John's Daily Digital Images

Stress-free DSLR Sensor Cleaning

2012-01-12T21:30:00.000-05:00

I've never been afraid of the coming days when I knew I'd have to do some serious dust removal on my D90 sensor despite the many, many, many, many articles on the interwebs on just how delicate a job this is. So freaking delicate a job that you should pay to send your camera off to have a "pro" do this for you.

Maybe it is because, as a digital engineer who has worked hands-on on outrageously expensive electronic prototypes for fifteen years, I have lost the fear of working on something that cost a mere $800. (I know that was a terrible sentence, but I don't feel like rewording it.)

For nearly the entire year of 2011, as I languished at home on long-term disability with my back, I kept my eye on certain items on the internet, eBay, Amazon, etc., that I wanted to buy as Christmas presents for my family and myself.

My thoughts were thus, these items that I had identified, would, over the course of the year, be found at a fantastic price somewhere before Christmas.

I was largely successful in this, and sure enough, we had a very "lean" Christmas that was in fact pretty good because of my "great deal" purchases spread throughout the year.

One item that Santa brought me was a Promaster CCD/Cmos Sensor Cleaning Kit.

My electronic sensor cleaner built into the D90 finally was unable to remove several stubborn dust specks that appeared in my shots enough that I was sick of editing them out.

So a couple of days after Christmas, I opened the sensor cleaning kit, read the instructions a couple of times to be clear on the process, and used the little rubber tipped thingamajigs to touch to the D90's sensor and then to touch to a little plastic looking pad in the kit to deposit the offending dust.

I did this enough times to cover the entire surface area of the sensor and used one of my "studio" backdrops for small items (a pale poster boards from Michael's crafts store) and verified quickly that the offending dust specks were, in fact, GONE.

So, if you aren't afraid to clean your own DSLR sensor, and know you don't really need the "wet" type sensor cleaning, I can personally highly recommend the Promaster CCD/Cmos Sensor Cleaning Kit. The link there takes you to the one page instructions with photos so you can see the kit and how easy it is to use.

Doing this yourself only takes a few minutes, literally, and you're done for a while.

This kit is about $35US on Amazon, and I set an ebay search for one and got mine for less than $20, shipped. If you need it NOW, it's worth the full $35 in my opinion, but patience, and careful internet searching for this kit can get it to you for a good bit cheaper. Mine just happens to be the Promaster brand, but the same exact kit is also sold under other brand names as well.

About the photo: As a kid, one of my very favorite Hot Wheels was the Red Baron. Several years ago, there was a release of larger, more detailed versions of Tom Daniel's custom hot rod designs. This version of his Red Baron shows the backdrop I use for small items, and nary a dust blob in sight.

I know it's not a great photo, but I have begun my long-avoided reading and experimentation on photographing in a portable studio setup with a multiple wireless flash system. For a landscape and outdoor photography guy like myself, this is an area of photography that I'm definitely having to learn to crawl, pull up, and walk all over again. It has been fun so far, but I know I have a long way to go for dramatic lighting.

But this Red Baron photo was so nice and devoid of dust blotches that I was totally excited.

My First Photo Outing In Way Too Long

2011-10-02T18:35:00.000-04:00

Lovely Wife and I went out for what was for me, my first photo excursion in over a year, yesterday, October 1st.

It was a beautiful, sunny, windy, Florida day.

I didn't last long, my cruddy back and gimpy leg saw to that, but if you're out during the "golden hours" of the day, then you can find good visual stuff in a very short time.

Living in Florida helps with finding beautiful stuff to photograph.

Pieces of a Kodak Pony IV Camera

2011-09-26T11:46:00.008-04:00

I took my Kodak Pony IV camera apart a few weeks ago.

With my back in such bad shape, I can only work on things a little bit at a time, and I happened to receive a Sigma macro lens from an eBay purchase while my Pony IV was still in pieces.

I couldn't resist a few closeup still life shots to try out the lens and see just how close this thing would focus and to start figuring out how to light macro shots.

These are a couple of shots of the pieces of the Kodak Pony IV I learned photography with.

The Kodak is now back together, cleaned inside and out, and working nicer than I've ever had it work for me.

Gold Rolex Oyster

2011-09-16T18:04:00.007-04:00

My father worked on off-shore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico in his career.

He was born in 1934, growing up during difficult times in America, and in a poor part of Louisiana.

He was of what I consider to be the last generation that a man or woman would work for one company most of their lives.

Working off-shore, seven days on the drilling rig, and then seven days off, he ended up missing a lot of holidays and birthdays. He was there for a lot of them, but not for a lot of others too.

There were times, like working for any company, when he had to swallow his pride and keep his mouth shut to keep his job when the company would try to take advantage of him or others.

Then, when he had twenty-something years with this company, they called all the twenty-plus-year employees to a big banquet in New Orleans.

The company presented to him and all the other long-timers, a gold Rolex watch.

I don't know if it still is, but for decades, the official United States time was determined by an atomic clock at the US Naval Observatory.

So after he was given this watch, and I'd talk to him on the phone (from Dallas or Atlanta or wherever we were living during those years) I'd ask if the Naval Observatory has called yet that day to get the official time from him and his Rolex.

It wasn't something he left in a box, he wore the watch daily up until he died in 1994.

I took a few photos this week with my new/used macro lens.

You can see a few nicks and marks here and there.

Those nicks and marks are from him wearing one of the only tangible representations of all the years of hard work he put in, as well as not being with his family on some important days.

Some people would think he was being pretentious wearing a Gold Rolex, and sometimes complete strangers would say something like, "I wish I could afford to buy and wear a gold Rolex!"

He would always tell them, "I didn't have the money to buy one either. This was given to me by the company I worked so hard for, for so many years. I wear it because I EARNED IT."

That never failed to shut them up.

I don't wear it as much as I'd like to, mainly because my wrist is way bigger than his was, and even at the last notch, the watch is too tight to wear for more than just a few minutes.

One day I'll go ahead and plunk down the money to have an extra gold link or two put on the watch so I can wear it more.

But I look at this watch a lot, and suffer wearing it on important days for me and my family.

It helps me remember that he's with me in spirit on those important days to me and my family.

New (to me) Lens! Sigma 50mm f/2.8 AF-D Macro lens, Nikon mount

2011-09-03T01:23:00.009-04:00

In 1976, when I was 13, I found a camera box in a "catch-all" closet in our house.

I opened it up, and there was a Kodak Pony IV 35mm camera in it's leather case with accessories!

I had a Vivitar 110 pocket camera that I used, but this looked like a REAL camera.

I asked if I could use it, and my parents said yes, if I learned how myself. Because they hadn't used it in so many years that neither one could tell me how to work it.

Over the next few months I checked out library books from the junior high and high school as I finished 8th grade and entered the 9th grade.

I learned f-stops and shutter speeds and film ASA (now ISO) number.

I've enjoyed photography for 35 years now. Sometimes passionately and sometimes I let my cameras gather dust as my family responsibilities (and my kids) grew.

