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Nature Is Amazing

February 11th, 2013

Nature Is Amazing

I spend a lot of time in the outdoors photographing nature,birds, deer, butterflies,etc.,so i sometimes happen to see somethings that are rather unusual. Of coarse most would not believe me and i don't blame them as i have been a fisherman starting from the age of 7 or 8 which is now a very long time and have been known to stretch the truth from time to time.The other day i was photographing bald eagles on the Fox River in the Fox Valley. There were 3 adult eagles in a tree above the river and an immature eagle just below them on the frozen edge of the river. The young eagle located a fish just off of the edge of the ice and started to fly away with it. Just then an adult eagle flew out of the tree and attacked the younger eagle knocking it into the very cold icy Fox River! All this time i am taking photos of this with my camera not believing what i am seeing.I have spent years around eagles that were congregated and witnessed this one other time. Again it was farther than my lens could reach for great detail as in this photo. There were several eagles trying to get the same fish,it is hard to imagine how these huge birds can fly so close to one another,most were immature, when all of a sudden an adult eagle is knocked out of the sky and is now in the river! Now i can't tell you how weird that looks seeing an eagle floating down the river like a goose when it is an eagle! Just isn't normal! It took a lot of holding my breath and saying a few prayers before he flew out of the river! What a sight to experience! Now back to this immature eagle, he is taking quite a long time to get out, i was about to call 911! That would be a weird call! Wonder how many times i would have to repeat myself to them! You have a what?, a what?, where,etc! The youngster did get out of the river and the adult chased him for a little while then went back to the tree to perch.Keep your eyes and ears open and your camera handy and you never know what you are going to capture in the great outdoors. 'To Thy Own Self Be True'.

Winter Blues

February 1st, 2013

Winter Blues

It is February 1 and below 0! Brrrrrrrr! I took this photo while on the way home from the camera store where i had purchased a new Canon lens for my new Canon 6 D! I find it truly amazing how well this can take photographs in such low light. I loved the photo i took but wanted to work with it to see if i couldn't bring out more of the cold feeling. I am truly happy with the end result as it looks and feels like it should on a cold February day at sunset. 'To Thy Own Self Be True'.

Going going gone

January 21st, 2013

Going going gone

Strange title but with a lot of meaning. It might just be something that has to do with age, more now as i get up in years, of it might just be more observation of my surroundings as a photographer, either way the world is crashing down! More precisely, buildings such as old barns and silos. If i were to give any advice it would be to not put off that photo shoot with that barn you have been wanting to photograph or that way cool old silo! Might just not be there tomorrow?I have had it happen to me many times either by age or a factor of age and weather conditions. Roof blown off of barns or caved in silos that are taken down or decay and fall down. We all are just dust in the wind sooner that latter. I was glad that i stopped for this beauty. 'To Thy Own Self Be True'.

Artistic Rendering

January 20th, 2013

Artistic Rendering

When i look at an image i either see it the way it is or i see it as what it could be. With the use of imagination,skill, knowledge of software that is available i ask myself, would it make it more of what i see?.Whenever i do covert and image, it is with a lot of thought and speculation. I do not want it to look cheap but amazing.Most of my effects are made in many layers and i must love the finished product before you will see this.There are presets that i can use and i do at times if it fits, some i have made myself but in the long run i end up making adjustments to fit the image as i envision it. This is just a little bit of behind the scenes so you can get an idea of why i do this and how i do this. 'To Thy Own Self Be True'.

Imagination

January 15th, 2013

Imagination

It makes me happy that i can see something, imagine it in a different environment, haven't we all, and then take it to the next level and present it with the imaginative vision i had of it.When i was young we were given toys to play with and our imaginations would run wild. From the Barbie Dolls for the girls to the dump trucks for the boys. Fun! I still have that imagination and like to let it out. It is good for my soul.
The computers of today and the software we have to work and play with, is a key to my imagination that needs unlocking from time to time.Learning to use my computers and software has and will be an ongoing journey i have accepted as part of the path i have chosen. There is no shortcuts here, if i want to play i have to pay. Pay for the software and the time and dedication it may take to learn to use it. But i do like the rewards and love how because of this it allows me to bring my imagination to life. 'To Thy Own Self Be True'.

