In a New Groove

The transition to a home based business has gone better than I expected. This has been my busiest July ever, and I really like the different atmosphere. Today I finally had time to refresh my web site. I put a fresh 90 images on the home page, and a new awards page. Check it out!

Photomatter (my web site)

Enjoying the details

Sometimes all you have to do is look to find aesthetically pleasing things. Here is a small sampling of a walk around the perimeter of the cabin up north.

There are seven more from this series, and you can see them all here

LINK HERE

Stitchin' Seattle

I enjoy making panorama's, but a really enjoyable horizon makes them so much better. During a recent visit to Madison Washington (a suburb of Seattle) I pressed into service an old 500mm Reflex-Nikkor - C f8 lens from the early 1980's. It's a catadioptric lens design which is brilliantly small, and light. Though it lacks contrast, and can produce weird dough nut shaped highlights - it completely lacks any chromatic aberration. The above image is 24 vertical images stitched together and it is sized from it's 40,000 + pixel size down to 2000 pixels. Even 60 miles away, Mount Rainier dwarfs lake Washington in the foreground.

This nine vertical image stitch shows the new lake Washington bridge being constructed. It is suppose to be finished by 2016, and I believe they intended to just sink the floating portion of the bridge in the foreground of the above panorama. Click either photo to see a larger version.

Art & Beyond

A friend let me know about a trade magazine (Art and Beyond) that is exclusively distributed to art galleries, museums and art institutions. They have an annual "Special Digital Art and Photography" issue, and they held a competition to be a featured artist. I got word in early March that I was one of the featured artists selected to be in the magazine (page 21). The link below is to an online version of the magazine. (I'm ordering some hard copies)  However, you can see my entries (above) and those of the other 15 featured artist in this link. I would suggest you make it full screen to see it better.


https://issuu.com/art_beyond/docs/art_beyond_special_digital_art_2014/32?e=0

FM Monthly Assignment Win - Theme Antique

Had another win in Fred Miranda's monthly assignment (#118). The topic was antique - the top five finishers can be found HERE

I've had 16 wins doing these "Assignments" on FM. (Which you can see here)  However, some of my favorite images only made it to second place (19 times), or even third place (18 times). But, the best thing about these "Assignments" is getting out there shooting, and doing your best to convey the topic. It sharpens your skill, and the reward is another likely keeper for your portfolio.

FM Weekly Assignment Win - Theme Electricity

Had a win in Fred Miranda's weekly assignment (#597) - after a long dry spell. The topic was electricity - the top five finishers can be found HERE.

Titled: "The Human Touch"

Fred Miranda's web site (Linked HERE) is one of the most aesthetically pleasing photo sites on the web. There are resources for photographic information, and encouragement in the forums and other areas of the site. Over the years I have participated in both the weekly and monthly assignments to motivate me to continue to hone my skills. I believe participating in these assignments can help anyone; and gets you out shooting photos and thinking about ways to convey it visually. Try it!

The image is available in my conceptual gallery for prints, products, and commercial publishing HERE.

Children Photo Contest "Award of Excellence"

I just received notice that another photo of mine received I Shot It's Mark of Excellence award. However, it is not the whole story. I was imaging some photos from a family event in which Sam went from happy to not so happy in a short period of time. I liked both images, and entered them in the contest.

I Shot It Judge Lisa Alessandra Kutzelnig's comments about the awarded photo.

ohhh, these eyes and the expression on his face! In German you would call him a "Lausbub" (a little rascal). A good portrait should transfer emotions and reflect the character and thats what is does! I like his cheeky facial expression and also the way you cropped it.

 Apparently happy wins, but I still like the second image as well!