Dream Tomorrow, Live Today, Cherish Yesterday

Making the Cover

Granite Bay View Magazine - April 2009 Edition

I enjoy doing volunteer work, especially if I can combine photography with it.  In 2008 I participated in the Roseville Art's - Art in the Garden Tour.  I exhibited my images and sold quite a few.  

We are fortunate to have a city that cares about the arts, as well as numerous dedicated volunteers. For a city our size, I think our Blue Line Gallery is pretty awesome.  See: http://www.rosevillearts.org/.   The Art in the Garden tour is coming up on May 2.  Here's the website for the Art Tour: http://www.rosevillearts.org./tours.html.  It's a great day, a good benefit, and a chance to see fantastic luxury homes along with a lot of great art.  The food and drink provided is worth the price of admission alone.  If you are in the Sacramento area, I highly recommend going!

But anyway, back to this photo. Click on the continue link for the details of this shoot, that ended up on the cover of our local magazine.

Southport Scenes

Classic Southern Town - Southport

We spent two nights and one full day in Southport, North Carolina.  The winds were over 30 knots on the ocean, so it was time to come in.  What we found was a classic, bucolic, southern town.  And so of course I did my best to capture some images that capture the mood.

The above image was taken on our walk into the town. We took the tender over to the marina, then walked to main street.

Click on the continue link for several more scenes from Southport.

Meet the Boat Dog

 

Marina - the Boat Dog

Many  boats have dogs, and the one I am on is no exception.  These "goldens" sure have easy going and loving personalities. I know there are a lot of dog lovers out there, so here is my attempt at a few fun shots of this particular doggie.  And a boat trip update!

Click on the continue link for several more...

Seen better days - the outboards

Sea Horse

By now you readers know I'm a sucker for antique machinery.  Anything with wheels or wings, anything that floats.  This post's subjects are outboard motors. I recently found a shed with several delightful old outboards.  Now these old sea dogs are before my time, let's get that straight!  Still, I grew up watching Flipper, with the kids just running down the dock, jumping into the boat, pulling the rope and taking off wherever they pleased.  For a suburbs kid like me, that looked pretty appealing. 

Click on the continue link for more!

Wildflowers

Canon 1D Mk III, 180mm f3.5 macro, f4.5, 1/160th, iso 640

This wildflower was seen infrequently on my recent Pt Reyes trip.  I first discovered it on the Mt Vision road, that goes to a vista point where evidently you have quite a view. It was completely fogged in for us.  But in dark light, I did notice this pretty flower (notice the high ISO).  I don't think I have even seen a wildflower quite like this one.  Three petals splay out, and three doing a little pirouette.

Click the continue link for another surprise.

Gears

Gears

Canon 20D, 70-200 F4L, f4.5, 1/100, iso 200

This photograph was taken a couple years ago at a great state park - the Empire Mine in Nevada City, CA.  There is a lot of good photography to be had there. 

Unfortunately, I forget what this set of gears did, but I love their rustic charm.  The treatment is with a Lightroom filter called Stellar Guru Green Gold.   Let me know how you like the image and or the treatment?

Double Lucky Day

Hunt for Gold

Canon 20D, 10-22 f3.5, f6.3, 1/400, iso 400

While returning home from a business trip to Santa Barbara, I passed through a hellacious storm just outside Paso Robles, CA.  When you head east on highway 41, you go over a few foothills, then there are several large valleys.  Well, the lighting conditions were just right, with the moisture in the air, and I found myself right in front of a double rainbow.

I've never been in conditions where the rainbow appeared this close.  It was pretty magical. Lots of people were pulling over, running around with cameras, camcorders, cell phones, you name it.

The Gold Must be There!

Canon 20d, 70-200 F4L, f5.6, 1/200, iso 400

The closeness of the rainbow was amazing. I captured this with my telephoto.  There's no additional saturation on this photo, just a bit of white balance and accentuation of the darker tones.  Hopefully I'll see another double rainbow like this someday!

Stormy Sunrise at Lake Tahoe

Stormy Sunrise at Lake Tahoe

This spot was made famous by Elizabeth Carmel  with her Brilliant Waters book.  Fortunately for me, the Carmel's are wonderful people, and told me how to get to this spot so I could give it a go myself.   With basically a gray overcast morning, I didn't have a "big sky" to work with.   But with a bit of Lightroom filter and spot adjustment work, I was able to make it pretty dramatic.  Let me know what you think of this image!

Boat Trip Update

For those of you following my Florida to Virginia boat trip, a brief update.

After 60 hours at sea, covering 600 miles, we ducked into Southport, North Carolina, for 36 hours. The wind was building up significantly, so it was an easy call.

I hoped today would be a good day photographically, and my expectations were exceeded. Unfortunately our Internet connectivity here is nonexistant, so I cannot show pictures yet. This update is being sent from my phone.

So stay tuned, and in the meantime enjoy the posts I prepared before leaving.

Car Art

  
Canon 20d, 60mm f2.8, 1//15, iso 200

Readers of the blog know I have a certain thing for vintage hood ornaments.  Here is one I shot at a car museum, I have always loved this shot.  The ornament is great by itself of course, but I like the gradient lighting on the brown paint, and the out of focus reflections in the background just sort of dazzle.  Well, they wouldn't look too nice on our modern cars, but they are great on the older ones.