Wishing everyone a prosperous and creative new year fill with lots of friends, laughter and fun.

For December this year, we took a western Caribbean cruise aboard the Jewel, a Norwegian Cruise Line ship. One of the highlights of the trip for me was renting a Harley Davidson for the day on Cozumel. Here area few of my favorite pictures from the trip.

I had one of those crazy Fridays a few weeks ago - but good cazy because I am doing what I love…. Non-the-less, it was kind of like one those twilight moments where you stop and say, where am I and where did I just come from…? I was up early photographing a commercial complex, Phoenix Commercial Park then off to the coast for a sunset shoot at Gulf Breeze Condominiums located in Steinhatachee. Steinhatachee is about a 4 hr round trip drive from Gainesville - a great place to get away, if you are interested, HERE is a link to the real estate tour I did for the condos a few months back.

Phoenix Commercial Park

I recently came back from a Digital Landscape Workshop (DLWS) that was held in Cape Cod. My very good friend Laurel and I had a lot of fun and met some really great co-photographers.

We were up at 5am, chasing the sun rise, grabbing breakfast, taking in workshops, going back out to chase the sunset, more workshop time - then to bed between 11 pm and 12:30 am. This was our schedule for three and a half days.

I actually reveled in the schedule. All of my work for the longest time has been client driven (which I enjoy) but it was nice to shoot just to shoot. It really got my creative juices going. So below are a few of my landscape shots.

Also, Joe McNally was one of our instructors. He put us in front of a local harbor master who was kind enought to be our model for the morning. I really enjoyed seeing Joe in action, and was able to pick up a lot from him. And the adorable woman in the fuzzy red hat is Laurel, one of my favorite shots! Another assignment had us in P-town taking pictures of people - that’s where the wonderfull lady with the cute dog came from.

In addition to the stills, I also took some panoramic pictures which I think helps to put it all in perspective. In the pano below, along with photographing the lighthouse, we were we also gathering for a lesson with Joe on using reflectors as a souce of light with a model.

Quick Time Full Screen High Resolution Tour
Flash Full Screen High Resolution Tour

Although not very sharp, this next pano was taken on the first day at our first shoot. It was under exposed and shot at an hight ISO of 800, however I really like how it captures the moment - 6 am, 25 plus photographers from all around the country, descending upon this unsuspecting lighthouse, excited about their first shoot of the week, trying to get the best angle for that perfect sunrise shot.

Quick Time Full Screen High Resolution Tour
Flash Full Screen High Resolution Tour

We were lucky to have Mark (And Stacie!) as part of the Laurel and Aaron show. Mark is a local from Provincetown and was able to provide us with this little detour to a really cool bridge. The bridge goes to an island which is only accessible at low tide. At high tide, the bridge is mostly under water. Our little side trip made us late for our next workshop, but it was more than worth it!

Quick Time Full Screen High Resolution Tour
Flash Full Screen High Resolution Tour

This last pano was an impromptu picture of all of us having breakfast. We were a bit tired and in need of some Java! The food was great, again thanks to our local guide, Mark!

Quick Time Full Screen High Resolution Tour
Flash Full Screen High Resolution Tour

The Beach Place Guesthouses were my first commercial clients three years ago. I really enjoyed photographing their property again as it has really allowed me to see my evolution and progressing as a photographer and visual artist. This is a amazing boutique hotel, right on the beach and only 45 minutes East of Orlando. It’s a very special place to rejenuvate.

I am very excited to be a part of a new magazine called Home, Living in the Heart of Florida. It is being published by a very successful advertising company, Advantage Publishing, Inc., which also publishes the trade magazines Building Edge and Commercial Building Edge. Living magazine will be the only publication in our area dedicated to bringing information about the housing industry to the community.

With that said, I just photographed for the magazine one of G.W. Robinson’s newest subdivisions, Turnberry Lake. The early morning shoot provided a great opportunity for an HDR shot of the entrance. I believe when done right, an HDR image should enhance a scene, capturing a full, dynamic range of depth and color without looking like a fantasy image. This can be a challenge because, untethered, HDR tends to produce a sort of sureal image, often with bad ghosting artifacts and coloration that looks like it’s on steriods!

Here is the HDR image I produce, taken at 27mm:

And as comparison, here is a non-HDR image take at 45mm:

The non-HDR image is a good image, but you don’t realize how flat it is until you see it in comparison to the HDR image.

Here are a few more shots I took that morning, theses are non-HDR: