Max in the dryer

Did I mention that marrying Missy was a package deal? Yes, not one, not two, but three cats! Part of the "deal" was that she would not replace any of them before we both agreed but two of them are only about one year old.  Makes we want to recite, "How long o Lord?" from Psalm 13:1.

Anyway, Max is one big furball. A beautiful Himalayan cat that leaves a part of his bad self everywhere he goes. However, I must admit, he is full of personality and a lot of fun. He was rescue cat from a good friend's sister who died of cancer. This photo from my iPhone is homage to Gary Larson, creator of the "Far Side". Remember the classic illustration of the cat in walking into the dryer and the dog outside holding the door saying, "Please, oh please"?

iPhone to the rescue!

Thinking about all the food and entertainment in Boston, I failed to mention one of the most enriching things I did. There was a special and wonderful exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts called, "Rivals in Renaissance Venice", featuring the work of Titian, Tintoreto and Veronese. It was a visual feast. The brilliance and genius of all three of these guys had in their early twenties is beyond comprehension. The three artists were influenced greatly by one another. Some of Titian's work has had a special X-Ray process done to them so you can see what was actually under the paint. He even "converted" a crucifixion scene from a previous painting into a Adoration of the Magi kind of piece by stitching the canvases together to make a completely new one. Amazing. I bought the exhibit catalog. Since no photos were allowed, I used my iPhone to shoot the Degas above. Amazing quality. I remembered from art history classes at Transy that Boston had some lovely Degas (ballerina) and Renoir (in the background) pieces as well. The special exhibit is on until August 16th. Highly recommended! Get out of town!

Chilly tea party

Last week we went up to Boston for a few days. Missy is on the management team of a new church plant called Reunion Christian Church, and it has been very successful in downtown Boston. While she was in meetings, I hit the streets from our downtown hotel to check out the city and try to limit the times I got lost. I have flown into Boston a few times before, but that was just to be able to rent a car and head up to wonderful places like Martha's Vineyard, Acadia National Park, etc. So it was a real different experience actually being downtown. There are old structures (beautifully restored) right next to contemporary, tall and glass buildings. The contrast is apparent and interesting. Not only did we eat our way through Boston (quote by Missy) but we took in a "Dirty Dancing" show at the Opera House one night and got to see the "Blue Man Group" the next. People were very nice and cordial. There was a Dunkin' Doughnuts on almost every corner! Mike's Pastries on the north end is an experience all to itself. You need to go up and walk the Freedom Trail and don't miss the cemeteries scattered throughout the city with graves from the late 1600's. The photo was from our hotel window at sunset. As always, it is good to be home though, even if it is shared with three cats. One is old, but the other two are very, very young. Anybody know what I mean?

Painted Ostrich Eggs

Just when you think you have seen it all! Hand painted Ostrich eggs by Iranian born artist, Haydar Hatemi, who now lives here in Lexington, KY. I photographed several of these masterpieces to help advertise this new exhibit at the Headley-Whitney Museum, titled, "Istanbul-Instanbul". These eggs are about 7 inches tall and the portraits painted on them are amazing. Kings around the world collect and commission them.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

This is one of my favorite photos of all time. This place is called "Portal Dolman" and is located in the western portion of Ireland, near the Cliffs of Moher. One of my clients, (now very dear friends), Greg and De Selby, had moved to Wales (UK) and invited Sally and I over to visit them. Realizing we were so close to Ireland, we rented a car and took a ferry over to this beautiful country. The water ride took a few hours and we watched "Braveheart" on the way. We landed at the southeast portion of the country and made our way directly to the western coast. Along the way, we came upon this scene. It was so breathtaking and the adrenaline was really pumping. I set up my panoramic view camera, loaded it with color transparency film and then a storm began to move in, hence the dramatic sky. This Dolman probably houses the graves of a family and the large rocks are probably about four feet high. It is estimated that this Dolman has stood for at least 6000 years, making it older than the pyramids! It is situated in the Burren County Clare. I can't wait to return to the Emerald Isle.

Witch's hat

Due to some interest I wanted to share one of the lighting setups for shooting the shiny pieces. I started out with shooting a shiny flat surface, thinking it would be the easiest. Shown here is a lighting tent that had been purchased several years ago. It has translucent material with a velcroed slit up and down for the camera lens to poke through. Shooting highly reflective surfaces is difficult and requires wrap around lighting. Wherever there is not light on the shiny surface, it goes black. The lighting worked out pretty well but all the wrinkles in the lighting tent showed up! I did not want to iron it so I changed to another setup. I took white studio background paper and placed it directly above the shiny flat surface so the reflection on the surface was that of white paper, not fabric. I was not able to shoot directly overhead (figuring they did not want a self portrait of me) but had to angle my position a little. Then, using Photoshop, I corrected the keystone distortion and made the game board look perfectly square again. You never see an image printed somewhere that has not been corrected or enhanced in some way. It is estimated that now photographers spend 20% of their time shooting and 80% of their time performing retouching on a computer. We live in a world of illusions.

Vine and branches

These two images are from Lover's Leap Winery in Lawrenceburg, KY. My friends, Logan and Pam Leet purchased the winery a couple of years ago and are having a lot of success with it. it is a huge operation! On Feb 14th, they had a big party and chose to decorate the gift shop and reception hall with images I had created on site, as well as a few from my Kentucky Wide series. I would suggest a drive over when you want to get out of town. It is in a beautiful setting.

Some big birds

Sharing the images from the Headley-Whitney Museum got me thinking about some of the shoots I have done at my alma mater, Transylvania University and their rare book collection. Pictured here are images from the amazing John James Audubon art collection. I was not prepared for how large they are! Audubon studied and painted some birds right here in Ky from 1810-1819. Take a drive to the other half of KY and visit the state park, named in his honor.

You won't find this mask at Halloween Warehouse

This "Mask of Bacchus" is a 17th century Italian coral mask of the mythological god of wine, his eyes set with emeralds, is mounted with coral branched on a base of gold and onyx. The god's characteristic motif is seen in the gold grape vine set in the back of his mask and in the clusters of gold grapes and leaves which adorn the base. Approximate height of 4 1/2 inches. Shown is the final image and the fancy setup with lighting.