This is a collection of all the 1S24H series images posted for the month of February 2010.  Enjoy!

Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi, Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM, F 3.5, ISO 100, HDR, 3 Exposures

With February coming to an end, I wanted to introduce all of you to the first in a series of HDR shots that I took back in April 2008, while on a road trip up to northern Arizona/Southern Utah with two of my closest college buddies.  These few days in Arizona are some of my fondest and were filled with so many jaw dropping scenes.  I really do look forward to sharing them with you.  There will be a number of shots from this trip peppered throughout the 1S24H series for March 2010.

I vividly remember taking this shot.  We were on a small tour in Monument Valley, Utah when I noticed this wooden post with a frayed chunk at the top.  From the perspective that I was looking at it, it reminded me of a city in the sky.  I was also reminded of my old days playing SimCity, especially with the placement of my newly discovered wooden urban metropolis.  I was shooting with the Canon Digital Rebel XTi at the time, still shooting jpeg and in my infancy stages of learning HDR.  I had rented the Canon EF-S 10-22 lens, which easily was the MVP of the trip.  It was because of this lens that I was able to get such a wide, distorted look to this shot.  I also love the warm, saturated tones throughout, it really brings me back to when I first grabbed this shot.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon TS-E 17mm f/4L, 17mm, F 4, ISO 100, HDR, 9 Exposures

It’s not too often that I get most of a NYC subway platform to myself so when I did stumble upon this luxury of grunge, I made the most of it.  I absolutely love how light plays off of the various reflective surfaces of these station platform.  I dig this scene, in particular, because it strongly reminds me of that subway fight scene towards the end of the first Matrix movie.  I was have expecting Neo and Agent Smith to start brawling it out in front of me.  At least I would have had my camera ready! 

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon TS-E 17mm f/4L, 17mm, F 4, ISO 100, HDR, 9 Exposures

This is the Tweed Courthouse on Chambers Street in Manhattan.  It is easy to see why one would want to stop and shoot this beautiful example of courthouse architecture.  Having the 17mm Tilt Shift lens on allowed me to achieve to things in this shot: 1. it allowed me to get perfectly straight, rectilinear lines throughout the image and 2. it allowed me to create an impression of looming pillars because of how wide the lens is.  The closer I got, the more looming these pillars seemed.

That whole downtown Manhattan area is filled with all sorts of amazing scenes.  I can’t wait to head back.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon TS-E 17mm f/4L, 17mm, F 8, ISO 100, HDR, 9 Exposures

Another shot from my day-long HDR shoot with Jack Hollingsworth (@photojack on twitter).  We got up at 5AM to catch the sunrise and despite my near zombie-like state, I managed to rattle off a few series of brackets.  I have this thing about changing lenses in areas where sand freely flies around so knowing that the sun would be reduced so a small marble when viewed through my already-mounted ultra wide 17mm Tilt Shift lens, I decided to fill most of the frame with my foreground element and let the rule-of-thirds do its thing with the upper third portion.  In retrospect, I wish I had remembered to shoot this bracket with a much smaller aperture, something around f/16 or so, to get more of a sunburst from rising sun.  Oh well, next time for sure.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon TS-E 17mm f/4L, 17mm, F 4, ISO 100, HDR, 9 Exposures

I shot this while roaming around South Boston with my buddy, Chris Lazzery, a few weekends ago.  We spotted this random alley that was just oozing with character so we dropped our bags, propped up our tripods and got crackin’.  You can see Chris’ perspective over here.

I was specifically drawn to this shot because of how it presented itself.  It looks like a screen grab from a Resident Evil video game or something.  I was half expecting some zombies to bust through that loading dock door and gnaw on Chris.  Not on me, of course.  I would have been three quarters down the block by then.

Sorry, Chris.  You would have been missed.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon TS-E 17mm f/4L, 17mm, F 4, ISO 100, HDR, 9 Exposures

Growing up on the Saturday morning cartoons of the ’80s, I tend to look at just about every manhole cover with some fondness and partly expect four giant mutant turtles to pop out wielding various weapons typically used by ninjas.  No such thing happened here, as I was standing in the DUMBO area of my home city of Brooklyn, NY.  Instead, I just focused on framing this shot.  I love the leading lines of the defunct train rails all the way to the the beautiful Brooklyn Bridge.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon TS-E 17mm f/4L, 17mm, F 4, ISO 100, HDR, 9 Exposures

This was the first HDR image that I processed from the Jack Hollingsworth demo shoot that I assisted on last weekend.  Jack had asked me to capture some images that would give viewers a sense of the environment where he photographed his models.  The combination of the fantastic weather and the plethora of capsized boats strewn across the beach made this extremely fun to shoot.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon TS-E 17mm f/4L, 17mm, F 4, ISO 100, HDR, 9 Exposures

This image actually first ran on my guest blog entry that I wrote for The Windy Pixel a few weeks ago.  I think every photographer has a bucket list of shots that, even though they have seen a thousand other renditions, they still feel compelled to get their own.  This shot is one of them for me.  I’ve seen this image taken so many times but until I shot it for myself, it just wasn’t the same.  Can any of you readers relate?  Let me know what is on your bucket list to photograph.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon TS-E 17mm f/4L, 17mm, F 4, ISO 100, HDR, 9 Exposures

It’s funny.  I’ve walked the streets of Times Square more times than I can care to count.  And of all the times that I’ve walked by, I never ever noticed this massive building devoted to the Church of Scientology.  I couldn’t not shoot it.  As I was taking my shots, a minister ran across the street to where Peter and I were situated and started asking us some questions about what we were shooting.  He was a nice enough guy and he left us with a pamphlet and a business card.  I’ve still got the business card somewhere…