My Favorites from 2010

With 2010 gone, it was time to look back at the photographs from the year. You may have noticed a couple of new links in the "My Links" section in the sidebar. One of those links is for the gallery of my favorite photographs from 2010. It is around 190 images and I probably could edit it down to a much smaller number of "the best". But favorite and best aren't the same things and these were MY favorites, so here they are. There is a Flash slideshow of the gallery which you can see in the full post (click the Read More link below).

Also, I have added a link to purchase prints of some my photographs. I have gotten enough requests that it felt like a good time to make it available. There is a limited selected right now, but I will add more over time. I will likely reorganize it into various categories as I add more images to purchase.

I hope your holidays were merry and your new year is a good one.

Follow the link for the slide show.




Keep shooting.

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Last post of 2010, first Christmas Snow EVER

South Carolina Christmas Snow, 2010

Well, it is almost 2011. Time seems to go by faster as I get older.

Last weekend we had snow on Christmas Day! In South Carolina! That is the first time I've seen snow on Christmas. There had been a couple of snow storms within a few days of Christmas, but none that i remember actually being on Christmas Day.

The snow started late in the afternoon, so it wasn't really a "White Christmas". We seemed to have gotten about two inches total which really is not much as we do get the occasional six+ inches. However, the weather stayed cold for a few days afterwards letting the snow linger longer than normal.

Anyway, I hope everyone's holidays have been joyful.

Happy New Year.


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Merry Christmas

Neighborhood Lights

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.



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Prestwood Sunrise

Prestwood Sunset

Here is a photograph of a sunset over Lake Prestwood during my visit to Hartsville. I wish there had been some nice clouds in the sky. The next evening had a beautiful sky, but I was driving back home by that time.

Keep shooting.


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Still around

World War I Memorial Panel

There hasn't been very much of interest happening recently. I did visit my folks over the the Thanksgiving weekend. Hartsville had dedicated a new veterans' memorial in the town. There is a bronze panel sculpture for four of the major wars the US fought in during the 20th century (WWI, WWII, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf). This photograph is part of the World War I panel. We were there late in the afternoon and the sun was coming in from a low angle giving nice definition to this particular panel.

Keep shooting.


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Blue Ridge Parkway Sunset, Day 2

Sunset over the Blue Ridge Mountains

Sunset on the second day up on the Blue Ridge was nice. Not spectacular, but nice. There were no clouds on the horizon to add texture and drama. There was a haze that ... well, hazed over the distance. I was having a hard time during this sunset getting a good exposure for the sky and the foreground. As you can see in this shot, the foreground went dark very quickly. The one little bit of light kissing the nearest ridge does add a hint of the ridge's texture. Again, this was an HDR blend with a little additional post-processing in Lightroom 3 for color and contrast.

All in all it was a good workshop, and I did come away with a few images that I liked.

Keep shooting.



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Sunbeams

Three Trees

After the close-up session, we waited for sunset at a particular overlook that Richard had decided to use. We were hoping for some clouds to form as the sky was very bare and uninteresting. Some clouds did form over us, but none of them made it to the western horizon for the sunset.

This image is an HDR blend I took as the sun was getting lower in the sky. The "sunbeams" are actually formed by using a very small aperture with the sun in the field of view, in this case f/22. It is also cropped just a little for compositional purposes in order to get the sunbeams coming in from the very top of the frame.

Keep shooting.


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