Your cell phone photos might look good on your screen and as small prints, but blow them up to an 8x10 or larger and you will be disappointed unless you shot in a perfect light. Believe me, there are precious few 'perfect lights' in life and when you come across one, it can be gone faster than you can find your phone.

A good camera and a zoom lens may be your best bet if you are interested in taking some lasting photos. You can always find a good deal on used cameras and the Internet is full of free photography lessons.

The moral of the story first: Always have an arsenal of camera gear in your passenger seat and your press pass around your neck. I was stopped for doing 55 in a 35 after this officer shot me with radar. Also, I was not wearing a seatbelt. After he properly scolded me, he handed me a warning. He was a real sport when I asked him to hold up the radar gun so I could get it in the photo. Kudos to the good cops out there. 

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Nothing better than a beach fire on an empty beach. Too hot for these Dog 'Days' but just right for nights when the wind brings a gentle chill to your bones. Grab a beer, dig up some mussels and clams, and forgot about hundred-degree days.

If you are in Washington DC, don't forget to visit the National Museum of American History. Check out the 3rd floor for the "Price of Freedom" exhibit. You will see this baby there. You can see more photos  at: www.aurbie.com/about-aurence.html

Landing at National Mall.  Aurence is shown in tan jacket. He painted the artwork shown on door after she landed in our backyard. The famous White Dog, along with several other icons that appear in all of Aurence's works, can be seen on the door. For full story click on above link.

 Dogs are easy. Cats, not so much. They belong to a secret club, it seems. When you see a photo op they almost certainly reorganize their bodies by the time you get back with the camera.

The best advice I can give is to always keep a camera handy and make sure you have a good light before snapping. A cat is going to be sleepy-eyed when it wakes up, and there is usually a stretch and/or yawn that follows. If you are shooting with a camera phone you may get some movement unless you have great light. 

The best time to capture your beauty is shortly before he winks out, or is engaged in watching something that interest him enough to be bright-eyed but sleepy enough to not want to get up to investigate.

Look for bright eyes, relaxed poise, and good light. Catch a cat when he is in deep thought.

In this photo, Skipper is getting ready for his afternoon nap but the birds have peaked his interest. He is distracted long enough to give a quick glance towards the camera. Notice that he has a lovely light falling on his face, which is what prompted me to grab my camera. I took this with a telephoto lens.

There was no great light on Khaleesi but her pose were perfect, and there was just enough light to bring out her blue Siamese eyes. Like Skipper, she was also contemplating a nap. She was in such deep thought she paid the camera no attention. I submitted this photo to the 2018 Workman's 365 Day Calendar. She won first place which make her the January 1 calendar cat.

I was organizing some photos and this one cooled me off. 2015 was the hottest on record until 2016 came along. It looks like 2017 is going to beat 2016. If you are sweltering like we are in the South, I hope this cools you off.

Before heading to a fancy dress ball, we donned our 2017 party favors and snapped a photo. Here's hoping that 2017 is a good and prosperous year for all our friends,  collectors, and followers. We so enjoy your emails. Thank you for your kind words and support of Aurence's work over the past 38 years.

We both stay busy with our art and other projects that seem to consume our time in a most constructive and lucrative way. The time we allow for  leisure is spent chilling with friends and reading or watching a movie or getting lost in a VR game.    

We are big fans of foreign films, film noir, documentaries, and daily newspapers. I seldom read fiction books unless they border on the lines of Truman Capote, John Steinbeck, or my favorite - Jack Kerouac . I like my words real.  I do enjoy poetry. Hubby likes a good war novel, natural for a Vietnam Marine door gunner.

I am a student of the Great Depression and the early Wobbly unions. My hubby and I both enjoy live theater and musicals. Death of a Salesman and Miss Saigon are examples. We both hate reality TV, news TV (if you want to call CNN, FOX News, and MSNBC news) anything with commercials, and so-called 'entertainment' shows.

