Welcome to My View

I hope you all had a wonderful July 4th Weekend.

I was lucky enough to be able to spend the long holiday weekend in Colorado, visiting a good friend. It was a relaxing, not doing too much of anything requiring heavy lifting and enjoyable kind of weekend. I did manage to get a few photographs, some of which I will process and post here soon.

I returned home to Atlanta just in time for SUMMER to make it’s full appearance. We’ve had some hot temperatures already, but being away in a cooler environment for a few days spoiled me. I came home to temperatures reaching into the high 90s this week. Along with our infamous humidity, these temperatures cause one to slow down, sit under tall shade trees, drink lemonade, chat with the neighbors and try to breathe.

In my mind, summertime and magnolias go hand in hand. Once those large creamy blossoms begin to form on those giant trees with large, dark green waxy leaves, we know that hot humid days, damp blouses and pitchers of cold lemonade are not far away. And, now those days are here with us for the next few months.

I managed to get myself so busy in June that I did not get out and photograph those lovely, giant, creamy flowers hanging low on the spreading branches of the magnolia trees before they faded away until early next summer. But, I did find one that I photographed a few years back.

Wishing you cool breezes, tall shade trees and cold glasses of lemonade for the rest of the summer.

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.

Heart of the Magnolia

Roswell, GA
June, 2004

Canon 10D, Canon 100mm 2.8 macro lens, ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/350 second shutter speed, mounted on Bogen tripod, with Bogen 2047 head.

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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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Sony

Hello Everyone,

This is not my image for my weekly posts to My View. However, I could not let the day go by without paying tribute to my 12-year-old Tibetan Spaniel, Sony, who lost her battle with hemangiosarcoma (spleen variety) early this morning.

Sony came to me from Westview Kennels and Connie Buckland back in 2001. She was a retired little champion looking for a retirement home and I was looking for a Tibetan Spaniel. We found each other. Sony was an absolute delight and wonderful companion to her “big brother”, Riley who lost his life earlier this year. Thank you, Connie, for trusting me to give her a home and care for her all these years. I will miss her terribly.

CH. Westview’s Caught on Tape (Sony)

Roswell, GA
July 2009
Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 50mm f/1.4 L lens, ISO 800, f/2.0, 1/60 sec, handheld.

To all the dogs who choose us — how lucky we are that they do!!

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

Hello and welome to My View for Saturday, July 11, 2009.

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are having a nice weekend.

Today’s image is a another from Savannah taken in April of this year. After many days of rain in March and April, this beautiful sunset materialized over the Talmadge Memorial Bridge right outside of my hotel room. I’ve not seen such a lovely sunset from downtown Savannah before and ran out and down the street — barefoot — in order to capture a few shots before it disappeared.

It was a soft sunset. I followed the mood already set and softened it even more with use of the clarity slider in Camera Raw.

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.

Soft Savannah Sunset

Savannah, GA
April 2009
Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 28-70 f/2.8 L lens at 70mm, ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/20 sec, handheld.

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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 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 Saturday, June 6, 2009.

Hello Everyone,

I hope your summer is getting off to a great start.

Today’s image is another from the spring road trip of teaching photography workshops just over a month ago. This is the pier on Jekyll Island. The Jekyll Island workshop ended at noon on this day and it was about 45 hours before the Street Portraiture Workshop was scheduled to begin back up the road in Savannah. I went out on this evening by myself to do some personal shooting and for some alone time to re-energize for the next workshop.

As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome.

A Quiet Moment

Jekyll Island, GA
Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 28-70mm 2.8L lens at 70mm,
ISO 100, 30 secs, f/8.0, Bogen Neotec Tripod.

A Larger view.

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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 Sunday, January 11, 2009.

I hope your first full week of 2009 went well.

Today’s image is another from New Year’s Eve in Savannah of one of my favorite bands, The Trainwrecks. The band was playing at Club 51 degrees where there are a series of different colored stage lights that change while the band is playing. This image caught the green stage lights illuminating the band almost completely. The colorful lights at the bottom of the image are the happy accidental result of flare into the lens from the stage lights.

I appreciate all of your comments and suggestions as to how to improve my images they serve to make me a better photographer and person.

Thank you for visiting My View and I hope your 2009 is off to a great start.

In the Limelight

Club 51 Degrees, Savannah GA
Canon 5D, 50mm 1.4 lens, ISO 3200, 1/250 sec, f/1.4 handheld.

Based on your feedback about the “blue orb” in the image (a stage light that was coming up), I reworked the image so that the blue has a color more in line with the overall green/yellow in this particular image. I’d love to have your feedback on this version.

In the Limelight 02

Markus’ Solution to the hard metal reflector of the stage light.

After we all discovered that it was the hard, sharp look of the metal reflector on the stage light that was bothering us — actually think Markus discovered that first — he very kindly sent me a copy of his version to fix it. I’m posting that here and I think you will like it much better. Thank you Markus for playing with this and discovering the “real problem” and for sharing the solution. It definitely helped me look at things in a bit different way when trying to figure out a problem with an image.

Markus’ Limelight

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Hello and welome to My View for Sunday, November 30, 2008.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the United States. I hope you all have had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.

Here in the north Georgia area, we have had a spectacular fall. The leaves have been prettier than they have been in a number of years. This last Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, the cool rains moved in and the beautiful leaves are turning brown and falling. The weather is turning cold tonight and the remaining leaves will soon be all over my driveway, yard and roof.

As a last celebration of this colorful and lovely time of year, I found an image that I took a couple of years ago of the reflections of fall leaves in the north Georgia mountains. The trees are reflected in a small pond just off a trail. With gratitude to this beautiful fall that brighten the Atlanta area this year, I look forward to winter and the holiday season.

As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome. They serve to help make me a better photographer and a better person.

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Autumn Reflections

North Georgia Mountains
Canon 5D, Canon 70-200mm 2.8L lens, ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/180 sec, tripod mounted.

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