I have kinda slacked off on the blog lately, so in an attempt to post some of the mountain of photos I took this summer, here are a few portraits of some kids I took while at camp at Frontier Ranch in Colorado. I thought some came out really well and were interesting enough to post. We had this slightly overcast day when I took these in June, and it seems to add a very nice softness to all the photos. The sharpness and clarity in the raw images was amazing. They all look better in much bigger format.

Took this image while on a trip to see family for Thanksgiving. It was really incredible to watch the fog roll in and cover the entire beach and coastline. I felt like I was sitting right up there in the clouds. This place specifically is right up on top of the coastline as you drive up from the beach with the crazy dangerous waves. We caught it at the right time.

If you look close you can see people that have climbed to the top of a small peak jutting up among the hills. There is even a dog!

So not to long ago I was in Walgreens late in the evening picking up some medicine and food. I was terribly sick and had been throwing up the last few days from some awful bug that stuck like the plague while at the lake with some friends for the weekend. I took this picture while meandering around the aisle at Walgreens. Even when I feel like crap I still love to take pictures. lol.

It rained pretty good yesterday (about a half inch) and when it does the natural area behind my house pops to life with a fantastic assortment of green moss and lichen all over the rocks and trees. Right after a storm is one of my favorite times to walk around and see what is taking advantage of the moisture. There is a collection of rocks next to a cedar tree in the back of my property and the rocks really put on a green show of this type of green moss. I have waited to "try" to take some good pictures of this. Wasn't sure which photo I liked better so I am posting both above and below.

I was reading a website a couple months about types of green moss and their remarkable ability to remain completely dormant (sometimes for many many years) until the slightest bit of moisture/rain/water to come alive for a very short period of time. Kick in photosynthesis, grow, use up what water it can till it dries out and then goes back into a dormancy. For such a small plant its very tough. Enjoy the photos, if you have any comments let me know.

This image is cropped from the original. I had a hard time trying cropping this image because I liked the whole scene of the baby cardinal in the nest but at the same time wanted to focus in on the fragile helpless nature of the bird in the nest. That is why I left some of the background nest at the top of the photo.

Here is the full frame shot of the baby bird with the nest surrounding it. This was terribly awful to shot. I was precariously standing on a latter with a heavy camera and lens trying to peek through a wrought-iron light fixture that keep moving in the breeze. Lots of fun though. A personal favorite shot.

Had the really rare wonderful opportunity to see a painting bunting this morning. I had only seen this bird before in fleeting moments while hiking and never close enough to get a photo. At first I didn't know what this bird was but was amazed at the beautiful colors and its apparent deep contrast to its brown and green surroundings. I was able to quickly snap some photos and this is the only one came out decent enough. Still not clear as I would like. (need to get a new zoom lenses badly). My camera's compact flash card decided to read "Full CF card" in the midst of shooting. My luck...but also my fault for not cleaning out the card regularly.

I also saw the female painting bunting. She was a greenish yellow color and harder to see in the trees and much hard to shot. Here is what she looks like in case your interested. Nice Sunday morning surprise!

Loved how this image came out and even more spectacular it was shot with an Apple iPhone. The phone's camera carries only a 1 megapixel camera and uses all the surrounding light(no flash). Sometimes it takes a really good picture. This is a photo of Mt. Princeton or Yale near Salida, Colorado.

Click to see larger image of above

I took these very recently during a harvest moon that was rising in the sky. It was really quite beautiful and I saw a cool opportunity to kick back and do some light designs. These 2 photos, specifically the top one were some of the best I thought. I could not duplicate these to save my life. The top image was ready hard to do in terms of the rotation, positioning, and final aperture of the shot.

The last image I am not sure how I got it, but I do remember using the camera like a telescope and slowly pull down on the lense while I held the tripod and the camera aloft in the air. You get these tunnel effect from the photo. Fun stuff. Hope you enjoy. I think the top photo would make a nice background as it presents best as a large image so you can take in all the detail. Take a close look at the detail in the various ribbons and swirls in how they bunch together like pasta.

