Autumn is my favorite time of year.  The temperatures are cooler, football season is in full swing, the World Series is winding down and the colors are everywhere. If you look through many of my images, you will probably note a number of shots of barns. I just find them to be great subjects. They take posing instructions well I guess!  Someday I think I might do a series on just barns.

While a lot of barns I shoot are located in rural areas, this one is in Cary of all places. It is near my in-laws house in the Lochmere area and I have been passing this barn for a number of years every time thinking to myself that I need to bring a camera and get a shot of it.  Well, today was that day.

By waiting, I was able to get the bales of cut grass as an added point of interest. The colors here in the Triangle area are not quite at peak yet probably another week or so if Hurricane Sally doesn't knock off all of the leaves. So I took some artistic liberty and selectively enhanced the colors just a bit.  (don't tell anyone)

Every year my wife and I discuss taking a weekend trip to the mountains during the month of October and every year we never seem to make it. So I just try to find my favorite Fall scenes around here.

The North carolina State Fair is in full swing this week and this is always one of my favorite things. I love the month of October in general with the cooler weather, colors, etc., but the fair is something that I really look forward to each year. The weather this year looks like it will be especially cooperative. Our family ventured out last Sunday and while Katy and her friend road all of the rides, I had my ritual foods: Roast Corn, (didn't do the turkey leg this year BBQ chicken instead), Deep Fried Oreo cookie and to top it all off, the best ice-cream I have ever eaten at the NC State Dairy booth on the way out (Wolfpack Tracks was the flavor choice this year)

The fair is a great place to people watch (sometimes you see some VERY interesting characters) and to take some pictures of course.  Best time is the "magic hour" right around sunset when there is still light in the sky and the lights of the rides and booths come on.

I also enter an image in the photography contest (haven't won anything yet) and Katy usually enters one of her own. She ALWAYS gets a ribbon!  The one I enetered is called "Guy Road Barn" and the barn is located in Clayton on Highway 42 across from the Johnston Medical Center.  It will soon give way to progress as a medical park is planned on the location 

This is the image Katy entered. It is of a fantastic sunset that she took from our living room window. And I usually go out early in the morning or skip dinner to get light like that!!

   I have been working on refining the collages/composites that I have done for some area sports teams and individuals in the past.  I am trying to refine and make them a bit more "artistic".  I am trying to incorporate a traditional portrait (either posed or candid) and create a composite of the images that I think is pretty cool. Unlike a traditional one time photo session, I typically will need to shoot at one or two games to get th e right action shots that will make the image have impact.  I have really enjoyed playing with this and hope to refine and enhance the process as time goes on.  Spending time with photography, sports and my daughter.  What can be better than that? 

Award

I was surprised and honored yesterday when this shot was selected as "Best in Show" at the CNPA/JC Raulston Arboretum print competition.  There were approximately 130 entries and in my opinion some VERY good ones.  Fortunately for me, the judges thought mine was pretty good too!! 

I am particularly proud of this award as it was strictly photographers (no paintings, drawings, etc.) and was judged by three highly respected certified photography judges. I knew some of the other photographers that entered and I have a great deal of respect for their work.

The CNPA is the Carolinas Nature Photographers Association of which I have been a member for a few years. We meet monthly (first Wednesday of the month at the Arboretum). 

If you have a chance, stop by the Arboretum that is part of NC State University and located at 4415 Beryl Rd. in Raleigh. (Over near the State Fairgrounds)  The exhibit will be up through October 5. The gardens they have there are awesome too!

Upcoming exhibits

September will be a busy month for me exhibit wise. In addition to the two images I have displayed at the Arboretum, I will also be part of an exhibit at the Frank Creech Art Gallery at Johnston Community College. The exhibit is being held in conjunction with the NC Museum of Art's "Visual Fest" that will be taking place later this fall. This exhibit runs September 10-27.

If you happen to be in downtown Smithfield and are in need of some reading materials, come by the Smithfield Public Library and check out the display wall.  I will have 12-15 images displayed there throughout the month.

Also this month is the annual Clayton Visual Arts "Art Faire" competition. The exhibit is also held throughout the month of September and is growing each year.  Entries include photography, oil paintings, drawings, and other art mediums.  The quality of work that is displayed is usually first rate. The opening reception is September 13, 6:00pm-7:30pm and the exhibit will last through October 1. (Free wine and cheese for all you UNC fans!) Come by if you want to see some great artwork.

Today marks the beginning of the 2012 London Summer Olympic games.  This is the thirtieth (XXX) version of this spectacle and is one of my favorite sporting events to watch. A few years back, they changed the format from when they would hold the Winter and Summer games in the same year every four years.  Now they hold the games separately every two years. 

While the winter games are also fun to watch, I don’t really relate because I am not a big winter sport fan.  Those games are probably more enjoyed by the extreme sport folks.  I still look forward to them though especially the luge events. What person in his right mind would want to lie down on his back on a little piece of wood with blades attached and get propelled down a hill of glare ice reaching speeds that would gain you a ticket from the man if you were driving a car on the local freeway?

The games have changed quite a bit in recent years when they began allowing professional athletes to compete.  I guess in countries other than the US where the line between professional and amateurs were blurred already, there have been pro athletes in games from way back.  But now it just seems a bit different.  Seeing Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, David Beckham and others who have already made a huge name and tons of money from their sport, it overshadows the true amateur athletes that these games were designed for.

What I really love about the Olympics is that these athletes work all their lives and endure huge sacrifice for their one moment.  I recall the movie Chariots of Fire when Harold Abrahams is contemplating his race the next day; he remarks “when I finally line up and look down my lane, I will have 10 seconds to justify my very existence”.  

