I was really excited for NAB this year. There was a lot of rumors circulating on some new camera announcements coming from Sony, Canon, and Blackmagic Design. Unfortunately, these companies have already had their big press conferences and there was no announcements of any new cameras. Tomorrow is the last day of NAB and I doubt any of these brands will be surprising us. The closest we got was a tease of a silhouette of an upcoming cinema camera from Panasonic. Is 2017 going to be Panasonic's year? Check out some of the tech announcements below. 

As an owner and user of the Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera (BMPCC), I'm really excited to see what they have come up with for the potential predecessor of the Pocket Camera (rumored to be one of the releases tomorrow). Hopefully the new camera offers a strong 4K codec and higher frames rates. These were just a couple of features that I missed when working with my BMPCC which is why I upgraded to the Sony A6500 for professional gigs.  If you're interested in upcoming camera gear, especially Blackmagic Design, make sure to click on the YouTube link below and set a reminder for the live stream. Update: YouTube link has been removed by Blackmagic Design and is no longer available to view.

Yesterday, I grabbed one of the model cars that I had on display in my old room at my parents house. It's a 1/18th scale model by Maisto from the late 1990's (back when toys were made with much higher quality). I took the model Hummer out back to the alley behind my house to take some perspective shots of it. I edited the photos with Lightroom and Photoshop and added some effects to make the 1/18th scale model look as real as possible. Check out the photos in the album below and feel free to comment and/or ask any questions. Camera: Sony A6500 with a Canon FD 50mm 1.8 lens.  

On the morning February 7th, 2017, a family in the Santa Cruz mountains was hit by a massive mudslide that destroyed one of the three homes on the property. Other structures and several vehicles were also swept away and buried in the mud. Unfortunately, my brother, Brian Ward and his pregnant wife, along with their 9 month old daughter were the ones who lived in the home that was destroyed. When I arrived on the scene, shortly after the slide happened, I couldn't believe my eyes. What I saw made me realize how powerful Mother Nature can be. There has been a GoFundMe campaign set up to help them get back on their feet. Any contributions or shares would be greatly appreciated. The gallery above is of the destruction a few hours after the mudslide happened. 

Click HERE for the GoFundMe campaign page.

Here's a photo I took of my beautiful wife and daughter. We went to the Cisco Grove area in Nordan, CA where my mom used to have a family cabin along the Yuba River. This was our daughter's first trip to the snow. She was asleep pretty much the whole time. For those of you interested in camera gear, it was taken with the new Sony A6500.