the tha the tha the that's all folk

That's all for tonight. I have a couple more rolls of film to get through and then I have published everything from our road trip to Quincy IL & Hollister FL. I will try and get the rest of it posted before we leave for Thailand on Friday.

Speaking of Thailand, I packed my camera bag for this trip and it is surprisingly light and I'm taking almost all of my equipment. I have a monopod that I want to take, but since I do only carry on luggage I don't think they will let me on with it. I will most like just buy a cheap one over there.

Wish me luck and check here for updates from Thailand. I will post my progress every time I can find an internet cafe.

pax

under the bridge

leaves in the stream

sparkle

leaves

this feels so lonely

vintage red lake house

It's sad that the good times that this house represented to generations of friends and families will be bulldozed for lake front condominiums.

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white pickets

Are they to keep the bad people out or the good people in?

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lost ball

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small grey fall

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gray fall

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color fall

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stream

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ripples in the stream

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two versions of the same image

One for when I'm sad

One for when I'm happy

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still waters

I love water, part of it is growing up in Florida. Surfing, water skiing, SCUBA diving. sailing, fishing, and just going to the beach are an everpresnt part of your life. I could never move anywhere that is not close to the beach.


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lillies

A walk alone is a wonderful thing, no one to bother you, of distract you from the beauty that surrounds you. Like these lilies, they grow all along the side of the steam. No gardener could put together a more perfect setting.

I would have never seen this if I did not go off the trails the rest walk. Up above me on the paved road dozens of people went about their daily routines oblivious to what was a few feet away.

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your mother's garden

Flowers, dogs, water, and rocks are my favorite thing to photograph. They don't move much, they don't complain about the weather, or the flash, you can find them everywhere and you don't need a model release form to publish their pictures.


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smile

Small towns can create some of the sweetest people on earth. While I often refer to Illinois as "Mid-West Hell" It is a nice place to go but I could never live there. Mostly because since there is nothing to do everyone gossips about everything. I can't believe how judgmental these people can be.


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my buddy nick

This is a very special young man, and I love him as if he were my own son. He does not trust many people but for some strange reason he took to me when he was just a baby.

I only hope that some day we can understand what goes on in his head

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my friend brooke

This is Nick's older sister she is a great little girl and I really wanted to get a good shot of her. I really suck a flash photography, I need to learn that less is more. This would have been better if I just used only 1/2 the flash output. I will learn.


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tire swing

This is another one that I see the good shot in it but the exposure is all wrong. I should have paid more attention to my bracketing and been a little lighter with the flash. But the day was overcast and I really wanted the shot and didn't think I would get back to try again. That and I had been gone and hour and I was worried that everyone would think I got lost and would worry about me...

I think I need to get a flash arm so that the flash is not set dead on the subject. More equipment to but, photography is a really expensive hobby.


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the company you keep

If we are the company we keep, will this weed grow to be a tree; or will the tree become a weed?

It's dusty but I just didn't feel like putting a lot of time in rescanning or retouching this one. I don't think it's that good of a shot.

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your reach should not exceed your grasp

One of the thing I like about photography is that it make you look at common objects from different angles.

This was an okay shot, the lighting was off because it was overcast and I just couldn't get the kind of lighting that I wanted. So I Photoshopped the crap out of this one. I like what I ended up with.



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why?

There is something wrong with this picture and I can't figure it out. I know there is a good photograph in here somewhere...

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mossy rocks

I like this one, what do you think? I dare you to leave a comment. Be honest I can take it.


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woof! woof!

I like to take pictures of bark. I like the textures. I like the feel of bark too.



Do you get the joke?
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forest walk

This is the wooded walk coming from the spring and duck pond in South Park, Quincy, IL. Would you believe there is a two lane road with parking just on the other side of what you see.

It was such a nice morning cool and just enough moisture in the are; not like the mornings here in South Florida.

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forest view

The color version of this shot is nowhere nears as good as the gray scale. There is something about black & white photography that is more appealing to me, I guess I get distracted by all the colors. Maybe it was because growing up we had a B&W television in the living room for years and then I never had a color TV in my bed room until I was in my 30's.

