A cool shootin' shot

Phew! Been a long time. Sorry once more for all of the inactivity. Believe it or not, I've been doing a great deal of photography work, but I just haven't had time to get anything online lately but, I've got lots to share today. This morning, I was looking at some firing range shots from our time in Washington State, and I remembered this shot that I took a few years ago when we were out west for Christmas.

Vandra and I flat out dig shooting guns. Yes, I'm a liberal, but liberal shmiberal - I'm a pro-gun liberal, and unapologetically so. Okay, enough politics - that's the other blog. We both grew up around guns - my dad to this day loves his guns, and he competitively shoots .22 pistols. Vandra's father is a former federal officer, so she grew up around guns, too. When I say that we "grew up around guns," by that I mean that we are used to firearms, and responsibly handling and shooting them.

Anyhoo, when we were out for Christmas, we headed to the range; Vandra's dad brought his guns, and I brought my Canon, and I took plenty of shots with both. I got the above snap while Vandra was shooting a Glock 9mm (my favorite gun ever, by the way). At first blush, this shot is pretty unspectacular, but if you look closer, you can see the bullet traveling down range toward the target. I couldn't believe it when I first put the shot up on screen when we returned home, but I'm convinced that's what it is! Please note this shot is not "Photoshopped" in any way.

It's a neat image that I was lucky to get. Ironically, I took this photo with a Canon EOS 20D, a much more inexpensive camera than my current EOS 5D. But, the 20D is notably quicker in frames per second (without checking, I believe it's between one and two FPS quicker). The reason is simple - the 20D has a smaller sensor, so the camera's CPU has less to process, thereby making it quicker. Would I have captured this with my 5D? Nope - at least not this exact picture in time. In one second, that bullet is long gone.

Canon EOS 20D, Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8-4 lens, exposure unrecorded