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Apollo & Annie

Along the banks of the Scioto River in Grandview, there is a pair of Bald Eagles; Apollo and Annie and their 2 eaglets.

I headed over to World of Photography at their new store at 1104 Goodale Blvd and prepared to make a purchase.
I walked out with a used Sigma 150-600mm lens. Now to our second stop a few blocks away; the nest.

Parking was easy, you want to park in the small lot across from Camp Bow Wow. Then strap on the hiking shoes, you walk back to the road and walk the back side of the guardrail. BE CAREFUL!!! even though the volunteer group has cut back the brush, there are stumps sticking up, many are spraypainted bright orange but many are not. Keep walking until you find some benches and then look across the river and up in the trees.

4/15

20 Years Ago

Never forget, share your memories of 9/11. I have shared mine below

So i was working at a computer company in Piqua Ohio… go figure on the phone support team. I was on the phone with a customer and he said “hey did you hear a plane hit the World Trade Center”. As we were working through his problem… I had pulled up CNN online. Next thing i know my customer said “OH MY GOD!!! Another plane just hit the other one!!”

At that point, the world changed.

Back then I used to have a live webcam feed of my back yard at home, my computer also had a TV tuner in it. For some reason that day instead of the webcam being the source, the TV tuner was and it was on a news station. This was the only way we were able to get the unfolding news, as most of the news websites were inundated with traffic and were not able to be accessed.

Shortly after we were all told to get off the phone (tell your customer you’ll call them back and get off the phone now.). Nobody was calling in they were glued to the TV.

The next day was the weirdest day ever. Where I worked was close enough to be a high air traffic area. It was under an hour from the Springfield ANG and WPAFB and Dayton international….. nothing was up there that day. I can’t say much work happened the rest of the week.

The next November, a friend from New York invited me up and I said we HAD to go to the WTC site. I have about 300 photos from the trip.  I’ll share below.

Continue reading “20 Years Ago”

No picking the wildflowers

On April 13th I went to Glen Helen Nature Preserve with one of the many photo groups I belong to.  The goal, wildflowers.

As always when hiking or really just leaving the roadway I took the handheld GPS with me.  This serves several purposes:  Help me find the vehicle if I were to get lost or come back a different trail, and it helps me to know exactly (well close enough) as to where I took the photo.

Notice below I brought up the screen on the GPS showing the exact time.  This will help if so if the camera’s clock is off I have a photo of the time that it should read (so I can shift the capture time).

Now remember I said this was APRIL 13, 2019….   Notice what date it says…. yeah neither did I until I got home. This was a software issue with this model of Garmin GPS, it required an update and me to manually change the date in the tracklogs so I could use the data. Continue reading “No picking the wildflowers”

Taking that next leap

Most of my close family and friends know that at the end of March my job of over 12 years will end.  What the future holds is a wide open book.

So what are you going to do?

I don’t really know.  I tell people that my plan is that I don’t have a plan. What do I want to do….?

Well I want to travel.  I am looking at a trip out west to include stops in the Rocky Mountain National Park, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Mount Rushmore and more…  These locations should yield some breath-taking photos.  I plan to get some sunrises and sunsets as well as hope to not be eaten by a bear or other wildlife.

I don’t know why, but I really want to open a studio.  I want a place that I can shoot portraits, showcase my portfolio, and be able to offer the space to other photographers who are starting out like myself.  This in itself will be the scariest leap of them all.  I have some gear and studio props, but I’d need way more.

It would be nice to not have to worry about the weather outside when planning shoots.  Just look outside now, cold, could snow or rain at any moment.  Now try to book sessions and make plans only to have to cancel at the last minute because the weather changed.  It would also be nice to not have to drive an hour to the rental studio in Columbus to shoot an hour session and then come back home another hour.  It is also easier to get clients to drive the 15-20 minutes to someplace local.

Landscape catalog on sale

I have decided to showcase and sell some of my landscape photography work.

These are photos shot all over the United States and a few in other countries.

Prices will vary by size and mounting options  All prints are produced in a renowned professional photo lab.

Click the photo below to view my other landscape photos.

If you want to know more about how I print and deliver my prints…. Continue reading “Landscape catalog on sale”

Stay off the train tracks!

I see it all the time, photographers posting pictures of their clients on and around train tracks.

STOP IT!!

1) It is illegal – Photographing on active tracks is always illegal and photographing dormant tracks is almost always illegal.  The tracks and the area surrounding them are private property, so when you shoot on the tracks you are breaking the law (criminal trespassing). Even if you don’t see trains on the tracks, and there’s vegetation growing up in the railbed, it is still private property and those tracks can be active at any time.

If the tracks are dormant and non-functional they will be clearly marked, and even then your presence on them is still trespassing. Continue reading “Stay off the train tracks!”

Shooting a concert

So as you may or may not know.  I volunteer to cover media for a local Christian radio station.   I just finished shooting their largest concert, a 3 day event.    If you’ve attended a concert that they sponsored, you’ve see me.  I’ll be the guy loaded down like a pack mule with over 20# of camera gear, probably blocking your view (sorry, I need my shots).

This year it was HOT!!!!  I sweated so much that my ballcap was soaked in every inch and I never got in the lake or got wet.  I got sunburned good, not as bad as I have in years past… but with all the sweat I cannot put anything on my face as it would just run into my eyes anyway. Continue reading “Shooting a concert”