Florida - Trade Show

I was in Orlando last week, to check out a trade show. Nice to be in some warm weather. I worked on this layout in the airport Friday. Cleveland was shut down most of the day and my 11:05 am flight didn't leave until 6:45 pm. I was lucky, though - two other Cleveland-bound flights were cancelled because they couldn't get the equipment out of Cleveland. I'm happy to be home.

Credits: Digital papers, LivE designs for Jessica Sprague; House of 3 brush; Font is Carmine.

Goodbye, My Friend

My sweet Larry died in his sleep early Friday morning.

He was the best horse - he always tried to do whatever he was asked, whether it was showing in the rain or braving fire-breathing deer in the woods at Promise Land.

He's taken his last trail ride. He had carrots and apples, pats, grass, warm air and sunshine on his last day, and he died peacefully in his stall.

He was the best horse.

The Lodge at Geneva on the Lake, B & W

Lightroom 3 has a handy masking tool that, among other things, allows the use of a gradient mask to simulate a polarizing filter. It's used here to make the clouds more dramatic. Sept.8, 2010.

Happy Valentine's Day, Honey!

I love you, Chuck!

Credits: Graphed No. 2 digital paper, Katie Pertiet, Designer Digitals; font is Franklin Gothic Bold.

Note: Link to inspiration:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/66223232/youre-my-favorite-work-of-art-11-x-14

Fruits and Veggies - So Good for You

More shots from the West Side Market - Every fruit and vegetable was glowing, plump, and gorgeous. And the produce section smelled so good. Oh, and it was warm - we just came in from shooting the Flats in 5 degree weather, so everything looked and smelled that much better!

The bakery shots are yet to come, mmmmm......

January 22, 2011

The Rest of Tucson

Stadelman and I took Bowen's Trail into the desert behind the JW Marriot. It's a narrow, rocky path in Tucson Mountain Park. At about 16" wide, the trail made it all too likely that we'd pick up a thorn or two from one of these guys.



Definitely worth the walk though, for vistas like the ones below.

One thing that really impressed me about the trail were the rocks. They are completely uneroded. They look like they are freshly chipped off bigger rocks, sharp edges and all. And, they're tough to walk on. There's no dirt to hold them still, just more, smaller rocks. And then some smaller ones than that, all the way down to sharp rocks about 1/8" across. Too big for sand and nowhere near dirt.

That's Tucson in the very far distance, below.

The saguaros are pretty amazing, ranging from little prickly bumps to 40 foot tall multi-armed monsters. Supposedly, people hijack wild saguaros for their desert gardens - beyond me how they'd pick up and move something with that many thorns.

Another oddity was the lack of wild life. In the hour and a half we were on this trail, the only creatures we saw or heard were birds, and very few of them. No snakes, spiders (I was hoping for a wild taratula, no luck darn it!), coyotes, nothing. Very unlike home.

Pricky pear. If you're desperately and have a long knife, you can get moisture out of them. I'll pass.

And, in closing, a nice backlit saguaro, with lens flare:

January 25, 2011

Tucson Starpass

Spent much of last week at the JW Marriot Starpass Resort outside of Tucson. The occasion was my company's national sales meeting. 2010 was a pretty good year, so we went to a "reward destination." This shot was taken on the resort's golf course. Love the back-lit needles. More photos later - I just wanted to get one up. Processing photos through Lightroom is slow, since I have no idea what I'm doing yet.

Amaryllis 'Lisa'

Lisa gave me a giant amaryllis bulb for Christmas - it's as big as a baby's head. I left it in the bag on the kitchen counter, planning to pot it up after the January Sales Meeting. It had other ideas, deciding to sprout in the bag, no dirt, no water, nothing. It's in a low terra cotta pot now, blooming madly. And, bless it's bulbous little heart, it waited until I got home from the sales meeting to bloom.

Thanks, Lisa - I love it!! February 2, 2011