New Orleans Trip

I'm Posting this a few days late, but over the last weekend I went to New Orleans to visit my brother and his family. We visited some cemeteries looking for Marie Laveau's resting place, and toured Bourbon street, and then went to Gulf Port Mississippi, to see the Gulf of Mexico.

We saw some Voodoo graves where people had made offerings and performed a ritual that included drawing three X's on the crypt.

We also visited a cigar shop where they rolled their own.

On Bourbon street we saw all sorts of street performers, and clubs, and shops, and I even got a picture of a vampire. The bald guy dresses as a vampire and gives tours, but this was his down time. And yes I know that one photo is blurry. I like it anyway.

And I also like to get regular street shots, since all anyone ever sees are the tourist areas, and I like to show people what the real city looks like.

These are just some of the photos I took. I might post more later.

Indoor Borealis

I was playing around with some leds and decided to break out the camera and goof off a bit. I just thought that these looked cool together.

Dinner Two Ways

This dinner is a lovely tarragon chicken baked in a phyllo dough shell. But, as you can see from the two versions one is more attractive than the other.

The bottom photo is a straight shot without any post processing. It looks fine but it lacks that pizazz that jumps out and says eat me now!

So how do we get the desired effect?

You can do it two ways. If you have a filter system you can use a graduated warming filter and shoot the original shot. This will brighten things up and increase your contrast a bit.

Or you can do what I did and use photo editing software. The basic procedure is to put a second layer over the top of the original image, and then choose an appropriate color , I chose a yellow-orange color. After you have your color, you turn it into a gradient by clicking the gradient button, or similar method. In the gradient options screen I chose color fading from top to bottom with a transparent bottom.

Next, you use the fill bucket tool to paint the second blank layer with your gradient. This leaves your image looking like someone spilled ink on it and tried to wipe it off. Now here comes the secret. In the layer options in most programs you can choose a blend mode. This tells the software how the top layer should interact with the bottom layer. I chose soft light for this blend but other programs may be different. The best thing to do is to experiment and see which turns out the best.

And if you are wondering, yes I made the dinner.

Desert Perch

This is from a road trip I took years ago. The model is my sister. We were really bored one weekend and decided to take a whirlwind tour of southern Utah. I forgot about this photo and was going through some old boxes and ran across it.

Early Winter Bramble

I took this on a short trip up a canyon. It was late in the day and the sun was just about to set and the light was not the best. I took this on the edge of a small stream that had cut a 20 foot deep gorge through a small meadow.

Abstract Power

Great Salt Lake Expanse

Up is Down

Salty Encroachment

Uprooted

Domestic Expedition

Why am I taking photos at three in the morning? It's the banana's fault. It's always the bananas.

Late Spring

I took this up at a small reservoir last March. It was quiet and cold and reminded me of one of those western movies. I half expected Clint Eastwood to come riding by, cigar clenched between tight lips.

I played with filters a little bit and got this partial b&w, partial color image. It made me think of a cold Winter turning into Spring with great reluctance, like trying to pry a few grains of sand out of Father Time's grasp.

Later on, Search and Rescue came down out of the back country with their fancy snowmobiles and gear. It looked like they had just finished training for the day. They stared to pack their stuff onto trailers and into trucks. One of the recruits thought it would be fun to try to take this four wheeler that was towing a snowmobile over a ten foot high mound of snow the plows had piled up.

You and I could have both predicted what happened, he got stuck. I didn't think it was appropriate to laugh at a Search and Rescue team, especially since one day I might have the misfortune to need them, but it was sure hard waiting until I got in the car before I let it out.

First Snow

Last night Was the first snow of the season. I was up later than usual, about four in the morning, and the wind was howling, making ghost sounds through the sliding doors, and I had to take a look outside. Snow was blowing everywhere. It was the first snow storm of the year!

I gathered up my gear attaching both cameras to tripods and placing plastic bags over each to protect them from melting snow flakes. Then I put on my boots and threw on a coat and went outside to brave a night so cold it set a new record, to take photos.

This photograph makes it look calm and peaceful. But, by the time I was done, I couldn't feel my hands and I looked like my closest relative's first name was Frosty.

(Feel free to click on the picture to view a larger version.)

Slumber

How come we are so reluctant to go to sleep, but once we are asleep, all we want to do is not wake up?

Lamed

There's a secret world out there lived by shopping carts. They move around when no one's looking and end up in strange places. I've found shopping carts in ditches, rivers, trees, parking garages, stairwells, and more.

This one strikes me as sad. A cart who has been useful to many, been abused by some, only to be set aside behind it's store as other more able carts are filled with groceries, and it can merely watch.

Cold Night, Lonely Street, No Smokes

Trip Trap Troll Bridge

Bryce Canyon Arch

Trees on Mars

Totems of the Night Before