Tag Archives: Wallpaper

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February 2011 Wallpaper and Something New

Cypress Tree on Lake Mattamuskeet in Eastern North Carolina

 

As I was getting ready to publish my wallpaper for February and trying to decide what photo to use, I was going to use another beach photo or a glorious sunrise but thought, “February is a bleak month, I’m going to go bleak.”  So I chose a photo that I think represents “bleak.”  

“Bleak” might be a little harsh, but unless you happen to live somewhere like Barbados (Hi, Sarah!) February is a month of hopeful anticipation.  Here in the southeastern US it’s definitely still winter but there can be signs of spring.  The Midwest and Northeast will have snow on the ground for months.  So, for February here’s bleak.  Tell me if you agree.

Since I now have an iPad I thought I needed to have a matching wallpaper for that, so here is an iPad wallpaper to match the calendar.  No calendar on this though, I didn’t want it to get too cluttered up.

iPad Wallpaper – If you have an iPad you should be able to figure out how to save it!
Random Thoughts

A New Year

I saw a Facebook post yesterday that asked “As 2010 comes to an end, will you reflect or will you reset?”  My thought is that the clock and the calendar continue to move forward, and so should we.
 
What better way to start the year than with a beautiful sunrise?  Chincoteague, VA in November 2010.
Random Thoughts

November Wallpaper Calendar

I’m sure it’s just me (it usually is) but there is something weird about kids going around and trick-or-treating while they text on their cell phones.  Seems like if you are old enough to have a cell phone you shouldn’t be out begging for candy.  Like I said, probably just me….

Let’s kick November off with another waterfall image.  On our recent club outing to Brevard someone mentioned that they thought it was interesting that there could be 20 photographers standing in front of a waterfall and I would be the only one with my lens pointing away from the waterfall. Well, not always.  In this case I was pointed at the waterfall, but at a really small part of it.

This is a detail from Looking Glass Falls in Pisgah National Forest near Brevard, NC.  Not too many people get this shot, most of them don’t even see it.  But sometimes I do actually shoot waterfalls!

Random Thoughts

October 2010 Calendar

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My, how time flies!  October already, the busiest time of the year for nature photographers.  Kathy & I have a big month coming up, although we won’t be running around quite as much this year as we have in years past.  One big week starting with a CNPA outing in Brevard and ending with Kevin Adams’ Fall Photo Tour, plus a few random day trips thrown in, will be a great time and should make for some productive photography.

Fall can be so easy that it ends up being hard.  When the color starts to show it can be tempting to just point and shoot.  The trouble with that is that it’s hard to go beyond the obvious.  And that is really going to be my focus this year – to go beyond the obvious.  I intend to photograph mindfully and intentionally, seeing lines, patterns colors and relationships.  We’ll see how how I did a month from now.

I liked the photo from my last post so much I’ve decided to make it the October wallpaper calendar.  It’s a little bit different look at Hooker Falls in Dupont State Forest.  This photo illustrates what I mean by “beyond the obvious” and is the kind of photograph I hope to make a lot more of.

I hope you enjoy this month’s calendar, and hope you all have an excellent October.  See you somewhere along the way!

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August Wallpaper Calendar


August 1st came and went, but August 2nd is a better day anyway. It’s my son Scott’s birthday – a national holiday in my family! For the calendar, a day late and a dollar short will have to do. I will happily refund your money if you are not completely satisfied!

I’ve got a number of essay ideas floating around in my head and will have at least one of them on paper for the upcoming deadline for the next CNPA newsletter. With any luck it will end up as a blog post. So stay tuned!

This month’s photograph is from a visit last year to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It was taken at Currituck Heritage Park near Corolla, North Carolina.

Photography

July Wallpaper Calendar


This month’s image is one of those where I knew I had something when I made the photograph, but it got lost in the shuffle and just recently got rediscovered. This is an early morning shot along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Waynesville, NC. It was shot last summer while on a workshop with Les Saucier. I’ve been wanting to get back to these images for a while and just managed to get one worked up in time for this month. I hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I do!

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Paper Testing and June Wallpaper


When I bought my new printer late last year one of the things I intended to do early on was to try out a number of papers and eventually settle on one or two that I really liked and learn how to make the best possible prints from those papers. I spent the last several months working with some Lexjet paper I got “free” with my printer along with several papers I had laying around the house. My “go-to” paper has been Crane’s MuseoMAX paper. I originally discovered MuseoMAX paper from print guru Gary Kerr at Fine Art Impressions, who used it on a couple of custom prints he made for me. It’s a very nice paper, with a smooth matte surface that holds sharpness and color like a glossy paper. The best of both worlds in many ways.

Over this past winter I took a fine art printing class from Les Saucier, who had recently begun using Hahnemuhle’s Fine Art Baryta paper. In his class I made a print of my own using this paper, which I found to be very nice. I had also read about a new paper from Canson called Canson Infinity Baryta Photographique that was said to be very nice. A few articles placed it higher than the Hahnemuhle in terms of print quality. So I ordered some 8.5×11 sheets of the Hahnemuhle and the Canson and proceeded to make test prints on all the paper in my storage cabinet. I must say that – despite my relatively basic knowledge of the art of printing – the Canson paper blows me away. Amazing shadow detail, all the way to the deepest blacks, excellent color and sharpness, and a nice white surface that really makes for a fine print.

I’m still going to use the MuseoMAX as well, as I like the matte surface and warm tone of that paper for certain photographs, but the the Canson is my new favorite. I just ordered a bunch of it from Shades of Paper and can’t wait to start making prints with it. Great stuff! Once I’ve had some time with it I’ll start thinking about custom profiles.

It’s a day early, but here is the June wallpaper calendar for those of you who collect it. The Place to Be in June is Roan Mountain, and this is an image from last year’s visit there. A beautiful blue sky and lovely rhododendron make a great representation of June in the Southeast. Enjoy!

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Home Again and May Wallpaper


Just got back from a lovely week on the high seas…a 6 night cruise on Royal Princess followed by a couple of nights in Hollywood Beach, FL. This was a vacation week so I didn’t take my good gear but managed to get a few grab shots with the G9. I’ve got some fodder for a couple of blog posts and will get them downloaded from my brain over the next week or so and will post them along with a few photos. For now it’s back to the banking grindstone for a few weeks.

I remembered to do the May calendar before I left, so here it is, only a few days late! The image is from a last May and was taken along the Boone Fork from the Tanawha Trail, Blue Ridge Parkway near Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina. Enjoy!