Just some end of the year musings

As we get ready to end 2012, I just picked out some of my photos to share. Though there was originally no real theme to my selection, I found that I actually did pick out pictures with a common thought. I would ask if you can figure it out, and then in this new year, I'll tell you what my own thoughts were. Anyway, have a grand new year!

Maintaining your focus

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Maintaining focus has always been a significant theme, photographically, for me. But that doesn't always mean that the pictures I take are always crisply in focus, for there are some scenes that you don't want as sharp. Above are some scenes that show both aspects of what I'm talking about. Photos number one and four are examples of "soft focus" on purpose, much as painting for overall effect, without the sharp details. Photos number 2, 3 and 5, however show the importance of crisp, clean focus, for without that aspect, they would just be "pictures." In photo number 6, it's not the camera, but the the scene that focuses on the subject, which, in my humble opinion, makes the photo special. I'd love to know what you think.

A bit of camera fun

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This week I thought that I would do something different again. These photos were all taken on our two trips to Alaska, and were taken six years apart, taken with two different sets of cameras. As some of you know, my newer camera is an Olympus, but my older camera was also an Olympus, just not as sophisticated. See if you can tell which pictures were taken with which camera.

Just some thoughts on perspective

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An interesting post by my friend, Stella, on her blog, Light Colour Shade, got me thinking about perspective, and how I usually tried to avoid anything like perspective on my photographs. But then I realized, as I was looking at some of my own pictures, that perspective really did matter. It may not be the linear perspective, of buildings, lines into the distance and such, but in these photos perspective really does matter. And thank you, Stella.

A bit closer to home

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Today was one of those rare autumn days, when the weather was perfect, I was not working or on call, and we had our granddaughter, Millie Maloney with us.
So I thought that I'd share some of what this day felt like with you, in hopes that you, too, had one of those days this fall. I personally don't know just how much Millie will remember of this day, but I'll treasure it always.

OK, they're just vacation pics

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 OK, I really like to look at people's vacation photos, probably because of what they represent, namely people going out of their way to see things, do things and experience as never before. Now this is not to say that vacation pics can't be interesting in their own right. Now, I've collected a few photos from a couple of our recent vacations, and believe me when I say that we definitely did things, experienced things in new ways, and the photographs just make them more memorable. So, here's hoping you, too, can enjoy them!

Nosebleeds from hell, and other disasters

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I'm back from another conference/vacation. And this one was also affected by nosebleeds from hell. I had been having nosebleeds, about every other day for two weeks - made worse by the fact that I take Coumadin (otherwise known as rat poison - you can ask me later why). Anyway the worst of these nosebleeds occurred the morning we were supposed to leave. In any event, my wife is now rather reluctant to leave the country for fear of my "having the big one" while in some foreign country. Well, that's a subject for later. Upon returning, I did dig out my old pictures of the time in Canada when I really had a major epistaxis, and I found some rather wonderful photos that I'd never shared with you all. So, here goes: #1 Waterton Lake, in Alberta, close to Glacier National Park in Montana. #2 The convergence of Upper Waterton Lake with Waterton lake (reportedly 800 feet deep). #3 Just somewhere in the Canadian Rockies. #4 Two of the Ten Peaks, surrounding Moraine Lake. #5, 6, 7 Views of incredible Lake Louise.