Keith shoots the Beto O'Rouke Rally kicking off his Presidential campaign in downtown El Paso. He his shooting with a Sony A7III mouted with the Sony G 70-200mm f/2.8 (A Mount).
It's always a great time going out to shoot photos with good friends, especially when they are as talented as my good friend Keith. Keith is a full-time commercial truck driver, and I am an active duty soldier in the Army, the combination of which leaves us with few days that we can actually hang out, so when we do, it's a real treat. So when I mentioned that I would be free last Saturday, I also posed the question to his as to which, if any, of my lenses, he would like to try out on his new A7II. His text reply was simple, yet spoke loudly and to the point "70-200".
I've got the E Mount Sony G 70-200 f/4 as well as the A Mount Sony G 70-200 f/2.8, which works extremely well on the Sony A7 series bodies with the use of an adapter such as the LA-EA3. Keith has shot my f/4 in the past, and it's a wonderful lens, but I thought he might enjoy shooting the 2.8 and I wanted to witness first hand, how another photographer handled the heavier weight as well as seeing how it shoots with the LA-EA3 adapter.
The first group of photos below were shot by Keith using the Sony G 70-200mm f/2.8 lens via the LA-EA3 adapter on his A7III. You can see more of his awesome photos on Instagram @coffee_2_cocktails
Keith has got a great eye for interesting subjects and composition, a rarity these days. Great job Keith! Let's head out again soon.
As for myself, I was shooting with my trusty Sony A6300, mounted with the impressive, small-yet-mighty, little Zeiss FE 35mm f/2.8. A great lens for street photography. It sports a versatile field of view of approximately 48mm on an APS-C sensor camera and is one of my favorite lenses, it is slightly underrated by bloggers and reviewers, I have no idea why.
There were a number of events happening in downtown El Paso on this particular Saturday, including Presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke kicking off his bid for the 2020 Democratic Party nomination, a bicycle race through the city streets and the 915 Beerfest at the convention center (much to my own amazement, I kipped the Beerfest). The day provided countless opportunities for fun and interesting photographic subjects. Enjoy the photos!
Above: Ppotted in the wild, professional photojournalist Mark Lambie makes his way to the rally.
Above: I snap a shot of Keith as he is waiting to meet up... with me.
The national press, like a pack of hungry animals, awaits Beto O'Rourke's speech.
Giving directions to a gal looking for the media tent. She didn't ask me, must be because Keith had the bigger lens on his camera ;)
Keith attaches the Sony G 70-200mm f/2.8 lens to his Sony A7III
Trump supporters held a counter-rally up the street from the Beto O'Rourke rally. They were quite vocal and energetic.
I spotted a wide variety of camera bodies in the streets of El Paso this day, including what looks like a Sony FS5 mounted with a Canon lens.
"Don't Tread on Me!" You got that right!
This Nikon shooter was covering the bicycle race.
That's Keith's logo hat, featuring his beloved dog.
Special thanks to Clay, owner of Dave's Pawn Shop in downtown El Paso, for letting us climb onto the roof of his business for some great views of the rally.
I was expecting a larger turn out for the Beto O'Rourke rally, especially since this is his home town. The crowd wasn't small by any stretch of the imagination, I just would have thought it'd be larger.
At this point, I switched out lenses with Keith for a few pics. I enjoyed an effective focal range of 105-350mm with the 70-200 mounted on my A6300 due to the crop factor of the APS-C sensor.
I spotted a DJI Mavic in the area.
Dave's Pawn Shop did have on or two interesting cameras on the shelf, including that Pentax 67. I've always wanted one, but damn, they are heavy.
It was great meeting Patrick Craig (Instagram @p_craig) a talented shooter who clearly has excellent taste in cameras and lenses (he basically carries what I carry) on this particular day he was shooting with a Sony A6000 mounted with the Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 lens and he also had the Leica D-Lux Typ 109 in his bag.
The El Paso Police Department did a great job on a busy day. There were no major incidents that I witnessed and everyone seemed to enjoy all the events that downtown El Paso had to offer.
Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope you enjoyed the photos!
