02-07-13 Silver In Black and White

I guess I'm stuck on black and white these days. And, while this macro photograph isn't exactly a "Wow" photo, I'm guessing it's a closer look at a silver coin than you may have had before. This coin, by the way, was left to me by my aunt Betty of California.

01-30-13 Christmas In January

This cactus lives on a shelf in our main bathroom and during much of the year it just sits there. But once a year, spurred on by forces a photographer like me could never comprehend, it blooms.And when I went into the bathroom a few minutes ago, I wasn't thinking about macro photography. But I couldn't ignore the blooms, which were backlit by soft sunlight filter through thin clouds in the winter sky. And so I abandoned my original mission, and got my camera.Incidentally, this is a Christmas cactus, but given that it is January 30, I think this one is a bit of a nonconformist.Canon 5DIII 1/60s f/4.0 ISO1600 100mm

01-14-13 A Nice Bouquet

After a black and white weekend here at "A Photo A Day," how about a splash of color? And I have no deep thoughts today. . .

12-23-12 From Mighty Acorns (Reprise)

I am taking a bit of a break from my blog and so I thought I'd post a few of my favorites.

11-03-12 Bread Art

I am teaching a little bit about food photography in my studio photography class and that has sent me in quest of photos I've taken that might illustrate the art and practice of making food look good in photos, which is rarely easy.Bill Zubke's buns are always photogenic, however, as these detectible samples demonstrate.

10-12-12 Explosion

In an attempt to balance the rather dark and mysterious tree photo posted yesterday, I offer this flamboyant flower. If my mission were to photograph "happy," this is what I'd offer.Canon 5DII 1/320s f/7.1 ISO400 105mm

09-28-12 Furry Friend

09-14-12 Arachnophilia?

In a word, "no," I don't love spiders. But I don't hate or fear them, either. Given that I have posted one other spider (here) and two spider webs (here and here) in this blog in the last month, you should be able to infer my fascination with spiders.What was interesting about this particular spider is that I took several macro shots of the bark of the tree he/she is on before I even noticed him/her (how do you tell gender?). The other interesting thing about this spider is that it didn't move at all, even though my lens was only inches from it. Sleeping? Dead? Dormant? I can't say.

09-10-12 Purple and Gold

This purple and gold flower was a single bloom in a bouquet of cut garden flowers my wife bought at our local famers' market. Amongst all of the flowers in the arrangement, this one jumped out at me. And so, when our back deck was bathed in soft late afternoon light, I took a few photos.When I looked at what I had taken this morning, I noticed that a close view of this flower showed its imperfections. And so I had a dilemma: should I retouch it like I might a human portrait or should I leave it alone?This post is the answer. Aside from the standard corrections I make on many photos (contrast, sharpening, vibrancy, etc.) I left it alone.

08-17-12 What Do You See?

I don't know about you, but I have never looked closely at a human eye before I edited this photo. The eye you're looking at belongs to Tiffany, one of my Photo/Media students at Lake Area Technical Institute, and she was a good sport when I spontaneously told her I wanted to photograph her eyes. We went up to an area in our school that has great northern light and I took several photos.I'm not sure if a viewer would find this photo fascinating or a bit unsettling. If it's unsettling, I can tell you that it shouldn't be because Tiffany wouldn't unsettle you: she is a beautiful person, with a beautiful personality. And she has beautiful eyes.Sorry for the deep thoughts here but I think close-ups of body parts, like a single human eye, are striking because we don't tend to look so closely at them. In fact, if someone stares at us too long, we often look away. Further, an eye is in the realm of people like optometrists, not teachers, friends and acquaintances. And beyond that, it is only part of a whole that we call our bodies. I believe we are less our bodies than we are our experiences. Our bodies are like suitcases (Samsonite? Luis Vuitton?) in to which we pack our true selves.That aside, today I am showing you Tiffany's eye and asking you "What do you see?" In my case, to quote the famous discoverer Howard Carter, I see "wonderful things". . . .Canon 5DII 1/60s f/4.0 ISO200 100mm

07-24-12 Depth of Field

07-10-12 Five

There's something about looking at close-ups of flowers that makes me count. And in this flower, five seems to be the recurring number.