Warming Up For the Holidays

Here is a single image of Holiday Lights. From our very own Christmas tree. I'm sure there will be plenty more images from the Holiday Season, so I consider this to be a warm-up. It's fun to look through the viewfinder and discover the different designs made by the lights by varying focal lengths and degrees of focus.

Adoption of the Infamous Peanut !!

I recently learned through this website that Peanut, the Black-Footed Ferret (BFF), and son of Georgia, can be adopted! If you have followed the story of Peanut through this blog or elsewhere, then you know how valuable Peanut is to the entire BFF community. If not, please checkout previous posts to get up to date. I also finally learned the name of Peanut's father, Butch.

I think this is really cool. Check out the website for a clear color image of Peanut. And, see what's in it for everyone that chooses to adopt him. A very worthwhile investment. As well, there are other BFFs that can be adopted.

Headshots, Model Releases, and a 90-Minute Shoot

I like to shoot headshots. Being in Virginia, it isn't exactly an actor hotspot. It certainly isn't NYC or LA. But there are actors and actresses in this area performing locally and/or looking to break into the field on a larger scale. I get contacted to do headshots on a fairly regular basis.

However, I have found that many are reluctant to sign a model release. Photographers in the business of photographing people rely on model releases a great deal. A model release allows the photographer to use images made during a session in future advertising, marketing materials, portfolios, etc. Without the release, a photographer cannot legally use an image. State laws vary, but in Virginia a written release is required. A verbal "ok" release does not fly in Virginia. I have adopted a rule, if you don't sign a release, I won't shoot the session. I know some photographers just charge an additioinal amount (usually alot more) if someone opts out of signing a release. I choose not to go that route. My desire to grow my business outweighs everything else. The only way I can really do that is to have more images to show. I hope that covers the model release issue.

I challenged myself to do a 90-minute session to see what I could walk away with in terms of different looks, etc. The model I used has very little experience in front of the camera. I say this because I believe we really maximized our time and got several different looks; all with a model that is not that familiar with being in front of a camera. He aspires to do print work, so if you are an agent or other rep looking for new faces, please contact me and I will put you in touch with the model.

And, More Autumn Abstracts

I guess it would be hard to really associate this image with fall since it doesn't have the tell-tale colors of fall. But, it was captured this fall and to me it does represent the season. This is a birch tree trunk in my yard. It sheds its "skin" quite a bit during the fall. This image was made using a slow shutter speed with a nice, even upward movement of the camera during the exposure. This technique is sometimes referred to as a "swipe" although I see that term used mostly when the camera has been moved from side to side rather than in a vertical motion (as in the case here).

More Autumn Abstracts

I spent some time at Pohick Bay, VA looking for some fall reflection images. Fall colors in general were better this year than in the recent past. I follow some other photographers' blogs/websites and found that they were all reporting this to be true from New Hampshire down through North Carolina.

I didn't really find the reflections I was looking for but there was some activity on the water that I tried to work with. Several kayakers made their way by from time to time. While they don't move as fast as a powerboat (obviously) I thought I would try some panning (slow shutter speed moving from side to side). This is similar to the "swipe" technique that I mentioned in a previous post but it involves a moving subject. I would consider these of limited success as far as pans go. But, I liked the abstract feel and the obvious fall color influence from the trees on the far shoreline.

The "twirl" image below was made from a set of trees I found elsewhere in the park.

Autumn Abstract

I spent some time this fall focusing on abstracts using the great fall colors this year. This one is a 10-image multiple exposure with a twirl. I did not have to travel far for this one. This location is about 10 minutes from my home. The hues in this image are different than what I usually get (reds and oranges). I cropped it to a square format. It looks great framed and mounted.

Georgia and Peanut Have Left the Building

In case you haven't been keeping your eye on the progress of Peanut and his mom, Georgia, they both have been transferred to the larger black-footed ferret (BFF) breeding facility in Colorado. Peanut will offer his extremely valuable genetics to future kits and Georgia will be prepped for release into the wild.

We knew that Peanut would be moving to the facility, however, unless I missed it on the CRC/National Zoo website, there was no mention that Georgia would be moved, let alone be prepared for eventual release into the wild. When I first learned of this via the sign placed in their nesting box as seen on the ferret cam, I was a bit alarmed. All of us who have been following the growth of Peanut as a kit and Georgia as a mom have, I'm sure, become somewhat attached to them.

Now that it has sunk in to a degree, this is exactly what the program is all about. Breeding the BFF, getting them ready for release and then letting them go. This is the recovery process. Recovery is not possible without this process. We all hope that Peanut will rear plenty of strong, capable kits and that Georgia will take to her "training" well and find the wild a fun, hospitable place that she can call home. I will probably wonder and think about Peanut and Georgia for quite some time.