This week, I bought my first true macro lens.

I use a Nikon D90, and I bought a used Sigma 50mm f/2.8 AF-D Macro lens from a man on eBay.

It's an older model, but this thing gets to life size, 1:1, at it's closest focus point.

I've used screw on close up filter sets from time to time, but this lens opens up a whole new world for me.

It might be an older lens with older technology as compared to the latest aspherical lens, super-multi-coated, hypersonic motored lenses from Nikon, Canon and even Sigma and other 3rd party lenses, but I'm LOVING this thing so far.

Mockingbird Eggs

2011-05-23T00:03:00.002-04:00

Lovely Wife was sitting on our back patio and was reading.

We have a mockingbird in the back yard that always yells at us when we go out there.

Lovely Wife called to me and when I went out there she showed me that the bird had made a nest in our crepe myrtle bush.

She and Number One Daughter are too short too see in the nest, and I could just look over into it and see a couple of eggs. I've never seen a bird's nest that low.

Lovely Wife's camera battery was dead, so I got my camera and did the paparazzi style hold-the-camera-up-and-aim-as-best-you-can.

Not a great picture but pretty cool anyway. I haven't been where I could see wild bird eggs in a long time.

I only took a couple of pics. Mama or Daddy bird was yelling at me for getting that close to the nest.

Grave of Confederate Soldier

2011-05-20T09:30:00.004-04:00

This gentleman survived the Civil War, and is buried in Powder Springs, Georgia where we lived for a few years. (We LOVED it there.)

I've always kind-of liked this shot, but decided to see how it would look in B&W.

[I hope to get my newly installed intrathecal pain pump adjusted to where I can have a life again (get out and do some photography!). Until then, I will have to delve into my personal archive of photos to post here.]

The Piano

2011-05-18T19:06:00.000-04:00

Walking through this room one day I realized that this might make a decent B&W shot.

This was taken before poor Mr. Fish there one the left passed away.

Two Newest Memebers of the Family

2011-05-14T15:44:00.007-04:00

I just had my 5th surgery to relieve back pain about three weeks ago.

It has been many months since I went exploring and photographing, but really, really want to get going again here.

If you're interested on what my latest procedure was, look at my other blog HERE.

I've really been making changes to try to keep some good things in my life despite my bad back.

I sold my heavy guitars, Gibson Les Paul Studio and Agile AL-3100 Les Paul copy, and my SX Jazz bass.

I bought an Agile AL-3125, which is still a Les Paul copy, but parts of the body are hollowed out to make it a pretty light guitar, but still has most of that Les Paul tone. In replacing my Jazz style bass, I bought a used Gretsch Electromatic (G2202) short scale bass, which is a bit lighter than the jazz bass, but the shorter neck makes it regular guitar sized and doesn't hurt my back to play like that long necked jazz bass did.

Anywhay, I'm loving both of these guitars very much. It's about the only hobby I've been able to continue while I try to get my back pain situation straightened out.

Take care all and God Bless...

Hey Buddy! Can You Spare Some Change?

2010-09-26T06:14:00.002-04:00

See, I'm saving up for this thing I saw for sale, and it's only $375,000...

You may or may not have heard the name, Mel Fisher, the treasure hunter, but they have a museum about a twenty minute drive from our home, dedicated to him and all the sunken treasure he helped find and bring up.

The main Mel Fisher Treasure Museum is in Key West, Florida, but there's also one on the central east coast of Florida in a town called Sebastian.

Before Mel Fisher became world famous for finding the old Spanish galleon, the Atocha near the Florida keys, he worked for years salvaging the numerous treasure-laden ships of the "Plate Fleet" that went down in a hurricane in a spread from central Florida down to around Palm Beach in 1715.

In fact, from where we live and southward, is called "The Treasure Coast" because of this.

If you want to know a little more about the Plate Fleet and the wrecks in this part of Florida, I wrote about it on my other blog a couple of years ago.)

We took my sister and nephew to the Sebastian Mel Fisher museum this past June, and I took these two photos.

Orlando - In The Evening

2010-09-24T23:26:00.011-04:00

The second building from the left, with the domed roof, is Orlando's City Hall.

In the evening, between the second opening act and when Tears For Fears came on stage, this was the view right behind us.

It was a really, really hot afternoon, but when the sun went behind the buildings, it was such a relief that the still-hot day felt much cooler. Just by virtue of the sun no longer beating on us.

This mixture of man-made buildings and their lighting, as well as God's handiwork, made this time at this location quite beautiful to me.

Tears For Fears #3

2010-09-22T06:26:00.005-04:00

Roland Orzabal in the spotlight with the candy apple red Gibson ES-137 Custom guitar, and Curt Smith to the right in red lighting with his awesome Hofner Club 500/2 Bass. I didn't get the drummer's name when they introduced everyone.

Free concert in Orlando's City Hall Plaza Park on Saturday August 28, 2010

Tears For Fears - Curt Smith

2010-09-20T06:23:00.001-04:00

The whole is greater than the sum of it's parts.

Curt Smith is essentially the other "half" of the group Tears For Fears. Roland Orzabal, yesterday's photo subject is one half as well.

Each of these men have produced great music on their own, and indeed, still do, but together as Tears For Fears, their music seems to me to rise way above normal songs and becomes the music that forms the backdrop for much of my life.

On TFF's first album/CD, 1983's "The Hurting" they had a song called "Mad World." Though I love the original, it is definitely an 80s song, full of synthesizers and such.

Several years ago, another singer, Gary Jules, did a cover of the song Mad World in a very moody, orchestral production.

The Tears concert we went to in Orlando, when the lights went down and the band was about to come on, they started playing an orchestral version of Mad World and Curt Smith came on and began to sing the song he had written, but like the Gary Jules version instead of the original synthesizer version.

As he sang Mad World in a spotlight, the rest of the group came on stage and took their instruments and joined in.

This photo is of Curt Smith singing Mad World to open the concert.

Still no digital noise in the dark sections of the photo despite being shot at ISO 3200!

Tears For Fears - Roland Orzabal

2010-09-19T08:48:00.014-04:00

I seriously do very little in the way of getting out and doing anything fun because of my back.

A few weeks ago, one of my two all-time favorite musical groups, Tears For Fears, performed at a free concert in downtown Orlando, Florida. My two daughters and I went to see the concert.

You just have NO IDEA how much their music has meant to me over the years (since 1983!).

I took my D90 with the 18-200mm lens and set the camera to ISO 3200 when the sun went down, Shutter priority, and 1/200sec to stop most of their movements while performing.

So this shot or Roland Orzabal was taken at ISO3200! Do you see any distracting digital noise from using such a high ISO setting? No. You do not.

I paid a heavy price in back pain over the next couple of days for simply going and sitting at this concert, but the awesome performance of Tears For Fears and my knowing that I'd never forgive myself for bypassing such a perfect opportunity to see them live, got me there and I'm SO glad we went.

Why I Haven't Posted Much Lately...

