From The Archives #5

This is one spectacular building to see up close. I was told there is even a better view from the other side where you can get a shot of the "Bird's Nest" reflecting in water. I had only 10 minutes to take some photos....I was with a group of teachers, it was very cold, and they were all waiting for me in the van...So, I ran to the front of this building, got my shot, and ran back to the van. This is what happens when you travel with non-photographers...they don't have much patience for some crazy guy running around at night with his tripod (me)...

I keep telling myself I need to get back to Beijing for some other shots of the buildings there...some day...

An update on my Drobo: I tried "Data Rescue 3". It took 32 hours to scan the drives (I did a deep scan), and when it was finished, I was nervous to look at what it found. It came up with some obscure files, none of which I recognized...so, I am still at ground zero...no photos recovered yet. I am still optimistic, though. I can't see how the files were erased, and I really believe they are still there. I have been told by some experts (including my Dad), that the problem is most likely in the file allocation coding...I certainly hope that is the case. My next step is to contact the Drobo guy in Singapore...I will keep you posted...

From The Archives #4

I find it amazing that these old bugis schooners are still working boats...but they do take a lot of maintenance...

I should know about my data this weekend...I am going to go out and buy a couple of large external drives and then give Data Rescue a try....wish me luck!!

From The Archives #3

This is such a typical scene that you would see in the "Kampung" (villages) of Indonesia...This photo is actually one of my early attempts at HDR....I look at some of my early stuff, and wonder what the hell I was thinking, but this one came out pretty well even by my standards today...

From The Archives #2

Remember this one?

The guy on the right must be some kind of tired to sleep in that position...

Here is an interesting article from David Burnett, a long time photojournalist...

And....if you just read the article above and want to see the recent World Press Photo Winners, check them out HERE...

From The Archives #1

I need to wait until the end of the month before I can attempt to salvage my photos as I need a few hundred dollars...gotta wait for my next paycheck...ha ha...

So, I am going through a folder where I saved all of my posted blog photos (re-sized for the web), and picking a few of my favorites to post again until I can hopefully recover my files...

If you are new to my blog, you may not have seen these when I first posted them, so it might feel like "new" photos to you...never a bad idea to bring back some favorites...

My Daughter, Kayla

Since my entire data bank of photos are still in jeopardy, my only new photos are of my family. This is my daughter, Kayla....

The Drobo nightmare continues, but I am going to try a third party data recovery program called, Data Rescue 3...I have read that it has been successful in recovering data. Before I use it though, I have to buy a couple of new external drives so that there is a place for the data to go if it can be recovered. That will take me a few days...so, in the meantime, I can post some old favorite photos this week....I still have on another drive all my "blog sized" photos that I have used on this blog...do you mind a few repeats this week until I can hopefully recover my photos?

Bike and Wall

You know how I love photos of textured walls and bikes...it is a scene that I can't walk by without taking a photo...

This may be my last "new" photo to post for awhile...I am having a major crisis with my Drobo. On my birthday (a couple of days ago), my computer said all of my 85,000+ photos are gone. I have almost 3 Terabytes of photos from the past 10 years all on my Drobo, and at this time, I have no access to them. I am fairly certain they are all still on my drive, but I am working with Drobo to find out how to recover all my data. Needless to say, I am majorly stressed about this. I don't know what I will do if I were to lose ALL my photos...it would be a major disaster!!

If and when I do finally get things back to normal, I will need to totally re-think my back-up strategy. I bought the Drobo so that I would feel secure in my back-ups, but didn't count on the Drobo itself to fail....arrrrrrgh!!

If any of you out there are Drobo experts, let me know...I really need to talk to you...

Old Dudes Hanging Out

Yesterday's photo was of some kids hanging out...on the other side of the village, the elders were hanging out...

Caught In The Act

I love it when I can capture people without them knowing I am taking their photo. Not one of these kids knew I was taking their photo even though I was standing right in front of them...something caught their attention, and so I became invisible to them...I'll leave it to you to imagine what they are looking at...

Travel Tags

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day...

Hey, look at that!! My Daughters are painted on some wall in India!!

Check Out This Portfolio of Myanmar

I just came by this site today, and was so impressed, I had to share it with you. This is perhaps some of the best travel photography I have seen in a long time. Very inspirational.
Click here...Albert Normandi's photos from Myanmar...

Not ALL My Photos are HDR

I do love HDR, and most of my photos are HDR, but I also like the more traditional type of photos that I have posted this week...I opened up my 35mm to f2 for this shot. The Leica is at its best when shot wide open...

I attended an Adobe seminar yesterday (the reason I had no time to post a photo yesterday). It was very interesting! I was most intrigued by the newly released Acrobat 10. I had no idea you could do such cool things with PDF's. We were shown how to produce a magazine or ebook for the ipad which I am very interested in doing. It was not easy, and the technology that was shown is not readily available yet, and still in beta format, but it was cool!!

Have a great weekend!!

The Yellow Wall

It was late in the afternoon, and this was my last shot of the day...

Fire In The Pit

Just got back from a 4-day trip to China. I had a good buddy that moved to Shanghai, so a few of us flew to Hangzhou (near Shanghai) to visit him. We had a great time, as usual.

I brought with me an old Leica 35mm Summicron lens (borrowed from a good friend), and it never left my camera. I loved using that lens. I thought I liked the 50mm better, but I found I could use the 35mm for most any situation. Many times, the 50mm is too long (believe it or not), but the 35mm could be used for wide angle stuff as well as people shots, so I think it is the perfect lens for the Leica. If you are thinking of getting a Leica, and can only afford one lens, get the 35mm.

Below is one of the temples we visited. At first, seeing all the crowds, I was reluctant about going in, but I am sure glad I did. It was amazing!!

A Golden Wheel

I am not really sure what this is supposed to be, but you can look through it to the shopping mall below...maybe they are going to make it into some kind of fountain or something...in any case, it certainly caught my attention...

Have a great weekend!!

I am in China probably freezing to death...hope to come back with some new photos!!

The Bali Starling

This is actually a pretty rare bird found in Bali...the Bali Starling. A pretty little guy, don't you think?

A Great Breakfast

Can't beat this little place for a good breakfast!!

I am off to China tomorrow morning...will be back next week! I will "pre-post" a couple of photos for Thursday and Friday...

Cuttle Fish...or Should It Be CUDDLE Fish?

These guys are super cool, and intelligent! They will come right up to you and stare, and they can change the color, texture and patterns of their skin...it can appear like a light show at times.
This photo was taken at night...