The Fourth of July

The 4th of July has to be one of my favorite holidays.  I love the atmosphere waiting for the fireworks to start and the fun of it all.  This year we were able to stay at the hotel near our favorite display.  I had to capture the essence before the show, the glowing lights and all.

The start of the show.

I see the American Flag represented in this image below!

The finale!

2012 Hot Air Balloon Championship

Balloon launch Friday (5/25) night in Frankenmuth, MI

Solar Eclipse - May 20, 2012

Enjoyed an evening shoot on this beautiful Sunday.  The Solar Eclipse prompted this shoot and although here in MI we were only able to see a small bit of the beginning it was still a fun event to watch and photograph.  

Moon Kissed Foiliage

Another image from Saturday's Super Moon Adventure.  This is the best shot of the "moon" I was able to accomplish.

Super Moon Bust May 2012

Here is one of my favorite images from the Super Moon Adventure that I went on last night.  The sky was pretty overcast so we didn't see much of the moon but my cousin and I had a lot of fun playing with long exposures.  This image's settings were f3.5, 30 second exposure, ISO200, 18mm focal length, and was taken at 10:50pm EST. There was minimal editing done in Lightroom and Photoshop.  This was actually the second location that we visited in hopes that I would be able to get a reflection shot of the moon on the water.  We're hoping to go back tonight if the cloud cover lets up.

Pink Passion

I received a tulip plant as a thank you gift from my son's school.  We took it outside and well it was a good thing that I took pictures at that time because it only took a short time and all the petals were blown off from the wind.  Such a beautiful plant I look forward to its blooms next Spring.

Tree Swallows

Going through looking for images to share; I've been a trouble blogger as of late.
Here are some Tree Swallows that I saw last year around this time. My first sighting ever of this beautiful bird. I just love the irradescence of the wings.