Crazy orange eyes this bird has. I took this about an hour ago. I had originally spotted it in the window literally thrashing around under a cedar tree and thought at first it was a roadrunner, but couldn't figure how it would have such orange eyes. So I spent about 30 minutes stalking the bird basically to get as close a shot as possible. Many pictures later, only one or two decent photos. This is a Long-billed Thrasher (Toxostoma longirostre) which is only seen in South Texas. Since I saw this bird today in southwestern New Braunfels it looks like it might venture up to the hill country now and again. Very entertaining bird to watch as it thrashers about in the underbrush eating bugs under leaves. More info on the USGS page.

Here is the final painting. I love it!! How amazingly talented! She got the perspective right and the proportions of the dog right. It's kinda uncanny how similar yet different to the original. I wish her luck with the exhibition and am honored to have my picture inspire a painting.

I would encourage you to check out her other work at TessaDay.com. Some great stuff. Check out a few of the mouse paintings at the bottom. Really creative.

Here is the original again.

Just some interesting pictures taken with the new lens I thought worth posting. It was really dark out but I think the images came out well.

So far I have been impressed and amazed at the crystal clear sharpness of this lens, even in low light. Combined with a 430EX Speedlite, its a nice combo for "people shooting". I will post some photos in a bit. But if you are a Canon lover and considering getting a new lens, I would highly recommend this if you need something to do a lot of things.

Here is summary of it from bhphotovideo.com:
This lens replaces the previous high quality L-series 28-70mm f/2.8 lens, with a lens of even greater caliber. The range has been extended to cover an ultra-wide angle of 24mm, which makes it ideal for digital as well as film shooters, and the optics are even better than before with two Aspherical elements and a totally new UD glass element. It's now sealed and gasketed against dust and moisture, and a new processing unit makes the AF faster than ever.

First off, I didn't want to imply anything derogatory about the girl in the picture by using the term gypsy. I am using it as it was how the locals and everyone else referred to the people that begged for money in Fatima. This girl and a friend of hers of about the same age walked around in front of the cathedral in Fatima asking for money. Many times they know people will be extra giving in these areas and they do take advantage of that. From the way she is dressed, I don't believe she was homeless but I can not know that for sure.

I watched these girls for a few minutes and after awhile realized a photo opportunity develop. I approached the girl and asked to take her picture (gesturing like a retard to my camera), she shook her head no until I offered up 1 euro. She thought for a second, look around for no reason, and said yes or something like yes. Just as I was about to take the picture, her friend ran over and told her not to do the photo. She shouted something in Portuguese and then the girl starting waving her hand in front of my camera laughing and I snapped this shot. I immediately walked away not knowing if they were going to chase me to delete the photo. They keep looking at me as I walked away and then quickly went back to begging from the religious pilgrims. I think she didn't want her picture taken in order to protect her identity. Fortunately for her I don't know her name or where she was from. For 1 euro, it was a decent shot and some fun.

Most all religious sites I have visited in other countries other than the US have this type of begging. It is mentioned in the bible many many times about beggars and people on the fringe. This is one picture from Spain of a beggar in front of church. This picture here is of a homeless man in Mexico I took a while back. Remarkably quite a few people have emailed and asked me to use this image in a very positive way. One person used it to draw attention to the needs of the homeless people by making a poster out of it, 2 bands have used it for the front of their CD cover, a Icelandic government organization used it on their website to for a social work program about homelessness, and finally an umpteen number of myspace kids have used it on there page for one reason or another (popular with the emo kids somewhat I think as it invokes some emotions). For these things I have happy to let people use these photos for free for their projects.

How about this photo, huh? There is so much going on that I don't know what exactly to look at first. This is a picture of a Mexican Botanica. It is a bit stylized as the content were moved from its original location in San Antonio, Texas. A botanica is a sort of herbal shop, offering all sorts of herbs, religious items, magic potions, good luck charms, statues, and just about anything that will cure your ills. They had love potions and prayers and much that is just plain strange. This particular store is now located in the Alameda Museum in downtown San Antonio. The original store (one of the last remaining as I understand) was closed after the owner passed away.

Took this in Lisbon Portugal while back at a Gothic monastery that I can't remember the name of. I think it was something complicated in Portuguese that I should have written down. Cool picture. There is a couple in on the side there, that was making out the whole time I was taking pictures on this floor.