04-11-12 Easter Morning, 2012 - San Juan Island

This photo was taken a few miles west of the city of Friday Harbor, Washington, on San Juan Island. I had found this location the day before but thought that it would photograph better just after sunrise. The chances that I would have a mostly clear morning weren't that great. But, as you can see, nature performed well for me.I used Auto Exposure Bracketing to take three different exposures of the same scene but in the end I used the darkest of the three and a plug-in in Aperture to create this photo, which shows details in the darkest parts and in the brightest. That's what HDR (high dynamic range) does.

Seattle City Scape

Being in the right place at the right time makes a photographer's job easier. Sometimes I manage this by intent and sometimes by luck.In the case of this photo of Seattle, I got lucky. Apparently, it had been cloudy, cool and rainy for most of the week prior to our three-day stay in the area. But during our entire stay, it ranged from partly cloudy to crystal clear. I took this photo later in the afternoon, which resulted in nearly perfect light for the scene. And I couldn't have asked for more interested clouds.And, yes, this photo is manipulated in software. In my intent to work on the contrast in the photo, I found a setting in Nik Color Efex 4 that gave a look to this scene that I liked.

Oh, Canada

My son Jon and his friend Lynn gaze off towards Victoria, Canada, from the west shore of San Juan island in Washington state.

Well Musseled

I apologize for the bad pun in the title of this post - I couldn't resist. The mussels were one of the many delicacies we enjoyed on our visit to Friday Harbor, Washington.

Early Morning North of Town

04-06-12 A Pretty Big Dog

This big dog greets visitors to the Target wing of the Minneapolis Institute of art.

Soft Hues

Reaching Out

I am resolving to try to re-invent myself as a photographer. Someday. But until then, here's another flower photo.

California Sunshine

It was a sunny day in southern California when I snapped this photo. But it wasn't warm. In fact it ended up being about 20 degrees warmer in our home town of Watertown, SD, on the same day. But the green houses aren't flourishing yet in our part of the world.If you are in Corona del Mar, and like plants and flowers, look up Roger's Gardens. It's a bit of a tourist attraction and well worth the visit.

Classic Portraiture

My aunt Betty left South Dakota for California when she was 18. That had to have been a huge leap for a petite girl from the midwest. She went with her oldest sister (my aunt) Phyllis. Phyllis moved back to South Dakota after a few months but Betty stayed for the rest of her life.As close as we can tell, this portrait was taken in 1943 in California when Betty was about 22. That's close to 70 years ago.This photo has powerful personal and family meaning to me but as an occasional portrait photographer and as a photography teacher, it is a good example of what I have said more than once to my young students: a well-posed, well-lit portrait will never go completely out of style.Of course, the hair and clothing fashions of the 1940s have faded. And while a white vignette isn't something you see much of these days, everything else about this portrait still "works," especially the Rembrandt lighting. This photo has a sepia tone to it, though the color would have been applied by hand, since color film was a novelty in the 40s.Finally, as I look at this "analog" picture, I think of the billions of digital files (mine included) that never make their way to paper. If Betty's portrait had been done with a digital camera and if it had only been seen and published on a computer, we wouldn't be looking at it today. What will exist 70 years from now that will decode this and millions of other blogs - and the pictures that illustrate them?

An Angel Walks Among Us

You are looking at Veronica, a woman who was hired from an agency to be my 91-year-old aunt Betty's home care assistant. If Veronica had had a job description it would have said that she was to show up 6 days a week, 8 hours a day and see that our aunt was cared for. And Veronica did that reliably for almost a year.Not in the job description was a demand for love, affection and friendship. And yet Veronica offered those things, too. To know Veronica is to like her. Veronica, who only four years ago immigrated to the US from Kenya, has a charm and grace that make you feel like you've known her forever. And her voice and laughter are music.I will also say that we have no doubt that Betty's life was not only extended but enhanced by Veronica's constant attention. They went shopping, they went out to eat and they played along with "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?" on TV. Betty's blood pressure dropped from astronomical to normal in the year that Veronica was caring for her. Toprol helps; but it's hard to beat the healing power of love.On the day Betty passed away, Veronica had a premonition that something was going to happen. Instead of going home at 5, she stayed until nine. She told us she would have stayed all night but Vicky, who worked with Betty on Sundays, agreed to take over. On any other night, Betty would have been alone. But on the night she died, Betty wasn't. And at 2 am, when Veronica heard that Betty had passed away, Veronica came back to Betty's house to be with her friend.I just looked up "angel" in the dictionary and the first definition describes an angel as "a spiritual being . . . who acts as an agent or messenger of God." Only God knows if that is true of Veronica. However, the second definition says that an angel is "a person of exemplary conduct or virtue." And our family certainly knows that this is true of Veronica.

California Fresh

California is cooler than South Dakota today but I'm afraid it still has a few things going for it that my state doesn't. For example, here in California I can drive 2 minutes from my aunt's house and find a strawberry patch with luscious, ripe strawberries. I can't do that in Watertown this time of year. These tasted great on vanilla ice cream, incidentally.In our planning for my aunt Betty's memorial at the end of next month, I told Deb that we needed to serve strawberries and Dairy Queen ice cream. Betty stood five feet tall and weighed less than 100 pounds but she could eat strawberries and ice cream like there was no tomorrow.