Three Awesome Kids

Took some great pictures of the kids today... here's the first installment!

Enjoy!

Steve

Columbian Perfection

I am happy to report that I am back into coffee roasting again! :-) It's been several months since my promising, yet short-lived days of roasting coffee in a hot air popcorn popper... I went through multiple poppers and completely enjoyed the results, but the poppers didn't have a long enough life span to make it worth while. I recently watched a guy roast a batch of coffee in a dog bowl using a heat gun... so, I bought myself a $9.99 heat gun and a cheap metal pan and gave it a try. I am drinking the results as I write, and am quite happy!

I bought my green coffee beans at a cool new coffee shop in Grapevine, Texas called Buon Giorno Coffee. If you ever decide you need a great cup of coffee, or get the itch to try roasting your own coffee beans, be sure to stop in and chat with David Clarke (owner) - he's a great guy with a great coffe shop. You can visit his website at: http://www.buongiornocoffee.net/

Enjoy!

Botanical Butterflies

Another cool shot taken at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens.

Enjoy!

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

Fall is here!

How long has it been since I posted something? About 5 months! GASP!

Ok - this was taken at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens about 2 weeks ago. I hope to start posting more in the near future!

Vulcan 2

How better to celebrate a happy moment than with great family and friends! Ya see the guy second from the left in the blue checkered shirt? Well, that's Eric. He is responsible for all this ;-) Rumor has it there's a vulcan 500 in his near future!

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

Vulcan 1

This is a 2006 Kawasaki Vulcan 750. It is now parked in my garage (barely). And there was much rejoicing in the land :-)

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

Tyler Roses 3...

Another beautiful rose that I would have overlooked if it hadn't been for Ashley - she found it, and I'm glad! Enjoy!

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

Tyler Roses 2...

Anywhere you find this many flowers (thousands upon thousands...), you're going to find lots of bees, butterflies and other pollen-hungry critters. Enjoy!

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

Tyler Roses 1...

We drove out to Tyler Texas today to see the roses - it's no wonder they're famous for them! I highly recommend the Tyler Rose Garden - it is huge, beautiful, and best of all: FREE :-)

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

A good looking crew...

Here's a picture of some of the best looking subjects in the whole Botanical Gardens! Enjoy!

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

Hidden Away...

Found this huge rose tucked away, almost hidden by the whole bush. I wish my rose bush produced these kind of roses! Enjoy!

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

Another Climbing Rose...

Another of the beautiful climbing roses growing at the botanical gardens. Enjoy!

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

Spring Color!

Another picture from our trip to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens. The colors were beautiful, and so was my wife :-) We got some good kid pictures and family portraits with the deep red backdrop of the Japanese Maple in the background. Enjoy!

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

A rose in spring...

We visited the Botanical Gardens in Fort Worth this morning. Other than being a bit windy, it was a gorgeous day - and I'm glad to see roses starting to come into bloom! Enjoy!

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

A Night Flight Over Joe Pool

I took this picture at Joe Pool on Saturday evening - and had no idea there was an aircraft in the shot until I got home. But I must admit, I'm glad it was there - it made for an interesting effect. Enjoy!

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

And we have liftoff!

Another picture from Saturday night... caught this duck taking off during the early evening. Enjoy!

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

Great weather on Joe Pool - it's a shame it's short lived!

Took a trip to the lake last night to catch some sunset shots.... tune back in over the next few days to see more from the trip! Enjoy!

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

A favorite picture from the past...

While obviously not a recent picture, this is certainly one of my favorite pictures. I actually took this picture four or five years ago with my Olympus C-3040z. However, I've modified it using my new MS Digital Image Pro software, creating more than just a snapshot - I really like the filtering functionality this program offers. Enjoy!

Picture by Steve with Olympus C-3040z (several years ago)

Tulips are in bloom!

A single tulip that I found at Heritage Park last Sunday. They sure are nice this time of year. Hopefully the roses will start to bloom soon! Enjoy!

