Here's Another Photo ::

Except this one always creeps me out!

This cemetery is part of a funeral home operation, but it seems to have changed hands and to have gone through some changes. I haven't driven through it in a while, but I don't think this sign is still there.

Back To Shooting Some ::

I haven't had much time lately for my own photography. I seem to have been too busy in my day job photography and it's especially difficult now that the days are getting shorter. I leave home in the dark and get home in the dark. Here's a photo that I shot earlier today:

Inkjet print longevity ::

Last Memorial Day weekend, which was the last weekend in May, I put a print of my oldest stepdaughter on her grave site. She was killed in an auto accident in 2011. The print was part of a flower arrangement that was done specifically for her tombstone and was an 8x10 on Epson Premium Luster paper which had been laminated. I hadn't been down to the cemetery in a while and I decided to drive down yesterday morning. I had long been curious about just how long this print would last before fading began and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could find no discernible fading at all.

I have long been a proponent of Epson printers, papers, and ink although I do occasionally print on Hahnemühle papers.

My Blogging Enthusiasm :::

I'm afraid that it has been pretty low lately, but I'm going to try to remedy that. Here is a photograph I shot this morning on my way to work.

I often drive by this pasture and barn and I've long wanted to photograph it. As I was driving to work just before 6 a.m. I looked over and saw the fog and low hanging clouds after last night's rains. I had to turn around and go back to catch this scene, but I'm glad I did. I learned long ago that a scene that deserves to be photographed should never be put off. More often than not that scene can never be repeated!

Rick Sammon Seminar In Huntsville ::

I attended a Rick Sammon seminar yesterday here in Huntsville. Rick appeared with sponsorship from the Huntsville Photo Society and Southerland's Camera and, I think, with Canon although the corporate sponsorship was muted.

I was especially interested in his thoughts on HDR photography and I found them to be very enlightening and I'll probably make some small tweaks to my processing workflow. Come to think of it, I shot a scene in HDR yesterday and I've yet to download the images so this should be the perfect opportunity to experiment some.

Unfortunately, I had to leave before the seminar was over so I'm not sure what I missed, but I still got some great tips on composition and lighting and I would highly recommend participation in one of these seminars if one becomes available in your area. The cost was perfect: it was free!

Rick Sammon also conducts workshops at various locations worldwide. There is one coming up, and I don't have the dates, in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The price is $1495.

Printing With The Epson Hot Press Paper ::

I've had a chance in the past couple of weeks to print about 10 photographs on this paper and I have to say that there is a lot that I like about it. All of the prints, other than 1, have been black and white. When I got the paper I didn't plan on printing anything until I had had a chance to do a custom print profile, but I just couldn't wait so I printed one of the recent color photographs with my fingers crossed.

I was very happy with the results of this first print utilizing a generic profile, but I generated my custom profile the next day and printed the black and white photographs and I've been very happy with the results. The tonal scale is very nice and I really like the feel and the weight of the paper. The only downside for me is that the paper has a very noticeable curl which I hope, with some pressure, will go away since I'm not a big fan of dry mounting and I always mount so that the printed piece can be removed. I always leave a generous margin area inside the mat and sign the photograph on both the front and the back of the the margin area.

All in all I'm very satisfied with the paper and I will continue to use it although I will also continue to print some of my work on the Hahnemuhle gloss pearl paper.

Epson Hot Press Bright Paper

I received a roll of Epson Hot Press Bright paper earlier today to try out and I'm keeping my fingers crossed hoping that I will like it, but it'll probably be a couple of days before I really get a feel for it. I'm printing out a paper profiling chart right now and I'll let it dry for about 24 hours before I generate an ICC profile for the paper. Unfortunately Epson doesn't provide a canned profile for the combination of this paper with an Epson 4000 printer, but a custom profile, theoretically, should work just fine!

I've been doing most of my printing on Hahnemuhle glossy pearl paper and I really like the results, but there are some qualities of the Epson that I really want to try out, and I'll update the results after I have a chance to do some serious printing.

A New HDR Image ::

Saturday was a very nice day, for a change, and I drove down through the Clouds Cove community and found a major change to this sign which I had photographed several times before. There are several crosses of different sizes in this small area, but this one seems to be the only one often undergoing changes.

I am pretty happy with the outcome of this shot which was 5 handheld exposures. I really should have taken the time to set up the tripod, but I decided to give this a try and I must have been pretty steady, especially since I was using a longer lens to take the photograph.

Happy New Year ::

Here's wishing everyone a very Happy New Year! I've never been one to make resolutions, but I am really hoping for more time in the coming year to take many more photographs. I am also planning to shoot more film this year as opposed to digital although I am a big fan of electronic images and just what we can do with them!