Things I've Seen . . .

Academy Awards & Circles of Light

2010-03-09T01:05:00Z

Hi there---Did you see the Academy Awards?
Nice show....I love the way they have now set a limit on how much a winner can talk.
Last night they still had trouble getting out on time, but they were close. We're glad that
Sandra Bullock won & Jeff Bridges, too. Now we'll have to go see The Hurt Locker--
winner of Best Picture & many other awards. I appreciated the way they dedicated the award
to all who are serving in uniform to keep us safe here and in the war zones far away.

I hope next year The Book of Eli will get some attention. Denzel Washington is always good.
This movie he co-produced. It's a world that is in ruins, and he is protecting one of the few
books left on the planet. Some violence & bad language, but the message is powerful.

Backlight is beautiful, but ever wonder why you get those little circles sometimes?
Well, it goes something like this...an image is created by light, and light is made up
of various wave lengths. Different waves lengths translate into colors. Like you can
see in a prism. Light changes when it passes through different materials.

These big fuzzy round circles are caused by the sun hitting the edge of the glass lens &
bouncing around (refracting). It forms the shape of the aperture, almost a circle, but actually
the flat edges of the shutter opening. Look closely and you can tell it's not a perfect circle
Compare it to the purple one from I created in Photoshop.

PHOTIP: Use your lens shade to prevent the light showing up unexpectedly as little circles
in your pictures. Don't let the light hit your lens directly, unless of course, you want the effect.

Blessings!
P.S. Last chance to see THE BEAUTY & THE BEASTS
Visit my website

My Dog is a Raccoon

2010-03-02T03:10:00Z

Did you think I was kidding?

Hi there--hope you're doing well. It's been cold again, but warming up now--no telling what the poor
bushes & trees are thinking---hope we'll have some flowers left when it counts a couple of weeks
from now.....

Actually, my dog is a raccoon.   What I mean by that is we have no actual pet at this moment,
but we have had several loving dogs and cats in our lives through the years. We live on the marsh,
as I've mentioned and there are all kinds of wild animals & creatures out here by the water.

Unfortunately, rattlesnakes (large eastern diamondbacks to be exact) birds, squirrels, raccoons and
the neighbor's cats all come into our yard. I love animals, trees, water but not snakes....especially
after one killed our dog some years ago.

Right now we are content to feed our little masked friends who call on us for daily sustenance.
It started with some pregnant ones & literally multiplied from there. We have a couple of special racs
that we give treats to & this is one of them. (The others are quads born late in the summer.)

Just wanted to share an idea to take some funny pix of your favorite pets.

PHOTIP: Put your camera down low and set the focus as close as possible.
Then fire away as they come to eat.
I saved the best shot for last.....just never know what you'll get...enjoy the process, that's the point.
SMILE NICE FOR MAMA!
Which pose do you like best?
(And, no, I have never been attacked or bitten by any of them. They just want free food.)

Visit my show in your 'jamies 24/7 or stop by to see THE BEAUTY & THE BEASTS in person
for a few more days.   It's at Ponte Vedra Presbyterian Church on 210.

Blessings!

See more pix

Run with Donna 26.2 Marathon

2010-02-23T01:40:00Z

Wow, we're back into the nice weather after a week of below freezing temps at night. The weather

made a turn for the better just in time for the RUN WITH DONNA 26.2 MARATHON yesterday,

February 21st. They had a fantastic turn out of marathoners & half marathoners. Traffic was stopped

for 7 hours while the thousands of participants crossed the intra coastal waterway where people are

normally going 60 mph.

It's got a spectacular view of the water. Part of the run was along the beach on the sand. I hope to

participate fully next year because so many of my loved ones have died of cancer. My cousin is a

breast cancer survivor, though! Most of the money from this race will go straight to the Mayo Clinic

here in Jacksonville for breast research. Here's the link for more info.

This picture was from the end of the race--about 1:20 pm --it began at 7:30 pm. She's probably a

walker (as I would be for the half marathon at best). I just love her determination and the fact that

she's decorated her outfit with a tutu. That shows great spirit!

This is another crop of the same picture. One communicates

to me that she has accomplished a lot (top) and the other that she is determined to finish what is ahead (Lower).

PHOTIP: Cropping---what you leave in or out of an image---determines what your viewer will see or feel.

