Autumn In The Great Smoky Mountains:
November 11, 2009
My wife Becky and I spent a week in the Great Smoky Mountains from October 24 to November 1, 2009. The autumn colors were the most spectacular that I have ever witnessed in the Appalachians. We took Numerous photographs to record those brilliant red, yellow, gold, and orange hues.
Every morning, we were up early so we could get out into the field before sunup. Most mornings found us in the dark waiting in line at the entrance to Cades Cove's one-way loop road, waiting for the ranger to open the gate about sunrise.
That's when wildlife are most active and the opportunity to see and photograph them are the greatest. Fog also filled the cove most mornings making for some very interesting and spectacular pictures.
Always Have Your Camera With You And Ready:
August 7, 2009
Yesterday was a good example as to why you should always take a camera with you whenever you leave home for any reason. I went to the store for some groceries, and on my way back home I caught a glimpse of a low flying airplane. Realizing it was a crop duster, I immediately stopped my Jeep along the edge of the road, grabbed my camera and started shooting away.
I've made it a habit to always grab my camera bag and throw it into the vehicle everytime I leave home no matter how short or long the trip may be. Without my camera yesterday, I would not have been able to capture these images and post them here for you to see.
SWMCCC Summer Weekend of Photography And Digital Imaging:
August 4, 2009
The Southwestern Michigan Council of Camera Clubs, commonly referred to as SWMCCC (pronounced "swim-see") held it's 35th Annual Summer Weekend Of Photography and Digital Imaging on the Hope College campus in Holland, Michigan, July 30 - August 2, 2009.
This was the first time for my wife Becky and I to attend this highly acclaimed event. We arrived in Holland on Thursday afternoon and checked into the Haworth Conference and Learning Center, a campus hotel. After eating dinner in the campus cafeteria, Becky and I went to a Birds Of Prey Photo Shoot where we took pictures of falcons, hawks, owls, and a golden eagle at a local preserve.
We ate all of our meals on campus at Phelps Hall for the three days we were on campus. After breakfast Friday morning, Becky and I parted ways, she going out into the field at 7AM on a Nature Field Trip, while I attended a Posing and Model Interaction class, and a Storm Light Photography Guide class. Our paths seldom crossed during the day except at meal-times and when we attended Friday and Saturday night special programs.
On Saturday morning I went to a Beach Model Shoot and then attended many classroom sessions the rest of the day. It was neat at the end of each day for Becky and I to finally be able to relax together back at our hotel room and share information about what we did or learned that day.
We already have made reservations at the Haworth Center for next year's event which will be held July 29 to August 1, 2010.
I highly recommend this seminar and you can visit their Web site at www.swmccc.org.
Photo Exhibit Opening Reception:
July 13, 2009
The photo exhibit "Winds Of Time - Four Visions" opening reception was held Saturday evening on July 11, 2009 at the Ferrer Gallery in Nashville, Indiana. The turn out was good with about 100 people attending the three hour event.
To see a few of the photos taken during the opening reception, click here. A thank you goes out to my son Rodney A. Margison for taking the pictures.
Photo Gallery Exhibit and Opening Reception:
July 2, 2009
Ferrer Gallery in Nashville, Indiana has on display a photo exhibit of Desert Southwest images taken by me and my wife Becky along with images taken by two other Indiana photographers, Paula and Tony Ferrer.
The four of us set out together on a two week photo adventure to southern Utah and northern Arizona in the fall of 2006, and returned home with four unique visions from the land that has been changed over eons by the "Winds of Time."
The "Winds of Time - Four Visions" photo exhibit opens today, July 2 through July 28, 2009 at the Ferrer Gallery at 61 West Main St., in Nashville, Indiana.
Gallery hours are: Mon - Sat 10 to 5:00PM, and Sunday 10 to 4:00PM.
An opening reception will be held on Saturday evening, July 11, from 4 to 7:00PM.
Washington, D.C. Cherry Blossom Trip:
April 22, 2009
My wife Becky and I recently returned from photographing many of our nation's national monuments and memorials in Washington, D.C. during blooming of the cherry blossoms.