2010-09-18T15:23:00.004-04:00

I am alive, but still dealing with my lower back and left leg pain issues from an injury in 2003.

The lumbar fusion I had in my lower back in Oct, 2004 has given my back good stability; my back no longer feels as if it's precariously balanced on worn ball bearings.

That's a good thing, and made my two surgeries of 2004 worthwhile, but I have had chronic pain in an increasingly intense way in my lumbar back and left leg that has gotten almost unbearable since late 2009. This has basically put an end to my hobbies of bicycle riding and going for long walks with my camera. I quite literally have only a finite number of steps I can take in any given day before I MUST stop. So hardly any walks and no bike riding in a long time now.

My life, for the most part, consists of getting up way before I have to be at work, just to be able to get ready and get there. There is much pain involved and it takes me a long time. Then I work, and where I work has about 100 buildings, about the size of a small college, and I end up walking a lot and that uses up the aforementioned finite number of steps in any given day.

All of that is to say this, I give my all to simply making it through a work day and trying to make a living for me and Lovely Wife. My photography habit/walks are very few and very far between. Haven't ridden my bike in a couple of years now.

But I really want to keep my blogs going, so I'm going to add photos here as I can, and hope you'll be patient with me and check in from time to time to see if I have something new.

Thanks, John M. (Saturday, September 18, 2010)

Textures

2009-10-11T02:34:00.004-04:00

Tree bark is always good for some texture in a photo, but the weird spot on this tree trunk was a neat contrast to the rest of the bark.

Texture becomes the subject.

Dreams Die Hard

2009-10-05T20:07:00.012-04:00

When we lived in the Atlanta area in the late 1980's/early 90's, I started back to college to earn an engineering degree.

While there, I fell in love with Georgia Tech, right downtown in Atlanta.

I didn't have the stellar academic background to get into Ga. Tech and it had been almost ten years since I'd had any school, so I started back to school, and did very well at Southern Tech in Marietta, northeast of Atlanta and close to where we lived at the time.

My desire was to do well at Southern Tech and then hopefully transfer to Ga. Tech to finish my degree.

But working full time and going to school as much as possible left me facing at least a 7-8 year grind.

I eventually decided to move the family back to Louisiana where I was from, and where both Lovely Wife and I had lots of family for support, and I finished my degree at Louisiana Tech in 1996.

I don't regret for a second the path that I took, and I'm proud to have earned my BSEE from Louisiana Tech, but that dream of going to Ga. Tech is still there inside, and burns strongly.

Whenever they play football on TV my heart races. When we are in Atlanta, a must for me is to go to the campus and walk around a bit, and drive all over the rest of the campus.

Who knows? I might finally get a graduate degree from there some day as a tottering old man.

This is a photo of the "Tech Tower," their oldest and most revered building.

Can't Be Helped, This is Florida

2009-10-04T00:12:00.005-04:00

Every once in a while we get the kind of bad weather that lasts a day or even for a few days, but the rest of the year is like this.

Even on days where we get a pretty good rain shower or thunderstorm, the rest of the day is like this.

Point your camera in any direction at just about any time of day and you'll be looking at something like this.

It's just Florida.

Squares

2009-09-29T00:03:00.001-04:00

These interesting windows were on an amazingly designed and colored building in Melbourne, Florida.

Black and White #37

2009-09-27T09:34:00.003-04:00

I don't know the names of hardly any flowers. Or plants in general.

I've been trying to figure out how to separate colors in black and white photos.

My new Elements 7 has a lot of neat new features when compared to my previous version (v4), and I've had the desire to sit and play more.

Simply removing the color from a color image will almost always result in an UGLY black and white shot, as will simply turning it from a color photo to a grayscale image.

I've finally found a couple of different processes in Elements that allow me to convert a color shot into a nice, contrasty black and white that I like.

When I first removed the color from this shot, the blossoms and the greenery were nearly the same shade of gray.

But I'm happy with this one, though I'm still learning.

You can see the original outrageous color of these flowers on my other blog today at Picture Post, Sunday, September 27, 2009.

Red Dragonfly

2009-09-26T17:38:00.004-04:00

Saw this guy while out and about a week or so ago.

I had never seen a red one, much less the neon red this guy was sporting.

He was in almost constant motion, and I only got two shots of him.

Of the two shots, this was the only one that wasn't blurry from his movement.

The focus is a bit soft, but hey, sometimes you have to take what you can get. He flew way off within seconds of this photo.

Fleur de lis

2009-09-23T20:34:00.006-04:00

The rusty fleur de lis on this flower pot holder we have out by our pool have lots of character.

One of those items that you don't notice, but when you take a minute to examine them in a photo, they look kinda neat like that.

I bought a new version of Photoshop Elements, version 7. My previous version was v4, and it didn't have the capability to deal with Nikon RAW images from my new D90.

Elements 7 does, and the difference in features between v4 and v7 is a major upgrade for me.

Elements 7 has many more capabilities of manipulating the Nikon RAW files than the old version, so I'm having a blast using it.

I tried the Nikon Capture NX software but I like the layout and ease of use of Elements more than I do the Nikon Capture software. Plus I tried adjusting the same RAW files in both Elements and in Capture NX and I couldn't tell one from another in the final resulting images. I did this with a number of RAW files and for several hours.

So I just deleted the trial version of Capture NX and bought Elements 7 and Scott Kelby's awesome Elements 7 book. I'm set up now.

Spanish Moss (plus little known fact)

2009-09-13T01:51:00.009-04:00

The pharmacy we use is in a business complex where the builder left all the trees possible when building and laying out the parking areas.

Lots of old oaks all around the area and they all have drooping Spanish moss.

The sun was far enough over the other day to get some interesting light through the trees.

I just happened to have my camera with me.

Little Known Fact: Did you know that Spanish moss is in the pineapple family?

I'm not kidding. See for yourself...

That was one of about four or so tidbits of information I still remember from my college botany class. Use it or lose it, and I've lost most of that botany class. Botany facts just don't come up when working with electronics.

Manatee Crossing

2009-08-27T18:34:00.006-04:00

Sorry for the non-posting of late. Life and work keeps intervening in my blog posting.

The creeks, streams, and rivers around here that flow into the Indian River Lagoon or Atlantic are wintering places for manatees.

With the incredible population boom comes a huge increase in people with powered boats.

With all of the boat propellers in the water, and the result is that the slow-moving, docile, and huge manatees pay an awful price for millions to enjoy their boats.

By far boats and the propellers are the biggest threat to the average manatee's life and health.

Many of the ones we've seen paddling around the areas waterways have hash mark scars on them from surviving an encounter with boat's motors.

The law is that you cannot go fast enough on these waterways to make a wake, mostly to help reduce manatee deaths by boats.

But I know people here who spend much time on the water that hate and ignore such rules.

The manatees are magnificent creatures and I always get a thrill out of seeing some in the local creeks.

I have some photos of our first-ever encounter with manatees after we moved to Florida in 1996 here.

Black and White #36

2009-08-16T15:27:00.008-04:00

This sea grape plant on the dunes here was almost killed in the hurricanes of 2004.

