Tulip

Taken with my new 70-200mm lens in Deb's front yard.

Ultra wide angle flowers

People have commented on how much fun it is to shoot with an ultra wide angle lens. You can be inches away from your subject, yet capture a really interesting shot. I guess it's true!

Bonsai grape Bonsai water drop

As long as I'm into photographing water drops, here is one from a couple of years ago taken with my Canon point and shoot camera with a diopter. This demonstrates what a hard decision I had to go back into the SLR world, when I could carry this setup in my front pocket.

Fresh after the rain

Everything is so fresh this time of year. Everywhere I look there is a picture. Taken with 28-75mm + 500D + 1.4 TC.

Wow....I better be sure Zephyr is inside

Wow!!!! It has been quite a bird day in my backyard. 200 + 1.4x

Mr & Mrs Cardinal have arrived & Mr Finch too

Everything is so happy today. Mr Cardinal was taken with 200L + 2x and the Mrs with 200L + 1.4x - both with monopod. Mr Finch was 1.4x.

You're never to old to play

I totally cracked up when I saw the picture of Mom & Jeanette. I wasn't looking at all at Mom when I was taking this picture....but boy did she have a funny pose!!!!

The sky was on fire tonight

I grabbed my camera and stood in the middle of our street to watch this beautiful sunset. Taken with 28-75mm lens at f4, ISO 400.

Spring has arrived

I really like taking close-up pictures. I'm not to the point of buying a macro lens. I'm happy with the results that I am getting. The top picture was taken with a 28-75mm lens with a 2x converter on it. The bottom was taken with a 24-135mm lens with the Canon 500D diopter. Both results are very pleasing - at least to my eye.

You've come a long way....

Tonight I introduced two of my friends that have a common interest in quilting. It was so fun to get to see their work. I have the bottom quilt in my office. My favorite quilt, besides the one that I own, is the other picture. It is a new style of quilting, where you are quilting a picture instead of a pattern. The effects are really dramatic. My picture doesn't do it justice. It is spectacular in person.

It may be Spring, but I'm still cold

I took this picture this morning using ISO 1600! This picture is straight out of the camera, nothing done to it, but the preferences applied in Digital Photo Professional. Pretty amazing to have this coming right out of the camera.

My trainer

Today I had the honor of taking my trainer's picture in her studio. Oh, I am the pickiest, pokiest photographer I know. We had a blast. I got some super pictures for her for publication. Above are 2 of my favorites. We had all afternoon and weren't rushed which helped out a lot.

More portraits

Good thing I practiced. I have an afternoon shoot with my personal trainer tomorrow. I will probably only use this lens. Glad it is working!

Working with a new lens

I just got my 4th lens today. It is a 28-75mm 2.8. That will allow me to take low light pictures without a flash, take some outdoor sports pictures and do portrait work. As you can see with this picture, it stopped K-9 mid-shake and blurred out Zephyr sticking her tongue out in the background!

Therapy Dog?

This is what Zephyr does on her off hours. Usually this process happens while we are away. Once she found a bank deposit and destroyed several checks. She likes to steal papers out of the trash can and once she has read them, she shreads them. Tonight we gave her a piece of packing paper and it made her day!

Goodbye last film lens

I sold the last of my film lenses today - a 28mm prime. The top picture is taken with my 24-135mm and the bottom picture is taken with the 28mm prime. Just thought I'd like a picture up here to remind me where I've been. Most of the pictures hanging up in my house were taken with this lens.

Their favorite game

We saw this snake toy in Kansas City about 3 years ago. For some reason, we thought we'd better stockpile it, so we bought 3 of them. I just threw #1 away and now they are working on #2. It is by far their favorite game.

Friends at the park

I went snowshoeing this weekend. First time I was out all winter. We had a riot. I was shooting a bald eagle that was about a mile away when this hawk (I thought) flew right over my head. The eagle looks like a small spec in my pictures and the hawk doesn't look too bad. I decided to hike with only one lens and it looks like I picked the right one for the day. Update: I was told by a friend that this probably was not a hawk, but indeed was a young bald eagle!

Hockey

I was able to go to a high school hockey game a couple of weeks ago. Wow, was that ever fun. It was very difficult to photograph. I think I had some excessive beginner's luck that night. On the top picture, notice where he is looking. The puck is in the air.

Spring is really coming

I was given a container with some bulbs in it for Christmas. I've had it in my garage. I looked at it a while ago and they're all coming up. So into the sunroom the container went. At least now I have something green and growing to take pictures of.

View from my office

We've had really strange weather. Freeze, then thaw, thaw then freeze. This was what I saw on Friday.

Union Train Station

These pictures were taken using an Ultra Wide Angle lens. It can do wild things to your pictures, so I had to pay attention to how I was facing my subject. The building really is curved.

Dogs

K-9 is 7 and going strong. Zephyr is 2.5 and has 2 settings...Very On and Very Off. They are great company in our lives.

Winter Day

I enjoy forcing bulbs during the winter months. This year, I forced some paperwhites. These pictures were taken with a black backdrop. I wanted to work on lighting with these shots.

Playing with fire

A candle can sure be interesting.