I'm Moving..............

Thanks to a wonderful Birthday gift from my friend Paul. I'm moving to my own website that he created for me, polkphotostudio.com is now up and running. This came as a total surprise because we have touched on the subject of websites a few times in the past but that was about it. I must say that it was a very nice and heartfelt gift and truly a surprise. Thanks again Paul. I've had a few people tell me that they were having problems leaving me comments on this blog so this came at just the right time. It's nice to have new people stop by to visit and its always encouraging to hear words of support but here lately I think they were having the same issue. So, come on over and visit me at my new home I look foward to blogging with your there.

Don't take life for granted

Yesterday I heard of the death of a co-worker that seemed to be a very nice guy in pretty good health and only 35 years old. He had a heart attack at work and died at the hospital within hours. It really made me think about the way most of us probably look at life as we go day to day complaining about our job, relationships or any other negatives in our life. Sometimes we can't wait for the work day or the week be over, rushing our lives even closer to the end. I think we tend to start to focus so much on the negatives in our life that we take a lot of the positive things for granted. Each day we are given is truly a gift and should be treated as such because you don't know when your ability to open those gifts will be taken away. So today I thought it would be fitting to post some flowers to share with all of my friends and family while they can still enjoy them. Flowers at a funeral are simply an expression of sympathy from people who cared about an individual but did not have time to share them with the individual when they could enjoy them. In this life it is really all about the little things you say and do to the people around you that you care about that makes all the difference in the world. I would like to take a moment and tell my wife thank you so much for all that you do for me and our family. I knew 20 years ago when I met you it was truly the day that God smiled on me, you are truly a blessing that I'm thankful for everyday. I would encourage all my friends to take a minute and think about those around you that you care about and think of the last time you told them you appreciated and loved them? The title of this post speaks for itself.

It's been a long time cont...

Here are a few more b&w photo's from my trip to the zoo. If you haven't been in a while or animals aren't your thing i would suggest from a photographers perspective that you just give it a try. It can only help you improve one of the most important skills sets of your photography which is patience. That is the one thing that all photographers have in common when it comes to getting very good shots. Once you learn the patience to endure the waiting, the kids, and the mosquito's; shooting people should be a breeze.

It's been a long time

I thought this would be an appropriate title for this set of images due in part that is has been a very long time since I've been to the zoo. I recently received an assignment/challenge from my friend Paul who is sometimes referred to as "The Teacher" to get some shots from the zoo. He has shot a lot of good images at the zoo in Carolina and gave somewhat of a field guide of "How to" shall we say get good shots there. He knows how i feel about challenges so i quickly accepted this assignment and headed to the zoo. On his field guide he put everything you needed for a good day of shooting accept he referred to the kids as sometimes "unruly". Well the kids at my zoo were a step beyond that, it took some real "patience" to get some of these shots. I thought that as long as i stayed away from their territory the "children's petting zoo" i would be ok, but i quickly found out that the whole dang zoo is their territory. I'm sure my kids were the same way the first time they saw an animal that they had only seen in books or on television. However i do know that as a parent i would have made sure that they observed the don't push or step on the photographer sign. All in all it was a good day of shooting and i appreciate the "Teacher" for challenging me to step outside the box and focus my lens at the animals. Enjoy.

Back from D.C. cont...

Here is the picture of Paul aka "31 points" I eluded to in my last post. There is also a shot of a boat cruising on the Potomac River under the Memorial Bridge, Washington Monument and a few more eagle black and white shots taken in D.C.

Back from D.C.

Well, I made it back, a week long trip for training in McLean Va. I did manage to get out to take a few photograph's but it was not the same when you don't have your own vehicle to explore and find the shots you want. My job had a van it loaned to the class but you would have about six guys to share it with. Trying and get six guys to go to with you to take pictures is just not gonna happen. I did meet a really cool co-worker from N. Carolina named Paul nicknamed "31 points" (pictured above) that was nice enough to take me to some area's to get most of the above shots but we were pressed for time before it got dark and traffic is horrible in the D.C. area. The other times that I was able to get out the traffic was so bad that by the time I got to where I wanted to shoot it was too dark. I didn't have my tripod and release cable for night shots so I did even bother to post any of those photo's. As you can see i did get a few of the hots spots like the Capital, Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial, Lady Bird Johnson Statue, a biking and running trail along the George Washington Pkwy and a very welcomed treat in getting to photograph a bald eagle in the wild ( I can't see him in Texas). I love to travel but there is truly no place like home.

Just a beautiful place

I think it will be quite a while before I stop posting my pictures taken in California. The views of the coastline and the golden sand are still fascinating to me. In Texas you just cant get the the shots that Cali provided. I love this picture and the birds flying off seemed like the perfect shot for today. I will be flying out to Virginia today for work and I will return on Friday so I won't be blogging this week, but as soon as I get home on Friday night I will be sure to hit every ones blog.