The Mighty ATM

- The automated teller machine or ATM to most Americans revolutionized banking beginning in the 1970's. One could now do banking transactions 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Prior to the advent of the ATM, bank branches closed early in the afternoon so tellers could reconcile their cash drawers and deposits before the end of the work day. The ATM changed customer service in banking as well as the livelihood of many bank employees. Will online banking, mobile devices and the debit card replace the need for cash and spell the end of the ATM? Most likely. Canon G11, 1/25 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 800.

Paddle Faster!

- Paddle Faster! I hear banjo music. Jackass Flats at the Jewish Mother in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Canon g11, 1/60 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 800, camera flash at -2 stops.

Sunflower

- A mature sunflower is actually a "flower head" (also known as a "composite flower") of 1000-2000 florets, (small flowers) crowded together. Sunflowers are the subject of famous still life paintings by the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. I really like this one called "Two Cut Sunflowers". Canon 40D, 1/1600 sec @ f/3.2, ISO 800, 50mm prime lens, overhead halogen spot supplemented by an LED Litepanel.

Take Time

- Miss Sasha reminds us to take time to smell the flowers. Both of our cats thoroughly enjoyed the new bouquet of fresh cut flowers Cindy got at the Why Not Wednesday farmer's market at Town Center in Virginia Beach. Canon G11, 1/60 sec @ f/4.5, ISO 800, on camera flash dialed down two stops.

Really W i d e

- I used my Sigma 8mm F3.5 EX DG Circular Fisheye lens for this picture from the hangar overlook facing the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk and the Vought Corsair at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. The overlook provides a sweeping view of aircraft hanging throughout the Boeing Aviation Hangar. In photography, a fisheye lens is a wide-angle lens that takes in a broad, panoramic and hemispherical image. They provide a unique, distorted appearance. Canon 7D, 1/25 sec @ f/5.0, ISO 800.

A Dandy Dandelion

- A dandy dandelion in black and white. Canon 40D, 1/640 sec @ f/5.0, ISO 400 100mm macro.

Honor System

- Took a drive out to the country - the southern part of Virginia Beach, Virginia, today and stopped at Vaughan Farms Produce stand. The stand was attended today but some days its still just the "honor system". Robert Vaughan was granted 243 acres of land in 1695 in what was then Princess Anne County. Now, over 315 years later, the Vaughans' still operate one of the oldest, continuously owned family farms in the country.