Crop carefully.

BLESSINGS!

visit my show in your pajamas

The Beauty & The Beasts

2010-02-16T00:17:00Z

Hello world!!!! Okay, that's probably not quite realistic----hello United States of America!!!

Okay, maybe that I don't have visitors from every state, but that doesn't mean it can't happen

one day...

The Reception for The Beauty & The Beasts show was great fun & fellowship as promised.

We had about 60 people show up to network, make new friends, see ones (old as in established)

& enjoy some beautiful images. I had affordable small items for sale, too. (Thanks patrons of the

arts.) We had our visitors vote for their favorite beauty and beast images. A pelican won the

most votes for beast, a wave crashing onto a rock won the beauty and a heron catching a fish

received votes for both. So maybe it was a beautiful beast? Hmmmmm.....

Click here to see the show. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED ME!

Here's a shot from my friend Diane Wingate at front of the Bethel Gallery early in the reception.

The lovely Ponte Vedra Presbyterian Church will host the show through March 14th.

Please come visit if you get the chance. It's located on 210 in Palm Valley and is open

Monday - Friday 9am-4pm because part of the exhibit adorns the area where the church offices are

located. For more info call 904-285-8225.

The cool thing is this church has a regular schedule of art shows--some group and some individual

shows. They also have open painting on Tuesday mornings---just BYO art project to work on. It's

a nice small group of "Dabblers" and PVPC sometimes offers art classes. They also create the City of

Bethlehem in December of each year & it's absolutely fantastic!

PHOTIP: A show & reception is a wonderful way to meet some great new people. It is a lot of work

and quite an investment of time and money. Make sure you have a good marriage before starting

the venture.

Blessings!

Click to visit my website

Yikes! The Reception is tomorrow night...

2010-02-09T03:35:00Z

MARSH MELLOW MAN © PAMELA CASEY

Hi---Hope you are warm & well.

The Reception for THE BEAUTY & THE BEASTS is here---Tuesday night. It begins at 5:30

and I am barely going to have time to get there early from school! Hope you are planning to come

if you live nearby. It's at Ponte Vedra Presbyterian Church on 210.

I have another site just for the show: www.sharktoothgallery.com

You can visit it in your pajamas, if you can't make it in real life.

I'm going nuts trying to get everything done for that, so I will have to share my adventures with

trying to paint on YUPO paper next week. It's plastic (or acrylic?). Would be cool if you could

actually print on it with the old inkjet, but it's doubtful. Very slippery stuff. The Creative Arts 150

group in Mandarin was where I met YUPO. They are a cool little bunch of artists who meet

monthly. It was so much fun---just don't know what you'll end up with because the paint sits on top.

PHOTIP: Try other artistic endeavors to improve your brain power & become a better photog.

Blessings!

A quick photo lesson on cropping, framing & placement

2010-01-19T00:22:00Z

Hi---Hope you are well. We're much more comfortable now with day temps in the 50's. A nice Florida

winter like it's suppose to be! Just enough for a sweater with a short 30's here and there thrown in.

I've been going crazy to get my new solo show (first time on this scale) printed, matted, framed & delivered

to open on Sunday in the Bethel Gallery of Ponte Vedra Presbyterian Church.

WHEW! More info to come.

This image was taken in Georgia on a dead end street in the middle of nowhere---kind of a nice country

road scene. It was nice angled light, but as we kept walking, I saw something I liked better.

This tree had leaves which were lit by the sun. I got down close to the road & shot vertical to accent

the long lines. I liked the road, the fence & the shadows from the fence.

We were closer here and I move over a little to get more of the shadows as they curved onto the grass.

You can see the tree much better & I'm not down as close to the road.

As we got closer to the tree, it was lit nicely and the bending shadows from the road seem to detour

interestingly around it. (I think it was because the tree was on a little rise...or baby hill to the uninitiated.)

This is cropping by moving in on a subject. I like this image the best.

PHOTIP: Keep exploring your options with different framing, cropping & placement of your subject.

Blessings!

See more of my pix

Frozen in Florida

2010-01-12T02:04:00Z

Hi there! Hope you're staying warm----we are, but just because we're staying inside.

