Daily Exploration

Desert Sunset

Phoenix Sonorane Desert Preserve, AZ - The colors of the desert continue to amaze me. I can never get enough of the sunsets around here. I'm glad that my back yard faces west. Everyone says it makes patios to hot. I say it makes it easier to enjoy the sunsets.

Detail of the Castle

Montezuma Castle National Monument - Here is a little closer view of the former home of the Sinagua people who one inhabited this place.

Phoenix Lights

Phoenix, Arizona - The lights of Northern Phoenix, Arizon in the late evening.

Kannon-do Hall

Kamakura, Japan - A view of the main hall where the statues of the Hase Kannon is housed. This is looking up from the base of the stairs.

Florence from Above

Fiesole, Italy – Florence from Above - In ancient times, Florence and Fiesole did not get along all that well. If I was a Florentine, I would be jealous of the view Fiesole has

Going..Going..Gone

Jerome, Arizona - I am not sure what this thing used to be. Then again, I am not sure what a lot of this stuff is used for in the Gold King Mine and Ghost Town.

Under the pier

Virginia Beach, VA - Pier can provide unique photographic opportunities. With the high texture in the stilts and the reflections of the water. Many different places to draw your attention where most people do not look.

Terrace on the Golden Bridge

Florence, Italy - Here is the focus of my curiosity on the Golden Bridge. Someone could make a lot of money serving breakfast to tourists on the patio. Only big enough for two, this little spot on the river has so much potential.

Forest Trail

Edna W Spurgeon Forest Preserve, IN - I wish that I know about this place when I was growing up in this area south of Topeka, IN. The step hills in the otherwise flat Indiana landscape would have been good for this X-country running.

Desert Sunset

Phoenix, Arizona - This is actually inside of my sub division. In Indiana, my subdivision had rows of unimpressive houses with little open space. Here, we have enough open space to enjoy the desert sunsets.

Hayden Falls

Hayden Falls – Dublin, OH - I stuck around Hayden falls for about a half hour. That might have had something to do with the really long exposures some of these HDR images required. I was nice to enjoy the warm fall air and the sound of the falling water after a long day at work.

Rugged

Badlands National Park - The badlands may not be the best place to hike, but they do provide for an interesting landscape.

Lighthouse Dream

Acadia National Park - This almost looks like it came out of a dream. I love the effect that the HDR process can have on an image. Here the settings that I used combined with the lens flare has created an almost dream like image of the Bass Harbor Lighthouse.

Window into Pompeii

Pompeii Garderns

Lower Falls and Light

Yellowstone National Park - A good portion of photography is light. The light can get real dramatic when you have changes in elevation, low angle sun light and clouds. Here, I was luck enough to get all of them into one shot.

Side street

Asakusa, Japan - This is a side street leading out of a market area in Asakuse. I did not have time to explore the area, but it made for an interesting photo.

East rift zone

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park - This rift is in the East Rift Zone. This was actually the first desert that I ever visited. It is remarkable that just a few miles away, on the windward side of Kilauea, is a rain forest. If I turned around, I could see the rain forest.

Side Street

Fiesole, Italy – Side Street - I do not know why this side street was calling me. I’ve heard that angles are all around us whispering in our ears. This side street lead me to some beautiful overlooks of Florence and to the monastery of San Francisco where I spent most of my time in Fiesole.

Building Detail

Meiji Jingu Shrine, Japan - A detail of the corner of one of the buildings.

Pond

Japanese Friendship Gardens - Here is another image form the Japanese Friendship Gardens in San Jose. Very relaxing place. This was actually taken in December. I had been out of Phoenix for a while and noticed that we get some fall color in December. Apparently so does San Jose.

Old Orchard

Slide Rock State Park, AZ - The site that encompasses Slide Rock State Park is actually an old apple orchard. Here is one of the original buildings. The apple trees are still there as well.

The Joker

Valle, AZ - You got to love this hood ornament.

God's Beautiful Earth

Yosemite National Park - Everyone has a moment in time, where something beautiful causes time to stand still. When all you hear is the sounds of nature that surround you and all can you see is the beauty the God has placed on his Earth. When I walked off of the road on the east entrance to Yosemite National Park, I was looking west. When I turned to the east, I could not stop beholding what lay before me. This is what I saw.

Hayden Falls

Hayden Falls – Dublin, OH - It is hard to believe that I am only about 30 feet away from a busy four lane highway. This is Hayden Falls. It is a little slice of peace in an otherwise busy world. It took a little while to get this shot. Every time someone else walked up to take a picture, they would step on the boards on the board walk that my camera was on. It took a very shots to get a clear image.