Trying out NIK's Analog Efex Pro on Today's Catch

I had a good time shooting some big waves crashing against the

lighthouse in South Haven this morning.  The waves were big and plentiful, I came away with 

quite a few good images.  

While processing the days catch, I decided to try out Google/NIK's new Analog Efex pro software.  It

came free with the latest update and I haven't had a chance to see what it could do.

Analog Efex Pro has several film camera presets that allows us digital photographers to mimic the technology  of yesteryear.  I have to admit it makes me feel a bit like I am Instagraming but the effects are still 

pretty cool. I will have to experiment a little more with it in the future.

When lightning strikes...

My time as a photographer

 has been short but pretty sweet at times.  The evening I caught these images was definitely one of those sweet times!  

I was on the shores

 of Lake Michigan in South Haven hoping to catch a glimpse of a partial solar eclipse happening at sunset on the evening of May 20,2012.  I was not sure what to expect but I managed to come away with a couple good images of the eclipse.

What happened next, 

I was totally unprepared for, the perfect storm!!  As the sun faded

into the horizon, a thunderstorm started to roll in.  Everyone on the beach, after seeing the eclipse of the sun and the storm coming in, started to leave.  Only myself and another photographer stayed to greet the approaching storm.  I was eager to get

 some experience catching a lightning bolt on camera.  I caught couple images in the 

past but nothing out of the ordinary.

The winds and rains stayed 

away from the beach allowing us to photograph the amazing cloud to ground lightning.  I made several feeble attempts at capturing the bolts.  Luckily for me, the

other photographer, who had  decades of experience, took pity on me and gave

 me some advice on shooting lightning.  Thanks to him I was able to 

catch some great images that night.  The lightning images taken on that fateful evening

pushed myself and my photography into a new direction.  And for that,

I will always be grateful.

Waves and Light Rays

The South Haven Lighthouse just before sunset.  This is one of my favorite places to photograph.  Not only because this place is practically in my "back yard" but it's because of the fact that every time I go there, I never leave disappointed.  The land, lake and sky always has something to offer the senses and lenses.  

Something new!!!

In an effort to better promote my work and reach an audience outside the normal social media outlets, I have decided to throw my hat into the ring known as the Blogosphere.  In recent months, I have grown weary of the direction and audience restrictions of certain social media sites.  I hope that publishing my work here will give those interested in my work, a better opportunity to see it without being "filtered out" by a computer-generated algorithm or having me to pay for them to see an image I wish to post. I believe if you wish to see my work, you should be able to without such restrictions.  I suspect, this will be quite the adventure!!