New Profile Picture for UM Farmington Class

I just did this tonight to get my UMF profile set up for the Master's class later this month. Imagine working ahead of schedule, relatively unheard of for me!

The white drawing is an inverted ink drawing that I blended onto a PhotoBooth image in my studio. Hmmm, art "ghosts" maybe?

Youngest Grandson

He likes to pose in my hat, and I even occasionally catch him smiling! I love that smile Emerson.

Christmas Moon

Trial and error, persistence, and a little bit of "tweaking" to get this shot of the last "Christmas Moon" until 2034. I might be around for the next one, but the one that is here is the one that counts I guess!

I shot this with a 400 mm telephoto and was surprised that there was enough light in the shot to get the shutter over 1/200 of a second at an ISO of 800. Some real edges formed with sharpening the image, but the obscuring clouds worked pretty well to soften the overall effect.

I was also surprised that there was very little color, although it was dark, and I thought I might add a little blue. I still might, but not here.

I Got Stung

Not in the sense that Elvis meant with his song by the same name, but as David and I were cleaning the furnace yesterday this little monster "swooped down" and stung me on the ear, whereupon I brushed him off my face and directly down into my shirt, so he had the chance to sting twice more on the chest and one on the arm for good measure before I could get my shirt off. I crushed him just a little and have watched him slowly die over the past 24 hours. I feel no sorrow for him (maybe just a little as he was trapped inside my shirt, but the ear? Not called for.

Digital Damage

So here are a couple of digital pieces I have been working on tonight.

Just trying to do things a bit different, you know, spruce things up a bit.  

I can't believe I haven't posted to this since August.

    And here it is whenever I need to say it is.

Back to work.

Lawn Mowing

Torrey was out to cut the grass this morning and I got a few pictures of Jackson helping him. I have been shooting with my iPhone using the"noir" setting, and I really like the result. I need to try to emulate the effect in PhotoShop or LightRoom.

Here are a couple of the ones I like best!

Play Area

So here's the playground to date. My grandsons will have to grow into it, and I hope it will grow for them.

Chickens and Grandsons

If you haven't noticed yet, there is a lot of activity on this blog that involves my grandsons. This post is no exception, as there was an exciting day at Pineland (New Gloucester) with all the farm tractors and such that the farm uses.

What a day they both had with the animals and all the plants in the gardens to see. The boys have two chickens, but seeing a whole barn full was amazing. Rhode Island Reds, I think. Here are a few of the photos.

The hens. The boys.

Jackson and the John

While in Home Depot last week, Jackson thought it might be fun to try out a toilet that was on display. He told me right after this shot that he thought the toilet was a little "close to the wall". Finding pictures of him is never a difficult task for "Grampie", sometimes known as "Grumpy"!

There's a Dead Frog in the Middle of the Road

Out on my bike ride up to Pineland and back this morning, and the first thing I see on the Penny Road is this poor crushed frog. Colorful.