I just returned from Germany and Austria just in time to post in the Look Down Challenge!!
I took close to 1500 shots while we were there, there will be plenty more coming once I finish cleaning and resizing.
Here is a look from a 3000 meter high Alp called Der Dachstein. Was a fabulous ride to the top in the Gondola. On the trip up we saw this Hikers House about 1/2 way to the top. In the hiking season these building are used for rest stops for the hikers. They are everywhere in the Alps. Now the view from the top of the world, Looking down at clouds was a very impressive site. At the bottom was the Gondolas starting point.
Now for the news..............
Micky my lovely lady said YES!!!! I did the formal thing and asked her dad (in German I might add)at dinner permission to marry and she said YES!!! I even got down on the knee and slid the ring on! Was a fantastic vacation!!!

I met this lovely lady Micky 5 years ago. The photo is of Micky in the Austrian Alps. And I have to say that this sweet lady is a life changer. This past weekend we made our trip to the jewelry store to show something for our  5  years together. One Diamond for each year. While we were there.... well we ordered the engagement ring also. Pictures to come in December after I ask her mom and dad for her hand. This will take place in Germany on December 1st. I am a happy happy man, one of our plans is to get married in Austria with her family there and bringing my 3 wonderful kids and my dad and his wife over for a traditional Bavarian/Austrian wedding. Lederhosen and all!! LOL
My daughter  Amanda will be joining us on our trip this Christmas to Mickys parents in Germany, she does not know that dear ole dad is going to pop the question. Going to be a wonderful vacation.
Micky's son Zack seemed to think it was agreeable to him. LOL Just have to say that this lady makes me feel very happy and that I am greatful to have her in my life.

The beautiful city of  Salzburg, Austria. I have been to this wonderful place twice with my sweetie. We go there and never get bored of this city ever. So much history here. In the background is the Fortress which is nearly 1300 years old. Then in the foreground of the Fortress you can see the steeples of a 1200 year old Cathedral. Mozart was also born here. In the direct foreground of this photo is the Palace Gardens where Julie Andrews and the children of the Sound of Music danced and sang Doe-a-Deer. We will be heading back to this Beautiful city yet again in December, but this time we are bringing my daughter as a present for her 18th Birthday. Looking forward to bring back many pictures.    

On Sunday I decide to go for a drive out to the Berkshires of Massachusetts. On the way I stopped into Shelburne Falls. There an old trolley bridge that was converted to The Bridge of Flowers when the trolley company abandoned the structure in 1929. And here is the Bridge in early afternoon and early evening Bridge path facing Buckland and path facing Shelburne Falls. On the Shelburne side I found this fence made of  Branches they also had an old Ice Sled just sitting there. On the bridge again I found this tree Hugging a Pole. And now for the main subject of the Bridge!!! FLOWERS!!!!
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Was a very nice trip, and if any of you make out here to Western Massachusetts this is a must see. It is better in mid spring though.

Not sure if these could qualify as insivible. I am still working on the shot I need so I asked my (victom) subject, my son Preston to sit very still for me. I slowed the shutter speed down and zoomed out while releasing. This is what came. No Photoshop used in these!
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Was kinda exciting to see these when I got home today. "No children were harmed while bending time and space in the making of these images" LOL

Well I went and purchased the new 17-85 Canon Lens for an exciting upcoming event, TBA LOL. Well started off the day heading to a friends house this morning when on the way I saw 8 police cars parked in front of an Apartment building, with camera in hand, I got out of the car and decide to try another thing I have read about. Photo Journalism! First try at it though. These are suspects in an armed robbery at a little store (three doors down from where they all lived). The poor girl working there was pistol whipped. I am glad to see that the local Police were on top of this!
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On with the day with the new lens, I went back to the waterfalls where I had  shot the  Twins. Well,  I shot twins at midday and I thought it was a little bright. So today I decided to try it in late afternoon and these are what I got.
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Waterfalls2Twins revisited. LOL
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I was on my way home when I started to think, what a nice evening. I have seen some wonderful sunset shots and I have never tried shooting some. So I drove to the local park. Grabbed the tripod and set up.

