Just nice to look at

Elkmont Cascade

Great Smoky Mtn. Nat. Park

Not much to say about this one.

It's just hot outside today, and this one makes me cooler when I look at it.

Not every image has to have some big magical, mysterious meaning behind it or evoke some deep emotional response.

Sometimes just a little will be enough.

A Couple of Paths

Both of these are from the same night in a state park near where I live. Both are nice images, but not great. I'm tired of putting out nice ones. I want the great ones. 

People are very complimentary when they see my things and seem to like them, but I know there's better in me somewhere. I can blame the weather, or the location, or the____(fill in the blank) on not getting the great, but deep down I know it's me. A really good photographer seems to be able to pull things from nice to great just about any time they want to.

You can get lucky once in a while. I've been riding that train for a long time and now it's time to get off. Nothing would make me feel better about myself than taking the nice one and being able to make it the great one.

I need to decide. Lucky or great.  One takes a lot more work.


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Stay at Home

I live in a small town along the western shore of Lake Michigan and have for most of my life. One thing that's done is to make me blind to the scenery so near my home.

I fall into this trap of thinking there's nothing to take pictures of near home. I think I have to go somewhere else to find something to take a picture of and that leads to just sitting at home not shooting anything.

One of my recent pledges to myself is to do something every day. Get the camera out and just take a picture. I can't get better with the camera in the bag. 

My new theme....Stay at home and look around. People pay to come here. I get to live here.

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Patience

I found this old Coke sign on the side of a building while dropping off something for work about a month ago and have since gone out of my way about six times to stop there.

Every time I've stopped there's been a car parked in front of it, just off to the left side of this half of the sign. Not the same car, and only one car and there's nothing I can do about it.

But I'm not giving up. I'm going to use the Trillium Lesson and just keep on trying. One of these days there won't be any cars, the light will be just right, and I'll be ready.



The sign's been there since Coke cost just a nickel. It'll wait for me.

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The Trillium Lesson

One of the things I look forward to each spring is taking pictures of the trillium in the woods. Don't know why; I don't really like taking pictures of flowers; but it seems like this is just a passage of winter into spring for me.

I had pretty much given up on finding the trillium this year because of the strange spring weather we had. I looked for them whenever I drove past a stand of trees, but they were never there.

I didn't see any of them at all, that is not until yesterday.

First I saw a patch of white on the hillside along the road, turned around to make sure, and then stopped. The slopes were covered with them.

And here lies my little lesson to myself...

I gave up on them. I didn't look hard enough. I knew they came out about the first of May, but I didn't go looking for them.

Trouble with this image is the blooms are old. Not very old, maybe just a day or even less from their prime. They are wilted and gone for the year already. I could have maybe made something special out of this place if I had only saw it just that little bit earlier.

I can't make that special image sitting on the couch. I have to get out and work for it.