Growing

January 14th, 2013

Growing

Growing does not have to be painful but i find for me it takes an effort. The effort is in the asking of questions and listening to the answers, with an open mind, this can be a little hard when we think we know a lot about something.I know i can learn from others even those with much less experience if i have an open mind. I got invited to a photo shot meet and greet at an area where there are eagles congregating for the winter and accepted. I was so happy i went as i meet a lot of photographers whose photography i have been a fan of for a long time. I also got to take photos with them and ask a few questions. I did not want to pass up the opportunity.Learning is continuous and a lifelong event with many twists and turns hills and valleys. I am enjoying the ride or i'm taking a different road. 'To Thy Own Self Be True'.

Work Stinks?

January 12th, 2013

Work Stinks?

That's right, i said that and you can quote me on that! Why then does it seem like that is all i am doing sometimes? My regular job which has just come to an end after 34 years has stood in my way of processing and taking more photos. I am always going back to find and work on older images which makes it more difficult to focus on the images i have just recently taken. This one featured is from October of 2012 and i know i can go all the way back to the beginning of my photography career and find images that are worthy of processing.Sometimes the behind the scenes should just stay behind the scenes! I love taking great photos and hardly can wait to get out and take more. Now that i am doing this full time i may just make a dent in some of my older yet fantastic images. So if you see a winter image posted and it is July, or a autumn image and it is January, you know first hand i am starting to gain ground.' To Thy Own Self Be True'!

Gallery Show

January 11th, 2013

Gallery Show

To see my art on the wall at the 'Trout Museum' tonight was just awesome. I have a very old and dear friend who has been a lifelong artist with two of his art pieces on the wall as well and to be in the same show with him was so cool! Who would have guessed! I also noticed a couple other manes that i either have meet or know from Fine Art America. That was very nice as well but they either were not at the show or i missed them. It also was a warm and drizzly day outside which caused a lot of fog and i know that kept some people from traveling very far.Meet some new people got some very nice compliments from more than a few folks and had a very good time. My daughter came for a while and my wife was with me the whole time! 'To Thy Own Self Be True".

Juried Art Show

January 10th, 2013

Juried Art Show

I had entered 2 of my HDR black and whites into a juried art show at the "Trout Museum" in downtown Appleton! Found out yesterday they were both accepted! Yippee! Very excited as this is the audience i wanted to view my art as some of what i photograph is local to the valley and i have many more subjects i have already chosen over the years i would like to photograph. That being said i am very happy! Tomorrow night is the artists reception and i am thrilled and trying to get the word out. I have included a link to there website so if you have any questions i would just recommend you visit there website. Also i did a blog the other day about Shelby and how i took this photo of this tree my wife Toni and i thought was amazing, well that is one of the images selected. Very cool! Also truth be said i did enter 3 as i had a print from before of a mayfly, i think it is beautiful but they didn't and didn't chose that one? And they call themselves the "Trout Museum"? They should have accepted this piece or change there name! That was to be just in fun! Hope to see you at the show!

