Simply being alive makes me feel thankful. I'm thankful for a God-given joy of being able to show people, through my eyes and limited skill set, a universe that both surprises and rewards me. I hope I can inspire others to look at the world with a new perspective, and find the love, the humor, and beauty of both God's and Man's creations.
This blog is about my passion for light-drawing. That is what the word photography literally means from its Greek parts, drawing with light. Like all other things in life, I am still learning and experimenting. Sometimes, I fail, and sometimes, I surprise myself.
In any case, I hope these stories amuse, entertain, and inspire you to just get out and draw with the light you have.
I finally took the plunge and purchased my first drone, a DJI Mavic Air 2. After reading a lot and watching many YouTube instructional videos, I took the drone out for my first flight and photo session. This isn't anything fantastic, but more of an attempt to record something novel on my debut flight, rather than just some mediocre stills of some housetops.
We used to have a very large, wild, and undeveloped field in our neighborhood that I would wander in from time to time to photograph sunset landscapes and whatever wildlife I could get close to. But now, it's being developed for housing, so I thought I'd take it's picture during the beginning phases of construction.
The photo is almost 500 MB in size, so I have uploaded it onto a site that will allow you to click, scan, pan, and zoom to explore its details. Have fun, and see if you can find me. I'm the dark figure standing at the end of a street next to some barriers, looking like he's working a drone controller.
I was recently asked by my friend, Coos Bay photographer Steven Michael, to submit several photographs for a project he was working on. He also asked over 30 other professional photographers to submit photos as well. I am honored to be included in the group of artists he considered worthy of his project, clearly a labor of love on his part. Many are also folks I know and whose work I admire and gain inspiration from. Enjoy.
From Steven Michael:
During this unprecedented dark time with the Corona Virus, and having to follow stay at Home orders, the longing for an acceptance of the outdoors is becoming more and more of a "need" than a "want."
This video showcases the relationship and balance between nature and the human presence. Such balance with nature includes the virus crippling the world. My hope is that this video will comfort any anxiety, give you a chance to stop, relax, and breath. To remain positive, have hope, be patient and have faith, for this too shall pass.
A special thanks to the daughter/father duo and internet sensations; Savanna and Mat Shaw, for giving me their version of the song, THE PRAYER.
I also want to thank the thirty-four professional photographers and that graciously donated their work to make the song, THE PRAYER, visually come alive, and a thank you shout out to all who participated in the covid-mask-selfie project.
When you come upon a magnificent vista and there is so much beauty around you to photograph, resist the temptation to try to get in all in one shot. You can, of course, but usually, it will only turn out to be a jumbled mess and the beautiful details will become microscopic. Just because the whole scene is pretty to the eye doesn't mean it will make a good picture.
You need to be selective. Zoom in a bit. Frame up one or two mountains instead of five. Get half the tree instead of the whole forest.
Or zero in on something you can isolate, something that is beautiful or poignant in and of itself. The best pictures oftentimes are simple, isolated subjects, separated from the background by selective focus.
