The Whanganui River

Whanganui River from the Gentle Annie Hill

Wanganui, (the local spelling drops the "h"), is actually the town I grew up in in New Zealand. Situated at the mouth of the Wanganui River, the city is nicknamed "The River City". The river is rich in Maori and early-European history, and in the last decade or so the river was designated "The Whanganui River National Park". The river is the second longest in New Zealand after the Waikato River.

This photo was taken from the River Road from the top of the Gentle Annie Hill from which you get a commanding view of the river valley.

Matiatia Waiheke Island

Sunrise at Matiatia Wharf Waiheke Island

Waiheke Island is a 30-minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland. Still clinging somewhat to its appealing "stuck-in-the-past" atmosphere, in recent years it has also developed a successful boutique wine and olive-growing industry. The mix leads to a very appealing combination of the quaint and sophisticated. Blessed with beautiful beaches and a temperate climate, Waiheke Island is a "must-do" on any trip to Auckland.

Stirling Falls Milford Sound 2

Milford Sound Stirling Falls

The boat was able to pull up pretty close to the base of Stirling Falls because of the great depth of the fiord at this point.

Milford

Adobe Photoshop Resource Swicki

A swicki, like the one you will find below, is a search engine that gets better results with time thanks to your input. Returning results similar to a search engine like Google, you get the opportunity to do such things as vote for, promote, add, or remove sites returned within the results. Over time, the best sites determined by your and everyone else's responses to the search results move to the top. Essentially, you get to vote on the search engine results.

This swicki is focused on Adobe Photoshop, with an emphasis on Photoshop training and specific Photoshop "how to" tutorials found on hundreds of websites, and where to buy Photoshop software at reasonable prices. Thank you for taking part and helping build a quality resource for Adobe Photoshop.

check out the adobe_photoshop swicki at eurekster.com

Portrait of Tina

Portrait of Tina

This is a portrait of a good New Zealand friend's niece, Tina. It just so happened that she came to work in Orange County for a few months and ended up that she was staying in an apartment building about a mile from my home. To that point I had never met her or knew that she was living here. Talk about a small world! Anyhow, Tina was a willing model for me to practise some portrait photography on. Thanks, Tina!

Balanced Rock Arches National Park

Photo of Balanced Rock Arches National Park Utah

The geology of Arches National Park consists of sandstone which erodes relatively easily. Water and weather have eroded the rock in long fins. Because of the different hardness of rock, interesting rock formations haven developed in the fins themselves, such as the arches for which the park is named, and this boulder which sits precariously atop an almost completely eroded fin.

Red Hot Poker Flower

Photo of a Red Hot Poker Flower

This flower originates from South Africa. I can't ever recall seeing them in the U.S. but they are a very common garden flower in my native New Zealand. This photo of a red hot poker flower was in fact taken on a recent trip home to New Zealand. The flower sits atop a lot stalk and is darker red the closer you get to the top. You can see why it's called a "red hot poker". I like the color palette in the background of this photo; it contains some very complimentary colors.

Lotus Bloom -Black and White

Black and White Photo of a Lotus Bloom

Here's the same photo of the lotus bloom in the previous post but in black and white.

Lotus Bloom

Lotus Bloom

I took this photo at the gardens at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. I love the creamy yellow of the lotus bloom.

Jack Langson Librarary UCI #2

Jack Langson Library Building UCI

Although architecturally characterized as being of "Brutalist" style, the strong vertical lines of the Jack Langson Library are broken by a curved concrete vignette which gives the impression of pleated fabric.This photo focuses on these gracefully curved vignettes on the sides of the building. This feature breaks the strong linear lines of the building that run from this point to the roof. Something about this feature has an Art Deco flavor to it in my mind, although the building is an example of Brutalism.

