Anyways, here are a few shots with this lens…nothing spectacular, although I do love the broken green bottle shot.

*All that’s left of the Emerald City*

This just made me visualize the remains of the Emerald City from the Wizard of Oz after being abandoned for thousands of years.

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Lyla…of course you want to know about our little girl who’s going nuts with growing, walking, learning and just being cute as can be.

And who turns ONE YEAR OLD on Sunday. Holy crap! It’s gone by so fast.

It’s honestly amazing seeing her change right before our eyes. I thought that once she walked, the next big step would be talking or her first word. But there is so much other stuff going on right now that is crazy. You can see her little mind working on things now.

She’s been pushing this big box around the house, putting stuff on top of it and treating it like a shopping cart. Not sure where she got that idea, but it’s just amazing to see the stuff she does (She also sat on it, see picture to the right, and got “stuck”). She’s learned the specific cabinet that we allow her to open, so she goes into it everyday, dumps all the tubberware from it and has a grand ol’ time.

Obeying isn’t always perfect, but the girl KNOWS what she should and shouldn’t do, and it’s just another thing that I’m in awe of about her.

She knows all kinds of little gestures now, like clapping, high five, TOUCHDOWN! and a few more. She just in the last few days learned “come give me a hug Lyla” and she’ll run into your arms and actually try to squeeze hug you. It’s so danged cute.

When I pick her up from the sitter, she now comes running and gives me a big ol’ bear hug. Never happened before until the last few times. I love it!

So this Friday starts our big annual vacation to Jefferson, Texas to spend time with Jina’s family for Thanksgiving. Lyla will have a little First Birthday Party on Sunday which should be such a blast. There is a beautiful park across the street from The Hale House that we’ll do the party so the setting will be perfect.

Picture taking time of course!

It’s definitely a busy time right now for me personally. The last few weeks at work have been crazy, and once vacation is over I’m off to Toronto for work from Nov 30th – Dec 11th. It’s an unbearably long time and I’m not really looking forward to it at all except for the chance to see Niagara Falls while I’m there.

Jina is going to have her hands full for those two weeks and I just pray everything is easy for her. Lyla, you be good!

Vacation can’t get here soon enough! Busy next two days, but then it’s relaxation time. The photographer inside me is already dreaming about Jefferson and finding bazillion things to take pictures of. I want to do a great new shot of The Hale House itself…maybe an HDR as well. But there is so much around town…train tracks, old antique shops, cars, materials…an awesome bridge for trains…the Bayou…and tons of other stuff.

You can’t even imagine how many shots I’ll be taking next week *grin*

Here is a short little video of Lyla from the last week. You get to see the “box” and her liking to push it around. What really makes this video great is the fact that she had no idea Jina was filming her until halfway through, then she gets a huge smile! Hope you enjoy!

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Here are a few below, with a little caption underneath talking a bit about the photo.

*Lost*

The story behind this photo was 1) we were at Joe’s Farm Grill and 2) a woman tied these balloons to the napkin holder and left for awhile. She had just been standing there waiting for people, but finally walked away. I had been just dying for her to leave because I thought the image of these balloons by themselves against the trees was awesome. I toned it up a bit, faded the color to give it an older looking feel…I really like this. It was perfect for the current theme on JPG Magazine called “Forgotten.”

*Pasture*

This photo looks like it was taken out in the country or something, when in fact it was just a mile and a half from my house. I guess it helped we live so far on the edge of town. I was driving by and saw the cows out and about, plus the sky looking blue and cloudy…so I had to pull over. I really, really love this photo and I think it might even be something people would want to buy and hang somewhere. I know a few people who already have it as their wallpaper.

*Faded Clouds*

Something I’m in love with lately (besides HDR) is making a photo look worn or older by fading it a bit and giving it some off-coloring. I like this shot with the edges darkened as well and the scene with the desert and clouds is something I just love looking at.

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I like to share what I do…I tend to be that way with most things. If I like a good book, or a quality movie or television series, chances are I am going to share it with you.

Photography is no different. The problem for me though is that I post this stuff in a few places and it gets somewhat tiresome and confusing for everyone. I want people to see my work and know what I’m doing. I believe some of my photographs might sell, so it’s even more important for me to make sure it’s all seen.

Some of you may not know the best ways to do that. I post stuff on Twitter, Facebook and here. But there are three places where I’m really focusing my efforts, which I’ll list below. Hopefully these choices will allow you to choose where you want to view them.

I will still post a lot of photos here on my blog of course, especially family photos, but I may not get all my work on A Mike Life, hence these other places.

(below I mention an RSS reader/feed a few times. If you want to use one, try Google Reader. I recommend a RSS reader, it’s a great way to keep up with blogs and other informative sites out there)

JPG Magazine

This site is a high-quality, very professional photographer community. They publish a magazine a few times a year and your photos could appear in it. They like photo essays too, which means not only your pictures could get published, but also a story. They focus on themes and challenges, which have really helped me be creative. The community is fantastic and exploring thousands of photos has helped me get better.

Now you can just bookmark my JPG page by going here. If you want to follow along on your RSS Reader, then use this link. There is also an RSS feed for stories, which I’ve written three and plan on doing a few more.

On JPG I post all my best stuff. Weather, objects, people, whatever…this is probably the best place to follow other than my blog here.

