The Series Continues, Johnny Cash's 1957 Gibson:

As I was scrolling through some photographs the other night, I ran across a picture of a guitar that I had taken at the Tupelo Automobile Museum several months ago.  At the time that I went, they were having the "Sparkle and Twang" exhibit in honour of Marty Stuart and those rhinestoned and sequined country singers of that era. The guitar happened to be a 1957 Gibson that Johnny Cash played at one time and was the guitar that is on the cover of his 1959 album "The Fabulous Johnny Cash". I then continued my series with this guitar. If I had known at that time that I was going to be doing this series, I would have taken some more pictures of other famous peoples' guitars.

The painting of Johnny Cash in the background of my photograph was painted especially for the traveling exhibit.  The playbill was an actual playbill from a concert.

I really enjoyed doing this picture because I remember listening to Cash's LPs (33s) when I was a youngster from my uncle's record collection.

Macro Photography, Insects:

When I was in 4-H as a young lad, my main concentration was in Entomology.  I collected insects, competed in the visual presentation contests, and competed in the Entomology judging. I competed on the local, regional, and state levels (and won state several years in a row, I might add). I was always interested in the dynamics of insects and the looks of most because they are very unique in their own right. I enjoyed looking at the books that would photograph the insects up close.
I like to take macro photos and I really wanted a macro lens for my, but the one I really wanted cost around 1K. After stifled by the fact that the lens would cost more than my cmaera, I was satisfied with what I had. After looking at some macro shots on DeviantArt, I noticed that someone had posted that they were doing photography with reverse lens photography. After doing the research, I found that this was an affordable alternative to the expensive lens. Purchased an adapter ring from Amazon.com to turn my current 18-55mm lens around and I was in business to do some better macro work.  The big factors with macro photography is lighting, stability of the camera, and the focus (a fraction of an inch can change the focus drastically).
Here are some of the results of my endeavours with macro photography and insects (The only cropped photo is the Red Wasp, but it is a slight crop. The wasp took up the majority of the picture.):

Head of Katydid

Macro of the body of a Grandaddy Longlegs spider.

Crane Fly: Macro of head with insert of full insect

Red Wasp

Ants on a Cheeto.



Grasshopper

Head of Praying Mantis.



Continuation of the Guitar Series:

Here is the second installment of the Guitar Series.  It is an American flag guitar.  The background for this one is actually a photograph of the case.  It looked like a fatigued wood painting of a flag and I really wanted to incorporate this on the finished product.  Enjoy!!!

Start of a Series:

I have started a series that I have wanted to do for awhile.  A friend let me borrow his dobro for a day and I photographed it heavily.  I took the photographs into photoshop and created the following finished product.

I want to continue the series with different makes and models of guitars in the same vein as the dobro.  Enjoy!

Hazy Serenity:

Driving along Hatfield Bottom yesterday morning after a scorching hot day the day before caused a lot of fog whenever the temperatures dropped.  I wanted to stop and photograph a certain place, but I did not at that time.  This morning produced some fog, but not the amount as yesterday.  I siezed the opportunity this time.  Below is the result with very little tweaking.  I just punched the colours up just a little and created the background. 

Hot Wheels Twin Mill: A part of my childhood:

When I was young, one of my favourite toys were my Matchbox/Hot Wheels cars.  One of my favourite models was released for production in 1969 (how ironic, my age).  The Twin Mill was one of the first in house designs for Hot Wheelsand has become one of their most famous models. The two top photographs were taken by me and I really like the way they turned out showing the "battle" scars of being one of my favourites.

The photographs below is the car that I used to play with when I was a child.  In 1999, this design became the flagship car for the 30th Anniversary and I found the package of the car for the Anniversary. 

It is really neat to see a car made into a flagship car that was once one that was your favourite.  Since that time, they have actually built a real working car from the original 1969 design.  That can be seen here:

http://www.streetrodderweb.com/milestones/0307sr_milestone_twin_mill/index.html  This is an amazing feat in the sheer since that the vehicle has two engines and both need to work together.  In the pictures on the site, you can see the two engines with a transfer case to a single transmission.

Through the years Hot Wheels has evolved the Twin Mill into the Twin Mill II and III. 

 It is good to know that a desing such as the Twin Mill has inspired creativity in the sand box and the workshop.

Spring Park, Tuscumbia, AL:

Spring Park in Tuscumbia is another great place for a family outing for picnics or just a leisurely stroll.  It has a man-made waterfall that is a great backdrop for photographs or just to listen to the water while eating, reading, etc.  They have ducks and geese galore that you can feed.  They have a small water pad with various fountains that the children can play in along with a train that makes a cicuit around the park.  There is also a carousel and pavilions to host family get-to-gethers.