Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas from the Graham Family!!

Thanks to all of you that come visit my blog every day!! I really appreciate all your nice comments and emails that I get from you...it really is amazing how many of you have become friends even if we have never met in person. Hopefully, some day, we can all meet in person...that would be great!!

I will be taking a week off from blogging...going to visit some family in Central Java, and will be back in Jakarta on New Year's Eve. Have a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!!

This is my family...me, Kayla (6 yrs), Kelly (2 yrs), my wife, Tika, and our dog, Molly...

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Santorini Re-Visited

Here is another "textured" photo...I used eight different textures in this one...

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Water Bom Park

We took the kids to this water park in Jakarta...it was a blast! They had great slides for adults too!! It was the first time I visited a park in Jakarta where there were very few people, no one bugged us, and the food was good. We will go back for sure!!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

The Old Schooners

I can't get enough of these old Bugis Schooners. I must have a thousand photos of them, but I still can't resist taking more photos of them...they are really cool boats!

Monday, December 20, 2010

Times Square

Hard to beat NYC this time of year. We were there last year just before the New Year, and it was great even if we did freeze to death. This year, the Grahams are staying put here in Jakarta, but it is fun to dream of our time in New York.

I added some texture to this photo, and processed it as an HDR from a single RAW photo...I like the results, and I am thinking of making a BIG print of this to hang in my office...

I played a nice round of golf today, and the weather was perfect...breezy, dark clouds, and fairly cool for this part of the world (about 85 degrees F)...gotta love vacation!!

Friday, December 17, 2010

Cloud Over Hong Kong

Happy Friday!!

If you ever go to Hong Kong, be sure to take the tram up to Victoria Peak, and walk along the path away from the tourists...you can see this view...

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

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Working The Docks

I would not want these guy's jobs...they work in the hot sun for hours lifting bags of cement and carrying them from trucks to boats and back again. I get tired just looking at them...

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Colors

Not much to say about this...I just like the colors...

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Here's To YOU

Not sure what these guys were waiting for, but with their shoes off, looks like they were in for a long wait for something...they didn't look to pleased to have their photo taken, but the one guy raised his glass to me...funny!

Monday, December 13, 2010

One Man Walking

I never throw any of my photos away...well, unless they are totally out of focus or totally bad. You never know when you are going to find one of those hidden gems when you go back and look at older photos. An example is below. I was going through my old photos, and found this one. I never edited it though because the photo was a mistake. I wanted the guy sitting on the wall as his hat matched the color of the boat behind him, but this other old guy walked right into my photo, so I just accepted this photo as a mistake until last night. Now, when I look at the photo a few months later, I like it...and I like the guy walking...adds another dimension.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Bridge Of Angels

I tried three nights in a row to get down by the river to get this shot, but dinner plans and hanging out with non-photographers always prevented me from getting there. So, on our last night in Rome before heading back home, I told my wife I was going to head out on my own to get the shots I wanted without being hassled to "hurry up"...after a late dinner, Tika took a taxi back to the hotel, and I ran off and went running around Rome with my Leica and tripod in hand trying to get to all the spots I could...this was my last stop, and it was so peaceful down by the river and a glorious night (but really black sky)...

Thursday, December 09, 2010

Another Shot With Texture

Here's another shot I worked on last night from India. I also used "On-One's" professional frames to get that "acid burn" look on the edges. The cool thing about using textures, is that you can take an ordinary mundane looking photo and turn it into something pretty cool...

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Venice With Some Texture

It has been awhile since I messed around with some textures with my photos. When I get bored, it is fun to mess around with them....I used four different textures in this photo to reach this final look...if you have a plain old blue sky, textures will add that extra little lift to the photo making it a bit more interesting...a nice way to turn your photograph into a piece of art...

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

I Felt Like This Door

Ha ha...this textured wall was about how my stomach was feeling when I took this photo. My third day in India, and I had caught a parasite. It was not comfortable. I walked around with severe cramps...the type that make you bend over in pain...that didn't stop me from taking photos though...it takes more than a parasite to stop me..ha ha...

Monday, December 06, 2010

That's Amore...

You know that song by Dean Martin? "That's Amore"...well, it is the tune that goes through my head when I see a Moray Eel....

By the way, the two fish in the bottom left are sure brave, don't ya think? Look at the size difference between them and the eel? Can you imagine something that big relative to our size just inches behind you?

Friday, December 03, 2010

Sky Watch Friday - The Long Boat

Happy Friday!!

Have a great weekend, and be sure to check out other skies from around the world, HERE..

Thursday, December 02, 2010

Island Paradise

On the one day we didn't go diving, we visited this remote island and the village. It was a Sunday, so all the villagers were dressed up in their nicest clothes for church. They sang for us, and treated us like kings...it was one of those "National Geographic" moments...in fact, Nat Geo was there just a few weeks earlier filming for a couple of days...they filmed one fishing family following them in their daily lives...I can't wait to see the show on TV...

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

While In Rome...I Like These Too

I was going through my photos last night I took in Rome last summer. I came across these two, and processed them...I like the way they turned out...the Colosseum is an amazing place, and it looks different from different angles, so if you go there, go there at different times of the day, and walk around the place and shoot different angles...