New Port Richey Christmas Boat Parade, 2010

 

Riverboats entered the Pithlachascotte River last night all decked in Christmas garb as part of New Port Richey's Main Street's Holiday celebrations (click here for more information).  Night photography poses it's own challenges (a lot of guessing without being able to see your camera) and I experimented with long exposures and was most grateful to have a picnic table as my temporary tripod.  Click here to see a sample of these photographs from last night or to see a slide show, click here.  All adjustments were done in Lightroom 3. Enjoy, Nathan

Penguins at SeaWorld, Orlando

 

 

Click on the image above for a few more pictures that I took last weekend at SeaWorld, Orlando, Florida.

Enjoy!

Nathan

Backyard Birds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few birds around the house.  Click on the photograph above for a few more. Enjoy! Nathan

911, New York City

 
 

 

 

This photograph was taken on a summer night in 2001.  I remember standing at the foot of these towers earlier that day and looking up at them: they were like mountains.

Good Bye to Patches

 

 

Patches, age 17, died this morning.  She was independent, affectionate and somewhat unsociable (with any other cat or small person). She leaves an empty space in this world.  Adieu.

Ralph & Reba, Christmas 2000

 

A photograph of my maternal grandparents taken Christmas 2000; tweaked in Photoshop today. They are missed.  Nathan

Top of the World

 

Has it been over a week since the little girl was on top of the world?  Enjoy, Nathan

Easter

May all have a very happy Easter. Peace, Nathan

Channelside, Tampa, Florida

 

By clicking above you will see a few photographs from a trip to the Channelside area of Tampa, Florida last month. Enjoy, Nathan

Lakeland, Florida

 

Most outside of Lakeland do not realize the the high speed rail, in which we all see wisdom, will have a direct impact on Lakeland. The high speed rails will, consequently, divert the normal rail cargo through this most wonderful Florida, small town. As we can imagine, the "good for all" will render Lakeland to endless, slow, cargo trains (how do you like waiting for the train to go by?) and the high speed rail, which will benefit both Tampa and Disney will likely have no stops in this charming town.

If you are ever in the area, you will not regret a stop in Lakeland. These few photographs do not do it justice.

Click here or on the photograph above to see a few more images of Lakeland.  To see a slideshow of the images, click here. 
Enjoy, Nathan

Tigger, Pre and Post Photoshop

 

The photograph above was taken with a Sony point and shoot about nine years ago.  Tigger came into my life when I was in my 20's and he, himself lived to an old age of 20.
 
I used Photoshop and Topaz Adjust 4 to create the final product.  I brought in the original photograph (see below) into Photoshop; I duplicated the layer; brought that layer into Topaz Adjust and chose the "Spicify" selection; I dialed down the opacity to 66%; I then made adjustments to the brightness of each eye; and then the hue of both.  After I saved the adjustments into Lightroom, I decided to make both crop and some edge shading for the final photograph.  Enjoy, Nathan.
 

Tampa Renaissance Festival 2010, Update

 

By clicking here or on the photograph above you will discover a few more photographs from last weekend's trip to the Renaissance Festival.  For a slideshow of all the photographs, click here.  The photographs are free to use for your personal, non-commericial use.  Enjoy! Nathan 

Tampa Renaissance Festival 2010

 

 

The Tampa Bay Renaissance Festival is highly recommended for a great (normal) Florida winter day. Yesterday, the temperatures approached 70 degrees and we Floridians went out in multitudes to the Festival (the parking folks did not do a great job of responding to us enthusiasts and customer services was quite "middle ages").  If you enjoy photography, your entry fee would be worthwhile for the opportunity to photograph the folks who where in both costume and character.  If the weather is good (normal), and you have extra time during the next few weekends, you will not regret an afternoon spent at the Festival.  Click here or on the photograph above to see more of my pictures.  This link will take you directly to the slideshow.  You may download them for your personal use, only.  Enjoy! Nathan

Party

 

Last night we attended the birthday party of a very good friend.  An artist's home makes for excellent photographic opportunities and I took advantage.  A few of the public photographs from last night's event can be seen here or by clicking on the photograph above.  The slideshow link is available by clicking here.  Feel free to download for personal, non-commercial use.  Enjoy! Nathan

Gasparilla 2010

 

 

Gasparilla was wet, very wet and the crowds much less intoxicated (over 400 were arrested) than last year.  The crowd was significantly smaller as well and it seemed much less "colorful."  If you click here or on the photograph of Pirate Jack above, you will see about 90 of my photographs from yesterday.  

We were brave photographers yesterday as we faced the elements in raincoats for both the photographer and camera.  Looking back, I think that we amateurs will rarely regret taking those chances to photograph in less than ideal situations. I am glad that I did and glad that you may see yourself or a friend in these photographs. 

These photographs have had only Lightroom adjustments:  I will do more work on a few of these in Photoshop in the next week or so and will post those as well when I finish (Jack above is one that I have already completed). Feel free to download these for your personal use. Enjoy! Nathan