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.

Blue Sky Mining

It's a bright new day...

Fashion Photo

There are more styles of fashion photography than you can shake a stick at. The key to nearly all of them is having a model with confidence. The comfort level in front of the lens is as important as the comfort level behind the view finder. This was a hard cold morning as I recall and Jimmy James was feeling rough. But he performed so well.

Thicker Than Water

Sometimes the raw edge of everyday life is art. You may see something that no one else sees. We each have our own "eye" for things. To discern whats works and what does not is subjective. Does it work for you?

Eat More Chicken

UpTree

Changing perspective can alter everything about your subject. You can take the everyday occurence and create a bizarre fresh view. The image can establish new thoughts and wonderment. Sometimes you just gotta take the red pill...

Where's Me Gold?

Petals, petals everywhere

I was asked to post a few more flower photographs. Here is another sample. There is a fine line in having strong composition, proper lighting, selected DOF and even a good subject flower. The craft is ever evolving...