Wunderground

This site is completely dedicated to weather and the outdoors, so that’s the only kinds of photos I post there. There are tons posted everyday. I will occasionally post things there that don’t make it to JPG, so if you want to see only weather stuff, than you can bookmark this link and then check it every so often.

Flickr

This is the final place I post. It’s usually behind and I upload to it once or twice a week. It’s just another place to get my work out there to so I use it and it’s home to bazillions of photos. You can bookmark my Photostream or subscribe to the RSS feed.

The Future

I have a lot of things tumbling around in my head right now. I know there is someone out there who already wants to buy a print of one of my photos and I need to figure out the right way to do things. This site may get a redesign soon to accommodate a few things, but we’ll see.

I love your comments and appreciate everyone who follows what I do…it means so much to me.

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I’ve been really going nuts with it in the last week and I think my abilities in this manner area really getting better.

I’m posting the best ones of the bunch below, hope you enjoy.

(Each photo has a caption below it describing what the scene is and where it was shot)

This photo of the contrails in the sky and train tracks has received so much praise I’m truly humbled by it. It got an Approver’s Choice on Wunderground.com and a few people have mentioned wanting a print of it.

What people seem to like about it is the motion of the lines and the way the train tracks draw you deep into the picture, while the contrails seem to point you another direction.

Very proud of it.

This is a very old well pump that resides on an Indian reservation over on Queen Creek just west of Price Road. HDR really works with contrasting scenes and colors, and so the crazy cloudy skies seemed like a good fit for snapping photos of different structures.

This is an evening photo of The Coffee Shop over by Joe’s Farm Grill.

This was taken a few days after the other train track photo and in the same location. This spot is each of Arizona Avenue on Hunt Highway.

I took this one Saturday morning from a little desert park on Chandler Heights and Lindsay. The skies were amazing with building cumulus and the contrast of the desert plants and cacti really worked here.

Another shot from the park…these are water flow gates.

I really like this one…the road curves off into neverland and the clouds really add mystery to it.

Here’s a shot of a Prickly Pear cactus watches the stormy clouds.

Finally, a pond in the same area…I love the detail of the clouds, especially out on the horizon.

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Dave was leading by 17 last week, but Adrian cut into that a little bit by getting all top three finishers! Maybe he can catch up? Looking for a close finish

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I decided that a good photographer can find stuff wherever they are, no matter how bleak it might appear.

So I took an hour to drive just a few miles from my house and explore. It was amazing what I discovered from that simple drive. Animals, train tracks and one of my best photos thus far. I’ll be posting that one a bit later.

Hope you enjoy this little walk-about. I also wrote a story about it on JPG Magazine, which you can read by clicking here.

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I’m so glad I did it.

I owe a few people for pushing me to do it. My wife of course, who always said it was up to me, but she felt it was something I might regret not doing. Also a friend of ours named Tammy…she came to my graduation party we had a month or so ago, and being a fellow University of Phoenix alumni, she told me I NEEDED to do it.

Thanks guys…because it was so very worth it.

Sure, it was a long day. Poor Lyla had to deal with her parents being gone from 8am until almost 6pm because of another commitment we had in the afternoon. The ceremony started at 10am, lasted until 12:20 or so and then took us almost 45 minutes to get out of the parking lot to the family lunch we were having.

The ceremony itself was long too. 1100 names had to be read and it felt like it took forever.

Except when it was closing in on the BSIT graduates (ME!) and I started getting nervous. Not too nervous, just some excited energy. I couldn’t believe I was about to walk across the stage, shake some guy’s hand and then wave to my family in the stands.

The highlight of it for me was the band playing bagpipes that led us out after it was over. I love bagpipes and they almost always make me tear up.

I never could have believed I’d have a Bachelor’s degree. After attending Mesa Community College for a bit after high school, I stopped going around 1996-7. And so here I am, 13 years later…and it’s in a place I never thought I’d be.

I feel very proud right now. My life is amazing and God has truly blessed me. He’s blessed my marriage of 11+ years now to the most amazing woman. He’s blessed us with Lyla Grace, the cutest little girl on the planet. My job is going great. We have everything we want. And now yet another blessing.

I’m not sure what I’ll do with it…although it may help me with my salary. I think it will be a good thing to have in case I end up needing to look for work at some point, but right now, I don’t see myself changing much.

The only thing that’s changed is that little place inside me that used to feel somewhat ashamed or regretful that I never graduated from college.

That place is gone now. Woo!

Now here are a few pictures Jina took right after graduation outside the stadium. Uncle Dennis found me and handed me Lyla, whom I was so happy to see, and then my Aunt Marilyn posed for a picture with us as well.

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One of the attractions of JFG is the location and the picturesque nature of the surroundings. Someone much better than me could probably find hundreds of things to photograph. Still, on Friday after dinner, we walked around the area and I took pictures of whatever I thought was interesting and ended up with the photo below.

This is also the place where we had photos taken of Lyla and us last year.

Hope you guys enjoy these shots from around Joes!

The sign for Joes

This is an old tin roofed barn-like structure next to The Coffee Shop, right next to JFG.

Here is a picture of The Coffee Shop and one of its walls. I just loved this shot.

A building next to The Coffee Shop used for various things.

I like this shot of an old flatbed wagon next to the barn and sign.

This last one is another HDR photo of The Coffee Shop with a gorgeous sunset going on around it. I really, really love this shot.

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