Happy New Year everyone!

We’ve reached back into the archives for my old friend The Tree – number 56 to be specific – to kick off 2012. It’s moodiness quite describes our experiences in Central Illinois so far this winter, er, extended autumn. No snow. Just moodiness.

We’ve also returned the calendar object to the lower right-hand corner, where it will stay for this entire year. Or else. Also – you’ll notice the mobile versions have been reduced to just one – the full-size iPad version. That’s what I’ve been using on my Android phone at any rate – and just cropping to my heart’s content. Too many platforms with too many slightly different sizes out there to worry about. Just download and crop to YOUR heart’s content from now on.

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I could go on about how the December 2011 Desktop Calendar is my favorite shot from my recent trip to Utah – how it was so beautiful and awesome and inspiring. I could talk about that but I’m already assuming you’ve tuned out. You’re angry. I can tell. You know how I can tell? I can tell because I had to make a difficult decision and while making that decision I wondered aloud how many people I would piss off with this month’s calendar. The answer was obvious – both of you…

No no – it’s because I moved the little calendar object. It’s more graphically viewable against the dark rock in the upper right-hand corner than the rushing water in the lower right-hand corner. Que sera! Deal with it. Both of you!

So this month we take you to the foot of Wall Street – an amazing canyon area in the Zion Narrows on the Virgin River of southern Utah’s Zion National Park. And it really is beautiful, awesome, and inspiring… and it comes in one of eight sizes. Enjoy – more Utah to come in the next months!

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In case you haven’t been following the passage of time here in Central Illinois, the corn and beans are all gone and the fields are empty. And while that has indeed happened, it doesn’t mean we can’t find some lovely color for you in the winter resting places around the small towns that make it all happen – like the co-op grain elevator and dryer just outside of Tremont, IL, that’s featured on this month’s calendar.

And we’re a day late because I just got back from calendar shopping – visiting four of the five national parks in Utah over the last week. Stops at Arches, Bryce, Capitol Reef, and Zion took me from the beginning of the alphabet to the end in search of more calendar shots… so onwards and upwards until they grace this spot.

So feel free to partake in one of eight sizes – and take in the delightful month of November down on the farm…

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It isn’t often I pull out a cityscape. In fact I can’t even remember – this may be a first. Chicago’s lovely Millennium Park features this lovely sight – Anish Kapoor’s “Cloudgate” – which is also affectionately known as “The Bean”. What a great deal of fun – as it throws back every warm feeling sent its way. The place just makes you smile. As a photographer, I return there again and again because there’s always something a little different about it. And even though this image was made back on a warm June day, just three days before the start of summer – I think the mood is entirely appropriate to a little October cooling off.

So feel free to partake in one of eight sizes – and take in the delightful month of October in the Windy City…

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It was just a year ago that I ventured down to the Smoky Mountains on the North Carolina/Tennessee border for a photographic field trip with some friends. But there were alternative plans in my mind. Alternative plans that led to a return trip this month as Ann Conver and I take eight photographers to the Smokies for a long weekend of great image making. Can’t wait to go back.

This month’s picture is from “The Sinks”, a lovely little waterfall on the Tennessee side of things – on the road to Cade’s Cove. We arrived at the Sinks in the last minutes of the day as light was fading fast. We had to scramble across a few rocks to line up this view but we were kindly rewarded. The image is actually a full-color image; there just isn’t much light left to keep it from looking like a simple black and white. Gonna be nice to see it again so soon.

So feel free to partake in one of eight sizes – and take in September in the Smokies…

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August – a month of … mystery? Consider this, from our good friends at Wikipedia: “This month was originally named Sextilis in Latin, because it was the sixth month in the original ten-month Roman calendar under Romulus in 753 BC, when March was the first month of the year. About 700 BC it became the eighth month when January and February were added to the year before March by King Numa Pompilius, who also gave it 29 days. Julius Caesar added two days when he created the Julian calendar in 45 BC giving it its modern length of 31 days. In 8 BC it was renamed in honor of Augustus, who did not take a day from February”. How’s that for a history lesson?

Well August may have been knocked around a bit down the years, but you can count on it for it’s role in the official Dog Days of Summer. And we are definitely there. It doesn’t get any more doggish than August (and yes – I just made up a word). So to alleviate the bow-wows, I take you to the top of a gentle sand dune, at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore just east of Chicago. The wonderful sanctuary – in the midst of so much industrial development – quietly erodes your misgivings. Whatever you’ve heard about Indiana Dunes – well – it’s gorgeous. So put your feet up for a few weeks and rest in a summer breeze by the lakeshore. Take a deep breath – it’s all gonna work out.

So feel free to partake in one of eight sizes (yes – the old-style Blackberry is now gone) – and survive August with a nice breeze…

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So here we are on my 30th Desktop Calendar – two-and-a-half years – and it never once occurred to me to tell people what you are supposed to do with these things. I just assumed everyone knew. That’s not the case as I came to discover this past month (thanks Mom!).

