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2013-05-21 00:53:35 (8 comments, 2 reshares, 16 +1s)

Here's a vertical 5-Shot panorama of the Hoover Dam.  This thing is such a beast that I couldn't capture it all at my widest angle and from that far back. 

2013-05-20 19:38:14 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 18 +1s)

Well, I'm back home from a long weekend in Las Vegas!  It was a great weekend celebrating with friends.  I only took a handful of photos while on the trip, mainly just on the drive up there.  This is from the Lake Mead overlook just before getting to the Hoover Dam walkway.  It was a simply gorgeous day outside with just a few clouds around.  I did a few long exposures with my 10-stop, but the light was too bright to get anything decent, even at f/22.  


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#MonochromeMonday (+Monochrome Monday) Curated by +Hans Berendsen , +Jerry Johnson , +Steve Barge, +Dominique Hilbert , +David Orr and +Martin Heller 
#mountainmonday  by +Michael Russell 
#landscapephotography +Landscape Photography +Landscape Photography Show +Margaret Tompkins +Carra Riley +David Heath Williams +Bill Wood +Jim Warthman +jeffbeddow +... more »

2013-05-17 23:54:10 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 25 +1s)

At the Vegas airport waiting for my friends to arrive. Stopped for a short bit at the Hoover Dam before heading into town.

2013-05-17 04:16:52 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 32 +1s)

My Essentials

Project 52 B&W
Week 19: Food
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw, +Susan Porter, & +Lauri Novak

Trying to get caught up on the project before heading out tomorrow morning, but it doesn't look like I'll get my Frame shot in on time.  

For my food shot, I went with my spice rack because it really is an essential piece to all my cooking.  I actually love to cook and am the chef of the house.  My wife can do mac & cheese and that's about it!  So, she's lucky to have me around.  

2013-05-16 20:20:14 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 37 +1s)

Man in the Mirror

Just looking over some of my past Vegas photos. I hope to run into this guy again, but I would not want to do this while it's 100 degrees outside!

2013-05-16 19:12:17 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Testing IFTTT to see my Google+ posts will feed to Facebook

2013-05-16 18:40:56 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 28 +1s)

Vegas on My Mind

That's right, I'm heading to Vegas tomorrow to help celebrate the last few days of bachelor life for a good friend of mine! This will be my 4th time to Vegas and I love it more every time. This trip will be interesting though with just the guys...

#Vegas #Mirror #Reflection

2013-05-16 00:28:55 (9 comments, 0 reshares, 29 +1s)

Amidst all the craziness happening around here today, I'd like to give a shout out to +Alan Shapiro on his birthday!  Keep doing what you do and you'll never stop inspiring people!  

#AlanShapiroBirthdayStyle  

2013-05-15 16:01:42 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Streaming the I/O keynote from my iPad... Oh, the irony!

Photo taken on Galaxy Nexus ;)

2013-05-12 16:21:23 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 11 +1s)

Happy Birthday!

Not only is today Mother's Day, but it's also my Son's 4th birthday!  He's the greatest kid in the world and brings many challenges to my life every day, but I love him so much and wouldn't change anything for the world.  Here's a couple photos that we took of him 2 days ago.

2013-05-11 21:03:07 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 23 +1s)

Vroom!

Project 52 B&W
Week 18: Speed
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw, +Susan Porter, & +Lauri Novak 

I'm trying to get caught up on my P52 project today.  Truth is, last night was the first time I picked up my camera in 2 weeks.  I've just been busy trying to get a backlog of stuff edited that I didn't really want to shoot anything else.  That backlog is almost done now thank goodness.  On top of everything, tomorrow is Mother's Day as well as my Son's birthday.  Then, next weekend I go to Vegas for a Bachelor party and the following weekend, my parents are coming to visit me for a week!  Busy busy busy... 

As for this photo, it's a 19 image focus stack.  Black and white processing was done in Silver Efex with final touches in Lightroom.  

Now... to find some food.

2013-05-10 22:16:07 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 25 +1s)

Floating in the Spring Airs

#FloralFriday  by +Tamara Pruessner, +Kiki Nelson, +Eustace James and +Beth Akerman 

2013-05-08 16:59:39 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 19 +1s)

Sending happy birthday wishes to +Gene Bowker today! Gene is an absolute gem to G+ and we're happy to have him around. I've never taken a photo of an actual train, but I'm sure these will be more than suitable! I created this image last year for one of the scavenger hunts. The category was smoke. It's been a while since I've done anything with smoke, so maybe it's time to get the incense back out!

