Pier at Twilight, Steinhatchee, FL

Another shot from my travels in Florida.

Sunset Through Pines, Bainbridge, GA

This photo was taken about thirty minutes before the previous post of the cell tower. It was a beautiful sunset to watch, even through the sand gnats and mosquitos!

New Tower at Sunset - Bainbridge, GA

While I'm traveling for my job, I often see photo-worthy moments and try to capture them and share them. However, I don't believe I've ever posted a photo that is directly related to my job. This is a shot of a brand new tower that was erected just south of Bainbridge, GA. I was shooting at sunset when I was north of town, and got some great shots of the sunset through some tall pines. It wasn't until after sunset that the sky exploded into various shades of red, orange, blue and purple. When I got to the tower, I couldn't resist capturing its silhouette against the dramatic sky. Exposure was 1/60 sec; f/4.0 ISO 200.

Chipola River

It would not do justice to the beauty of the place I was at today to not post a shot of it, too. Here you go!

Braves and Boots

I'm way overdue for a blog post. I had a bit of spare time during the day today, so I decided to stop at the Chipola River near Clarksville, FL for some fishing and photography...two of my favorite things. As I was walking on the bank, I noticed a few 12 ga. shotgun shells laying around. My attention turned from shooting the cypress stumps and crystal clear river to doing some still life. What turned out was a lot of cypress sap on my clothes (which I had to wash out with rubbing alcohol in my hotel room), and one of my favorite shots I've ever done. 1/320 sec @ f/5.6; ISO 160. No photoshop editing other than AMP mark.

Mean Green

Here's a post-processed image from my shoot with Mean Green. Check out their facebook page here.

Dramatic Sky in Milton

Here's a shot I took after a storm while driving through horse country, between Canton and Alpharetta. You can see the sun's glare on the metal gate to the pasture beyond. Sunburst effect was made using a smaller aperture. Exposure was 1/400 sec @ f/22, ISO 100.

Red Barn in Snow

While it was tough to get good, clear shots during the snowfall and overcast skies on Friday, Saturday morning was a different story. It was clear, cold, and beautiful outside as I left my house for a walk in the snow to the nearest farm.

Vernal Falls

I can't help posting a Yosemite shot every once in a while!

Snow at Little River

Here's a couple of shots of the snow falling earlier this afternoon at Rope Mill Park in Woodstock, on the Little River.

Wailea Sunset

It's been too long since I posted a photo. This one was taken in Hawaii, circa 2001. I have been shooting lately, but I have been lazy uploading. This is one of the first photos I made with a digital camera. No photograph can do Hawaii justice, but since we have snow coming in tomorrow, maybe this will provide a little window into the upcoming months.

Smith Creek below Anna Ruby Falls

This cascading water was shot on New Year's Day on a short hike up to Anna Ruby Falls in Helen, GA. 1/2 second exposure @ f/16; ISO 100

Cooper's Hawk

I saw this bird sitting on a light post as I pulled up to a cell tower site today. I was only 30 feet or so away from it, and it was kind enough to cooperate and stay put while I got my camera out. This photo was taken from inside my truck, through the opposite window. 1/320 sec @ f/5.6; ISO 100

Sunset, Holly Springs

Today's digital photographers sometimes get spoiled with Photoshop - for good reason. It's a revolutionary program. Good post-production can definitely turn a fair image to a good image; a good image into an awesome image, and so on. So it makes me happy to say that this one is straight from the camera. No cropping, no saturation. Unspoiled. This was the first time I used the Nikkor 18-200 VR. Exposure was 1/50 sec @ f/14.

Pensacola Sunset

Another shot of the sunset at Pensacola Beach.

Sunset, Pensacola Beach

This is a pretty scene I shot at sunset last week while working in Pensacola, FL. The reds and yellows were very nice, but I really love this silhouette in black and white. I will most likely post some color shots from that evening in the future, too.

Chattahoochee After Storm

A moody, beautiful image of the Chattahoochee River after a summer storm. The whole scene was quite surreal, and the colors are insane.

That's a good lookin' family!

Fall Portrait of the Talleys, taken 10/24/09.

