I'm A Keeper

Becky got William a cap and gave it to him when we saw him last week. This photo has been photoshoped in several ways. First I desaturated the color and changed the hue to give it a slight sepia tone. I then brought back the color in his face and the green fish and "Keeper" on his cap. I then used a radial blur in the zoom mode to create the blur around his face. Finally I used a gradiant mask to remove the blur from his face creating the blurry halo around his face.

Flashback

Going back through some older photographs this afternoon and came across this picture of Tallahassee Police Lieutenant (retired) Sid Keller and his wife. This photo was taken in December of 2002. Sid and his wife were both 93 years young at the time and I wish I rememebered how many years they had been married but I know it was near 70 because I did a photobook for them on their 70th and this picture was included. Sid was the first motorcycle officer in the Tallahassee Police Department and was hired because he owned a motorcycle and knew how to ride one. He had been driver for Rainey Cawthown delivering fuel oil and gasoline prior to becoming a police officer. On this day the entire motorcycle unit when down to the shores of the Ochlocknee River in Wakulla County to visit with Sid and his wife. We took them out for lunch at the Oaks Restaurant and shared stories of TPD and days gone by. It was a good day. Sid passed away a few years back but before he died he had driven around the United States going through every state in the lower 48 that touches the Atlantic Ocean, Canada, Pacific Ocean, Mexico, and the Gulf of Mexico THREE times on a motorcycle with his wife riding on the back. Good times.

William Walking

As Becky mentioned in her blog (http://ladyoflakeseminole.blogspot.com/) she and I had the wonderful opportunity to babysit our grandson, William, a couple of nights this past week. William has been slow to begin walking and I was sure Becky and I could get him to walk with a little proper grandparent coaching and we were successful. We were trying to get William to go to sleep and had turned all but one light in the kitchen out so I was using the night mode on the camcorder to video his walking and that is why the green cast is present in the video. Enjoy.

Also you can see a longer version on YouTube:

KKK Rally

As you can see from the photos above it has been an interesting day. The last time I saw any of the KKK was in Madison, FL about 15 years ago when Becky, Michelle, and I were driving up the Lake Park, GA to do some shopping. This rally was organized by the Georgia Knight Riders and was scheduled to conflict with the Donalsonville/Seminole County Harvest Festival. Their message was directed toward "Latinos" and sex offenders. During the entire rally they were heckled by a few in the the crowd of about 100 people who had gathered to hear them.

Night Photography

Wednesday night after Church Becky and I went to the Silver Lake Wildlife Management Area to photograph the barn we had photographed last week only this time we were going to do it with moonlight. Right is a photograph of the barn taken over a 9 minute interval. It was converted from color to black & white using Photoshop. The only light used was the light of the full moon. The white line in the sky above the barn are stars.



The next morning we got up at 5:00 am and went to Bainbridge to the Earl May Boat Basin to photograph the launch of the bass tournament. This is one of the major bass tournaments with about 150 boats involved. The boats begin arriving at about 5:00 am and must wait until 7:30 am to leave the boat basin. During this time the boats must circle through the basin past a check-in boat to get inspected before they depart. The photos below are from this time and were taken using a 15 to 30 second exposure. The boats are in motion so all you really see is the navigation lights from the boats and their reflection in the water. The line of light you see under the pine trees are from the lights of the trucks and boat trailers waiting to launch. Remember the only light was the light from the moom and the parking lot lights at the boat basin.

The photo below was taken with a much faster shutter speed so you can see to boats as they wait for the start of the tournament.

Many of the bass fishermen choose to pull their boats up on the bank and wait. In the photo below you see that twilight has arrived as the sky is beginning to get brighter to the East. You can also see the Bainbridge outdoor stage in the background. After everyone has launched, parked their trucks, and checked in and inspected everyone turns off their motors and the Tournament Director offers a prayer followed by the singing of the National Anthem.

Boats then depart one right after the other through a narrow canal leading to the Flint River where they can then hit the throttle and go to full speed to reach their choice of fishing holes for the day. This causes a lot of rough water as a couple of bass fishermen discovered in the photo below.

Becky and I went on a short photo safari Friday evening to the new Silver Lake Wildlife Management Area located in Southwest Decatur County. This is a 9,000 acre track of land that was previously owned by International Paper Company and is primarily long leaf pine trees and wire grass. There are several small lakes on the property the largest being Sivler Lake. The barn in the photo above is located at the old maintenance/office compound.



The photo on the left is taken from the dam that was built to raise the water level in Silver Lake. The lake was initially formed when Lake Seminole was created in 1957. It was very shallow and swampy so International Paper Company built a dam and this allowed the lake to fill above the water level of Lake Seminole.





As we were driving out through the tall pine trees Becky wanted to stop and take a picture of the sun setting through the pine trees so I took advantage of the moment and took a picture of her taking a picture of the sunset.

As we reached Yates Springs Road the sun was setting so we drove over to Chef Jay's Bristro for a very fine diner. Chef Jay sent a couple of his cinnamon rolls home with us so we would have them for breakfast. If was a very good evening.

Spent Wednesday in Tallahassee and had dinner with Michelle, Brandie, and William. After dinner Becky and I went over to Brandie's house just ahead of a big storm. I was able to get a play table Becky had gotten for William out of the truck and into the house before the storm struck. As soon as William saw it he grinned from ear to ear. In no time he was busy playing with it and discovering where all the loose items fit. He had so much fun playing with it he never noticed the thunder, rain, wind and lightning.

Another great weekend is coming to an end. It began with a great meal with good friends Thursday evening, followed by a great boat trip up the Flint River to Bainbridge and above on Friday (Emily & Becky pictured). Capped off with a fine fishfry on Saturday night at Gene & Nancy's house. Life is good.

Gator Hunting

Today around noon Becky, Steve, Emily, and I were crusing down the Flint River in Bainbridge. We had just passed under the first railroad bridge north of the US 84 bridge and were flagged down by Benny West, an independent alligator hunter. Benny asked us to wait for a few minutes because he was trying to capture the alligator that had eaten a dog that was playing in the water near a public park the week before. We agreed and thought it would be great photo opportunity but the gator swam away as Benny approached. Benny motioned us to continue on as he took a rod and reel and tried to catch the gator that way.

Becky and I had a very good meal in Thomasville last evening. We dined outside at Jonah's Fish & Grits Restaurant with good friends Angela & Kim. The weather was perfect, food was great, and company outstanding.

This morning we are off on a boat trip to Bainbridge. Wooo Hooo!

Did not get any photo work done today. Had to work on the pastor's house and we (Becky & I) are going to Thomasville tonight to dine out. Tomorrow we are going to Bainbridge by boat and hope to get some good photos.

Photoshop Elements 7

Photoshop Elements 7 (PSE 7) was released Monday night and I downloaded it Tuesday. The look of PSE 7 is basically the same as version 6 but has been updated to look more like the full version of Photoshop CS3. All of the images from PSE 6 transferred over without any problems. Watch for some photos later in the week.