Kenzie

I had lunch with my niece, Kenzie, whom I hadn't seen in some time. She is a beautiful, smart young lady! Anyway, she is off on an adventure - going to Brainerd, Minn., for some schooling, then on to who knows what!
Whatever she tries she'll do well and it was great to spend time with her and reconnect again.

Canna

I've been experimenting a bit with an off-camera flash set at various levels and shooting at night using a tripod. I do not seem to envision how the flash will light the picture really well, so I take a lot of photos holding the flash at various angles to see what I like. Here's one that came out pretty well - Diana does a wonderful job with planting pots for our deck!
I'm also using the print to jpeg file feature of Lightroom to add text and frame the pictures.

Water Lily

To me, water lily's are special! They seem to only show up at certain times of the year, and are dependent on a very narrow set of conditions. But they are incredible, and once you have spent time with one, you are not the same person. The leaves and the color and the way they handle the sun - all are very special!..
So today, the first one of the season, shot handheld and then sectioned to get the effect that I wanted. Here you go! Enjoy.
Gerry

Vacation

We're on vacation this week, spending time with our friends from North Carolina up at Solitude ski resort located up one of the canyons out of the Salt Lake valley. Wonderful blue sky, cool breezes, the smell of woodsmoke in the air at night, cliff swallows serenading us during the day - really a paradise. We've watched a mother moose and her little one run across the open area of the hill outside as well as a couple of mule deer at various times.
We took a hike today around a beautiful mountain lake and, while it is a bit difficult to capture all the feelings and emotions, here's a try!

Hot Saturday

Wonderful hot day today, 95 plus here in SLC. The sun came over the fence just right about 11:30am and I was able to catch this one. Reminds me of a finger/hand (the butterfly bush flower) reaching for God (the sun, etc.) the day lily. I was mowing the back lawn when I saw this. Beauty surrounds us whether we are awake to it or not!
Happy weekend!

Tips Day

Remember the old song refrain (Beetles, I think) - "I get by with the help of my friends"! Well, in photography that is so true - most of us are more than willing to share tips, hints, and ideas. Here's a couple for today:

HDR information = http://www.stuckincustoms.com/
This link was passed on by a friend, and looks to be pretty comprehensive and understandable.

Learning Photoshop - well, one of the free ways to do it is to frequent http://www.planetphotoshop.com/ and take some of the free courses and sign up for their newsletter for daily tips.
Another way is to become a member of NAPP - at http://www.photoshopuser.com/ for $99/year. Not only do you get an incredible amount of information, you get decent discounts that can more than cover the cost of your membership.

Nikon users - http://www.nikonians.org/ is a members group with some pretty good training and gear discounts, plus possible connections when you travel.
Also, www.bythom.com is devoted to Nikon products and he does a great job of testing out gear and creating manuals that are worth buying. This tip was passed on to me by a guy sitting across from me on an airplane!!

Canon users - I haven't found a Canon members group although I am sure there is one out there.
Pictures to come with a later post!

What to do!

I love the digital photographic world but it has it's own set of challenges (actually many). Here are two pictures of the same flower - a wonderful day lily in our backyard. When I shot and developed film, I never felt I had the options that I have today in Lightroom (or whatever program you use). Perhaps it was my own ignorance about film, but it seems in the digital world, I can move sliders any which way and come up with something that may be cool but might have no relationship to what I saw (except for the underlying form).
So what to do!? This is where it gets personal. With so many options to choose from, the photographer looks at what did they see and how do they want it to appear to the viewing public. Along the way there may be questions to answer like "what is your voice?", "what did you see in this that moved you to take the picture", etc... While, if you are at all like me, you are still evolving, the response to these questions may be varied. Still, you press on.
Here I am, shouts the picture!

Triptych

One of the ways I keep learning is by subscribing to photography oriented newsletters. I recently learned about creating a triptych in Lightroom, as well as being reminded what the viewers eye likes - odd number combinations instead of even ones.
At the same time I had been thinking about how to display the shots of a heron fishing - and suddenly it all fell together. So here it is!

Desert

I love the desert and it is a tough place to capture with a camera the essence of what I see, hear and smell. I tried a little different tack with this picture, using HDR to attempt to capture the highlights. I think it came out kind of neat, and represents some of the diversity that the desert offers and the mind integrates so easily.

Locust

Several parts of Utah are being invaded by locusts/grasshoppers. Today me and the boys hiked through a lot of territory that had a lot of grasshoppers. Mostly they were small and numerous like mosquitoes..however, here's one that I think deserves the name of locust! He (she?) reminds me of the bad boy of the neighborhood - tattoo's and all :-)

Shooting at mid-day!

There is a lot of dialogue on when the light is best and the 'golden hours' of sunrise and sunset are awesome times to catch light. There is also the 'Blue Hour', (l'heure bleue) that refers to twilight and Katrin Eismann has some tips on how to capitalize on this for some pretty beautiful shots (Photoshop User magazine, p. 60, July/August 2009).
But how about the middle of a sunny day? I've not seen writings on this time, yet I have shot a number of great pictures in the middle of the day. Granted, they are not landscape pictures, but when I see beauty I want to attempt to capture it.
I hike with Murphy in a mountain meadow that has wonderful wildflowers. Usually they are gone by now, but with the rains they are still there. Here's a couple that I took this afternoon about 3pm - sun was warm enough to fry me!
So break the rules and see what you can come up with!

Jane

Jane is my goddaughter. I was present when she was born and we've always had a special bond. She and I are a lot alike in some ways - spontaneous, risk-takers... Anyway, her boyfriend is in Alaska working construction for the summer and she wanted to send him some pics of her for his birthday. So over she came and we took some pics! She has a great smile and laughs easily. She just walked around the back yard standing in various places while I took pics. Out of 110 she liked 43, so put them on a CD for her and away she went. Here's one that I like!