GPhillips Photography and Etc.

Black Friday - Madness & Mayhem for the Crazy Brave

2011-12-30T00:38:00.000-05:00

Black Friday was madness and mayhem but I had fun. Watching people fight over towels and pillows what could be more entertaining. I have only done Black Firday at Wal-Mart I have never had the desire to camp out in a Best Buy parking lot. I just enjoy meeting and talking with people who are also brave enough (or dumb enough) to go out on Black Friday and be a part of the mayhem. For the most part the people are all just out for a good deal but some like me are just out to be a part of something crazy and exciting. As a kid I grew up standing in line at Kings Island waiting for a ride on a roller coaster. Black Friday is much the same except the line doesn’t move for hours and then all of a sudden the clock strikes twelve and in 30 seconds the ride is over. If you are lucky you come off the ride with a wireless inkjet printer or f you are super lucky an X-box 360. Sometimes you come away with only having the opportunity to have met someone you would not have otherwise met. I never got the name of the man or the woman next to me in line but I found out that my daughter is friends with this man’s granddaughter and that the woman next to me has to children who she home schools. They used to be at a Christian school in Fairborn but now she is homeschooling them. She is divorced and living with her mom, both she and her mom are doing college online and they wear out their printers printing their books for their classes. Stand next to a person for 2 hours and you can learn a lot about them if you just listen.
    It is fun to watch people go crazy over cheaply priced stuff. People stood in line for hours to buy movies for $1.96. It was so crazy people were filling shopping carts with movies and finding a less busy spot in the store to look through the 100 or so movies they threw in their cart without looking at them. Then they would walk away with less than 10 that they truly wanted. The other 90 or so left in the cart for someone else to deal with. Yes, I was guilty of this but just to be straight about it, I wasn’t the only who did this and it was from the others that I got the idea. I did at least return the ones that I didn’t want back to where the movies came from.
    My wife thought I was dumb to go out, she stayed home and relaxed in my La-Z-Boy while I took my 3 daughters out for the fun. When she found out that I was writing about it, she now thinks I am crazy. Crazy maybe, dumb I don’t think so but everyone has a right to their own opinion.
    As I said earlier I have only done Black Friday at Wal-Mart I have never had the desire to camp out in a line for 24 hours to get a great deal on a TV. I have often thought about doing an all night shopping trip going from store to store and mall to mall but have never done it yet. I guess my desire to sleep is stronger than my desire to stay out all night shopping, who knows what the future holds. My oldest daughter recently wrote a paper at school depicting me as a person who lives on the cuff making decisions on a whim so you just never know next year you may see me at four in the morning drinking a Pepsi and hanging out with the crowd at Old Navy or American Eagle, just to save a buck on a pair of jeans. I guess I have a reputation to live up to with my daughter!

Grace Covenant Church

2011-08-28T16:14:00.000-04:00

To Write or Not To Write is still the Question!

2010-07-29T00:41:00.002-04:00

Well I am still not 100% sure what I am going to do about this blog but I want to fill everyone in on my job situation. As I mentioned in the last post I was recently laid off after coming back from a 4 1/2 month long trip doing missions work in Africa. At first I was disappointed and upset but after having some time to think about it, I realize that it is a blessing. I had not been happy with my job for a long time and wanted to quit anyway. With the economy like it is I was afraid to quit, I always thought any job was better than no job. The problem with that way of thinking is that it is just plain not true. Now that I am unemployed I can see that I was wrong, I can now look for a job that I will enjoy. It might not be easy but some times you have to work hard for the things that you enjoy. Some one thought that I was really down in the dumps after reading the last post and I just want to ensure all of you who read this that I am not. I am looking forward to what adventure God has in store for me at this time. Hopefully it will involve photography.

Photoman

To Write or Not To Write, That is the Question!

2010-07-18T01:10:00.002-04:00

Well I guess it (the title) isn't really a question it just sounded like a good title. It has been a long while since I made a real blog post on this blog. I have been doing a lot of traveling over the past 5 or 6 months and while doing so I have been keeping another blog. If you would like to see where my family and I have been and why please feel free to check out this blog http://empoweringghana.blogspot.com. Anyway this will help you understand why I have not given much attention to this blog lately. I must confess that when I started this blog it was just for fun and I had no real intention of doing much with it. After a while I decided that I wanted to try and do a daily blog, so I started writing and posting photos to this blog on a daily basis. Well this took much of my time and often I didn't really know what to talk about so some of the posts were (in my opinion) lame. I decided that since the blog was taking so much time to just do it on a weekly basis. As you can see that has not worked to well, not doing it daily it became very easy to forget to do it and my blog has fizzled out. I really enjoyed the blog and I am thinking about doing it again on a daily basis but am still not sure if I am up to it. Tonight however I just felt like writing so I decided to write a post, unfortunately there will not be a photo to accompany this post. If you go to my other blog that I mentioned you will see that I have been in Africa doing some missions work, that is all I will say about it if you want to see more and learn more you will have to visit http://empoweringghana.blogspot.com. Anyway we had to leave Africa about 6 weeks earlier that we had planned. When I got home I asked when I could start back and was told anytime I wanted but if I came back earlier than I had planned, everyone in my department would have to take time off unpaid to make up the difference of my salary for those 6 weeks. So not to hurt everyone else I decided to try and stay off as much of the time that I could. When a friend of mine found out I was home he said I could go to Florida and stay in his condo on Siesta Key, his treat. Well I was off work and I had promised my son that I would try and take him to the beach when I got home so I said okay. We left on Saturday, on Friday I got a call from work telling me I no longer had a job. I was also told that since I was still on leave I did not qualify for the severance package that they were offering to the employees that were being laid off. What a way to treat a person, the people who told me I could come back whenever I wanted were the same ones who told me that it would hurt everyone in my department, they were also the same ones who called me two weeks later to tell me I no longer had a job. It makes a person wonder if they knew then they were going to lay me off and was their way of tricking me into staying on my leave of absence so they wouldn't have to give me my severance pay. Well I don't want to dwell on this any longer so I am going to close this post.

Photoman

Oh Yeah this is gonna hurt!

2009-12-29T22:53:00.004-05:00

It has been a while since I made a post on here, to be honest I have been so busy getting ready for our trip to Africa that I forgot about this blog. I was Skypeing a with my friend Jeff in London tonight and he bought up one of my other blogs http://empoweringghana.blogspot.com and then he asked about this blog. Since he reminded me about it I figured I may as well make a post. So here it is, earlier this year we went to the zoo and while at the children's petting area, we saw this scene. The 2 goats were really going at it, almost gave me a headache just watching them bunt heads.

Photoman

Our Upcoming Missions Opportunity

2009-11-14T18:27:00.005-05:00

Click on the top picture to learn more about out trip.

