Friday, October 30, 2009

Sunrise at Borobudur

Happy Friday!!

I am off to Lombok this week, so will be pre-scheduling my posts for next week using photos from my archives...Since I just had my 1000th post to this blog, I will feature some of my favorite photos from this blog next week while I am gone...see you all in a week!!

In the meantime, don't forget to check out all the great skies from around the world HERE!!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

A Game of Chess

I have been reading through many of my favorite photography forums about the Leica M9. Always a good read and entertaining. I laugh at myself when reading these forums because I find myself only reading the good stuff about the M9 to help justify my thoughts on the camera. I do read the bad stuff too, but I always get a sinking feeling in my gut when I read those because it counters what I really want. It is like I have those two little devils sitting on my shoulder, one of them (The Leica Devil) saying, "Just get it, man....what are ya waiting for?" The other saying, "Dude...the money...DUDE...THE MONEY....you could get a new housing for your underwater camera for less than that stupid little camera".

You think these kids think about stuff like this....??
Not likely...

They just wonder why this crazy bald, white guy is sticking a lens in their face while they try to play a game of chess...

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Been Thinking Seriously About A New Camera

I have been shooting a Nikon for years. I bought the first pro-digital available from Nikon..the D1x. At the time it was a 5,000 dollar investment, and it was only a 5.3 MP camera. But at the time, it had more than 5 times more MP's than most digital cameras on the market. That camera was stolen out of my house...I then bought the D70 and D2H which I brought to Africa with me. The D2H was fast, but had less MP than the D1x....only 4 something, but produced beautiful files. The D70, I still own, and use for my underwater photography....it is a great camera. I then sold the D2H when the D2x came out. I loved the D2x. Just before I took my trip to Nepal a couple of years ago, I dropped the D2x on the hard basketball court when I was shooting a game...it did not make it back in time for my trip to Nepal, so I made a trip to the camera store and picked up the D300 and a couple of new lenses. I have been shooting with the D300 for the past couple of years, and love it. I sold the D2x when it came back from the shop.

Yes, I am a crazy camera freak. Now, Leica just came out with the full frame, 18MP, M9. I am intrigued with the Leica Rangefinders, and have been reading everything on the web that I can find about the M9. I am tired of carrying all the heavy DSLR camera equipment around when I travel. The Leica would fit my style of photography perfectly. I want that camera!! The problem??....whoa, baby....it cost as much as a small car. The leica lenses....truly the best in the world, with truly the most expensive price tags to go with it. So, I will wait....but you know how it is when your REALLY want something??

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

A Nepal Crowd Watches Soccer

While in Kathmandu, my friends and I were invited to a soccer game between Nepal and Bangladesh. We jumped at the chance. When we got there, we were of course, cheering for Nepal...but the entire crowd was cheering for Bangladesh. We were confused...why cheer for the "other" team? Then we found out the Nepal team were mostly policemen, so the crowd was routing against them...funny. Bangladesh won with huge ovations from the crowd....poor policemen....I felt bad for them.

Monday, October 26, 2009

My Daughter, Kayla...With Some Textures

I started this blog with a photo of my daughter, Kayla when she was only two years old. She is now five years old going on twenty three. I know I am biased since I am her Dad, but she is just a great kid full of personality and rarely not smiling or laughing. She also loves to be my model which makes her photog Daddy happy...

This photo was created using some textures from Stuck in Customs....there is a link to the right if you are interested in getting some of these textures...they are great fun to play around with...

Sunday, October 25, 2009

MY 1000th POST ON THIS BLOG!!

THIS IS IT!!
ONE THOUSAND posts on this blog!!

I thought about what I would do on my 1000th post, but as creative as I am at times, I couldn't come up with anything really cool, so thought I would just share the photo that got the most comments in the past three years....it also happens to be one of my favorite photos, and I have a two meter long print of this hanging in my living room.