Shelby

January 8th, 2013

Shelby

Where do i begin my story of our Shelby Lee! It is like writing a book from the end to the beginning! My wife and i were not looking for a dog as our last 2 dogs a Chocolate Lab and a Chocolate Spaniel had gone to the happy hunting grounds. The lab, Abraham Lincoln 4 years ago and then Sassy the spaniel 1 year after.They were a big part of our lives and are in our memories and photos. As i was saying we weren't looking! A friend/coworker mentioned to me one day about a dog her son had but was not able to give it the attention it should have because he was made to work so many hours and wondered if we were interested in adopting his dog? I told her we were not looking but i would mention this to my wife, but we were not looking! She also mentioned that it happened to be a Pit Bull and knew that my daughter had one and i had talked how much i loved her dog! Backing up here a little, when my daughter told us she was getting a Pit Bull puppy we went right through the roof! We had to put our foot down and say, no way are you getting that breed of a dog, period! Well she was in her early 20's and did it anyway! Kids! Well Niko James was and is one of the nicest dogs i have ever know. He is such a gentleman of a dog and even though he is still with my daughter, age is starting to catch up with him at 14 years old. Now back to Shelby. To my surprise my wife said that we could go take a look at the dog and as it was a 2 year old and well behaved it was worth a look but with stipulations, 1-tell her we will come and see the dog and then we would go home and think about it first before deciding,2-Her son must okay this 100%,3-when and if we do take her it would just be a trial to see if she liked us as well, and then if we all agreed we would then cross the bridge to having her.
So we went to visit this dog at my coworker/friends home way out in the boonies. When we arrived we were greeted at the door by two Golden Labs, mother and daughter i think, but no other dog was around. After our hello's around the corner comes this beautiful Pit Bull, Shelby! She was just so nice and let us touch her and never barked at all then she just laid down on the floor as nice as can be.I took a few photos and the coworker/friend told us that Shelby always barked whenever someone came over but she hadn't this time.As we left for home we were just kicking ourselves for not taking her with us for an overnight stay, just to see how she would do. As we were driving home just a short way down the road my wife Toni and i saw this lone tree just standing out so strong against the winters wind, cold and snow! So dynamic were the steel grey skies, the drifted snow, and the aged exposed roots. The link will bring you to the image i produced of this amazing moment. I named this piece 'Strength and Hope" , in memory of our past dogs and the strength to take a chance once again. Shelby will have been with us now 2 years in February of this year and even though she has her quirks she is a friendly, loving, sweet animal that has become a part of our family. Remember, "To Thy Own Self Be True"! Thomas Young

The Tiny Kestrel Hawk

January 7th, 2013

The Tiny Kestrel Hawk

I am going to start blogging as i am now semi-retired and hope to have the time. I am not going to try to commit as to how often but lets just say, daily or weekly! That ought to narrow it down! Sometimes what goes into getting the image is more interesting or adds value to this image itself. Take for instance the photo of the elusive Kestrel Hawk! My wife Toni and i have been trying to get a good photo of one of these hawks without success, but this morning when we were out and about, there it is sitting on top of a highway sign! So small and hardly noticeable yet when spotted it is like a sore thumb.Had my wife back the van up and get the light right to get this photo. They are so colorful and because they are small they are fast flyers and hard to see until you go past them.
This is the firs and i hope you enjoyed the story with the photo. If you subscribe to my blogs you will be given information that others will not get, such as more on location and how i processed a certain image, how i got the image and more on my equipment i use. I am going to try to keep these short and to the point. And the crowd roars! 'To Thy Self Be True"!

Trout

December 27th, 2009

Trout

Just a little bit about me. I am a avid flyfisher and fly tier. I love fly fishing. I am a fly casting instructor, fly fishing educator and retired fly fishing guide. (I don't guide anymore). The waters flow through me. You will see this influence in my photography. I will soon be posting photographs of trout and other fish. I love to flyfish for all kinds of fish warm water or cold. I also may post some photos of my flies but it is easier to capture a fish with my fly than a good photo of them.
As a flyfisher i had to study what trout eat. I was greatly surprised when i started photographing what they eat. Photography even got me closer to this miniture world of mayflies, stoneflies and midges. I start observing things i never saw as a flyfisher. Very cool stuff such as midges emerging on the ice in March in freezing temputures. Stoneflies emerging from their armor like shuck to become winged adults.Mayfly species i didn't know existed. All this just blew me away and i have spent a great amount of time photographing these events. So i hope you enjoy my photos as i post them knowing now my love for the waters.

Winter

December 19th, 2009

Winter

It has finally hit me, it is winter outside! Aghhhhhhhh. It's not that i hate winter itself so much it's the shoveling i hate and the bitter cold.
This is a time for me to gather all my photos and video and go over at least some of them. Now that i am uploading to fine art america this is going to help greatly to encourage me to be vigilante. So stay in touch as i will be uploading photos given the free time.

Searching my data base

December 17th, 2009

Searching my data base

I am now at task of searching my huge data base for photos i would like to post on Fine Art America. My data base is huge. Alot of my photos are in raw formate and have to be coverted. Then i bring the photo to photoshop and crop and do levels and curves adjustments. Then i make any other needed adjustment if needed. It is at this time i decide if this is a photo that pops. For instance, interesting subject matter, well composed, in focus no blown ou areas or to dark, etc. .
The photo i posted in this blog is of my brother George. You can visit his web site at Axess Outdoors.