Photoman

Test Video

2009-10-12T23:48:00.003-04:00

Dragon Flight

2009-10-10T22:16:00.002-04:00

I shot this image while at Myrtle Beach this summer. It was our first time visiting Myrtle Beach and we had a wonderful time. The weather was hot but it was nice to be at the beach every day. One day I was walking along the beach when I came upon this kite. It was flying high and when I followed the string to see who was flying it I found it tied to a post. The colors looked awesome against the blue sky so I thought I would share it with my followers.

Photoman

Music before Photoshop

2009-09-16T17:56:00.007-04:00

I thought I would share this image with you so that you can see what the image looked like before I took it into Photoshop and worked on it. I love it both ways but I often like to have my images look more like a work of art than just a great photo. I wanted to give you a chance to see what I started with as well as the end result which I submited in my last post.

Photoman

Music after Photoshop

2009-09-14T12:31:00.005-04:00

It has been a while since I have posted anything to my blog. I apologize for this and I hope to get back to posting things on a more consistent basis. This image is one I made of my 3 girls standing in a field playing music. I wanted it to look more like a painting or color drawing than a photograph so I took it into photoshop and this is what I ended up with. I am very pleased with the result, I hope you like it to.

Photoman

2009-08-13T16:10:00.001-04:00

Test

Does anybody know what this guy is?

2009-08-01T14:21:00.004-04:00

Thanks Earl for identifying this guy.

According to what Earl found this is an Assassin Bug, that may explain why he was behind me when we found him. I think he was sizing me up for the kill.

Photoman

We found this gut the other day and at first sight we thought it was a spider. Upon closer inspection we realized it only had 6 legs not 8. I have never seen a bug like this before that day so I decided to bring him home to get some pictures of him. My wife was not happy but she was just as interested as I was. She just didn't want me to bring him home. I didn't have my macro lens so I didn't have a choice if I wanted to get a good close photo so I found cup and a Kleenex tissue and a hair band and brought him home. Long story short I got this photo and was hoping that someone might know what kind of bug it is. If anyone knows I would love to hear from you.

Photoman

Blue Tailed Skink

2009-07-28T00:26:00.002-04:00

I am not sure what this guy is really called but I do know that he or she is a Skink. I call it a blue tailed skink for obvious reasons but I don't remember what it actually is. If anyone knows please let me know. I found this guy at the same castle where I saw the dragonfly. Unfortunately he is not eating any bugs or anything exciting, I hope you are not too disappointed Earl. Lunch hour must have been over or maybe the dragonfly was diner and I scarred it away, oops!

Sorry Todd, still no pictures of the castle of the campground but maybe you will find your way there yourself. They use the castle for weddings maybe you should check it out. Matter of fact they were setting up for a wedding while we were there. Really cool location for a wedding the two teenage girls I was with both said that is where they want to get married. I guess it is very romantic. If you look at the dragonfly post there are links to the website for the state parks that show some pictures of the parks but they do not do the parks justice.

Photoman

Dragonfly

2009-07-25T13:49:00.003-04:00

I took this photo of a dragonfly while we were on vacation at Myrtle Beach State Park in South Carolina. We were visiting Huntington Beach State Park which has its own castle. It isn't a castle like you are probably familiar with from Europe, it is a Moorish style castle named Atalaya. It was very interesting to visit and while walking through the courtyard I saw this dragonfly who decided to pose for me on this wooden bench. This is as close as he would allow me to get before he took off. I highly recommend Myrtle Beach State Park for those of you who like camping.

Photoman

Panoramic 6

2009-07-22T20:07:00.004-04:00

O.K. here is my latest installment in my Panoramic series. It is not the best one that I have done but I really like it. This image once I stitched it together measures just over 11" high by just over 85" long. I would love to print this image to see it but it would be over 7 feet long so I probably won't print it. I was in a very big hurry when I shot this and I didn't have a tripod so I had to hand hold the camera for 9 exposures. Since I was in a hurry I neglected to hold the camera in a vertical position. This would have allowed the image to be taller but it would then have added probably at least another 6 exposures to get this view. Anyway if you look at this image at full resolution you can see a couple of places that the stitching is not perfect, but I only spent about 30 minutes on this image and I will probably not spend any more time as I don't intend to print it. I did want to share it with my blog viewers, I hope you like it. Oh yeah, this is the Cumberland Gap and you are actually looking at 3 different states in this image. Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky. Most of what you are seeing is Tennessee to the left of the image is Virginia and to the right is Kentucky. I was standing in Virginia when I shot this image. As we walked back to the car we came across the Virginia/Kentucky state line. My girls were excited to be able to stand in 2 states at the same time.

Photoman

2009-07-04T14:21:00.003-04:00

I shot this image while we were camping at Caesars Creek State Park, I was practicing shooting from different perspectives. This is one of my favorite shots. I really like the rocks in the foreground the angle of the dock in the image and the vast space of the blue sky.

Happy Independence Day,

Photoman

Stainless Steel

2009-06-28T11:13:00.002-04:00

I was asked to shoot for the first annual Friends of Israel banquet in Dayton Ohio a while back, while I was there I came across this image. I call it stainless steel because that is what it is a stainless steel table top with really cool lines swirled into the steel from a grinder then polished to a nice shine.

On another note, I am sorry that I have not been keeping up with my blog. I am really thinking that I am going to have to go back to a daily blog, otherwise I just don't think about it enough and I don't keep up with it. So don't be surprised to see a daily blog again in the future.

Photoman

Rainbows of Rock, Tables of Stone.

2009-06-10T17:47:00.002-04:00

I mentioned in a past blog post that I was submitting some of my photos to a publisher for a possible book cover. I am excited to say that they chose one of my images for the cover of their book and it is available for purchase. It is only being sold in stores locally but it can be ordered by anyone via the web or at your local bookstore. If you click on the title of this blog it will take you to the publishers website where you can see the book and order it at a 30% discount until Sept. 1st. I am not the author of the book I just have one of my photos on the cover.

Photoman

Summer Wishes

2009-06-04T17:36:00.002-04:00

I couldn't wait to post this image, I really like it a lot. It could have something to do with the model as I am partial to her but I just love this image. This is not the same dandelion from yesterdays image but it was one of the ones that I found that day. It was not quite as big as a baseball but it was very close in size. I call this image Summer Wishes or Wish Upon. I hope you enjoy it.

Photoman

Dandelion Sunday

2009-06-03T18:21:00.002-04:00

I took my camera to church with me this past Sunday as after the morning service we have our small group fellowship time and this was our last official time to get together before we take our summer break. I wanted to get a few photos of the group as we had a cookout. While we were checking out the church garden I found this dandelion flower that had gone to seed. I have seen many dandelion balls in my time but never any this big before. This things was the size of a baseball, I had to take a few shots of it. So I thought I would share this one with my loyal followers. I have another image from the set that I will share with you later.

