The Grandcat

This is my son's cat - Haz Mat. He's a great cat with a cool laid back disposition that's required when you share the house with a five-year old boy and a 95 pound black lab.

Canon 5D Mark II, 1/15 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 1600. This was a low light photo with no flash that demonstrates the Canon 5D Mark II's high ISO low noise capability along with Canon lens based image stabilization.

The Well-Behaved Liriope

My liriope muscari is full of tall purple blooms this year. Often refered to as the well-behaved liriope because it is the “clumping” kind that does not spread by runners and basically stays where you put it. It shares all the good qualities of the spreading kind — incredible toughness and adaptability — without the invasive behavior. My green-and-white variegated variety of this plant brightens up the borders in my shady backyard. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/125 sec @ f/6.3, ISO 800, 100mm macro, one LED Litepanel for illumination.

Beach Boy

What's better than a handful of wet sand? Two handfuls! — Robert at Sandbridge Beach on a glorious late afternoon in September. Canon G1X, 1/1250 sec @ f/7.1, ISO 100.

Jefferson "Beak" Howell

Lieutenant General Jefferson "Beak" Howell addressed the 2012 Commonwealth of Virginia's Innovative Technology Symposium (COVITS), the state's forum for collaboration and participation in government technology. His topic, Lessons in Leadership, is taken from his long career in the United States Marines and as director of NASA's Johnson Space Center. He had only been on the job at NASA seven months when the Space Shuttle Columbia was lost during a return to earth.
Hosted by Jack Mortimer, National Conference Director Government Technology magazine General Howell discussed he leadership lessons from his long career and shared what has become known as “Beak's Rules of Leadership”:

1. Never stereotype your subordinates; give them the attention and respect they rate as individuals.
2. People normally live up to your expectations of them.
3. Never underestimate the effect that you as a leader have on your subordinates.
4. Let your people do their job.
5. To be a good leader, you must be an effective manager.
6. Where you sit determines what you see.
7. Things are never as good or as bad as first reported.
8. Don't argue with an idiot.

Canon G11, 1/15 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 800.

Steel Curtain

This steel curtain is simply a decorative treatment in the elevator at the Hilton Hotel at Short Pump in Richmond, Virginia. Canon G11, 1/15 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 800

Night Insulator

An electric power line insulator backlit by the full moon. Canon 7D, 1/640 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 400, 560mm focal length.

Watermelon

As summer winds down the watermelons are still coming in strong. Watermelons are believed to have originated in southern Africa but evidence shows they were cultivated in China as early as the 10th century. Today China is the world's single largest watermelon producer. A watermelon contains about 6% sugar and 92% water by weight and is a good source of vitamin C. Canon T2i, 1/200 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 400, 40mm prime "pancake" lens.