Hello, Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays! This is a photo that I took back in November of 2011 after the city of San Antonio first changed the Riverwalk decorations from the old style Christmas lights to the newer LED lights. I stood in the spot on the Riverwalk for about 15 minutes waiting for the right moment to be able to take the bracketed shots (I used -1, 0, and +1 to get this shot) without any people walking through the scene. I think it was definitely well worth the wait! The photo was taken near the Omni Del Mansion Del Rio (it is the wall on the right side of the photo). You ..read more

Today's photo was taken at the end of a pier on Chincoteague Island, Virginia in July of this year during a weekend trip to the beach. The pier was a shared pier between the hotel that we stayed at and a set of vacation homes. This was, by far, the best sunset of the entire trip, and was worth waiting for (we also managed to get in some fishing waiting for the sunset as well, just in case it was not as spectacular as I was hoping for!). The shot is a combination of a -2, 0, and +2 bracketed exposure, with some extra work done on the sky (color and saturation) and water (desaturation and ..read more

Today's post contains two photos that I took last year during a visit to Knoebels Grove in Elysburg, Pennsylvania. I posted a few pictures from the trip last year, but have not had a chance to share these photos yet. The first photo is of the "Downdraft" ride, it is located along what (many years ago) used to be the main road that ran past and through Knoebels and the very large Crystal Pool. The ride rises, spins, and twists riders in various directions. I wondered exactly how an early evening, long exposure shot (two seconds) would come out and I got pretty lucky with how it turned out. I a ..read more

Hello again! I promise you that my blog has not been forgotten. I have not had anywhere NEAR the time that I would like to devote to my photography hobby and I am making a resolution to attempt to make at least one blog post a week. It is a goal that I believe I can achieve and I would like to thank all of my readers for taking the time from their busy schedules to stop by my little slice of the internet and read my ramblings and view the photos that I have taken! With that being said, hopefully you all have had a chance to see Comet PANSTARRS by now! If you have not, you can view the photos ..read more

Hopefully the blog post caught your attention a bit and you are thinking exactly what I had hoped you would be thinking..is there a sequel to Zero Wing that involves baby bears? Sadly, no, that is not the case (hey Nintendo, that would be an awesome idea though!) instead the blog title was thought up by my girlfriend Jill, who accompanied me today on a trip up to Plumpton Park Zoo in Rising Sun, Maryland.  We became Platinum members of the zoo this past week after seeing the two European Brown Bear Cubs Frankie and Ringo on the morning news this past week.  Being a Platinum member at ..read more

As you may (or may not) know, Comet PANSTARRS (C/2011 L4) is currently able to be seen for about an hour to hour and a half after sunset, although you need a spot with a good, unobstructed view of the western sky, as the comet is roughly 10 degrees above the horizon (about the size of your fist).  I searched for a good spot and found a possible candidate, Matapeake State Park which is just on the other side of the Bay Bridge in Queen Anne's County.  We visited the park on Sunday in an effort to determine if it provided a good enough view but unfortunately the western sky was cloudy j ..read more

The topic of today's post is Old Mill Dam, which is located in Cedarock Park near Burlington, North Carolina.  During a recent trip to Burlington we decided to visit the dam, hoping for some late day pictures with what looked to be a pretty decent sunset.  Unfortunately, the orientation of the dam was to the east (the other side of the sky from the sunset) and due to a combination of not wanting to fight below freezing temperatures; the chance that a sunrise would not be as spectacular; and the fact the park itself does not open until 8:00 AM; taking a shot of a sunrise over the dam ..read more

I have some really great news that I can finally share with all of you! This summer, I was approached by a representative from Random House publishing who inquired about using a photo that I took of St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington, D.C on the cover of an upcoming book.  Naturally, I was quite honored to even be considered to have one of my photos on the cover of a book, as I still think it is quite surreal that people would even want to display the photos that I take on the walls of their homes and offices. The book is titled "The Church: Unlocking the Secrets to the Places Catholi ..read more

Today's post consists of 3 photos that I took last night (out of a total of 281 overall shots) while trying to capture meteor streaks from the Geminid meteor shower.  While the overall statistics are disappointing (just over 1% of the photos I took last night contained what I was hoping for) I did see probably around 75-100 during the several hours that I spent outside trying to capture the meteor streaks.  Of course, that is also offset by the last picture in which I actually caught two of them! (which I did not even notice until I went through each photo today) Some things that I ..read more

Today's photo is a shot of the San Antonio skyline (from the vantage point of the top floor of the Marriott Riverwalk Hotel) that I took last year after the Christmas lights were lit along the Riverwalk and several of the local hotels decorated their exteriors with lights as well.  This photo is also special because it marks the first one that I processed with my newly purchased Perfect Photo Suite 7 from OnOne software (I got it for half off as a Black Friday special, as I had previously purchased their masking product).   While I really enjoy all of the products that Nik Software ..read more