Photoman

Barkcamp State Park

2009-06-01T22:16:00.002-04:00

I am sorry that it has been a while since I have posted in my blog. I have been extremely busy with family lately. We recently had our first camping trip of the summer and we camped at Barkcamp State Park, another park in the Ohio State Parks. It was not our first choice it was pretty much our only choice. We waited to long to make our reservations and being a holiday weekend we were lucky to get a reservation. This old barn is in the park and it houses the nature center. This is probably the most scenic part of the park as the barn is surrounded by a couple of very old log cabins, a well and an old outhouse. I hope you enjoy the picture, I will try and blog again soon since I have not blogged in a while.

Photoman

We Tried

2009-05-14T19:07:00.003-04:00

My friend Earl and I tried to get some photos of Bald Eagles this week but we couldn't get close enough to get a good shot of them. I will not give up but I don't know if I will be able to find a way to get closer to their nest. They have built their nest in a restricted area and it is being heavily patrolled as many have already tried to get into the area to get a closer look at the Eagles. Some have already been arrested, so I don't think I will attempt to sneak onto the property. I am going to have to try and find someone who knows someone who can get me in the legal way. In the meantime I will share this image with you.

Round two of the twins.

2009-05-05T22:52:00.002-04:00

This is a much better image of the twins, for lack of a better name I have dubbed them the Whooter Twins. These 2 young owls were born this year and have grown a lot since we first saw them. I wanted to post this image since the last one was not nearly a good as today's. I was surprised that they were so close today and they were sitting next to each other as well. I was ready today I had my camera and my tripod.

Photoman

You lookin at me or me!

2009-05-03T20:59:00.002-04:00

My daughter came in the house tonight and said, "dad I think I hear the owl" so I went for a walk with her to see if we could find it. I didn't bother taking my camera as I didn't think we would be able to get close enough for a photo op. As we were walking we walked right upon these 2 babies sitting in this tree. I couldn't believe how close we were able to get to them. I ran back to the house and got my camera while my daughter waited by the tree to keep an eye on the owls. When I got back they were still sitting there and they let me take all the photos I liked. When we left they were still sitting there. We never saw mom and dad but they were probably not too far away.

Photoman

Natural Arches in Ohio

2009-04-27T23:18:00.002-04:00

I thought I would share with my readers these two images of naturally made arches or bridges that are in Ohio. There are many of these natural arches scattered around the state. The top image is Raven Rock Arch located in Raven Rock State Nature Preserve, the bottom image is Trimmer Arch and is located in Paintcreek State Nature Preserve. I shot the Raven Rock image on Saturday and Trimmer Arch on Sunday both days were beautiful and I enjoyed both hikes though Saturday's hike was much more difficult. Raven Rock Arch is 500 feet straight up and I mean straight up. When I got up to the top I was wore out, I was planning to just go and scout the arch and return on Sunday and shoot it. Once I got up I knew I wasn't going to climb it again the next day so I stayed and shot it then. It was a difficult climb and a difficult shoot. Once up I had to stand on the edge of the cliff to get the shot and I was on the edge for a good 20 minutes, kneeling, squatting and standing. I manged to get the shot and I was very happy with the images. I only wish I had a true wide angle lens with me but I didn't. Trimmer arch was not a difficult hike but it isn't on any marked trail so I had to go through the woods and blaze my own trail. I found out afterward that the area that the arch is in is mostly under water later in the year when the dam is raised for the summer. I was glad I got there when I did, otherwise I would not have been able to get this shot. These images and 52 others that I shot are being considered for the cover of a book on Natural Bridges in Ohio. I hope I get it.

Photoman

Wedding Album

2009-04-27T20:15:00.005-04:00

Reconsidering the daily blog.

2009-04-25T00:16:00.002-04:00

I would like to thank everyone who has been faithfully visiting my blog looking for a new image and maybe a good story each day. If you haven't noticed, I have not made a post everyday recently. While some of the time I was unable to get online while I was traveling that isn't the only reason. I have really been reconsidering the daily blog idea lately. Believe it or not it is a time consuming habit and I am just not sure that I am making the best use of my time when I am sitting in front of my computer everyday posting on my blog. I know that my family feel that I spend way to much time on my computer and if they feel this way I can only imagine how my Lord and Savior feels about it. Yes I am talking about God, I want to honor God in all that I do and that includes how I spend my time. So I have been struggling with how much time I spend keeping this blog on a daily basis. So for now, I have decided that I am not going to do my blog on a daily basis. I will try to do it at least once a week as long as I feel that it is still not taking to much time from my family and from my time with Him. I am sorry if this is disappointing to you but hey I would rather disappoint man that to disappoint God.

Photoman

Another shoot the Hills entry.

2009-04-22T20:49:00.004-04:00

Here is another image that I shot this weekend at Shoot the Hills. It was another that was not good enough to win an award but I still love this image and plan to hang it in my gallery some time. As far as the Gallery that I have been submitting my images to, well that didn't work out this time. The corporate client was looking for work that was shot in a very specific area of Ohio and the gallery owner was hoping that they would like my work even though it wasn't from that part of Ohio. Well they liked it but they still wanted work from that area and another photographer who has a large amount of work from that area was chosen. He lives in the are they are wanting and I don't so maybe next time. I still have made a contact with the gallery and the owner likes my work so hopefully she will remember me and who knows maybe the next big client will like my work.

Photoman

Shoot the Hills 09

2009-04-21T22:43:00.002-04:00

As promised, well almost anyway. I promised that I would post an image from my recent trip to Shoot the Hills yesterday and I didn't get it done. As a matter of fact, I just totally forgot about my blog yesterday. I think this is the first time that I truly forgot but I guess I have a bit of an excuse after the weekend and all. I hope my faithful readers don't forget about me. Enjoy the photo.

Photoman

Cacti

2009-04-19T22:17:00.003-04:00

I have been out of town and I was unable to get online this weekend, I was in a very rural part of Ohio in a Photography competition and was unable to get online. I won but only in the fact that I had a great time, I will post one of my images tomorrow to share with you. For tonight another image I am hoping is accepted with the gallery I have just started working with. I hope you like it.

Photoman

Butterfly

2009-04-16T23:22:00.003-04:00

Not feeling well, will write another day.

Photoman

Grand Piano

2009-04-16T00:31:00.002-04:00

I am still going through my stock looking for pieces to submit to the art gallery. This is one that is a possible submission as well. Sorry for the pixelation of the image I made it too small for the blog but I am to tired to fix it tonight. I will try to replace it tomorrow.

Photoman

Doves Take Flight

2009-04-15T00:24:00.001-04:00

I was looking through my images trying to find 24 images to submit to this art gallery when I came across this image. This is another image from my trip to France, that I have titled Doves Take Flight. I am not sure if I will submit this piece or not, let me know what you think.

