U Michigan 24 No resolutions involved here, just a wish to make my photography website more user friendly and appealing. Part of that involves uploading new photos which I will be doing in the next few days.

I seem to be rather indecisive regarding color schemes and layouts. The great thing is nothing is written in stone and if I'm feeling cerulean one day instead of coral—I can change that!

When I take a photo, I feel something that urges me to take that specific photo. I shoot RAW, as do most professional photographers. This involves the actual developing, or processing, of the photos once I get home and upload everything to my computer.

In October I took a whirlwind trip up to Whitefish Point and travelled across the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore area before heading back home. I left at three in the morning and I arrived home at three in the morning. It was a wonderful trip. Michigan's upper peninsula in autumn is spectacular.

The following week I visited a friends farm to take photos of her sheep and llamas. One llama in particular, JR, was only four weeks old. He was a joy to watch. The shetland sheep were always ready for cuddle and petting and the occasional shredded mini wheats tossed toward them.

Fauna 108

By the end of October I was visiting my daughter in New York City. I never tire of seeing her or the city. I had a visually stunning lunch at the top of World Trade One, the new Freedom Tower with my cousin. The view I had for that meal doesn't come along often. While there I met a fellow traveller and photographer. The hope is to meet up with her again soon for a photo/fun/friends trip.

Also in October I managed to partake in the Howell Nature Center's Autumn Photography Workshop. You see many photos of birds of prey on my site. Most of these photos have been made possible by participating in other photo workshops the nature center has offered in the past. They even threw in a couple of mammals to mix things up. Look out for the porcupine and the opossum.

December brought another trip to New York City. This time primarily for photos. My daughter was working hard at school and I was hanging out the side of a helicopter over Manhattan. What an exhilarating experience. I wish I could do something like that every weekend. Aside from not being able to get a comb through my hair for a day and a half, I was none the worse for wear.

Well, back to processing. Needless to say I have had a great deal of catching up to do. I had roughly 4,000 photographs sitting on my computer that needed going over from these shoots. It is amazing how, when I do get a chance to sit down and work, I can flip to a photograph and return to the moment it was taken. In processing, I get to work on bringing the emotion out of the photo and hopefully reveal some of that to you. In processing, I get to smile and smell the autumn leaves under my hiking boots again or laugh as my harness slaps me repeatedly in the face while flying over Times Square.

Stay tuned, my friends. The next few days should give you many things to look, and hopefully smile, at.