365 like I did for myself.

On Wednesday I got in my car and drove along the road that follows the Tulpehocken River, along the way I spotted a heron hanging out on the banks. I quickly turned my car around, pulled off the road, and grabbed my camera. I spent the next half hour sneaking closer and closer to the bird. By the end of it I was standing on a rock in the water with the bird across the river from me. This all lead to 139/365:

I have taken to bribing my friends to let me take their portraits using beer. The first one was a few days ago when I took my roommate’s picture. Thursday I bribed my friend Shane into letting me take his picture for my 365. I’m trying to go 20 days without taking a picture of myself, Shane was day 8.