Sanctuario De Chimayo, originally uploaded by Doug van Kampen (pause).

One of the most sacred places I’ve ever been in my life, Sanctuario De Chimayo is a place where people come to cast their burdens and ailments to God. It is said that miracles have been witnessed here by the dozens…some have been cured of disease, some have been healed, some just come for the dirt, which is considered sacred among devout Catholics. Truth of the matter is, no matter what you believe, this place has an effect on even the most skeptic of people.

This place is also the home of perhaps the most wonderful sun-dried chile in the world! The smell throughout the grounds is incredible this time of year. -vK

It's Been a While..., originally uploaded by Doug van Kampen (pause). First frame out of the 35mm f/2.....tack sharp at f2, unlike my 50mm f/1.4, which has a sweet spot at f/2.8......sadly. Recommended, yes. Easy to find used, negative. Enjoy the shot!

U.S. Coast Guard People's Choice 2010, originally uploaded by Doug van Kampen (pause). Life is still on pause, but a bit of awesome news in the mix... :) Hey everyone! My photo is up for a People's Choice Award for the USCG photo contest. I spent some time out in Pt. Townsend with the crew of this ship back in October...Awesome bunch →

Window Light *is* Beautiful, originally uploaded by Doug van Kampen. There were actually two people that inspired me this past week to post this. Not surprisingly it was none other than Jeff Engelhardt and Clayton Wells, whose shots over the past couple of weeks have included portraits done with nothing but window light. If my memory serves me correctly, I threw →

A Solitary Existence, originally uploaded by Doug van Kampen. "A Solitary Existence". Edmonds Waterfront, Washington, USA February 3rd, 2010 © 2009 Doug van Kampen, All Rights Reserved B l a c k M a g i c So in between me nearly getting sucked into the path of a moving locomotive and shooting macros of driftwood, this women comes waltzing past me with →

Sounder, originally uploaded by Doug van Kampen. A while back I attempted to get this shot, but completely wimped out regarding how close I got to the train passing at around 40mph.... That being said, this time I had about 30 seconds to change lenses (because I was off shooting macros of driftwood near where this was made) and get completely set →

Cradled, originally uploaded by Doug van Kampen. Achieving the proper separation with the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 can be somewhat frustrating considering the sweet spot for this lens is at around f/2.8! The only other lens which has better performance is the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 which is considerably less expensive! The goal here was to provide separation while at the same time showing →

Daddy's Little Football, originally uploaded by Doug van Kampen. This was a few minutes before she fell asleep...a full belly and some rocking from Mom and Dad have a tendency to do that! Thank you to everyone who's provided such supportive comments and feedback the last couple of days regarding my previous post. This shoot has really made me sit back and →

Eight Days Old, originally uploaded by Doug van Kampen. My good friend John said that this shoot would be more rewarding and fun than shooting a wedding....he was *so* right! Perhaps I just really like babies as well! The two most difficult things about today's shoot was 1.) Controlling the spill of light with flags, reflectors, etc. and 2.) Getting the exposure →

My Very Own 'Mittens', originally uploaded by Doug van Kampen. Even though I am pleased from the quality that I can achieve from a properly composed and processed HDR image, with a properly exposed photograph using filters and a minimal amount of processing in post, beautiful photographs can be made. This shot was made by stopping down the glass (Sigma 10-20 f/4-5.6) →