Umber Moons...

Okay, I know I haven't updated in a while and I'm sorry. I haven't had much to post, except my horrendous photographs of the lunar eclipse a week ago. I wish I could say they looked nice, they look kinda cool, they just are not what I meant to end up with. I don't have a tripod, or even a uni-pod I could stick in the ground. Thus, the images are blurry and disgusting.

I did get some interesting shots of the moon and the nearby smoke stacks prior to the eclipse. They are more creepy than anything else... And no, there are no alterations to any of these images.

I ask that you do not steal my images. I did not put my signature on these ones, so I have to trust you guys.

(This is the snow drifted in the light of the street lights.)

(Moon prior to Eclipse)

Walking and Working

This past weekend was a busy one. Saturday morning found me walking with Zach's family and their two dogs. That afternoon I was taking photographs at a gig my Dad and Step-mom had at a 50th wedding anniversary. Sunday I was snowmobiling. Here are some relics of these events.

Painting

Painting with watercolors has only been a joy to me for the last two years, but it has changed my life. I love working with this medium more than any other except linoleum block prints (because of the variety of things you can do) and a good pencil (first love). I have not yet used another kind of paint that I have an affinity for. It was a torture to learn how to use them though. I pushed myself and pushed myself to figure out this damned stuff... I was using it for my final project in a drawing and painting class in high school, and I got it. I really got it. Now... well... Here are some of the present results of my appreciation for the complexities of this medium.

This first painting I did on the coldest day of the year so far... Out SIDE! I know... I was crazy... We all understand the truth in that. I had to learn how to overcome the problem of the water in my brushes freezing. It did create some interesting effects in the fallen-over grasses. I was outside for around forty-five minutes.
This next painting was done in about nine hours to a still life in my watercolor painting class.
This one is an abstraction of a portion of the previous painting. It took over twenty-six hours. The spikes alone took twenty of those hours.

Year-Old Beauty

Last year, in February, I took a week-long vacation in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands. This was long before I got, or even thought about, my Nikon D50 that I love so much. At the time, I only had my father's Kodak, which isn't bad for what most people do, but the lower quality limits what control I have over the images. I was able to move beyond the difficulties to bring back some amazing shots of the beautiful waterscapes and islands. The ones I am posting now (and the more I will post in a few days) are the best of the best, the ones I have straightened (I was on a 47 foot sailboat and it rocked, so the horizon wasn't always horizontal) and have added my signature to. I hope you like them.

All of these can be found on my DeviantArt gallery page (see link at right) along with titles and comments on each of them, usually some kind of existential poem. Enjoy.

Hard Work?

I have been putting together a web site (a blog with a few alterations) for Zach to show his work, as well as a business card for each of us to hand out. I have also made a new deviantArt account to have a more professional feel and look. I am slowly going through all of my photographs, choosing the best, putting my signature on them, and posting them one... by... one.... It takes so long, though it is just tedious, not really hard. I have posted quite a few pieces so far, though I am only into my third folder. I have at lead twenty (if not more) folders to go through.

I haven't decided if I am going to post my old photographs, those taken with my mother's Kodak, or if I am only going to include photographs taken with my Nikon. If you have any suggestions, that would be great.

Well... Here are a couple of photographs I don't think I have posted here. I was going through my folder for the day I went to Zach's great Aunt Marianne's and saw these ones. They are nicer than I first thought.