Monarch Butterflies at Pismo Beach.

A video on my YouTube channel showing a number of Monarch Butterflies flying around the trees at the Pismo Beach Monarch Preserve in Pismo Beach, CA.

Happy 4th of July to everyone.

Sunrise at Harford Pier 20221226

Sunsets at Oceano

I am privileged to live along the west coast of the US. During the fall and winter we have some of the most beautiful sunsets. Add the fact that I can take a quick jaunt to the beach, I can capture not only the beautiful colors of the rainbow, but when the tide is low, I can get these gorgeous reflections!

I am not a Blogger... LOL

Well, I guess in reality, if I am posting this on a blog, I am a blogger.
My life finds me always "doing", and not talking, or writing about what it is I am doing! When I think about it though, writing and talking about an experience, or completion of a task, is a great way to cement the experience in my mind. This also allows for a review of the process, which helps refine how I may approach the task, next time around.
Based on this most recent epiphany, I guess I better keep blogging, so that I can continue to grow... That being said, I still don't see myself writing on a daily basis like a "True" Blogger!
Go out and Create a Wonderful Day...

Tree Falling 20170122 at Victorian

Here is the last few seconds of a Facebook Live video I was shooting when a huge limb fell off of this Ash tree and hit a building. What are the odds of this happening? Crazy.

44th F100 Truck Show in Morro Bay

This last Saturday, 8/16/2014, I took a jaunt to Morro Bay to see what the 44th Annual F 100 North-South Run Was all about. I arrived early to beat any crowds.

The show was to start at 8 am, so I arrived at Tidelands Park around 6 am. I walked around and took some photos of the birds and the local "Morro Bay" scenery while I waited for the event.

The trucks started showing up around 7:45 am. After about an hour, the park was full of early Ford F-100 trucks and vans. The pride of ownership and the time and money invested in these early to late 50's trucks was obvious. I have seen a lot of Ford trucks, (having been a Ford truck owner since I first started driving back in the 60's), but there were some models I hadn't seen before.

I walked around, took photos and talked with the owners until mid morning. This was a fun little excursion on a Saturday morning, and one of the reasons I love living on the central coast.

For information on this event or other F-100 events go to: www.f100elite.com .

Photo Processing Choices

B-24 over San Luis Obispo, Ca.

As a photographer, when I create an image, I generally have a purpose in mind for the final processing of that image. As a Photo-Artist, I like to play with the image during processing to see what my possibilities are.

To me, all the processing programs available are like a painters tool palette. Sometimes I know the effect I want and use the proper tool to achieve the effect. Other times I push the boundaries of the tools and see what happens. The more I explore, the more I learn about the tools. I also can see what happens by combining effects with each other. The 4 photos above are an example of playing with a programs sliders. I used a combination of black and white along with color to create the different versions of the photo. by masking and blending layers in photoshop I could darken the plane or sky and change the tones. By using different effects in Topaz tools I could change the sharpness, grain, etc. and mix it in Photoshop.

The 4 versions above, are just a sample of the effects I was able to come up with for this photo. I didn't want to bore anyone with the other 20+ versions.

The point is EXPERIMENT. You have nothing to loose, and lots of information to gain. Remember to make note when things turn out to your liking. It is like a recipe for a good cake. Once you have it, make a preset and put notes as to what it does, for future reference.

Happy Processing...