Photoman

French Wind Mill

2009-04-13T23:28:00.002-04:00

I wish I had more time to write but I am way behind so I am just going to post this image.

Photoman

Fine Art

2009-04-12T20:34:00.002-04:00

I have been given the opportunity to submit 24 images to an art gallery who in turn will submit my work to a prospective client for possible purchase. So I have been going through my work trying to decide what 24 images to submit. This is one that will likely be a part of my submission. I am not sure what type of plant this is but I shot this image while I was in France. We were visiting a French Abbey Mont Saint-Michel that is still home to monks today. It was a very cool castle built on an island that is not much largest than the Abbey itself. It sits out in the middle of the English Channel and during high tide you can only reach it by boat. It was quite impressive to see. I will find a picture of it from a distance to post later so that you can see it for yourself.

Photoman

Finally a Good Internet Connection!

2009-04-11T20:35:00.003-04:00

I apologize for the past two days, I was out of town and where I was staying I was only able to get a dial up connection that was very slow. I didn't think I was going to be able to get anything posted but I was at least able to get a quick message typed out in the title bar. I am not able to write much tonight so I am just going to post this image and write more tomorrow.

Photoman

Once Again a bad connection, No post today!

2009-04-11T00:34:00.001-04:00

Sorry Internet Trouble Check Back Tomorrow!

2009-04-10T00:27:00.008-04:00

Forked Run State Park

2009-04-08T22:30:00.002-04:00

A while back I took my family camping at Forked Run State Park in Ohio near the border of Ohio and West Virginia. Forked Run S.P. is in a very beautiful yet very impoverished part of Ohio. We were during the month of October for a Halloween campout, the campground was full for the weekend but we stayed an extra night and the last night we were the only campers in the campground. It was a nice park but beware there are no flushing toilets in the campground. I took this image overlooking the lake of the colorful trees. The water was brown but the trees were still very pretty.

Photoman

Annie Coming Soon

2009-04-07T23:26:00.002-04:00

I need to apologize to my readers, I just found out today that if you are viewing my blog on a square monitor that all of my images do not show up. I will look into this soon and try to find a way to fix the problem. If you are not sure what I am referring to look closely at an image and you will see a white line as a border around the image. If you do not see the white line on all 4 sides you are not seeing all of the image. I will try to get it remedied ASAP.

A project I am working on, I thought I would share it with you. The image of the girl in the middle is not the correct image but it will suffice for the test image.

Photoman

Spring is Here and None to Soon!

2009-04-06T21:01:00.002-04:00

I for one am glad that spring is here. Not only does it mean that winter is over and the cold is almost over but it means that Shoot the Hills is just a few days away. I will be leaving in just 11 days for the weekend event and I can't wait. The Fantastic Four will once again rise and take to the hills to shoot anything that moves even if it is not alive.

Photoman

Forsaken Seed

2009-04-05T18:22:00.002-04:00

Another image from yesterdays hike, that I have named Forsaken Seed. As we were hiking through this area that reminded me of a prairie but to hilly to be one, I found this milkweed pod that had a few of its seeds still hanging on. All of the other pods were empty from last year when they dried out and opened spreading their seed to grow new plants this summer. These few seeds however did not make it, it is like they were forsaken. Some people say I have an over active imagination, that these seeds just didn't make it out of the pod and that is all there is to it. I think that is just boring.

Photoman

Spring Snake

2009-04-04T22:13:00.002-04:00

My friends and I our getting ready for our annual trip to Hocking Hills State Park for the Shoot the Hills Photo Competition. So today we all got together and did a bit of hiking and shooting to psyche ourselves up for the big weekend event. We were on our way back to the car when I walked right past this little guy, if it were not for the Earlmeister I wouldn't have had this shot. When I got back up the hill he had gone into the grass to hide but as I got closer he came out and was hanging on the edge of a drop and was pretending to be a blade of grass. It was very cool, he was content to stay and let me shoot until I tried to pick him up, then he just turned and took off, never to be seen again.

Photoman

Watercolor

2009-04-03T23:15:00.001-04:00

Enjoy,

Photoman

Morning Light

2009-04-02T20:55:00.002-04:00

This is one of my favorite images of all time, I really love it as it reminds me of Hocking Hills and Old Mans Cave. We were camping in Hocking Hills State Park and I decided to get up early and take a morning hike. As I was hiking in the forest the sun started to come up and when it got high enough to filter through the trees the morning dew was rising to meet it. I love it when the sun is filtering through the morning or evening mist . I shot this image and within 15 minutes the mist was gone. If I had waited I would have missed it, I am so glad I didn't procrastinate.

Photoman

The Real Entry

2009-04-01T22:07:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I posted a photo and told you about a challenge that I participate in. The image that I posted yesterday was not the one that I entered in the challenge, this image is the actual entry that I used. I like it better as I like all of the balloons but the comments that I got from the challenge judges lead me to believe that perhaps yesterdays image would have been a better choice. I still like today's image better, I hope you find them interesting.

Photoman

Red Car, My Favorite!

2009-03-31T20:58:00.002-04:00

I am part of a monthly photography challenge, last months competition was roadside distractions. The only stipulation was that part of the road must be present in the image. This is not the image that I submitted but it is from the same shoot. If I had used this image I think I may have scored a little higher, I used the image that I liked best instead. Unfortunately the judges didn't like it as well as I did. I think they would have liked this composition of the same subject a little better. Well I didn't win but I really enjoy the hunt more than anything. Finding the perfect image for the challenge is probably the hardest thing to do most of the time but it is also the funnest part of the challenge. Fun and frustrating often butt heads during the hunt for the best image.

Photoman

Mr. Lizzard

2009-03-30T19:17:00.003-04:00

I shot this guy at the Columbus Zoo the last time I was there. I was really pleased with how this image turned out. I am not sure what kind of a light it is in the background but I like it as it looks like it could be the sun and this guy is just laying out in the desert sunning himself.

Photoman

Winter Vine

2009-03-29T21:37:00.002-04:00

I shot this image while on a winter hike, there is a large parcel of land that is adjacent to the property where I currently live. It sat unused for many years and I had always wanted to hike it and see what was on the property. On this particular day I hiked it, not much on the property. Just an old barn that is or was caving in and a couple old grain bins. While looking around the old barn I made this image.

Photoman

Over filtered?

2009-03-28T22:24:00.002-04:00

Music

2009-03-28T21:55:00.002-04:00

Don't feel like writing tonight, I just feel like listening to some really good classical music.

Photoman

Butterfly Eskimo Kisses

2009-03-27T22:30:00.002-04:00

This is a real live butterfly on a real live girl, this image is real it was not done in Photoshop. It is a bit over sharpened but I don't feel like fixing it.

