So I have a friend who is a pro portrait shooter. I told her how much I'd love to have a 16-35mm f2.8L. She said that I could borrow hers any time I wanted as long as she didn't need it at the time. Man this thing is wider than a combine on a dirt road and sooooo crisp. I took this pic with the lens about 5 inches away from my nose. 

Sooooo fun!

Also I have been uploading "textures and nature shots" to several stock photography sites. A stock photo site is a site that:

1. you upload images (good ones) of stuff they want.

2. they, in turn, sell them to clients who use them for web production, design, etc. Such as: 

3. they give you between $.25 to $5.00 per download, depending on the size of the file that the customer wants. Pretty cool, that's for sure.

You have to pass a "test" of sorts-they make you upload ten of your best images and then if seven of them pass, you're in! (seven of mine passed, first try, and they weren't even my faves-oh well!)

I will be taking some pics of a lot of stuff soon, but I'm feeling a bit queasy. Might be a while. 

Till then!!

CHEERS!

     On our last trip to Colorado we had the honor of going to Neptune Mountaineering to hear Pat Ament speak and put on a slideshow. To say the least he is a bouldering legend and to hear him was very much a thrill. After the show I got a chance to meet and talk to another bouldering legend, Jim Holloway. These pics are pretty poor, but out of respect, I didn't want to bother them too much so I hurried.

Isaac with Pat Ament

Me with the ever towering Jim Halloway. BTW, I am 5'6" tall, evident here.

     For those that don't know, bouldering is climbing that is nearer to the ground and ropes are not needed. About 50 years ago a man named John Gill decided to hang up his trad climbing gear and just work on acrobatic, short routes. He became known as the grandfather of modern bouldering. By the mid to late 1950's he was doing problems that today would be rated around V9 and V10. (The "V" scale, named after John "The Verm" Sherman, who was also at this slide show, is a way of grading difficulty on a boulder problem-V0, easy-V10+, very hard. Some super humans today are calling out grades like V15 and V16!)
After him came gentlemen like Pat Ament, who, among others, were responsible for putting up large amounts of problems in the Eldorado Canyon area, as well as all over Colorado. Jim Halloway came later in the 1970's and put up more, harder problems all over Colorado, as well-some of which are STILL unrepeated. Amazing!

     Anyway, it was cool to be able to chat with these gentlemen, and I thought you might like a bouldering history lesson. 

Can't wait to get out and pull on some REAL ROCK!!

It will happen soon, my friends!

Cheers

Went to the beach at MacBride today, not to swim. I bought a pair of snowshoes and took the family sledding while I took pics. Snowshoeing is a BLAST!! I will do more! 

Kari's jump!

The return on her investment!!

Isaac's first run. 

Have fun and make sure you get outside, yourself!!

CHEERS!

I've been working on portraits lately because it is something that doesn't really come easy to me. Sounds silly, but I want to become a well rounded photographer. In order for me to do that, I have to practice what I find hard. Here is Isaac, my  son, and my very favorite 10 year old in the whole world.

Cheers!

It has been a while since I was able to go for a bike ride, so I decided to go after we got back. (see earlier post) It was breezy, to say the least. I knew that once I got into the woods from town I wouldn't be in so much wind, so I went about 18 mph average to get there. My ever expanding beard was frozen stiff from all the panting. When I reached the trailhead, I made the discovery that there was still snow on the trail, DUH!. Huge DUH! I pushed through about 2-4 inches of snowmobile packed ice and slush for about a half mile, and then decided to turn around. If you've ever tried riding through sand and turning, you'd realize that it is a lot harder than it looks. This was very similar. I was wiped. I got a drink, took some pics and headed back. Altogether about 4 miles, but I still got a great workout in.

Here I'm going about 10 mph and shooting the pic.

Till next time,

Cheers 

Took Kari and the rascals out on the North Shore trail today. The sunlight was so nice to be in. It was very squinty out. Snowball fights and walks on the ice. The sky was such an amazing blue that I couldn't help but shoot the tops of trees to catch it.

Be sure to get your vitamin D!

Cheers!

Fog truly does some amazing things around here. So many of us are sick of the snow and cold, myself included, but just when I think I've seen enough we get doused with more beauty. Here are some shots from this morning from the "swamp loop" around the rec plex in Solon. The scene was so surreal and quiet. The peace that I get when I'm out alone with nature always makes me feel small. I felt grateful to be alive.

Hope you get a chance to get out and enjoy it, too!

Cheers!

I know, I know. TWO posts in ONE day? Well, I wasn't going to, but the sunset was amazing and I got some new neutral density filters to use, so I had to. Anyway, here they are...

Footprints in the snow

Weeds

This looks like it should be taken at night, but with all of the filters in usage, it is actually the same sunset as above. Pretty cool effect, but I still have to "fine tune" it. Good looking sunset!

Cheers

Went for a walk on the Sugar Bottom road today. It was amazing to be outside. I had to park at the bottom and walk for a while. I didn't mind. The feeling of sunlight is never so welcome as when you haven't had it in so long. 

Nice, blue skies were sooo welcome!!!

Bullet holes

Bluebird home

Shagbark Hickory tree

Great to be out in the forest again!

Cheers.

Got outside with Kari and Owen today. It is always nice to have company with me to my usual "haunts". 

Owen hanging on the "Moby Dick" stump

The sun was barely peeking out. I can't wait for some springtime weather.

The only real color I could find to shoot

Cheers!

I made it back out to the lake today to try to catch the sunset. This time I got very brave and just walked across the lake on the ice. Got some fun shots on my way, too.

See you on the flipside!

Kari and Owen went to swim lessons this time and so had some time with Isaac tonight. We decided to play chess. I won't tell you the outcome, but let's just say he's good at it. Enjoy the pics and have a great one!

Cheers!