A bit over the top I admit for the movie, but it is what makes this event so dramatic and fun to watch. These athletes have put all else aside for this one moment.  For most of them, there will be no chance at a pro career and making millions of dollars to continue on with their sport unless ESPN is contemplating starting a world professional pentathlon league for that dead period every year between the end of the NBA playoffs and start of football season.  Of course I also enjoy watching the little leaguers go at it for a few weeks in August.

I also really enjoy the human stories that they always show.  I think I heard already that the first medal in these games was won by a blind individual in the archery event.  (Not sure I would have wanted to be a spectator at that event).  But that is so cool.  There is another guy who will be running the 400meters.  He is a double leg amputee.  Amazing stuff.

I have a ton of respect for these athletes. I cannot even imagine what some of them have gone through to get to this point.  No one was forcing them to do it either.  They had the self-will and determination to achieve their goals.  Lots can be learned from people like that!!

The darker side of having an event like this of course is the threat of the games being used to make some kind of social or political statement. I happened to be a few blocks away from the incident at the 1996 games in Atlanta on that particular Friday night that someone chose to do just that.  It was pretty scary indeed. Luckily more people were not hurt. I just hope that these games can go on without a similar incident taking place.

The pictures of the gymnasts I included here I took recently at an NC State meet. I will be watching the gymnastics events closely with Katy and trying to use the time to talk about some of what it takes to succeed at things in life.  Again, a LOT can be learned from these athletes.

I spent a few hours on Sunday morning (Father's Day, I know I should have been spending it with my family but I got out pretty early and was home by 11:30) at Duke Gardens in Durham. I can sometimes get emersed into my photography and lose track of time (ask Lisa and Katy) but I just enjoy losing myself sometimes in being out creating images (it is very therapeutic for me) and Duke Gardens is an awesome place to do that!

Some(most)times when I go out, I might take 200 shots and if I'm lucky I come home with three or four images that I really like.  This was one of those. It is a group of Hosta that I took looking straight down.  In a gap between some of the plants hung a spider web that had collected an abundance of early morning dew.   I thought the arrangement looked kind of cool and I took a number of different exposures until I got what I wanted.  I just like the way this came out.  It almost looks like the leaves are under water or under glass and the leaves are fish all angling for position at feeding time. I think there was a dead bug in their somewhere but I used the magic of Photoshop to speed up the decomposition process.

Recently, I have been getting into Macro (close-up) nature photography. I guess mostly because I don't need to travel to some exotic locale or find someone willing to pose for me.  Often I simply go out my front door or out in my yard and if I look really close, I can find many different things that could make a pleasing image.  I usually awaken earlier than my family and they sometimes will find me out on the deck perched over a potted plant or out in the yard on my knees with my camera on a tripod in front of a bush in our yard. I try to do most of my shooting and editing early in the morning or late at night so that I don't neglect my family. (my family member's thoughts on that might differ however :) )

I just find enjoyment in getting in touch with my creative side. With my art, at some point ( I decide when that occurs) I can simply accept what I produce as a finished product and find a sense of fullfillment in that. In contrast, at work today, we spent a half hour trying to determine if the word "and" that was missing in an obscure footnote (that nobody is going to read) of a twenty page report, was critical enough to warrant correcting and incurring the additional time and expense before it was published.  Don't get me wrong, I realize the importance of accuracy and getting things right, I also strive to do that to the best of my ability, but at some point....

Anyway, this is my form of escape. I try to create images that others will find pleasing and enjoy, but if they don't, that is ok to. I create the images mostly for my satisfaction. And I personally REALLY liked this one.

As we draw near to another celebration of Memorial Day and are bombarded by ads for great deals on mattresses, thoughts of trips to the beach, and the smells and tastes of hotdogs, hamburgers, watermelon, lemonade and ice cream, let us pause for a moment to remember why we have the holiday. 

Since the founding of the Republic approximately 848,163 Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen have given “the last full measure of devotion” to the country they chose to serve in direct combat with an enemy intent on destroying our way of life and imposing theirs on us.  Another 437,421 died of other causes such as disease, accidents, friendly fire, etc while serving in combat areas.  An additional 1,529,230 of these patriots were wounded in these struggles and 38,159 remain missing in action to this day. 

Memorial Day is a day to say thank you to those who have perished in whatever way you choose, and to say thank you to the millions of veterans who served and were fortunate enough to survive.  Our area recently experienced, leaving from RDU, the last of the “Triangle Flights of Honor” which took veterans from World War II from here to Washington, DC to visit memorials that were constructed in their honor.  This was the final flight, not because the money ran out, but because, in a state that has one of the highest military retiree rates per capita in the country, there were just not enough WWII veterans left that were able to make the trip to fill another plane.  The “Greatest Generation” is disappearing fast.  These citizen warriors saved the entire world – literally!  When you see them this weekend, let them know you appreciate them before they are gone.  To our Vietnam veterans that only recently – some forty years late – began receiving the gratitude of the nation, let them know you appreciate the job they did and for our troops currently standing in harm’s way for us – thank the ones you see and pray for the ones you can’t. 

There is one other thing you should do this weekend while enjoying your well-deserved time off however you choose.  Sit down for just a moment with you children, grandchildren, the neighbors children, or any child you can find and spend a little time explaining to them why we celebrate this holiday so that they understand the sacrifices made in their names and don’t forget to tell their children

If you happen to be riding through Clayton in the next few weeks and are looking for a great steak dinner, stop by the Clayton Steakhouse on Main Street.  Besides the great meal, you will have a chance to see fifteen of my photographs on display.  They will be up from May 15 through June 25.  

If you have the chance, stop by and let me know what you think!!