Photoman

Dizzy

2009-03-26T20:04:00.002-04:00

I shot this image while I was in Jamaica on a missions trip and I took it into photoshop and put the spin to it. If you stare at the image and without blinking countdown to 1 from 10 then you will be hypnotized and you will be under my spell. So give it a try, if you dare!

Photoman

Opera House Seats

2009-03-25T22:07:00.002-04:00

I am not sure what happened to this image it looked better when I had it opened in Photoshop just before uploading it. After uploading it it looks a bit washed out I am not sure why. Oh well I am not going to pull it down and fix it, so you'll just have to live with it. One of my daughters is in a youth orchestra and she had a concert this past weekend in a historic opera house. I was sitting in the balcony watching the concert so that I could have a good place to shoot from. During the intermission I went to the back of the balcony and found these seats sitting against the wall. They must be remnants of the original opera house seats.

Photoman

Pileated Woodpecker

2009-03-24T20:37:00.002-04:00

Here is the first and only time I have come across a Pileated Woodpecker in the wild. We were in the Smokie Mountains and we were on a motor drive through Cades Cove a very well known area for seeing wildlife. We saw a lot of deer many birds and a bear but I was most excited about the Pileated Woodpecker. I have seen many deer and I have seen bear before but this was the first time for a Pileated Woodpecker. I was able to get within 5 feet of these guys and they never seemed to notice me. When I left we drove past them and we were within 4 feet of them with our car and they never budged. I hope to go back to the park again in the future but I doubt that I will get another chance as good as this one to see them.

Photoman

Cox Arboretum Wet Lands

2009-03-23T20:54:00.002-04:00

This past weekend I had a meeting with three of the Fantastic Four members. We were together to plan our next visit to Shoot the Hills which takes place next month. We decided that we need to get together in advance this year for some strategic planning. Our goal is to at least take a first place if not best of show. So we are planning so that our time is used more wisely, our meeting was held at Cox Arboretum and when we had finished the planning part of the meeting we decided to take a short hike to the wetlands. While we were hiking we came across these geese and I got this image. Unfortunately the wetlands had recently been burned (a controlled burn) to help it grow this summer. As a result of the burnt ground the wildlife was pretty sparse.

Photoman

Tree Top

2009-03-22T22:13:00.002-04:00

I shot this image the day I arrived in Jamaica, as soon as we arrived we got through customs and we got on a bus to head into the mountains. We were in Montego Bay and we were heading into the heart of the island to a deaf school we were going to to work. Before we left the city we decided to stop and eat. Of all the places there were to eat we ended up at believe it or not KFC. Yep, good ol Kentucky Fried Chicken, hey I was happy they sell Pepsi there so I was ready to eat. Anyway the KFC had a 2nd story balcony where we ate and just over the balcony was this tree. I am not sure what kind of tree it is but I was drawn to it as the light from the sun was causing the leaves to glow almost.

Photoman

Tulips

2009-03-21T22:47:00.002-04:00

Once again I am giving you a photo from my wife's Valentines Day flowers. I am having trouble with my wireless and I cannot access my images from this computer, so I am stuck with the images I have on this computers hard drive. Which unfortunately for you is photos of my wife's flowers, I hope to have my wireless back up by tomorrow. Since I am boring you with another photo of Kelly's flowers I decided to spare you the photography jargon. Of course if it were not so late and I was not so lazy I would walk all the way down to my basement and do my blog from my desk. However I much prefer the comfort of my la-Z-boy over my desk chair any day.

Photoman

Kelly's Flowers Revisited

2009-03-20T23:34:00.002-04:00

Another image from my wife's valentine's day bouquet. This image of one of the purple tulips was shot using a Canon 50d with a Canon EF 100mm F/2.8 Macro lens. I shot it at 1/30th at F/2.8 ISO 640 handheld. I was using available light which was a nice soft light filtering through our window at twilight. I had little time to work so I didn't bother with a tripod. I know I don't usually share all of the technical data as many of my followers are not photographers but tonight I felt like I should. I hope you enjoy this image as much as I do.

Photoman

Covered Bridge 2

2009-03-19T19:12:00.002-04:00

I thought I would show another of my covered bridge series from school. Unfortunately I am not really proud of this image, partially because it is a scan of a film image that didn't scan very well and partially because I don't like the highlight from the sun over the top of the bridge. Oh well, I guess I will have to re-shoot the series with my Canon 50d. I was forced to shoot these images in the winter and would have liked to wait until the trees had leaves. Now that summer is near I guess I will have to make it a priority to shoot them again.

Photoman

Covered Bridge

2009-03-18T19:05:00.002-04:00

This photo of a covered bridge is one that I made while I was still a student at OIP&T. Our assignment was to choose a well known photographer of the past, study their style and shoot a series of images that are of the same style. We were not to try and reproduce their work just use their work for inspiration. I chose Edward Weston after seeing a series of images that he had done on barns. Weston traveled the U.S. and photographed barns and made a series of images of the barns. I have always liked covered bridges so when this project was presented to me I knew that this would be my subject. This is one of the 6 covered bridges of Greene County Ohio that I used for my project.

Photoman

Bridalveil Falls 2

2009-03-17T19:12:00.003-04:00

I thought I would share this photo of the Bridalveil Falls from a different angle. In my previous post titled Bridalveil Falls, you don't actually see the entire water fall. So I thought that I would post this image that shows the falls from above. If you would like to see this water fall yourself you can find it at Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio. There are a number of water falls in the park, Bridalveil Falls is the largest but the others are definitely worth viewing.

Photoman

Lily Pads

2009-03-16T21:38:00.002-04:00

I guess I don't know when to find a lily pad in full bloom, I have tried but never seem to find one fully bloomed. This particular photo is the best I have seen. I think the flower senses me coming and decides to close. One day maybe I'll be able to sneak up on one.

Photoman

Disney Land

2009-03-15T14:08:00.003-04:00

Here is a picture of my two oldest riding the tea cup ride at Disney Land in California. While we were there visiting Global Recordings, my mom bought the kids each a ticket to Disney Land. We had a lot of fun but were disappointed that it was so small. We have been to Disney World and it is much larger so we just assumed that it would be the same. Since I was a kid I wanted to visit Disney Land when I was a kid it was the biggest and the best of all the amusement parks. It truly pales in comparison to some of today's parks. If you are going to visit California only one time and you have the time and the money I would recommend it. If your money and time are limited there are lots of other things in California to see. San Diego is beautiful and there are many things there to do and see.

Photoman

Self Portrait 6

2009-03-14T17:49:00.002-04:00

I just keep finding more self portraits when I am looking for an image to post, I forgot I had taken most of these until I saw them. It is funny how I have so many images that I have taken that I don't remember taking them. Once I see them I remember, I guess that is how it is supposed to work. Anyway I took this image a couple of years ago while I was in California, we were at Disneyland and I came across this Christmas ornament and noticed myself in its reflection. So I took a picture of myself, I have others that show the kids and my wife but you can't see me just the end of my lens. They don't make for a very good self portrait.

