Unretouched Photos
These images are just as they came out of the camera. Other than some light sharpening, since reducing them from my massive scans and original digital images softens the fine details, these are just how the camera sees things. An image that is not included in this set may not necessarily be altered, especially an older one. This was mainly created as a challenge to myself on one "spring cleaning" day to try to take more spontaneous shots since recently I have been working on some massive panoramas that have taken quite a bit of my creative time.

Tuesday, December 17, 2019
Waikiki Bolt
Another beautiful display over Waikiki. You hear a lot about the rain in Hawaii, but it's usually all in the context of rainbows and beautiful flowers with water droplets on them. This evening was a bit more energetic!

Friday, November 29, 2019
Australian Pied Cormorant Posing
Well this guy sure knows how to pose for his portrait! I found him preening outside of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne, Australia. Perhaps he was hoping to meet the Queen. He seemed to be encroaching on the territory of some other birds who were repeatedly divebombing him, but that didn't seem to bother him all that much. He hardly looked up from his important feather arranging. The range of birds, and particularly the calls from the unseen multitudes made the stroll through the gardens seem more like the middle of the rainforest than the middle of a large city.

Monday, November 25, 2019
Waikiki Harbor Storm
It's no secret that Hawaii, Waikiki especially, is known for its breathtaking views. But one of the things I enjoy in a place like this is capturing something a little different. Now don't get me wrong, I love a beautiful sunset view and have shot my share of them, but to my eye this has to be one of the most interesting and beautiful images I've ever captured in Hawaii. This is a single image, captured in camera, and not a particularly long exposure since the movement of the boats in their slips would make them unpleasantly blurry over even a matter of seconds. I'm always amazed at the beauty and complexity of lightning bolts as they try to find their way through the atmosphere, and after staring at the structure of these for longer than I probably could accurately estimate I'm convinced that lower one on the left was generally coming straight for us emanating from the bright point in the center of it. An absolutely beautiful evening, and the sunset that preceded it was actually something to behold too, I'll probably share that at a later date.

Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Reflections
Ahh sailboats, I know it seems like a theme lately. It's only partially because I really love them (especially the bright colors in this shot.) The other reason is, near the water is about the only comfortable place to be these days. The cool air coming across the breakwater is the only thing that makes a walk bearable during the day lately. Well that and the cool water if you don't time the waves right. Still humid summer or not, it's absolutely beautiful!

Thursday, August 29, 2013
Iridescent Jelly
This amazing little creature is a Comb Jelly. The lights in rows on the side of his body are rows of tiny cilia (tiny movable hair like structures). But the light does not come from bioluminescence, the cilia are like tiny little prisms refracting the ambient light as the jelly waves the cilia to move through the water. The resulting wave of small rainbows is quite a show.

Monday, May 27, 2013
Pink Epi Blossom
Ok, before you just dismiss this as just another flower, you should know this is a pretty cool plant. This is an Epiphyllum (or Hylocereus) Hybrid. It's a cactus similar to a christmas cactus, but bigger in every way. The pads are several feet long, and this blossom is about 9 inches across. His ancestors, were pure white and lived in one of the most unlikely places imaginable for a cactus, the canopy of Central American jungles, just like orchids (hence Epiphyllum, an epiphyte is a plant that grows upon another plant, like an orchid.) If that is not interesting enough, the large white blossoms of their ancestors bloomed in the evening for only one night. Why? Because their pollinators are nocturnal and some have fairly bad eyesight... bats and some large moths. I've always loved these plants. I have more than I really have room for, and each one is an amazing beauty.

Friday, August 31, 2012
Beet Salad at the Rhumb Line
More beautiful food from the Rhumb Line Restaurant in Ventura. This is the Beet Salad. I'm told it's one of their most popular dishes, and if it tastes as good as it looks I can sure see why! Once again this is right out of the camera, no fakery, and no inedible food here. This was right out of the kitchen, and ready to eat!

Saturday, August 18, 2012
I'll have the Pork
This made me hungry! Sam, the very creative chef at the Rhumb Line restaurant in Ventura shared a work of art with me yesterday. This is something new he is working on, and let me tell you the aroma was enough to make me want to put my camera down and pick up a fork.
Now we've all heard the stories about inedible food used for photography. After the shoot the staff at the restaurant ate this dish to try the new item. No trickery here, and no Photoshop work either. Other than a few specks of dust, this is right out of the camera.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Mission Carmel Bell Tower
This is from the inner courtyard at the Carmel Mission. I believe the tree with the white blossoms is a Flowering Pear Tree. This is thier time of year. There are some around here that are pure white with so many blossoms you can't see their leaves.

Sunday, January 25, 2009
High Speed Fountain
Today was a day of relaxation. Well, after the morning
of spring cleaning it was anyway. (Yeah, spring comes
early in California and it's not always a good thing.)
One of our stops today was at Terra Sol Nursery on Patterson
Avenue. We spend a LOT of time there for people who live in a
place with a 10' x 25' back yard. But there is always room
for one more plant. And there is always room for quite a few more
cool plant photos.
We were trying to think of something
nice to put in a newly cleaned space hoping it would discourage us from
collecting junk... er, I mean, important things that have yet to find
a permanent home. Today it was the fountains that caught our eyes.
But those are more of an outside thing so we left uncharacteristically
empty handed. Well other than for a few really cool shots of
the water flowing from the fountains. This one is particularly interesting
because just looking at the fountain the stream was a perfect column
of water. But at 1/640th of a second you can clearly see individual pulses of the
motor driving the pump. Usually the pumps pulse at 60hz (60 times per second)
same as the electricity that supplies them.
In the spirit of simplifying things, and since the photo of the day
has been a little behind lately, I have created a new category on the site:
"unretouched". This image is just as it came
out of the camera. Not to say that all the other images are heavily altered.
But I am far from a purist when it comes to either recreating the
scene as I remember it, or just having fun with a creative image.
And recently I have been working with some massive panoramas that
take days to get just right. So it will be nice to take some more
spontaneous shots.

Sunday, January 21, 2007
Still Sleeping
When normal people go on vacation they sleep in.
Then you have me and my hound dog.
Miss hound seems to like to get up early when we are in a
different place. Maybe because she knows that is when
I get some of my best pictures. Or, maybe she's excited
to go out and smell what there is to smell. (She has
long since sniffed all there is to sniff at home.)
At any rate, she woofs and since she has me wrapped around
her cute little paw, we get up and go out. When this
started I was not very happy about it, but I have learned that
there will usually be a number of beautiful images that reveal themselves
during our morning constitutional.
I would write more, but Zoe is sitting by the door right now.
She is trying to remind me there is more to life than sitting
in front of the strange glowing, humming box.