01-08-10 By the Pool

I thought I would go back to the tropics for a day or two.

01-07-10 Snowscape

This is what I see when I look out my back door - pure snow that has been sculpted by the winter wind and colored purple and blue by the early morning sun. And it's cold as h@##!

01-06-10 Not the Last Resort

This is the central plaza at the Riu Palace Hotel just south of Playa del Carmen, Mexico. We stayed here for a week in late December And while it isn't "the last resort," 1/2 mile south of here, there were no resorts and a mile-long stretch of beach and trees and jungle. That's where I went every morning to watch the sun come up over the Caribbean.

Then I would stroll back to pampered civilization, take a spot by the pool and think from time to time about the blizzard that was raging in my home state. Not a bad way to spend a week. :-) Get a bird's eye view of this place by clicking here.

And, if you have nothing better to do, check out my 17 second video called "Shadows and Palms." (click)

01-05-10 Timeless

The exposure for this photo was 1/200 of a second but the rocks I was watching the waves crash against had been exposed to the pounding ocean for thousands of years. The sea and the rocks are timeless. We are not.

01-04-10 The Newlyweds

This is Derek and Alicia. The blurring of the rice (or tapioca) is an accident - I had been using a slow shutter speed inside the church. But the blurring adds an important element to this photo. I'd rather be good than lucky but I settle for lucky more often than not.

01-03-10 Salvavidas

AKA - "The Lifeguard." This photo was taken a couple miles south of Playa del Carmen on the famous "Maya Riviera."

01-02-10 Tropical Shade

Lying under the shade of palm trees is not something I do very often. But on a recent "retreat" to Mexico with my family I was; and when I looked up from my beach chair, I noticed the interesting curls of the tips of the palm leaves above me and so I took a few photos.

12-31-09 Snow Bound

This scene is fairly monochrome except for the pale brown of the cabin. And I was snow bound. 18" of wet snow fell during the night before this photo was taken. It was a beautiful place to be marooned.

Canon Powershot G1 1/500s f/4.5 7mm

12-30-09 Well Exposed

What can I say? They saw my camera and posed. I had to take the photo! Of course, if I had had a little more time I could have done this one right. But this will have to do. At least the exposure is good.

12-29-09 Sex Appeal

By Scott Shephard

I know the title is lurid. But so are the flowers - it's all about attraction.

12-28-09 Charles Bridge - A View From the Castle

By Scott Shephard

View fullsize

This is a long shot of the famous Prague bridge.

12-26-09 HDR Sunrise

HDR is a hot thing in photography right now. HDR stands for "high dynamic range" and the technique uses layering in Photoshop to get a photo that sometimes looks a little unreal. This scene required two layers and was taken at sunrise in Mexico a few years ago.