Movie editing

December 13th, 2009

Movie editing

I ended up working on a project for my brother George editing video. He and my nephew John filmed George on a Mule deer hunt in central Montana. My brother builds, designs and uses a off road wheel chair for outdoor purposes. The name of his company is Axess Outdoors. Anyway they shot footage of the hunt and i'm editing for them. What a great privialge! Keeping me busy. Until next time, take care.

Art Sold

December 8th, 2009

Yesterday i sold my first print, Woodland Trail! I'm just gidy. Wow this is so cool i love it. I'm speachless!

The Red Chair

December 7th, 2009

The Red Chair

The red chair sits by a pond, you don't see that in the photo though. The focus is the chair the light and the flowers. I tried getting some of the pond in the photo but it distracted from the three main focuses. So sometimes it's not what you see!

Stone Flies

December 6th, 2009

Stone Flies

I have posted a few photos of stone flies today. A few you say! I have a vast collection of stone flies in varios stages of emergance from underwater nymph to emerging to matting and laying eggs on the surface of the water. I have different types and sizes as well. Each type brings adjustments to getting the photo. In March, the early little black stone crawls out of the icy river making it's way above the ice and across snow to find a sutable location to emerge from it's armor like nymphl shuck. Many times the outside air temperature is below freezing. I have been photographing stone flies in these conditions only to have them die! The larger stone flies start to emerge when we start to get warm weather at night. To find these large stone flies i look for their nymphl shucks attatched to the rocks. Usually this is in faster water. This is why there shuck is so strong as they live in fast well oxygenated water.

Busy Busy Me

December 3rd, 2009

Busy Busy Me

I didn't want to use the four letter word work so i choose busy instead. I have started the task of going through my raw files and choosing or deleting photos. If they are chosen l covert them into tif. files and resize them as large as i can. This tif will be about 156 mb. Huge file. I then bring this into photoshop and work my magic. I then save it as a jpeg which is about 28 mbs. I am very passionate about my photography and i love photoshop. So back to----- .

Welcome to today

December 1st, 2009

Welcome to today

Welcome to today. Some days i'm not able to do what i would like to be doing. So maybe some reflections of past shoots might help. There's not even snow on the ground yet and i have cabin fever! Thinking back to this last March was remarkable in the qaulity of the photos i was able to take of emerging Stoneflies. You should be seeing those photos and more in upcomming weeks ,stay tuned.

Photo upload

November 28th, 2009

Photo upload

Well today i started uploading images. Gets rather tedious. I will learn as i go. Fell free to comment. Don't worry, my portfolio don't just consist of sunrises and sunsets. I take and keep very few of them. You will see that. Keep watching.

Full member

November 27th, 2009

Full member

Well i paid my membership and will start selling! I hope you will enjoy my photos and possiably buy some. If there is something you like or don't like, please let me know. If you have some tips or advice i am open to constructive professioal comments. Here we go. Or as my wife sasys Towanda!

Happy Thanksgiving

November 26th, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving

we i learned something yesterday! I have the non paying account and had posted one photo to get my feet wet. At the time i didn't realize that if there was a buyer they would contact me via email for a 41inch PRINT! Ouch! Luckly a good friend went and viewed my photo and brought this to my attention. So untill i get the paid account i will not be selling any photos. If any one reads this and can give me any suggestions they would be appreciated. I wish they had a faq page or if they do i could't find it . Happy Turkey Day.

New photos

November 26th, 2009

New photos

Now that i got my feet wet i am starting the process of choosing photos to upload. I have many! I have been waiting for a chance like this and will work hard at it. Stay tuned. As an after thought i will see if i can post my brother Georges photo here. He has just recently started his own buisness designing and building off road wheel chairs. If there is no photo at least you now know a little bit about my brother.

Welcome

November 24th, 2009

This is the first day of the rest of my life? What ever! A good freind and mentor told me to check out this web site as i have been looking for the right mediam to showcase my photos and hopefully sell enough to upgrade my equipment. Just think, if you buy one of my photos or more you are helping a starving artist. On way to look at it. I hope in the days that follow you will enjoy my work. I am very passioate about photography and am rarely without my camera. In fact i feel under dressed without it. Well welcom and enjoy.