In September I received a nice note from Karl Haudbourg, a fellow in Serbia that had come across my site while twittering (proof that there is indeed marketing potential in these "social media" things). He took note of my page dedicated to Serbia and realized immediately that it would be fodder for his blog "Serbia's Ambassador to the World", wherein he collects and publishes positive accounts of people's experience with that country and its citizens. There's no doubt that Serbia has a bad rap around the world and my own experience there made me begin to wonder how much of that is due to a low down, lying press. Karl's crusade is to provide an antidote, or at least counter some of that bad press, by taking on the role of good will ambassador for his country. If you think you may have given a bum rap to Serbia you can do two things: visit his BLOG and then visit my page dedicated to the country HERE.
(This photo of the Bishop's Residence in Novi Sad was the one he chose to use.)
Onward and Upward
Photographically, I had a very blessed summer, highlighted by the gift of a new macro lens from my wife, Carollen, and a Nikon D90 from a consortium of friends, organized by said wife. I'm greatly pleased with this machine and have had a great time with it. Upon receiving it, I immediately familiarized myself with its workings (i.e, learned where the battery and flash card go) and set out in the neighborhood to see if both it and I could live up to its promise.
Results:
This was one of the first photos I took with both the D90 and the macro. (A neighbor's collection of magnificent sunflowers was impossible to ignore.) Since beginning to shoot digital, I have really missed owning a macro lens and for once my moaning and groaning didn't go unnoticed.A few days later, at the Western Idaho Fair:
Horse woman Risa Roe was enjoying her new partner, a young horse she saved from extermination and, with a lot of love and patience, made into a show horse. They were headed to the bridle competition but slowed down enough to allow me a few shots.
With the arrival of fall I, like billions of other photographers, turned my attention to the glories of the season. Carollen and I headed off for a couple of days in McCall, on the shores of Payette Lake about two hours north of Boise, and there I got into my stride with the new camera.
A nice hike in Ponderosa State Park brought us to Huckleberry Bay on Payette lake. It was the ideal spot to continue my dabbling with HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography. If you want or need to get excited about photography again, you could try HDR - it's really quite phenomenal.The above is an example of a shot on a bright, sunlit day, but below you have just the opposite. This day was gray and flat but HDR allowed me to suck more out of the scene than anyone would have thought possible.
Before:
After:
I'll be showing a lot more of my HDR efforts, so stay tuned. Meanwhile do a Google image search for "HDR" and hold onto your socks.Now back to the real world:
(If you ask me why I took this photo or, indeed, insist on showing it, don't expect an answer.)
And now, 15 minutes later:
I've not run out of photos to share, and of course neither have I run out of words, but that's it for now. Thanks for visiting!
