Posts

Milky Way season is back

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It’s Milky Way season again. Which means it’s time to start planning and praying to the clear sky gods for them to do their thing. I’ve gone back to this image from Aug 2023 many times, editing and re-editing it as I learn more about working with these types of images. Each time I get it closer to where I want it.  This almost final version of the image is a composite of 8 star images (Canon R6, Sigma 20mm f/1.4 DG HSM shot at f/1.6, 20 sec, 1600 ISO) stacked and aligned using Starry Landscape Stacker with a single image of the approaching train overlaid in Photoshop with a mask to focus the light. Final tweaks in Lightroom.  The approaching train light painting the foreground was completely fortuitous, but I know what time and day of the week it passes through (for future reference).  New to me this year is a star tracking head for my tripod and camera. Because who doesn’t need more camera gear, right? I got this very lightly used Benro Polaris with Astro head for a...

New exhibition

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  I delivered this bad boy to the Anderson Museum of Art yesterday for display at their 44th Annual IN-Focus exhibition from April 4 - May 24, 2025. This is a gorgeous 30x20" acrylic print courtesy of Roberts Photo Lab here in Indianapolis. Nothing really does justice to your photos more than printing them out and holding them in your hand (or in this case hanging it on your wall). This is your regular reminder to support local artists, and support small businesses. 

Nature's Inspirations

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Anyone in the Indianapolis area looking to support local artists should head over to Cool Creek Nature Center for their annual Nature's Inspirations Art Exhibit . It's running from today (Feb 22) through March 8 and showcases photography, paintings and 3D art with the theme of being inspired by Nature. I've got two large prints on display, and for sale ;). Go check it out.

Social media in 2025

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One of the benefits of starting to disengage myself from social media is rediscovering RSS feeds for news sites I follow (instead of relying on a billionaire funded algorithm) as well as finding blogs that have really good writing. Case in point, this article from a couple of days ago describing the evolution and future role of social media in photography. Photographers After Social Media Unlike the author, I’ve never cared for Instagram. The limitations of the format that it allows always seemed heavy handed, arbitrary and hostile to photographers. And anytime I posted a photo of our dogs I got inundated with spam offers of monetizing my content.  But as he points out, now it’s just a metastasizing thing that defies description. I used to love Flickr. It always seemed to have great respect for photographers, and at the time had a vibrant community and the ability to find groups with common interests. I’ve had an account since 2007. I might start using it again but I was way over t...

This is 0 ºF

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It’s easy to tell yourself “it’s too cold outside to do anything”. Easy to make excuses not to go outside. But sometimes you just have to say “fuck it”, get bundled up and head outside looking for some beauty in the frigid cold.   It’s not like I’m going to find polar bears, or penguins or any other types of arctic wildlife, or even the Aurora borealis (although we did get the Aurora a few months ago). This is the ‘burbs.  If you slow down, and take the time to notice what’s around you, sometimes you can find beauty.  These prints are available for purchase from my SmugMug Gallery.

Foto

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  Do I really need another social media presence? Maybe, maybe not. But about 4 months ago I signed up for a limited beta of a new photo sharing app. Foto is still under development, and so far only available on mobile devices. Their beta program is currently capped out in terms of users.  After signing up for it I didn’t really do anything with it for months, sort of wasting that slot in their beta program. But recently my thoughts on social media, and photo sharing have crystallized around detangling myself from algorithm-driven social media platforms.  When I first started getting serious about photography, I was really active on Flickr. The photo on this post was one of my favorites from those days. I learned a ton about photography, and met some really good friends through Flickr. Then I put my cameras aside for about 10 years for various reasons. When I go back to Flickr now, it just doesn’t resonate with me the same way.  As I’m getting back into photography n...

First sales

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Thank you so much for the first sales on my Etsy shop. Woohoo!  I know it’s a small step, and I’m still learning the ins and outs of selling with a print on demand service through Etsy, but it’s a first step. Now that I’m past my first sales, and I’ve had a first hand look at the quality of the final product being produced, I’m going to be a lot more active uploading merch to my Etsy store, and SmugMug gallery. Onward and upward.  Happy Monday!