As you can see, I found some ice----here's what happened. Over the weekend the weather was the big
story and has been every day now for the past week. It's crazy that in the northeast corner of Florida, it's been
below freezing every night for a week now. I think it went down to 19º last night.

The farmers a little farther south are worried about the strawberry & orange crops. They have elaborate sprinkler
systems for the strawberries & sometimes intentionally wet the plants to form a sheet of ice over the fruit.
I, personally, don't understand how it could work but it seems to do the job.

On one of the newscasts over the weekend they showed a photo of actual ice that formed on top of some
spot on the intra coastal---but said it had to be s fresh water source because salt water doesn't freeze.
Anyway, I got the idea that I would go out and look for some kind of frosty, wintry image to blog about.

Unfortunately, I didn't remember my plans until about 10:30 this morning when the sun had been shining
brightly for a few hours. So, I decided to look in the shade & hope for the best. I still had on my pajamas, because
for some reason I really hate getting out of a nice warm bed and abandoning my nice warm clothing.
SO, I just put a sweatshirt on top of my pj's & pants over the bottoms, added a hat & mittens and hurried
out the back door toward the water. The air was so cold, it was shocking!

Thankfully, I found a little patch of ice still frozen in the dark oozy brown fiddler crab inhabited, covered up at
high tide, marsh grass sustaining edge of the tidal creek mucky stuff. Then I quickly ran back inside because
I was freezing.

PHOTIP: Don't put clothes over your pajamas to shoot a picture--clothes made for that purpose really
do a better job of protecting you from the elements...

Blessings!

See more pix

HAPPY NEW YEAR PHOTOGS!

2010-01-04T22:58:00Z

Happy New Year to you all! I've now been blogging for a year & I hope you found something interesting,

amusing and/or helpful here. I would love to have a comment from you.

Hope 2010 is much, much, much, much, much, much, much better than 2009.

Even though I think some good has come of the economic crunch, like an evaluation of priorities &

employees, and appreciating & being thankful for what we have.

We had lots of family fun over the holidays. It was really nice. Well, with the exception that one

family member lost their job because the place closed.

Now we're freezing! Literally, in the low 30ºs all the way down here in Florida. And it's supposed to be this

cold all week with possible sleet on the weekend. (What was that about global warming???)

Well, maybe the ice will create new photo opps for me...

THE SHOT: The first one was taken in the a train station in Italy. Looks like the metering is on the tracks, so all the

light sources are blown out. It caught my eye recently when looking for something else. I liked it because I thought

it looked vaguely like a cross or an angel.

Here's the new version where I tried to capitalize on that idea. A couple of photoshop filters and a rotation later...

I think it makes an interesting abstract. What do you think?

May your Blessings be multiplied tenfold in this new year!

Visit my website

So many ideas!

2009-12-29T03:18:00Z

Wow---just sat through about 4 hours (or more---you know how it is on the internet---) of the aforementioned

"Joy of Marketing" free seminar for photographers this afternoon.

I didn't get to all 28 featured speakers, but each one was different and very inspirational. Hope you got

in on it. Each one had products for sale & special pricing, but none were too pushy.

I hope to use some of the ideas in the new year & be more profitable. But, I believe the best way for

photographers to make BIG money is to sell something to other photographers. My point was proven again today.

I'll leave you with artwork I created with some fancy cookies. I want to use it next year as a card cause I think

it's so cute.

PHOTIP: Enjoy your goodies twice by photographing them before you eat them!

I hope you continue to have a great holiday. Blessings for the new year!!!

See more of my pix

Merry Christmas--great shooting tips & a free gift

2009-12-22T00:33:00Z

Here's a great article about holiday lights from Porter's Camera Store's December newsletter:

Make this year’s photographs picture-perfect with a few tips for shooting holiday lighting:  

Try the Long View: When photographing a decorated street or even a single home, start first by shooting at an angle that allows you to capture as much as possible in a single frame. You’ll need to experiment with where you stand and how you frame the shot; don’t settle for a standard head-on photograph.

Try capturing the street’s sentiment by playing with various angles of a single scene.  

Now Zoom In: A single light or a lit ornament can hold tremendous beauty and detail but is often lost in the larger scene with so many other decorations competing for attention. Choose a favorite decoration on the tree—maybe an heirloom ornament—and play with nearby tree lights to see if you can add a bit of reflection onto the subject.

