a HUGE milestone!

As of today my blog has had 10,085 page views!!! 

"LIKE" my Facebook Page and then comment on the post that says what the above sentence says by Tuesday March 27th for your chance to win a signed print of your choice.


Thank you all for enjoying my work, and being an inspiration to me over the years!

Stop already!

You know those times in your life where it doesn't seem possible for you to get everything done that needs to be done?  I've felt that way for like a year.  There are so many road trips to take, photos to snap, books to read, people to love, work to be done, etc; and when these things don't get accomplished, or accomplished well I feel down.  So in the midst of my day today, one where I've already avoided going to the gym (for now), and where I'm trying to put the final touches on my tax preparation... I decided to take a break.  A break to do something that I love - especially more than taxes.  Here are a few photos from recent adventures.

Sometimes what might be more important than getting things done can be expressed through an old saying, "Stop and smell the roses."  Quiet calm, peace and quiet, R&R, somber (and sober) reflection.  Life is already too busy for our own good.  So take some time for yourself today.

It's the little things...

Aside from photography the other thing I absolutely love to do is bicycle.  It is incredibly freeing and exhilarating.  When I get out on one of my bikes I can leave my stress behind as I fly through the woods or pedal along a road that seems never ending.  The combination of simplicity and the marvel of a bicycle are a beautiful thing.

This old-school bike isn't mine.  Just saw it while I was out and about one day.

Photos were processed with VSCO Film.  I'm still waiting for the Canon 50D update, but I' making it work for me in the mean time.

Share of the day...

An NYPD cop started bringing a camera to work.  He captured some incredible images which propelled him into a full-time photography career.  Check out some of his images and his story HERE.

Inaugural Artist Re:Mix event!

Colorado Springs area artists need to check THIS event out and COME!

Late night, down jacket and star trails...

When others were sleeping I was out on my first (real) star trail adventure.  I had one other time attempted to take a star trail photo; using electrical tape and a pen cap to hold down the shutter in "bulb" mode.  Stupid me I jacked up the ISO to something like 800 and the photo was horribly grainy.  So much so that LR couldn't even help it.  Last night was a different story...  I had done a little research as well as invest ($8) in a wired-remote shutter release that allowed me to lock the shutter open.

I hadn't done thorough research though and thought that I would try shooting at f/10 for an hour.  After pressing the shutter button on the remote and locking it, I got back in my car for the hour long wait.  Thankfully a friend had gotten back to me with some pointers.  He told me that I should be shooting wide open.  I got out of the car and went back to my camera to find that I hadn't even set the camera up correctly and it had just taken a 1/20 of a second shot because I forgot to put the camera on "bulb".  With that straightened out I opened my lens up to f/2.8, locked the shutter open and sat back down for the long wait.

Click on an image to see them LARGER!

Here's my test shot.

 ISO 200   -   24mm   -   f/2.8   -   30sec

The crazy glow is Colorado Springs and you can see Pikes Peak to the right

 ISO 100   -   24mm   -   f/2.8   -   50 minutes

Look up once in a while!

 ISO 1600   -   24mm   -   f/2.8   -   30sec

Greenland CO and I-25

ISO 400   -   24mm   -   f/2.8   -   30sec

One cool (Canon) camera feature that I learned about last night was the "Long Exposure Noise Reduction".  Basically the camera takes two images, the one that you exposed for and one with the shutter closed.  The camera then calculates what in the image is useful information and what is noise.  Your final product is a much cleaner image.  The only downside to this feature is that it doubles your exposure time.  Keep this in mind when taking you had only planned on taking an hour long image.  I'm sure if you ran out of battery while this process was taking place, nothing good would come of it.

Just wanted to mention the editing on my 50 minute exposure...  The original image was really washed out which bummed me out.  But I tweaked it a bit to get it to look the way it does now.  Dropped the exposure 4 stops, bumped up the clarity, set it to "strong contrast", played with the "recovery", jacked the blacks up, touch of "vibrance", touch of "noise reduction" and of course the "lens correction" for my 24-70L lens.

Denver street photography & a bonus $75 parking ticket.

I had gone up to Denver (Aurora actually) for a Chick-fil-a grand opening but I didn't make the 100 person raffle cut off for camping so I decided to bum around downtown near the State Capitol and take some photos.  My vision was to create some gritty and urban images.  The photographs did turn out really rad but then I put a spin on them in LR to make them seem more like what you'd see out of an instamatic or medium format Holga.  Enjoy!

These last two are not in Denver, but were on the way home.

A Day In The Life...

So months ago, like months & months ago, I had intended to complete an hourly photo project.  The goal was to take a photo an hour with my Canon 50D and 50mm f/1.8 lens.  I kept putting it off - that's my M.O. unfortunately.  Seeing as how that project was always nagging at me I decided to make it happen with my newly acquired LG G2X smart phone, its 8GB camera and an app called "Retro Camera".  While not as creative as taking my DSLR around with me would have been, taking photos frequently with more of a point and shoot concept has encouraged me to shoot more and gets me thinking about light/ angles/ point of view/ etc.  It was a fun experiment.  Lastly I like being honest, so the photos below marked with an * were not taken during my one waking day but do add to the story.

(Click on an image to see it larger)

First thing in the morning.  I love my blackout curtains!

Walk the dog.

 Must.  Have.  Sustenance!

 Dishes.

I'm not an addict!

Yes, as a matter of fact I do iron!

From a secret location in downtown Colorado Springs.

My bathroom mirror photos rival Ansel Adams work.

 * Hitting the trails on my 29er!

* Almost typical Colorado sunset.

 Locker #39.

Critical infrastructure.

Mind the cone zone.

Just a portion of where I work. 

 How I feel many a day.

Heading home after a long night at work.