It was a joy to actually see Peanut from the very first hour of birth grow into a feisty, playful, mischievous ferret that seemed to love his mom more and more everyday. And, Georgia, how caring and tender she treated Peanut and how tolerant she seemed to be of his constant nagging to play when all she wanted to do was get some sleep. It has been an education for all of us.

There will be a new BFF placed in the ferret cam nesting box (tonight at some point according to the CRC) and her name is Tilly.

We will be attending the Autumn Conservation Festival at the CRC this Sunday. Hope to see lots of people there.

Some of the Bravest from Fairfax County

One weekend morning back in December of 2007, I turned on the news just in time for a "Breaking News" alert. They were reporting that the Fairfax County (Virginia) Fire Department was responding to a structure fire in an industrial area that happened to be fairly near my home. Our home sits up pretty high so I went to the front and looked out the window and sure enough, I could see smoke rising over the treeline several miles away. I grabbed my camera stuff and took off.

As it turns out, the builidng that was on fire was in the rear of the industrial area. Read this as: Very little to see, lots of obstructed views and no clear access to the fire scene for a guy that doesn't have press credentials. I did notice someone flash credentials at a police officer and was allowed through "the ropes." This person arrived on the scene much later than I did and I never did see a single image posted anywhere.

Oh well, I roamed around a little bit and found, literally, brick walls (and trees, fences, large trucks, etc.) blocking most of the views. Luckily, I did bring my 300mm f/2.8 lens. Although, I had to hand hold it. I managed to find support here and there (fence, truck, tree limb). I did manage to capture several images that best represented the news event based on my "no access" status.

I believe the fire began in a company that sold cardboard boxes and other paper items. I watched the news later in the day and scanned the newspapers (online) for a followup and never heard the outcome/cause of the fire. I guess that most of these events don't rise to the level of additional coverage and followup, short of casualties. Anyway you look at it, firefighters, rescue personnel and police officers put their lives on the line, daily.

RC Racing

One Sunday about a six weeks ago I had some time to kill and found myself driving through Woodbridge, Virginia. Actually, the particular area I was in is referred to as Lake Ridge. Anyway, I noticed that there was a Wild Bird Center in the Dillingham Square Shopping Center so I pulled in. I have been looking for a low profile bird bath (no, not for me; for the birds attracted to the feeders in my yard) for some time now and thought that maybe they would have what I was looking for. Well, they were closed (they open a little later on Sundays).

But, across the parking lot I noticed a gathering of people that were "running" RC race cars. So, I stopped to take a look. They had a race track set up. It was pretty darn sophisticated compared to what we would set up for our $15 cars when I was a kid. They had some kind of a computerized starting gate that tracked the cars each time they passed under a pipe that was stretched across a piece of the track. This served as the start/finish line. Each car was equipped with a unique "chip" and apparently there was a sensor in the pipe that fed the car's lap time to the computer. How slick is that? And the "drivers" were into it. Some worked on their cars out of the back of their car or truck while others had a work bench setup under a sun tarp. Exactly what kind of adjustments they were making on their cars is not clear to me. Some had step ladders to stand on while they were racing to get a better view of their car while it was on the far side of the track. The event was sponsored by Hobbytown USA. They have a store in the shopping center. Apparently, this activity has quite a following and goes beyond the local area.

Having my camera gear with me, I thought, "hmmmm....a mini-NASCAR or Watkins Glen. Let me see if I can make something out of this." Panning came to mind. That would best be accomplished on a straight away. However, access to the only straight away was blocked by the real cars and trucks of the RC "drivers." It was a parking lot, afterall. So I decided to situate myself at the end of the straight away that lead into a good turn. I only had about an hour and they were experiencing some technical problems with the computer start mechanism But, luckily, many of the drivers used that time to make practice runs so I was able to make some images.

These cars are fast. I found that you have very little time to actually capture them as they pass by. I believe that these cars are more difficult to photograph than a full size race car. There is much less surface area to focus on, making tracking it and panning very difficult. I started using a spot on the track to pre-focus and wait for a car to hopefully pass over that area. It didn't work particularly well. But I did get a few decent images, I think. I got a lot of blurry, way beyond the unusable, images. On some, as you can see, I got half of a car. Got a lot of those, too. I'm gonna have to get out there again some time.