#happybdaygene

2013-05-07 17:20:05 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 32 +1s)

Painted Leaves

Re-Sharing this image from several months ago for the fine folks of #TreeTuesday ( +Christina Lawrie, +Shannon S. Myers, +Allan Cabrera & +Ralph Mendoza )

I've been busy editing a backlog of stuff for family and friends, so haven't had much to share in terms of new material. Should hopefully be caught up in the next week or so and will be out shooting with a vengeance!

2013-05-06 15:24:38 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 17 +1s)

Monsoon Season is Coming!

I'm re-sharing this photo from last summer because I got really excited last night while hanging out on the patio, drinking a few beers with my wife. We saw lightning! Nothing extravagant at all, but I haven't seen any lightning in many many months. This summer, I really want to step up my storm shooting. I've considered in investing in a lightning trigger to push that motivation. We'll see what the future brings!

Happy Monday!

2013-05-04 20:08:33 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 24 +1s)

Little Man in a Big World

This shot was taken by +Erika Thornes when we were in San Diego in January.  She graciously sent me her raw files to edit and play around with.  I have to say.. these made me want to upgrade my camera more than anything!  Quite fun editing files from a Mk3! :)

2013-05-03 02:11:49 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 33 +1s)

Sending out a birthday wish to +Tai Mi!  Hope you've had a great day with lots of joy!

2013-05-01 20:55:06 (14 comments, 0 reshares, 17 +1s)

Blown Away!

Well, would you look at that! I hit 10,000 followers today! And I caught it right at the perfect moment. In less than a month, I've supposedly gained over 4,000 new folks. Still have no idea where they're coming from, so if you're new to me, why don't you say hey and tell me where you found me ;)

A part of me actually thinks this a Google glitch because the emails I receive daily notifying me of new people are only saying I'm getting 5-10 a day, not 200-300! Whatever it is, that 10,000 sure looks pretty.

2013-05-01 02:44:13 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 33 +1s)

Was just sifting through my photos from our first trip to San Diego in January. I have all the photos ranked either 1, 2 or 3 stars to filter out what I want. While I was going through the 1 stars to make sure I absolutely didn't want them, I came across this photo. For some reason, it really caught my attention this time. I probably completely disregarded it the first time around because the girl is out of focus, but now I'm liking that aspect of it. Goes to show how our moods differ on certain days! And I'm also glad I didn't delete these the first time around ;)

Yeah yeah.. people say don't delete your files, but I get a little shutter happy and I really don't need all 650 of them from one weekend!  Not to mention running out of hard drive space.

2013-04-30 19:22:59 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 23 +1s)

Don't Mistake me For That Plastic Thing

Confused by the title?  It's because this plant/flower is known as a bottle brush.  For any of us that have or had kids, we can definitely familiarize ourselves with the shape of this plant.  I wonder if the manufactured bottle brush was designed after these plants?  Would be interesting to find out.  

#monochromeworld   #monochromephotography   #flowerphotography   #floralphotography  

2013-04-29 23:57:16 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 16 +1s)

Um, Dad... That's a LOT of Nemo's!

From the Sea Life Aquarium in Tempe, AZ

2013-04-29 19:31:15 (13 comments, 1 reshares, 26 +1s)

A Darkness Lies Ahead

A storm came rolling in one day while I was out hiking in the White Tank Mountains.  It's a rarity to get great clouds like these around here, so you have to take advantage when you can!  

#MonochromeMonday (+Monochrome Monday) Curated by +Hans Berendsen , +Jerry Johnson , +Steve Barge, +Dominique Hilbert , +David Orr and +Martin Heller

2013-04-29 16:03:50 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

All That Glitters is Gold

Here's one of my favorite shots from last year. It was taken during the Color Me Rad 5k in Phoenix. What a fun time that was! I'm hoping to actually run in the next one instead of photographing it. Really need to get back in shape!

2013-04-26 06:05:30 (19 comments, 0 reshares, 52 +1s)

Moments of Clarity

Project 52 B&W
Week 17: Night Lights
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw, +Susan Porter, & +Lauri Novak 

I had other intentions for my photo this week, but didn't come across the time to accomplish it.  Not dismissing my other options though!  I still want them as shots because I think they'd be great.  

For this shot, I think it's pretty clear to see it's a light bulb :)  The challenge with photographing these lit up is that the filament is so bright, that it's so hard to get a correct exposure for that, while still getting detail in other areas.  To compensate for that, I shot this for HDR for 5 brackets at 1.5 EV intervals.  The photos were then merged into 32 bit floating TIFF file so I had complete control over the exposure in different areas instead of having something likePhotoma... more »

2013-04-23 22:59:52 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Seriously...  Why don't I get push or e-mail notifications when someone +mentions me in a post or comments anymore?  It's driving me nuts!

