Final Answer. Original Image See what I did there? Trust me, it's the "LITTLE THINGS" that make a BIG difference! First off, yes! SHALLOW DEPTH OF FIELD! You know, GET CLOSE, the longer the lens, the better, and yeah, A "SMALL NUMBER" for your APERTURE! You know, say, f1.4, f2.8, or f4 ... A "small number"! Focus on "Your Subject" (MY GINKGO LEAF), which in this case, was "IN FRONT" of something else (other Ginkgo leaves!), or behind another subject, to really get the most of

My FAVORITE Elk shot, like EVER! Yeah! He was standing out in a well lit field ("Hard Light"!), over there in Cataloochee Valley, with the trees (that BLACK!) in the background! I just had to wait until the trees went into SHADOW! And then just, ahh, "lined them up" so that he was in front of the shadow (trees), and ... BAM! Just FIRED AWAY! And duh? MINUS, MINUS, MINUS! And yes, I checked the data! And get this ... Just, ahh, "MINUS". Yeah, that's it! "Just" MINUS ONE! You k

Yeah, really. That is Nicolas Cage, and yes, I was, ahh, like, right there, behind the cameraman as they were filming part of the movie, NEXT, out there in Arizona, at Havasu Falls, which is actually part of a small, Native American Indian Reservation, which is right next to Grand Canyon National Park! I know! But yes, I actually sat around and had lunch with, no, really ... Both Nicolas Cage, and some actress named Jessica Biel, who I didn't really know much about at the tim

1973: First cross-country motorcycle trip from NY to AZ, by way of Chicago. Oh, and yeah! Mexico! I was eighteen. 1975: Down at my mom's in Florida, while on my "Around the Border of the United States Tour". I was twenty. 1979: Down in Florida again, at my mom's, once I got out of the Marines in March. Ahh, there was still snow up in New York! I waited ... I was twenty four. Ahh, and yeah, I bought the bike in Japan, had it, "rebuilt", and then had it "shipped back" to Norfol

Two of the earliest images I ever took ... And yes, I was an 8th grader, and track manager, and actually took my mother's old Polaroid "Swinger" camera with me that day, to take some images ... And yes! These were taken at our, ahh, "OLD SCHOOL"! My sister's class (1969), was the LAST class to graduate from this school, and MY class (1973), was the FIRST one to complete all four years in the "NEW" school, you know, that sits just "outside" the town limits! Cool. It was 1968 ,

One of my first images, like EVER ... And yes, I was in 8th grade, ahh, back in like 1968. Really, both feet off the ground! Just like that "famous" horse racing photo, that I studied in Grad School! I know! Took this, ahh, "BRICK ART" image over there in Morganton, but yes, I have also visited many of the Asian countries where the Hmong people came from, ahh, like China, but yeah, closer to home, I also taught a couple of their kids, like right here in North Carolina, at G

Yes, I had wanted to get to the Taj Mahal for many years ... Like, who wouldn't? Come on! So yeah, once I retired, I "made it happen" ... A one-month tour of India, with yes, a STOP at the famed Taj Mahal. Finally. Got there nice and early, while on one of those "new", NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC "Journeys", that they came out with a few years ago! And there I was! FINALLY. And yeah, THIS is what was in front of me! In all her GLORY! Hello? I LOVED IT! Are you kidding? Weather. Make

My second trip down there, came later, in 2017, AFTER I retired, but after having watched all those Art Wolfe Photography DVDs the last couple years at the college, I just knew I had to get down there one more time, you know, to experience The Falkland Islands and ... Wait for it (I did)! SOUTH GEORGIA ISLAND! Oh yeah, that simple, and that easy of a decision, after watching those DVD programs over, and over, and over again! You know, over those last ten years! And yes, SOUT

Well, that is what we called it anyways! Yeah, Ian, the oldest son of our School Media Center Coordinator, or you know, our School Librarian, Keith Dudley, who just so happened to live on the same street that had a "Gate Entrance", just down the road from their house, and yeah! He was how I learned about the TRAIL that they have back by the "Tater Hole", or you know, Lake Hickory! Yeah, DUKE POWER helped "make it" when putting in those Power Line things to hold up those cable

LOOK AT THE LIGHT. Get up early and stay out late! That simple (I wish!). Is it HARD light (dark shadows) or SOFT light (no shadows)? Is it COOL LIGHT (like this one)? Ahh, you know, in the BLUE-ISH color spectrum, or WARM LIGHT? Like just the opposite looking, yeah, like in the YELLOW, ORANGE, or RED color spectrums? And yes! If you know me, you know I set my WHITE-BALANCE to CLOUDY, and just leave it there! Yeah, that gives all your images a slightly "warmer" looking feel t