I have been posting a new photo most every day (except Saturdays), and I hope to continue doing so for the next 1000 posts....I hope you all continue to check out my blog, and I welcome any new-comers....always great to meet new friends via this blog!

Thanks for visiting!!!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Skywatch Friday Archives

Happy Friday!!

Since I am approaching my 1000th post on this blog (just a couple more to go), I thought I would celebrate by visiting my archives and re-posting my very first Skywatch Friday shot.

Skywatch Friday is something that I always look forward to every week. I have only missed a couple since I started when Tom was hosting...it is great fun.

Click HERE to see other skies from around the world...

Thursday, October 22, 2009

I'd Love To Talk To This Guy

Photographing people on the street is tricky. I don't like posed shots, and prefer to catch people in their natural state without them knowing I am taking their photo. This guy was in a deep conversation with some other guys in Kathmandu. I wanted to be able to just sit down with the group of men and join-in with their conversation...then I wondered what they were talking about... their kids? Their jobs? The latest political situation in Nepal? I will never know...

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

The Small House By The Sea

Now this guy has a view to die for...

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

One Eye From Mom, and One Eye From Baby

There is a large lake in Cambodia called Tonle Sap Lake. People there live on homes floating on the water...many are refugees from Vietnam, other are Khmer living in traditional floating houses. This Mom and baby were floating on a small canoe selling bananas.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Mom and Pop Shop in India

This was the start of our long trek into the foothills of the Himalayas in Northern India. This is typical Asia, actually...a little shop sprouts out from so many homes... you wonder with so many of these little shops all over the place, how does one make a living and compete with each other?

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Not Everyone Has An Office

Everything is relative...some people have secretaries that give them a nice cup of coffee every morning...others have tea in a plastic cup on a bench next to piles of burlap bags full of stuff...

Ya gotta start your day off somewhere...

Friday, October 16, 2009

Skywatch Friday - Stormy Clouds Over Lombok

Happy Friday!!

I am headed back to Lombok in a couple of weeks, so thought I would share this photo I took there last year I was there...I can't remember if I posted this one already, but I re-worked it anyway, so it is still new in a way...

Be sure to check out other skies from around the world HERE...

Thursday, October 15, 2009

A Face and Smile To Remember

I was walking down a street in Kathmandu, and I saw this lady just laughing like there was no tomorrow while sitting on a wood bench...I have no idea what she was laughing about, but she loved to have her photo taken...which is actually unusual in Nepal as most older people do not like to have their photo taken. What a face....and what a smile!!

I am closing in on my 1000th post on this blog. This is post number 991. I want to do something special for my 1000th post, but don't have a clue of what to do....suggestions??


Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Junk Just Waiting To Be Photographed

I don't know about you, but when I see a pile of junk like this, it just screams to be photographed. I don't know why, it's just a pile of junk...

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Oai, Santorini

Santorini is perhaps one of the best places in the world for Photography...with white stucco buildings, blue water and blue skies, you have to work hard to take a bad shot...

When Tika and I were there, we kept saying we gotta come back here again. Of course, in life, how often do we fulfill those promises to ourselves?...it's always off to another place where the dreams start all over again...I now have a list of about a hundred places I have to get back to again...not sure if I will ever get back to Santorini, but I know I would not regret it if I did...

Monday, October 12, 2009

A Papuan Boat On The Beach

I want to thank Trey Ratcliff from Stuck In Customs for the nice comment about me on his blog. I have been a fan of Trey's photography and blog for a long time, so it was certainly a privilege and an honor to be recognized on his blog...it was interesting to look at my stats and to see the sudden spike in the number of hits...I welcome any new visitors from Stuck in Customs, and I hope you come back again...you are all my "type" of people...

Here is another textured photo...to be honest with you, I like the original of this photo better than the textured version, but my daughter (5-years old) said she likes this version better...She insisted I post this one, so...what can I do? She has me wrapped around her finger...