Aruba Animal Shelter

Well, the title says it all. Aruba does have an animal shelter. In fact, it has become a very active shelter over the past 20 years or so of its existence. Their goal is simply put, "To improve the life of Aruba's pets." How can anyone argue with that? Of course, this is always easier said than done for any shelter anywhere.

The day we visited the shelter we were greeted by two very friendly dogs as seen just below. They were extremely playful and social. We met two volunteers at the shelter who happened to be tending to two new "residents" that they had literally just "rescued" from the vet clinic. They are the two small puppies in several photos that accompany this entry. These two were to be euthanized that morning. How lucky were they? And, how lucky we were to be there and actually spend some time with them as they got checked out for mites and other things, vaccinated, shampooed and logged in. We stayed for about half an hour, left a donation and thanked the volunteers for allowing us to hang out for awhile.

When you go to Aruba, you should try and get by for a visit. To learn much more about the shelter, make sure to click here. How to get there? Well, heading from Oranjestad to the airport, make a left at the light at the airport - then, make a right just before the Texaco (there is a small Animal Shelter sign posted but you are not likely to see it before you see the Texaco), then your first right and head straight until you get there. Towards the end of this road it becomes unpaved, but by this time you should just about see the animal shelter. As you can see from the images here, it's a bright green. For those not familiar with Aruba, directions such as this are the rule. It adds to the adventure! Also, note the hours of the shelter in the last photo below.

Very Special Black-Footed Ferrets

In previous posts I have written about the efforts being made towards recovery of the Black-Footed Ferret. If you are new here, please find and read those previous entries. The recovery effort is extremely worthwhile and it is indeed an exciting time. For those familiar with Peanut, the featured kit on the webcam, it turns out that he is particularly special and appers to be headed to the much larger breeding/recovery facility in Colorado.

There are two articles that have been brought to my attention. The first one is about Peanut.

The second article is about another kit born at the CRC, just like Peanut. This kit is special in the same way that Peanut is.

Great news!

Aruba Layover

On our trip to Aruba we got to spend some time in one of our favorite airports. Lots of things to look at and it's just a plain ol' modern, clean and friendly place. It you have to change flights, this is one of the best places to do so, in my opinion.

Using a camera in an airport these days can be a bit sketchy. So, I didn't make too many images. I was taking grab shots with my Lensbaby 2.0. Here are four images from the time spent at the airport. They more or less tell a story.

Aruba - One Happy Island

We just got back from a trip to Aruba. We have been there several times before and keep going back for many reasons. I will share some of those reasons over the next few entries. Today's blog image is of a sailboat making its way across the pastel-colored water during a sunrise. I've rendered an impressionistic view of what is a daily occurrence along the west coast waters of Aruba. I can't get enough of the beautiful water and the scenes that are painted daily right before your eyes.

Sarasota, Florida

I attended a wedding in Sarasota last week and had a great time. I've been to many parts of Florida but it's the first time I have really been to this part of Florida and absolutely found it to be a great place.

Here are four images that I made during some down time between the many fantastic pre- and post-wedding activities. The image with the kids was made at Lido Beach (actually a Key) while the other three were captured on Longboat Key. Two nice places to visit. I wish I had more time to explore and I will in the future.

All images were shot in color. I decided to convert these four to B/W using the Infrared filter in Nik Software's Color Efex Pro 3.0. Nik now has a dedicated B/W software called Silver Efex Pro that is fantastic.

I also added grain to the images using the Nik Software. Sometimes I use the "Film Effects" filter and select a "high speed" film that adds a certain tone and grain, while other times I will use the "Film Grain" filter to simply add grain. It's trial and error to get the image the way you want it.

I've printed the images and framed them together in a horizontal format. I think they represent my short visit to the beach very well.

Nice Shape and Some Texture

I pass by this tree from time to time. It's near my home, sets on a hill top and serves as a foreground for the daily sunset. I think it has almost the perfect, symmetrical triangle shape. Not bad for a tree growing in the wild without the care of a tree-trimmer. On this particular day, the clouds were low hanging and taking on a great cast of colors. I increased the brilliance of the colors and added a texture layer in post-processing.

Spring Collage Collection

I've put together four final collages that represent the all-new Spring Collection 2008. I am currently working on capturing images for the summer collage collection. Collectors items for sure :)

I have decided to title them "Spring Collection No. 1" rather than "Spring Collection 2008." I like the idea of creating a timeless series rather than a dated collection. Some photos should have a date attached to document a time in your life, etc. while others should be timeless. I think timeless is best in this case.













There are many ideas of what "spring" is. I usually approach things from a less representational side and tend to be a bit more abstract. Bold colors, hints of flowers in bloom as well as wild grasses round out this series.

