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

Click here for larger image.

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

Thank you for visiting My View.

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

Thank you for visiting My View.

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.

Thank you for visiting My View.

Please visit us at

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.

Thank you for visiting My View.

Please visit us at

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

A Larger view.

Thank you for visiting My View.

Please visit us at

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.

Thank you for visiting My View.

Please visit us at

Hello and welome to My View for Thursday, April 23, 2009.

Hello Everyone,

I hope this finds you enjoying Spring.

I finished the Foundation in Photography for Women Workshop in Savannah last Sunday with a group of wonderful and awesome women. It is always courageous to say “I’m a beginner” and dive right in to a world of new terminology and technology to learn a new craft just because you love it. These ladies were just great. I thank each and every one of them for the opportunity they gave me to do something I love — teaching.

On Wednesday, Craig Tanner and I began the Jekyll Island Workshop on this beautiful island with another group of great people. We finish this workshop at noon tomorrow. On Tuesday of next week, Craig and I will be back in Savannah for the Street Portraiture Workshop.

Today’s image is one of someone that I’ve gotten to know in Savannah over the past few years who is one of the most amazing people I’ve ever known. If you’ve followed The Mindful Eye for a while, you will recognize him. This is Isaac Heyward. He is one of the most positive people I’ve ever met in my life. He has been blind for 47 years, yet never mentions his blindness as being a problem. Craig was recording Heyward’s answer to a question, standing near him with the recorder. Craig’s reflection is in the window.

As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome.

Isaac Heyward

Savannah, GA
Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 50mm 1.4 lens, ISO 100, 1/350 sec, f/1.4, handheld.

Thank you for visiting My View.

Please visit us at

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.

Thank you for visiting My View.

Please visit us at

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

Please visit us on

Hello and welome to My View for Sunday September 22, 2008.

I apologize for not posting an image to My View last week. This is the first time I’ve missed a weekly posting since I started My View and I do not intend to miss another!!

While I was in Savannah recently for a week and a half teaching and working, I managed to slip away on a “morning off” to visit Wormsloe Historic Site outside of Savannah on the Isle of Hope. Wormsloe was established by Noble Jones, one of Georgias first settlers. Jones was an English physician and carpenter who came to Savannah with James Oglethorpe in 1733 and commanded a company of Marines charged with Georgias coastal defense. The avenue of moss-covered live oaks leads to the tabby ruins of the plantation.

I visited Wormsloe for the first time in the fall of 2007 while scouting for upcoming workshops. I fell in love with the place and have had little time to return to shoot for myself. As it turns out, one of the women who attended my 2008 Foundation in Photography for Women Only is a direct descendent of Noble Jones. She discovered this on her visit to Savannah for the workshop. The site has even more meaning to me now.

I do intend to return to continue to photograph this beautiful historic site.

Your comments and suggestions are most welcome as they help me grow as a photographer and a person.

Thank you for visiting My View.

Wormsloe Historic Site

Isle of Hope, GA
September, 2008
Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8L lens at 200 mm, f/6.7, 1/20 sec, ISO 100, Bogen NeoTec Tripod, Bogen 808 Tripod Head