So let me explain it. This monthly image is a stand-in for your computer background for 30 or so days. Whatever you’ve got there now – this image is going to replace it. You get a pretty photograph taken by yours truly and a little calendar down in the corner so you can easily refer to which day is which.

How do you install it? You click on the link that is closet to the resolution of your monitor. If you aren’t sure how to find that – there are about a million ways – dependent on your computer/OS/monitor. But let me make it SUPER easy for you. Click on this link. BAM! How easy was that? Real easy (unless it miserably failed – then not so easy; get busy on Google). But if it was easy and the magic numbers show up on your screen, come back here and see if the exact numbers are here. If they are – click on that link. If they are not here – find a link that is slightly larger than your numbers. Click on THAT link. Either way a photo shows up on the screen. If you’re using a browser like Firefox, Opera, or Safari (or gasp! Internet Explorer – and if you’re using IE 6 or earlier just give up now. Shame on you. Upgrade that OLD warhorse. Now. IE8 for Windows XP, IE9 for Windows 7) then just right-click (or CTRL-Click for Mac-types) on the image and select the choice that says something akin to “Save as Desktop Background”. That’s it – you’re done. If you’re using the same browser I am – the remarkably awesome Chrome browser, then curse for a moment that this is the ONE thing they haven’t figured out yet. In that case you’ll have to right-click (or CTRL-Click for Mac-types) and save the image – and then do another right/CTRL-click on your desktop to get Display properties so you can tell your CPU to use the image you just saved – if only you remembered where you saved it. C’mon Chrome – can’t we have this like tomorrow? (EDIT: Here’s a quickie little video on how to do it in just one extra step)

You can also get a monthly image for your iPad, iPhone and/or Android phone, and the good ‘ol-fashioned/old school Blackberry. I keep the Blackberry around, even though I upgraded my phone to something from this century, for my friend Alissa in Kentucky. If she would upgrade her phone I could take that link down.

So after all that – I’m pretty darn tired when it comes to story-telling on this image but I try. This lovely sunrise over North Carolina was taken from the wondrous Newfound Gap in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park last September. From the same basic spot in one morning we started with this, moved to this, and finished with what you see above. That’s the magic of the Smokies for you. I’m excited to be taking a workshop group down there this September – it’s gonna be a blast.

So feel free to partake in one of nine sizes – and enjoy that summer…

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If you live in Central Illinois, you came to the realization over the Memorial Day weekend that the distance between spring and summer is about one day. We went from cool and rainy on Sunday to hot and muggy on Monday. Every bug that was hiding in Central Illinois appeared last night. Oh yes – welcome to summer in the Heartland.

To postpone that feeling for a few days, I take you this month out to Yellowstone National Park – where roads are still closed and snow still reigns. This image was made on my last day in the park in June of 2010. The vistas in the park are just outstanding – for a park known for so many other things. This view – between Tower Junction and Canyon Junction – was found on a very early morning drive to see the waterfall near Tower. Just lovely.

So feel free to partake in one of nine sizes – and work to keep the heat and humidity away for at least 30 days…

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Welcome to real spring. The kind where it rains day-after-day and the rivers all get ready to flood. Where it will be weeks before the farmers get their fields planted. I think May, more then March – at least in Illinois, comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb – but that could just be me.

And where are we taking you this month? Well – for the second time since calendars have been re-invented by me, we take you across the Atlantic. The destination this month? The Top of the Rock in Gibraltar. Gibraltar has been a British territory for a few hundred years, sticking off the end of Spain like a sore thumb. And somehow 30,000 people are crowded into tiny space at the bottom of the Rock, while some 250 Barbary Macaques – the only monkeys present in Europe – hold the high ground. This pleases the tourists in spite of the fact that they have EVERYTHING stolen from them by monkeys who can seriously kick your ass and still look cute.

So enjoy your view from the middle of the saddle. It’s about 1,000 meters to the end and another 1,500 to the runway that pierces the island (which stops traffic for all takeoffs and landings). After that – go a little further and the rest is all the southwest corner of Spain… Anyways – here you go – help yourself to one of the few, the proud, the May Desktop!

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We move from a famous national park in the southeast to a famous iconic monument in the American West. Yes – welcome to Devil’s Tower, Wyoming. Over the years I’ve spent a lot of time in Wyoming – heck I lived there for 10 years so that qualifies – and the beauty of the state never fails to amaze me. I love it! And Devil’s Tower is one of the most unique things in the state. Photographically, this was a good time – if you consider we got there about a half-hour short of sunset and it was cloudy. And it was raining. But the Longhorn steer, standing in front of this wonderful scene cried out to me for a shot. While my lovely wife stayed dry in the car, I wandered out to the fence line with camera, tripod, and umbrella. I got just a few shots before the cow turned to the Tower – showing me his less desirous side. I was pretty wet (the umbrella was for the camera – not me) and there were more shots to explore so – enjoy what I was able to bring back:

