Fresh Fruit and Vegetables

I love the fresh things in life like fruits and vegetables that are grown locally, not treated with nasty chemicals, not genetically modified to fit into a shipping container and be unblemished after being on the road for 6 days. That's right I am an organic, natural, hippie food lover. There is something amazing about food that was made with care and loving for not only the planet but also for the people who will consume it and gain nutrition. This food is the best you can get without growing it yourself. Check out Fairview Gardens at http://www.fairviewgardens.org/. They have a great farm stand open 7 days a week and you can tour the farm while you are there. Thats right you can buy your fruits and vegetables right where they grow. It does not need to take a week to get to the grocery store and then another week before you buy, IT IS FRESH! It doesn't get any better unless you grow it yourself. But I repeat myself. If you can not grow it yourself then support your local farmer and buy from them. Fairview Gardens is located on Fairview Ave in Goleta. Come check them out. They also have a blog site with great in season recipes which are wonderful; http://fairviewgardenscsa.wordpress.com/. Thanks for watching.

Before and After

I did some major post processing on these images just to see what kind of looks I could get with a combination of HD and Orton landscape treatment. Just to give you an idea of how different the images are from their originals I have included the plain Jane originals with the final product. No offenses to any Janes' out there. Love you all. Tell me what you think and Thanks for Watching.

Orton Landscape Effect

So I got these great steps from Richard Hockett of Sun Ridge Photo on how to do a painterly effect on landscape images called the Orton Effect. This effect was developed by a photographer named Micheal Orton who used it with film. I love that this method that was developed with film has translated so well for digital process. Now I want to also try it out on film. I just need to build that dark room. But I still want to have my bathroom, but that is a whole other issue. Enjoy and Thanks for watching.

Santa Barbara Orchid Show

Flowers are amazing things. That they come is such a large variety and color by themselves is wonderful. That within one species such as the orchid there can be hundreds of variations is even more amazing. I went to the orchid show with a group of people from http://www.meetup.com/Santa-Barbara-International-Photography-Group/. This is a local group of photography enthusiasts with various skill levels. It was fun to get together with other people that just like to shoot photographs. But then to do it at an orchid show was even better. I really recommend you check out the next time there is an orchid show in town or where ever you are. Thanks for watching.

Support Your Local Farmer

I remember when I was a kid there was a promotional poster showing all kinds of different careers and how they contributed to society. For Example, The teacher would teach and educate people when they needed it. The fireman would protect our homes when we needed it. The police would protect us when we needed it. And in the middle of this poster was a picture of a hard working farmer with the caption, The farmers feeds all of us. It may be hard to think about if you did not have an education but you could live with food or if you lost your home to fire but you could live with food, or if you were in danger but you could live as long as you had food. Think about it a little and then go hug a farmer because he is the one that helps put food in front of you. Support your local farmer. Thanks for watching.

Turkey Vulture

Up close, a Turkey Vulture looks like a skin condition gone bad on top of a pile of dirty feathers, in flight they are majestic gliders that knew about the power of wind long before man. Most birds spend a lot of energy flapping about to get from one place to another or to seek food or mates. The Vulture has figured the easy way to find food is to just hang out on the air currents and look for something slow, very slow. Now trying to get a sharp picture of one of these birds might seem easy but try guessing which direction they will turn and have your camera focused on that spot at the same time you are panning with them and you will see how hard it is. Thanks for watching.

HDR cattle pen

I was driving home from doing an afternoon shoot at the local CSA where I had trouble working with the wind and the light to get some good shots, (images coming soon), when I saw these old overgrown cattle chutes that were only going to be in sunlight for another 30 minutes. I had just finished talking with Richard Hockett of SunRidge Photo, http://www.sunridgephoto.com/, about a future HDR workshop and I thought this would be a good subject to shoot for HDR processing. The wind was still blowing the weeds around but I tried to shoot fast and minimize the winds affects. The images worked well for HDR and were fun to shoot. Tell me what you think. Thanks for watching and share with your friends.