Our TV viewing is restricted to Game of Thrones (it will be missed), Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and PBS specials, including shows like Frontline. We do indulge  in PBS shows like Miranda and reruns of Keeping up Appearances. We have Netflix on our Roku if we want to watch a movie or documentary. Netflix has some great docs and foreign films. And of course, we watch TPB.

Hubby enjoys college football. Thankfully he can Tivo a game, begin watching 45 minutes into it, push through the commercials and watch the live ending. Oh, and call me insane but I Tivo SNL. It is a forty-one year habit I can't break. I think I keep hoping the ghosts of the likes of Chase, Aykroyd,  Belushi' and Radner will be resurrected. I am always disappointed, though their openers are usually spot-on in mimicking current affairs.  Thankfully, I can watch the opener and fast-forward to the skits that look funny and trash the rest  without loosing  valuable time.

​I seem to be making excuses here for the above photo. Why would two picky people who can't wait for Hamilton to play in Atlanta go see the Trailer Park Boys? Our fondness for the TPB is something I can't explain, really.

​Sometimes in 2005, our son, a sci-fi fan and computer geek, and another picky person when it comes to his TV shows, told us to watch Trailer Park Boys on BBCA. Even though we had a Tivo at the time, commercials made us reluctant to tune in.  I can't emphasize how much we hate  commercials.

​"Just watch the show," our son appealed to us. We did.

​The 'show' consisted of re-runs of the popular Canadian show that had won comedy awards. At first, it was hard to watch because every other word was bleeped out and we came in on the middle of the run, but "the boys" soon won us over. It was sad to see them leave BBC but in 2009 or 2010 Direct TV ran the entire series without the bleeps. Again, we came in on the middle of the run but we enjoyed the boys just as much as we had the first time. They left us once more but were born again with Netflix  not only giving them several more seasons, but running the entire series.

​At first, TPB may seems like it appeals to the pot smoking, binge drinking, youth of the world. And maybe they do,  but we found something not too many people see, and if they do, they don't realize it - I like to think of it as simplicity, so rare in today's living.

​Each season has the boys going about doing petty crime, growing and smoking pot, getting drunk, eating chicken fingers, and trying to avoid the alcoholic trailer park supervisor and his shirtless big-bellied assistant, who it turns out, are gay. We both get a kick out of watching Supervisor Lahey perform his 'drunk' act. Few people know he is a trained Shakespearean actor. At the end of each series, the boys end up going back to jail for petty crimes, enjoying jail, but vowing to change their lives when they get out. It is kind of like watching the movie Groundhog Day.

​In fairness, I have to say, the first few seasons were the best. The old trailer park scenes were classic, nothing seemed rushed, and no one was in a hurry. It  seems that fame has projected a try-too-hard atmosphere on the newer shows. Some of the characters we loved have either died or moved on, but the boys are still the boys and Mr. Lahey and Randy are still out to get them.

​The boys may have reached too far in too short a time with their own channel Swearnet and a movie that broke the Guinness Book of World Records for the most swear words (not fans of that because the boys were out of character) and of course, they are  now touring and even have a new show running on Netflix - Out of the Park (not fans of that because they are outta the park, but in character, so still funny to those of us who know them).

​Anyone tuning into TPB on Netflix should start with the early shows and not get discouraged if the first few episodes seem a little strange. It is a mockumentary. Bubbles does not really catch on well until the second season, and by season 3, if you are still around, you will be hooked, so hooked, in fact, when you finish all the seasons, you may feel compelled to  start over. Sometimes, at the end of a busy day, when we don't want to invest time in a movie, or don't feel like reading,  it is nice to turn on Netflix and catch the next episode of TPB for a good twenty-something minute laugh. Just listening to Ricky 'pur-nounce' his words is a hoot; and just how does Julian keep that glass of rum, always in his hand, from spilling, even when they topple in a vehicle?