2013-04-23 02:56:06 (10 comments, 1 reshares, 31 +1s)

She Loves Me

Here's an image I created for the +Photography+ Project, which is brought to us by +Christina Lawrie.  If you haven't participated in the monthly project, I would highly recommend it.  You get a topic and have a month to shoot 2 photos for it.  Then, you participate in a hangout and share/critique your photos with others.  

The topic for this past month was Texture.  I was super excited for that topic because I love processing with textures, if the image screams for it.  In the case for this image, it was the perfect situation for texture.  The SOOC shot was bland and boring, but the textures have brought so much life to the image.  

In terms of processing, a total of 7 textures were used here.  Also, to mimic the blurring and distortion of the mirror reflection, I created a new layer and added a slight gaussian blur.  Then, I created alayer mas... more »

2013-04-21 23:29:45 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 14 +1s)

I got a 5-in-1 reflector/diffuser set in the mail the other day, so I thought I'd put the diffuser to test today.  My main reasoning for getting it was for outdoor portraits in bad lighting, but it's great for flowers as well, cutting out the harsh sunlight.  The sun was pretty much at a midday level here, so very bad.  But with the diffuser, it created some really nice even light for the photo. 

2013-04-19 03:51:11 (17 comments, 1 reshares, 55 +1s)

Fade to Black

Project 52 B&W
Week 16: Fade
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw, +Susan Porter, & +Lauri Novak 

I had to stretch this themes meaning a little bit this week.  I'll admit, I totally forgot to take a shot for it, but then I decided to do a fading isolation shot from one of my photos from the zoo earlier this week.  Do I get a bonus that a Zebra is naturally black and white as well?? ;) 

2013-04-19 03:02:39 (6 comments, 1 reshares, 22 +1s)

Caught in Rough Waters

A surfer not quite hitting the wave right in San Diego.  Taken this past January on a weekend visit.  

Black and White conversion done in Silver Efex

Come join me over at 500px and maybe give me a few votes! :) http://500px.com/jasonrykiss

#Nik   #SilverEfex  

2013-04-18 01:14:29 (14 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Does anyone know an easy way to find out if you've been in a shared circle, besides CircleCount?  I'm just flabbergasted by the amount of people adding me in the past week and I have no idea where they're coming from.  I was excited to pass the 6,000 mark and then 5 days later, I pass 7000!

2013-04-17 23:14:28 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 18 +1s)

Don't worry... everything will be alright

This shot speaks volumes for all the events that are going on in the world these days.. it's sad to see so much violence and hatred.  Can't we all just get along? :)

Actually, this little girl is probably just tired from the heat outside, but photos can portray many different emotions.  This is a favorite of mine from last year.  I shot it while waiting in line to get into a pumpkin patch.  Opportunities arise all around us when we least expect them to. 

I re-edited this photo using the new LR5 Beta.  The new radial tool is awesome!  

2013-04-15 02:55:46 (16 comments, 0 reshares, 38 +1s)

Having a Bad Hair Day

Went to the zoo today with +Tamara Pruessner and Jonathon Pruessner (hey... won't let me tag for some reason).  We got to get the kids together and they had a great time.  

Every time I'm at a zoo, I always think back to +Alan Shapiro's amazing bird series he did with textures, so I wanted to bring some of that out with this photo.  Only 3 textures used in this one, but still effective in it's approach (I hope!).  

2013-04-14 16:42:31 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 22 +1s)

Tree of Life

Revisiting more of my photos from my trip to Disney World in February.  I took a total of 1,800 photos that week, so there's lots to go through.  Most is just general family/travel photography, so not too interesting.  Wish I would have had more time to just go out on my own for a bit.  

This is the Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom.  I haven't processed an HDR shot in awhile, but this is 3 exposures blended into a 32-bit file, processed in  LR and Color Efex 4. 

2013-04-13 16:23:17 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 28 +1s)

Somewhere in Tatooine

Yes, I do interplanetary travel as well

#StarWars  

2013-04-13 06:01:37 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 27 +1s)

Hey, You Lookin at Me?

2013-04-13 03:32:03 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Want another shot to probably not win a camera!  I thought so.  Use my link below :)  And please don't uncircle for sharing a contest.. That is all! 

