Hello Friend, Sept 22nd is the first day of Autumn here in the USA and Summer once again comes to an end. Please join me in saying farewell to another wonderful summer at my most favorite place to be with an album I created thats dedicated to just 'Beach Shots' at this link: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/566596475aCzCuZ I have also recently created 3 other albums that you may enjoy and you are welcome to view them as well, they are: Box Of Roses, Moon, and Weimaraner Puppy. Thanks! :) Angie

said AngieM912 22 days ago

thank you for visiting my hummingbirds and leaving the nice comment

said busterrr19_ 1 months 6 days ago

Hey, I had something unexpected and fun happen just recently. The annual state fair for this area was in town and I was walking around taking photos when I was approached by the owner of all the rides. He is the largest provider of fair rides, games, and concessions in the west. He hired me to take photos for him! I had never done anything like this before and probably didn't charge enough but I did it for experience. I got $500 for about 10 hours of work. He already wants me to do it again next year for him. It was fun. You never know what can happen when you walk around with your camera...

said bobvau 1 months 19 days ago

Hi Karen. No that shot wasn't tweaked hardly at all. That is the way the metal looked. I hope you are having a nice summer. I recently re-watched the movie "The Last of the Mohicans" which was filmed probably not far from you. Beautiful country! Someday I'd like to get over there with my camera. I'll have to go see what's new with your pictures. Take care, Bob

said bobvau 1 months 27 days ago

Aloha dearest Karen and David, please join me in celebrating 3,000,000 views. Thank you from the depths of my heart for your kindness and encouragement. I send you warm Aloha greetings with much love from the beautiful tropical shores of Ho'okipa Beach, Maui Hawai'i. Take time to dream! Aloha! Sharon 2008.08.08 ~ http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2443768970052197924fTrpZy

said ourjrny 2 months 3 days ago

Hello Karen ( & David ). It has been so long since we talked & I miss you both at Webshots. You guys were there for me, from the beginning & I will never forget how lovely you were to me. I now have 24 albums & am loving photography so much.( always looking to improve myself of course..Ha!) I plan to dabble in some Art as well, although I'm not sure which way I'll go as yet. Probably Charcoal or water colours first.It will be interesting if nothing else & I can at least say I had a go. I have met so many lovely people since joining W/S now & my days are full. I do hope you & David are happy & well & you can find a moment to write to me. Wishing you all the best & big HUGS from Jenny, in OZ

said jenny_lee304 2 months 20 days ago

Hi Karen, Right now it is pretty nice here in Idaho. After some 100+ F days we are having upper 80's and low 90's. The rain has cleared out and it is very dry. This area only averages 11" of total precipitation a year. Right now I am working on learning Lightroom better and messing with High Dynamic Range. I'm glad you got your gallery up and running and have time again for photography. I look forward to seeing your next batch of photos. Best wishes, Bob

said bobvau 3 months 5 days ago

Hi Karen, Congratulations on the new gallery! I hope that goes well. I moved a few months back and that slowed my picture taking. I'm off this week though and hope to get some local shots in. I'm hoping to travel some in the fall and hopefully get some good fall shots. Our weather just turned super hot with temps near or over 100 every day and now some thunderstorms moved in so the conditions have been tough. Take care and good luck with the new gallery.

said bobvau 3 months 12 days ago

thanks for the nice messages and just wanted to say have a Happy 4th if I do not get back before then, hugs Rhonda

said busterrr19_ 3 months 13 days ago

No new photos? Must be busy. Me too. I hope you're having a nice early summer. Now take some photos! ;)

said bobvau 3 months 27 days ago

Hello Karen. Thank you again for your kind comments on my albums.They're deeply appreciated & if you do come to Queensland, Australia in the future, please let me know, as you & David would be welcome to spend some time here with us at our home & we could show you around some of the lovely places by the ocean & in the mountains too. I'm sure you'd just love Tamborine Mountain with it's beautiful old & new homes plus Bed & Breakfast Lodges, Hotels & Shops etc but come over in the cooler months if possible, because our summers get very warm Now is a fab time of the year, because it averages about 22-25 degrees Celcius (which is approximately 70 - 80 degrees Fahrenheit)& it makes traveling around, much more pleasant.Lovely to talk with you again. Your friend from OZ.....Jenny.

said jenny_lee304 5 months 28 days ago

Thank you so very much Karen, for the encouraging message you left for me. I am so overwhelmed by all you wonderful people out there, in 'Webshot World' & it's because of this, I have decided to stay on & build my sites back up again. I do apologise for the misunderstanding about Bryce...Oh dear....He is a cute looking little guy though. I love cats as well & like you, I am crazy about all creatures great & small but I am yet to come to terms with snakes, as I have such a terrible fear of them, which of course is a common occurrence I know but one day I would like to overcome my fear & actually hold one ( I can't believe I said that. ) Shudder, shudder.....Ha! You & david seem such a wonderful couple & I am glad to have met you both & hope we can be friends. I'd like that very much. Bless you both. Jenny from OZ.

said jenny_lee304 6 months 3 days ago

Thanks for clearing that up. After I thought about it I realized you probably didn't mean a specific book! My instructor in Santa Fe thought I ought to do more wildlife photography. Idaho is full of animals with elk, deer, big horn sheep, moose, pronghorns, eagles, etc. I would love to do that. Here I live in the city but the country is not far away. I can't just walk to the mailbox and get great pictures like you can. I'd LOVE to live someplace like that but can't quite yet. Thanks for the encouragement and ideas!

