When you add a person or people to a photo it changes the whole picture.

It allows the photo to tell a story.

If we took a photo of a piece of playground equipment like a teeter totter we would look at it and see something the children would like to play on and have fun with.

But if you add a person to the photo,

All of a sudden, we see the fun she's having, we feel the motion of the teeter totter and we can almost hear the laughter from enjoyment she's having.

The many stories are told by adding people to the photos,

Everything from Fighter pilots,

To folk singers

So just for a change let the photo tell a story and instead of just an object photo, add some people and let it talk.

I often see a lot of people from China in the blogs and just wanted to say that my thoughts and prayers are with you after the terrible quake.

Please take care.

This weekend will be Memorial weekend in the states.

It's a time to remember all of our folks that have served and are now serving in the military.

We all take it for granted what sacrifices they make for us.

The extensive training and the long hours are only magnified by the danger and the long time away from family and loved ones.

They put it all on the line for millions of people they have never met.

They are on call every hour of every day of the year to protect our lives by giving theirs if needed.

Some how saying thanks is just not enough, but most of the time they don't even get that.

Next time you see a person in uniform just walk up to them and say thanks. You can tell by ...

Some times when getting good Nature photo's I get so excited that I actually was able to sneak up on a wild animal and get a good photo that I get in a hurry to get it in to see if it will get approved.

We all know that Nature shots are a very tough category to compete in.

Now it's very hard to get one accepted because there are so many great ones already on line.

So when you do get an animal accepted give yourself every advantage and be as specific as you can be.

Here's an example.

This is a photo I was lucky enough to capture of a sharp shinned hawk with it's kill perched in a pine tree.

I could have just called it hawk in a tree and it would of been with many many other hawks.

But I took the time to look it up and found out it was a sharp shinned ...

Animals are a great subject to photograph and have even started the turn to be a good stock photo as the world looks to be a greener planet.

But please have some respect and don't touch them.

Fawns when first born have two natural defenses, they have no scent, and they can hold perfectly still.

But if you start moving them around the mother may reject them and they will die.

Of course some animals being touched could be the last photo you take.

Even little guys can be dangerous.

I knew a photographer that was moving a tropical frog around to get a good shot and became very very ill because the frog was secreting some toxins from it's skin as he was handling it.

So be respectful of nature ...