You can see a few leaves growing back, so it's trying hard to survive.

Now here's the color original. I wish I knew how to get different colors to stand out in black and white like they were in color.

See how the leaves are so different compared to the limbs? I'd like to figure out how to get that kind of tonal separation in the black and white versions in Photoshop Elements.

I tried the different color filters in Elements, because if I had actually shot black and white film, I could have used color filters to get the leaves to be tonally different than the limbs, but no success.

I just can't figure out how to do that "after the fact" with Elements.

I'll keep trying.

Seen At The Beach

2009-08-15T09:50:00.000-04:00

Better thrown here than thrown down on the beach, right?

Looking West Down Our Street

2009-08-14T13:12:00.005-04:00

We had just arrived home and after getting out of the car, I noticed the nice sunset.

You don't have to go to a special place to see great, colorful skies.

Under The Bridge

2009-08-04T13:17:00.003-04:00

A bridge carrying US1 (highway) across Crane Creek in Melbourne, FL.

Decorated by local businesses.

A very photogenic marina in the background there too, which I was heading for when I snapped this.

Another Great Sky Over Barnes and Noble's Parking Lot

2009-08-01T00:01:00.011-04:00

This is the second time we've walked out of this Barnes and Noble in Melbourne to an amazing evening sky.

Well, sometimes you walk out of a store and there's a killer sunset.

Don't have time to move to a better location, the sun moves through it's own diameter in the sky in two minutes. No time.

So, you just do what you can where you are.

At least I had my camera with me.

I set a small aperture to try to keep the sun from "blooming" and stay round, so the ISO had to be cranked up. There's some noise here, but the noise on this camera is more like smooth film grain to me. Much more acceptable to have this type of noise than that on the ccd image sensor of my D70s at high ISO.

Jungle Gym

2009-07-30T08:12:00.005-04:00

Part of a metal trellis or whatever it might be called, that Lovely Wife has in one of her flower pots.

I reckon it's for droopy plants to use as an aid for climbing.

Kinda like a jungle gym for flowers.

Pleasing Jumble of Lines

2009-07-27T06:05:00.000-04:00

As I walked around this marina, I stopped and admired this view with all sorts of lines and curves.

All going all over the place with no rhyme or reason, but pleasing nonetheless.

To me at least.

(The killer evening sunlight and the pleasant colors didn't hurt either.)

Rumble Bee

2009-07-22T12:54:00.003-04:00

A neon yellow Dodge pickup truck was parked a the beach and I thought it looked pretty good.

The stripe and icon there reminded me of the Chryslers and Dodges of the 60s and 70s.

I was just a bit too young to have hit the muscle car era when I could have bought one, but then again, I would have been old enough and probably sent to Vietnam, so I guess it worked out.

Black and White #35

2009-07-21T14:08:00.003-04:00

At the beach, I thought this one would be a good B&W as I took it.

Now I just wish I had a little more of the ocean in it.

Oh well, there's always next time.

Stephanie and Jim

2009-07-19T01:35:00.012-04:00

I had the honor of photographing a couple's wedding Saturday evening.

Photographing weddings is pretty awesome. I don't get very nervous, but in the end, I just realize that both they and I have one opportunity at getting good shots.

This one was caught on-the-fly, and he's a tiny bit blurry as he moves in for a kiss, but the look on her face made this informal shot one of my favorites. One of those shots that you get sometimes, not a technically perfect photograph, but the emotion of the subjects IS perfect.

I had a backup camera, which was nice, didn't have to use it, but it was nice knowing that if my new D90 went bonkers on me, I could just grab the other body and continue.

I've had enough work with the D90 in the past two weeks to have it's features be second nature to me. Though that wasn't really a big deal, the controls are so close to my D70s that using it is essentially the same.

The couple getting married and their families are a laid-back bunch of folks, so there was little pressure and the first look at the photos when I got home left me feeling they'll have a hard time deciding which ones to print. To print them all would cost a fortune.

It's a good problem to have, too many good ones to choose from.

Hope all the weddings I shoot are like that, laid-back and a multitude of good images to choose from.

Live Bait (After the makeover)

2009-07-17T23:54:00.006-04:00

I posted a shot of this bait shop near the beach here a while back.

That previous shot showed the shop in yellow, but sometime recently it has received a makeover.

On this day, the evening sun made the new color of the bait shop stand out and demand to be part of the image.

Shuttle Endeavour Finally Lifts Off (No Photos)

2009-07-15T18:10:00.003-04:00

Lovely Wife and I went to the beach a couple of times to watch the latest attempt to launch the Space Shuttle, but it kept being cancelled.

Just a few minutes ago, at 6:03pm EDT, Endeavour finally was able to lift off successfully.

I'm working late, and went on top of one of the buildings and watched it.

Sadly, I cannot bring in a camera of any type where I work, so I just had to eyeball it. My camera is in my car, but I couldn't get off early enough to go to a better location and try to take photos.

I'm about 30-40 miles south of Kennedy Space Center, and it took the rumble (sound) of the boosters over 4 minutes to reach me as I watched. But that gives you an indication of the noise when I can hear it 30 - 40 miles away.

If Congress will fund it to the end, the US Space Shuttle program that is, there are only 7 shuttle missions left planned.

I would be totally surprised if they get to launch all 7 of them.

New Condos

2009-07-13T16:17:00.002-04:00

This building was recently finished in Melbourne, Florida.

I was wandering around a marina with my camera and, at a certain point, I could see this above and between the buildings closest to me.

Just liked the green here in the warm evening light.

After The Rain

2009-07-12T14:55:00.008-04:00

Went out in our front yard after an evening rain the other day and ended up liking the rain drops on the leaves better than on Lovely Wife's flowers.

[FYI, I posted photos on my other blog today if y'all care to see them. Picture Post, Sunday, July 12, 2009]

Black and White #34: Beach House

2009-07-10T21:49:00.007-04:00

Nice, frilly, Victorian accents on this recently remodeled old house out by the beach.

I'd like to have a nice chair there on the porch to watch and listen to the waves.

The sun came out for a bit, and the contrast made me think "black and white."

Eastern Sky Over Melbourne Harbor Marina

2009-07-08T21:26:00.006-04:00

I took this Sunday evening. It was hot and humid, but a beautiful day.

Bridge Art

2009-07-08T07:27:00.006-04:00

Near a local park in Melbourne, Florida is a bridge that carries highway US1 over Crane Creek.

The park, Manatee Park, meanders along the north bank of Crane Creek. It's a great place to see, you guessed it, manatees, in the winter when the animals move inland.

If you follow the sidewalk underneath the bridge to get to a very photogenic marina, you are treated to the pillars holding up this bridge, in their painted glory.

A city beautification project.

As I walked under this bridge this past Sunday, this particular fish was catching some awesome sunlight from the late evening sun on one of the bridge's pillars.

The fish seemed to glow from within as if it were a neon light.

I'm glad to say that this "neon feel" carried through in the translation from the actual world to the digital world.

