Welcome to My View

After being absent from My View of a few weeks, I hope that I’m back on a regular weekly basis. It has been an extremely busy winter and spring with Inspirational Weekend and regular workshop schedules of The Mindful Eye.

During the last couple of days that I was in Savannah, after our Composition Intensive Workshop, I met a young man at B&B Ale House. His amazing smile and presence, as well as the light in which he was sitting, attracted me. I talked to him for a few seconds and asked if I could photograph him. He was gracious enough to sit for me for a few minutes. His name is Matt and he is stationed at Hunter Army Airfield, located on Ft. Stewart, just outside Savannah.

I always worry about the young soldiers that I meet or see coming and going in airports. No matter what our individual political beliefs, I know we all are concerned about the soldiers. I always send a little prayer for their safety when I see them. Matt, where ever you are and wherever you go, stay safe out there. And, thank you for being so gracious.

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.

A Young Soldier

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Savannah, GA
B&B Ale House
May 2, 2010

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon 50 mm 1.4 lens, f/1.8, 1/90 sec, ISO 5000, handheld

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Hello and welome to My View for January 10, 2010.

Welcome to the first My View Post of the New Year

As the new year and decade are now underway, I searched my files for an image that might be appropriate for a fresh start. And, I found one.

Back in September of last year, I had the pleasure of visiting friends in Wisconsin and hearing a band that was new to me — although not new to my friends. Their son is in this band. The band is Fresh Cut Collective and I heard them play in Milwaukee one night in early September. Although I did not consider myself a huge fan of hip-hop music, they managed to win me over after just a few songs. The energy this group brings to the stage is highly contagious.

I chose an image of my friends’ son that I hope shows the kind of energy this young band exudes.

Wishing you all fresh new ways to look at your everyday environments as we go forth in this new 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.

Fresh Cut Collective #1

Milwaukee, WI
September, 2009

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon 50mm 1.4, ISO 6400, f/2.8, 1/90 second, handheld

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Just a reminder to check out our Inspirational Photography Weekends coming to a city near you. Discounts are available for groups.

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 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

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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 Friday, June 12, 2009.

Hello Everyone,

Happy Friday!!

I feel as though I’m getting caught up on My View and will go back to posting once a week starting on Sunday evening. Thank you for your patience with me during the hectic spring workshop season.

One of the great things that came out of the March, April, May series of workshops is that my teaching partner and friend, Craig Tanner, took a “next step” with his music. A long-time guitarist, he finally worked up the courage to play in front of other people and began playing at some of the open mic nights in Savannah. Today’s image is one that I took late one night as Craig and two new musician friends were just jamming in Franklin Square.

Here are Adam, Craig and Jeff making beautiful music in Franklin Square just after midnight on a lovely Friday night during the Street Portraiture workshop.

As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome.

Franklin Square Musicians

Savannah, GA
Canon 5D, Lensbaby Composer lens, f/2.0, ISO 3200, 1/30 sec, handheld.
Composite of three images

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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 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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Hello and welome to My View for Monday August 18, 2008.

For the past two weeks, I have been hard at work setting up the 2009 workshops for Radiant Vista.

Part of the process of setting up the workshops is developing the material for advertising our workshops. I was browsing some old files to find images that we can use in the material and came across this image from a 2004 Jekyll Island Workshop that I attended. It was taken one evening after dark when we were out for some night shooting. After working on the 2009 workshop season non-stop for a couple of days, I found it rather calming and soothing.

I hope you do, too, and I welcome your comments. They only help me grow as a photographer.

Craig Tanner and I would love to see you next spring with us on beautiful Jekyll Island. Please see our workshops for 2009 for more details.

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Jekyll Island Pier, October 2004
Canon 10D, ISO 100, 16 - 35 mm 2.8L lens at 35mm , f/11, 15 seconds. Camera mounted on tripod.

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