6-30-12 Daisy, Daisy, daisy

Not counting the parts of daisies on edges of this photo, there really are three daisies in this photo. "Really?!" you say. Really. This is a layered HDR photo that I made (not took) with my Canon 5D Mark III. It has HDR capacity built in. The things you can do with the new-fangled cameras. . .Incidentally, the title of this post pays homage to the famous scene in Stanley Kubrick's fiLm "2001: A Space Odyssey," where an astronaut "kills" HAL, the on-board computer. (HAL, by the way, is an acronym that is only one letter away from IBM. Coincidence?).When that film came out in 1968, 2001 seemed so far away. And now it's 2012 and we have cameras that are smarter than those who use them. Like me and my 5DIII. . .

06-27-12 Sadness

What you see in this photo is a pile of debris in the middle of a cornfield. But what I see is much more, for this pile is all that remains of a farmstead north of Watertown, South Dakota, that had become for me a place of photographic pilgrimage.This farmstead had an old house, a fairly large barn and two other out buildings that were part of the farming operation years ago. The buildings were subjects hundreds of photos I have taken. It was also what I called "the north studio," because I took many of my senior portrait subjects to this location due to its wealth of good locations for pictures. More recently, I took some of my LATI photo students there to share this great location. The photos they took are likely the last photos that were taken of this South Dakota relic.The group Kansas was right when they sang that "Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky." And so I suppose it was inevitable that an abandoned farm would be bulldozed and turned into crop land. But I feel like I've lost a friend. This place had an important place in my personal history and it had a soul that had become part of my soul.But at least I have the photos. . . .

06-26-12 Rustic

Every once and a while I go back a year or two in my photo collection to see if there isn't something I've neglected. Given that I take quite a few photos and never throw anything away, "neglect" is a word that is a little too kind for how I treat my old photos.Anyway, here's one that I had considered for submission to a small gallery that decorates the fireplace room in the student center at Lake Area Technical Institute, where I teach photography. I eventually found something I liked better but today I am resurrecting it.As with many of my photos, this one involves strong lines and light, obvious texture and a control of depth of field. A fence post and fencing are mundane subjects in rural South Dakota, but if captured right they can be interesting and evocative.

06-24-12 A New Friend

So I guess it's about time I post something new. And why not something prosaic like a cat?This cat was one of several who had free reign at a B&B named the Hummingbird House in Road Town, Tortola, BVIs. We stayed there before our chartered sailing trip.He was sleeping when I saw him and I put the 70-200mm lens on my camera because I figured he wouldn't let me get too close and still look so relaxed. I suspect he had a name but I never learned it.

06-23-12 The Sole Remains

A single foot print in the sand caught my attention as I was making my way back to our dinghy after supper. There is nothing particularly creative about this shot or subject but two things stopped me in my tracks (bad pun): the great side lighting of the print caused by the low sun angle and the diagonal striations in the sand caused by the last wave that lapped across the shoreline line.This print was gone with the next wave and so was I.

06-22-12 New Moon At Sunset

I've photographed this shoreline before but in different light. Here are two other variations on this scene:"I'm No Claude Monet""Sunset, July 4, 2010"

6-19-12 Cane Garden Bay, BVI

6-18-12 Jost Van Dyke

6-17-12 The Journalist

6-16-12 Petals In the Pool

6-15-12 What's In It For Me?

6-14-12 Miami International