to my personal blog. Here I post examples of my photography and writing. I specialize in making unique and highly detailed photographs. Notice I said making and not taking. Yes I take photos but a lot of time and work is involved in pushing and punishing the pixels in my images to achieve the look I like.
Please feel free make comments about any of my words or photos. I enjoy constructive critiques, learning about locations to shoot or photography techniques. Click on the "Share Article" link to share any of my photos via Flickr, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
Want to use one of my posts in your own blog? No problem, but please make sure it links back to the original post here and do the right thing and give me credit. Don't copy my words, crop the images, remove the watermarks or claim my work as your own. This has happened more times than I can count so I've had to report copyright violations to ISP's and regrettably the violators blog is usually taken down.
Can't we all just get along?
Sunday, May 30, 2010 at 7:55PM | in HDR, Navy Memorial, Travel, Washington DC This moving and evocative statue is located at the U.S. Navy Memorial in Washington D.C. We sleep well and safely because there are soldiers, sailors, marine and coast guard men and women keeping watch or walking a post for us. Our laws grant us our freedoms but we need to remember it's the men and women who serve in our armed forces who defend those freedoms.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 6:09AM | in HDR, Museum, National Building Museum, Travel, Washington DC Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun?
The National Building Museum (NBM) in Washington D.C. is a huge space to a big guy like me so it must look even bigger to my Nephew Manny here. As you can see he took it in stride. The great hall is supported by several of the giant columns you see in the background. They are truly colossal in scale. While the NBM is not the most popular destination in Washington, it's a fantastic place to go if you are in town.
This is a 3 shot HDR which is the largest number of exposures I can generally shoot hand held and have some chance of aligning and stitching together. Since the kid is naturally wired, he moved around during the sequence so I had to mask him into the HDR image from the middle exposure and adjust his saturation and tonal values so he seamlessly blends into the background. Shoot right into the sun? Sure. Photoshop just rocks!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010 at 7:05AM | in Camera Gear, HDR, Travel, United States Capitol, Washington DC The security at the US Capitol building is pretty tight. While I understand very clearly why it needs to be this way, I also realized that due to the rules, Manny and I woudln't be able to carry our backpacks into the building with us. Hence no extra lenses. I chose to take my 28-135 which is a nice general lens but not wide enough to capture the entired rotunda dome. I do think the off center framing adds interest. Oh well. Maybe next time I'll take my 14mm.
Sunday, May 23, 2010 at 11:34PM | in HDR, Museum, National Air and Space Museum, Space, Spacecraft, Travel, Washington DC This is an actual lunar module which was built to fly in space during project Apollo. Its mission was to separate from the command module, fly about a hundred miles away and then link up with it again. This is the second of two test Lunar Modules built. It was never used because the first test item worked perfectly during the Apollo 9 mission.
Friday, May 21, 2010 at 6:30AM | in HDR, National Mall, Travel, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington DC It was early morning and the rain had slowed down a bit by the time Manny and I arrived at the statue of the three Vietnam soldiers in Washington DC. Located just across from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, they seem to have emerged from the trees and have paused to stare at the black wall of names. They are extremely realistic and detailed. The overall feeling there was one of sadness.
Thursday, May 20, 2010 at 6:03AM | in Creative, HDR, National Cathedral, Travel, Washington DC When Manny and I got out of the taxi that dropped us off at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., the sun was so bright and the sky was so blue it felt like we had stepped into a dream or a painting Mary Poppins style. After exploring the place and taking about a thousand photos, we decided to walk back outside and take a photo of both of us in front of the Cathedral. One day I hope he brings his kids here and remembers being here with me.
Friday, May 14, 2010 at 12:39AM | in HDR, Travel, United States Capitol, Washington DC Manny and I were walking to the National Mall from our hotel in Chinatown. As we crossed Constitution Avenue we looked to our left, and were amazed to see the U.S. Capitol Building covered in golden light. There was a concrete island in the middle of the street, so we setup our tripods on it and started shooting. This was shot at 250mm which provided a nice view of the Capitol dome and the statue of freedom at the top.
Sunday, May 9, 2010 at 9:06PM | in HDR, National Cathedral, Travel, Washington DC Colored light beams find a resting place on one of the giant columns that support the roof of the National Cathedral in Washington DC.
Saturday, May 8, 2010 at 8:33PM | in Creative, Culture, Hirshorn Museum, Lensbaby, Museum, Washington DC American artist Jim Sanborn is into cryptography. There's a message hidden in this piece of artwork which is located just outside the Smithsonian Institution's Hirshorn museum. Although Manny and I stared at it for the better part of a minute, we didn't solve it.
Friday, May 7, 2010 at 12:40AM | in HDR, Travel, Union Station, Washington DC
