A black and white conversion from a graveyard in New Hampshire.

When I returned from my trip to New Hampshire I found I was drawn to this particular photo. Ilike several elements from this particular shot but the rushing stream in the foreground of the original just seemed to get in the way. I had some time last night and played around with various crops. I settled on this panorama style crop and I like how it came out.

I recently took a Tai Chi class during the fall. At the last session our instructor demonstrated the sword form.

On Monday night we attended Emma's 5th grade winter concert. This shot was taken as an exposure test while we waited for the concert to start. While I was reviewing the pictures, I decided I liked it for the empty feeling. Somehow it gives me a sense of anticipation.

One final Christmas ornament shot that Michele made me put up here.

I think this is the last of the Christmas ornament photos for this year.

This past weekend I was happily shooting Christmas stuff around the house. In our front room I have several paintings by David Schluss and I noticed that the Christmas lights were making some interesting patterns on the glass.

VW Bug ornament for the Christmas tree.

Driving home from work last week I noticed a small sign that said to stop by the Christmas House. So this weekend we went to check it out. I must say it was fairly impressive, but nothing compared to some of the homes in California.

I have been going back through my archives recently and I have found photos I wanted to post, but never got around to doing it. This is one taken in August of this year.

During the summer months, the National Zoo lets the Golden Lion Tamarin's (GLTs) roam free in the trees during the day.

A couple of months back I was taking some product shots for a friend that is setting up an ecommerce website. So, I built myself a light box out of foam core and tracing paper. I was looking back at some of my test shots of the light box and found I like this one.

This was taken with ambient daylight on one side, and I fired my 580EX flash into the top of the lightbox at 1/4 power.

Several weeks ago I went to the National Zoo to check out the new Asia Trail. Here is a photo of Tai in his new habitat.

This week I took photos at my office Holiday party. For the past couple of years we have had a casino night. I took this photo while everyone was setting up.

On our final night in New Hampshire, we cooked hot dogs over a campfire. Here is a shot of Jeff stoking the fire.

Jeff had been clearing some of the trees around the pond and they were stacked very neatly, just waiting for me to take a picture.

Early one morning I explored our friends property. They have a small pond that was starting to freeze over. What I like about this shot the idea that it shows the transition from Fall to Winter. The heavily saturated Fall leaves on the left and the transition to the frozen blue ice on the right.

This Thanksgiving we traveled up to New Hampshire to visit some friends. I was able to get out with the camera several times to take pictures of the local sites.

This is the Contoocook River next to a paper mill in Antrim NH. This river happens to share one unusual characteristic with some very famous rivers like the Nile and the Amazon, they all flow North.

Last night Emma wanted me to take some quick photos of her hermit crabs. She was bringing them in for a show and tell presentation for today. She included several handouts that included handling of crabs, molting, and the anatomy. So I provided several photos for the handouts.

I took the opportunity to do a little off-camera flash work using the Strobist style. I hand held the 580EX flash in my left hand at roughly 1/4 power and manually dialed in the exposure on the camera. The flash was fired via PocketWizards. The exposure came out great on most of the shots. I just wish I would have chosen a different lens. I think the macro style depth of field is a little distracting for this particular purpose.

Its that time of year again. So for friends and family here is a handy dandy list of items I would love to receive this Christmas. Once again mostly photo items. Obviously I don't expect all the big ticket items. Just some wishful thinking :-)