Casa La Bacardi

Green Gate

Creature of Peace

A Bug's Life

Found this red centipede crawling up on a rock right next to me while I was trying to photograph South River Falls this year. It made me wonder about what a bug's life must be like and how they manage to survive as a species in all climates ranging from the arctic cold, to the warm tropics.

Cascade of Silk

This picture was taken at the base of South River Falls in Shenandoah, VA. South River Falls is one of the highest waterfalls in the Shenandoah valley. The fall is 83 feet high and just one of most beautiful places I have ever seen.

(Especially in the fall season when all the leaves are changing color.)

Getting to the waterfall is definitely not easy.

It is a 3.3 mile (5 km) loop hike to an overlook above the falls. There is also a rocky, 1 mile (2 km) round trip spur trail that goes to the base of the falls. Even though the distance to the fall does not sound like much, the steep climbs and leafy terrain makes the hike a rather difficult one.

Midnight Ride

This was a tough shot. What made it so difficult was that I was taking it from the back of a moving SUV and that I used a rather long exposure.

The combination seemed to work very well and gave it the effect I was looking for. I love the smooth texture of the road in this one.

A touch of Flare

Just experimenting with some lens flare here.

Candy Cane

Another one to add to the lighthouse series. Used a polarizer when taking this one, which is what gave the sky that darker bluish/purplish tint. This one would make a great postcard.

Notice the bird in the enlarged version of this picture.

Patriotic Flame

So I bought two HUGE boxes of fireworks this year for the 4th of july. After spending $250 on fireworks, I was expecting explosions that would blind and deafen me for days to come. I must say, I was pretty disappointed with what I found when I opened up the boxes and got them all lit up. A very weak display of fireworks for the price.

Nonetheless, they made for some great shots. This is a picture of one that was called "atomic tornado"...Ha!

Lady in red

Saw this lady bug crawling around my basement the other day. As pretty as she looked, I just had to make sure I took her back out into the back yard, so I picked up a piece of paper from my printer and scooped her up to take her outside. It just seemed like a perfect photo opportunity so I picked up my camera and began clicking away. The longer exposure and bright flash helped maintain the white background.

Scraping the Sky

Vertical view from the vicinity of 56th and Broadway in New York City. This is just a few blocks from Times Square, one of the busiest places in the world. The towering buildings always make me dizzy when I look up.

Mrs King

Natural Curls

Some more experimentation with my new 580EX Speedlite II. I love the soft tones from the vertical bounce. I also tried to make good use of the Rule of Thirds here.

It came out exactly how I wanted it to, so I didn't need to post process this one.

The True King of Beers

The true king of beers, Heineken is a pale ale that has been brewed in the Netherlands since the late 18th century. Over years, I have come to appreciate the pale, almost citrus taste of Heineken over most other beers. (especially over the current self-proclaimed King of Beers)

On a warm summer day like today, this picture makes me want to grab a nice cold one to help unwind from the tiring work week..

A Bite of Sunshine

Osiris

Being the adrenaline junkie that I am, I have a soft spot for fast cars, and motorcycles. This is the first true sports car I have owned. I named the car Osiris, after the Egyptian god of life (because I don't want to die in it), death (because it is black in color), and fertility (for obvious reasons). Osiris is also the oldest known god ever worshiped by man and is believed to be the father of the famous Egyptian god, Anubis.

I have yet to take this baby out for an official photo-shoot, so I will post up more pictures soon..

A familiar face

Guardian

This is one of the Lifeguards at Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
It was really choppy out and the big waves kept almost everyone out of the water.

It seemed like an easy day on the job for a lifeguard.

The colors in this one seemed so familiar to me, that I thought it would be interesting to render this one in black and white.

Lighthouse

This is the Cape Hatteras Light Station located in Hatteras, NC. It is the tallest Lighthouse in all of North America standing at 298.4 feet. It is also made entirely of brick and is the largest brick lighthouse in the world. I love the monochrome "candy cane" colors of the light station and thought it made an excellent subject. Higher contrast and saturation settings really helped make the image seem "hand drawn".

Another Happy Customer!

A craving for Mussels and Lobster drove us to "Uncle Pauly's Seafood Restaurant" while on our 4th of July vacation in Outer Banks, NC. The oceanside, family-owned restaurant is well-known in the Avon/Hatteras area and has a very "beach town shack" feel to it.

(This place had the best Mussels I have ever eaten in my life!)

This is a picture I took when we were done eating and leaving the restaurant to head out to the beach.

Duracell

This is the first image I ever clicked using my new 580EX flash. The flash needed some batteries so I grabbed some out of my bedside table, and left the empty box lying on my bed.

The room was very dark and I thought I would attempt to use vertical bounce off the white ceiling (something I couldn't do with my built-in Eos 30D flash) to capture this one.

I like the end result. I am already beginning to fall in love with this new flash!!

