• Canon Powershot G12,  leaves,  Plants

    It’s the brush …

    Leaf Patterns

    … that determines the strokes we make. I say that because today I realize most of my images over the past 3 months have been macro related. There are lots of flowers, leaves, raindrops, insects. I can attribute some of that to Spring and the new growth we are witnessing. I can also attribute it to the Canon G12 and it’s easy access to the macro mode. Therefore it’s been the brush I’ve been using.

    Today is my youngest sisters birthday, so Happy Birthday Sheree!

  • architecture,  Canon Powershot G12

    Disparity

    Bank Building

    This past January, RealtyTrac®, the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, released its Year-End 2010 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™, which shows a total of 3,825,637 foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — reported on a record 2,871,891 U.S. properties in 2010. This bank office building was not one of them.

  • Candid Portraits,  Cityscapes/Urban

    A Job or Work?

    The Cake

    “The job is not your work; What you do with your heart and soul is the work.” Seth Godin

    I work as a flight attendant for a regional carrier. At this stage in life it’s not a career nor do I see it as just a job. I do not make much money, I spend half my month in hotels, and spend long hours with passengers, from every walk in life, in a long metal tube, a tubicle.

    My work history was in the high technology field. The last few years of that working career had more focus on the time clock than the tasks at hand. I was just doing my job, a cog in the system. Early on my career I enjoyed going to work. On those mornings I was bringing something to offer rather than taking home a paycheck. On those days I wanted to make something happen, make the day different. And, on those days I usually came home feeling good because I had accomplished something or learned something new. I came to work to give of myself and darned if I didn’t receive something in return. So some mornings I showed up at my job and some mornings I came to work.

    At the present time, I do not show up at the airport because it’s a job but because I want to come to work. The day it feels like a job to me, I need to find another place of employment. I believe that holds true with my photography. I do not want to get caught up in the struggle to make money with it as it may just become a job. My hope is to pursue it because I want to work at it, offering what vision and craft I can to this media. Hopefully I have something to offer. We all have the opportunity to use our photography to make a difference. If I can make money at it then that’s icing on the cake.

  • Dewdrops,  Plants

    After a Rain

    Raindrops

    One of the nice things about the G12 is the quick macro mode, no need to change a lens. However, I still must get down on my knees to get close. What a world we have to enjoy, especially after a nice rain.

  • Camera Equipment

    I Have a Backup

    Nikon D100

    Yesterday I found myself again wishing I could afford a backup DSLR camera to my D300. Every one knows a good photographer has to have a backup camera body, right? If we have crawled out of a warm bed before the butt-crack of dawn and driven twenty miles on a cool October morning, we do not want to have a camera failure on location. We also know that any wedding photographer is going to have two of everything. Since I’m not selling myself as a wedding photographer backup camera is not a necessity. But, I still have these thoughts roaming through my head about having a backup and how could I afford it. These thoughts include picking up a used one on ebay or buying a new D300s and making my D300 the backup. All legitimate thinking, right?

    Every once in a while an epiphany appears in my life. The one that showed up yesterday was that I already have a backup! When I hung up a shingle to work as a wedding/portrait photographer in 2003 I purchased a second D100. It was essential. Then three years ago when I upgraded to the D300 I basically stopped shooting the D100.  I took the batteries out of them and stored them away. I enjoyed the newer camera so much I had no interest in using the older ones. I had a new toy/tool in my hands and did not want to put it down. But the epiphany suggested I get them out of storage, charge up the batteries and use them. When I look through the metadata in Lightroom I found that half the images in my archives were shot with those two D100s. I have a backup. Of course, when they come out with the D400 or D500 or whatever hundred, my mind will again forget about the D100.

  • clouds,  landscape

    The Beauty Above Us

    Mesa Verde

    “Bright, cool exhilarating. Clouds about five percent. Another glorious day of rambling, sketching and universal enjoyment. ” John Muir

    I’ve noticed John Muir likes to describe what each day is like in his Wilderness Journals by giving each day a percentage of clouds. So not only was he a botanist but he looked upward to see what beauty was above him.