Friday, October 09, 2009

Skywatch Friday - Misty Sky and Windmill

Happy Friday!!

This week's Skywatch Photo comes from Santorini...one of my favorite places on Earth...

Have fun visiting skies from all around the world HERE...

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Textures and a Tutorial On How To Use Them

I have been posting some photos that I have processed using textures, and last week I promised I would tell you where I got most of the textures that I use and a tutorial on how to use them. Basically, textures are just what they sound like...they are photos of walls and other objects that have some kind of texture to them. I have collected quite a few of my own textures in the last few years and always have my eye out for interesting textures to photograph so that I can use them later in my artwork. However, it is not always easy to find good textures, and many of the textures I have just don't blend really well with my photographs.

A few years ago, I found Trey Ratcliff's site, "Stuck in Customs" ... I can't remember how I found his site, but I stumbled on it one day looking at HDR photographs. Trey has been called "The King of HDR", and if you visit his site, you will see why...his HDR photography will blow your mind. He also has a nice tutorial on HDR worth reading, and it is where I got my start with HDR photography...later, he introduced a tutorial on using textures and then offered his own textures for sale. They were pricey, and I debated whether to purchase them or not. In the end, I decided to make the plunge, and I bought them. With the 150 textures, he had a nice long tutorial explaining how he uses the textures. I now use them all the time, and applied the techniques he shows on his tutorial to my own photographs. I gotta say, it was worth every penny...and it has brought my photography to another level and will turn your photographs into works of art rather than just another photograph...

If you are interested in the same textures and the tutorial, Click here to visit Stuck In Customs.

*Note: Trey offered to give me 15% of the sales that are generated from my blog. Since I am not here to make money (I have a full time job that does that), and this is not a commercial site, I will NOT profit from this. I will donate 100% of the proceeds to JIS Peduli which is presently helping the children that suffered in the recent earth quakes in Sumatra. Therefore, if you buy Trey's textures, 15% will go to a good cause...

This is another photo that I used Trey's Textures to Create...this is Tanah Lot in Bali...

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Athens, Greece

We were standing at the Acropolis in Athens, and this was the view...as far as you can see in all directions...a jungle of concrete. The amazing thing to me is that I can't see any people in this photo...maybe I am just too far away, or maybe all the people are down in the streets between the buildings, or maybe everyone is inside (it was really hot that day)...but wow, what a city...and I thought Jakarta was a concrete jungle...

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

The Stadium

The acoustics were so good here that when I was standing at the top of this old Roman Stadium in Effeses (Turkey), I had a normal conversation with my buddy standing on the stage below as if he were standing next to me. It was amazing...

Monday, October 05, 2009

A Tree In China

You gotta wonder what it would be like to sit in one spot for a few decades...or for some trees, a couple hundred years...imagine the things they would see. This guy got lucky...he is not stuck in some forest...he sits all alone and has unobstructed views...

Sunday, October 04, 2009

The Toko

Still playing around and experimenting with textures...

Workin' on a few things before I reveal my source of these great textures, and the tutorial on how to use them...BUT, will let you know soon...

As you have all probably heard, there was a terrible earth quake here in Indonesia. Jakarta was spared, thank goodness, but Padang, Sumatra (just Northwest of us here in Java) were hit hard, and they are still digging and hoping to find survivors...thousands are missing and the death toll rises daily. My heart and prayers go out to those folks suffering after this tragedy...

Friday, October 02, 2009

Skywatch Friday - Sky Cable Car

Happy Friday !!

Sorry, running out of sunsets and other great skies...this is the best I could come up with this week...still qualifies, right? Sky Cable Cars in the Sky??

Be sure to catch all the great skies from around the world HERE...

Have a great weekend!!

Thursday, October 01, 2009

The Garden On Top Of A Hong Kong Building

Don't architects just amaze you at times? How do they think of this stuff?

There are a couple of places where the architecture just amazes...Hong Kong is one of those places...