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Hello and welome to My View for Thursday, December 31, 2009.

Happy New Year and Happy New Decade,

As we end the first decade of the 21st century — doesn’t that still sound odd?? — and begin a new year and new decade, I want to wish you all a Happy New Year.

In the last decade much has changed. We entered this decade with a fear of computer software meltdowns and a disruption of life as we know it. Fortunately, none of that came to pass. Other events did, indeed, change life as we know it on a global scale. It wasn’t the best way to start a new century.

Throughout he decade, many, more personal, events brought me much joy, as well as sorrow. I made many new friends, saw many new family members come into this world — and lost a few along the way. I almost lost some and those events gave me pause to think about myself and the way I’ve lived my life so far.

A new beginning is just hours away. New beginnings are always a bit mysterious. We can’t quite see clearly to know how things are going to turn out. But, we go forth, with faith, keeping our hopes and dreams alive. Such is the nature of a new beginning.

Thus with joy in our hearts, memories of the last years, guided by the light of our dreams, and with courage to go forth without knowing the future, let us all enter this new year and new decade determined to be the best we can be and to add a little of our best to making the world a better place.

A very Happy New Year to you all!!!!

As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome. They make me a better photographer, aid my growth as a person and offer me new experiences.

Foggy Night on River Street

River Street
Savannah, GA
July, 2009

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon 50mm 1.4, ISO 800, f/2.0, 1/45 second, handheld

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Hello and welome to My View for Monday, November 9, 2009.

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are enjoying a beautiful autumn.

I apologize for being away from My View since July. It has been an extremely busy and hectic time for me. First, I want to thank all of you who sent good healing intentions for my friend, Wes, who had by-pass surgery back in September. He is doing very well and will be attending the Big Bend National Park workshop with us later this week.

Since Wes’ surgery, I have taught three workshops with Craig Tanner — Grand Tetons National Park, Next Step in Savannah, and Zion National Park. This week, we are preparing for the last one of 2009 in Big Bend National Park, November 14-20. In addition, we’ve announced our 2010 workshop schedule and began registering participants for those workshops.

Today’s image was taken on the Grand Tetons National Park workshop back in late September. The colors were really lovely late in the week in the park and we went out one afternoon to shoot back lit trees. I was demonstrating a technique to a few participants that I use often to abstract a scene. I moved the camera while my shutter was open, bottom to top, to follow the upward direction of the trees. There were several fires in the park this year, as well as a rather large one in southern Yellowstone Park, just up the road from where we were in Jackson. The amazing back light on the stunning trees reminded me of a more beautiful use of the word “Fire” — the fire in the color of the leaves.

Thank you for your patience with me during the last few months, for your good healing thoughts for Wes and for all the sentiments sent to me on the loss of my two canine companions so close together this year. You will never know just how much those thoughts mean to me.

As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome. They make me a better photographer, aid my growth as a person and offer me new experiences.

Teton Fire

Grand Teton National Park
Jackson, Wyoming
September 2009
Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 50mm 1.4 lens, ISO 100, f/22, 1/3 second, Hand held.

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Hello and welome to My View for Wednesday, July 22, 2009.

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are having a nice week.

Today’s image is one taken of the marsh area on the other side of the footbridge near the pier on Jekyll Island. I had been out shooting after the Jekyll Island workshop was over. I made my way back across the footbridge after the sun had set. There was still just a bit of ambient light in the sky and the lights had come up on the pier, and the surrounding area.

I was “playing” with moving my camera to capture an abstract view of the marsh. It is a long exposure, so I made very small movements with the camera, stopping for a second or three between movements.

As I was searching for something to post this week, I came across this image again. Not only do I like the total abstraction, but it reflected my mood this week as I had to say good-bye to a dear companion.

As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome. They make me a better photographer, aid my growth as a person and offer me new experiences.

Blue Marsh

Larger View

Jekyll Island, GA
April 2009
Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 28-70 f/2.8 L lens at 62mm, ISO 1600, f/6.7, 30 secs, Bogen Neotec Tripod.

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For more information about canine cancer and research, please visit the National Canine Cancer Foundation.

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Hello and welome to My View for Sunday, June 28, 2009.

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are having a nice weekend.

Today’s image is a shot I took one night in Savannah in March a few days after our Next Step workshop. It had been raining most of the day, making every surface reflective. This is a view of Congress Street. I was on my way to Molly MacPherson’s for dinner. If you are familiar with Savannah, you’ll recognize the yellow and red flag of Scotland flying over Molly’s. I racked my 50mm 1.4 lens out of focus and took several shots, some more in or out of focus. This was my favorite from the series.

As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome.

Congress Street

Savannah, GA
Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 50mm 1.4 lens, ISO 400, f/2.8, 1/20 sec, handheld.

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Hello and welome to My View for Monday, June 23, 2009.

Hello Everyone,

I hope you had a great weekend.

Craig Tanner, a fantastic teacher and great friend with whom I work teaching workshops and on The Mindful Eye, and I spent the weekend with a great group of people here in Atlanta at our first Inspirational Weekend with The Mindful Eye. It was a lot of fun, we saw many old friends and made some new ones. Thank you to all who participated!!

Today’s image is a whimsical shot I took in Death Valley earlier this year in the days after the Death Valley Workshop when I was out shooting for myself. I came across this piece of wood in the desert near the Devil’s Corn Field area and immediately laughed out loud when I saw it — crazy woman, standing in the middle of the desert, laughing to herself!!

I keep coming back to this image as I scan images for preparing workshop presentations or for My View. Today, I’m in a lighthearted mood and decided to post it for your amusement.

As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome.

Death Valley Dragon

Death Valley, CA
Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 16-35 2.8L lens at 16mm, ISO 100, f/8, 1/45 sec, Bogen Neotec tripod.

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Hello and welome to My View for Sunday, June 14, 2009.

Hello Everyone,

I hope you had a great weekend.

Today’s image is from one of the marsh areas on Jekyll Island. It was taken late in the afternoon as the sun was getting to be low in the sky. The image was created by moving the camera as the shutter was open. I converted the image out of a RAW file in both daylight and tungsten white balance and blended the two conversions.

As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome.

Colors of the Marsh

Jekyll Island, GA
Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 50mm 1.4 lens, ISO 100, f/22, 1/3 sec, handheld.
Composite of two RAW conversions of the same file

A Larger view.

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Hello and welome to My View for Monday, June 1, 2009.

Hello Everyone,

Today’s image is another from my almost two-month long road trip this spring. This one was taken in a favorite spot in Savannah for breakfast, the State Street Cafe just off Telfair Square. I love this place for a lot of reasons and one is the bright colors with which the interior is painted. It can cheer you up on even the stormiest of days.

As I was waiting for breakfast to be served, and contemplating all that had happened in the last few weeks of my life, I was staring at a table in a corner by a window. As I stared, my eyes began to lose focus of the scene in front of me. It seemed a great metaphor for my mood at the time — losing focus on all that that was around me for just a while. I took three shots of the image — one in focus, one just out and one way out of focus.

Losing focus on our reality happens from time to time. By the end of the long road trip and five workshops, I’d really lost focus — mainly due to exhaustion and the “Savannah bug” that caught me twice. With proper rest, sleeping in my own bed, and getting rid of the “bug”, I’m back in focus once again and ready to tackle the world.

As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome.

Losing Focus

Savannah, GA
Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 50mm 1.4 lens, ISO 1600, 1/20 sec, f/4.0, handheld.

A Larger view.

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Hello and welome to My View for Monday, May 25, 2009.

Hello Everyone,

Happy Memorial Day to all of you celebrating this day in the USA.

It’s been almost a month since I posted anything to My View. I appreciate your patience and your support while I was so very busy with teaching and with The Mindful Eye.

Last Thursday, I returned home to Atlanta after two months on the road, except for one stretch of 7 days and a couple of other days. It’s been an amazing two months and I’m not sure that I can describe all the things that have happened accurately — or that I’ll even try. What I will do is to post as many images as I can from the extended road trip and talk about those. I started posting some images from this marathon road trip on the two previous posts to My View.

This image is one that I took after the end of the absolutely amazing Next Step Workshop in Savannah that was held from March 22 – 28. Every day during the abnormally cool week-long workshop, dark clouds loomed and rain threatened. But, it held off — until the Saturday evening after the workshop ended. And, then — it rained, and rained, and rained. Rained so that streets of Savannah flooded.

Today’s image was taken on Sunday night after the workshop from the upstairs dining porch of Fiddler’s Crab House down on River Street. The fantastic photographer and photography teacher with whom I work, Craig Tanner, and I had stayed over in Savannah for a few days in order to get some work done for The Mindful Eye. It had been storming for most of the day that Sunday, but the rain slacked off enough for a few hours so that we could walk from our hotel down to River Street for dinner. As we were waiting for dinner to be served, I noticed all the lights and colors reflecting from a wet River Street.

