John-Pa's photostream  

After thinking about it for a year or two, last week I finally went out and bought myself a yard-chair. It is a nice little Adirondack-style thing made of acacia wood, so hopefully it can sit out there full-time and still last for years. I stuck it out in our backyard so I can sit and contemplate the universe, listen to the birds and watch the clouds rush off to wherever it is that they have to get to in such a hurry. I can sit there for hours with no MP3's and no Internet and no Kindle and no phone and never, ever get bored.

Fujifilm X100; ISO-200; f5.6; 1/200-sec; -.66ev

It has been way too long since I have touched a camera, so although I am a little bored with flower-pics, flowers is what was out there, so I shot some.

This is a Lonicera, or honeysuckle vine by our driveway. It was there when we bought the place 20-years ago, so I'm not sure what variety this is. It may be Lonicera periclymenum, aka European Honeysuckle or Common Honeysuckle, based on the shape of the flower clusters and the fact that it is a deciduous climber. We took away its support years ago and I cut it back hard every spring to try to keep it more-or-less bushy, but it really wants to climb. He had a problem with aphids for years, but for some reason that problem seems to be under control now. It is very sweet-smelling in the early evening.

I know that some people call this plant "trumpet vine", but that is simply incorrect. There is a particular type of Lonicera that is sometimes called "trumpet honeysuckle" (not this one), but a "trumpet vine" is actually a Campsis, a plant that I also have, but this ain't it.
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Canon 1DmkIII; Sigma 150mm f2.8 DG HSM APO; ISO-200; F8; 1/400-sec; 0ev

I spent a morning last week sitting in a car dealership waiting for a vehicle to be serviced. Fortunately, I brought along my Fuji X100 camera, and I amused myself for a while by wandering around the lot and service area.

This was largely processed with NIK Color Efex Pro-4. This had (as I recall) the following filters; Bleach-Bypass, Detail Extractor, Lens Vignette. I also fiddled around a little in Lightroom and PS-CS5.
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Fujifilm X100; ISO-200; f5.6; 1/160-sec; 0ev

To get myself re-inspired with my camera I have been looking at a general Lynda tutorial on photographic composition (my biggest problem isn't working the camera, it is "seeing"). In the next section of this tutorial the narrator was talking about line, shape, balance and also how changing point-of-view or perspective can create interesting compositions. He also mentioned how three-part elements are often more pleasing than either more or fewer. As I was digesting this I saw a scene across the room that seemed to have it all.
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Canon 1DmkIII; EF16-35mm f2.8 L-II; ISO-400; 35mm; f5.6; 1/5-sec; +1ev

I am doing a Lynda.com tutorial on photographic composition. One of the first exercises is to shoot representations of the concept of "point". It must also be B&W.
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Canon 1DmkIII; EF16-35mm f2.8L-II; ISO-800; 29mm; f5.6; 1/250-sec; 0ev; w. Canon 580EX-II speedlight at 1/128-power and 105mm zoom fired w. Cactus V4 RGF-trigger.