IMGP2570, originally uploaded by MattB.net.

Wow, this new park looks great. We just had a dedication ceremony and then the skaters got right to it! The people driving this project overcame a lot of obstacles to get this done and I think it's going to be a great amenity for our town. When some funds fell through late in the process the guys at Team Pain (the contractors who built it) decided to camp out to make budget instead of cutting any corners. What a great gesture!

I remember reading Thrasher magazine when I was a teenager and they would always have these fisheye photos of great skaters doing something cool so I thought I'd give it a try myself.

I used my Pentax K-5 & Rokinon 8mm f/3.5, a value lens and it worked great! I also ran a Sigma 530 Super flash for fill with the high sun.

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IMGP8764.jpg, originally uploaded by MattB.net.

I was out late the other night trying to shoot another meteor shower, this time over Blue Mesa Reservoir. I saw three nice bright meteors but didn't wind up with any really good meteor shots. In fact, I only got this one and I have to admit it's not all that impressive (meteor trail is faint in the upper left quadrant).

But the night was not a total bust! In the process of trying to get a good meteor shot I took two sets of about 50 exposures each using a home made IR intervalometer since my camera doesn't have one built in (I'll dedicate a post to that project soon).

Using ImageStacker software I combined each set of individual images to create these star trails photos. I'm fairly happy with how these came out and that my cold night next to the lake was not spent in vain!

All shots in this post made with a Pentax K-x and a Rokinon 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye lens

The streak in this one is a plane flying by.

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IMGP8870.jpg, originally uploaded by MattB.net.

These Balsamroot plants once provided food, first aid, and medicinal tea for natives.

I just love it when I find a big hillside of them like this.The Rokinon 8mm was just the tool for this job.

This is at the Swampy Pass trailhead on Ohio Pass.

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IMGP4930.jpg, originally uploaded by MattB.net.

I had fun taking some star shots Friday night while camping with the family at Hartman Rocks. For this one I used the 8mm Rokinon fisheye which worked perfectly for a nice ultra wide shot. Fun lens, fun night. The meteor in the upper left was icing on the cake!

The light on the rocks was from the campfire and the sage was from a flashlight.

Pentax K-x, Rokinon 8mm, 15s f/5.6 ISO 3200

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IMGP6534, originally uploaded by MattB.net.

On a little bit of an impulse I picked up an inexpensive fisheye recently. It's a Rokinon 8mm f/3.5 MF. I guess this same line of lenses comes under several names like Bower and Vivitar.
Anyway, it's a fun lens. Distortion is actually less than what I was expecting.The day it arrived I took it to the fairgrounds to shoot some test shots and my cat was hanging out over there. So he got to do a little modeling for me.

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