Spend a few minutes experimenting and adjusting; you’ll be surprised at the kind of results you can achieve.  

Adjust Your White Balance Settings: On your camera, your white balance setting (WB) is designed to help you capture an accurate ‘white’ in your image. However, a number of things can influence the ‘true white,’ leaving the color to be more orange or blue depending upon the situation. If you’re shooting indoors and find your images are too orange, consider changing your white balance setting to ‘tungsten.’

The term ‘tungsten’ simply refers to lighting from artificial sources such as standard room lamps or overhead lighting. If you’re shooting outdoors, consider waiting until just past sunset and changing your white balance settings to ‘outdoor.’ You will still have some colorful ambient light but it will enhance, not compete, with your outdoor holiday lighting.  

Get the Action: Some of the best holiday displays combine motion with lights, but this can make getting the perfect picture a bit more challenging. Try switching your camera to a motion or action mode to freeze your subject. And don’t be afraid to take several shots; it often takes a number of images to get that perfect one.  

Take Your Tripod: Regardless of whether you’re using a D-SLR or a compact point-and-shoot camera, having a tripod will greatly assist in capturing the essence of your light display. The tripod will help eliminate image shake, which will be especially important when shooting in low-light settings such as this one. We have many tripods to fit every need and budget in our Online Store.  

Make it a Blur: If you’d like to add an artistic twist to your photographs, consider setting your shutter speed to a lower setting—as far as a few seconds-- while moving your camera as you take the photograph. Your images will be visually interesting while still standing out from the standard litany of traditional holiday light photographs.

Attached below is a freeeeee photography marketing seminar one week from today! Sign up quickly for some great ideas.

PHOTIP: Take this free webinar!

Here's the link

I hope you have a blessed Christmas & know the Savior and His limitless, unconditional love for you.

Blessings!

Check out my site

Capturing the night lights

2009-12-15T02:33:00Z

Hi!
Hope you're getting into the Christmas Spirit and enjoying the lights & decorations on your neighbors' front lawn.
We just got ours out last weekend. Somehow, since we don't have kids around, except the occasional
grandchild, it's hard to get too excited about hauling everything down from the garage attic----because there are
no basements down here. In fact, I've never had the privilege of a using basement in my entire life.....well, with the
small exception of smelling the dirt while riding a tricycle around the posts at my grandparent's home in Atlanta.

As kids, we always enjoyed riding around in the car to see all the decorations lit up at night. That was
before the days of the huge monsters which now adorn the grass thanks to the magic of an electrical blower.
I think a lot of the gigantic blow up things are a little over the top---especially now that you can buy them for
any holiday...10 foot tall grim reapers, grinning turkeys, fat Uncle Sam wavering in the breeze....not a nice picture.....

I digress....so any way...if you find some nice lights you might want to take a picture of them. You could use it for an
e-card. Basically, it will look best if you use a tripod. Low light requires a steady surface for a clear shot.
A flash will wash out the look of the lights as in the first photo above. You want the soft glow of the lights.

PHOTIP: Take a tripod with you or something else like a chair that you can place your camera on to take
a picture without any shake or vibration.

Blessings!

See more pix

AWWWWWW! The babies are back...or is it the tree stooges?

2009-12-08T01:56:00Z

Hi---the racs are back!
Well, actually the majority never left. We live on the marsh and we have these types of visitors
every night and some days as well. This was a mid-day visit.

Just, look at these cuties! Their momma apparently had a second litter. It seems awfully late in
the year for tiny ones to begin to appear, so I hope they will survive the cold all right. Last week
a nursing mom was outside the back door (a large slider) with her four babies. This is the only
litter of four we have seen this year (from 6 moms).

When we opened the glass door to toss out some dog food, she faced me & growled. I wasn't sure
if she was growling at me---normally they don't. But, all four of her little ones ran for the big live oak tree
and climbed up in a flash. You could see three of them in the first "Y" of the tree. It's at least 15 feet
high. They were fun to watch. Kinda like the Thee Stooges. Maybe you could call them the Tree Stooges...
They alternated between crawling all over each other, going a little higher up the tree, starting down
the tree & staring below at mom. We were taking pix from inside through a bathroom window. Then my husband
went out onto our balcony & the little guys climbed up out of sight. At least 30 feet or more. I'm amazed
that they don't fall more often.