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Well that is what I thought were the best of my day with the COOL new lens. Would love to hear opinions, need them for the TBA thing I have coming! LOL Thank you all,
Jamey

As usual, I try to post originals. Do not want to steal someone else thunder ya know!! LOL So I have dug into my photos and also went out shooting yesterday and found this really cool waterfall. Twins? Then I have a couple from the zoo that I went to with my oldest son Preston. Just before I took this shot, I was talking with this guy that had a really nice Nikon. We are talking away when my son Preston started saying that word that parents all hear. Dad....Dad.....Dad....DAD LOL I turn to him about to say, I am in the middle of.....When I just saw him pointing! I look over and  this is what I see. Damn, that kid has a great eye!! And he is getting quite good with my old sony. May have to pass this XT down to him too when I go for the 30D. LOL So here we are at the zoo walking along and having a great time when we find these Living Lawn Ornimates LOL. It was a fun day there. Well this is all I have for now. Have a great Night and Week all!!! Take Care, Jamey

As some of ya know, when we went to Boston I was on a mission to practice with the Portraits of the kids. Amandas Senior pictures. OMG, still dreading that. LOL But being the dad, and having the Sweet and Lovely Amanda ask. Well you all know that story. LOL I did not bore the kids to tears while we were there doing portraits. We actually walked the city. (10 miles with a sprained ankle which is all better thank ya for asking lol) So we started our journey on the Boston Common where we met Fred the Boston Cop. We moved on into the Boston Public Gardens where I took this shot of the Sweet and Lovely Amanda listening to her Ipod do hicky. Then The Ever Handsome Donovan needed a rest, so he was sitting in one of the empty fountain pools. So from there (sprained ankle any sympathy yet? LOL) we went back up to the common where The Dashing Preston tried his hand at milking a plastic cow. Didn't work but fun shot. Then walking further up on the common we came up on Period Walking Tour Guides The Gal who sings all the way through And the Guy with his pipe Notice the cow again? They were everywhere. Well, we had enough of the common so we went to Downtown Crossing (shopping district) on the way the Motely Crew decided they had had enough walking and Wowed the people with there skateboarding. Lots of car horns! LOL Well from there we went down to Quincy Market and walked and walked and walked through so many shops. (ankle LOL) We went on to the Long Wharf where I saw this Beautiful Arbor next to the Harbor! We were all kinda thirsty so I dove into the wallet and bought us all some bottled water (very small bottles of water) at 2 BUCKS A PIECE! Then I saw The Not So Handsome Donovan spraying his water that he put holes in the bottom of the bottle. Was about to bark when I thought, hey that spray is cool. Then I barked about the 2 BUCKS LOL. Well it had been a long day with all the walking and The Handsome Donovan was pooped and took a seat then said the words that my Ankle long needed to hear "Dad, can we go home?" Didn't have to ask twice on that one. But I was not about to walk back, we took 3 subways. At the third station, something about it caught my eye. I had seen this before. Then it hit me. My good ole pal Travlin had a picture of this in her album  So here is a tribute to my good ole pal Travlin LOL But hers is better than mine, but it was cool to she what she saw. Well that was the day with the kids in Boston. Have a good night all. Jamey

Okay, was a very busy weekend with the 3 wonderful kids. We went to Boston. Then we went to the Providence RI Roger Williams zoo (pictures coming soon of the critters) Well we topped off the wonderful weekend with the Fireworks in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. (not a tourist site, beware lol)but they have a great fireworks show. So, before I begin a small rebroadcast of the show (cable guy humor), I have to send KUDO'S to "dmorris" for offering that awesome link to shooting fireworks!!!! It was very good info!!! This was my first time shooting fireworks. And now "ON WITH THE SHOW" "Give Me an Oooooo Give Me An Ahhhhhhhhhh Ooooooooo Ahhhhhhhh Give Me An Ooooooo and Ahhhhhh Time to change it up,Give Me a WOW LOL Boom POW Well that is not all I got, but these were the ones I liked. And I cannot thank "dmorris" enough for that link. My thumb for this story was part of the finale but the Bonehead (me) uploaded the huge file. ooops, sorry Cory. So I will leave it as the thumb. lol Take care guys, Jamey

I have been tasked by my oldest child, the Sweet and Lovely Amanda to take her Senior Pictures! Ouch, okay I have been purchasing books on the subject and purchased the 85mm telephoto from Canon. (Ritz Camera has an Express Lane for me now) So on the Sunday before the 4th of July I packed all the kids plus one into the Subaru and headed to of all places, BOSTON. Ugh, no offense to the city dwellers here, but give me the sticks anyday! LOL We had a great day though even though I had a sprained ankle and walked 10 miles at least. (ouch....any doctors here? LOL) Continuing on, I found a beautiful spot in the Boston Public Gardens and saw this limb leaning over a fountain pool. So I asked the Sweet and Lovely Amanda to lean slightly on it, she is easy to take pictures of. Then I decided that The Dashing Preston and the Handsome Donovan step over and I would take a  group shot. Well, the boys and their plus one had come along to impress the natives of Boston with the skateboarding skills, so here is the  motley crew posing for me. Well it had been a long enough day and dad was in pain (ankle remember?) so we took the subway back to the car and I took this photo of  The Sweet and Lovely Amanda in the Subway This was my first attempt at portraits and I welcome ALL COMMENTS. I am nervous about the Senior Photos deal. Well next post I will show my first attempt at Fireworks. Take care All, Jamey

