Dragon

The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens has had a wonderful exhibit this year, "Colors of the Wild"... a display of hundreds of Asian lanterns arranged in 70 different scenes. A real visual delight.  

Reflection

The point of view is a bit confusing at first... this is a reflection in still standing water with a few plants above the surface, most notably the orange leaf. A cloudy gray sky adds to the mood.

Merry Christmas 2023

TSO

The Tans-Siberian Orchestra annual Christmas show is a spectacular featuring tons of intelligent lighting, lazers, fireworks, flame throwers, a half dozen video panels, hydraulic risers, multiple undulating trusses and individual LED clusters along with over-the-top rock style music. Nothing subtle here. It is an enjoyable show that was performed for about 15,000 people here in Jacksonville FL.

Autumn colors in Florida

Its not like being in the northeast but there is some color. It appears later in the season and is much less prevalent but there are bright reds and yellows to be found.

Construction

Durbin Creek

Seed pod

Courtyard door

Dome

Spanish moss

High contrast black & white seemed to work best for this abstract look at so-called "Spanish Moss" that is not a moss at all, but a bromeliad air plant.

Green explosion

Curious

Sailboats

To the beach

Tails

I have strung out a sampling of my Africa photos long enough. It is nice to have a large selection of images to pick from but I think it is now time to turn to other more current subjects.

But... If you are interested in seeing a larger selection from the Africa trip I have assembled a slideshow and posted it to YouTube. The presentation is without audio... only photographs shown five seconds each. It contains many "tourist" type pictures but, if you have any interest in doing safri type trip in the future, the photos may give you a feeling for what that kind of thip is like.

Three palms

Strange sky and light this evening while cruising on Zambezi river.

Winery door

South Africa is the oldest wine producing country outside of Europe. I had no idea.

Branches

Kitty

Stripes

Stopping for a drink

I promised not to post too many animal portraits, but there are a few that I particularly like from the Africa trip. Here I was able to catch this leopard stopping for some water... you know it is important to keep hydrated!

Beach rocks

Clock tower, waterfront, Cape Town

Ocean

Elephant

Elusive

This is the hard to find wild african dog. It was shot at dusk at very high ISO but somehow it enhances the elusiveness of the animal. The wild dog is so rare in the Chobe park that the rangers ask for images of sightings. 

Africa landscape

Africa

I have recently returned from two weeks in southern Africa and have been sorting and developing my images. I have well over a thousand images before culling the undesirables. I will be posting over the next few days but I will not post many animal portraits like this as it would get pretty mundane. The reality is safari drives take you to great viewing opportunities for a wide variety of animals, but simply capturing the most species is not what I strive for, especially in this blog.

This male lion posed for us while watching over his pride. Although I did use a long lens, it is still breathtaking to be so close to these wild animals in their natural environment, proof being our guide traveling with a loaded and handy rifle. 

Big display panels

Of course I should have shot this as a video or loop, but the tall columns are giant led panels. Not sure how they can make them this big and seamless but they are bright and look great. 

Simple

Simple shapes often attract my eyes.

Photoshop Generative Fill

The intranet has been buzzing about Photoshop's new Beta version that has a generative fill capability. There are many videos on YouTube that demonstrate the capability. Being curious I downloaded and installed the new software just to play around with the new feature. I think this is really amazing and wonder what it means for the future of photography. It is definitely cheating and taking photo editing to a different level.

There certainly are purists that will make a lot of noise about this fakery but then who of us don't cheat just a little. If we didn't there would be no need for digital cameras, cropping,  color correcting, or the dozens of other capabilities most of us use in Photoshop. I don't plan to use this much but do find it fascinating. 

The picture below is what I started with. It was taken last summer when in Scandinavia. The red fence really spoiled the image but I took the exposure anyway. But with generative fill... first I selected the area that contained the red fence and a perfectly acceptable fill was automatically created. Second I thought the right lower corner would look nice with some wild flowers... no problem. Finally I thought a few ducks on the path would help the make the picture more interesting and the composition more balanced. This all took only a few minutes.

If you consider this a photo illustration (not a straight photo) it is quite a nice image I think. What are your thoughts?

Have a drink

Rain on the window

Sanitary

Who rotated the manhole cover?

34 Granada

Dead mall

I think I have posted images from this mall before. When I take my car in for routine service this place is is just down the street and a stop on my walk while I wait. Anyway, it just seems that derelict architecture is more interesting that medicare new... so here it is.

Unusual things catch my eyes

Flamingo

Don't look too close... missed the focus on the bird but the color really did look good so I am posting anyway.

Feathers

Butterfly

A walk in the park

Patterns and shadows

Anila Quayyum Agha "Flight Patterns" exhibit at the Cummer... really taken by the patterns of light.

Unidentified bird

I photographed this bird at the Jacksonville Arboretum but have been unable to identify. The bird was part of a pair that was building a nest. It was difficult to get a clean shot because in the dense clutter of the tree. Anyone able to identify this bird?

Fan palm explosion

Marshland island

Blue Spring

Wacky presets

I have been absent from the posting routine for quite awhile. I have been busy with other interests and not spending much time thinking about photography. I need to get back to this channel of expression.

For now, here is an iPhone shot that seemed interesting when I captured it but was less interesting when I viewed it later. It just did not have good contrast and color. 

Rolling my computer pointer over the factory provided presets in Lightroom I came across a preset called "IR", presumably intended to make the photo look as though it was shot as infrared. The colors are not true and saturated and contrast is manipulated but somehow it seems nice to me so here it is. Not my usual treatment and obviously highly processed.

Let me know what you think.

Fun

Who doesn't enjoy playing with toys once in awhile?