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

Grapevine Botanical Gardens - aka Heritage Park

Stopped by Heritage Park - also known as the Grapevine Botanical Garden. It's not a huge place, but it sure is beautiful. Enjoy!

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

Took this picture today at the Grapevine Botanical Gardens. Enjoy!

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

Things are not as they seem...

Found a copy of Microsoft Digital Image Pro 9 at the Half Price Bookstore for only $19.99 ... No, it's not the latest-greatest version, but it's newer than the one I previously had, and it was a $100 program when it came out a couple years ago... so, I picked up a copy and decided to play around with it. So far, I like it! Here's a quick shot I took this morning. Enjoy!

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

A beautiful fragrance...

Ok, I've gotten tired of my Dallas Blooms pictures... I was craving something different, so I decided to get slightly artsy, and slightly magazine-esque... yep that's my new word for the day ;-) The perfume is Cindy's and I love it - it's my favorite. Enjoy!

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

Dallas Blooms # 5

I was hoping to have some "non-Dallas Blooms" pictures by now... but we've had more than 7 inches of rain in the DFW area this weekend! We need the rain, and I'm grateful, but it sure is hard on a guy who wants to get out and use his new camera ;-) Enjoy!

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

Dallas Blooms # 4

Close up of a freshly watered tulip!

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

F/5.6 1/400 sec 175mm

Dallas Blooms # 3

Super macro, yet telephoto ;-)

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

F/5.6 1/640 sec 175mm

Dallas Blooms # 2

I believe this is called a fuscia... one of many of the pictures I took at the Dallas Arboretum this morning. Enjoy!

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

F/5.6 1/1000 sec 200mm

Dallas Blooms!

Dallas Blooms started yesterday at the Dallas Arboretum... we made a trip out there this morning and took around 270 photos! Thank goodness I'm not paying for film and developing ;-) I now have a good stock of photos to put on my blog! Enjoy!

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

F/4.8 1/320 sec 90mm

Pink Gerberas

I bought my wife some Gerbera Daisies... they're some of her favorite flowers... but, yes, I also wanted to have a new photographic subject ;-)

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

I shot the moon!

Despite what you might think, this picture was NOT taken after dark...it was the beginning of dusk, but the skies were still blue. When shooting the moon, I found that it comes out so bright, that you have a hard time making out the craters and any of the details. So, I stepped down the exposure manually so that it's actually underexposed by -.7 step. As a result, the sky looks dark ;-) Enjoy!

Photo by Steve with Nikon D50

F/5.6 1/400 sec 200mm

Picture # 2 for the grandparents...

A picture of some of my favorite photographic subjects! What a good looking crew!

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

F/7.1 1/200 sec 112mm

Another picture for the grandparents...

Another great picture of my kids while we were at a park in Dallas...

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

F/5.6 1/400 sec 80mm

Gotta learn to focus!

I'm having some issues trying to get my camera to focus crisply in certain lighting situations... you can't believe how hard it was to get this picture... but finally... I got it!

Picture by Steve using Nikon D50

50mm F6.3 1/160 sec.

Flower in the park

We were in Highland Park (in Dallas) today... stopped at a quaint little park and took some pictures of the flowers. Enjoy!

Picture by: Steve using Nikon D50

F/5.6 1/320 sec. 200 mm

It's a Mockingbird... or so I've been told...

Saw this guy while at lunch today... caught him with my larger lens. I just thought it was a gray bird... but apparently not! I've been informed that this just happens to be a mockingbird... the official state bird of Texas.

Picture by Steve with Nikon D50

F/8 1/200sec 145mm

Buzzz!!!

This picture was taken from about 2 feet away from the bee... and the flower is about the size of a quarter! If you're using Internet Explorer, when you click on the image be sure to expand the image to 100% - because by default, IE will shrink it to fit on your browser page.... and compression defeats the whole purpose!

Photo by Steve with Nikon D50

F/5.6 1/1250 sec. 200mm

Second Post - FINALLY! ;-)

This is my youngest... Ashley. I took the picture in color, converted it to black and white, then re-applied color to the eyes. The person reflected in her eyes is her big brother - Geoff ;-)