Under a blood red sky

So sometimes in the wonderful world of digital imaging, experimentation is part of what its all about. Playing with different blend modes, diving deeper into hidden menus, pushing the envelope, ....... all part of the game. I love it when you hear instructors talk about trying to present a more accurate representation of what your eyes really saw. Everyone seems to have a different approach in what the game is all about. I tend to embrace it all. Sometime its about trying to recreate the dynamic range of what your eye captures as apposed to the limited range of the camera sensor. But, more often than not for me, its pushed a bit more. How about capturing what I would love my eyes to see or better yet, what my crazy "out in left field" mind's eye sees. With that in mind, I share this one with you.

As promised, we are still "hanging out" in Ocala with the posts this week

After returning from lunch with a few minutes left on the break, Eric sneaks a few of the Central Florida rays


Of course, my breaks .... at least at the beginning of the week, were spent exploring the farms looking for light. As far as I am concerned, I do any gig that has golf carts as the preferred mode of transportation.

I kept trying to get this little guy to pose for me. "Alright, looking good, fantastic,... oh that's perfect, thats it. Look into the fan....yes yes yes, lets see that main, shake it baby...."  Hmmm, maybe it was my approach......nothing seemed to work..... LOL!

I've always loved these canopies of trees and this place had lots of em.

Thanks for stopping by......more to come!

Fields of coin

Its quite humbling for me to even post an image this evening. You see, as Photoshop World comes to a close tomorrow here in Boston, that means that this evening played host to the incredible gathering that is known as "The Art of Digital Photography". All in one room....all on one stage....the most diverse and creative group of photographers and digital artist of today were there to showcase their work. The elite group consisted of Moose Peterson, Joe McNally, Vincent Versace, John Paul Caponigro, Jim Divitale, Joe Glyda, and Jay Maisel. The insightful words of encouragement from these creative artists as well as the immense body of art and images that they shared was yet another reminder of why I possess such an interest in this art. Thanks for the inspiration guys!

Now, as far as this image, well......haha...

This is what I remember about when I captured it....

We were working on an event in Vero Beach at the time. While hanging out with Drew and the video crew backstage in the tent, I noticed a guy scanning this HUGE field with a metal detector. For some strange reason, this type of actvity has always bothered me. I then proceeded to tell the crew about something I have always wanted to do. Cut to the next scene, there I am running off to the car to grab a handful of change (pennys and nickles....alot of them!) I then walked into the field, about 50 yards from the poor chap, made sure he wasn't looking,and...... FLING. Fields of coin!

HEHEHE......sorry....always wanted to do that. The 30 minutes of laughter from the crew was certainly well worth the change!

5 continents in 5 days - Africa - A carpet in Morocco

Up until now, it has usually been about the image. A hyper processed HDR, an illustrative art piece, an added texture to portray a painterly effect.....well not today. For me, its more about what I felt behind the lense.

As we were bouncing haphazardly through Europe one summer, the idea crossed my mind to head down south of Spain. I had heard that it was quite easy to catch a boat from Tarifa and cross the mouth of the Mediterranean and arrive in Tangiers. From there, it was an easy trek into the rest of Morocco. This sounded like an exotic location to explore!

After a little research in the guide books, we determined that the best plan of action would be to get on a train as fast as possible once we arrived and get out of the stressful port town that would welcome us for our first taste of the African continent. We had heard that the local guides would badger and pester you into buying a carpet or some other local authentic ware from what they always claimed as their relatives shop. "Special price only for you my friend...special price only today...almost free!" Yes I heard that all to many times before in the straw markets of the Bahamas.

With this knowledge, we quickly navigated the confusing port town of Tangiers, made our way past the local carpet guide racket, and plopped our backpacks onto the first train car we could find. We made it. No carpet for me thank you! The plan was to head south into the personally uncharted landscape of the Moroccan countryside and spend a couple of days in Marrakech. At least that was the plan.

As we rode, bleary eyed on this regional train, a seemingly harmless passenger got on the train and made it into our little car. For what seamed like an hour, not a word was spoken. As the small talk and pleasantries began to exchange much later, our little "friend" had us convinced that the large sprawling town of Marrakech was not the ideal way to experience his wonderful country for the first time. He described a beautiful seaside village called "Asilah" that he called his home. It sounded quite wonderful. In fact, he had a couple of friends that just happened to run a little pension or bed and breakfast that would be perfect for 2 young Americans. Hmm, sounds great...almost to great I should have thought.....but there we were, getting off at the next stop, at a town called Asilah.

Fast forward a few hours and I find myself behind this lense in his relatives carpet shop, sipping mint tea, wondering how in the hell did I get here! Guess I'm buying a carpet!

Just a bit too close

While bouncing around through some images the other day from a previous trip, I came across this one.....and had to laugh. Looks like the smart car is a bit smarter than the drivers in this case. Yikes!

Shanghai'd in the elevator

After a long day of exploring and wandering around the many dark alleys and foreboding passages in Shanghai, the weary photographer returns to the comfort of the his 19th floor room at the Hyatt.

Geez, that's about the stupidest caption I think I have ever written......bar none!!!

Time for these little guys to turn in!

Well, after a long day visiting my wonderful family's, I was a little hesitant to even open the door to my place when I arrived home. I half expected the place to be a mess knowing the condition these little guys were in when I left. Well, quite to my surprise, the wrapping paper was cleaned up, the bows were picked up (very tiny bows I might add), the place was vacummed up, and they were tucked in and fast asleep!

Hope everyone had a wonderful and heartfelt holiday with family, loved ones, or just themselves. Its times like this that we all need to stop and count our blessings and also work together to make this a better place for our chldren.

I am sometimes quite guilty of not doing this myself. That said, I would like to link to a very moving post I read tonight after I tucked my little one in. My heart goes out to anyone in the armed forces that were not able to enjoy this simple pleasure as I did tonight. Please pray for them and read this:

A Christmas on enemy lines some time ago

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

Well, looks like the penguins have kicked it up a notch. I came home and apparently, their little celebration was in full swing. Not sure where they put the nativity pieces, still looking though!

On another note, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone. I sincerely appreciate all the views, emails, and comments on both my blog and flickr stream over the last few months. You all are a daily inspiration. It is great to be in the company of such a diverse creative group!

Well, the penguins are starting to get a little out of control now. Looks like I have to break up there little "party". Have a great day tomorrow :)

The natives are restless

Well, its a well known fact that I love penguins. These little guys do get a bit feisty when hungry though! As I walked in after work, there fins were folded and they were staring at me as they were tapping their little feet on the floor in anger. Guess I gotta head out and grab some food for them! Hmmm, maybe I'll start my Christmas shopping while I am out.

The rest of the story

Although not widely accepted amongst most theologians and religious scholars, there is another widely disputed theory about exactly who did visit that manger on the first Christmas morning. Another small part of this controversy is the argument about who in fact made the longest journey to bare gifts to the baby Jesus. Was it King Balthazar from Persian, King Gasper from Syria, King Melchior from Kashastan, or King Bartholomew the Emperor Penguin from Patagonia.