James Hill Photography - Efland, NC - jmhphoto.com : Popular Photos : Just playing around in front of the mirror tonight. I took way too many exposures and couldn't decide on a single one to post, so you get my top 6. Hope everyone has a great weekend! Edit: I replaced the original collage with one that has all images flipped correctly. Looks a bit less like me, to me, but I guess this version is what everyone else should see. :)

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James Hill > Calla Lily Rose Gem - Zantedeschia aethiopica

It rained almost all day today but finally stopped before dinner, which Mom had invited me over for. She mentioned that she had bought some new plants and by the time dinner was over, the sun started filtering through the remaining clouds so I decided to see if I could get a daily out of them. Lucky for me, her new plants were still in small pots and easily moved to where I could shoot them standing up - a welcome change from lying on the wet ground. ;-)

I've put a few more shots of these and a few new shots of the yellow and white irises from a couple days ago in my Flowering Plants gallery. BTW, I planned to cut a bunch of those irises to take to mom on Mother's day. Boy was I surprised on Sunday morning to find that the deer had eaten every single bloom and about half the remaining buds on Saturday night! Sorry, Mom. I'll try to bring you the remaining blooms if they make it through the night.

James Hill > Just playing around in front of the mirror tonight. I took way too many exposures and couldn't decide on a single one to post, so you get my top 6.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Edit: I replaced the original collage with one that has all images flipped correctly. Looks a bit less like me, to me, but I guess this version is what everyone else should see. :)

James Hill > 20080819-Survey-4642

It's Monday morning, so off to work I go. Thought I'd post a photo from a job site we work at somewhat regularly.

This is from a very exclusive, gated community in Durham, NC. The house (mansion?) under construction across the street is 17,000 square feet. I believe the kitchen alone is larger than my whole house. Pretty ridiculous if you ask me, but at least it's employing a lot of construction workers right now.

The proud builder's sign is just opposite this sold sign, and angled so that it also appears to be advertising this shiny yellow island of recycled solitude. I'll spare the builder here, as we do a good bit of work for them and I'd hate to cause any constipation.

I really wanted a photo with my co-worker opening the door to this lovely retreat - smiling proudly and welcoming me in, just as if he was the lucky new buyer. Things didn't work out so well for that shot.

Kevin finally agreed to pose for me just before we left the site. I chose my position and snapped two shots to check exposure as Kevin finished loading our truck. Once done, He asked me exactly what I wanted him to do and then proceeded to approach the door.

His hand grasping the door's handle, Kevin looked back over his shoulder at me and grinned proudly. I started to shoot the first shot just as Kevin opened the door. It was at that moment we discovered that some poor guy was sitting in peace behind that door. I don't know who was more surprised, me, Kevin, or the guy who must think we're both nuts for taking pictures of Kevin entering porta-johns.

Needless to say, the guy in the yellow dream house quickly shut and locked the door. Kevin and I got in the truck to leave just as quickly.

James Hill > John Dee Holeman-0711
2009/03/11

A quick snap of John Dee that I grabbed on the front porch during a break in the music at the Forty Acres house concert from last Saturday. The house itself is big and beautiful, and it sounded absolutely wonderful in the large room where everything took place, unfortunately what made the event so warm and cozy for an intimate concert also made it really tough for many good photo ops. I had to shoot at ISO 3200, which is really unusable on my 10D and I'm not very happy with most of the shots. However, this shot did stand out - more so for the smile on John's face than the quality of the image. John's going to turn 80 next month, and after working hard as a heavy equipment operator most of his life, and only playing music as a hobby for much of it, he's always genuinely amazed that folks want to buy his music and get his autograph. Here he is listening to a fan tell him how much they love what he does after asking for an autograph.John Dee's music career is supported by the Music Maker Relief Foundation, a grassroots non-profit that helps support aging musicians. From their website: Music Maker Relief Foundation, Inc. helps the true pioneers and forgotten heroes
of Southern music gain recognition and meet their day to day needs. We
present these musical traditions to the world so American culture will
flourish and be preserved for future generations.

Our criterion for recipients is they be rooted in a Southern musical
tradition, be 55 years or older and have an annual income less than $18,000.Finally, Andy Coats, a long time friend of John's, who played with him at this concert, is organizing an effort to buy John Dee a new guitar for his 80th birthday. Anyone interested in helping with the cause can contact Andy directly [andy at andycoats dot com] or leave me a message and I'll forward you the details.

James Hill > What is the key to good music photography?(asked by James Sharpe in this ePHOTOzine article while interviewing Stuart Leech, a UK music photographer who's work I've admired since reading that particular article last summer.)Stuart's answer:"I think getting a different perspective is important, when you're in a pit with twenty other photographers you've got to make your images stand out."

I generally don't shoot events large enough to have a "pit" and I'm usually only surrounded by a few other "photographers" with their camera phones held high, but I do try to see things from a different perspective most of the time. I guess I'll have to leave it up to others as to whether my music photography actually stands out, but I did like this shot an awful lot. ;-)

James Hill > Bogey-7084

Not a new capture, but a new take on what was a boring shot. Playing around with Low Key portraits for a change. Window light from Bogey's favorite portal to the outside world.

James Hill > The view out my back door...

There are five whitetail deer who visit my yard just about every morning and evening. When sitting in my recliner with the back door open, I can often times hear them approaching through the woods. Unfortunately, there is only one small opening in the trees which is large enough to see more than bits and pieces through and until tonight I haven't been lucky enough to get one to stop in the right spot.

This was shot through a screen door which gave it a soft-focus look to start with, then I added a little glow using picnik's Orton-ish tool. I was a little surprised that it came out as sharp as it did. I'm still loving this 70-200 lens...

James Hill > It's the little things.

Something rare for me - a still life shot. Mom collected quite a few shells and other odd marine items while at the beach last week. One reason (among many) that I love my mom is that she doesn't just go for the perfect little unblemished shells. She brought back a lot of weathered, broken, and otherwise "unatractive" bits and pieces too, which are rather interesting to look at. I had the camera with me while visiting so I grabbed a few of her finds, a 100w barebulb spotlight, and a white cardboard reflector to shoot a few closeups. To give a sense of scale, those are grains of sand sparkling on the cool looking green stuff in the lower left.

A few similar shots and some abstracts from inside one shell are in my Sea Shells and Such gallery.

James Hill > Since the weather feels like February again, I thought I'd dig out a shot I took back then. This was one of the first daffodils to pop up in the yard. I didn't like the angle of the shot at first, but it's grown on me a little since then.

Just playing around in front of the mirror tonight. I took way too many exposures and couldn't decide on a single one to post, so you get my top 6.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Edit: I replaced the original collage with one that has all images flipped correctly. Looks a bit less like me, to me, but I guess this version is what everyone else should see. :)