I decided to dabble in mostly architectural photography today.  I've learned there are certainly some unique challenges to architecture photography.  You end up with some very defined lines and if you aren't perfectly straight on or if you're using a wide angled lens (I was), you get some bending and skewing.  I tried my best to correct this in Lightroom and Photoshop.  Hot Springs has some very cool, old buildings.  During this trip, I only used my 16-35 mm lens for wide shots.  I hope to go back soon with my 70-200 mm for some detail shots as there are some incredibly ornate areas along...

I decided to shoot my nephew playing basketball tonight.  It was their first game as Wolves so all the players were pumped up!  They fought hard and Ethan played very well, especially in the clutch times toward the end; yet, they lost by one point.  Good effort guys!  You'll get them next time! I've not really tried sports photography much, though I love football and basketball.  I knew I needed a fast shutter speed and lighting is never great in these gyms.  The gear and settings I used were... Nikon D600 Sigma 70-200 F2.8 Aperture priority mode ISO 4000 F 2.8 Shutter speeds varied...

Ok, so we aren't supposed to play with matches or fire, right?  Time to break the rules!  FYI, if you try something like this, please don't burn your house down!  This was a fun little project I wanted to try and I had a few minutes of free time this evening.  So, here goes... ...

In Hot Springs, we are blessed to have some wonderful, caring people.  One local man, Dr. Kevin Hale, has built such a reputation in our community.  He lives just down the street from me and was gracious enough to allow me to take pictures on his property recently.  The land is gorgeous and I couldn't wait to get some photos of the mist rising from one of the ponds in the golden glow of a sunrise!

Impromptu Fall photo shoot with my girls!  We were on our way home from Little Rock and decided to stop by Gulpha Gorge for a few shots.  Here is a little secret about photo shoots... 

I often take Fridays off from my "real job" and enjoy some photography time.  I was hoping to find some fall colors before it was too late.  Oh, and this was my first time shooting since I got my Nikon D600 back from repair!  :D

This may be my last shots from my beloved Nikon D90.  I bought a D600 which I had for about a week before I... gulp... dropped it.  I had never dropped a camera before in my life, but as soon as I had my new baby I dropped it and broke some parts.  It should be back tomorrow from its 6 week stay at Nikon as they repaired it.  

Tonight, I got to shoot my favorite subjects, my two little girls.  I've learned that photo shoots rarely go as planned with an 8 month old!  I'm barely getting the lights setup and Ella has decided it's time to get on the move!

I had heard of a lot of people visiting Ponca and Boxley, Arkansas. They are both found in Northern Arkansas along the Buffalo River area. I decided to head that way in search of fall colors and waterfalls! First, I had to con my brother into joining me. After all, a Mustang isn't exactly a good vehicle for those county dirt roads!

  I had some time to shoot a few macros today.  The challenge today though was low light and a bit of wind... not good for macro photography!  I decided to crank up my ISO to speed up the shutter and avoid motion blur.  I went as high as 5000 ISO!  I'm still amazed at the low noise levels of the D600.