*Good bye 2014, it’s been real.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM TYSON ROBICHAUD PHOTOGRAPHY

As with many things these days, I am a bit late to the party.  Let me be the last person to wish you and yours a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.  While 2014 saw many positive events for me, it was as challenging a year as I’ve yet had.  I’m a pretty open book and tend to speak candidly here as I have found this blog to be a collective journey in many ways, and on top of that, a bit of a personal diary in that I can vent, ramble on and air my praise or frustration to the ether, while sharing with the community that frequently stops by to keep me company.  In a weird way, that is supposed to be a thank you for stopping by.  Thank you for reading my ongoing ramblings and thank you for the continued interaction and support.  I love photography, I love writing, and this blog enables me to do both.  If it were not for you, I’d just as soon be talking to a brick wall about my passions which of course would quickly pin me as a crazy person, so thank you for allowing me to hide that from my friends, wife and children.

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*Time to vote! Vote for the winner of our tenth monthly Flickr Photo Blog Challenge; Gadgets. With @MirrorLessons

by in Photo Blog Challenge and tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Time to vote!  Our theme this month is “Gadgets” thanks to November’s winner, AnggaPJ (visit Angga HERE).  Have a look at our three chosen submissions and vote for your favorite below, and don’t forget to also vote on Mirrorlessons HERE.  Here are our choices for this month’s theme:

charlize relaxes with her ipad

“Charlize relaxes with her iPad” by Gene McDaniel (see more from Gene HERE)

bookmark

“Bookmark” by Giorgio Lumaconi (see more from Giorgio HERE)

Gadgets battle at school christmas party

“Gadgets battle at school Christmas Party” by Alessandro Berbenni (see more from Alessandro HERE).

Vote for your Favorite!

The vote runs for the next 5 days at which point we’ll add up the totals from both sites and announce the winner!

These monthly themes are a fun way to engage and interact with the large community through this site, my friends Heather and Mat’s site and the ever growing family on flickr.  Stay tuned for next month’s theme with winners each month entered in to a semi annual vote to win free software and gear!

Our monthly Flickr Photo Blog Theme challenges have been wonderful and I hope you guys have enjoyed them as much as we have.  Heather and Mat from Mirrorlessons along with myself here on my site, host monthly challenges via our respective groups on Flickr, where anyone can submit an image to the theme threads in both groups (see below for links).  Heather, Mat and I choose our three favorites each month from all of those submitted on Flickr and open it up for votes both here and on Mirrorlessons HERE.  The winner from each month gets to choose our theme for the following month.  We have enjoyed building and promoting the community that has continued to grow through our flickr groups, and on our sites, hoping to give a little back in the way of exposure and free stuff. Make sure to visit both polls to vote for your favorite.  Also keep an eye out for monthly themes to participate in.  It can be a fun way to inspire creativity or at the very least some creative motivation 🙂

Each monthly winner is then entered into our semi-annual giveaway poll where we take the 6 monthly winners and vote on our overall favorite with the winner taking home some cool stuff.

Visit our Flickr groups: TRP Photoblography HERE and Mirrorlessons HERE!

Have a safe and happy new year everyone, and I’m excited to see what 2015 has in store for us all!

Happy shooting,

Tyson

*Wanna see differently? Check out the Lensbaby Super Holiday Sale

by in Photography gear and tagged , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

©2011tysonrobichaudphotography

My friends and hometown optics company, Lensbaby is offering a wide gamut of their unique products at substantial sales for the holidays.

As many of you know, I tend to shy away from using this site to push gear specials or sales constantly because we get them from many other sites, especially this time of year.  I will however give a shout out for Lensbaby because they’re a very cool, forward thinking, local company that I have been fortunate enough to become friendly with over the years.  I’ve helped create promotional imagery for them, I’ve done quite a bit of beta product testing and feedback, and have been published in a coffee table book focused on Lensbaby imagery.  When I was a wee blogger, they didn’t look twice when I asked about reviewing their lenses for the mirrorless systems way back in the day.  They even had me do some acting spots for their educational videos for larger retailers like B&H and Adorama which was a lot of fun, so you can say that I’m a bit of a honk.

I make no money from you buying Lensbaby products, so I’m not saying this because there is monetary incentive for me to do so, I just like them as a company, and like their products.  If you or someone you know has been interested in one of the many cool Lensbaby optics or creative products for photography or film making, now might be a good time to check on their sale.  You can see updates and find links to all of the discounts going on through the 22nd of December on Lensbaby’s website HERE.  Have a look, and let me know if you have any questions about the Lensbaby stuff, I’ve used quite a bit of it 🙂

If interested, you can see my various Lensbaby reviews and articles on the Review Page HERE.