said bobvau 6 months 14 days ago

Could you please give me more details on the "Expand Your Creativity" book? I could not find one by that exact name on Amazon. I ordered Lightroom and got my new copy of Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0. I love those filters. I also use Nik Sharpener Pro and NoiseNinja. All our plugins for PS. I am also trying out SmugMug (www.smugmug.com). They have a much better interface than webshots and they even have a pro membership setup for selling photos. I'm not going to stop using webshots as I love the community here but I'm going to add SmugMug. Of course all this gets terribly confusing! I post photos to my website, webshots, FaceBook, and now SmugMug. I added some of my class photos to my website (www.idahooutdoorphoto.co m) and will post them here soon.

said bobvau 6 months 17 days ago

Sorry to dominate your comments ;) I just wanted to say the class in Santa Fe was good. The instructor strayed from the stated purpose of the class and did not cover some things I think she should have. It was still good though as the people were wonderful and I did get some very different perspectives on photography from my own. I do not have an art background so being around some artistic people was a good stretch for me. Now I have a mountain of photos to edit! What I dumped on my site are mostly unedited. I did fall in love with Adobe Lightroom and will be using it from now on along with Bridge and Photoshop. So stay tuned for a slow roll out of new pictures from me.

said bobvau 6 months 20 days ago

As I'm sure you've seen, Santa Fe Workshops has classes on promoting and selling your photography. They also have a class on "finding your signature style." So there are classes to help you figure out how to get into the business. I met a woman from Montreal who has done her own book. I don't know if it's sold a lot but she is talented. Her site is: www.isabelleclement.com. You have to view the French version for now. She started with no budget and took portraits of well known people in Quebec and had them each write a short essay on "What is the meaning of life to you?" I can't read French but it looks interesting. The weather here has gotten really nice. It was cold and windy when I first arrived but has improved each day with today maybe going to hit 60. The winds have died down a bit and it is very sunny. The dust though is bad and my allergies are feeling it a bit. Everyone has a scratchy throat. Still no complaints!

said bobvau 6 months 24 days ago

Thanks for your comments! I'm in Santa Fe at my class now and it is great. I know most of the technical stuff but being around so many creative people and getting an entire week to focus on improving my photography is awesome. My instructor is going to spend some one-on-one time with me and give me suggestions on where I can go with my photography. I highly recommend these guys. I posted a few early pictures but many more will follow. We've been too busy to process anything.

said bobvau 6 months 25 days ago

Thanks for the answer. I am sure my class will be great. I can't wait. I leave early tomorrow morning. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to share when I return (maybe even while I'm there).

said bobvau 6 months 30 days ago

Hi Karen, thanks for your comments on my photos. I really appreciate it. I'm curious if you did anything special to register your business name? Some of your photos (I think) have your BlueRidgeArt name whereas others have your personal name. So far I copyright with my name. I have a business name but have never registered it as I'm not really selling anything. I'm thinking I'd have to register it in some way to use it in a copyright. I'm looking forward to my photography class in Santa Fe next week! Looks like cool weather but that's ok. We're warming up here (upper 50's/low 60's). Thanks again, Bob

said bobvau 7 months 3 days ago

Hi Karen, thank you for your comments on my POTD. Until today I didn't know it POTD existed and to find one of my pictures there was great. Of course the photo of the car is just a snap shot and not one of the better works of art. Bur at least it got recognized. From all the positive feedbacks I'm going to spend some time looking at you photos and works of art. Cheers Frank Ajax, Ontario, Canada

said w8484 7 months 8 days ago

Thank you, thank you, thank you :-)

said anica66 7 months 9 days ago

Karen, I am new to webshots but not photography. I think after looking at your work that you know what you are doing. In fact we seem to parallel each other except you live in a beautiful place to be a photographer. I went through some of your portfolios tonight and enjoyed them very much. Some of your prints simply "wowed" me. Other I left my opinion on how I thought they might be improved. Of course, you know what one's opinion is worth. Take them or leave them. I especially enjoyed your people portraits taken outdoors. You are very good at it. I don't have anything up on webshots yet but I will. Meanwhile it's only fair for you to comment on my work also. I put my first blog on line a few days ago. I invite you to check my work out and comment on it. it is found at www.rsphoto.blogspot.com. I hope we will be able to start an ongoing dialog to exchange ideas, etc. about our work. Ray

said raysampson 7 months 11 days ago

Hi Karen, Thanks for visiting my featured album, I will re-visit your site soon and comment on your work. At the moment I am away on business and using only a 3G card. So it is slow and expensive (besides I should be working not looking on webshots) I will be returning home 2 days a week but still find little time to do all that needs to be done. I am hoping to get some free time in mid March. Catch you then. Thanks again for all your kind comments. Mike: Joburg South Africa

said mikerid 7 months 17 days ago

Amen!

said BlueRidgeArt 7 months 17 days ago

Thanks for the comment. You live in such a beatiful area. I always look forward and enjoy my hiking trips down your way. Too many trail, not enough time. :)

said hikerhead 7 months 18 days ago