After an early trip to tunnel view in Yosemite, we headed down into the valley to relax in one of the meadows and enjoy the sunrise. As we walked through the knee high blades of grass and wildflowers, the grass caught my eye. Each one of the thousands of blades of grass had dew, from the chilly night before, resting on the tips of each piece. I had to attach a special piece to my lens so I could get right up next to these microscopic water drops. I had to work quick before, if the sun got too high in the sky, I would lose the brilliant specks of sunshine in each of the drops. I searched for the perfect blades of grass that could express the small scale of the drops while keeping an interesting scene. The last photo I took of the grass ended up being one of my favorites from that morning. Two blades of grass with a "starburst" at their highest point, were connected by a small strand of a spiderweb, and the thousands of other dew drops can be seen shining in the background.
As springtime nears, the blooming wildflowers start appearing everywhere. I've never been a a big fan of flower photos, but as I walked through a a field of flowers in Texas Hill Country, I began to see the beauty in the detail I would normally take for granted. I treaded lightly through the field to find the healthiest looking flower and laid down next to it. The small folds in the petals and the grainy pollen caught my eye and I immediately grabbed my camera. I had to choose my lens carefully so I could get as close as possible to the flower and capture all the detail I could see with my own eye. I attached a special lens that allowed me to inch closer to the Poppy. As I released the shutter I knew that this was a unique photo, the clouds made the scene look like it was taken in a studio, not out in a dirt field. This photo has always encouraged me to look close at the finer things I might otherwise overlook everyday in life.
Abstract photos are some of my favorite subjects to capture, it's art in the purest sense, no specific subject just pure design. During a quick trip down to La Jolla, CA i was hoping for an amazing sunset. But as the sun inched closer to the horizon, it became evident that the clouds which normally make beautiful sunsets, were too abundant to let the sun shine though. So my plan B was to capture small elements from my surrounding that didn't require beauty in the typical sense. I pulled out my powerful telephoto lens to capture the small ripples near the tide pools below me. After several dozen shots, I finally got the photo I wanted. Smooth repetitious patterns of small waves forming on the ocean surface.