As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome.

Rainy Night on River Street

Savannah, GA
Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 50mm 1.4 lens, ISO 1600, 1/45 sec, f/1.4, handheld.

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Hello and welome to My View for Wednesday, March 18, 2009.

Hello Everyone,

I hope you all had a beautiful Easter Sunday yesterday!!

I apologize for my absence from My View for the past month. My “day job” — that is, preparing for upcoming workshops for The Mindful Eye and working on things for workshops later in the year — caught up with me this past month. I have three workshops in a row coming up!!

Also, the sudden death of my American Eskimo Dog, Riley, whom I wrote about on March 11, has impacted me a great deal. Riley was struck by a truck in front of my house on March 5. When I got to the bottom of the driveway, where he was sitting, he appeared OK. He just could not stand up on his hind legs. He was in no pain and very alert. I rushed him to my vet and, after extensive examination, we learned that the impact had broken his back and severed his spinal cord at a point below his waist. Thus, the reason for his lack of pain. After consultation, I had to make the heart breaking decision to let him go on to his next home. He was such an active and energetic dog. I could not imagine him being happy when paralyzed and unable to run and play and chase his squirrels in the backyard. It was so hard to let him go. I’m so grateful that I was with him and had the chance to hold him and tell him how much he meant to me as he went on to whatever comes next. Thank you, Riley, for spending 9 of your 10 years on this earth with me. I was so lucky to have found you!!

After that, I went to Savannah with Craig Tanner to teach our first Next Step workshop of this year. It was an amazing workshop, attended by an amazing group of photographers!! I thank all of the participants for their part in making it so meaningful. Rain threatened all week while we were there, but waited until after the workshop to move in. It seemed to reflect my mood as I was able to stay busy and not think too much about Riley — until the workshop was over. More tears came with the rain.

This image was taken on the Saturday night after the workshop ended earlier in the day. It was taken from the third floor walkway right outside the hotel room of a palm tree in the rain. The various colors in the tree were caused by the different types of lights on the walkway, from the parking lot and a little spill-over from the lights on River Street.

As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome.

Rainy Days and Mondays …

Savannah, GA
Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 50mm 1.4 lens, ISO 3200, 1/15 sec, f/1.4, handheld.

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Hello and welome to My View for Tuesday, March 11, 2009.

In a Moment, Everything Changes

Hello Everyone,

I apologize for my long absence from My View. Since I last posted back in January, I have been extremely busy and much has happened.

First, I have been busy with The Mindful Eye as we launched our 2009 workshop season with the Death Valley National Park workshop in late February. We had a great group of participants and, once again, a great workshop in this exotic and other worldly place. I will show some images from this national park in the next few posts to My View. I’ve also been working on getting us ready for the rest of our spring workshops coming up. And, I’ve started a series of tutorials, posted on The Mindful Eye, for the beginning user of Lightroom.

The image today is not from Death Valley, but is an image that I took from the valet parking area in front of the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, where we stayed on the night before we flew out of Las Vegas on our way back to Atlanta. I had the Lensbaby Composer on my camera and the moon was just over the hotel on the horizon to the left of a spot light that was beaming up from the hotel. The blue of the background night sky and the yellow of the part of the hotel that was in my image made this such an “other worldly” image and seemed most appropriate after coming out of the other-worldly Death Valley National Park. It is always a bit of a shock to me to drive out of Death Valley and back to Vegas where one’s view of reality changes in just a few hours.

As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome.

Altered View of Reality

Outside of the Luxor Hotel
Las Vegas, Nevada
Canon 1Ds Mark II, Lensbaby Composer with 2.8 ring, ISO 1600, 1/15 sec, handheld.

Another change to my reality came last Thursday morning when my American Eskimo Dog and loyal friend and companion of nine years was killed in an accident in front of my house. Everything changed in an instant. I felt as if I had been hit by the truck that took my Riley’s life. After a few days, the earth has stopped shaking so violently, but my reality has been altered and I’ve not quite adjusted to it yet. This image of Riley was taken a while back as he slept on one of his favorite places, the back of my sofa. I so appreciate all the messages of support that I received from my family, friends, neighbors and those posted to The Mindful Eye community.

Go hug your family, including your pets, today, let them know how much you love them. Everything can change in a instant.

My Riley

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