Happy holidays to all, and happy shooting.

Tyson

*Voigtländer Nokton 42.5mm f/0.95 review… dayum.

by in Photography gear and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 50 Comments

Voigtlander Nokton 42.5mm f/0.95 lens review

Would it sound ironic if I were to mention the speed, and slowed hinderance of manual focus as the two best qualities that this lens can provide a photographer?  Let’s be honest, there are not many lenses in existence that offer this large a maximum aperture for any system, anywhere.  Certainly not very many that come in at under a thousand bucks, but this is the case for the micro 4/3 mount, Voigtländer Nokton series.  Yes, this 42.5mm (85mm equivalent field of view) lens is joined by a soon to be 10.5mm f/0.95 (21mm e-fov), a killer 17.5mm f/0.95 (35mm e-fov) and a 25mm f/0.95 (50mm e-fov) to create a set of super fast, Nokton wonder lenses.

I have been using the also stellar Olympus 45mm f/1.8 lens of late, and before I took off on a recent trip, knowing I’d be doing a vast majority of my shooting in the darker hours, I felt the one thing I was really lacking, was a really fast lens.  A remarkably solid and well built hunk of metal and glass, this 85mm equivalent lens has been calling me ever since it was announced.  Well, I decided that I’d benefit more fully from a really fast portrait focal length over the long run, and would gain a good amount of latitude while handholding it combined with the IBIS in the GX7, so I bit.

C’mon in to see a few shots, and read my thoughts on this optical marvel.

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*Brand New Topaz Glow! Fractalize your vision.

by in Postprocessing techniques, Software tutorials / reviews and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

P1160064

Topaz has just released a brand new plugin which aims to put another major artistic tool in your quiver.  On sale through December as an introductory promotion, Click HERE to download a free trial or to purchase, and follow along.

Want to see more?  C’mon in and let me introduce you to this cool, new plugin…

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*Monthly Flickr Photo Blog Challenge #10; “Gadgets” with @Mirrorlessons

by in Photo Blog Challenge and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Sweet Memories by AnggaPJ

“Sweet Memories” by AnggaPJ (see more from Angga on Flickr HERE)

Thank you to our November winner Angga for the new theme: “Gadgets”

As is fun with our monthly themes, they are open for interpretation.  There are no rules, other than to be considered for our selections, you must submit your image to one of (good) or both (better) our themed flickr group threads below.  Over the last 10 months, Heather and Mat from Mirrorlessons, and myself here have collaborated to create a fun way to both motivate our selves as well as help provide a platform for a bit more exposure by way of showcasing our favorites on both of our websites.  At the end of the month, Heather, Mat and I each choose our favorite image from the flickr threads that we feel best represents the theme and post them on both of our sites along with a vote.

The vote is open for 5 days after which we tally the two sites polls and declare the winner.  The winner of the month gets to choose the next theme and the process begins again.  Each month’s winner is also entered into our semi-annual champions vote where we get to vote on the 6 monthly winners to determine our favorite.  That winner is showcased on both my site as well as Mirrorlessons while also winning software, handmade wrist straps and who knows what else.

So, submit your image to our Flickr group theme threads below and let the challenge begin!

TRP Flickr Group Thread

Mirrorlessons Flickr Group Thread

 

Happy holidays everyone and we look forward to seeing what this month brings!

Cheers,

Tyson

*Congratulations to AnggaPJ for winning our November Flickr Photo Blog Challenge, Minimalism! with @Mirrorlessons

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Screen Shot 2014-11-30 at 1.34.27 PM
“Edge [minimalism]” by AnggaPJ (visit and see more from Angga HERE)

Another great challenge has been decided. Congratulations to Angga for winning this month, and stay tuned for this months theme!

These monthly themes are a fun way to motivate ourselves as well as challenge and hone our photographic intuition. Each month, I, along with Heather and Mat from Mirrorlessons, host these challenges and choose the three images from the reader submitted pools on our Flickr group pages that we feel are the best examples of the chosen theme. We then showcase these three on both of our sites with an open vote. The winner chooses our next theme and is entered into our semi-annual giveaway vote where the 6 monthly winners vie for your vote to be crowned our overall champion, and receive free stuff.

