Photo Slop: Yes, I have used my new camera: just baby steps, slowly learning the ins and outs. To do so I did a bit of a wander around the greater Dexter, MI area to get into the swing of things. I was surprised at how rural this area still is. It kind of inspired me to go for a rural rustic starkness, but I never quite achieved it. For your perusal (most of these are around 400K):

• [pic] A cropped shot of a huge transformer complex just down the road. I like all the detail that was picked up with such clarity.


• [pic] A train came barreling toward me. If I was clever I would have a better idea how to get a sense of the movement.


• [pic] The same pic halftoned in Photoshop.


• [pic] A self-portrait (sort of) in the woods.


• [pic] Testing for close-up detail. This is just moss on a big rock, but it made me think of the impeding spring thaw.


• [pic 1][pic 2] This is a granary about halfway between Dexter and Chelsea (the first city to the west). I have driven past it several times and it always stands out as a striking site in the middle of farmland. I doubt I have done it justice.


• [pic] This is just the wooded area and stream abutting a municipal park about half a mile from my home. The browns and grays in this picture are the characteristic Midwest colors once winter takes hold. In a month or two, it'll be so green and thick you can't see through it.


• [pic] This is the Old Mill in downtown (so to speak) Dexter. Rustic.


• [pic] Same pic in black and white and aged somewhat by Photoshop. Not quite the early twentieth century feel I wanted to get.


• [pic] Lonely corn silos. Again not exactly the stark rural scene I had hoped for.


• [pic] A beat up old cart in someone's backyard.


• [pic] Same pic in sepia.


• [pic 1] [pic 2] Two shots of a big old tree backlit by the afternoon sun. My old point-and-shoot would have gacked on this.

More to come, I'm sure.