Okay, dilemma has set in on what to post for texture. All of you have had great shots on your posts. But I tend to be different and odd. (keeps em' guessing) So I have seen Cracker, Legos, Critters (my favs), and so on. So here I am running in and out of the house trying to get into the first Bi-Weekly Challenge for me, but you guys and gal are so darned quick. I figured I would set this one out, so I was sitting outside with my trusty camera in hand and leaning on my Camera Bag thinking and thinking. Then it hit me. Hmmmmmmm. Nope, I have not seen this posted. I HAVE AN ORIGINAL THOUGHT (does not happen often LOL) So I open my handy dandy Camera Bag, grab out the ole 50mm Macro and proceed to shoot my ORIGINAL THOUGHT ( I am going to be so embarrassed if someone beat me to it LOL) But I hope yall enjoy!
Yup, good ole Handy dandy Camera Bag finally get some respect!! LOL Zipper Clasp Stitching Waterproof Sidewalls So, after doing this I have to tell ya, that bag that everyone stores your equipment in. I have realized one of two things. 1.) It is just as important as your Camera and Lenses. or 2.) I have really lost it on this post! LOL  Oh, I did find one thing at the Roger Williams Zoo in RI on the 4th that is Texture of two kinds. Soft Gentle White Rose over Hard Gritty Brick That is all for now, but I have been working on Portraits of my kids for the next post. Have a good night all. Jamey

Woohoo, the new photography books came in from Amazon on Friday. Been a reading fool since!! This book that I have been reading is about portraits. The main focus is about building a good rapport with your subject, talking and laughing to let them know they can relax with you. It says that after awhile they will be eating out of your hand! Well, I came across a subject that I wanted to photograph today while I was working.  I started by talking about the weather and all this rain we have been getting. Rapport1  And what the book said was true. Soon after I had my subject literally eating out of my hand. LOL Rapport2 Rapport3
This little guy wanted to stay on my hand but I had to get back to work. So I put him in the garden nearby.

Fathers Day, why does it have to be on Sunday?? I had my camera with me and all day was taking pictures of the family and reletives when I would rather have been taking pictures of critters!! LOL Soooooooo along came this Spider. Well I finally got to break out the Macro out of the bag and went to town on it! This little guy was only about a quarter of an inch long, so I am posting before crop and crop photos. Creepy Spider full Creepy Spider cropIf you look closely into the spiders two center eyes you can see the outline of my house and the horizon. Creepy Spider2 full Creepy Spider2 Crop This next one has a funny story in its own, the little guy must have been getting a little POed, he was on the side of the gate and right after I took this shot(I was about 5 to 6 inches from him) he jumped at me as I was looking though the eyepiece!!!! Thank God I had the strap around my neck because I dropped the camera and I fell backwards!! That is when the the family that was around started laughing! When my heart slowed down I laughed right along with them.Creepy Jumping Spider Full Creepy jumping Spider I hope all had a great Fathers Day!

Hello again, today while working I was fixing some cables on the side of a house when I saw this Creepy Spider on my cables. Well had to get a picture of him of course. Later in the day I went to a local park to have lunch (not, camera practice but it is my lunch hour. LOL) Found a little pond there parked the van and ventured out. I had my zoom on at the time and saw this  Dragonfly just hovering, then it started to dip its  tail into the water. Not sure what that was all about, but I got tons of pictures. These were the best, alot of them were blurred. So I continued and saw some nice wild flowers , this time had the Macro on.  Nice Yellow, this next one looked like an  umbrella And then there was this  Nice one, then on my way back to the van I found this Bee having a grand time with this flower. But then lunch was over and had to go be the good little wage slave again. LOL Have a good night everyone! Oh, one more. Neon Dragonfly Got within a foot and a half of this guy!

Little Backgound on me, I am a cable guy and I meet some really great people doing this job. Well a couple of months ago I was fixing someones cable and I had to go to their back yard to do some work. When I saw this CAMEL!! Well, I finished the work and asked if they minded if I brought my  Kids who are my world ( not saying that lightly either.) These guys are my life, I also have a beautiful daughter who I will post later. But they are great. So since I adopted the new camera these guys have gone out with me every Sunday searchin and shootin. This past Sunday we went to the farm with the Camel and they also had  Emu And a very friendly Donkey they had so many animals there, the boys had a blast! Well we left the farm and headed into lower New Hampshire and made many stops along the way. We found a small pond where we found a Frog just barely above water. Down the road I saw a fence that I liked Another Angle, further down the road we came up on a Covered Bridge and at this point my youngest son Donovan decided he had had enough of the car and it was time to Skateboard at the bridge He got some air on this Then he decided to be a Goofball for the camera! LOL Well that was a nice Sunday with the boys. If you notice, my oldest son Preston has inherited my older Sony Digital camera. He is getting quite interested in Photography.  DESCRIPTION_HERE