Photoman

Photographer in Training

2009-03-13T16:10:00.002-04:00

I wish I had this kind of gear when I was in training. I used an Pentax K-1000 film camera with a few knock off brand lenses. All manual no auto settings whatsoever, it was a great camera and a workhorse. It took great pictures as long as I got the settings correct. I still do not like the auto settings though from time to time I will use them but very rarely. This little photographer is my daughter and she has a pretty good eye, she has assisted me on a few of my weddings and I always end up with a bunch of images from her stuff that I will give to the couple. She doesn't have the interest in photography that I have but it gives me a little time with her when I am working.

Photoman

Self Portrait 5

2009-03-12T20:40:00.003-04:00

Here is another self portrait for all of you who have been coming to my blog hoping to see another picture of me lol. Once again while I was looking through my stock of pictures I came across this photo of myself looking up at the mirrored ceiling of an elevator. Most of my family is around me but I seem to be missing a daughter I must have found her as she is sitting next to me at the moment. I don't know if I have any other self portraits in my stock pile of pictures but if I stumble across another I will post it for you post haste. Get it Post Haste, lol.

Photoman

Alzheimer's

2009-03-11T19:29:00.002-04:00

Though most of my readers are not aware of it this is not my only blog, I also have a private blog. Each month is a different theme,the theme for February was unconditional love. A good friend of mine reprimanded me for not taking advantage of the example of unconditional love that I have in front of me each day with my parents. This is a photo of my parents, my father has Alzheimer's, he is in the middle stages of it and he is starting to slip more and more each day. On this day he was having a good day but unfortunately the good days are becoming fewer. My mom is a great example of unconditional love as she takes care of my dad. It is a very difficult job and though she is often on the verge of tears from the stress, she is doing a wonderful job and I thank God that she is there for him. I honestly do not know if I would have the strength it would take to take care of an Alzheimer patient. She is an Angel to my Father and I know that God is going to bless her richly for her dedication and her sacrifice. Mom I know you read this blog daily so please know that I am proud of you and that I think of and pray for you every day.

I love you mom, thank you for taking care of my dad!

Photoman

300 Year Old Violin

2009-03-10T21:06:00.002-04:00

I love violins and violin music. My grandfather played the violin and my uncle plays so when I wanted my oldest daughter to learn an instrument it was the only instrument that I wanted her to play. I now have 2 daughters who play Violin and the oldest plays the Viola as well. My 3rd daughter is just starting to learn Flute. I couldn't get her interested in violin but I couldn't get my son interested in any instrument. Anyway I now have a collection of violins of different sizes and ages. The oldest one that I have is about 200 years old. The violin in the photo is not one of my own but one that I photographed while I was in Photography School.

Photoman

Playful Pussy Cat

2009-03-09T16:35:00.004-04:00

I promised that I would have a photo from my trip to the Zoo this past weekend, so here you go. It was a great day and the weather was very nice. The animals seemed to be enjoying the weather as much as us humans were. There were many animals outside and many were active. None more active than the lions, the male lion anyway the females were quite lazy. The male was busy playing with a cardboard tube that was in his cage. We could hear him long before we could see him. Everyone thought that we were hearing a recording but I wasn't convinced, it sounded to real to be a recording. When we got to his cage we saw a huge crowd of people standing around and as we started to get a look the crowd started screaming and people started running from the cage. Then those closest to us started laughing, the lion was tired of the people watching him. He had been roaring to get the people away, when they didn't leave he decided he had to try something else. No he didn't break out, he turned around and sprayed pee on everyone who was close by. Lucky for me I wasn't in the line of fire. I was still able to get some good images of him while he was playing with his cardboard toy. I was able to get some very good images of some of the Lizards, I will put some of them up at a later date.

Photoman

Jamaican Sunset

2009-03-08T13:38:00.002-04:00

This image was shot while I was on a short term missions trip in Jamaica a while back. It was day one when I took this photo, we were still in route to our location in the mountains of Jamaica when the sun was starting to set. We were in a bus and was traveling through the countryside of Jamaica when I shot this image.

Photoman

Monkey Business

2009-03-07T23:03:00.002-05:00

This is a picture that I took at the Cincinnati Museum a while ago. This little guy was just hanging out waiting for me to shoot him. I couldn't have asked for a better model. I spent the day today at the Columbus Zoo and I took over 4 Gigs of pictures but I have not had a chance to look at them. I plan to spend some time tomorrow doing just that. Hopefully soon I will be able to share a photo from today's visit to the Columbus Zoo.

Photoman

The Fountain of Youth

2009-03-06T22:36:00.002-05:00

I found this fountain while I was in Grenoble, France. Grenoble is located in the French Alps and is the most beautiful part of France that I was privileged to visit. I was staying at a camp that was situated on the side of one of the mountains that had a beautiful view. It was really quite romantic however I didn't get to share it with my wife. I did get to share it with my daughter though and it is a memory that I am sure that we will never forget. This fountain was in the courtyard of the camp and it was built right into the wall of the compound. It was a natural spring that never stopped running. No it isn't really the fountain of youth, in fact I was told that I shouldn't drink the water unless it was boiled first, just to be safe. So I didn't take a chance and never took a drink.

Photoman

Prickly

2009-03-05T21:08:00.002-05:00

I don't know about you but I don't want to get stuck in these guys, they look like they will tear you up. I think I would rather run through these barefoot than to take on the owl in my post from a few days ago. I came across this prickly situation while I was hiking with my good friend Jeff and my daughter Morgan a while ago.

Photoman

Ghosts

2009-03-04T21:34:00.002-05:00

OK so this is not a great image but I like it. We were camping in Pennsylvania and the kids were all sitting around the campfire while I was playing with my camera, when I got this idea for this image. I wasn't sure how it would turn out and it took quite a few exposures to get this image but overall we had fun just trying. I had the kids set up 6 chairs and then I set the camera to very long exposures and had them sit super still for a certain amount of time then I would have them very quickly change seats and sit still again. We tried many different seating arrangements and many different exposures. This one turned out the best. I know you won't enjoy looking at it as much as we did making it but I hope you enjoy it none the less.

Photoman

Connie and Amy I hear you are trying to leave me comments, well I am not sure who is getting them but it isn't me. To leave a comment you just click on the word comment at the bottom of each post and type in your comment and hit accept.

Mexican Wolf

2009-03-03T20:47:00.004-05:00

There are no wolves but we have a pack of Coyote's living not far from our house. I don't see them often during the day but one day while I was on my way to school I came across one sitting in an area that I often see them. I usually see 2 of them but on this day I only saw one. I stopped the car that day and took some images of him, unfortunately I didn't have my telephoto lens so I didn't get any good shots of him. This image Mexican Wolf was shot at the Columbus Zoo I wish I could say it was shot in the wild but it wasn't.