Jack Langson Librarary UCI #1

Jack Langson Library University of Irvine

The Jack Langson Library at UC Irvine is one of the eight original buildings on the campus, designed by architect William Pereira in 1965. The Langson Library contains the collections and services that support research and teaching in the Arts, Humanities, Education, Social Sciences, Social Ecology, and Business & Management. The exterior of the building features strong linear vertical lines and its architecture is classified as belonging to the "Brutalist" style. “Brutalism” comes from the French phrase “béton brut,” meaning “raw concrete.” Buildings in the Brutalist style were often characterized by an unfriendly appearance. Most Brutalist buildings did not have many doors or windows

Architectural Photography

Architectural Photography

Taking photos of buildings can be quite a challenge as you have to be able to bring out some point of interest in what might otherwise turn out to be simply a "nice photo of a building". I try to capture interest by focusing on intersecting lines and angles, or interesting architectural features of the building, rather than the building in its entirety. All in all, I think architectural photography is one of the hardest things to pull off in a way that will bring interest to the viewer.

Go here for my architectural photography

Photo of Peacock

Peacock Photo with Tail Feathers Extended

I took this photo of a peacock with his feathers fully-extended at the magnificent San Diego Zoo. He was really showing off and pulling in quite a crowd as you can imagine. I had some fun with the image using Photoshop. If you'd like an archival print of this photograph, use the link at the bottom of the page. Of course, all watermarks and copyright markings on the face of the photo will be removed.

Still Life with Bird and Poem

Still Life with Bird and Poem

As I was in the bathroom getting ready for work this morning I heard a loud crack against the glass sliding door and my dog starting barking. I knew immediately that it must have been a bird that had flown into the glass, and sure enough, lying there on the deck was a finch (I have subsequently been informed that this bird is in fact a MacGillivray's Warbler). Sometimes they just seem to knock themselves out and after a couple of minutes they get themselves together and fly off. But not this little birdie. From the loudness of the sound I knew this little guy was literally going at "break-neck speed" and that's what he had in fact done. I felt so sad. He was so small and handsome and no doubt so full of the joys of spring. I felt very moved and brought him inside and cupped him in my hands and huffed on him to keep him warm just in case he might come around. After several mintues it was obvious there was no hope for him so I took him back outside and put him on the patio table with a lavender flower for a pillow. As I rode my bike to work I just couldn't stop thinking about him, and riding along the creek where there are so many birds, I composed a poem in his memory. I put the poem on the photograph with him in his honor. Hopefully this guy's made it to heaven by now and is singing with the angels. (Click the photo above for a larger image that will allow you to read the poem).

Just in case you aren't up on world religions sufficiently to know who the Jains are, they are a strict Hindu sect that respects life in all its manifestations to the extent that they wear masks in daily life so as not to inhail even an insect that might be floating on the air. Although I didn't set out to write a poem that is about the Buddhist principal of following the middle path, that's essentially what the poem is about. The invisible glass, albeit inanimate, brought death to the bird; he needed to pay attention to the invisible in life as well as the visible. The moral of the poem is that we should not give all our energy to one thing or belief to the extent that we lose touch with other realities, points of view, etc. I have no idea what might have been going on in my subconscious at the time I composed this poem in my head as I rode to work and to have ended up with this as the outcome of my "meditation" on the death of this bird, but that's in fact where it all led.

This image and poem are copyright. If you are interested in prints, please contact me using the link at the bottom of the page.

Bird Photo Gallery - Broadband Flash Gallery

Bird Photo Gallery - Dial Up Optimized

Photo of Flamingos

Flamingos

In this photo of a flamingo I have created a slight watercolor effect with Photoshop. I really like how this made the reflections in the water become quite "painterly". These flamingos make their home at the Marriott Resort in Palm Desert, California.

Dualing Flamingos

Dualing Flamingos

This picture was also taken at the Marriott Resort in Palm Desert, CA. The flamingos are captive in a pond in front of the hotel. Flamingos are fascinating to watch as they are not only very attractive but also very comical on their incredibly skinny legs that bend forward at the knee rather than back when they walk. Like all birds, they are concerned with preserving their personal space and establishing their pecking order, and these two were doing just that.

