My creation, originally uploaded by Septguy.

When you start to lose light towards the end of the day and you are trying to photograph subjects moving quickly, you either pump up the ISO and get a lot of grain or make something out of the motion.

Day's End

Day's End, originally uploaded by Septguy.

A Blue Ridge Day, originally uploaded by Septguy.

It was a day to get out, let the mind wander and the eye fall upon what caught its attention. The air was crisp but not too cool, the hiking trail not too crowded. The distant views were clear, the colors of the trees catching the suns rays in the distance.

There's something about a lazy cat. Cat's have an interesting life, they are pampered in general, fed when hungry, have their coats groomed and generally have their way. I've never calculated how much time each day the cats sleep but I'm sure it's a statistic that's available somewhere.
Dogs on the other hand, tend to be directed and told what to do. "Come, fetch, sit, lay, " you know the drill. When I was growing up we had dogs. I had two hunting dogs, Pointers. We referred to them as "bird dogs", I've never known if that was an official title or not. I remember to this day taking my uncle hunting and the male dog finding his first covey of quail. I think my uncle had thought they were never going to actually show their talents.
Life on a farm was some much simplier than today.

For the past few months time has been an especially different element in my life. Everyone in the business I work in has been counting down the days until new owners take over. I enjoy visiting the mountains during these times, a quiet summer evening walk and taking in the beauty of the hillsides and views presents an especially quiet scene amid the turmoil of everything that has been occuring in our lives.

Distant views

Distant views, originally uploaded by Septguy.

The other day I was thinking about "work" and how being creative really isn't required in the job I've held for the past several years. It's much more about working within the rules and guidelines of a large organization. About 10 months ago I spent half a day with a group of photography enthusiasts and a few models that agreed to pose. The sense of breaking out of the mold and exploring my photographic interests made for a great afternoon.

San Francisco art from above

San Francisco art from above, originally uploaded by Septguy.

It had been a long time since I'd flown into San Francisco. The colors and and patterns reminded me of an art piece as the pilot began the approach.

By The Rocket's Red Glare

By The Rocket's Red Glare, originally uploaded by Septguy.

Concentration

Concentration, originally uploaded by Septguy.

I like catching athletic movement and stopping the action. Even thou the movement is frozen the sense of flow and movement is there, I can hear the sound of the racket and the ball connecting.

Theresa Logar of the itf/USTA women's was captured during a recent tournament.

Intensity at a glance

Arizona Biltmore

It's the hat...

It's the hat..., originally uploaded by Septguy.

I couldn't help but notice the hat...

More than meets the eye

More than meets the eye, originally uploaded by Septguy.

Shadows and light

Erin portrait

Erin portrait, originally uploaded by Septguy.

The eyes

Erin, originally uploaded by Septguy.

Usually when I'm working behind the camera I'm looking at focus, checking on the reading and the basic composition. As I was shooting a session recently with Erin I couldn't help just seeing the depth of those eyes throughmylens.

Allison seemed comfortable and was having fun in her extreme costume. She certainly got some attention, which of course, was the objective in the first place.

I was minding my business enjoying my beer when I noticed she was
standing on the bar.

I was headed to Southern California, my first time flying into Burbank vs. LAX. Late evening, of course, as the plane banks to start it's approach, this scene jumped out at me, welcome to SoCal!

It was hard not to notice her!

Time to get up

Mermaid..

Mermaid.., originally uploaded by Septguy.

Tommy's taking pictures of pretty girls, I think I'll just sit here and see if someone pays attention to me....

Tommy's taking pictures of pretty girls, I think I'll just sit here and see if someone pays attention to me...., originally uploaded by Septguy.

One in a million

One in a million, originally uploaded by Septguy.

There are million's of photos like this, so it's not unique from a photographic image standpoint. It is very unique for me, it sits in a frame close to my desk at home. I've been thinking of doing something with this photo on flickr for a while and have kept procrastinating. I've now ended my procrastination.

The Ken Burns series "The War" recently ran on PBS. I liked his approach, it made the veterans of WWII and their families more human. It taught me some things I didn't know about WWII and what some of our veterans endured.

Unfortunately I never told my dad thank you for serving in WWII. He died in 2001. When I was growing up my mom kept a lot of family photos in a tin chalk container in her closet. Periodically I would take the can out, sit in the middle of the living room floor and look at them. This was one of them, there were others of my dad with some of his buddies in Italy. It's part of the reason I became interested in photography, I'd become lost in my imagination looking at the photos, wondering about the places and the people, the "guys" mostly in uniform in those far away places.

My dad wasn't in combat, he served in the Army Air Corps in southern Italy helping keep the planes in the air. Both his brothers were in the military at the same time, along with his brother-in-law.

My grandmother has a proud smile on her face here and I feel pretty sure she's holding his hand, he's got it hidden a bit in his left hand. His dad, who I barely remember was maintaining his quiet distance it seems, from this photo.

My dad went into the military around 1943, the war had been on for several years, the country was calling for more resources. He was around 29 at the time. Today that would seem old for someone to be entering the military. I often think about that when I look at this photo. I believe when this photo was taken he was preparing to leave for Italy.

It's a timeless type of photo. I wonder who took the photo, I was never told. It's one of millions of photos like it, but it's very unique to me.

Thanks dad.