A1A

2009-07-06T20:55:00.008-04:00

US1 is a highway that goes from Miami to somewhere up in Maine, all along the mainland of the eastern US.

But chains of barrier islands are also along much of the eastern seaboard, just off the mainland.

The highway that picks up travels along the length of many of these barrier islands going up to Maine, is designated A1A.

The parking lot to the Atlantic beach that I went to on Sunday afternoon in Melbourne Beach, Florida is along a piece of highway A1A.

I liked the quality of the evening sun on this A1A sign pointing south, with the colorful buildings in the distance.

ISO 1600

2009-07-04T23:44:00.010-04:00

I keep a guitar by my chair so that I can pick it up and practice at least a little bit every day.

We have two skylights in the den, and at a certain time each morning, about 10am right now, the sunlight comes through one of them to shine right beside me and has a lovely quality to it.

It shined right on the guitar and I snapped a shot at ISO 1600 with my new Nikon D90.

I have the camera set for "normal" noise reduction at high ISO within the camera, so this is a shot as it came off the camera.

Although my D70s still has a place in my heart, this kind of performance at such a high ISO leaves me breathless.

I keep thinking of how much grain is in a print made from ISO 800 film and then seeing this, I know I'm going to really be loving this camera once I learn all it's tricks.

As someone who shot thousands and thousands of 35mm slides on slow ISO (50, 64, or 100) film just to get the best quality, to see an image like this from ISO 1600 seems truly magical to me. I mean that.

I always longed for the versatility of being able to shoot at high ISO, but the grainy images turned me off completely.

If I'd had a slide or print film of ISO 1600 that had this kind of look, I'd have paid big money for each roll, and would have paid it gladly.

The viewfinder of the D90 is large and bright, a true pentaprism whereas the D70s is an electronic viewfinder.

The "eyepoint" (in Nikon-speak) of the D90 is 19.5mm, where the D70s is 18mm. This means that I can see the whole image inside the viewfinder while still wearing my eyeglasses with the new D90 and I just got in the habit of putting my glasses on top of my head when shooting with the D70s to see the viewfinder better. That will be easier, not having to pop my glasses up there to shoot photos, and pull them down for the rest of life.

I have two friends with the D300 and I envied their camera's low light performance, and now that same image sensor technology has trickled down to a lighter, easier to carry camera that I could afford.

Sweet.

What IS That Sound?

2009-07-03T19:36:00.010-04:00

It sounds like, like, like, a choir of ANGELS!

But no, it's just the doorbell ringing.

Who could it be?

Why it's the United Parcel Service man bringing me a box!

Whatever could it be?

Oh my, it looks exactly like a brand-spankin'-new Nikon D90 camera body!

I guess that sound REALLY WAS a choir of Angels singing.

Angels always sing when John gets a new camera.

Angels are cool like that.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!

Clothes Pins

2009-04-19T20:49:00.002-04:00

Sorry folks, just haven't been out photographing lately.

I haven't been scanning any of my old stuff either.

But here's one of a mundane object, but I like the photo anyway.

Find the Poodle In This Photo...

2009-04-07T07:09:00.003-04:00

This is our 6 pound (2.7kg) monster, Angel. That's a whopping 0.003 ton doggy there.

If not for the big, black eyes, she'd be hard to find in the white sheets.

Black and White # 33: Bridge

2009-04-05T19:26:00.008-04:00

The bridge area of a Stratocaster copy guitar than I own.

Hole In The Earth

2009-04-03T17:41:00.004-04:00

One of my slide scans of a waterfall taken in Petit Jean State Park in Arkansas in 1983.

We had hiked to the bottom of an fairly difficult trail to be at the water's edge, but I like the photos I took from above at an overlook.

I wish I had experimented more with the exposure, I should have everything in focus, but I do like how the out of focus tree tops forces you to look at the detail of mountain walls and the swimmers below.

To The Beach

2009-03-07T18:21:00.003-05:00

Still trying to scan my my many thousands of 35mm slides from over the years.

This was taken of a little boy, Cory, in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

The exposure was a bit over, but I've always liked this shot. It's like he represents every young, or young at heart person, heading for the joys of sand and sunshine.

Eunice

2009-03-01T21:55:00.005-05:00

I scanned a few slides from times past, mostly family stuff.

I really liked this one of my paternal grandmother from 1985.

We called her "Mamaw Eunice."

She and I were very close. But then, she loved all of her grandkids like crazy, and we were all close to her.

The Whole Orange

2009-02-17T06:47:00.008-05:00

Here's a shot of the whole orange from yesterday's post.

(Sorry about the technical difficulties if you happened to have come here earlier and saw that the photo was missing. Simple operator error on my part, and not double-checking my work.)

What The Heck?

2009-02-15T20:42:00.001-05:00

Give up?

It's the upper portion of a 10ft diameter (3m) orange on the side of a local highway.

That's the stem and a leaf in green, and a part of the orange body too.

Storage Shed

2009-02-14T00:23:00.006-05:00

This is a storage shed behind the local Disabled American Veterans building in Melbourne, Florida.

The shed is nothing special, but that late afternoon winter sun is.

The quality of the sunlight is really wintery, but it was about 75 F on Friday evening when I took this photo. Warm with a nice breeze. Darn near perfect.

Live Bait

2009-01-06T13:49:00.005-05:00

I love this ramshackle looking old bait store in Melbourne Beach, Florida; hand written signs, American flag, and all. It's out close to a park on the beach, on what is becoming a more and more fancy area.

Places like this are disappearing very, very fast around here.

As this area of Florida gets more and more upscale, the property taxes usually get impossibly high for the small guys like this in the end and they sell their place, only to have the new owners bulldoze it and put up something else, with more glitz and glamor.

Fancy isn't necessarily an improvement.

Fifty Dollar Guitar

2009-01-02T16:02:00.015-05:00

Happy New Year to all of you. God bless you and give you a great 2009

This is a photo I took early one morning of a cheap guitar that I bought from a coworker. I still play it and on this morning it was sitting in the early morning light coming into our living room.

The grain of the mahogany guitar body and it's cherry sunburst finish were enhanced by the warm morning sunlight.

The whole story of why I bought this guitar is over at my other blog today.

Merry Christmas to All!

2008-12-24T13:33:00.010-05:00

Our cat, Sassy came into the room soon after the tree was put up and sat there looking at it, like, "I'm SURE this wasn't here just a little while ago!"

I will try to post and visit much more in the next year. Scout's honor.

This has been a tough year, with work stress and health issues, I've fallen away from posting regularly. I miss it, and hope to get back into the groove soon.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Going Back for This One

2008-11-06T22:32:00.002-05:00

This has been a difficult year for me with health issues and a very heavy load at work.

I work and sleep and rarely have gotten out with my camera for months now.

I'm doing OK, just no time for fun things.

I dug back a year or so to find one I liked that I could put on here today.

This is a high-priced condo that was just finished in 2007. Way out of our price range.

Purdy to look at, but I sure wouldn't want all of my stuff in that building if a hurricane took a bead on Melbourne.