The fourth baby didn't actually go up the tree. It stayed in the bushes for a minute and then ventured back out.
It began eating the dog food there with momma, but not too far from the tree. It's interesting to see
the different personalities develop. When they are a bit larger & eat more, some will stay & continue to eat
even when momma leaves. I don't know if they're the bravest, but they are the fattest ones.

PHOTIP: Shoot a lot when you have a chance, to end up with a few good wildlife shots.
Blessings!

See more pix

Cows with earrings and other sites of Georgia

2009-12-01T01:28:00Z

Hi---Hope you are well & refreshed after the Thanksgiving Holiday. Isn't it great to live in a country
where we can take time out as a nation to thank God for all of our blessings? I pray we keep all
of our rights and not cave in to the "political correctness" freaks who use our rights against us.
Our freedom keeps us strong. We need to guard our freedoms.

Whew, got a little carried away there...but our trips to Georgia always include interesting sites.
We go on some back roads and see quite a few cow filled pastures. They don't always cooperate
with photographers by coming over close to the fence. This one and a couple of her friends did.
She looks kinda mean to me, but I am not really a bovine portrait specialist---is there such a
thing?? Are there farmers who would want cow portraits?

Anyway, I think the cow may be unhappy because of her earrings. I think they might hurt.
Obviously the numbers help the farmers keep up with which cow is where. I've seen cows with
only one earring---so does that mean that two is a status symbol among the heard somehow?
Or are they the bad ones who have run away before? We may never know the answers....

Georgia & every other southern state its share of falling down shacks that look great from the
road as you are whizzing by. The few times I've gone back to take pix have been disappointing.
You can usually find interesting wood textures, holes to shoot through, spider webs, & rusting metal.
Trucks that are broken down & rusty are more interesting.
PHOTIP: Go for the old trucks instead of the shacks.

Blessings!

See more pix

A Turkey & the Grandad Connection

2009-11-24T02:23:00Z

Hi---I want you to meet Grando & Will. Just about the best grandson in the whole world!
Check out the beautiful red hair---a gift from his mother. Will got the highest test score for
his whole grade last year and won a cool skateboard/scooter kinda thing. He loves to read
and likes science a lot. The guys make good models.

Today is the Monday before Thanksgiving, so I hope you know where your turkey is.....
meaning the one you are going to eat, not the relative sometimes referred to in that manner.
We're heading out on a road trip north to get our roast turkey, dressing, green bean casserole,
sweet potatoes, warm rolls, hot coffee, ginger snaps, cheesecake, pumpkin pie, pecan pie
(what do you expect from southerner?) and maybe a nice fire flickering in the fieldstone fireplace.

We will be enjoying family, food, fellowship and a short vacation from real life here in Florida---in
hopefully, cooler weather and fall surroundings. I hope you will be doing the same---well, the enjoying part.

PHOTIP: Don't be afraid to move in close to get a good picture. The most memorable ones communicate
relationships like this one or tell a story. When composing the shot, notice what is in the background
and foreground. Move is necessary, so distracts don't take away from the main subject---your loved ones.
Then catch people enjoying themselves. Every one loves to see pictures, especially of themselves.

Happy Thanksgiving & may you be blessed!

See more pix

Can you tell a Russian from an African?

2009-11-17T02:30:00Z

Greetings all! Can you tell which came is from which country?

Here are three women who spoke in Jacksonville, FL at the Wyndham Hotell on the river. It's been the home of the

Love Evangelizing Nations (LEN) Ministries Banquet for the past couple of years. Saturday was the big night,

and the room was packed. We were all eager to hear what they had to say.

Daniele Yetna, Sveta Yarygina & Diana (the version that is easy for us to pronounce) Longacre all passionately

communicated how the message of God's love had changed their lives. That message had come through the

Evangelism Explosion (EE) clinics conducted around the world by LEN Ministries. They have short term mission

trips to Russian every year, Africa, South America & the Philippines. Part of the money for your trip goes to pay

for the ministers who attend clinics---their transportation, housing, food & materials.

