New Underwear Needed

I had an assignment for the magazine tonight that took me to the GoldField Ghost Town just north of Apache Junction. I got some good images as I took advantage of a warm sunset. This isn't one of those good images.

As I was leaving, I decided to take a picture of the sign at the entrance. I pulled the Hummer to the side at the exit and proceeded to capture the unique sign from a couple of different angles. The last picture took me back toward the Hummer and I heard the sound of a cricket. NO...WAIT....in the desert that sound isn't a cricket. About eight feet to my right was this rather angry rattlesnake. He didn't really seem to appreciate my intrusion on his evening's siesta. 

Once my heart started to beat, I had the presence of mind to capture this image. Most of the light was gone and I wasn't exactly sure how fast a rattlesnake could move on asphalt. It didn't seem to be a good time to experiment. Forgive me for rushing the exposure but I needed to hurry home and change my underwear.

9:03 am on April 19, 199

On April 19,1995, the United States was changed forever. At 9:02 on that day, Tim McVeigh set off an explosion that killed 168 people including 19 children in the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City . Terrorism displayed its ugly face in the US for the first time. Now, seventeen years later, a tribute to the victims and heroes of that attack stands in the space once occupied by the building. A reflecting pool is flank by two arches. One is labeled 9:01 to signify the peace and calm the moment before to bomb was ignited. The other arch is labeled 9:03 to recognize everything that changed at 9:02. 

Lily Pad

I have been trying to find this image for years. Today, just before sunset, I took a short stroll at the botanical park and found this lily pad hidden within a thick growth of reeds. I used a flash and high speed sync to get the lighting I wanted. 

Time Lapse of Lilies

This is a series of approximately two hundred and twenty images taken every five minutes for about 36 hours. I set up the flower against a black backdrop in the shower of my home.  It is lit with hot lights. I really need to get a life!!!

Light Pipes

OK...one more from the "Let's Think of Crazy Ways to Use My Flash" file. I got this idea from a friend at work who told me he once took some interesting pictures of a box of straws. Well, do you know how difficult it is to find a box of unwrapped plain paper straws? I finally found a box of multicolor plastic straws. I balanced the box of straws on the face of my flash and started experimenting with different combinations of white balance and gels. I took approximately 20 images and really loved the images. Bouncing different colored light through the straw pipes gave me some fascinating results.