Being crooked

I've been told, but I won't name names :~) that the horizon in this photo is crooked. I would have to agree with that and the crooked horizon throws off the photo. This is what happens when you focus in on a subject and don't observe the whole picture. Your subject (the palm trees in this case) look good but then something else is off in the photo that skews the whole photo.

If you drink a couple of mai tai's this photo will look perfect or you won't really care that the horizon is crooked!

Taking the plunge!

The weather around here continues to be warm and dry. Lord knows we deserve it after this last winter!

Found these two fellows diving off the Seagate Wharf in Port Hardy. It didn't take long for either one to get back out of the water ond into the warm sun as the ocean isn't that warm around here!

Big Roots

I'm not sure what kind of tree this is. I found it in Upcountry on the island of Maui, Hawaii. I thought the roots were amzing. There used to be a car in the background of this photo but to make the tree look better I painted it out.

Deceptive perspective.

Really big 250 lb. dog with Wife or poor photography?

I admit poor photography on my part. This is what happens when you get your angles all wrong, though it makes for great bragging rights on who has the bigest dog!

What are you looking at?

I took this photo in Oklahoma in June. I was happy with using the zoom lens and not getting to close to this buffalo since he stood almost as tall as me (6'2") while he was on all fours. I'm pretty sure he outweighed me by a few pounds too!

Bike Jump

Went for a bike ride this afternoon with my step-son... well sort of anyway. I ran the camera he did most of the radical part. He offered to run the camera if I wanted to do a couple of jumps... Needless to say I declined just in case anyone out there thought I was nuts like my step-son!

Old photos

I'm having to post some old photos I have because right now I can't see out of my right eye very well to take any new photos. I was working with a grinder this weekend and ended up getting a fleck of steel in my right eye. It's nothing serious but it scrathed the eye and now all it wants to do is water up. Seeing through that eye is kind of like being under water without a mask.

Although I didn't take this photo, I am in it. This was taken in the waters off Maui when my wife and I were scuba diving. The clarity of the water there is amazing!

Capturing the moment

It was a beautiful afternoon in Hardy Bay. I took a number of pictures, these four are the best ones from today.

Black & White vs. Color

I took this photo this past spring before the leaves came out. I was walking along the creek on our property and I happend to look up to see where the sun was for another photo and this is what I saw. It seemed intriguing to me and I think it's even better in black and white instead of color.

Maybe you can decide.

Blame Global Warming...

Last winter had more days with snow on the ground and the lakes frozen over than anyone can remember.

This spring has been one of the dryest on record.

We are in the middle of a prolonged heat wave, with all time temperature records being broken all over the West Coast.

Then today we get the biggest and longest thunder and lightning storm anyone can remember!

This is all great! I love this new variety of weather patterns, way better than just rain all the time.

Speaking of bugs..........

This one was "bugging" me while I was trying to get shots of the hummingbird. The birds and the bees, for some reason that sounds familiar to me. I must be getting old!

What bugs you?

Here are pictures from yesterday and today. For whatever reason bugs were what captured my attention. The first one is aphids of some type or other.

This next one came out not bad, the bee must have known I was going to post his picture as he did a number of poses for me, this one being the best.

And lastly this huge bug. I held a dime up close for scale (but not too close!). I have no idea what it is but it definately has my respect!

Almost ready.........

I was wondering around with my camera yesterday and decided to take a stroll through the small orchard we have. I noticed that the apples and grapes were getting close to being ready so I took a few photos trying to capture the colors. There's nothing like cruising along on the mower and just reaching up and grabbing an apple or plum for a quick snack.

I'm not a big wine drinker but I do love grape juice and when it comes straight from the vine the taste is amazing!

Lady of the arboretum

This bronze lady is in a secluded nook in the Lyon Arboretum in the upper Manoa Valey on Oahu.

The arboretum is operated by the University of Hawai'i and is the only university operated botanical garden located in a tropical rainforest in the United States.

The Lyon Arboretum is open to the public and is well worth the visit. Bring your camera, good shoes, bug spray and pack a snack or light lunch. The arboretum covers over 200 acres!

Coming down from the sky

Two nights ago I was relaxing on the couch watching TV while a rain storm was passing through. According to the weatherman it was just supposed to be a gentle rain and nothing to worry about. In the middle of relaxing my wife came in from outside and told me the clouds were rotating. I quickly grabbed my camera and headed out the door. That either makes me a dedicated photographer or an idoit, I'm not sure which.

For a brief second this cloud swirled down from the sky and then dissipated as quickly as it formed. After that it was the gentle rain that the weatherman had promised. Life in Kansas, it's always interesting!

More from the front porch

When I started taking photos of the hummingbird I ended up taking 112 shots in just a matter of a few minutes. I was adjusting the aperture and switching from auto and manual focus as I went. I've grown to love the "new fangled" auto-focus on the DSLR's but it just wouldn't focus right all of the time when I was shooting.

After looking at my photos I decided in hind sight the auto focus got about as many right as I did using manual focus so I'm not sure I was any better off using manual focus. Like Paul said in his last comment, I only got a few really good photos out of all of the ones I shot. I am definitely glad I am using digital and not film. Digital has allowed me to shoot things I never would have wasted the money of film and developing on. If you are shooting digital (and I can't imagine why you wouldn't) shoot, shoot, shoot! It's always better to delete something than not have something because you wouldn't press that button a few more times.

Because of the location of the hibiscus and the fact the sun was coming up behind the plant my lighting wasn't ideal for the bird. The back lighting was almost perfect for the flower and I didn't want to use the flash because I thought it might scare off the hummingbird. This predicament left me to do a little post processing on these to get the hummingbird lit a little better.

These are cropped quite a bit to get the close-up I was looking for. I would have really liked to have been using a 400mm or even 500mm lens. I guess I'm going to have to invest in a "Bigma" one of these days.

Just humming along.......

My wife and I were sitting on the front porch early this morning drinking coffee and contemplating a trip to Hawaii when a guest arrived. I guess the hibiscus was just too tempting because I was able to get within about ten feet to take some photos of this hummingbird.

Downtown Coal Harbour... LOL

Definately not downtown Coal Harbour, the tallest building here is the old WW II airplane hanger down at the water.

I took this in the downtown busines district on Honolulu. It's one of those stupid tourist pictures one takes when on holiday, the locals just shake their heads at the guy without a tan then smile when they think how much money I'll be spending while I'm there and the only thing I'll be taking back with me is some lousey pictures, a sun burn and one of those distracting stick to the dash dancing hula dolls for my pickup truck...

Man-o-man I can't wait until next holiday in Hawaii!

Smoke in the forest

The weather out here on the West Coast continues to be unseasonably hot and dry with no end in sight. Though this picture is only of campfire smoke in the forest, there have been and continue to be forest fires elsewhere in the interior of British Columbia. At one point last week 17,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes for a number of days, a small handful of those people returned only to find ashes.

Interestingly enough I haven't heard many people here in the coast complaining about the sunshine or hot dry weather, I guess the memory of our long sunless winter is still fresh enough in everyone's mind...

Serious about your hobby

I was driving near a lake the other day and I came across this mailbox at a house about four miles from the lake. I guess the person who lives here likes to go fishing!

I wonder if the make one of these in the shape of a camera?