Mister Spike

2008-10-30T09:34:00.002-04:00

It's not real easy to photograph a black dog without them just showing up as a black blob with totally indistinguishable features.

A little afternoon light coming in a north-facing window will work wonders though.

Mr. Spike is a miniature poodle that is the son of our red poodle, Rosie, that died suddenly two weeks ago. (I wrote about Rosie's death here)

We let our older daughter name him when he was born in February of 2004, and she wanted to name the only boy dog Spike, but always called him Mister Spike. We've long ago gotten into the habit of calling him Mr. Spike too.

He's a sweet and gentle little dog, and this is the best photo I've ever been able to take of him.

Skylight

2008-10-29T07:00:00.000-04:00

There's a huge surf shop in Cocoa Beach, Florida, called Ron Jon Surf Shop. It's open 24 hours a day, for all your late night surfing needs.

We don't surf, but we still love going to Ron Jon's.

It's an amazing looking place, both inside and out.

Black and White #32: Gemini Memorial

2008-10-28T00:13:00.003-04:00

In Titusville, Florida, about 30 miles north of our home, there's a park along the Indian River Lagoon called Space View Park.

It's one of the best, if not THE best public access place to view a Shuttle launch.

The park also has several sections which honor the various phases of America's early space program.

Today's photo is of a monument to the astronauts and workers who made the Gemini program a success. The Gemini program preceded the Apollo program, and was an important step in putting men on the moon.

If you look at the distant part of the photo after enlarging, you'll see the Vehicle Assembly Building, where rockets were, and shuttles are still put together before being driven to the launch pad. The VAB is the fourth largest building in the world in interior space.

If I Won The Lottery...

2008-10-25T09:00:00.005-04:00

Of course, that won't happen because I don't buy lottery tickets, but I'd love to live in this house on the beach.

It's about 15 miles south of where we live and their back yard is the Atlantic Ocean.

Thank You All

2008-10-23T11:45:00.003-04:00

We were crushed when our sweet Rosie died last week, and your kind comments meant a lot to me.

Thank you.

Goodbye Sweet Rosie

2008-10-15T16:43:00.002-04:00

I took the above photo this past weekend, two days before her death, because I thought she looked cute in her "Everyone Loves A Redhead" t-shirt.

Rosie: July 1999 - October 2008

Monday night, when I got home from work, I found that one of our poodles, Rosie was very sick.

I won't go into detail, but will just say that in a matter of a few hours, she went from normal to dying as I held her for her final breath.

We are all stunned and heartbroken still.

Rosie was a true lap dog. She loved nothing more than being in one of our's lap.

In December of 1999, Lovely Wife found an add for her on the internet. A person in Dothan, Alabama had a red poodle for sale.

I had just sold some camera equipment and bought an acoustic guitar for playing at church, and with the money left, we went to Dothan and bought Rosie.

So when she wanted to be held, I would sweet talk her with the story of how Mama found her on the internet, and we took a trip to Dothan, Alabama to get her.

She was four months old when we got her, and had been in a crate so much that she had no idea how to play like other dogs. She never did learn to like and want to play with squeaky toys and balls like our other dogs do. But if we got on the floor to play with the dogs, she would sometimes get worked up and play tug-o-war with a toy.

But most of the time, as we tried to play with the dogs, she'd come and get right up against you just wanting to be petted instead of playing. So we'd have to love on her with one hand and tug or throw toys with the other and the other dogs.

This hurt is still way too raw to write much right now; her sudden sickness and death has us all still in shock.

The reality is that, when you have a pet, you will most likely outlive them. But nine years is not that old for a miniature poodle. She should have had at least five or six more years and her passing has left a gaping hole in my heart.

I love you Rosie. I always will. And I'll always remember you, to my own dying day. From now on, one of my great desires will be to see you again someday in heaven.

I'll sit and hold you as long as you want, and I'll have little bites of cheese to feed you, I promise.

I miss you so much.

Angel In A Pink MuuMuu

2008-10-10T21:11:00.002-04:00

This one of our poodles, Angel, who will be 10 this coming November. Hard to believe.

It's harder to get good pictures of dogs than people, but I finally snagged a good one of Angel.

She's even tilting her head, which she rarely does.

Sorry about the lack of posts. The past few months at work have been so busy that it has almost killed my blogging. Health issues abound, too, so that even drags on me more.

Black & White #31

2008-10-03T16:29:00.004-04:00

A sailboat passes under the Melbourne(FL) Causeway.

The color version of this photo is nice, but I liked the black and white version better, so that's what y'all are getting.

There are still some older bridges in this area that will pivot to allow sailboats and their masts pass by, but most of the later bridges like this one, are just built really tall. Don't have to pay a draw-bridge operator that way.

But I like draw bridges. Especially down here, they force you to stop and look around yourself.

Nifty Symmetric Clouds

2008-09-30T09:22:00.002-04:00

Another dramatic sunset, courtesy of God.

Shark Bait! Ooo Ha Ha!

2008-09-28T00:01:00.001-04:00

If you have ever seen "Finding Nemo" you'll understand why that phrase popped into my head the instant I saw this guy.

Black and White #30: Longboard

2008-09-21T00:01:00.001-04:00

This well-used old longboard is on display at Ron Jon Surf Shop in Cocoa Beach, Florida.

I've never surfed, and probably never will, but I still love going to Ron Jon's. They have a little bit of everything beach related.

I posted a color version of this in my Sunday Picture Post on my other blog today.

Pink Flamingos

2008-09-20T09:00:00.002-04:00

We've yet to bow to some people's idea of proper Florida lawn decorations and installed plastic pink flamingos in our yard.

But I do think they're neat. These were in a gift shop in Orlando International Airport when we took a visitor to catch her plane.

There are always neat things to see and photograph in stores.

All In A Row

2008-09-12T21:36:00.004-04:00

I took this a few weeks ago at a park in Titusville, Florida. We were walking along the sidewalk and I saw this and liked the look of the trees lined up into the distance, but I didn't notice the reflections on the water until I had the camera to my eye.

Nothin' special, more like a tourist shot actually, but I still like it. Palm trees and water are part of the world down here. Having grown up in Louisiana where they won't live, I'm still enamored of them, and love they way they look.

Sorry I've been remiss in my duties here, but I've been working long hours and weekends. I end up just going to bed early and have been ignoring my blogs.

Take care, folks. I'll be around to visit and comment when I can.

NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building

2008-08-29T22:44:00.004-04:00

NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building is where the Apollo rockets and the shuttles were and are built, housed, and repaired until being driven out onto one of the launch pads.

The VAB is the fourth largest building in the world.

Didn't Get Blown Away

2008-08-24T00:05:00.001-04:00

Tropical storm Fay practically stopped moving this past week right over Brevard County where we live, and dropped 15-20 inches of rain on us. We had no damage at our home, though many people in the county were flooded out of their homes.

We're fine, but I hate that so many had their homes flooded.

Some areas about ten miles north of us received 20-25 inches of rain.