​Once you get to season 8, you start seeing the trying-too-hard,  but by then, you are hooked and just look for the familiar in the characters. By season 10, you only want it to be over, so you can go back to the way things were. Tom Arnold? Really?

​So, for the sake of the viewers and long-time fans, I hope the boys get back to the basics of doing the little things that made us laugh and love them. We don't need tacos or senior citizens (of which I am one), or new park supervisors, or even motels out of the park.  

​The park, boys. Fixing carts, ganking groceries, keeping the 'rakens' out of the weed, drinking salad dressing, playing street hockey, carting a lifeless Ricky on the back of the go-cart. That's why we love you.  And  bring back Conky.  I think Bubbles said it best in an early episode, "If it ain't broke..."

​And please, give us another Christmas special.

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​I was taking photos, a long time ago with another photographer. It was one of those weekend photo trips we often did when not shooting our little fingers off for the newspaper. We whizzed by an abandoned country store, slammed on the brakes, and spilled out of the car, gear in tow, with all the excitement of school kids when they reach the beach.

​We split up and began shooting everything we could find. There was no one on the site but the two of us. There wasn't a home or person in sight, just the cars that sped  up and down the ambling Georgia road, taking no notice of us.

​I developed the film about a week later. As the print was coming to life in the tray I began to see the face of a man in the window pane. It was clear to see, when the print was dry, that the man had a beard and was wearing sunglasses and a hat. Closer inspection revealed a white shirt and possibly a dark overcoat.

​We all marveled at the photo for awhile; everyone had their own opinion of what it was, or who, and of course, how the image came to be on the photo. After the new wore off, the photo ended up in my huge collection of b/w photos, mostly forgotten except when I ran across it while looking for something else. The last time that happened it I pulled it and placed it inside my desk, telling myself I would locate the negative and have an expert ghost hunter look at it.

​Since it is Halloween, I thought I would post, and get some viewer opinions. I swear, this photo was never altered to include a ghost. I remember it was a cloudy day but very warm so even if someone had happened to walk up from behind me out of nowhere he would not have been wearing a winter coat. And as a photographer, I am always aware of my surroundings so sneaking up to be a reflection and disappearing with no trace, would have been impossible. 

​The photo is un-retouched, even the dust specks and scratches on the negative can clearly be seen.  I  ran it through the scanner so some clarity is lost. Do you see the man in the leaning window pane?

​If anyone wants to eyeball the negative, I will be happy to locate it. This has been a mystery to me for many years and I would love to know who the man was - in his living life.  So, Ghost Hunters, let's solved this mystery and find out who the ghost could be.

​Happy Halloween.

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I know a lot of good photographers who never take photos of people because they are afraid to approach strangers. To that I say, "Never pass up a photo you want." These photos are to show you that if I can take photos like these, you can take a photo of people doing everyday things. Never be afraid.

​The above photo, along with those shown  at the end of this article (all scanned from silver gelatin prints), were taken while on assignments. I didn't have to take these photos but I knew they would make good material. Getting them was easy as asking. I can only remember a few occasions over thirty years where people did not want their photos taken. Some people are camera shy but it is always worth a try to approach people. I have found that most people are open to having their photos taken with a  'real' camera even, if like the people in these photos, they know they will never see themselves in print. The iPhone is another sort of animal. People may think you are up to no good.

​I love street photography and have taken my share - thousands of photos are hiding in  un-scanned negatives and slides and on my computer, waiting to be discovered. One day, they will all be sorted and posted. I hope.

​If you are interested in photography, don't neglect life. That flower will be there for awhile,  the deer will always return, and the mountain...well, the mountain ain't going nowhere. Record life as it happens and you will make for a much better photographer and won't bore people with your people-less photos. Just kidding. I love your vacation photos of waterfalls and buildings.

If you read my previous you may remember I talked about newspapers wanting before, during, and after photos of storms. The below photo was taken after a flood. It made the front page of my newspaper and  the Associate Press 'top-ten photos of the day'  list.

