This morning we did the first photo-shoot with Jen.  It was chilly, but certainly did not feel like Winter.  Much, much nicer weather compared to a typical snowy day this time of the year, here in Lincoln.  The location was Haymarket area in Downtown.

I took most of the shots with a Nikkor AF 50mm 1.8D lens.  Many of the shots were perfect with morning sunlight.  Sometimes we used a Nikon SB-800 at 1/8 or 1/16, as fill light.

I also tried few shots with the Nikkor 105mm AF/DC.  Initial shots were O.K., but as my hands got cold (and numb), the images became out-of-focus, because I did not use a tripod or any other support.

Wish you all a Very Happy New Year of 2012!

With the busy schedule in the past year, my blog postings were far from up-to-date. This year's resolution is to pay more effort into my photography work.

I wish you success in accomplishing your new year resolutions and wish you a great, productive year!

After a few months break, we decided to do a shoot this  weekend. Hair, makeup, wardrobe, etc., etc., all went according to the plan, and we managed to make very good pictures. This one, “Holly in yellow” is one of the first to come out of post-processing. 

For this shoot, we had two separate setups, dark and light backgrounds, with two sets of lighting.  This is the first time I used the new Savage backdrop (white) and it is perfect! I'll post more pictures from this shoot in "Model-Portfolio" section, later.

Update: Pictures from this shoot are here.

Model: Holly Love
Hairstylist: Personal Appearances Salon (Rebecca)
Makeup: Estée Lauder

A couple of photos I took this morning in our backyard. The ample tree is still holding its Fall colors, without much wind. Probably, these are the last few days we can enjoy its beauty.

A couple of pictures I took this morning.  These are Sam's dahlias blooming since mid-Summer.  They are still going well into the fairly cold Fall weather.  I took these picture using a 105mm Nikon lens.  No adjustments, just cropped and water-marked.

This afternoon we went to see the annual air show  at the Lincoln Municipal Airport.  We drove the car as close as we could to the airport, through the Air Park, and parked in a make-shift parking lot.  Later we learned that this was not a very good decision when we spent exactly two hours to get out of the parking lot – behind all the other vehicles.

Regardless of traffic delays, it was well worth time spent.  We were right on time for the Blue Angels show.  As
always they were terrific.

Right next to where we stood, there was a Chrysler test drive track, where people test drove new Chrysler and Fiat vehicles.  The new Fiat 500 looked really nice.

Last weekend, Sam and I went on a road trip to the North of Nebraska, where we have not traveled much. The destination was Monowi - probably the smallest town in Nebraska.

We started from home some time before noon on Saturday and drove north to South Yankton area.  The first stop was at the Corps of Discovery Welcome Center in South Yankton, from were we took few pictures of Missouri Valley. 

We also stopped at the Gavin's Point Dam on the Missouri river. Then we crossed the river (drove on the dam to South Dakota Side) and came back into Nebraska by crossing the river again on Chief Standing Bear Memorial bridge, Bon Homme, SD.

Around 5:40PM we reached the small town Verdel in Nebraska - population 58.  This is one of the "endangered" small towns in this area of the country due to people migrating to other cities seeking better lives, jobs, etc., etc. We did not see a single person in the town although it looked like there were inhabited homes (trailer-homes) there.  Most buildings were ruins, hammered by weather and invaded by vegetation.  After taking few pictures, we started to drive along.  Around 7PM we reached Monowi, the smallest town in Nebraska - population 1.

Monowi is located by No 12 highway which runs just below South Dakota - Nebraska boarder (in Monowi, highway 12 is Grant Street).  Exact location - 42.828892,-98.329548.  We stopped at Monowi Tavern, which is the only operating business in town. The owner is Mrs. Elsie Eiler - the only resident in town, and she is the waitress, cook, and bartender in the tavern.  One television - playing local news, few tables, numerous types of beer signs on the walls, a bar with few liquors and beers, small kitchen/grill, and a few "local" visitors/customers eating supper - that's what we saw.  The last picture above shows (from left to right) Rudy's Library, some (I do not know what this is) old business building, and the world-famous Monowi Tavern (yes, that's what it is called).  I am not going to write about history of these buildings because there is sufficient information already available in other web sites (here, here, and here, etc.).

We briefly traveled around the abandoned town.  Except Grant street (which is the highway), all other streets were unpaved, dirt roads.  Fortunately, it has not been raining for few days and our small vehicle could go on them without a problem.

The old jailhouse by the Butte street was in interesting structure.  Although it was old, and in ruins, we could still see the strong attention to details of the building to secure the inmates inside from escaping.  It was very tightly built by wood and covered with metal sheets from outside.  I am sure this might have caused great misery to those who have been "locked-up" inside, in very hot Summers and cold Winters.  The pictures above speak for themselves.. Imagine someone left alone inside this small building.. loneliness, darkness, heat during the day, cold during night.. will make one write crazy things on walls.

We really enjoyed our trip to Monowi.  Elsie and her assistant are some of the nicest people we met during this trip.  You won't receive the kind of hospitality you would receive in Monowi tavern in fancy, big-city restaurants.

You can see some more pictures from our tirp in Sam's web site and my Flickr profile (in few days time).