"Let's do the..."

"...Time Warp again.."

The reason I even wanted a "Real" camera a few years ago was to take portraits of my friends and loved ones.  Flowers, animals and landscapes just didn't do it for me, never have.  It was always youth sports and portraits that inspired me and drove my interest and enjoyment.  And for the preceding few years I was content and satisfied, expanding my abilities with each portrait or each athletic event I shot.  I was able to learn something new with each portrait and more importantly I was able to make people happy with the resulting images.

Unfortunately, due to life changes (changes in latitudes, changes in attitude?), I have not shot a single portrait in 9 months.  And I miss it.  The sudden inspiration, the satisfaction of creating an image that you want to proudly show to others...the hopefully capturing the essence of the subject.  Those are the things that drove me.

So what have I been doing to keep that desire alive?  I've been reading and rereading books on lighting and posing, trying to keep things fresh in my mind and also I've been reviewing past portraits, critiquing them, telling myself what I would have done differently, what different post processing steps I would have done. I am my own harshest critic, this I know, but I strive to push myself and to evolve as a photographer.

I'll spare you my self critique of the above image, just know that I like it and it represents some firsts for me.  It was one of the first times I ever went on location (a hill overlooking the local elementary school) and an attempt to combine sunlight with off camera flash.  Before this I had tried to always use shade to overcome the sunlight but this time I had embraced the sun and attempted to slightly overpower it.

I was quite happy with this image two years ago and I am still happy with it today.

Taken in Aug 2008, E-510, 40-150mm with FL-36 via sync cable.

Warbirds...

...over Fond du Lac.

North American P-51 Mustang flying over Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

The sky was abuzz with airplanes due to the EAA AirVenture being held in Oshkosh, Wi.

Find our more about AirVenture..Link

Image is best if viewed large: LINK

The Last Game...

...of the Season.

For reasons beyond my control, I wasn't able to attend as many games I had in the past, but the last game was a good one.  The boys played hard and they had all greatly improved over the short month and a half season.  Way to go North Fondy!

View more photos on the 2010 North Fondy Baseball page

You looking...

...at me?

Yes.  Yes I was.

Just a prairie dog at the NEW Zoo just north of Green Bay WI.

Reflections on times..

...gone by. 

I've been looking back a lot lately, reminiscing of days and photos gone by.  Seems like I've been doing that more and more recently.  And while it would be nice to be able to revise the past, until we build a time machine, the past will have to stay the past.  But we can go back and redo images, to give them a fresh life, a new beginning.  This is yet another lucky image who has been given a second chance.

This photo was taken at the Wisconsin Street Rod Show and Corn Roast held in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin back in 2008 and it had been stuck in the archives on my hard drive just waiting for it's chance.  Well today is it's day.  It didn't need much, I cropped it square (I'm into square crops lately) and gave it a hint of sharpening thanks to the High Pass filter and Overlay mode.  I hope you like it.

A blast from the past...

I was looking through the archives, looking for inspiration, looking for glimpses of success, looking at where I was.  Looking back at the past.  Reminiscing of days gone by?  Possibly, but if interrogated I would just say I was looking at photos that I haven't seen in awhile.

The above photo was taken in 2008 at the Wisconsin Street Rod Show and Corn Roast held each Labor Day Weekend in Fond du Lac, WI.  It's a great show put on by the Wisconsin Street Rod Association, they bring in hundreds of hot rods and always have plenty of things for the kids to do.  Coloring contests, drawings and the popular Hot Wheels Drag Races.  My own kids have had quite a bit of success in the races.

I always liked how the flames snaked down the hood of this old Ford.  From my viewpoint, Flames and Hot Rods are a match made in Heaven.

Other than the mosquitoes...

..it was a very nice late May morning in Madison, Wisconsin. I had some time to spare so I went looking for a park near one of the lakes within and around the capitol of the Badger state.



I ended up at Olin Park overlooking Lake Monona with a view of the capitol building.

I took a short walk through the adjacent woodland conservation land. It was quiet with only two college aged runners taking advantage of the beautiful spring day.

I later found out (thanks to Google) that the woodlands next to Olin Park has become some sort of cruising ground for people looking to "hook up"..yikes. 

Anyways...














The last photo is a composite stitched together from 6 photos.  The final size ended up being 34 by 8 inches.  This actually only half of the complete 12 photo 72inch by 8 inch panorama overlooking Lake Monona.  Far from perfect, but I like it.  And that is one the main points of this little hobby.  Enjoyment in what we do.

Damp, Dirty and smelling like Manure

Took a trip to my brother's farm yesterday, it rained, it poured and then it just sprinkled. Basically the day could be best described as wet, plain and simple. And grey. And sloppy.

And did I say wet?

Really no other way to describe it.

But it was nice to get there and just wander around and get a chance to see the 'babies', all 55 of the newest calves. There are a wide mix of breeds, colors and what not including two white ones with blue eyes.

Sadly I did not get a photo of 'Frank Sinatra' or the other blue eyed cow. Maybe next time.

Due to the weather I wasn't able to get as many pictures or as many locations as I would have liked. But you can't control the weather, but if I had a weather resistant camera....maybe someday.

Most of the pictures were taken with an old Pentax 50mm f2 lense adapted to my Olympus e510 with a Fotodiox adapter.