Photoman

Photo Restoration

2009-03-02T20:43:00.005-05:00

BEFORE

AFTER

Photo restoration is a good way to spend many an hour in front of your computer. I did this little project for my mom a while ago. I think I have showed it to her, if not she will see it now. I have a bunch more images on my hard drive that still need restored. One day when I have a lot of extra time I will try and repair them. Most of them are in worse shape than this one. With Photoshop just about anything is possible if you have the time and the skills. I don't know if I have enough of either. One day I'll have the time and then I'll find out if I have the skill it takes to fix the images.

Photoman

French Musician

2009-03-01T19:33:00.003-05:00

I thought I would share another image from my trip to France with you today. I like this image of this young man and his guitar sitting on the steps of a Catholic Cathedral. I often wonder where he is going or where he is coming from. I like to take photos of people when they are not aware of me. Not because I don't want them to know but because I like to capture them in a natural state. Often when a person is aware that I am photographing them they will act different or try to pose for me. I think an image looks much better when the person is relaxed and acting normal. When I shot this image I was standing behind and shooting over the shoulders of 2 of the girls who I was traveling with. You can see in the lower right corner some fur from one of the girls jackets. I apologize for this, I would have cropped it out if I had noticed it before uploading it. I am to lazy to pull it down and then reload it so you will just have to overlook the distracting lower right corner of the image.

Photoman

Touchdown Jesus

2009-02-28T22:26:00.002-05:00

Take a drive down I-75 to Cincinnati and keep an eye to the left and you will see this large statue of Jesus erected next to a church. It has been affectionately referred to as Touchdown Jesus. I know that there are those who find it a bit disrespectful to call it that I kind of do as well but who am I to judge.

Photoman

Blue Hen Falls

2009-02-27T23:26:00.002-05:00

First let me say that I tried to find the correct spelling for yesterdays post before I posted it. I should have done a bit more digging before I just believed what the Internet said. After I was questioned about the spelling I thought I would do a bit more checking. The correct spelling is Bridalveil Falls and I have corrected it. Tonight's post however is another falls in the same Cuyahoga Valley National Park called the Blue Hen Falls. It isn't nearly as impressive but then the water levels were down, it may look much nicer when the water is flowing better. Though it isn't as big I still find it pretty.

Photoman

Bridalveil Falls

2009-02-26T20:08:00.004-05:00

Bridalveil Falls is a name that is used for many different water falls. This particular Bridalveil Falls in located in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio. A while ago my friend Earl and I took a trip to the park and I took this photo of Bridal Vail Falls while we were there. It is the largest of the falls in the park and by far the prettiest. We were told that the water levels were down and that we would be disappointed. I was not I was quite pleased, I would love to see it when there is more water on the falls but I was happy with the display I saw. Someday I will make it back but there are so many other places that I want to see I don't know when it will be. I am hoping to go to South Carolina this year.

Photoman

You Want a Piece of Me?

2009-02-25T21:29:00.003-05:00

I don't know about you but I don't think I would mess with this guy, he has a stare that lets me know he is not to be messed with. If his eyes don't his talons do, you can't see them in this image but they are very big and very sharp they look like they could rip you up. I once saw an owl that was hunting and when he came up with his prey I was glad it wasn't me. He had a 5 foot long snake in his talons and you could tell by the way the snake was curled up it was in a lot of pain. And just in case you were wondering, no I didn't have a camera with me as I was on my way home from work at the time. I have often said that I want to buy a point and shoot digital camera that I can strap to my belt or put in my pocket so that I won't miss another opportunity like that again. The one that I want is still pricey as it is water proof so I have not purchased one yet. Enough of that I hope you enjoy this picture I do.

I was asked about a book that I have on my list of favorite books "The Soda Pop Cart" first let me apologize I posted this on my list as that title. When I was asked more information about the book I found out the I had the title wrong. The correct title is simply "Soda Pop" it is a Whitman (Whitman Publishing Company) tiny tales book by Dorothy Haas. I hope this helps.

Photoman

The Dog Days of Summer?

2009-02-24T21:52:00.002-05:00

The dog days of summer belong to the cats now. At least they belong to this cat, I don't think there is a dog out there who would try to tell this cat otherwise. I shot this guy snoozing in the sun at the Cincinnati Zoo a while back. He did lift his head at one point to yawn and then he went back to snoozing.

Photoman

Congratulations Dawn & Jerry!

2009-02-23T19:28:00.002-05:00

Look Dawn, I see a smile.

Photoman

Surf City USA

2009-02-22T21:33:00.003-05:00

While we were in California last year visiting Global Recordings Network, we had an opportunity to visit some of the beaches. I took this image of a lone surfer walking the beach at Surf City USA. I have heard all of the songs by the Beach Boys and Dan and Jean as I was growing up but I never thought I would ever have the opportunity to walk on these beaches myself. It didn't turn out to be anything grand but it was in a way a dream come true. As a kid I dreamed of living in California one day as I grew older the dreams became more grandiose as I had my eye on foreign travel. A dream is still a dream and I am very happy that I was able to partially share this dream with my children. I still may make it to California as I believe that God is calling me to Global Recordings Network as a full time missionary. I don't know when and though I am ready to go now I am trusting that His time is the right time.

Photoman

Fossil Hunting Fun

2009-02-21T21:38:00.005-05:00

My oldest daughter is doing a science fair exhibit on Fossils and she had to go and find fossils for the exhibit. The little guy in this photo is a Trilobite, don't ask me what that is but it is very cool looking. She needed photos of the fossils for her display so we went fossil hunting. It was really quite fun and quite easy. The hardest part was climbing up the hillside which was pretty steep and covered with loose rock. Going up the hill was actually easier than coming down but we made it and had a lot of fun doing it. We hunted for about an hour at most and came home with 3 buckets of fossils. This was the only Trilobite we found but we probably would have found more if we had stayed longer. This particular Trilobite is only about 1/2" long but I shot it with a Macro Lens and it is much larger in the image than it truly is. I have not done any clean up to the image so you can see all the dirt on the glass table top, I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Photoman

Self Portrait 4

2009-02-20T22:57:00.002-05:00

This is actually the first Self Portrait I have made. I am not sure what it was the caused me to make this image but I know that I did it intentionally. A while ago the local fire and rescue departments were having an awareness day and they had a Care Flight Helicopter come and be a part of the day. I was able to shoot it landing and later taking off. While it was grounded I was walking around the bird shooting and when I noticed the black tail fin shining like a mirror I decided to try a Self Portrait. To my great surprise it came out quite well, the black paint looks very much like a mirror but it is actually black paint.

Photoman

Kelly's Flowers as Promised.

