Daniel Ray's photostream  

I spend a lot of time in front of my computer editing photographs, writing my blog, keeping up with friends and family on Facebook and reading photography related blogs. I typically have my companion a tuxedo cat named Gypsy sitting on my lap or curled up on the floor near me.

I recently purchased a new Canon PowerShot S100 camera and I used gypsy as my test subject. This is the first image from my new camera.

I was setting this image up so the focal point was the wooden railing and the shadows it casted on the concrete walkway. As I was about to capture the image I saw this couple heading my way so I hurriedly changed the focus to automatic put the camera on a ten second timer and stood back like I wasn't going to take a picture. The couple passed me by and wandered right into into the scene of my image. Little did they know they just became the subject of my image. I love it when unforeseen things happen like this that add interest to the image.

A large pile of shells and reeds littered the area where my children were playing on the beach. My wife, who is an avid collector of treasures was sifting through the pile searching for something to add to her shell collection.

I found the textures of these objects interesting and thought the use of HDR (High Dynamic Range) would help bring out the textures of the wood which I think it did.

We've all heard the saying that everything is bigger in Texas. Well that may not apply to some plants that grow in California. Here you can see my Toyota rental car and a row of huge aloe vera growing along the cemetery wall.