2013-04-12 21:20:22 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 12 +1s)

Not sure where they're coming from, but I've had a lot of people add me today!  And I crossed the 6,000 mark!  Still a modest number IMO compared to many photographers that I admire, but things are looking up.

Welcome new circlers.. ;)

2013-04-12 06:41:33 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 38 +1s)

Reflections of a Tulip's Life

Project 52 B&W
Week 15: Flower(s)
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw & +Susan Porter

The only flowers I have around in my house are dead!  But passed flowers can be made to be as beautiful as ones full of life.  

This is a late night post for me, but I have a busy day of work in the morning and wanted to get this out! 

Also sending this out to +Tamara Pruessner and #FloralFriday .  I bet she's getting an extra dose today thanks to this. ;)

2013-04-10 03:47:09 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 22 +1s)

Epcot

The Earth, Golf Ball, Bowling Ball, whatever you want to call it... is an awesome sight to see in person.  This shot was taken on Valentine's Day this year while my family was vacationing in Florida.  It was the only day in the 7 days we were there that it rained.. and it rained ALL day.  Still, this was by far my favorite park we went to. 

2013-04-08 22:59:11 (14 comments, 1 reshares, 24 +1s)

50 mph wind gusts, blowing dust and now rain. Beautiful day in the desert today.

#snapseed

2013-04-08 00:55:17 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 25 +1s)

Bleed Into Me

Spring is all around us and it feels great! 

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#MonochromeMonday (+Monochrome Monday) Curated by +Hans Berendsen , +Jerry Johnson , +Steve Barge, +Dominique Hilbert , +David Orr and +Martin Heller 

2013-04-06 03:30:31 (14 comments, 0 reshares, 29 +1s)

A new trio of canvas for our living room! I've been wanting to print these since our first trip to San Diego in January... So glad I have them now! Oh, and thanks to LivingSocial for a killer deal.

2013-04-05 19:26:30 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Just secured my tickets for Mumford & Son's here in Phx in June!  Quite excited for that show!

2013-04-05 16:35:39 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 38 +1s)

These Flip-Flops Are Made for Walking

Project 52 B&W
Week 14: Transportation 
#P52BW13 | +Project 52 B&W 
Curated by +Tisha Craw , +David Bowden , & +Susan Porter

It's summer time!  Well, at least in Phoenix it is... I consider us having 2 seasons, summer and not summer.  With temps regularly in the 80's and 90's now, it's shorts and flip-flops all day and I love it.  

I actually never used to be a flip-flop person, until I got this pair of Sanuk sandals.  The whole thing in between the toes never settled well... But I am in love with these!  So comfy and currently my main form of transportation, unless I'm driving... 

2013-04-04 19:32:39 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 22 +1s)

3 Minutes of Fire

Had a fun time last night with friends over, having a few drinks, and a great bonfire to cap it off.  I was taking a few shots of the flames and then decided to see what I could get with my 10-stop attached.  So, this is a 3 minute exposure showing some silky smooth flames. 

2013-04-01 22:14:13 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 22 +1s)

Tangled Up in You

Semi close-up shot of a cactus taken on a hike a few weeks back. 

#MonochromeMonday (+Monochrome Monday) Curated by +Hans Berendsen , +Jerry Johnson , +Steve Barge, +Dominique Hilbert , +David Orr and +Martin Heller 
#MacroMonday  (+Macro Monday) Curated by +Kerry Murphy, +Jennifer Eden, +Kelli Seeger Kim and +Jake Easley 

2013-04-01 16:51:17 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

Ha ha... The new +emotion thing is pretty funny.  I've been testing it out on some photos and it's pretty darn accurate!

#emotion   #googleplusupdates  

2013-03-31 04:07:23 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 17 +1s)

Happy Easter :)

We took our kid to an egg hunt at the spring training facility for the Kansas City Royals this morning.  They scatter the whole field with eggs and candy and the kids go nuts.  

#Easter  

2013-03-30 22:56:17 (10 comments, 1 reshares, 31 +1s)

Trio of Glass

JPMorgan Chase building in Downtown Phoenix.  Apparently, you're not allowed to take photos of the building.  I don't get that... it's smack in the middle of downtown and you expect people not to take photos of it?  Where's the reasoning?  So... don't let the security guard see you with your camera.  

#longexposurephotography   #architecturalvisions   #architecturephotography   #allthingsmonochrome  

2013-03-29 23:41:45 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 29 +1s)

These have to be the biggest tulips I have ever seen!  Obviously, this picture doesn't portray that, but trust me... They're huge!

#FloralFriday  by +Tamara Pruessner