I actually went on the trip to Russia (Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod & Yaroslavl) in 2005. I got some interesting pictures,

during the trip: people & architecture on the street, beautiful churches, a factory, 10pm sunsets, lots of friends we made

& the places we visited. The Russian people are very warm & welcoming --- well, with the possible exception of

the police who were a little scary. And the ladies that sit at a desk on the each floor of your hotel writing down

who comes & goes. (Yeh, it was a little creepy...) Riding in a car will take your breath away & avoid the bus for

long trips. But, Nizhny has the most beautiful McDonald's in the world (that I've ever seen, anyway). Yaroslavl

had many beautiful churches and their kremlin watch tower is pictured above. Moscow had really cool cell phone

ads, good shopping & even casinos with neon lights blazing. But we saw only a tiny sample of the country.

EE such a fantastic tool for explaining the Gospel that it works in any language & culture. It even works in

prison environments. Every clinic LEN has held has netted positive results. Those trained can teach the

method to others. It's a great way to help their churches to grow. EE originated here in Florida, via Pastor

James Kennedy. Click on the highlighted words for more information.

I highly recommend taking a missions trip. It will definitely give you a new perspective on life and on our

nation.

PHOTIP: Go on a missions trip with LEN and take pictures of happy new believers.

BLESSINGS!

See more of my pix

A Little Photoshop Magic

2009-11-10T00:07:00Z

Hi--Hope you are doing well!

This week I haven't taken any exciting pictures and I've been in a financial seminar all weekend. They are promoting

the use of Investools & a course in understanding market investing. Honestly, I never even knew all those options were

out there for a small investor like me. My husband & I signed up for a class, so I'll let you know how it goes...

In the mean time, maybe I can show you a little something in Photoshop. Let's create something that looks like an

old post card from the 40's. The colors are rather pale. This is an image I took in Orlando (somewhat)

recently. I printed it 12"x18" on an Epson watercolor paper with the intent of adding some traditional media to it--

namely pastels. (Think of them as horrifically expensive chalk.) The problem with pastels is they need a "tooth" (rough)

to grab onto. This paper only has a little, so you can't mix colors. So, then you feel like you need to spend thousands

of dollars to buy every variation of color made so that you can have shades of colors to use...then there are hard &

soft pastels, different brands, etc.

I digress---I printed the image very light so it would be a guideline for me. After working on the image, I decided

that I would probably like it better if it was just a black & white with the tree in color. I'll work on that next, but in

the mean time the pix at the top go like this:

1- Normal: Basic color exposure, pump up the saturation a little.

2- Old Postcard: Copy the background layer & turn it into black & white. CS4 actually has that as a built in filter choice &

you have lots of adjustment tools within it. It works great. (If you have no other choice, desaturate.)

Bring down the opacity to about 40%. Now it's looking old & pale. Combine the layers.

3- Use the eraser tool with a funky brush setting to erase the edges freeform. Voila! (Yes, I confess, I did that first.)

PHOTIP: Don't try to make the edge perfect, it looks better messy. Of course if you are OCD, you can make a selection

that is exact & uniform. Might make an interesting trio to frame together.

Blessings!!

See more of my pix

Water Baptism the hard way...

2009-11-03T00:33:00Z

Watch the baptism video on You Tube

Hi there! Hope all is well with you...

These shots are from an ocean baptism taken 2 weeks ago in Atlantic Beach, Florida.

It was a very breezy & cool but crisp, blue sky with a few puffy white clouds kinda day. I personally thought it was

too cold for it. Even though I had on a jacket, my hands were practically frozen by the time we were done.

In this case the Atlantic Ocean was probably a little warmer than the air because of the strong, constant breeze.

Very few people were out on the beach that day, and fewer in the water. These are 2 of the most dramatic

images I got that day. They were only standing in about a foot of water between waves.

There are other pictures which illustrate the shivering that

occurred before---on the way into the water for all concerned,

during---as the baptizers (dunkers) waited for just the right wave to come along to make the plunge,

and after---as the baptized (dunkee)(spell check doesn't like it, but I think it's a perfectly good word)

(here we agree to disagree) run happily from the water to a nice big beach towel and warm hugs

from the friends and family watching dryly nearby.

It was fun to watch. There was such joy on the faces, clapping, hugging, pumping of fists, even jumping up

& the requisite down in celebration of the momentous occasion. (Hmm, if you jump up, do you actually jump

down or is it just a feature of the jumping up that happens...?)

