Tracks

We were greeted with a dusting of snow on the ground when we woke this morning. When I went out to fetch the morning paper there were squirrel and bird tracks under the bird feeders and on the front walk. We have a group of Mourning Doves that  hang around our yard. They are ground feeders and they wander about in erratic patterns as if they are unsure where they want to go. This one walked under the front gate and wandered about in several circles before walking back under the gate into the yard. Some days I feel that bird, wandering about aimlessly.

The photo was taken with my Canon G10 and has been modified in Photoshop to emphasize the tracks and their pattern.

New Blog Recommendation

Great news. Jay Maisel has started a blog. There's link to it off his website. Woo Hoo! For those who don't know he's an awesome photographer. He has a great eye and a great attitude. He is one of the few photographers I'd like to take a workshop with. Check him out and while you're there look at his "recent work" link too.

A Book of Adirondack Photos By Yours Truly

I created a small (7"x7") book of B&W Adirondack scenes using Blurb. It has now been made public meaning you can preview the first 15 pages of it and purchase it directly from Blurb.

Adirondack Scenes in Black & White by Jim Bullard | Make Your Own Book

On My Daily Walk

I've been walking every day lately and taking photos of the cloud patterns that I see. Yesterday there were some really interesting patterns and I intended to post this last night but my computer picked up a Trojan (Backdoor: Cycbot2) while surfing some education site. It took me two hours to get it off my computer which I finally did by doing a system restore. Fortunately I had just installed Lightroom 3 a day or two earlier followed by an update that Lightroom found when I first opened it. The computer set a new restore point before each install so all that I lost was the update to LR 3.2. I reinstalled that and after verifying that everything worked (and the Trojan was gone). I manually set another restore point. Note to those who write and release viruses, Trojans, etc. onto the Internet, GET A LIFE!

Both yesterday and today I was walking in late afternoon/early evening and the clouds have been quite varied. They also change appearance fairly quickly between the wind and changing light. I liked this composition best of those from yesterday.

Artist's Open Studio Tour

The local arts council sponsors an open studio event every year and I took part this weekend. My "studio", the place I do my photography, is outdoors and my digital darkroom, where I massage my images to what I visualized using Lightroom and Photoshop is a very small room in the back of my house. The former is no place to display photos and the latter is too small to accommodate more than one other person so I borrowed space from the arts council in Old Snell Hall in Potsdam.

The space is available so I've decided to rent it as a place to do my matting and framing. It will also serve as a gallery for my work. No formal hours at this point, just if you happen to catch me there or make an appointment. Email is the best bet for reaching me to make an appointment, jim.bullard at gmail.com. (Use the symbol in place of the word "at" and of course, no spaces). Put "Studio Visit" in the subject line so that it doesn't go to my spam file. I will be doing future Open Studio events too.