Congrats to Angga who will be added to our list of monthly winners, and thanks again to Heather and Mat, as well as everyone who has and continues to participate. Each month is a new chance to submit, so stay tuned to the blog as well as Mirrorlessons for new themes as they’re announced.

Find me on Facebook, Twitter and Flickr and happy shooting!
Tyson

*Wandering through a slice of time. Amsterdam and Bruges in the Fall.

by in Travel and tagged , , , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

amsterdamorama2

 GM1 + PL15mm – stitched panorama

As is the case for me every Fall, life found me traversing the blue marble for work.  This year was a little different in that Mrs Squeeze was able to accompany me.  Our two not so little any more offspring spent the time being doted on by their grandparents, which enabled momma and dada to do some partying.

Full disclosure, by “partying” what I really mean to say is sleeping, maybe eating a meal in one sitting and generally being able to drink a glass of wine or beer before 8pm, and let me tell you dear friends, we partied.

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*Time to vote! Vote for the winner of our ninth monthly Flickr Photo Blog Challenge; Minimalism. With @MirrorLessons

by in Photo Blog Challenge and tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Time to vote!  Our theme this month is “minimalism” and we had a ton of wonderful submissions on flickr this month.  Peruse and vote for your favorite below, and don’t forget to also vote on Mirrorlessons HERE.

These monthly themes are a fun way to engage and interact with the large community through this site, my friends Heather and Mat’s site and the ever growing family on flickr.  Stay tuned for next month’s theme with winners each month entered in to a semi annual vote to win free software and gear!

Screen Shot 2014-11-30 at 1.20.55 PM

“Morning Dew on Grass” by Reba Baskett (visit and see more from Reba HERE)

Screen Shot 2014-11-30 at 1.24.23 PM

“Ilha Grande, Brasil” by Omek77 (visit and see more from Omek77 HERE)

Screen Shot 2014-11-30 at 1.34.27 PM

“Edge [minimalism]” by AnggaPJ (visit and see more from Angga HERE)

Please vote for your favorite!

Thanks to everyone who submitted this month and I look forward to seeing what comes this next month!  Thanks to Mat and Heather for the continued networking and effort.  I love seeing how this has continued to grow each month and always enjoy seeing the differences in the great many talented eyes providing inspirational imagery.  Keep on keepin’ on everyone, and happy holidays.

Happy shooting,

Tyson

*The Entire Topaz Collection on crazy sale! $249.99 for all 15 Topaz Plugins

by in Postprocessing techniques, Software tutorials / reviews and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

 

topaz complete photography collection sale black friday cyber monday discount code

Topaz Labs is cutting the price of their complete collection, normally $430 to $250 for the next four days HERE!

Let it rain, let it pour.  Black Friday has become synonymous with hoards of shoppers jostling to get that $20 dvd player while normally ignoring that there may be another (or many) human beings between them and said dvd player.  Then came Cyber Monday (this next monday) where on line retailers and web based deals come out in force.  As those of us stateside crawl out of our food based comas, the inevitable deals begin to materialize.  For those outside of the states, you might be able to see this as a good opportunity to capitalize on our bizarre seasonal shopping traditions.

Personally, I’m kind of an opportunist shopper.  I store products away in my brain, a mental wish list as it were, and if I see those products go on sale at a deep enough gouge, I tend to jump.  If you’ve hung out on the fence regarding the Topaz plugins, this my friends, might just be one of those times.

Topaz is offering all 15 of their plugins for $249.99 HERE – Use code “BLACKFRIDAY2014 ” at checkout

Great news for those of us that already own one or more of the Topaz plugins.  Click the link above, and if you sign in before checking out (using the email that you’ve had your activation codes sent to for previous purchases, and would have any new ones sent to) you get further discounts as you won’t obviously need to purchase them again, unless you want to.  This sale runs through this Monday, December 1st, so the window is short, but oh so potentially sweet.

All plugins, if purchased individually would total $869.85!  The complete Topaz Collection normally discounts this down to $429.99, so cutting this down to $250 is pretty substantial.  Taking into consideration that Impression alone is $99.99, DeNoise is $79.99, ReMask is $69.99 and Clarity is $49.99 (which are all amazing plugins) the deal is killer.  Add to that, Black and White Effects, Adjust, Clean, Detail, and then 7 more products…  Well, you get the gist.

Come on in for links to my reviews on many of these amazing plugins, and more clarification on how much you save if you already own some of the Topaz programs.

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