The tan gods are frowning upon us in Cancun.  A tropical depression/storm has parked itself over our resort.  The good news is if I need a little fill light for an image, I can still just take my shirt off and use my chest as a reflector.  More to come later, but for now here's a couple quick ones from day 1.

At least once a year I try to get back 'home' to Marion, Ohio.  While I haven't lived there in over 12 years now, it will always be that place for me that feels unexplicably familiar, peaceful and comforting.  Just driving through town and along the back county roads in the amazing fall weather makes the world feel just a little more right... at least for a few days a year. I had big plans during this recent trip to get out with my camera and just wander through the old downtown and out in the country for several hours and see what I could find, but between the napping, eating, Xboxing, flat tire changing, Ohio State gaming, Shark Tank watching (that show rocks!), Reaganing, Rudying, family reunioning, Styering, Tubby's Pizza'ing, searching for my wedding ring'ing, etcetera'ing... it never really materialized like I envisioned. I did manage to get out a little bit, though, and fire off a few images. I'll start off with an image that has a little personal significance for me.  This is my grandpa & grandma Nicolosi's old house where my dad and his 5 brothers/sisters grew up and my grandparents lived for - I think - nearly 50 years.  While both of my grandparents are still dearly missed, I have a lot of fond memories in this house... sitting with my grandma while she would draw what must've seemed to her like endless requests for birds & dinosaurs - I truly believe she instilled the desire in me to be creative and as a result has had a huge impact on the direction my life has taken.  I also vividly recall years and years of big family gatherings at Thanksgiving and on Christmas Eve... some of my most endearing childhood memories.  Every year grandpa would cook his homemade spaghetti and meatballs from scratch on Christmas Eve, and every year I'd scoot it all on to half my plate to make it look like I ate, well, half of it because as a kid, my still-unrefined taste buds preferred the sophisticated blend of preservatives and empty calories made by my buddy Chef Boyardee.  Today, I miss grandpa's homemade sauce.  I remember spending the night and grandma letting us stay up to watch Chiller on Friday night which was basically a series of low-budget B movies that tried to be scary with occasional breaks where some guy in cooky owl-shaped glasses played host and interjected his own lame commentary.  Good stuff as a kiddo, though.  I could go on and on, and I might in a future post some day.

Somewhere in the country between the airport and Delaware, Ohio.

Looking down the main drag in Waldo.

Don't remember where this was, but it's not important... it's yellow leaves, and that's what matters here.

Found these original wooden doors on an old, decaying house under an overpass in downtown Marion.

It's sad how much of down town Marion has been neglected since it's hay day many years ago, but man, this place is a photographer's dream.  Are you kiddin' me?  I'd have a field day down here with seniors.

A little infrared post-processing action on a barn out in the country side.

Near Schrode's house...

A little self-portrait cheese in an old storefront window in downtown Delaware.

More downtown Delaware.

Peaking through a window into an auditorium in an old building on the Ohio Weslyan campus in Delaware.

Along the roadside off state route 23 across from the entrance to Delaware State Park.  BTW, for those of you non-Ohioans that may be a bit confused at this point, Delaware is a city in Ohio in addition to being a state somewhere near the eastern border of the US (don't ask me to pick it out on a map... I'm sure I'll get it confused with New Hampshire or Vermont).

There's nothing better in the world than fall colors in the Midwest.

While the wet weather is wreaking havoc on my fall shooting schedule, it's also providing moments of solace like this morning.  With the warm front that came in overnight, there was a peaceful fog at day break.  The fog acted like one big softbox to create some beautiful light... I love the soft shadow it creates under the tree.  Simple scenes like this are some of my favorites - a single tree standing in the middle of a field on the farm land across the street from our housing development.  I hope they never sell the land because scenes like this are hard to come by around here.

It's been awhile since I posted a Before & After showing an example of how I add "polish" to images in Photochop.  This installment uses a recent image from Indiana, and these county road signs actually have some significance; these signs mark the intersection where the house that my father-in-law Garry once was.  While the house has not been standing on the lot for some years, the small workshop behind the house where Garry's father used to spend lots of time is still there, and these road signs probably bring back lots of memories for Garry and his brothers and sisters.  In fact, Garry's brother Mick still owns the farm land across the road and Mick's daughter Jennifer and her husband Steve recently built a house on that land where they can look out their front window and see the land where their heritage lived for years.  Kind of a cool story. In any case, let's get started with a quick before & after, shall we?

Here's the original image straight out of the camera.  Not bad, but not very inspiring, eh?  Whaddya say we polish it up a bit?

