Tuesday, June 9, 2026
Finally back home, it’s amazing what a good night’s sleep can do for you.
I was able to get out today and shoot. Pretty happy with this shot, not technically, but more about the metaphor or meaning. I’m still torn with the title. Originally, I had “The Slow March of Death”, then “Waiting Their Turn”, but “Standing Among Ghosts” gave me goosebumps, so I went with that.
If you have a good title, please let me know!
Monday, June 8, 2026
Ah, road life. Not always fun or pleasant. Another rough night’s sleep. The resort limits how cold you can make the room, and it’s just too hot for me. I like to sleep cold. But mediocre coffee and a good breakfast shake off the lack of sleep this morning.
Out walking this morning, I was wondering why some bushes are filled with purple flowers while another right next to them is bare. You can see down in Stray Pixels, why.
Well, the plane is already over an hour late; it might be a long day, life on the road.
Cheers.
Sunday, June 7, 2026
Back in Cancun. Hot and humid, and the resort is dead. Nobody is here. It’s so nice and quiet. Walking back to my room, I came across this male Baltimore Oriole. Blurry shots, but he was moving fast, and all I had was my iPhone. Such vivid colors.
Hope it was a good day!
Saturday, June 6, 2026
Pretty sad day on the photo front. Had a terrible night’s sleep, got up at 2:30 in the morning, and had a long day. My only shots were early this morning, thank goodness I took those. Time for sleep.
Shot and processed on the iPhone.
Friday, June 5, 2026
Get-R-Done! Knocking the daily photo out early this morning.
Around 6 pm, I was going to post my photo of the Kodak printer review and thought, “You can do better than this. Come on, work for it a little bit.” So off I went in the car, looking for a nice sunset shot. I took about 90 photos and came away with just a few keepers. I posted that shot around 9 pm, which is very late for me. But all that put me in the “carry my camera everywhere” mode, and this morning, when I got up at 5 am, I grabbed my coffee and a camera and sat outside, just watching the sun come up and the birds moving through the soft colors of first light.
OM-1 Mark II • 400mm • 1/3200s • f/4.5 • ISO 2000
Sidenote: I need to somehow make a foam insert that fits in the passenger seat, fills the footwell, and gives me a nice, level, soft surface to put cameras and lenses on. I often drive around looking for shots, and putting a camera bag on the passenger seat just is not stable or ideal. Last night, a harder-than-expected stop made a camera roll off the seat and hit the floor. I was not happy…
Has anyone made anything like this? Have you ever seen anything like this? I’m thinking of a big, soft foam insert that fills the space, with slots you could cut to hold your gear securely while still having quick access to it. Last night I missed good shots because it took too long to futz with gear.
Thursday, June 4, 2026
Wednesday, June 3, 2026
Another crazy busy day. Up at 4 am, to drop my better half off at the airport to go see the grandkids. So that leaves me with dog-walking duty. Out into the heat for a 4 miler. The dogs looked at me funny because “Mom” always does 7+ with them. Hey, I got things to do.
Then chores and office work. I love the term “Office Work” because for me, that usually means hobby stuff! Today I completed my current printing class and did some more hard proofing. I love holding prints in my hand. If you haven’t printed any of your photography in a while, please do so. It feels good. It looks good. There is NO comparison to looking at a print on screen vs holding a print on good paper. I have a zine from Florian - I love looking at this thing. It’s beautiful to hold photography in your hand. Trust me.
So, that meant no photography time today, so you get one of the dogs and me by this very pretty flowering bushy thing…
I’m off on a trip soon, but I’m very excited to get home. I’ve carved out 2 or 3 days of just shooting pictures time. I don’t know where I’m going yet or what I’m doing, but I’ll be out there for sunrise and sunset for sure. Even in these nasty 42 °C / 107 °F temperatures. Tickle me excited.
If you’re reading this, you actually stopped by my blog. Thank you. I appreciate you. I hope it was an amazing day.
Never Stop Learning!
P.S. Three photo blogs that I look at every week, or whenever they post: (and I think you should also) Florian.photo & Jasper.Tandy.is & Daniel Pietzsch’s Photo Journal Dan also has a very cool Polaroid page.
Tuesday, June 2, 2026
Monday, June 1, 2026
Emotional day.