Georgia is a New Mommy!

For those of you that have been following Georgia's pregnancy, then you likely know that she gave birth today to a single kit. I believe that was the total size of the litter. If you are new here and don't know about Georgia, please read the previous posts to get up to speed and then checkout the Ferret Cam. From my observation, Georgia is a great, caring, attentive mother. As of this posting, the Zoo hasn't posted any new info on the birth. However, they do indicate that (not including Georgia's kit) two ferrets have given birth so far with a count of 4 and 6 kits having survived to this point. This is incredible news!

Personally, I can sit for hours and just watch Georgia "baby" her new little one. Make sure to get over to the Ferret Cam and see.

That's all for now and congrats to the new mom!!

Panthera Leo Portraits

Here you see a couple of images I recently made at the National Zoo in Washington, DC. They are African Lions. The image of the male was made just before one of his morning roars.

A lion's roar, by the way, can be heard up to 5 miles away. And, I recently learned that a tiger is the lion's closest cousin and, get this, if you shaved both animals of their coats, they would look so similar that only an expert would be able to tell them apart. For some reason, that makes me think of the question, "Is a zebra black with white stripes or white with black stripes?"

Someday I would like to take a photo safari in Africa and capture various "big cats" in their natural environment. I know that there are many photographers that specialize in this sort of thing but one site that I have come across that I keep going back to is Andy Biggs' site. He really has some fantastic images and from what I can tell provides a great photo safari (albeit a bit pricey for my blood).

So, for now, captive animals that are native to some far off continent will have to do.

More on Georgia, the Black-Footed Ferret

There's great news!! I have reported on Georgia in previous posts, so if you are new to the blog, please read them, too!

The Zoo let us know by email that Georgia has indeed been artificially inseminated and is due on or about June 19. So, keep your fingers crossed and your eyes glued to the Ferret Cam. It's tough getting updated, fresh information from the Zoo because they have lots to do and we greatly appreciate their efforts to keep us informed.

More to come as we find out more.

Web Woes

This weekend I had about 45 minutes to kill so I headed out to the field at Meadowood (see other blog entries for info). It was very foggy on this morning and I was traveling light, gear-wise. Camera, 50mm 1.4, 12-24mm 4.0, tripod (Gitzo 1348 with a Really Right Stuff BH55 Head) and assorted small things in my camera bag. I really had some landscape images in mind heading out. However, the fog was very heavy and dense. I couldn't see anything in the field, trees, wildlife, sky, nothing. I didn't have time to trek about looking for solid compositions. I was ready to just head home when I noticed the webs, laden with dew drops! Granted, I was ill-prepared to shoot these little gems but I really wanted to come away with something since I rarely see them in this area. I had no macro or long lens, I was wearing shorts and the tall grass was very wet and I didn't have a plastic trash bag that I usually use to kneel on to keep from getting wet and muddy. Minor inconveniences, that's all.

So, I fooled around with the 50mm lens, looking for a good composition. Nothing was happening at that focal length. Extension Tubes!! I pulled out a couple of tubes, attached various ones to my camera and sorta found what I was looking for. The working distance between the lens and the subject was tight and between my legs, tripod or arms hitting the tall grass and thus making the webs sway, it wasn't the ideal situation. But, better than walking away with nothing. I made a note to myself to bring more lenses because you never know. You set out with one visual in mind and the next thing you know, your vision voice takes you in another direction. The images you see are some of what I came away with in about 45 minutes time.

Georgia: The Black-Footed Ferret

In a previous post I wrote a little about black-footed ferrets. One in particular is featured in the FerretCam accessible from the National Zoo's website. That ferret is Georgia. I reported that I was informed that she would be ready for breeding in April. Here it is late May. Breeding in the wild generally takes place in March or April, but I don't know if this necessarily applies to the captive breeding process.

It's difficult to say at this point whether she was inseminated in April or not. I do know that part of her abdomen has been shaved. I don't recall it being shaved yesterday, but I can't be positive. I don't recall seeing her belly yesterday. Today she was sleeping "belly up" so it was obvious. Shaving is done just prior to the procedure. So, I am assuming that the procedure has been completed. Gestation for the black-footed ferret is 41-43 days.

I contacted the Zoo yesterday and was simply told that they would do their best to post news about Georgia when it's available.

We will stay glued to the FerretCam in the coming weeks to see if everything goes as planned.