Trouble makers

This is one of the better candid shots that I have taken.

The kids knew about the nest site (because their mom was yelling at them while I clicked this), but couldn't help but be mischievous. They were soon grabbed by their father and taken away, so I had time for only one attempt at capturing this shot. Love the way it turned out.

This one makes me smile..

Spring is in the Air

I love spring.

Vibrant colors, fresh air, great lighting on a clear day...it's every photographer's dream. These are some of the tulips that were planted in my front yard this year. I wanted to make the image seem endless so I used a very shallow depth of field. Great colors in this one.

Waking Tulip

I took this one at 7:00 am on a saturday morning. I think the tulip and I were both half asleep through this one, so I had to shoot 4-5 shots to make sure I was able to capture the tulip's waking state.

I love how prominent the texture of the petals are. It makes you want to just reach out and touch it.

Loki (The Norse God of Mischief)

This is my new Kawasaki Ninja 650R. (I named the bike Loki, after the Scandinavian god of mischief)

I wanted to capture the feeling I get right before I go out riding on a perfect summer day. I took this one when doing a pre-ride inspection before heading out for a 150 mile ride.

The bike was parked in my garage and just waiting for me to warm her up.

I love the diffused lighting in the shot.

Diya

I think this one would make an excellent Greeting Card/Post Card for Diwali.

Initially, I attempted to take this picture using a flash, but the flash just made the picture seem as though it was overexposed. So I went ahead and began taking different shots with varying ISO levels since it was a very low-light setting.

The higher ISO settings seem to work better, but the shot wasn't quite where I wanted it.
(the reddish/orange tint in the shot overwhelmed the subject)

After trying out a couple more combinations, I think I found my sweet spot.
I decided to drop ISO, increase aperture, and slow down the shutter a bit.

I'm glad it turned out the way it did. The available light made for a great shot..

Children's Gym

Took this one at a Children's Gym in Loudoun County, VA.

It was early in the morning and I was barely awake when taking most of these shots, so I had to take quite a few to capture the moment in the way that I wanted to. I think this one captured the moment exceptionally well.

It was the girl's first time at a children's gym and she was very shy of joining the other kids in Calisthenics.

Her cousins were playing in the gym and she kept saying that she wanted to go play with them, but whenever her aunt would take her into the gym, she would come running out first chance that she got.

I took this one at the very second that she overcame her shyness and started following the Calisthenics instructor's excercises..

Havan

A Havan is a sacred ritual in Hinduism that involves a fire ceremony. It is a ritual of sacrifice made to the Hindu god of fire, Agni.

Hindu belief is that lighting the sacred fire will help rid your home and family of evil spirits. It is a very common ceremony amongst Hindu families.

This picture was taken at such a Havan. I love the colors and tones in this capture.

The sacred fire almost looks surreal..

Marigold/Daffodil

I love the way this one turned out..

I went up to NYC for a business/valentines day trip this year and room service brought up my grilled salmon with a beautiful arrangement of flowers.

I called the concierge and was told that the flowers brought up to my room were a rare blend species of Marigold/Daffodil.

I took a few shots using the standard background but something just didn't feel right.So I dropped my jacket behind the subject and went crazy with shutter speed/aperture combos.

The result was much better than I had hoped for. I've always heard that fresh flowers are always a pleasure to photograph (especially in macro photography) because of their vibrance, fine detail, and vivid colors.

I guess I got to experience this first hand this time..

Naman

This is my first attempt at a baby portrait.

I captured this one with an increased brightness setting to give the image a "dreamy" vibe.

This picture was taken a few days back at Holy Cross hospital in Silver Spring, MD where Naman was born.

He is exactly 10 hours old in this picture..

Paradise

I took this one while on a business trip in Clearwater, FL last summer.
White sand, Bluish-green water, and seafood galore!

Need I say more?

Clearwater truly is Paradisial..

Warmth

I like the simplicity of this shot..

I wanted to capture a feeling of warmth and comfort.
(Hence the warm tones, and orange-ish glow in a low-light setting.)

I also wanted to make the best use of the natural light in this setting, so I decided to leave the flash turned off.

The child in the picture had been crying for a long time and stopped crying as soon as soon she received the attention she was craving.

Bliss

Taken on Caladesi island in Florida.

I was messing around with the one of the image zone's
auto-shooting presets.

I used the Portrait setting on this one.
Since I was in auto-shoot, I tried to make best use of composition in this picture.

I like the way it turned out..

Ash

This is a macro image I captured using a Canon 100mm Macro.
No flash, low ISO, increased aperture, and a slow shutter speed.

I also wanted the red/orange tones to stand out from the black background so I made use of a somewhat shallow depth of field to blur out the darker areas.

It was snowing, so I had the fireplace burning for most of the evening.
When the fire finally went out, the leftover ashes were just begging me to pull my camera out..