Sunset Paddle...

Here's another picture I took at the kayaking symposium a few years ago. It was a beautiful sunset but later that evening it poured.

I just found out about a web based program from Adobe called Photoshop Express, it's an online photo editing software. You can set up a gallery, fix up photos for MySpace, Facebook or even your blog. Here's the link to the website and the best part, it's free: https://www.photoshop.com/express/landing.html. To give you an idea on how this software works, Scott Kelby has posted a video on his blog that shows some of the features. Just go to his site and view his March 27th posting and you'll see his video link. http://www.scottkelby.com/

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lion...

March is not going out like a lamb this year, the temperatures are not too cold but the snowstorm going on out there right now is making it look like the middle of January. So much for the two days of spring we had.

The photo above was taken about an hour and half before the photo I posted on March 3rd, I think it was on the same roll of film. I never noticed the seagull standing on the bow of the boat while I was taking the photo. It wasn't until I got the film back that I saw it in the picture. I entered this photo in an online photo contest a few years ago and it took the grand prize in the seascapes category. The cash award was the most I've ever received for one of my photos. It was a good trip for me, the March 3rd photo appeared in a calendar.

Finally, Some Melting....

We finally had temperatures in the 50's yesterday and the snow took a beat down. There is still plenty on the ground and we're supposed to get a snow storm this weekend but at least we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. On the south side of the house, against the foundation, I noticed my chives popping out of the ground yesterday.

Kayaking Photos...

The top photo was taken while attending a kayaking symposium in Castine, Maine and the bottom one was taken on the Androscoggin River in Greene. It'll be a while but I'm looking forward to getting back in the kayak this year and doing some paddling.

Colorful Pussywillow...

When people think of a pussywillow they think white and fuzzy but as they bloom they're quite colorful. The pussywillows in this area are not quite like this yet, the picture is from last year. I used my foil reflector on this photo, the sun was coming up on the right and I had the reflector on the left bouncing light onto the shaded side of the pussywillow.

Eagle...

This photo was taken on the river from my kayak.

Early Mornings are Best...

One of my favorite places to be is in a dew covered meadow at dawn. The photo above is the type of pictures I take with my macro lens on mornings like this. I've done this type of photography more times than I can count and I have never run into another person. Of course I used the foil fill technique I described two days ago on this particular photo. The sun was coming up behind me from the right so I held the foil on the lower left reflecting light back up into the ragged robin blossom.

First Day of Spring?????

Today is the first day of spring but you wouldn't know it by looking out of the window. Since weatherwise, spring is taking its sweet time getting here, here are a couple of photos from last spring.

Photo Lesson...

At first glance these two photos may seem the same. They are similar to the picture I posted the other day but I used flash on that one. I took these two yesterday in front of the window with no flash, just natural light. What I wanted to show is the difference using fill light can make, the top photo was taken without it. In the bottom photo I added fill light, it really brightens things up. I probably could've taken the top photo and tweaked it in Photoshop using the dodge and burn tool to make it look like the bottom photo but you're better off getting a decent picture straight from the camera rather that spending all kinds of time on the computer trying to make an inferior photo look good. The fill light really brightened the pistol and stamens and even the stem underneathe the tulip.

The fill light I use is just a crumpled piece of aluminum foil flattened back out and taped to a piece of cardboard. I do a lot of macro photography and I've been using that for years. I used it in the butterfly photos I posted on Monday and if you check out the pussywillow pictures from Friday you can tell I used it there too. Although most of the fill light on the pussywillow photos was the snow on the ground reflecting light back up onto them. This goes to show not all equipment that helps improve your photography has to be expensive and something as simple as crumpled aluminum foil can help your photos look better.

Kayaking Blossoms.....

I took this photo when I first started kayaking, This particular year the for-get-me-nots were all over the river bank. Since then I haven't seen as many but I'm sure like most plants they go in cycles and eventually they'll be more. This is one of those photos that I don't think could have been taken if I wasn't kayaking, there are no trails through the woods so the only access would be by water. It was taken with my first digital camera, a Nikon Coolpix 950. At the time I was still shooting mostly film, it took me a while to switch to 100% digital but now that I am I'd never go back to shooting film.

Early Morning Butterflies...

I took these photos early in the morning, not this morning of course; again it feels like winter out there.

Finally....A Sign of Spring!!!

I took a little walk around the neighborhood the other day and I finally saw my first sign of spring. Despite all the snow still on the ground and the cold temperatures, winter is slowly loosening its grip. I took these pussywillow photos about half an hour ago. While I was taking the pictures I heard some red wing black birds calling, for me thats another sign of spring, yay.

Splash of Brightness...

Last Thursday I posted a close up of a tulip I started in my refrigerator last fall. The first ones to bloom were yellow, this week purple ones are blooming but there is one red one in the batch. I took a close up of that one yesterday and here is the result. I can't wait until the tulips are actually blooming outside.

More Photos From the Kayak....

Both of these photos were taken while kayaking last summer. I was actually photographing loons on July 4th when the muskrat went swimming by and I was able to grab some shots. The beaver was curious and kept swimming around me and it would slap its tail on the water from time to time.

Bird Shots.....

The eagle shot was taken from my kayak, because of that it's not tack sharp.

Originally I had stopped to photograph the ducks in the second photo and while I was doing that the heron landed on the rock. It stayed for a few frames then flew off, sometimes you just get lucky.

Green on Green....

Here's a shot I took in my yard a few summers ago. It was a cool morning so this katydid was moving in slow motion and I just waited for it to get to the tip of the lupine leaf.

Butterflies Fluttering By......

This is a late summer shot from a couple of years ago. The sun was just coming up and these butterflies were warming their wings so they could take off and look for nectar. I was lucky to see two on one goldenrod plant.

Making My Own Spring.....

The calendar says spring is in two weeks but outside it still looks like the dead of winter and it'll be a while before all that snow melts. I decided to create my own spring; last November I planted tulip bulbs in a pot and put them in the refrigerator, in early February I took them out and put the pot by the window and this week they started to bloom. The photo posted today is a close up I took yesterday, it's nice to see some color. Along with this yellow there are some purple ones, I may take some more photos this weekend.

Daybreak....

Here's another winter beach shot. It was a different day than the last beach photos I posted and in this one you can get a better sense of how deserted the beach was. That's Fox Island the sun is rising over. I'm sure anyone that has ever been to Popham knows, you can walk out to the island during low tide.

Jonesport, ME

When I photographed the puffins a while back I went to the area a day early and I drove around looking for interesting things to photograph. This old apple tree by the lupines was one of the pictures I took, shortly after I took the photo the fog lifted and the sun came out ruining the nice soft light. Right to the left of this photo, just out of camera range, there was an old abandoned house. Where this rock and tree were may have been a mowed lawn at one time, I think it looks better in this condition then it would mowed.

Acadia National Park...

Here's a shot that was taken at daybreak in Acadia National Park looking toward Otter Cliffs. Acadia is one of the most highly visited national parks in the U.S. but I didn't see another person the day this photo was taken. It just goes to show, if you go during the right time of year and time of day you can avoid the crowds. This was taken during the month of June.