2009-02-19T22:00:00.002-05:00

So as promised here is a photo that I took of my wife's flowers. I took only a few but I really liked this one. I also took some very close up images as I was using my Macro lens but I still chose this one. I was really impressed that the petals had so much texture to them when I shot them up close and personal it really stood out. I was not using any type of lighting equipment just the little bit of sun that was left filtering through my windows at dusk. I liked the soft light but I wish I had started a little earlier as I ran out of light before I was finished. I think I will have to buy my wife some more flowers so that I can practice shooting flowers by painting with light. I had intended to use these flowers to practice painting with light but time doesn't stand still for me and I have been extremely busy lately. So much so that I have discontinued one of my daily blogs. My stock photography has also suffered as a result but my bills are being paid and that is a good thing. My body has not been fairing well as the 14 hour days are wearing on me. I have decided that after this month I am taking a month off from side jobs, I am just going to work my 40 hours and go home. Hope you enjoy the images, tomorrow I plan to show you another self portrait. As long as nothing more exciting presents itself, I mean what can be more exciting than pictures of me? LOL!

Photoman

London Calling

2009-02-18T23:25:00.002-05:00

Here is my beautiful daughter in a British phone booth while we were in England. Last year when we went to France on a missions trip we had an opportunity to slip over to England for a couple of days and my daughter wanted to get inside a British phone booth and have me take a picture of her, so she did and I took the picture. I just realized while I was typing up this blog that I never even looked inside one of the phone booths. I may never get to England again and I didn't even look inside the booth. Oh well, you live and you learn, I am just glad that I had an opportunity to go to England. I never dreamed I would ever get to France or England let alone both. That is enough for me, and I got to spend the time with my daughter. I am doubly blessed.

Photoman

Water Color Photograph

2009-02-17T22:40:00.003-05:00

I love this image for several reasons, first and foremost it is of my two youngest daughters being kids and having fun. Second, I love covered bridges. Third, this image reminds me of the innocence of childhood and the fun times that all kids should experience. Fourth, it reminds me of Summer. I could keep going about why I like this image but I will stop and just say that this is one of my favorite images and will likely be this months image of the month. I can't wait until summer gets here.

Photoman

Beauty

2009-02-16T20:50:00.003-05:00

This beautiful little girl is my beautiful daughter. I shot this image for a school project and received an A for it. I have liked this image ever since I took it and when it received an A I loved it.

I am having my computer hard drive wiped tomorrow so hopefully I will have it back up in time for the daily blog, if not I may have to go all the way to the basement and use my desktop instead. That would be such a hassle I may not go through the misery of it.

Photoman

Self Portrait 3

2009-02-15T22:50:00.002-05:00

As I promised I am starting a pseudo series of Self Portraits, this particular image was shot while we were in California. We were in an American Girl store and I didn't want them to see me shooting so I am looking at my camera while taking the photo. I will dig into my archives and see what other self ports I can find. I am sure that my followers will not want to see to many images of me, I just want to show how there are literally limitless ways to shoot a self portrait.

Photoman

Self Portrait 2

2009-02-14T23:10:00.003-05:00

I think I may have to do a series on self portraits. I came across this image today while looking for a good image to post tonight. I have more self portrait images than I realized. I think it is funny how I often end up in an image and I don't even realize it. This is the wheel from a hauler at a Nascar race. I was really into reflections this particular day but I think this is the only one that I can see myself in.

Photoman

What a stud!

2009-02-13T22:01:00.000-05:00

What a stud with 2 beautiful girls for Homecoming!

Photoman

Self Portrait

2009-02-12T22:46:00.002-05:00

As some of you know from my earlier posts I had an opportunity to got France last year with my oldest daughter. Her school sends a team of kids there each year on a missions trip and I had the privilege of going with them last year. It was a great trip, not without its bumpy moments but all in all it was a great experience and I loved every minute of it. In the above image I was shooting the two girls that you can see in the window as they were hanging up a scripture verse for passersby to read. I didn't realize until I looked at the image later that I was almost as prominent in the image as the girls. I didn't intend this to be a self portrait but it turned out to be one of my favorite images from the trip. One of the rare times that I am actually in my images.

Photoman

Wind storms tonight no blog til tomorrow

2009-02-11T20:49:00.000-05:00

Photoman

Free Advertisement

2009-02-10T22:13:00.001-05:00

Photoman

Winter Fun

2009-02-10T20:05:00.001-05:00

Sledding is a lot of fun, as you can see from this photo, though in this image they are not really sledding more like rafting. I think they are on an old deflated raft trying to make it down the hill. I can't remember if they made it or not. I do know that on this particular day there were no serious injuries, unlike many other times of sledding on this hill. I don't get it, when I was a kid we went sledding and every once in a while you heard about a kid getting a broken bone, but now a days every time my kids go it seems like someone comes back with a broken bone. Odder yet is that they don't get hurt going down the hill it seems they always get hurt on the way back up the hill. I mean I remember one time we took 4 giant inner tubes and had this really big guy lay on top and hold them together. Everyone else about 20 or 25 of us climbed up on top of him and went down together. I was the smallest so I had to climb up on the top and hold on for dear life. Which I managed to do quite well for the first 25 feet or so, then we hit the bumps that someone had dug into the snow for more fun and the tubes started bouncing and so did all 20 or so of us. It was at this point that I lost my grip on whoever I was hanging on to. As we bounced down the hill I bounced forward of the pile of people and eventually bounced right off the front of the tubes. Yep you guessed it I fell right in front of the tubes and became part of the hill, they tubed right over me like I wasn't even there. As far as they were concerned I was just a bump on the hill that screamed ouch when they hit it. My point is, I got up and went right back down again only not on top this time. I never got hurt let alone broke any bones.

Photoman

Muscle Car

2009-02-09T19:36:00.003-05:00

This 1962 Plymouth Fury is one mean Muscle Car machine. I was shooting for fun one day a local drag strip when I ran across this car and was drawn to its beautiful paint scheme. I asked for permission to shoot some images of it and the owner said sure. While I was admiring and shooting this car he approached and asked me about my camera. The next thing I knew we had made arrangements for him to bring to my school so that I could shoot it for a project. When he drove this car into the building you could smell it all through the place. The fumes from the high octane fuel burn your eyes and smell really bad, but everyone in the building was in the room watching as he pulled in his muscle car for me to shoot. It was quite a night, I had almost the entire studio to myself to make set large enough for the car to fit in. I wish I still had access to the studio.

Photoman

Indian Pow Wow

2009-02-08T22:23:00.003-05:00

I took this photo at a local Indian Pow Wow. Each year there is a group of American Indians and their descendants that get together for a family reunion or what they call a Pow Wow. It is open to the public and is quite interesting and entertaining. If you get the chance you should try to attend a Pow Wow in your area.

Photoman