We went over to Richard’s house to meet with his wife and son. We had a good talk, told some stories, and shared good memories. They were very gracious to let us pick out a few of Richard’s photos to keep in his memory. I will proudly have these on my office wall. I miss our Flickr chats, seeing Richard out on his morning walk, and talking about woodworking…
Miss you, friend.
Down in Stray Pixels, a few shots from yesterday turned out pretty well for iPhone shots. Craig, Richard’s son, wanted a picture of mine printed that he and his dad had commented on before he passed, as a memory. I’m working on some color correction and testing some new photo papers to get a worthy print for him.
It was nice to fiddle around with photography and printing today while I thought about Richard.
Saturday, May 30, 2026
First time in Richmond. Not enough time to explore the city, hopefully next time. Good day out in the skies, only 40 minutes late by the end of the day. Lots of thunderstorms and turbulence today, glad to be done. Ended up in Cancun, time for a good rest.
Friday, May 29, 2026
Thursday, May 28, 2026
These two California Quail were outstanding parents, carefully corralling and watching over their brood. So much fun to watch.
Hope it was a good day out there for everyone. Thanks for stopping by.
Wednesday, May 27, 2026
Back from mountain biking and nursing my old, sore, out-of-shape body, I’m now sitting in the backyard with a cup of coffee, watching this little guy guard his two feeders. A little male Anna’s hummingbird has proudly claimed my backyard tree as his home, and I’m honored. He’s letting me get really close with my camera. I think it’s a fair trade: I provide two always-full feeders and a big shade tree, and I get to take pictures.
I’ve also put up two grass hummingbird nests, just in case he wants a ready-made home to move into. From what I’ve read, Anna’s hummingbirds now live in the Phoenix Valley year-round.
Tuesday, May 26, 2026
Another great day of biking through some spectacular nature.
Shot and processed on iPhone.
Monday, May 25, 2026
Great day out exploring and mountain biking. Not very many pictures today, I’m really out of shape, it took all my energy just to stay on the bike. Add in an elevation of 7300', and I was toast.
Sunday, May 24, 2026
A little road trip up to Flagstaff, AZ, for some hiking and biking to escape the already oppressive heat in Phoenix. Shot and processed on iPhone. Summer is filling me with dread. I need to move North. Way North.
It’s always been a fascinating topic for me: where you live and why. I’m envious of the people who can say, “I live here, I love it here, and I’ll get the best job I can here, because I love it.” On the other side of the coin are the people who say, “I’ll live anywhere for the job that I love. My job comes first; I’ll make do wherever I am.” Guess which camp I’m in…
I’m seeing a positive trend with younger people I fly with: they’re putting quality of life first. Where they live comes first, and how much they work comes second. They’re putting family and time off first—something we never did, and we’re paying the price for that attitude later in life.
Anyway, I digress. A topic for another day.
I hope it was a good day. Thank you for stopping by.
Saturday, May 23, 2026
Home from a good three day trip. Caught River outside looking thoughtful.
Friday, May 22, 2026
Beautiful day in SEA, a short walk and halibut fish & chips make for a nice day.
iPhone shot and processed—more pics down in Stray Pixels.
Thursday, May 21, 2026
On the road, I had a few hours to wander around downtown Indianapolis before bed—another early morning ahead.
Shot and processed on iPhone. More photos down in Stray Pixels.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
Trying to get a good shot of the dogs is harder than it should be. They really dislike having something pointed at them. I have to be really fast before they turn away.
Here is Daisy, looking a little perturbed that she’s being subjected to all these photographs.
Tuesday, May 19, 2026
What a day with this shot. I originally took it with the iPhone, tweaked it, and just never liked the results. I almost posted it, then thought, come on, you can do better.
So I got the OM-1 out and used the 60mm f/2.8 Macro lens. I shot it handheld on a table outside, where there was plenty of light. I had to clean up some dust in the image, convert it to black and white, and make a few more tweaks. I’m much happier with these results.
There’s something about a close-up of a lens, where you can see the aperture rings, that I really like. I’d love to spend more time finding a better angle for this shot, using a tripod, and getting all the dust off the lens!
I hope it was a good day for you and you were able to take some pictures too.
Thanks for stopping by.
Monday, May 18, 2026
The very slow but steady march toward my film experiment continues with this absolutely beautiful Pentax Analog Spotmeter. I think it’s simply beautiful, and I love bringing it up to my eye, pulling the trigger, and getting my EV.
