With getting a new camera system there are things that you have to consider: What body to start with, lenses to get, and accessories to have. All of these effect your photography because you may not have everything you had before so you have to find ways to make it work until you can completely replace your old system with your new one. One thing that I miss already is my 100 Macro that I had, while it was a specialty type lens really only good for a few things, I really enjoyed using it for Macro photography. But with the switch to Nikon I haven’t replaced that lens yet, so I did the next best thing. I slapped a Canon 500D close-up filter on the new 70-200f2.8 and went looking for some wild flowers.

I have no idea the names of these flowers, but they were really fun to photograph.

Not to bad for a windy day.

Captured with Nikon D700 70-200f2.8 with 500D Close-up lens on Lexar digital film

Some more from the road less traveled

The two above are from that great old tractor that I found towards the journey that made it onto the Life @ 50 posting for last week. The top shot was a quick edit in Silver Efex Pro. The lower shot was a bit more on the tweaking side to get that great aged look. I used a trick from the my book on how to age the tractor a bit by using Bleach Bypass to give the metal a bit of character, using exclusion control points on the surrounding areas to dampen the effect since I work mostly in Smart Filters now a days. After the trip through Color Efex, I dropped it into Silver Efex Pro and did a few quick edits and that is all she wrote. If you want to see a video of how this was done drop a line in the comments section, and I will try to get one posted in the next few days.

Shot of an old tool shed that was toward the end of the day. Loved the steel wheels with the Road Work sign.

This one I was hoping says it all, I hung my hat up (yes, I sometimes wear a cowboy hat) on the fence post at the end of the day and that was all she wrote. It was really a shocking thing to note that this road, one that has been nearby all this time, and one that I hadn’t driven on in a very long time had so many great things to offer.

Images captured with Nikon D700 70-200f2.8 II on Lexar digital film

So I got a chance to shoot at a local machine shop today, I had to get out of the house and clear my head a bit.  It was a fun time of shooting.  I only got to shoot for 45 minutes, but it was worth it.  Here’s what I caught in my whirlwind of shooting…

Found these nuts and blots covered in grinding dust.

Found this on the side of the machine, pretty sure it was some type of gear box.

Main controls on one of the milling machines

Settings dial for the one of the machines.

It is amazing what you can find in places.  I came away with some shots I really enjoy.

Images Captured with 1D Mark IIN 100f2.8 (images 1 and 4) 16-35f2.8 (images 2 and 3) on Lexar digital film.

So I have been getting emails, comments on my Facebook page, and so on saying I need to BLOG MORE!!!!!  And they are right I do need to blog more, and believe me i want to.  Some times I just don’t have anything interesting to say and I don’t want to subject you to the ramblings of a photographer…  But I have been out in Mississippi for the last 5 days and have been getting to shoot a bit here and there.  I have got to go to a few places that have been really neat to visit, one was the Ames Plantation, which is a working plantation that the University of Tennessee uses for research.  A lot of the old buildings from the 1800′s are still standing and it made for some fun shooting.

Above is what was left of an old tack room, that is just about done for.

These two where of the school house that was on the property.  Inside it had a single pot-belly stove to keep the place warm in the winter months and held about 16 desks.  It had all kinds of details to shoot so I picked some of my favorites.

Out behind the Blacksmith shop I found a pair of old milling stones with soe of the grooves still intact.  According to what I was this one was actually in use for some time in the late 1800′s and then just tossed aside.

At one of the old quarters on the property I found this hand made chair with a woven leather seat.

Captured with 1D Mark IIN 17-40f4 on Lexar digital film.

Post processing done with NIK Color Efex 3.0 and Silver Efex

Hey Everyone,

Well I know it has been almost a month and a half since I blogged and for that I apologize but for personal reasons it just could not be helped.  If I could have I would have but there was not any way possible.  But, now i am slowly getting back in the saddle and getting back behind the camera.  Since I was feeling a bit rusty I decided just to take a stroll around the yard and see what I could find string about after the first couple of rains in my home town.  So I figure to start out light and get back into it I would slap on my Canon 100f2.8 and have some fun doing some hand held macro work.  This would build the hand hold technique back up and give me small targets that I did not have to chase around.   So here is what I found…

These were all shot in the yard, just having a good time.  I found some cool mushrooms growing out front and a very cool seed pod hanging from a tree.  I finished them in post with Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0 and Silver Efex.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.