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Peering past shield-shaped petals and though veils of soft pink to the inner most parts of the tulip, those that are responsible for the very survival of the species.

This is the 6th image in my portfolio of the Holland, MI tulips from the Tulip Festival earlier this year. After today, I will put the tulips away for a while, perhaps to bring them as a surprise at some moment in the future, and move on to other images.

Thank you for being here with me as I attempted to showcase the lovely tulips from this delightful little town in Michigan during the Tulip Festival in May of this year.

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.

Holland Tulips #6 – Into the Heart

Holland, Michigan
May, 2010

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon 100mm 2.8 macro lens, ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/1500 second shutter speed, mounted on Bogen Neotec Tripod

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Good Evening,

This is the 5th image in my portfolio of the Holland, MI tulips from the Tulip Festival earlier this year.

This image is one of the larger, and more open, tulips that I saw in the fields in Holland, MI in May. The softness of it’s color grabbed my attention, causing me want to shoot it in a way that emphasized the softness I felt when gazing on this lovely flower.

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.

Holland Tulips #5 – A Softer Side

Holland, Michigan
May, 2010

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon 100mm 2.8 macro lens, f/4.0, 1/1000 sec, ISO 100, handheld

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Good morning!

This is the 4th image in my portfolio of the Holland, MI tulips.

Of course, I had to put in an abstract, made by moving the camera while the shutter was opened, into my collection of the tulip shots. This image was made by moving the camera upward in a very quick, but small, motion, during the 1/6 second that the shutter was open. As Iwas not concerned with defraction in a this motion blur, stopping down to f/22, and using my lowest ISO, was a way to achieve the shutter speed I needed.

I will post one or two more of the tulip images from this year’s Tulip Festival in Holland, MI, before moving on to other subjects.

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.

Holland Tulips #4 – Flaming Tulips

Holland, Michigan
May, 2010

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens, f/22, 1/6 sec, ISO 100, handheld

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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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