Our power flickered off and back on a few times, but for the most part we had power and TV, so we did really well compared to many.

Here are a couple of photos of the car that belongs with the wheel I showed in my most recent picture I posted.

Ron Jon Surf Shop is an institution in Cocoa Beach, Florida. It is a huge surf store and is a really fun place to go an walk around.

This is one of two customized cars out in front of the Ron Jon store.

Aside from these photos of this customized Chrysler PT Cruiser, I posted some shots of the exterior and interior of Ron Jon's in the bottom three photos on this post on my other blog last week, HERE.

If you are interested, I have posted several photos of a park in Titusville, Florida with monuments to three parts of the US space program, in my Sunday post on my other blog.

Fay

2008-08-19T01:06:00.002-04:00

No work on Tuesday.

We don't get snow this far south, but we do occasionally get a "storm day" as an analog to some of y'all's "snow days."

We're supposed to get between 5 and 10 inches of rain.

I'm gonna sleep late, before the storm gets here.

Hiatus

2008-08-15T16:37:00.001-04:00

Work crunch going on right now.

I've not had time to work on any new pics, and will do so when I can.

Gangster White Walls

2008-08-03T00:06:00.006-04:00

We used to call these gangster white walls. A throw back to the 1920s and 1930s mobster cars that usually had the wide white wall tires that were in vogue at the time. Nothing to do with today's use of the word "gangsta" among the rap crowd.

You don't see them much any more, but this one was on a custom painted car on which this style fit perfectly.

Lush And Green

2008-07-31T14:01:00.004-04:00

With all of the rain we've been getting lately, the world here is lush and green. Everything that can bloom is doing so, and the grass and all the plants look amazing.

While it's inconvenient for it to rain almost every day, it only does so for a while. And though Central Florida is the lightning capital of the world, the storms sure clean the air and then, when the sun is shining, just driving around here feels like I'm on vacation.

Yesterday Evening (Mon. 7/28/08)

2008-07-29T13:38:00.005-04:00

There was a great sunset yesterday, and even the east view over the ocean was blue and beautiful.

The Atlantic was as calm as I've ever seen it.

Lovely.

Black and White #29 (Texture)

2008-07-26T13:39:00.004-04:00

Nothing special, but I did like the texture of this board that's part of a local boardwalk along an Atlantic beach.

Years of weathering brings out the lines and "character" of this wood.

Kind of like how years of life and dealing with life's issues exposes our character.

Mmmm, Pizza

2008-07-21T11:53:00.003-04:00

Our daughters love Bizarro's Pizza, but they have absolutely THE toughest pizza crust I have ever tried to chew.

Tasty pizza, guaranteed to cause a TMJ flare-up.

Relax

2008-07-18T01:08:00.001-04:00

The sun is peeking at you one last time for the day on the horizon back there.

You enjoy the warm breeze and the colors and the smells of the late evening by the water.

It's still kinda hot, but the hardest thing you have to do is sit in your chair for a while and relax.

No sweat.

Black and White #28: Sea Grapes

2008-07-16T11:07:00.000-04:00

I had never seen sea grapes until we moved to this part of Florida.

Sea grapes are a great buffer plant to have on the dunes of a beach. The wind shapes the whole tangled mess into a big swooping profile when seen from the side of the whole plant.

They protect the sand from being blown away by the daily efforts of the wind, and especially are beneficial when hurricanes come through.

Besides this, they are neat looking and have big round waxy leaves that I like.

This particular photo is of a batch of sea grape plants along the beach in Indialantic, Florida. But there is also a boardwalk there too, so the sea grapes are cut back from taking over the boardwalk, and interrupting your stroll along the beach.

I liked the way the sun shone on these trimmed sections of sea grapes, showing the interesting shapes of the limbs.

Here are some other views of sea grapes I have posted, here, and here.

Almost There

2008-07-14T13:33:00.000-04:00

Just a few more steps, over the boardwalk, and you'll be on the beach.

Toes in the sand. Hot sun on your shoulders. Sounds of seagulls and of the waves breaking. The smell of Coppertone.

Shower

2008-07-11T01:10:00.004-04:00

When you go to the beach, you don't want to track that pesky sand into your car, right?

Hence the convenient public showers for rinsing off.

The water is quite cold.

On the ipod:

All In A Day's Work by Aaron Sprinkle from his Moontraveler cd.

A Favorite Of Mine

2008-07-09T11:07:00.004-04:00

Number One Daughter is now 22, but when she was a kid, she was in constant motion.

On a trip to Yellowstone National Park in July of 1989, we were waiting for Old Faithful geyser to erupt, but Number One Daughter couldn't sit still.

She had to run around as usual, and I took this one photo of her as she trotted back and forth in front of us.

Later when I received my developed slides, this instantly became one of my favorite photos I've ever taken.

If I could show you one photograph that best illustrated Number One Daughter as a kid, this would be the one I'd present.

Independence Day 2008

2008-07-04T00:53:00.009-04:00

Despite what we have shoved down our throats relentlessly by the modern 24 hour news, America is still a great place where hard work can make dreams come true.

We are NOT in a recession, even though some make that claim. (Recession is actually a technical term where the economy shrinks for two straight quarters, and our economy hasn't shrunk even for one quarter in YEARS; it has only slowed in the amount of growth. But growth is growth.) We are NOT destitute because of high gasoline prices; any fool can cut back on luxuries when times get lean and put gas in their cars.

America's existence does NOT hang in the balance based on who will be elected as the next President this November. We'll continue on regardless of who our next President will be.

I once made my living by lifting heavy things, and had a dream of going back to college to learn a skill that would help make a better life for myself and my family.

With a wife and two kids and five years of hard work, I earned an electrical engineering degree and HAVE made a better life for my family and myself.

And I am a thoroughly average man who was not born into wealth.

So if I can do it, anyone can.

Americans, get off your butt and work; NO President is going to make a difference in your life.

Only you can do that. Only you.

Happy Independence Day folks.

On the ipod: This Ain't No Ordinary Love Song by Payable On Death (P.O.D.), from their new When Angels And Serpents Dance cd

You Might Not Believe This

2008-06-30T20:10:00.004-04:00

...but seeing this kind of thing almost every day over 11 years, you almost stop seeing it for what it is. Pure beauty.

When you move here from a place like northeast Louisiana, where the people are as good as any place you could hope to meet, but the scenery is, well, largely forgettable, you would initially tell yourself that you'll never get used to the incredible sunsets, walking out in the early morning barefooted and in shorts to get the paper...in January, but the daily grind of the job and things you have to do just eventually wears away the "new" of even a place like this.

That's one reason I love to have a camera in my hand. It forces me to notice every little detail, because hey, they might make a good shot, but overall, it keeps you mentally on your toes that you live in such an amazing place. That if you feel like taking the long way home you can enjoy the purple late evening clouds and sky and the huge expanses of water, that always seem so pretty.

So on a day when you are out for a little bit, despite the chronic back, and stressful work load, your camera helps you catch a nice, pretty view of the evening sky framed between some tropical looking palm trees.

