DOF: The Grain Plain

Flora is not my only macro love affair.  I also care deeply for wood grain.  Weathered wood, aged by the elements, grayed by exposure and the passing of time.  There is a story in every grain.  A detail and experience from a beautiful yesterday.  a pure natural beauty.  The fine detail and contrast of xylem carries impact and presence of days gone by...

Ladybugs for Avery

I was looking Avery's photoblog and she posted some ladybugs.  I took that as curious happenstance as I myself snapped off some frames this afternoon of a ladybug in my Gerbera Daisies.  This is what I saw.  Thanks Avery for the inspiration.  (scope out her photoblog too http://averyandphotography.blogspot.com/   )

Renegades and Panty Raids

Here we are again back with King Jimmy James. This is in a series of promotional portraits I did for the musicians.  When taking portrait you are aware of the product and it's use.  We worked here to capture some rockstar attitude and finesse with an edge.  Jimmy crashes the skins with monkey arms... and that s a GREAT THING!

Iced Tea Please

Sitting at dinner I found myself looking at layers of ice and liquid from a different perspective.  It is amazing how light is colored, bent and transformed be the simplest material.  Capturing these changes in light is challenge is some photography.  Sometimes it works, other times you just have to drink it.

Play With Your Food

Ever wonder how they make food look so good in commercial and advertisements?  There are times you get into a meal that looks to good to be true.  This one also tasted to good to be true.

Carnival Lights

I was not prepared to run into this tonight and did not have my tripod with me.  I found a nice low safe place under this ride and brace hard against a rail.  Slowing your shutter speed down is the key.  Similar to the waterfall photos, you are trying to capture movement.  In order to do so you must manage the light intake with  complimentary ISO, shutter and F-stop setting.  These are at 28mm, 2S @ f/7.1 w/ ISO100.  

Sea Horses OBX

What a grand place to visit.  The Outer Banks of North Carolina are a great escape from the city life droning you may hear every morning.  It is true that wild horses live on the northern islands.  This day the large dark horse lead his fold off the water line into the dunes.  He looked over his kingdom and assessed the safety of his family.  They followed him, stopped behind him, then moved off after his "ok".  These photographs do not capture the magnificence of that day.  These photographs are but a mere tribute to that memory. You can't always get the good shot...  but that doesn't mean you missed it.

Get in the grass

Flash Flood

Automatic camera settings are able to make anyone with a camera a "good" photographer.  But is the camera always smarter?  In this first photograph I "let" the camera use the flash.  You can see that ambient light is washed out, the color changes in the foreground and the background. The water is nearly stopped.  How about turning the auto functions off and finding new functions your camera has?  Then change up perspective, address composition, adjust colors and contrast...  and enjoy nature through different eyes.
(Glen Burney Falls, Blowing Rock, NC, USA)

September 2 1967

a few days from now... forty two years ago...

I remember a winter day on a frozen lake when I was poking around.  The ice was 6 inches thick.  There was an amazing clarity to it in depth and the parallax view through it was interesting.  Let this break the August heat.

Digital Darkroom

When I started my photography training in a classroom we used film and chemical darkrooms.  We used to step into a pitch back room to roll out negatives onto a reel. Then proceeded to submerge them in chemicals to develop, stop and wash them.  Next we moved onto the enlarger to make prints.  These days it can be done digitally with SD cards, Picasa and PhotoShop.  But learning to use your software is just as important as the "old school" ways.  Capturing the image is the first part of photography.  The later parts are just as crucial.  Manipulation in a darkroom, or digital darkroom, will change your outcome.  Here is an example I did working with musician Joel Port.  A variant of this was ultimately used in a full promotion swing we did.  Creating this provided a visual with much more impact than the original and fit the bill perfectly.

Get to the heart of it.

Get into your flowers.  Choose an extreme perspective or a macro focal point.  Find lighting that creates vibrant color.  Don't stand 8 feet away, use a flash and take a snapshot like it' a group of co-workers next to the new office furniture.  GET INTO IT. Let it be real and in your face.