Jackson's Here!

Torrey has a week off and he and Katie and Jackson arrived early this afternoon to stay with us for a week. I've already worn Jackson out (or was it vice versa) as he is starting to crawl and stand up (6 months) and is busy non-stop when he is awake. I worked him up into a sweat on the sofa crawling around this afternoon, and then we brought him down front on a blanket, but he kept finding the grass. He wasn't sure how he liked that stuff, but the exploration was fun to watch. Here are a couple of photos from this afternoon.

Black & White Clouds

I put an 80A blue filter on my telephoto lens and shot some pictures of the "puffy" clouds (cumulus) and I'm up in the studio roasting as it is so hot and having a "dry" studio on the top floor is also hot on the bright sunny days. But anyway, I'm playing around with the levels in PhotoShop and got these as a result. I like them and I also like what I can do with the greens and that filter in B&W. I really like the monotone and will do more of that, not only as technique, but as the images relate to content also.
Here are a bunch of the cloud shots.

Poverty, Decay and Natural Beauty

Jen and I took a road trip "Downeast" Yesterday and it was amazing with all the fields, blueberry land, glimpses of the ocean and all. I always thought that New York City had the best of the best and the worst of the worst, and I'm thinking that concept can apply about anywhere if one is willing to look around for the places where it can be seen. here are three photos from our explorations.

 

 

On the Bay

Here are a couple of shots from the water on Flander's Bay. I went out in the kayak yesterday and of course brought my camera, but I was somewhat uncomfortable from a "tweaked" back the day before and didn't stay out long. The weather was fascinating as it was a "cloud" day and they came and went, going from covering up the whole sky (we had rain a bit later on) to large puffy individual clouds, the kind you can look at and find all kinds of images within them. I wish now i had taken a lot more photos of the clouds! Jen and I are headed "Downeast" today, I'll have more photos later.

Houseguests

Leah, Fatima and Sabina came to the house yesterday to visit for a couple of days. What a joy! Sabina is 2½ years old and a riot to play with! I had forgotten what a joy that age is and how active they are as little super-curious human beings! Here's a couple of shots from yesterday afternoon. Probably I will have more later from today.

"Puddling"

Our little visitor decided that puddles were the best thing to splash around in and I think she's right!

Back on the Bike

Now that school is over and I have my studio pretty well cleaned up, I've gotten back on track with my Marin® bike and I'm lovin' the feeling of the road passing under my feet/wheels. Although I'm missing all of those TV episodes such as "Bones", Numb3rs" and of course "The X Files"!

Got a Bike rack from George and put it on today!

Flowers Gone By

It's been a more difficult end-of-the-year for school then I have been able to recall for a while, but I've been cleaning out my studio, discovering things that I don't need, things that I had forgotten I had and things that I have learned over the years. I never really have thought much about accumulated knowledge and understanding, but realize now how important it all is to allow a person to be who they truly are or even want to be. Everything dies, but to be as beautiful as a flower for such a short time might very well be worth that short time.

Flowers Close Up

We have bouquets of flowers all over the house and so yesterday during a moment of inspiration and amidst thoughts that seeing things closely can make them clearer, I got out some close-up filters and shot a few of the flowers in the dining room.

I worked on these a bit, adjusting color and sharpness as well as saturation and contrast. I also "touched up" some errant spots of "another color" and just tried to simplify some of the images. Here are four of many.

Jackson Again...

... given the somber mood at home recently with the death of Jen's younger sister and the way that Matthew "stepped up" and conducted himself during the graveside ceremony, Jackson was a resource of happiness for several of our family, and eased the sorrow and tension.

It's sometimes strange how we react to the situations that life puts us in, but somehow the innocence of youth pulls us together to define the context of where and who we really are and how we will continue to be. Here are four, untouched from the camera as I don't have the energy right now to do "tweaking" as it might be needed. Tomorrow will be some floral shots that I really worked for, what with close up lenses and diffused lighting and a tripod and all.

With that happy-go-lucky, not a care in the world face, Jackson says "bye-bye"!