Talking Pictures

I shot this image casually, as a friend and I relaxed in a nearly empty waterfront café after a shoot. I can’t tell you why I shot it, but I can tell you why it gradually has become a sort of personal favorite. Although it contains nothing dramatic, it says something very basic about photography.

We don’t know whose sunglasses these are, how they came to be...

While on the freeway, I pass over this giant drainage system on the way to my studio each day. And each time, I catch a glimpse of this shopping cart way off in the back. I often wondered about the chances of it still being there in case I wanted to make a shot. Well, after about a week of seeing it every day, the shopping cart was still there. So, I waited until the sun was nice and low...

While sitting under a shade tree in the backyard, I took a quick shot of some oak leaves against the evening sky (shown upper right). When I processed the images I discovered the pleasing effect of the silhouetted leaves and spent the next few days scouring the yard for interesting shapes. I employed my Third Hand tool, which has a rod with an alligator clip on each end, to hang the subjects so I...

A couple of years ago, I took my mother on a trip to Tokyo, Japan. I planned this trip as a way to give my family an opportunity to get out of their day-to-day routines and travel across the world to gain a new perspective on things. Our trip was full of fun and exciting excursions, and a few meaningful experiences. One of these experiences took place at the Kotokuin Temple in Kamakura, Japan.

Every time I glance at my two favorite images of this ostentatious peacock, taken at the Los Angeles Arboretum & Botanic Garden, I am reminded of the irreplaceable gift that has been given to us. What could have motivated Mother Nature to design such glorious colors and intricate patterns? We humans may never have the answer, but I am inclined to believe that it was simply to soothe the soul;...

On a visit to see my daughter’s family in southern Alabama, I took along my photo gear, as usual. My son-in-law knows I have a particular affinity for places and things that people just walk away from. He knows the scrap dealer who now owns the old Uniontown High School that was abandoned in the late 1990s when the new consolidated county high school was opened.

When...

I awoke at 4:30am with plans to climb a mountain to photograph the sunrise. We were at a bed and breakfast in the Catskill Mountains for a three-day photography course. The fog was dense that summer morning, so the majority of the photographers went back to bed. I borrowed a Nikkor VR 70-200mm f/2.8G and walked down to the edge of the river, where I quietly sat for the sunrise. One deer, then...