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Coquille River Lighthouse, Bandon, Oregon.

Taken in June, 2011, on our family vacation to Oregon.  This would be one of the few HDR pictures that I kept, mainly because when I tonemapped it I made a concerted effort to make it more natural-looking. We had a lot of fun taking pictures there.  It’s really cool, and the driftwood on the beach is amazing.  I do remember when I had the original HDR image processed the driftwood was really hard to look at.  The HDR made the wood pop and it captured all the detail.  It gave me a headache.

Hidden Gem

One of the benefits of my job as a FedEx courier is driving around and seeing photo opportunities every day, even as an in-town driver.  I have, many times, taken my camera to work with me and have been able to get some really nice shots, especially during the late fall as the sun goes down earlier in the day and during the summer when storms roll in. A benefit of my particular route would be the fact that it covers an area of town that is ever-expanding, which means that I find myself in areas that were once open farmland and I now have the benefit of seeing new areas that were previously inaccessible without trespassing on private land. … Read MoreHidden Gem

Solitary Figure at Sunset, Bandon (?), Oregon.

This picture, and others I’ll post, illustrates a good example of the frustrations of rebuilding a blog.  Thankfully, because of EXIF data, I know that the picture was taken in June, 2011, while we visited my wife’s family in Oregon and gave the kids an opportunity to see, and in the case of my son – meet,  Grandpa Ladd.  It was a fun week.  The kids got to see the Pacific Ocean for the first time.  They got to see sea lions for the first time.  We got to see Springfield and Autzen Stadium for the first time.  The Pacific Northwest really is a beautiful place and although my heart is in the Midwest, especially the U.P., I could see … Read MoreSolitary Figure at Sunset, Bandon (?), Oregon.

Fall at Sibley State Park, New London, MN

I was insanely glad that I kept the original RAW file for this.  The picture was taken in October, 2011 at Sibley State Park.  My wife, Becky, and I had managed to get a camping weekend by ourselves and we couldn’t have had a better time than we did.  It was beyond gorgeous that weekend and it was really nice to have a weekend alone to reconnect. At the time, my friend, Jacob, was getting in HDR photography, as were a lot of people at the time and I got caught up in it as well.  I look back on the photos I took and what I originally posted on this blog the first time, before I goofed when setting … Read MoreFall at Sibley State Park, New London, MN

The Flower at Quarry Park

Another oldie, taken in 2010 with my D40.  Quarry Park was my go-to spot to go and putz and practice with nature and HDR, once I got into it.  I don’t think I’d had my camera for too long when this was taken.  I was still putzing with Photoshop and working with layers when I attempted to do the whole black & white and color thing.

Portraits: Tasha Botz

These pictures are a few years old – 2011 to be exact.  I was still new to photography and had just graduated to a more decent camera – the Nikon D40.  I really enjoyed it.  My neighbors’ daughter, Tasha, was graduating that year and asked me to do her senior portraits, which I remember adamantly not wanting to do because I was so new and I really didn’t think my little camera was good enough.   Looking back on the pictures, which I’ve not done in quite some time, I can see how inexperienced I was.  I had NO idea what I was doing and thankfully I had my wife with me, who is really good at posing subjects.  I … Read MorePortraits: Tasha Botz

Starting Over…

This would be the second time I’ve lost all of my posts on my blog and although I’ve not updated it for a while, I still have a desire to go back and try and re-upload the pictures I did before.  It’s just rather frustrating trying to remember what was going on when I initially took them. Grrr…