It's not a special shot, in fact it's almost boring in it's common-ness.

But the heart of the matter is really that I SAW, FELT, SMELLED, and actually experienced the view.

Nothing common about that at all.

Warped

2008-06-27T09:00:00.002-04:00

The slow, inevitable warping of the weathered boards on the boardwalk is stronger than the nails holding them there.

This is why, after hurricanes Jeanne and Francis in 2004, we replaced our blown down fence with a plastic one. Pvc or whatever that stuff is they make fences out of.

Now I don't have to go out there every two years or so and drive the nails back in to the boards like we did with the old fence.

On the ipod:
Pharisee by Disciple, from their "My Daddy Can Whip Your Daddy" cd.

Motel

2008-06-25T08:58:00.000-04:00

A nifty look at a nice little motel on the beach in Indialantic, Florida.

I like that there are still smaller ones like this, along with the massive chain hotels farther up the beach.

On the ipod:

Can't Breathe, by Disciple. From their "By God" Cd.

I give you my life
Set in the potter's hands
Make it what you want
Cause I can't move and I can't breathe
I can't love and I can't speak
I can't trust and I can't run
I can't wake and I can't sleep
I can't live my life without you

2

2008-06-22T20:47:00.004-04:00

The second set of steps up to the boardwalk for this boardwalk along the Atlantic Ocean in Indialantic, Florida.

Naturally Sepia

2008-06-19T13:04:00.005-04:00

Lovely Wife and I were walking along a boardwalk in Indialantic, Florida with the beach on one side and the sun setting on the other.

I happened to look toward the evening sun at the right moment and saw this interesting silhouette, so I took a couple of shots of it at different settings to lessen the flare of shooting into the sun like this.

When I downloaded them onto the computer at home I saw that the images looked as if I had treated them in Photoshop with the sepia filter.

Nope, that's simply how the images came out of the camera and I liked the look of it so much that I just slapped the border and copyright on it and called it "done."

I want to go back and try to color correct the image to see how that would look, just for fun, but sometimes photos just drop beautifully into your lap without even trying.

Cool.

Texture

2008-06-18T11:05:00.002-04:00

These trees grow all over the place here in central Florida. I don't know what they are called, but these things grow to be super tall if allowed to.

I'm not good at estimating distances or heights, but these things will easily grow as tall as those really tall and skinny palm trees like you see in films of California.

I'm guessing they'll exceed 100 feet. (I'll try to remember to photograph a tall one and put on here so you can see just how tall they get)

Anyway, they are like tropical Christmas trees, and have a shape like a slim fir tree. Their texture is really detailed and intricate, which is what caught my eye on this small one of these trees at a public park on the Atlantic beach.

God's Handiwork

2008-06-16T12:27:00.003-04:00

I know that lots of folks don't believe in God, but I do.

I see a sunset like this and see it as His handiwork.

I love fiddling with images in Photoshop Elements. I tend to make minor changes in almost all of my photos.

I have my camera set as close to "flat" as I can make it. My photos tend to come out of the camera a bit dull compared to many cameras, since most people's cameras come from the factory set to enhance colors and contrast.

I then add my own amounts of contrast and color saturation as I see fit. I try to keep things as natural as I can, but there is no such thing as a perfectly accurate photograph, even in these digital days.

With 35mm film, I loved how Kodachrome tended to enhance reds, oranges, magenta, and that end of the color spectrum.

I found Fuji films to enhance greens and to a lesser extent, blues, and came to love Fuji slide film over Kodachrome after moving to Florida. The colors of the sunsets here generally needed no enhancements at all, but preferred how Fuji's slide films made the lush greenery jump out of the photos.

But even with my digital camera's controls set pretty flat, sometimes a sunset is so outrageous that the colors seem to have been added with Photoshop trickery.

Not in this photo. It's barely touched, just a smidgen of contrast and the border and copyright I add to my photos.

Good job, God. (If I may be so bold.)

Go Fly A Kite

2008-06-12T22:38:00.002-04:00

On the beach in Indialantic, Florida.

Black and White #27

2008-06-01T14:35:00.008-04:00

Someone left their treasures on the hand rail of the boardwalk along the beach. (Color version of this on my other blog today.)

A lady spends a peaceful evening ALONE at the beach. She has all she needs in the handy, rolling ice chest.

How many of you ladies out there would just love to have an afternoon on a warm breezy day to spend at the beach with no kids or husbands to bother you? All your favorite beverages and snacks and a good book to keep you company.

Also, you'll need to practice your "Don't even bother speaking to me" look before you go just in case some moron invades your personal space bubble and you can back them off with just a look.

Then just decompress.

Howdy! Nice Evenin' Aint' It?

2008-05-27T05:47:00.005-04:00

When we were at the beach the other day, walking along the boardwalk there was this massive bush covered with these yellow flowers. They were each about 4 inches (10cm) across.

This one seemed to greet me as I looked over the rail at him. Thought I think the southern accent was projected on him by my own mind.

He's not dead, he's just mostly dead

2008-05-25T23:56:00.005-04:00

(Any Princess Bride fans out there?)

Sorry about the non-posting and non-visiting of late.

Heavy work load, sleep and still dealing with my ever present back issues have kept me away from many things that I love to do.

Lovely Wife and I went to the beach Sunday afternoon and that was the first time I've been out with my camera in two months.

It was an absolutely beautiful day, though it was very windy and the surf was really churned up near the shore. The waves were pretty heavy.

In America, this is Memorial Day Weekend, with Monday being Memorial Day in memory of those who have served in the U.S. armed forces and died for the freedoms we enjoy.

I was not thinking of the holiday and when we got to the beach, I was shocked at all the people.

It wasn't totally overflowing like on Independence Day in July, but the crowds surprised me.

Today's photos aren't anything special, but they kind of captured a bit of the many cars and people out enjoying the beach and the beautiful day as we were.

A New Panorama

2008-05-05T22:08:00.005-04:00

I took the photos for this panorama about a month ago. I just hadn't sat down and tried to stitch it together.

The light variation across the images was really too much to try to fix. I worked with it until I couldn't stand working on it any more.

Sorry for my absence, things are still kinda tough going for me right now.

Weird Stuff

2008-04-27T21:01:00.005-04:00

This stuff is some kind of plant in the water down here, and sometimes washes up along the shores of the Indian River Lagoon. I have no idea what this stuff is but it's kinda neat looking.

Looks sort of like angel hair pasta.

Fish Tacos

2008-04-21T19:26:00.001-04:00

In the parking lot of a sports bar, restaurant close by a beach we like to go to in Melbourne Beach, Florida.

I had to walk over to their colorful "sign" and take a couple of photos.

Lovely Evening

2008-04-16T14:48:00.004-04:00

Nothing special, but a couple of photos from one evening when Lovely Wife and I were out for a drive.

The water there is the Indian River Lagoon, our portion of the the Intracoastal Waterway, and looking across the water to Melbourne, Florida.