This year's peak blooming was April 1 through April 4, and the blooms usually last for another 10 days or so. We arrived in the D.C. area on Sunday afternoon, April 5, and met up with photo friend Dr. Edwin Flournoy from Albany, Georgia. We were supposed to have met with another photo friend, Linda Wirth, who lives just a few miles away in Burke, Virginia, but due to a family death, she was out of town for a couple of days.
We rode the Metrorail to the National Mall & Memorial Parks, and the cherry trees were magnificently hued with a delicate pink glow in the afternoon sun, especially around the Tidal Basin and the Thomas Jeffferson Memorial. Visitors to the area were wall to wall so it seemed, but we managed to take some good photos.
The following morning we had a light rain and some breezy conditions by the time we arrived at the National Mall again. By early afternoon it had quit raining, but many of the cherry trees had already lost their petals creating a carpet of pink on the ground. However, trees that had not yet reached peak, retained their blooms and provided photographic opportunities later on during the week.
Wednesday morning, the three of us met with Linda who was now back home. As a gracious host, she drove us around D.C. and other nearby areas for photo ops.
We had fairly good weather the remainder of the week until Saturday morning when Becky and I packed up and left for home, and it was raining again.
Highway Safety For Photographers:
February 20, 2009
Effective November 24, 2008, a new statute by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), requires a reflective safety vest be worn by public safety officers, volunteer firefighters and EMS personnel responding to incidents on the side of a federal highway. This requirement also impacts photographers.
(Click photo to see larger image and the FHWA Statutes.)
It only makes common sense for photographers or photojournalists covering accidents or doing any kind of photography along roadways and highways to be as visible as possible to avoid becoming a traffic victim themselves.
I have two vests that I carry in the back of my Jeep. One is large enough to wear over a winter coat (shown in photo) and one a size smaller for warm weather. Both of them are ANSI Class 2 and are ANSI/ISEA 107-2004 compliant. They also will come in handy if I ever have a need to walk along a highway after dark because of car trouble.
Tenth Anniversary:
February 1, 2009
February 23, 2009 marks the tenth anniversary of this Web site. Ten years ago in 1999 on that date, I uploaded a few pages and a photograph officially marking my World Wide Web debut. That first picture was of a snow scene taken just a few miles from my rural Shelby County home in central Indiana.
Now to commemorate my tenth anniversary, it's only fitting that this month's "Photo of the Month" be of another snow scene taken elsewhere in the county just a few miles away.
I have several file cabinets filled with hanging sheets of slides. Over the past ten years I've enjoyed sorting through those slides over a light-box reliving memories of the many trips and photo excursions they represent.
Now that I'm shooting digital images, I'm spending more time gazing at the computer screen searching for photos to show each month.
It has been a struggle at times trying to keep this Web site user friendly, up to date, and looking fresh. I hope I can continue to maintain the clean look and appearance this site provides for several more years.
About My Web Site:
October 27, 2008
Back in the winter of 1998-99, I toyed around with the idea of creating a Web site where I could display some of my photos taken over the years.
I purchased a book about designing Web pages and it came with a CD that assisted me in laying out my first few pages. They were simple and basic pages, but they worked, albeit rather crudely.
The more I played around with designing my Web pages, the more I realized that they weren't doing exactly what I wanted them to do. So, I bought more books and studied HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), and began to write my own Web page instructions. It was all trial and error at first, but I learned.
There are many programs out there today which will do the same thing plus much, much more, but I take pride in knowing that each one of my Web pages was designed and written in HTML code by me, and they all conform to strict code standards and guidelines.
I purposely kept my pages plain, clean and simple. One of my goals was to make navigating through my site an easy and enjoyable experience.
Now I'm studying JavaScript to enhance my pages even further.
My first "Photo of the Week" appeared on February 23, 1999. I published 33 weekly images, then switched to "Photo of the Month" starting with January 1, 2001.
After January 2002's photo, I got behind and did not get "Photo of the Month" back onto a regular schedule until June of that year. Since then, I have published an image each and every month. You can visit my "Archives" page and see them all.
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