Reality is in color everything else is black & white.

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this is south park

South Park, Quincy Il
Honestly it is, and it is a very pretty place. I will have a whole series from this park coming up soon.

I like this shot, it's the best one from my first day out away from the rest of the "family". It was nice to walk around and just look at things. I did mess with the saturation some, I wanted the greens to explode, so you would know that while you may only be looking at the stream you can see that the forest is lush.


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...in the eye of the beholder

I think I like it better in black & white


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beauty is...?

How do I explain who this is... This is Duane's back
Does this look better in color?
I like it better in gray scale

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home again, home again..

I'm home and happy to be here even if the weather is still crappy. I will have all my rolls of film processed in the morning and I should have my first travel pics up by Tuesday evening. That is if the weather is still bad and I can't go out and lay by the pool or go to the beach or some other fun outside thing.

on the road

I am on the road vistiting friends and in-laws for the next week or so. I am now in a small town in western Illinois called Quincy. It is noted as a location of one of the Lincoln - Douglas Debates. It also has a wonderful city park called South Park (stop laughing!) designed by Fredrick Law Olmstead. Olmstead is the father of flandscape architechure and laid out the original design of Central Park in NYC.

I was able to go on a photo walk through the park yesterday morning. The sun was not the best, we got some of the dregs of Arleane coming up from the south. I think some of the water shot may have worked; we'll see. Sorry that I have nothing to post now, but I am still working with a film SLR. We will just need to wait until I get back and process the film.

paseo

This one was taken in the same walled city was the "beating pole" in my post below. If you are wondering why the edges of the building are painted different colors, it is the way the owners/residents mark the edge of their building. It's like how we use fences here in the U.S.

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post card

At least that's what it looks like to me. I really saturated the colors, it looks like something shot on Kodachrome.

This is another picture taken during my trip to Portugal and Spain last winter. It was taken in some small walled city the tour bus took us to on our way to Fatima, please don't ask me the name because I can never remember these things.



I will be away from a broadband internet connection for the next week or so. We are going on a road trip to Illinois. I'm taking my camera (duh!) and I hope to have some great scenery shots when I get back. I hope to get all the good ones processed and up before we leave for Thailand on July 1. I will return July 17 with I hope 100's of wonderful vacation shots.
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rocks inside the wall

this is a better version of something

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jeff

He looks so sexy here.


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light poles, coast of Portugal

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sorry

I still have nothing new to post. I just scanned a few negatives from our trip to Portugal & Spain. I will work on them tonight and try and post before I leave for a driving trip to Illinois.

i am afraid

I don't know what I want or what I am doing. There is no way that I can be a photographer without going back to school or working as someone's apprentice. I am too old for this.

I don't want to be a wedding or portrait photographer, I don't think I have the talent to be a fashion photographer. The things I like best are candids and travel/landscapes. Which leaves photojournalism. That will never happen, I hate to get into people's business.

This will remain a hobby, I don't think I can make any money doing this. But hey, what do I know maybe someone will see something here and offer to buy it... not likely. It will just get stolen like so many other images on the web.

What does all this matter, no one reads this crap anyway.

rockscape

Rocks in a fortress somewhere outside Lisbon; I think. It was one of those whirlwind tours that had us in 5 different cities in 10 days.


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Jeff & Tami get hitched

The one acceptable shot I was able to get and it still sucks. The driver was in the way. I think the lens may need to go in for a good cleaning.


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sunset

Is there anything good about this photo?

No I didn't think so either.
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cute

Same photo as belowI just converted to B & W ( I guess it's called grey scale now).

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tired puppy

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his master's voice

dog = loyalty

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joe dog

This is Joe, he is a dog. He lives next door.




I don't really like this series of photographs, they are boring. The only thing that makes them somewhat acceptable is that they are of a puppy. How can you screw that up.
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a different light

Between each class I would stand outside my classroom and this is the view I imagined I would see.

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alone

6:45 a.m. the halls are empty and quiet. The students are gone. Summer has begun.

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It's over, four years of my life building a school. I opened this school and now I walk away to open another.

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