Bird Photo Gallery - Broadband Flash Gallery

Bird Photo Gallery - Dial Up Optimized

Song Sparrow in Spring Wildflowers

Photo of Song Sparrow in Spring Wildflowers

I love taking pictures of birds. This little guy, a song sparrow, was singing away very merrily when I was walking along the boardwalk at Moonstone Beach in Cambria, California last spring. I love how all the background yellows and pinks came out so well in this picture too.

(Note: I published a second photo of this song sparrow in a post dated June 26, 2008 - Song Sparrow in Spring Wildflowers -2)

This and other photos I have taken of birds can be found in the bird photo galleries. There's one for broadband visitors, and one for dialup visitors. Here are the links to each:

Bird Photo Gallery - Broadband Flash Gallery

Bird Photo Gallery - Dial Up Optimized

Photo of a Swan

Photo of a Swan

This picture proves the point that you don't have to venture far to get photos of bird life. This picture I actually took at the Marriott Resort in Palm Desert, CA. My room was above the lake that comes right up to the rooms on one section of the hotel, and this swan did me the favor of floating by in front of my room.

This and other photos I have taken of birds can be found in the bird photo galleries. There's one for broadband visitors, and one for dialup visitors. Here are the links to each:

Bird Photo Gallery - Broadband Flash Gallery

Bird Photo Gallery - Dial Up Optimized

Dragonfly on Lotus Bud

Photo of a Red Dragonfly on a Lotus Bud

I took this shot at the gardens at the Huntington Library in San Marino (next to Pasadena) in California. In the summer the lotus plants grow well in the koi ponds and there are always dragonflies flitting about. I like the contrast between the green of the lotus bud and the red of the dragonfly. This photo came out better than I hoped for as I had to really stretch out from the edge of the pond towards the bloom to get as close as I could, and hope that the dragonfly wouldn't get frightened off. Another thing I like about the picture is that the purplue hue on the tips of the lotus bud are reflected somewhat in the tips of the dragonfly's wings.

Dead Tree - Infrared Effect

Photo of Dead Tree with Infrared Effect

Here's the same photo again but after creating an infrared camera effect. Infrared cameras create their images using infrared light. Light waves in the infrared range are far longer than in the visible light spectrum. Infrared light is emitted from a body based on its heat characteristics and infrared cameras are designed to detect this range of radiation. Infrared cameras don't need visible light since infrared radiation is emitted by all bodies night and day. So a photo taken with an infrared camera can be taken even at night. Perhaps you are familiar with "night-vision goggles" used by the military - these work on the same principle of detecting the heat emit ed by a body in the infrared spectrum and forming an image from this "light".

This photo wasn't actually taken with an infrared camera; I used Photoshop to simulate what the image might look like had it been taken with an infrared camera. Photos taken with an infrared camera are often monochromatic since the sensor in the camera is typically designed to respond to a single wavelength within the infrared spectrum. For this reason they produce pictures that are very white and fuzzy at the points where the most heat is being generated. I like to try and simulate this effect to give a twist to the typical black and white image.

You can read more about infrared cameras at the following WikiPedia listing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared_camera

Dead Tree Black and White

This is a black and white interpretation of this color photo of the dead tree in Arches National Park, Utah. The black and white brings out the starkness of the landscape.

Tree at Arches National Park

Photo of a Dead Tree in Arches National Park, Utah

I went to Arches National Park in Utah over the Memorial Day weekend and naturally took a lot of photos. One of the things that I love photographing in the national parks of the Western United States are the trees. Pinon pines, junipers, cedars, etc. dot the landscape with great artistic beauty. So many of these trees have a compelling sculptural quality formed by the extreme climate. The tree in this series was apparently dead though it must have died over this past winter as it was still holding it's shape and looked as if its leaves had just dropped off. Its starkness was offset wonderfully by the red rock background.

I have made a series of photos of this tree using different techniques, from the color photograph in this post, a black and white interpretation, and two with infrared effects. I hope you enjoy them.