Step 1: -  Totally Rad Actions (TRA) "Oh Snap" at 50% opacity

Step 2:  -  Kevin Kubota's "Tea Stain" at 40% opacity with the effect of this action masked in the sky area to maintain color & detail in sky.

Step 3: -  TRA "Contrast" (80% opacity), sky masked to preserve color and detail -  TRA "Clairify" (25% opacity), sky masked to preserve color and detail

Step 4: -  Use clone and patch tools to remove ugly distracting plant to the left of the sign for cleaner overall image and better composition (looks like I missed a spot in the very lower left corner... oops.)

Step 5: -  Added slight vignetting on edges -  TRA "Warm It Up, Kris" (75% opacity) to add a tad more richness and, well, warmth to the feel of the image.

I could've stopped after step 5, but let's spiffy up this image just a little more.  Who's with me? Step 6: Added the following textures from the Firenze Italian Texture Collection I photographed in Italy: -  "Sweet Sistine" (80% opacity, soft light blend mode) -  "Scarred Leonardo" (15% opacity, hard light blend mode) -  "Watermark" (50% opacity, overlay blend mode, masked grass background to lessen texture in this area)

Step 7: -  TRA "Old Skool Fast" (40% opacity, soft light blend mode). -  Sharpening around the signs, sign post, and vegitation at the bottom of the image.

That's all for now.  I'll post more before & afters ocassionally in future posts, so check back often.

Kylie received the news that her grandfather had passed away last Wednesday, so we made last minute plans to fly up to Indiana for the weekend to be with her family for the services.  Her "Grandpa Shine" (everyone called him 'Shine') was a character, someone that had this infectious sense of mischievous humor that just made him fun to be around.  One example - the hospital staff that took care of him for the last several years took the time to write out lots of memory cards with some of their memorable moments with Shine.  I didn't get a chance to read them, but I heard this one read aloud..."Everytime we got a new nurse, Shine would fake a heart attack when she came in."  Is that not priceless?  I only got to spend just a little time with him during a couple visits to Princeton, but he left a lasting impression on me about the kind of attitude and sense of humor I want to have when - God willing - I'm 85.  This image below is from our wedding back in January when Kylie and I stopped up at the hospital to see him in between the ceremony and reception.  I expected nothing less than the tuxedo t-shirt.  (image courtesy of our wedding photographers, Vincent and Elizabeth)

Here's a few images from the rest of the weekend.  I had a hard time telling some of the crops from weeds, but Kylie's dad set me straight most of the weekend.  Soybeans and corn where e-ver-y-where (and for the record, I was able to pick out soy beans and corn on my own, thank you very much).  The harvest season had just started, so all the farmers up there were gettin' ready to reap the rewards of their hard work.

Old storage containers in an old barn.  Looks a lot like a pre-cursor to the Dewey Decimel System if you ask me.

Got a screw loose?  We've got a replacement for ya.

Kylie's dad, Garry, lookin' all dapper in red.  Seems nice enough, right?...

... ahhh, here's Garry again, this time fondly recalling the phone call I made to him when I asked for his permission to marry his daughter.

...and speaking of his beautiful daughter, here she is in high heels... in a barn.

"Kylie, quick, strike a pose!"  As always, she obliged.

There's a few things I can always count on when I go to Princeton... a more relaxed pace of life, cherry tunrovers for breakfast on Sunday, and this rusted red Chevy truck always parked in the same spot on this side street.  Love this beautiful light just as the storm was rolling in and the rain started to come down.

This was actually the door to the women's restroom outside at a gas station, but I spruced it up a tad in Photochop. Step into my office.

I love back county roads with big skies.

Here's an HDR (High Dynamic Range) image of a barn we stumbled on during a Sunday drive through the county with Garry and Kylie's brother, Bryce.  To see how I create my HDR images, click here.

One of my absolute favorite things about small towns is the local restaurants, and if it's a pizzeria, even more betterness.  Yes, betterness.  There's just something about the relaxed atmosphere in these places that you don't find in big city chain restaurants.  (Think Sweet Home Alabama).  This was Sandy's Pizza in Fort Branch, IN.  We obviously were dining in the "Coke Room" with all the original Coca-Cola paraphernalia.  +5 points for authenticity.  -7 points for not actually serving any Coke products in the whole joint.  3 bonus points if you can find me in the image below.

We got a gargantuan pizza on our last night there (and actually the night before from a different joint).  Kylie's dad and he Aunt Connie are lookin' pretty pleased with the the grease quotient that comes with this bad boy.