Gravel Path

Why would I call this gravel path when the only element in the picture actually in focus is the rope fence? I'm not to sure but it felt fitting at the moment. Today I post an image I took at the Japanese garden of Murin-An in Kyoto. We were given time to sketch at every garden we went to and more often than not, I ended up spending most of that time taking pictures like this. It's times like these that I truly have the most fun. To me its my way of really discovering the world around me. At this garden I really fell in love with the interaction of all the materials that made up the garden from the gravel paths and their roped borders to the mossy groundcover with a sprinkling of leaves.
I chose this picture because there is a somewhat split focus between the detail of the rope and the gravel path on the left. I think that because of this mixed focus, the eye is constantly moving around the image as we try to make sense of this somewhat strange perspective of viewing the world. I think that this picture is probably best comparable to my ladybug picture that I posted a little while ago.

Who's ready for snow?

So who's ready for it to snow? Actually I really enjoy the fall but I found this picture in my archives from my old home in St. Louis and thought that it would make for a good picture to put up on here. I don't know if this picture is just right or a little on the busy side so I am putting it up to see what others think. I really like the branching pattern of the tree in the back ground and the broken down bench seems to just lean right into it. Not too much else to talk about so I'll just let you enjoy it now.

Elephant Camp

Hey everyone. It's been a little while since the last post. I just had my computer reformatted but I am back up and running now and all is well...for now. This picture I found in my picture archive while looking for a new background to replace the windows open screen. I took this in Thailand just outside the city of Chang-Mai. We are at the Mesa Elephant camp right now and I am standing on the bridge at the entrance to the camp. I think that this is the closest I have ever come to being in a tropical forest and it was just great. The painting elephant post that I put up a little while ago is from the same place. If I ever start designing zoos or resorts, you will definatly find a view like this somewhere in the plan because this is how they should look (if it is for an elephant exhibit or a tropical resort that is...)

It's Fall!!

It's Fall everyone.....well, not exactly. This was taken last year in the place where I always park my bike near studio. In about a month all the trees will be changing color in preparation for the coming winter. There is another picture up here that was from this set so check it out. I cropped the image a little since the big, pinnatly compound leaf (the big one with 7 leaflets all attached on the same stem in the center) was taking up the center of the picture and I wanted to move it to one of the corners. In real life the colors were this bright, though when I took the picture the lighting caused the original picture to fade them a bit. After a little photoshop though I brought them back up to their original color. This is one reason why I enjoy parking my bike in this particular place, the trees all around splatter it with the coolest colors in the fall.

Safety Cage

So how many of you know what this thing is? Well, the purpose of the pipe, now that I have though of it, is to keep the lake from rising to high and washing over the road that I am standing on. If that's it's purpose, why is that beg red metal cage sitting on top of it? Well from what I can figure out, the big cage is probably in place to keep big, floating objects like little children and animals from being sucked in when the lake is high. Also, I am betting that the reason it rises up in the center is to keep it a visible as long as possible for when the lake gets really high and the water is rushing in really fast, probably even making a whirlpool. It's on days like those that it's not so good to be swimming in the lake.
So talking about the picture now, this was taken shortly after a fish or something splashed the surface of the water and started the ripples. As soon as I saw it It struck me that this would make an interesting picture because of the ripples. I wanted to get the shoreline out of the picture as best I could but I was rushed on time since the ripples were fading fast.
This picture also comes from the weekend trip to Lebanon, MO and is from almost the same spot as the morning light picture below...Only looking the other way.

Firery Breath

Ok, so most of these pictures don't have very creative names but that's fine with me. To me, this picture would have been better if the other two people were not there but I was too busy trying to capture the flame in action that I was forced to manage. This picture is probably the best of the bunch in terms of clarity and sharpness. I really like the pose he has with the two flaming torches and all though. I'm happy that I am actually getting another people picture up on this site though. The vast majority of pictures here are of landscapes and I would really like to add more diversity to the bunch. The difficult part about taking pictures with people is that they are far more unpredictable than landscape. Even though it is entirely possible to capture a great moment with people, it still takes patience and time. There is also the issue of finding and getting to the places where people are actually doing something. Anyways, enough of that talk, I'll now let you sit back and enjoy the nice fire-breathing picture

A Meandering Stream

Ya know, the cool thing about water is that it naturally wants to meander back and forth. No matter how straight the channel or path its in, water will try its best to meander.
So that's just a side fact that doesn't particularly have anything to do with the picture other than the fact that the water is moving back and forth as it travels. This picture was taken in the same region of Lebanon, MO as the two pictures before. As a little bit of reference, the flowing water picture I posted before is apart of this same stream as this one, only it is further downstream and closer to the lake. What is cool about this path is that people are made to "fjord" the stream to get to the other side which is where the giant water slide is at. I think that it is a great concept since it forces the person to interact with their surroundings. As for the picture, I was standing on a little bridge that crossed over the water to take it.

Enjoy!

A New Day

This picture to me seems very surreal, more like a really good painting then an actual photograph. This was taken around 7:00 in the morning near Lebanon, MO when the sun was just coming up and it was still a little misty outside. When I took the picture I was standing on what seams to be an earthen dam since right behind be is a big misty lake (those pictures will come soon enough). I really like how this picture (and 4 others like it) came out. It was tough photographing into the sun and doing so washed out all trace of the nice blue sky. However, I believe the artistic effect of the bright sky and the sun rays in the valley made up for seeing no sky. When ever I look into this picture I can imagine the joy of walking along the path and letting it take me to where ever it leads.
Pictures like this really excite me so now I will sit back and let you admire it.
Enjoy!

Water Sprey

While I was down in Lebanon, Mo this labor day weekend I was able to find time in the morning to go around and take some pictures that I really like. Take for instance this one above, I found a cool natural looking stream (recirculating water from the nearby lake) and started taking pictures of it. Well, somehow I fell on this really cool feature where the water sprayed out in this neat pattern and was able to capture it on film. To me the picture as a whole is just cool because it creates a nice texture to look at. As a heads up, more pictures from the weekend will pop up on here.