Either way, congratulations to all those from Beaches Vineyard who got baptized!

PHOTIP: Use a long lens with vibration reduction when shooting far away action. This was a Nikkor 70-300mm

but I had plenty of sunshine. On a dark day I wouldn't have gotten as good an image because it's not

a nice wide fixed aperture like f2.8. Those are the best, but very heavy.

Blessings!

Info on Beaches Vineyard Jville

See more of my pix

Facing the Flu & Framing the "Hole" Face

2009-10-26T23:58:00Z

Greetings---hope you are well...

We're fighting the flu down here in the schools. Can't decide about getting that flu shot...the most recent

news program I saw said everyone under 25 is in the greatest danger of infection. That brings my stats down

considerably. But I do work in a school, so that brings the danger of being infected back up. Hmmm...

Anyway, I think you'll like the image for this week. This is the cutie mentioned in a earlier blog about

our visit to lovely Edisto Beach, SC. Though she looks like a a little angel here, she was the one who

screamed a little more frequently than I would have liked---ok, I don't actually like screaming except outside

& far away. Hopefully, she will get over that phase soon.

This picture was taken at a playground. I had the kids look out of the hole & took a shot. This is the best

one because of the facial expression. It's simply using what is there to look at things a little differently

through the lens. Obviously a wide shot couldn't have the same impact. Create an interesting framing by

using a fence, a tree, doghouse, whatever. Notice what is around you. Be creative! Find a new perspective.

PHOTIP: Become more observant by noticing how to isolate things with a zoom lens. This is where

photography shines. Don't have a good zoom? Buy one. No money? Move yourself in for a more interesting shot.

Blessings!

See more of my pix

Windshield art at 70

2009-10-20T00:45:00Z

Hi! Hope you are doing well.

It's finally beginning to feel a little like fall here in Florida & it's absolutely fabulouso!

I think it's been in the 40's at night & that is equal to the 20's & 30's in other states....

right?

My photo this week was taken while driving down the expressway about 70 mph, but

I was paying almost complete attention to where I was going, and as you can see there were

very few cars around. It was a nice drive down to Orlando for the AWE art collaboration

at the City Arts Factory. The show opened to rave reviews on the 15th. See my blog just prior

to this one for lots more info about it. See if you can find me among the hundreds of pix of the

event with the Limner Society under Art of Enduring.

Anyway, you can get some interesting shots on the road. I am of course, NOT in any way

advising or suggesting that you should do this. The morning was foggy & I didn't have time

to stop along the way, so I took some pix on the fly. Voila! Windshield art. This one conveyed a

loneliness to me. It could also signify danger with the red warning signs just off the main road.

Some times we ignore clear warnings to and regret it later. Quite symbolic, eh?

I did alter the colors in Photoshop to make it more dramatic. I'm sure you've noticed by

now that I love strong color!

PHOTIP: Love color? Pump up the saturation & vibrance for maximum impact.

Blessings!

See more of my pix

Community ART

2009-10-12T23:34:00Z

Hi there!

What a weekend---lots of art and travel and not much sleep. Orlando has a great arts community & I

got to share in an international making of art---sound cool & weird? Well, it was AWEsome--you'll see how

"punny" that is later. THE CITY ARTS FACTORY is featuring a kind of collaboration of 12 artists to

create art for a week & then have an exhibition of that art. ORLANDO COMMUNITY CHURCH has

held this event in a wide variety of forms, each one different. This one is Arts Worship Experience (AWE).

It features the LIMNER SOCIETY (artists who went to college together and have met yearly

to create art for a week). They juried in 7 others for this show, and then you could come for a day &

create work. I went on Friday morning but I ended up staying Saturday, too. It was such a a fantastic

environment to work in, see what others are doing and learn new tricks (techniques). The show

opens this week. Check it out if you are in ORLANDO during the next couple of weeks.

The theme is THE ART OF ENDURINGshoot images the day I was there and

combine them onto a paper canvas (I was limited to a small printer). I had lots of good images, but

I had a really hard time trying to combine them in a way that made sense. My problem was that

each image is already a composition on its own. How can you make that into one? It was a struggle.

One of my favorite images was of blue melting wax. I love texture & color---need I say more?

PHOTIP: Find an image you like & go with it.

Blessings!

See more of my pix

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