Thing #5 - Pictures, Flickr and Ansel Adams

My maternal grandparents lived in a beautiful house in the Rockridge area of Oakland, CA. In the family room hung an original Ansel Adams picture of "Moon & Half Dome" (a similar photo can be found at: http://www.anseladams.org/poster-9.html). As a kid, I remember staring at that photo and thinking about the beauty of the granite surface lit by the moon. The picture is magnificent and I wanted it, although the photo was lost sometime between the time the house was sold and my grandparents passed away (oh what the photo would be worth today, both personally and financially!) On family trips to Yosemite (we stayed in the tent cabins at Camp Curry) I would use my little Kodak camera trying to catch that same picture, but never had much luck. On family trips, I would shoot everything but the cost of developing and storage of the good and bad pictures became a problem...shoe boxes only hold so much.

Anyway, I have been in search of the perfect "Ansel Adams" like photo and, last year to my fortune, Katy gave me a Canon EOS digital SLR camera. Staying true to my adolescent photographer self, I shoot everything because, heck its digital and I can delete what I don't like. I have found that for every twenty shots, I get one that I like. I store the pictures on the external hard drive now in hopes of one day printing out, matting and framing the good ones so that I can display (and sell) them. Katy and I debate what "good" looks like...she has her list, I have mine...but maybe someday I will exhibit the photos on the blank wall in my office.

Along the same lines, Connor is about the join Boy Scouts and I am looking forward to the adventure because backpacking, camping, etc. will provide the opportunity for a father and son to hang out for quality outdoor time, but also the backdrops will be a great opportunity to shoot more photos! (Madison just joined Girl Scouts (Daisy Scout)...they don't camp, but I can't wait for the cookie sales...mmmmmmmmmm!)

To the matter at hand, I could use Flickr to do a digital exhibit to share with everyone. I will need to experiment with it, but it seems pretty easy to use at this point. I'll let you know when its posted and you can give me your definition of "good"...I'd love the feed back!