1. Alone Above the Clouds – this is a photomontage. The “Leafadactyl” was created from a digital photo of fallen leaves. I used software to digitally cut out a piece of a leaf chosen for its leathery texture. From this I fashioned the wings, body, and legs of the flying creature. The head is a red berry, the crest is a small red leaf, and the same blue eye(s) recur throughout my fantasy and whimsical pictures. The dramatic cloud was part of another photo, which I inverted. The lighted sky in the upper left is also an inverted shot of a sunrise. The three layers are combined to create the high flying otherworldly critter.

2. Barkameleon in its Element – the blue eyes are used again, and the remainder of the creature was made from elements within the original photo. The eye socket is the red knot on the tree.  The head and body are the large piece of tree bark, which is manipulated to change its shape, mirrored for the remainder of the head (left and right sides), stretched and prodded to make the tail and legs. Shadows were added using software.

3. Praying Mantis Bubble Boy – the insect was in my dog’s food bowl, so I rescued it from that ignoble death, as it was feeding time at the zoo. I put the praying mantis into a jar, and shot it using available light. Then, after releasing the subject into the wild, I loaded the image onto my computer. I selected the best photo and applied the watercolor filter.

4. Four Way Tie – this was a building at the local water park’s miniature golf course. I was wandering around early in the day, when no one was playing, taking numerous shots. I applied the watercolor filter to this one, and liked the results.

5. Glass Fruit – I was in my back yard taking a photo of a stack of books for someone’s website.  I had set up a table in the open sun with a borderless background.  My wife wanted some pictures for our dining room wall, so we placed a tablecloth on our workstation and photographed our china, crystal, and this glass fruit. The watercolor filter enriched the otherwise dull colors.

6. In Formation – this was an early experiment, ganging and grouping the same seagull (and its negative image). The bird formation was then pasted onto a cloudy sky scene.

7. Pore Over the Paper – years ago, I had shot some slides of my father. They had been damaged in “protective” plastic sheets, which oozed onto that, and my other favorite slides. Hoping to repair the damage, I scanned the slides and cleaned them up. I cropped the shot very tight and applied the watercolor filter.

8. Psycho Lantern Split Personality- I was experimenting using a skylight to at midday to light my face.  The part of my face that was in the shadow of my handheld camera exposed correctly, but my mouth was entirely washed out by the glaring sun.  I noticed a resemblance to a jack-o-lantern, and checked through my elements for some way to illustrate the glowing candle. I found a shot I had taken of a furnace used by glass blowers.  I inverted that, and located it behind my head.  The “bottom” of the open furnace became my skullcap, etc. Then, still not satisfied with the picture, I applied other elements, including the blue eyes. My wife and kids think I am disturbed, but the voices in my head tell me to ignore them, and not to go out during the next full moon.

9. Reentry – this began as a mistake. I had a picture that had lens flare in it, which I turned into the gas giant yellow planet.  There was also a streak of white in the picture, which I saw as a meteorite. I played around with the picture, and then just stored it for a rainy day.  One night, at a local farmer’s market, I saw the classic cars on display. I noticed the flames on the black car, and had an “aha” experience.  I took the photo, and when I got home, blended it into the picture for the flaming reentry scene.

10. Serbian Orthodox Church – I was enroute to photograph the Golden Gate Bridge at sunrise.  Heading up a huge hill, I noticed the Serbian Orthodox Church.  I got out and spent about half-an-hour shooting the scene. I noticed that the cross was going to be backlit by the rising sun, so I used the LED screen to position the camera for the lens flare. At home, additional massaging of the picture introduced a more-pronounced diffuse glow around the edge of the church.

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