From 2004 - Longwood Lily

This water lily was captured at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. Some bubbles on the surface of the water were taken out in Photoshop, but otherwise this photo is untouched.

From 2004 - Stafford Recital

A shot from the Chinese dance recital in Stafford. Naturally, one of my favorite individuals is a part of the scene.

Very little post-capture work was necessary for the Stafford shoot. I have often wondered...if a little bitty 3-megapixel camera like the FinePix 3800 can produce perfect white balance every time for indoor pictures, and the exposure control seems to work every time also, why couldn't they do that for the 7000? Maybe it's because there are so many more pixels crammed into a small area...

From 2004 - Nature Preserve

This was taken on a nature walk in the Houston area...

From 2004 - Longwood Tower

Back to the 2004 favorites, which were all taken with the Fujifilm FinePix 3800.

This was taken in Pennsylvania, at Longwood Gardens. Some photoshopping was done to remove trash that had accumulated next to the bin near the stairs. Also, some minor rotating was done, but otherwise the photo is untouched. That little 3800 had superb exposure and white balance control, which necesitated a lot less post-capture work than the 7000.

From Europe - Title Piece for Collage

This is a title piece put together for my son's collage. Six pictures were used, selecting portions of each using a 50-pixel feather. They were then blended together using layers, spilling over the outside edges so there would be a hard border.

One of the goals here was to work with the lettering. 98% of my Photoshop work is done in Elements 7, but especially in the lettering I've found it necessary at times to utilize the CS3 version for full control. It may be difficult to see here, but the letter fill is only at 85% opacity, which is what was used to build the pre-loaded effect for Elements. I opened the document in CS3 with the objective of upping that to 100%, but ultimately decided to leave as is...

From Paris - Urban Garden

Tinkering around with pictures from Europe, I found this one that should have been put in favorites. It was taken on our walk from the hotel to the Pompinou museum in Paris.

Since I have a black thumb instead of a green one, dooming any plant under my care to die within two weeks, I admire those who seem to have the magic touch. This is a very determined gardener, and by all appearances a successful one at that.

From North Heathrow - Alleyway Flowers

The flower and garden thing must be done for the benefit of the home's occupants, and not as a show for the whole neighborhood, as evidenced here. This doorway was hidden in an alleyway, facing nothing but a stream and some brush...
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Well, this is it - these are all of my favorites from Europe. I will now go back to posting 2-3 times per week, and will resume favorites from 2004.

From North Heathrow - Rooftop with Vines

This was directly across the street from the hotel. The English are really, really good at the flower thing...the two photos below were captured just a few steps away from this first one, using the roof with vines as a back drop from different angles.

From North Heathrow - Back Garden

We were walking along, on our way from the hotel to the pub that was in yesterday's posting, when suddenly this magical place appeared. The most beautiful and well-manicured yard we'd ever seen in our lives was there before us. Wow!

The English are known for their fastidiousness in keeping gardens and making their living spaces beautiful (aka "Yard of the Month" here, from their descendants), and this example topped the charts, in our opinion. I kept looking for some sign to indicate that this was a business or club of some sort, but it was just somebody's yard. The boys walked on ahead to find a place for dinner, but I stood transfixed to the point of obnoxiousness, trying to discreetly snap photos of this beautiful place.

It wasn't noticed right away, but to top it all off, the roofs were thatched! Good grief. If I ever go back I'm going to knock on the door and shake the hand of the people responsible for this creation.

From North Heathrow - English Pub

Once we made the decision to stay in hotels instead of hostels, we found some good ones. Our room in Paris was excellent, one I hope to share with my wife and daughter some day.

Heading back to the States we overnightted in North London. Our objective was to keep it quiet for our last night in Europe and get some rest before the long flight home. We didn't expect to be so successful, but this little neighborhood close to the airport was exactly what I'd been wanting to see...a typical English suburb sans tourists.

About a block from the hotel we ran into this pub. I'd had some fixed ideas about what a typical English pub was like, based on James Herriot's books, and found them to be totally accurate. The inside was warm and cozy, the English patrons settling in for a pint on their way home from a day's work. This photograph shows the exquisite care taken to keep the outside immaculate; here you can see to the right a separate place for darts and sports television. The proprietor in the blue shirt is standing watch over the comfort of his guests...all of them English (except us), sitting and smoking and drinking and complaining about the struggles of the day. I finally saw what I came to see in England.

Except Thirsk. I'd like to visit Thirsk, where Jim Wight did his work that became famous in the James Herriot books.
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The other day I discovered something strange about our cat. I suppose that in the cat world "strange" is a relative term, but this was the first time I'd heard of a cat that likes to eat tortillas. Yes, tortillas. And I wouldn't've believed it if I hadn't'a seen it...