Oh Yeah this is gonna hurt!

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.

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Our Upcoming Missions Opportunity

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

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Test Video

Dragon Flight

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.

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Music before Photoshop

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.





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Music after Photoshop

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.

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Test

Does anybody know what this guy is?

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.

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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.

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Blue Tailed Skink

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.

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Dragonfly

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.

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Panoramic 6

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.



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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,



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Stainless Steel

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.

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Rainbows of Rock, Tables of Stone.

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.

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Summer Wishes

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.

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Dandelion Sunday

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.

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Barkcamp State Park

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.

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We Tried

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.

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.

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You lookin at me or me!

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.

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Natural Arches in Ohio

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.

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Wedding Album

Reconsidering the daily blog.

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.

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Another shoot the Hills entry.

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.

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Shoot the Hills 09

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.

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Cacti

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.

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Butterfly

Not feeling well, will write another day.

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Grand Piano

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.

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Doves Take Flight

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.

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French Wind Mill

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

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Fine Art

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.

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Finally a Good Internet Connection!

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.

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Once Again a bad connection, No post today!

Sorry Internet Trouble Check Back Tomorrow!

Forked Run State Park

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.

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Annie Coming Soon

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.

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Spring is Here and None to Soon!

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.

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Forsaken Seed

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.

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Spring Snake

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.

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