Fun In The Field

It's great to be able to combine two things I like doing - 1) being outside, hiking, observing wildlife and 2) photography. My son and I went out to Meadowood the other day with the hopes of getting close to some deer. The challenge was to position ourselves in an open field (the grass was about mid-thigh high), concealed and ready to photograph. He served as a spotter and I had my camera mounted on a tripod. The camera was high enough just so the lens cleared the grass. This profile was not below the top of the grass, but that's not really needed when dealing with wildlife. It's more about being concealed, breaking the pattern of human form. And, if possible, being down wind. This is not always possible, especially when you have set up what amounts to a "hasty" blind and when you don't know which way the animal may approach.

We were dressed in camouflage clothing (hunting attire, basically). We sat on the ground with a large piece of burlap (painted with different shades of green and brown) draped over us as well as the camera and tripod. We were lucky in that two deer made their way towards us. However, most of the time all we could see were their backs because they were eating grass near the ground (meaning their heads were buried below the high grass line). So, we mostly just observed and thought how great it was that we were in the middle of this field and the deer were 1) either not aware of our presence or 2) aware of the lump of camouflaged burlap and determined it to not be a threat.

One did pop her head up from time to time -

After awhile, my son decided to move down the hill to the rear of where we set up our blind. By standing up and moving, the deer figured out we weren't what they thought we were.

He had a hunch that there may be some deer just over a rise about 100 yards from our location. He kept a low profile and moved in that direction. He was right, he flushed out about 8 deer. I just stood there at the top of the hill and just took in the sight. I wasn't ready with the camera. Anyway, he made his way back up to me (see the first image in this post) and we headed out a little wiser to the art of stealth and stalking.

A Vision Voice

This image was made about 4 miles from my home. I hike in this area quite a bit because it's close, the sunsets are "on" more often than not, and there tends to be a variety of subject matter. Wildlife, trees, a creek, ponds and hiking/horse trails. It's the Meadowood Recreation Area located in the Mason Neck area of Virginia.

On this day (May 1), the evening sky was shaping up well for a nice sunset so I made my way out here. I decided to play around with the idea of making two exposures, one for the sky and one for the foreground and then layer them together in PS to give one image where the sky and the foreground are properly exposed. At times you run into situations where one part of a scene is brighter than another part and the camera isn't capable of exposing the entire scene correctly. You get a nicely exposed sky but the foreground is too dark or the foreground is exposed nicely and the sky is blown out. This problem is encountered most often when shooting landscapes.

I won't go into details on the PS technique, but a web search will likely take you right to a good tutorial. Like this one. And this one. It's not a secret technique, I just want to keep this entry fairly short and the likelihood of me creating a better tutorial than what you can find elsewhere is slim to none. I wanted the greatest depth of field that I could get, in this case on my Tokina 12-24 AT-X Pro lens, that's f/22. I took an in-camera spot meter reading of the sky (f/22 @ 1/5 second) and of the foreground (f/22 @ 1/20 second).

Hmmmm....that's quite a difference I thought, that's six clicks of the dial. I thought about pulling out the only graduated ND filter that I own, a Singh-Ray 3-stop soft step. But, no, I wanted to put the PS techinque to the test.

I went with it and found that it worked pretty well. However, I thought it needed some help so I brought up the "graduated ND filter" in Nik Software's Color Efex Pro 3.0 and finished the job. It really fine-tuned the image to what I had previsualized while setting up the shot. Something I call my Vision Voice.

Going Ape for Yoga

This guy really looks like he is stretching his left hip flexor and his left rotator cuff in some sort of peaceful yoga position. I just thought this turned out to be a very warm image that sheds "light" on the humanistic nature of these great animals. Note that the eyes took on a milky blue look, a result of the clear blue sky above somewhat obstructed by the overhanging trees.

It's amazing that Apes are capable of creating tools and using language. They lead complex social lives and are capable thinkers and problem-solvers. And, obviously, they understand the value of exercise!!

Spring Collection

I've been working on capturing images of spring flowers and other expressions of spring in an effort to produce a "Spring Collection." I have my own flower garden and have visited several other local places to gather these images. I plan on producing a limited number of prints for each collection. Most likely, the collection will be prints of two or four images.

Another idea and something that has already begun to sell involves using a double matte for (2) 4 x 6 images with frame. One image is an original image of mine printed on "radiantwhite" velvet fine art paper. The second image is actually a short poem written by the buyer and printed by me on the same "radiant white" fine art paper. The buyer then actually signs the poem and I mount/frame the image and poem. What a great gift this makes. It really is an "anytime" gift, although Mother's Day was the inspiration. It's a very personal gift that has that "just because" quality about it.

It's a working thought in progress and the images posted are by no means all there is. I am sifting through the lot of them now.