Dayton Air Force Museum (Art Work)

I recently stopped by the Dayton Air Force museum and took a few pictures. I wanted to see how well my Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens would do. I still had to bump the ISO up to 1600 on quite a few but the pictures didn't come out too bad.

I just love Military Art. So my focus on this trip was just that. It seems that women get featured quite a bit. Sometimes less than flattering. This is the Red Headed B____ fill in the blank your self.



What do you think the person on the wrong end of this was thinking when they saw this staring back at them? Funny in a grim kind of way. I converted it to black and white. I just thought it looked better. Just in time for Halloween.




Speaking of Halloween. This fellow would of been a much better find if he hadn't been so difficult to photo. This one and a bunch of other fuselages art have been cut from he plane and placed in holders like pictures. The problem is they were all scrunched together not giving me much room to work with.
I am not sure how the Mouse and Bob would take this one if they saw it. I've never seen Donald this ferocious and I never thought the show to be all that explosive.



And then there's just plain cute. Hard not to like this guy, unless of course he's trying to shoot you down.

It was a quick trip, I only spent about two hours there. It is easily an all day trip. I just wanted to take some pictures to see how well the lens would work in low light situations. The last time I was at the museum I did not have the camera system I have now. In fact it was just a point and shoot. I was pleased with the results.

Tribute To Fall "Little Red Maple"

I caught up with a cousin of mine (David Martin) and the two of us have decided to combine forces to present a Tribute to Fall in poem and picture. The poems are Davids. I took the pictures. The first poem is "Little Red Maple" and was written by David May 22, 1999.

Cousins by blood, friends by nature

Little Red Maple

Little red maple standing proud
without a flaw,
spreading branches of leaves
answers the call.
To provide a place of serenity
and birds to nest.
Never waiver to time and pass
the test.

A tree can offer love through
silence without a sound.
much like 'Ole Glory
and the tree of life are bound.
We stand beside our flag that
whips in the wind,
representing all of our soldiers
and a country they defend.



So give us a home where freedom may reign -
where the beauty of our trees
eases our pain.
Little red maple that we give
to the earth,
symbolizes a nation that has
grown strong since birth.
Like a seed of a tree for which
it came,
God bless our country and her
people - one in the same.

Maumee Bay Boardwalk

I accompanied my wife on a business retreat to Maumee Bay just out side of Toledo this past weekend. I had a couple of hours to kill in the morning before we left so I went on the 2 mile loop boardwalk located right next to the lodge. The trees really haven't started to fully turn yet so there was not much in the way of fall color. The mushroom was my find of the day.








I wish I hadn't cropped off the one tip of the red leaf on the boardwalk but I think I can fix it in Photoshop. It was a very overcast day and the mosquitoes were out in full force. Other than dealing with them when I stopped to take a picture, it was a very enjoyable walk. It had rain the night before which helped saturate some of the colors. For a short outing I was happy with what I was able to capture.

Toy Trucks

The owner of the company I work for retired recently. Over the course of the years he ran the company he amassed quite a collection of toy trucks. His collection is going to be put on display at a local museum. I thought it would be neat if I took some pictures and made a calendar for him. This slide show was made from the pictures I took. I used three strobes and a homemade soft box to take these.



Canon Rebel XT
Canon f/2.8 100mm Macro Lens

The lights like my camera are just an entry level set. I had just recently got them so this was a chance for me to work with them and use my new found knowledge from the Lighting Class I took this summer. I ended up doing more editing than I would of liked but over all I was pleased with the project. One of the hardest things to do was come up with different looks for the trucks.

EPS Summer Show 2008

This years Edison Photo Society Summer Show was open themed. I had six pictures in the show but had to take my flag picture down before judging. I had donated the picture to Relay For Life for their auction and they needed it by a certain time. None of these received any ribbons. I will enter the flag in another show I am sure.

EPS Cincinnati Weekend Photo Shoot

This was just a great weekend shoot. I started out in the afternoon at the Spring Grove Cemetery. This place is huge. It is as much park as it is Cemetery. There was even a wedding going on while I was there. Later that evening my wife and I met up with the rest of the group for a dinner cruise on the Ohio River.



The next day we visited the St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Covington KY. This church is awesome and camera friendly. We then stopped by a local street fair before heading home.

It was a great weekend full of memories and lots of pictures.