So, I bought a whale.......and shot a tree, a BIG tree......

Okay, not a real whale, but a big white whale. NO! Not a real big white whale! Okay, so when you watch Pro Sports on tv and the camera pans and you can see all the still camera guys in background and they all have these really BIG white telephoto lenses on their cameras and it looks as though they can count your nose hairs from a mile away.........okay, so my white whale is not THAT big but its a distant cousin to those. Long story longer, I have been wanting one of these "reach and touch you" lenses for a while and Canon makes the best line-up of cameras and lenses known to man and so when I was able to move some hunting gear I haven't used in forever and a day I was able to purchase a "new to me" used white whale of a lens. Still not following me? I bought a new lens, its large, its white, I have nicknamed it the "Big White Whale." Capiche? Okay, so on to the shoot. My family and I attend a local church here in the Memphis area called Bellevue Baptist Church. If you have ever drove on I-40 on the east side of Memphis you will see 3 crosses, 4 to 5 stories tall, maybe larger, but still, this is Bellevue Baptist, one of the largest churches in Memphis and one of the largest Baptist churches in the Southern Baptist Convention. Each year during this time the church orchestra, Jr high and adult choirs put on a presentation called the "Singing Christmas Tree." This year is the 33rd year for it and it rocks out every year. The tree is about 3 stories tall and encompasses 25,000 lights. A friend of mine is an electrician on the set and he says backstage is nuts on that monster! Anyway, being a volunteer photog for the church gets me first class access to this show and I can shoot away. Okay, so first class access gets me a front row seat to watch a 2-1/2 hour show through one eye and a 3 lb lens, but it still rocks. Check out the Bellevue website here
and see the pics from last year as well as the video. This is an awesome show that is a wonderful way to share the gospel with others. The kids do 8 shows and they are almost all sold out, it rocks! Here a few pics from the show using the the white whale, and one or two of the tree with a wide angle lens. Click on the image to view larger versions if your heart desires.

This guy was rockin' and so was his headphones! (Shot with the white whale)

This young ladies Mom sat behind me and her batteries died on her camera, I hooked her up with some more batteries and she pointed her daughter out to me so I shot a few, several actually. (shot with the white whale)

This is Ryan Wingo. Ryan is a worship leader within the church and an awesome singer/songwriter. Here's a close-up, again with the white whale, not quite all the way out at 400mm, but close.

Thought this was a cool shot of the actress portraying Mary, The Mother of Jesus. The spotlight certainly did not hurt the ambiance of the moment. (again, the white whale)

For these past shots I was about 30 feet away in the front row. The rest were shot from the balcony, much more than 30 feet away.

Here's a shot of the stage and the backdrop. This years performance was set in Rockefeller Center. Oh, yeah, there's the massive tree.... Shot from the Balcony with my wide angle lens.

Another tree shot, notice the kids in the tree, they stand up there and sing for most of the

performance, they do an awesome job. Again, I used the wide angle to keep everyone in the pic.

This young lady was one of the main performers "Kate" in the performance. I used the white whale on this one all the way out at 400mm, its hard to see here due to compression, but this far away, (at least 75-80 yards and elevated) its a sharp image!

Lastly, the real reason for the season, the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. This was shot on the opposite side of the stage as the pic of Kate above, this one is not out full at 400mm but probably around 350mm with the whale and its still sharp.

Needless to say I am rockin' this new to me lens and I look forward to what might get shot in 2009!

Thanks for reading and Mom and if your out there, I am working on our Christmas pics, I promise!

Thanks for reading, God Bless and remember the reason for the season.

Thanks,

Chris

Isaiah 7:14