I spent a week in Alliance, Ne talking to Mom and visiting with my brother, Tyler, and Dad. Mom had many wonderful memories to share of her youth and years in college. I enjoyed just sitting and listening, and occasionally asking questions.

I learned some very enjoyable tidbits of information, like my mom’s twin going missing for a month, disappearing somewhere in California and reappearing in Oregon. I learned fun things about my grandparents and even my brothers and sister.

This photo was taken my last full day in Alliance. I used a single flash to help with the overall exposure. The photo was taken with my trusty Sony a700.

To fully enjoy this you should view it extremely large on black in a barn overlooking a feedlot while it snows outside.

For a fleeting moment the snow fell softly across the back of the bull (sh*t) as he pondered his escape from the dreary Illinois winter.

As an artist who’s primary medium of visual expression (audio for the eyes) is photography I have captured the captive depression expressed by the bull (sh*t) in our languid conversations.  The solitary cold and black life he leads is felt in the snow created grave surrounding him in a cape of death.  The bars of the gate keep you and I separated from the majestic (tasty) bull (sh*t).

Sometimes art is pretentious because it can be.

Today I was playing with the Sony A700 and the in-camera black and white functions. This is a terrific camera for taking black and white photographs. Setting it to an ISO of 800 gives just the right amount of grain. Additionally, I tend it set the contrast up to +2, and sharpness by +1.

This photograph was taken at Greg Lamar’s, in his garage, as he polished the wheels on his truck. Sitting around, drinking beers, and looking through the garage for interesting compositional elements was a nice break from the dreary day outside.

This is everything the Illini Fan needs. A shirt, a beer, and a seat. Keep it simple.

I shot this for fun to test out some new color correction filters that arrived the other day. Most people have gone away from film and don’t remember those days when cameras didn’t correct the color of the light for you automatically. But for lovers of film and of polaroids (instant film), color correction filters are a necessity. This is a Lee set, a simple construct of a framed filter, a filter holder, and a rather fat rubber band that holds the whole assembly to the camera.

For those interested, this photograph was shot with a large format Calumet camera that was originally made in the 1970s, a set of lowell lights, and not much else. Its printed on Fuji instant film.

The photo itself was taken at Chadron State Park during the summer of 2009.

The sunrise this morning over Clinton Lake was beatiful. I wasn’t able to take a bad photograph this morning as the sun rose over the tree line and the mist from the warm waters of the lake painted the soft reds, pinks, blues and oranges over the lake.

I used a small aperture, around F22, as well as a very slow shutter speed of 1/10 or less a second to capture the details of the beautiful lake sunrise.

While the temperatures were extremely cold this morning, there was only a light breeze and I was able to stay relatively warm bundled in several layers of clothing.

The lake was cold today. Fortunately there was only a light breeze and I was able to stay warm as I took these photographs of the fog rising off the warm lake water. The water in Clinton Lake is kept warm all year because of the power plant.

The warm water, the fog, the soft breeze, and the morning light all come together for the camera to make this enchanting scene. I used a slow shutter speed, under 1/50th of second, and a very small aperture, F22, to keep the scene sharp while keeping the softness of the fog.

I was watching PBS Nature, the “Christmas in Yellowstone” episode, and was inspired to head out to the springs to take my own photos of winter.

Well, the hike was shorter than I expected because of last week’s rainfall. The river had overflowed its banks and much of the lowland woods I like to hike through were impassible.

The day wasn’t wasted though. In addition to this beautiful scene of the snow and water play, the linear quality of the dried grasses and branches, the hike itself was inspiring.