Go For a Walk, What Can You See?

Take a camera and go for a walk. Take your time, look around.

You will be surprised at what you see.  Explore.

These were from a walk yesterday morning, on he way to the gym. I took the long way.

Morning light, sweet images.

Field Trip To Rose Hill

I lead a photo group at my church, Harmony Community Church. We went on a little field trip to Macon's Rose Hill Cemetery yesterday. For those of you not from Macon, Rose Hill is an incredible place to visit with a camera. It dates back to 1840. The  Ocmulgee River entrance is shown above. It is in the Holly Ridge section of the cemetery.. It has had its share of vandalism over the years.  The graffiti has been added since my last visit.

The second photo is a tighter view of the right side of the top photo. We spent several hours looking and photographing. Hope to share some of my friends pictures with you all soon. We will meet next Sunday and share our work.  Photography is a very personal art form, but it still helps to share your work with other photographers. Everyone can learn from the discussion, and from looking at others work.

Several of us shot the same subjects, and I can't wait to see how the others saw the images we photographed. 

I am sure we will all have our own interpretation.  I encourage you to find a photo group near you and check them out.

If you want to know more about Rose Hill follow this link: Rose Hill Cemetery

Bill and Billie Cox, Celebrating Life

 I went to a very special surprise birthday party last Saturday. It was Bill Cox's 100th birthday. That is special.
But it gets better. Bill married his wife Billie on his birthday, so the two were also celebrating their 66th wedding anniversary. Wow. That is Bill and Billie in the photo above.

I had been following them around as they were greeted by family and friends. The two finally took their seats and Bill picked up the small picture from the table. "This is me 100 years ago," he said.  I was close enough to quickly grab this shot.

That is why I love my 15mm for doing candids. I know folks can get tired of me being right in their face, but you are tight enough for those sweet moments, and get some environment in as well. One picture tells the story.

More HDR

I continue to play with the HDR software. These were some from a shoot with Courtney last year. The HDR is not for glamour work, but is neat with a model with good skin.

I will definitely keep playing with this software.

Love the look.

Remembering 911

I was like most other Americans after 911, dazed, wondering about the way we as a country would react.

We had been seemingly so divided for such a long time. Viet Nam, Nixon, so many things had left so many folks feeling apart. 

Later in September, a huge celebration had been planned for Robins Air Force Base's 60th birthday. A huge bash at the Museum of Aviation. Lee Greenwood was scheduled to preform. The Band of the Air Force Reserve had their Bag Pipers on hand. The largest American Flag I have ever seen was flying high.

So many people, so much emotion. I was very glad that I was assigned by the Telegraph to cover the event. 

Definitely one of those Kodak moments, actually many, many Kodak moments. And I was still shooting with the old Kodak DCS620's. 

A time for everyone to open up, share their fears and pain, and more importantly to share a common hope for the future.

So many flags, so many who were proud to be Americans.

Lee Greenwood finished his performance with "God Bless The USA."  

I knew half way through his song that America would be okay. We would heal, but more importantly as a country we would bond.

God Bless The USA

New HDR Find

I have been playing with HDR photography off and on for about three years. I have come close to buying Photomatix Pro several times, but decided it was not worth the price for what I wanted to do.

I have tried quite a few free programs, and like the results from Picturenaut about 60% of the time. 

It just does not have enough variable control.

The new Popular Photography has a cool article on HDR and got me cranked up again. 

A little surfing brought me to a new free program.

Well, it is really not new. It was formally Qtpfsgui, now Luminance HDR 2.1.0

I downloaded it yesterday and have been really playing with it. It works with RAW and JPG files, and you can use it with multiple exposures or with one. The photos here were all generated from one JPG exposure.

You can find it at http://qtpfsgui.sourceforge.net/

 Give it a try, it's free. But if you like it, send them a little donation for their efforts.

Getting Snooty Wit The Hibiscus

Our Hibiscus was looking really good yesterday morning and I decided it needed shooting. 

I shot a couple in the overcast light and wanted to bump it up a notch. I got a flash and a light stand, and then decided I wanted to concentrate the light. I have this old snoot I made from a cereal box and duct tape. Took me a while to find it. Have not used it in a while. 

I shot several angles on the bloom, and liked this one best. The light(shown below, duct tape and all) was directly across from me and above. It was coming in at about a 60 degree angle. Like the results. 

Light modifiers for shoe mount strobes have gotten to be the rage. Back when I made this one, you really could not find anything much. It does work.

The photo above was with the snoot, one one below without. You can see how the light spreads.

Not bad for a Cheerios box.

A New Venue

I have really developed a love for sharing my passion for photography through teaching. I have taught classes for various organizations, from the Georgia Press Association to a small group at my church. Today I begin another session through the Continuing Education Department at Fort Valley State. I have been doing this class for several years. Last spring we began a new advanced class.

This class is always at night, and I have had people ask about morning classes quite a few times. Beginning in October, I will try a new venue, a morning class at Hobby Lobby in Warner Robins. This will be a class aimed at folks who just want to take better pictures, and learn a little about how their camera works.

But more importantly, hope to let folks see the personal creativity that is available through photography.

WE all have our own ideas about art, likes and dislikes. We all see the world a little differently.

That is one of the cool things about photography. It is easy to do your own thing. It really doesn't matter if anyone else likes what we do, as long as we are happy creating and growing as an artist.

If someone else likes what we do, that is just icing on the cake.

I did the above poster to go in the store's lobby. I did the collage in Photoshop Elements, and did the words and layout in Indesign.

Hope some folks will show up for class.

Exploring the Neighborhood

Deborah asked if I wanted to photograph a Brown Recluse spider this morning. Of course I said yes.  We went into the back yard and photographed the spider. She hates spiders, but she knows a cool photo.

On the other side of the yard I noticed this plant coming through the fence.  The textures in the leaves and the wood were awesome as was the light.

Had to shoot it.  I love old weathered wood. 

Have you explored your neighborhood lately?