A miracle?

This swan must've been hobnobbing with Jesus lately. Either that or he just likes to show off. Whatever the case, his little manuver sure impressed me. I shot this about a month ago and call it Waterwalking Swan. As usual, the larger version can be found right here in my Animals Gallery.

Incidentally, I could use a little waterwalking magic myself. Tomorrow, I leave for a photography, camping and canoeing excursion into the wild and woolly Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. I'm very excited and anticipate getting some great shots, and will be sure to post them here as soon as they're all edited and processed.

Just pray I don't become bear food. That wouldn't be fair to the bear. ^_^

Move over, Picasso.

Abstract art has always been a touchy thing for me. When it's done right, it's great. When it's done wrong, it often leaves me scratching my head and thinking, "huh?" (Of course, I've been stumped by a cell phone menu, too, so there's that.)

So, what constitutes abstract art done "right" exactly? Well, for me simply it comes down to a couple things: aesthetics and recognizability. Aesthetics is pretty straightforward -- it just needs to be pleasing to the eye. It doesn't necessarily have to be beautiful, just harmonious -- all the elements have to work together and compliment one another to create a strong overall image.

It's recognizability that's the trickier of the two. I strongly believe that the viewer has to be able to ultimately ascertain what the piece of art is about. Otherwise, you end up with a "huh?" from the viewer and much of the "oomph" of the art is lost.

This recognition can come in different ways. Sometimes, it's a matter of staring at a piece for a bit until you have that "a-ha!" moment when you realize that it's an extreme close-up photo of a leaf. Other times, such as in Duchamp's Nude Descending A Staircase (a favorite of mine), the title of the piece will help clue you into what you are looking at.

Now that I've shown you what I think makes good abstract art, let me show you some of my attempts at it. I've had several abstract photos in my Fine Art Galleries for some time now, such as Waves, Red Army, and Juicy Gemstones. But now I've got a new one to show you.

This was shot a few weeks ago. Unlike most of my blog posts, this photo can NOT also be found in my Fine Art Galleries -- it's only viewable right here in this post. I call it Crescent Moonwing. Give it a look, can you tell me what it is? First one of you to get it correct will receive $1 million!*

*$1 Million subject to availability.

Oh me, oh my -- a butterfly!

Now that summer's in full swing, it's high time to eye butterflies flying by through the sky -- it's just the thing! My, my, how I like to opine on fine, fine butterfl-- ok... I'll shut up now. Suffice it to say, I like photographing butterflies!

As always, larger versions can be seen here, in my Butterflies Gallery.

Aaaww!

As a photographer, there is one thing I strive for above all else: emotion. The strongest and most impactful photographs are the ones that evoke an emotional response from the viewer. It doesn't really matter what the emotion is -- whether a photo makes you feel happy, sad, angry, scared, repulsed or some other feeling is not the point. The fact that you felt something, and hopefully something strong, is what matters.

That's the number one goal I have with each and every photo I take: I try to elicit an emotion. Many times, I don't succeed and an image turns out to be plain and lacks the magic I'm looking for. But sometimes, when everything goes right, my efforts are rewarded with an image that has that special touch. Recently, I was able to capture one such image. (See? Even I can do something right sometimes!) I've shown it to several people, and right away they all basically said the same thing: "Aaaww! That's so cute!" That's exactly what I felt when I first took the photo, and it is precisely the emotion I was going for. Success!

For me, this image symbolizes warmth and love. Notice how the mighty king of the jungle is scrunching up his face in anticipation of a cuddle from his lioness? Aaaww! Even tough guys can have soft spots in their hearts. Love conquers all, baby.

As always, the larger version can be seen here in my Fine Art Galleries.

Do Over!

That old saying isn't true -- turns out you can teach old dogs new tricks. Recently, I, learned a useful new technique from the great Russell Brown. Armed with this new knowledge, I was able to go back and reprocess a handful of my old images, and really make them shine the way I knew they could. Below is one of those.

This was shot last July in the mountains of Colorado. It's a sunrise over Fairy Trumpets. Previously, the sky was too dull and bright, and try as I might, I wasn't able to make it pop like I wanted. Not anymore. Now, it looks as I always intended it to. Thanks, Russell!

As always, the larger version of this photo can be found right here in my Fine Art Galleries.

The storm is over.

Lately, my world has been quite stormy. That is, stormy in the hectic, I've-got-a-million-things-flying-at-me sort of way. This recent flurry of activity is why I haven't posted anything here in over a month. You could say that the storm of life has rained all over my photography efforts of late. (Ok, that analogy was horrible. I hereby promise not to make anymore storm puns, lest you -- my faithful readers -- storm my office with lightening speed and demand, in a thunderous roar, that I stop flooding this blog with debris.)

Then, just yesterday, a real storm hit Minneapolis. The sky turned an eerie yellow, the winds picked up, heavy rains hit, tornado sirens started wailing -- the whole nine yards. But, just as quickly as it came, the storm was over, leaving behind a beautiful pink hued sunset, pictured below.

Just as the real storm has abated, so has the one in my life. Things are slowing down, returning to normal. Blue skies are on the horizon. Today is the first day of June, and summer is finally here. Therefore, my photography will be picking up quite a bit. You can expect to see more frequent posting from me in the coming months. Perhaps we could call it a hurricane of activity? Ok, we won't.

Happy 420!

Well, after returning to Minnesota, I quickly realized that winter had not left. We had two big snowstorms within two weeks of my return. So, what did I do? Went back to St. Croix, of course.

While I was there, a friend threw a party on the beach. It was, to say the least, fun.

Below is a photo which embodies the very essence of the party. To get this effect, I composed the shot, set the exposure to 1.6 seconds, tripped the shutter, and then moved the camera to the left while the exposure was being taken. The result is the tripped-out, blurred effect that you see. I learned about this nifty technique from world famous nature photographer Jim Brandenburg; he used it on this image. Although I use it very sparingly, when used properly, it can really strengthen an image. I feel that it has done just that here.

I was careful to compose the shot so that it showed a little bit of everything at the scene: there is a little bit of ocean, some moonlight peeking around the foliage at the top, and of course, the party-goers illuminated by firelight. If you look closely, just to the left of the girl's head, you can see some of the moonlight reflecting on the water peeking through the bushes. As usual, the larger version can be seen here.

And, in case you're jealous, don't be. I'm back in Minnesota now. And it's snowing today.