​I can't emphasis the importance of evacuating before a hurricane hits your area. I have been in several hurricanes, dating back to Gloria in 1985. It was only a category 1, but it was enough for me to learn to respect the power of nature.

It was always one of my assignments to photograph weather-related events. News photographers are expected to cover blizzards, flooding, high winds, extreme heat and cold, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Newspapers call them 'weather shots.'

In getting those shots, I have photographed from my own vehicles, rode in the backs of pick-ups, hitched rides with law officials and the National Guard, and sometimes used my own 2 feet to walk a weather related event. Newspapers want the entire story, from people shuttering windows, emptying grocery store shelves to the  after-effects of the storm. They also want  those up-close and personal photos of the weather, and that can be challenging when it comes to hurricanes. Knowing when to leave an area is a skill you gain with experience.

With the explosion in cell phones, I have seen people doing some dangerous things to get photos to send to their local newspapers and TV stations. Don't. There is no 'safe' when you are at the mercy of the weather and an inexperienced person could be risking their lives in certain situations. Hurricanes are the worst because of downed power lines that could electrocute you and flooding that could trap you in your car.

If you don't adhere to warnings and decide not to leave your home, and are in a truly safe place, go ahead and take photos, but know that the window you're standing at could be blown apart at any time. The same goes for a tornado.

I hope people are heeding the warnings about evacuations. If you have nowhere to go, call the Red Cross or your local law enforcement office, or check with a nearby church.

Many times, during a hurricane, I have had to pack up my cameras and head home or to the nearest 'safe' location. You need to remember that if you decide to stay and the weather worsens no one will come for you.  Even the National Guard will leave a dangerous area if the weather dictates. There will no EMS, no fire personal, and no law officials until conditions are safe.

As for photographing a hurricane, the media pays people to do that job. Don't put yourself in danger for 2 seconds worth of fame.

I always enjoyed taking voting photos for newspapers but early deadlines meant I had to shoot and scoot, so I usually went for something generic like the above photo.

​The 2016 election is an oddball, to say the least, but it is important that everyone vote. I am going to step out of a photographer's role here (we aren't allowed to have opinions) and say that I don't believe the voting process is fair. I believe the actual mechanical process  is fair (aside from the hacking aspect), but I have had to shoot a lot of re-counts, something the general public  usually doesn't get to witness, with the exception of hanging chads in Florida, but how can it be fair if some states give ample days for voting and some only allow one-day voting? The weather, especially up north, can play havoc with turnout.

​In states like Georgia, you have no excuse not to vote. Look at all the days you have to choose from. States with one-day voting laws are doing no service to its citizens or, in the case of an important election year, the country. We all suffer when states get to make their own voting rules in presidential elections. And don't get me started on delegates and super-delegates.  Why not one person = one vote?

Reporters have made the top of the 'Worst Jobs in America' list 3 years in a row.  The pest control man who brings us poison ranks better than the newspaper reporter who gives us our daily dose of knowledge. There is some humor to be found in that statement but I will move on.

​I wondered how photojournalists faired on the 'worst jobs' list and could only find a study from 2013 that said photojournalists ranked 188, right below dishwasher. Um? Well, better than being next to the bug man.

It is only fair to say that the decline in newspapers has caused the layoff of thousands of employees, and reporters have sometimes been stuck with the job of taking photos. Most reporters only have point and shoot skills and newspapers know that only a photographer can spot a bad photograph, so newspaper writers sometimes have to do the job of 2 people. I was lucky  that I retired before my newspaper started layoffs.

​Still, I loved my job. My only complaints were deadlines (the nemeses of both reporters and photographers), dealing with people who were ill-prepared for my arrival, and the weather (my last hurricane assignment took out my Nikon strobe).

​When it came to weather, I think I hated the heat most of all.  While on  2 separate assignments I turned my camera to my fellow photographers who were trying to keep themselves and their cameras cool. The heat index on both occasion was well above 100.

Fall is here but it still feels like August. Climate change?