Pink Sky, May Lake High Sierra Camp

Another magical evening in Yosemite. Taken at nightfall at May Lake High Sierra Camp while the Big Meadow Fire was burning.

Photoshop takes the Happy Burger back 50 years

Before

After

I originally posted this image on September 4th, sans editing. I was lucky enough to have a classic car parked out in front of the building when I took the shot, so I used some things I have learned in Photoshop to strip everything modern from the image, including a newer model car, a portajohn, and a neon ATM sign. Then, of course, I turned it black and white.

Allison and Rylan

Here's one of my favorite images taken at the family reunion I shot last weekend. I had set up on the front porch to shoot family portraits in front of the bricks. The lighting was natural overcast from the right and a single studio strobe bounced off the porch ceiling at 1/8 power to fill the left and upper sides of the frame. Exposure was 1/80 sec @f/5.

Fall Portrait

This is sweet little Rylan Reese Talley. We couldn't get her to smile very much Saturday morning, but she still made quite the subject as she looked up at her mom and dad, wondering what was going on.

Chad Hearts Heather

I took this shot back in July under the Highway 41 bridge in Cartersville, GA. I don't know Chad or Heather. I took the color out of everything in the shot in Photoshop, except for the brilliant red. 1/100 sec @ f/8

Tuolomne Service Station

A shot of the gas station in Tuolomne Meadows in Yosemite National Park, just after nightfall.

Halie

Portrait from Homecoming night at Ringgold High School - I love how Halie's dress shows up against the gray background of the building. Fittingly, it's the cheerleading building where she no doubt has spent countless hours over the last four years. 1/125 sec; f/6.3 @ 100mm.

Chevy

Here's another shot taken at the Canton car show a while back...

Ringgold High School Homecoming

This shot was taken last Friday night at the Ringgold High School Homecoming Ceremony. My cousin Halie was on homecoming court, and I got to take lots of great shots. I've also gotten lots of photoshop practice since then. In this one, I used the graduated neutral density filter feature to keep the full moon exposed, while lightening up all the people on the field. It was a perfect setting for Friday night football.

Noonday Creek Flood, Woodstock

Here's a shot taken right through my windshield yesterday shortly after Highway 92 was closed at the Noonday Creek Bridge, just east of I-575. Westbound lanes were barely passable at this point, but both ways would close within an hour of this shot, as well as the 575 crossing of Noonday Creek just south of Towne Lake Parkway.

Mount Clark and Half Moon

The Big Meadow fire did all sorts of cool things to the evening sky while we were in Yosemite, and it was no different on August 31, our last night there. The peak in the background is Mount Clark, a 11,522' mountain with an obelisk-shaped top. This is one of my favorite shots from the trip.

Reflection, Mono Lake

One of a few shots I've gotten when I've been happy with overexposure. This photo was taken around sunset, but the overexposure in the sky blows it out so much that it looks like fog settling into the valley to the west of the lake. The tufa (salt deposit) and its reflection are exposed fine, so the focal point of the shot is still in tact. See Mono Lake and Lee Vining, CA for more information about the location.

Big Meadow Fire, Yosemite

On August 27th, while on vacation, I got to practice some photojournalism skills. As we drove along our detour around the Big Meadow fire through tiny El Portal, we took a quick turn off the side of the road to witness one of the fire choppers drawing water from the Merced River to dump on the fire. It only takes seconds for the big helicopter to fill the water tank and head back to the blaze. This is a situation where I was less concerned with getting a nice, artsy photograph, and more concerned with the story unfolding. I put the camera on program mode and got several nice shots of the chopper. Later, as we drove back toward the park, I was able to get some good shots of the smoke rising. There, I was able to get back to creative mode...because unfortunately the smoke wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

The fire began as a 91 acre prescribed burn on August 26, and quickly got out of control when winds shifted. Immediately, Big Oak Flat Road was closed, causing long detours for visitors trying to get from Yosemite Valley (the Southwest side of the Park) to Tuolomne Meadows (center of the Park) and points east. Big Oak Flat Road just reopened today at 5pm. The fire spread to 7,425 acres before 100% containment yesterday.