Bridge To Nowhere - Kansas Style

Taken outside of Marion, Kansas...

Autumn Approaches

September day at Eklutna Lake...

Lazy, Hazy Morning

Humarock Beach, Massachusetts...

Shades of Purple

I've always like how the colors compliment each other.  Photo was taken in Maui...

Fall Preview

Autumn is in the air...

Green and Blue

Simple shot when the subject presents itself...

Simple

I keep returning to this.  I'm not sure why, if it's the simplicity, or...

Thunder Rolls In

Thunderstorm rolling in, taken at a rest stop on Interstate 70 near the Colorado/Kansas border.  Underexposed by two stops and used "Cloudy" white balance to try and bring out the drama in the sky...

Sandstone and Sky

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada...

Simple Changes

Monument Rocks, Gove County, Kansas.  I like this shot, but I was always bothered by the dust specks (sensor dust) on the far right (most noticeable), and to the left...

The solution was to crop the image so it fit an 8 x 10 print.  That took care of the dust specks, but I thought that it significantly reduced the drama in the photo that the wider angle brought, with the sweep of the clouds across the horizon....  Of course, the obvious answer is "go buy Photoshop and get rid of those dust specks." As I've mentioned before, I've continually debated in my mind what should and shouldn't be done in post processing (the "digital darkroom") with photos, why the bulk of work should be done in camera and with the eye...

Recently I bought Apple Aperture, which I thought would give me a chance to do some basic post processing on my photos.  So, I returned to this image.  This afternoon I used the "Retouch" tool to get rid of the dust specks, and the "Auto Enhance" feature to bring out the blue of the sky a bit more.  I think that this is a good compromise between "tweaking" and totally changing the original canvas...

Contrast

I like the contrast between the bright red window and the white washed wood siding.

Independence Mine, Hatcher's Pass...

Puff!

Taken at the Marion Reservoir, Marion, Kansas...

Simple

Could of cropped it, but I just like this one the way it is...

Red and Redder...

Downtown Anchorage...

After Glow

Humarock, Massachusetts...

Morning Reflection

Boat harbor, Seward...

Ethereal

Simple flower shot...

Late Afternoon Glow

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada...

Golden Glow

Simple shot at sunset.  South Kihei, Maui...

Simple Changes

Two more experiments in transforming a color photo to black and white.  The first photo I simply flipped to black and white, and cropped some of the open space from either side so it was a tighter view of the subject.

Nauset Light, Cape Cod, Massachusetts...

The second photo I flipped to black and white, cropped so the view of the lighthouse was tighter, and softened the outside edges of the photo in an attempt to bring some "atmosphere" to subject.

Highland Light, Cape Cod, Massachusetts...

One Flower, Two Ideas

Another experiment in converting a photo to black and white.

When I saw these flowers I loved the deep red color, so I underexposed to darken the background to try to get the red to "pop" more.  Straw flowers, Alaska Zoo...

Same photo, converted to black and white, edges softened to focus the eye on the center flower, cropped to remove the black space on the right...

Experiments In (Lack Of) Color

I've occasionally flipped some photos to black and white, because I think doing so will enhance the atmosphere or bring out in the scene what I feeling at the time.  Sometimes doing so has the desired effect, sometimes it turns out to be an experiment best forgotten.

I like this photo because I think the change to black and white brings out the texture in the glacier, making it look like styrofoam.       

Matanuska Glacier, Glenn Highway...

This photo was taken early in the morning, when the beach was empty and the fog hadn't lifted yet.  Converting to black and white makes a dull, grey morning feel even more like a dull, grey morning.

Hummarock Beach, Massachusetts... 

Upon Looking Closer...

Sometimes there's something interesting within something ordinary.

Flamingo, Denver Zoo...

Mural, downtown Anchorage...

Juxtaposition - Something Old, Something New

Neither shot is noteworthy, but I like the contrast between old and new.  The first one was taken intentionally, the second I only noticed the contrast after the fact.  Revisiting both has sparked my interest in seeking similar things as I look about...

Historic downtown district, Cheyenne, Wyoming...

This was taken at a roadside rest stop on I70 in Kansas, near the Colorado border....

Sometimes You Need to Look Up

Independence Hall, Philadelphia...

A Word About Workflow...

Part of the incentive to start shooting more frequently, and subsequently to start updating this blog on a regular basis, has been the recent acquisition of the tools needed to store and process the images captured.  I had been working with an old PC running Windows XP.  Even something as simple as sorting through a large number of images would make it groan from the effort as its hard drive spun… Yes, it was an excuse not to go out and shoot.  On the flip side, having the right tools in my hands serves as inspiration that I plan on running with…

Fast forward to the now.  I’m still shooting with my Nikon D40.  Still use the kit lens that came with it, the Nikon 18-55mm (occasionally), and the Nikon 55-200mm VR (until recently, my go to lens).  The Nikon 55-300 VR was added to the mix recently.  All have a Clear UV filter on for protection.  I occasionally use a circular polarizer (rainbows, blue sky, the usual), and I have graduated neutral density and neutral density filters that I need to become more familiar with.

For processing and storing images I’m using a 15” MacBook Pro with Retina Display, running Apple Aperture (release 3.3.2).  Despite earlier ranting about the evils of excessively manipulating digital images, I realize that some tweaking of images is necessary to fully realize one’s artistic vision, much like film pros used to process images in the darkroom…  All of my images are now backed-up to 2 Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1.5 TB external hard drives and burned to DVD (using an external Apple USB Superdrive).

Let the fun begin...

Future's So Bright...

Taken near Talkeetna, July 2012...

Timing Can Be Everything

Sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time...  Near Lahaina Harbor, Maui...

Line and Color

This was taken at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson, Kansas.  I liked the contrast between straight line and curve, orange and silver...

Here We Go...

I figure what better way to get into the habit of posting than to start posting a photo (or set of photos) a day.  So, here we go...  This was taken in January 2009 while driving through Red Rock Canyon outside of Las Vegas.

Gone, But Not Far Away

I'm back.  But, I'm not.  I never really left.  It's been in my mind, off and on, to pick back up again...   I realize now that I fell into a rut, that I tried to do what's been done, that I tried to have a blog that should look like a blog or be what I thought a blog should be...  Instead, moving forward, I'm going to just share a random thought or two about photography, share a few of my photos, and have some fun...