Arena #2 (sides)

40mm f3.7 1/20s ISO800

This is a covered arena used for horse training.  The metal halide lighting drops an eerie cold blanket over the earthen floor.  The warm reflections makes for a contradiction in lighting and altered the color base.  I shot this series in color, but all along had the b&w conversion in mind.  This allowed me to focus on contrast, shadows and grain instead.  The linear divide of the large plywood boards was so different than the organic composite of the floor.  Although well lit for our eyes, it was not for the little pocket camera I had with me.  I had to force the ISO up to 800 to capture these.  I even braced against the swing gate.  The small CCD sensor is not preferred and is less than ideal in most all cases for quality art photography.  But if you know how to use your equipment, know your tools, you can still pull off a good one here and there.

Edit Art

I recently saw a post on a fellow photographer's blog that said "don't tell me that this photograph isn't heavily edited."  Let me say this about that.

EDIT. SCHMEDIT.

That's the craft.  I applaud the capture of "unedited" images and appreciate the skill in that, but dialing in the setting on your equipment (camera) takes time and is a type of edit, "pre-edit" if you will.  It does with digital systems AND it does with analog systems.  All art photographers, like Ansel Adams, do this...  add a second here, take a second there.  He "edited" every one of his images with chemical mixes, silver chrome papers, different film stocks, cropping, exposure times, filters, dodging & burning.  "Half dome" and "Moonrise" are creative masterpieces because he made precision edits.

"Editing" is not a cheat or trickery to make photographs look good- it's a way for the artist to get his product together.  It is no different than a painter mixing paints until they get the perfect color blue.

"Editing" is simply using tools in your toolbox.  As an artist, the photographer can manipulate the images until they are happy with the result.  It is then up to the viewer to digest and absorb the result upon which they can make their opinions of it.  Additionally, editing alone cannot create the core image.  The original capture is important also.  For that it takes they eye and creativity of an artist, the photographer.

So when viewing photographs from now on- don't make a judgement one way or the other based on editing.  Respect the image and the artist, they stand alone.

If you don't know how to do some basic editing... you should learn.  Your may turn your snapshots into art after all.

upward is best

28mm f3.3 1/640s ISO100

Just around the corner is a day spa painted this spring green.  It's interesting to know that there are buildings all around us painted in distinct and vibrant colors.  We overlook them as we get accustomed to them. They don't stand out like the occasional teal or purple house, but they are there.  The rooted ivy has found home here for years.  This run is forging new hold, budding in the warm weather, and setting up for a fine year of growth. What do you see around the corner?

lion's teeth

Dandelions are thought to have evolved about thirty million years ago in Eurasia; they have been used by humans for food and as a herb for much of recorded history. They were introduced to North America by early European immigrants.  The English name dandelion is a corruption of the French dent de lion meaning "lion's tooth", referring to the coarsely toothed leaves.

bless

Spring is coming and the warmth will fill our hearts.

spring comes and they rise.

Spring is coming in the Southern states.  The trees are budding, the grass is turning, the bulbs have pushed through the soil.  There are daffodils in bloom in some areas.  The warm weather comes.  The sun shines on our faces.  Our arms stretch out to embrace the change.  Daffodils rise among us.

Somewhere in Kentucky

My laptop has been MIA for weeks now.  Some GEEK in Kentucky assures me that the MoBo, RAM, HD and CMOS CKT were toasted.  I am without my tools these days since my digital darkroom resides on the mobile technology platform.  Standing by to stand by...

Wind... a self portrait

28mm f8 1/250s ISO200

Tanawha Trail, Blue Ridge Parkway, Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina

The elements created a natural beauty.  The wind pushed and pulled on the delicate snow carving an image of itself into the surface.  The sun joins in to glaze and protect. The wind in a thankful gesture dusts the canvas one more time.  Self portrait complete.

CHEERS!

180mm f5.6 1/500s ISO200

Freedom Park, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.

These mallard ducks are at the buffet.  I suppose there is no one to say "You Go Now- You Been Here Four Hour."  Eat up my fine feathered friends.

A Sailor's Delight

I lift this rum on the rocks to remembrance of our days. 

 The all hour escapades on Terceira, Azores.  The pineapple follies in Wahiawa, Hawaii. The pier side adventures and submarine deployments in Groton, Connecticut. The staff duty for the Admiral in Fort Worth, Texas.  All of the speed runs and weekend jaunts into the fantastic trip night fandango.  

We have lived. "Here is to the Sailor that still lives in all of us."

Calla Divine

...and we face the woes of technology.

I've been fighting a complex aggravating battle with my laptop and successfully losing the engagement.  This has seriously limited my access online as well as my processing time for images.  I'm standing by while some geeks poke around on my machine.  In the mean time I'll hang tight. 

This is a wild calla lily growing on the island of Terceira, Azores, Portugal.  It's a painted rendition of a photograph I shot while on vacation there.

See what you see...

300mm f5.6 1/50s ISO400

This is just a reminder to keep looking everywhere...  you never know where a photograph is lurking.  Squint your eyes and see the shapes, colors, shadows, contrast, lines...  See what the next guy doesn't.

blue scales

300mm f5.6 1/200s ISO400

Flashback to "Sonic Grid" for the red polyvinylpolypoly table top...

This is a blue variant planted securely aside a sliding board. A playground staple seen symmetrical and obscure...the bench seen through different eyes.

shimmer for days

82mm f5.6 1/60s ISO200

When you are taking a stroll, do it with your eyes open.  Look up, down and around to see what is there.  The world spins and blends around us.

crystal conifers

"Most with cones for seeds, most with needles for leaves
C is for conifers, my kind of trees..." -TMBG

When it is 9deg. outside the condensation on the inside of the windows does magnificent things.  This crystalline forest grew overnight and stayed three days.