I grew up shooting and developing film. Trying to think back on how I metered and what techniques I used has left me with very little information—memories lost to time and buried under too many digital cameras. I can’t even remember the basic steps of developing film in the darkroom.
So, here I am with my grandfather’s Rolleiflex, two Pentax Spotmeters, film in the refrigerator, and the BeerPan 35mm pano camera on the way. Now it’s time to refresh those dark arts of film photography…
You can read how Ansel Adams did it and come away a little frustrated. There are plenty of videos online that will instruct you, but I was looking for something special—something that spoke to me: an instructor whose photography I deeply admired and who was willing to share their technique. I found Nick Carver. I don’t know Nick; I only recently found him on YouTube and have watched several of his videos. I liked his style, loved his photography, and he just so happens to have a course on manual metering for film. I don’t want the quick-and-dirty approach; I want to truly understand the hows and whys of it all, like I used to. Nick has put me on a good path toward understanding how to meter a photograph so it comes out right almost every time. With the cost of film and film developing, I don’t want to waste film learning the hard way.
Along with Nick, and with some very good courses from John Greengo, the lost knowledge is coming back. You know—the 18% gray card, the light meter that shows 0, meaning Middle Gray. The technique of shooting white and black cards at one-stop intervals until you lose detail, searching for your film’s dynamic range. Wonderful examples proving that light meters at zero are based on Middle Gray. The rule that says there is no “proper” or “right” exposure—only the exposure you want for that photograph. There is more to it than I remembered, but probably, back in high school, I wasn’t as interested in the deeper whys and hows. I am now.
The experiment continues with more learning. I haven’t even started figuring out how to get my negatives into the computer—scanning them, taking pictures of them—I have no idea. Then it’s out to the field for my first film shots in 30 years. I’m in no hurry; this is a journey that I’m enjoying every step of.
It’s fun. I love the process. I love learning. I love photography.
Let me leave you with the Filmomat (I got the link from Hiro’s newsletter). I watched the video, marveled at the technology, but started to think, “How much does this thing cost?” Well, check it out. I won’t be buying one 😂.
Sunday, May 17, 2026
What a day. The alarm went off at 3 A.M. Dallas time, which is 1 A.M. local time for me. Talk about painful. I was main-lining coffee until I was vibrating. Good day in the training center, then a completely full flight home. I’m still amazed that everyone is still flying. Planes are packed. Which, on the bright side, is good for my job. (but, I’m still going to complain, it would be nice to have center seats open…)
Another tough day for pictures. I got what I got.
Saturday, May 16, 2026
Busy day today, just a few shots to pick from.
iPhone shot and processed.
Friday, May 15, 2026
Thursday, May 14, 2026
Tough day on the photo front. Lots of airport time and deadheading. Finished another book, though, and got a good start on another. All is not lost.
Another three days at the training center ahead of me.
iPhone shot and processed. 100mm f2.8 48MP RAW
Wednesday, May 13, 2026
Tuesday, May 12, 2026
Flame Skimmer Dragonfly (Libellula saturata)
Ok, the 10-year-old boy in me had to ask the internet if the Blue Dasher had a long penis, hence its scientific name. Well, it turns out my Latin is just really rusty. Longi is Latin for long, and Pennis is winged/feathered. Talk about a let down 😆
Monday, May 11, 2026
My friend Richard died this morning in his sleep.
Today’s pictures are dedicated to him. I took them yesterday—Richard’s last day, at least here on Earth. These pictures are for him. Richard may have commented on one or two of them on Flickr. I will miss that.
I will never forget Richard. I did not know him for very long, but he was such an amazing human being—so kind, so talented. Richard was a husband, father, grandfather, teacher, artist, woodworker, photographer, and so much more—a wonderful photographer with a unique style. He had many art shows featuring his work, and I was lucky enough to see a few of them.
We lived close to each other and consulted on projects from time to time. We texted and communicated on Flickr. Richard loved Flickr and had so many Flickr friends.
You will be greatly missed, my friend. You made me a better human. You gave me so many creative ideas and inspired me.
Wherever you are, my friend, take some pictures and send them to me…
The last comment from Richard on Flickr to me.
Richards last photo on Flickr.
😔
Sunday, May 10, 2026
