Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge, shot on a beautiful August day in 1997. I had business in Manhattan on a Monday, so I flew in Saturday to see the town and to get a cheaper airfare. I walked from my hotel near Grand Central Station all the way to Battery Park, at the bottom of Manhattan. It was a great day, and I've got several other good shots like this from the trip--I'll post more in the future.

Another picture tomorrow...

P.S.--I wish a happy and safe New Years' Eve and a joyful and prosperous 2008 to everyone!

Fresh snow

I took this the Friday after Christmas. We got a couple inches of snow that day, and I went out in search of some good shots. I thought this one came out nice. I could even see this image on the Christmas cards that we send out next year...

Another photo tomorrow...

Japanese Craftsman

I shot this in the Asakusa district of Tokyo, home to many shrines and temples. This gentleman was making wood cutouts and carvings and selling them (apparently) to make his living. I struggled to get the settings on my camera correct, so you can see a vaguely irritated look on his face because he waited for me to take the shot. I made sure to say "sumaimasen" (please excuse me) as he waited, and "doomo arrigato" (thank you very much) when I finished. I also bought one of his cutouts, which smoothed things over.

Another photo tomorrow...

Capturing motion

I took this picture using a Minolta 35mm film camera back in 1996. The man on horseback is practicing yabusame - an ancient style of Japanese archery, done from horseback.

I stood next to the roped off area and tried to capture the archer by using a flash and panning. I didn't really know what I was doing so the shot didn't come out the way I wanted. But after looking at it over the years, I thought the motion and speed was more interesting than a frozen-frame picture of the archer that was clear and crisp. I'd be interested to see if there are other opinions, though.

One other related thing--my blog pal Gerry Gomez over at "There Is The World" suggested that I put a copyright mark into my photos. I had some help but figured out how to do this, so yesterday's and today's photos have a mark on them (thanks Gerry!).

Another photo tomorrow...

Merry Christmas!

I took this at a friend's house over the weekend. I think with some editing this could make a nice "Christmas card" type image--but as it is, I'm still pretty proud of it.

Merry Christmas to one and all!

Another photo tomorrow...

Black-eyed Susan

I took this on a beautiful late summer day in a park in Elmhurst, IL. They've got a really nice park and conservatory near the downtown area, and I walked around the grounds of the park shooting stuff at random--experimenting with RAW format instead of JPEG, and also fiddling with exposure, white balance, etc. Even this was just an experiement I thought it came out nice.

Another photo tomorrow...

Happy birthday to you...

Today is my wife's birthday. I really like this picture of her--I took it on our summer vacation. We took a cruise, and I shot this on the balcony of our cabin on the last night.

Happy birthday darlin'!

Another photo tomorrow.

Guest Photo Friday - Smoke Break

Another guest shot from my nephew Ryan. This candid was taken in San Diego. I love how the lights on both sides of the picture head towards a vanishing point, and I wonder what's going through the guy's head as he sits there and has his smoke break.

Nice work, Ryan.

Another photo tomorrow...

Clock Tower

The Clock Tower, Palace of Westminster, London. The Tower is almost always called "Big Ben"--however, Big Ben is the name of the main bell within the Clock Tower. It is also known as "the Great Bell".

I took this from a bus that tours around London. I had to shoot this several times before I found one shot I liked--thank God for digital pictures and the fact that I can see the results immediately!

Another picture tomorrow...

Evergreen

I shot this outside today--this is my neighbor's evergreen. I really liked the contrast between the green and the white, and the shadows and sun on the snow. I wanted to take a bunch more shots but being as how it was 18F at the time, my frozen hands couldn't stand any more...

Another picture tomorrow...

Guest Photo Friday

The photos below are from my blog world friend Corey, whose wonderful blog is at http://livingandlovingeveryminuteofit.blogspot.com. She said these are a few of her recent faves--I couldn't pick one favorite, so decided to post all three. Today is a cold day in the Chicago area--10:30AM and it's 20 degrees Fahrenheit as I write this--so the last picture of the fire is making me warm!



I hope you enjoy these as much as I did.

Another photo tomorrow...

Ripe and Red

Strawberries from a stand in a farmers' market at Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco. I took this as an experiment just to see how the colors would turn out. I also used a wide lens opening for a shorter depth of field.

Tomorrow, Guest Photo Friday!

Bad Girl!

This is my new kitty Bella...usually known affectionately as "Bella Boo" but at times like this is known by names like "Butt-head", "goofball," etc. We put up the tree last week--just the tree, no lights or ornaments--and she decided today to climb up the inside of it and use the top branches as a perch. You can't really tell from this shot, but she's within about 18" or less of the top of an almost 8 ft. tree.

She is cute, though...

Another picture tomorrow.

Guest Photo Friday - twofer!

I had two submissions for GPF this week, and I liked them both so I'm posting them both. I also decided I'm going to change up GPF a bit--in the future it won't be a "best photo this week gets posted" contest--I'm going to post as many as I feel like for that particular week.


The first photo for this week is from my very good friend (and regular comment poster!) Daniel, who has a great blog here. Dan called this one "Looking For Answers Where There Are None." I really love the composition and the depth of field, and I wonder what's going through the dog's head at the time...



The second picture for this week is from my new bloggosphere friend Kate, who has some really good work on her website here. When she sent me this picture, she said "My friend and I were on our way through the Grapevine in California's Central Valley when it started to snow. She had never seen snow before and was thrilled. I think this photo captures her exhilaration." I have to agree with her--I grew up in the midwest and have experienced snow my entire life--it's neat to see how much joy it can bring to someone who's never seen it.

Anyway--hope you enjoy. Daniel and Kate, thanks for your pictures and for allowing me to share them!

Another photo tomorrow...

Blue on Blue

The blue of the ocean against the blue of the sky - Philipsburg, St Maarten, Netherlands Antilles.

Another photo tomorrow...

Spider web

I took this on our back porch. This summer, the spiders liked to make webs in the opening between the railings, where the step is to go to the back yard. These webs were there several mornings in a row, but were always gone by 11AM, mostly because the wind blew them away.

I used a very wide lens opening to shorten the depth of field--I like how the grass came out blurry, but the web itself is sharp.

Another picture tomorrow...