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After a very moody wintery sunset on the Mackinaw River for February, I decided to be a little more optimistic for March. Combine that with last fall’s trip to the Smoky Mountains and we get a wonderful sunrise over Newfound Gap looking into North Carolina. Now THAT – that is the way to start March! I was so enamoured of the sunrise that morning that I eventually made a couple of images that morning. This was the middle image – you’ll see the last image made on the trip as a calendar page later this year. Until then enjoy this mid-sunrise shot. And get your money’s worth with one of these nine romantic sunrise sizes:

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Welcome to February everyone. As we wait out the big Snowpocalypse of 2011, the big Snowtorious B.I.G. – I wanted to gift you with a more gentle take on winter. Hanging out on the very same Mackinaw River for the second month – albeit a few miles further downriver this time – I give you a peaceful repose of a winter’s day at sunset. It’s only 28 days to March – and you know what March has in it – doncha? It has more snow and stuff… but eventually it has spring. And that can’t be all bad.

Enough is enough – just go to it would ya – in one of nine designer sizes. Don’t see a size you want? TOUGH! Suck it up. I can’t help it if I have an old Blackberry… Either that or let me know what you’d like to see. Oh – and before you go – I’ll stick you with a quote from Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale* to take you out:

When daffodils begin to peer,
With heigh! the doxy over the dale,
Why, then comes in the sweet o’ the year;
For the red blood reigns in the winter’s pale.
The Winter’s Tale, 4. 2

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* – just so you know, the Illinois Shakespeare Festival is doing The Winter’s Tale this summer, along with Romeo & Juliet, and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). Great Shakespeare – tickets are on sale now.

For all of you who are procrastinating and haven’t fully gotten on board that not only is it a new month but it’s also a new year – well welcome to the January 2011 Desktop Calendar – made entirely for you.

Winter in Central Illinois often presents itself in unusual ways (hello tornado warnings on New Year’s Even – nice!). Morning fog along the Mackinaw River in southern Tazewell Country is certainly one of the ways we try to be unique here in the Midwest. So climb on board the 2011 bandwagon and queue yourself up for this and 11 other desktop calendars – and have a great and wonderful new year!

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Ahhh Project Double Take. We barely knew yah.

Today’s presentation – an oddball in and of itself – brings the process of Project Double Take to an end. Stacy and I created this yearlong project as an excuse to make us go out and shoot more landscapes – on a deadline – and on a variety of topics. And it succeeded wonderfully. At times it was a little painful – finding something that not only met the requirements of the topic and of the layout of the image (vertical, horizontal, etc.) – but then finding the time to go out and execute it in what for me was a very busy year. But the pain is always a part of the process when too many other things in life intercede and so you learn to ignore that and work around it – and you just go out and shoot. And so we did.

And why, after 28 other presentations are we drifting back into the middle of the pack with PDT #12? Well – it’s because this little demon of a project was a stretch for us and we didn’t finish it on time. But finish it we finally did. Stacy and I are both heavily digital shooters. We shoot almost all of our work with the same camera in fact – a Nikon D300 – well-developed in this age that is in fact so very digital. The idea behind this specific project was to go analog – to pick up our dusty film cameras and push some film through them – for better or worse. We even gave ourselves a month to do it originally – but the shifting modes of film processing kicked both our butts.

On my side, I managed to shoot my images on time – it was the processing that slowed me down. I have a lovely Pentax 67 – a medium-format camera that looks like a regular SLR on steroids. I took it with me along with five rolls of ancient and expired 220 slide film when I went to Yellowstone back in June. Shot some 60 images with it and came back just days before it was due to find out that no one locally could process the film in less than 10-15 days. “Ummm Stacy – I’m gonna be late with this one,” were the first words I told Ms. Hanna after I got that news. “Good,” she said. “Good.” (but more on that in a moment). Much to my wife’s consternation I have a large box in the fridge full of rolls of film. When I shot for my previous employer in Peoria, they decided to part with their remaining stock of 120/220 film, having also been digital for years. I ended up with some of it as it was simply heading for the trash. It’s all at least 5-6 years old at this time and there’s nothing like the look of expired film – you just never know exactly what you will get – and that’s definitely part of the fun of things. So I often walked up to sites in Yellowstone with two cameras over my shoulders – and these bison – seen along the route from Canyon to Lake Valley in lovely Hayden Valley – were my chosen victims. I shot this on a lovely day, with a 3-stop grad ND filter darkening the sky somewhat, while these guys ate along the side of the road. Finding bison in Yellowstone has to be one of the easiest things to do. Photographing them just so however takes a little more work. In the end, I got the positives back and got them scanned about two weeks after the deadline – but I had it easy compared to Stacy.

Stacy shot her roll of 35mm film a few months ago and then she went a route for processing that we were both curious about – she used Mpix’s lab to do the chore. And almost her entire roll of film was unusable. We believe the camera she was using had a light leak which destroyed almost her entire roll. So she trucked back out sometime later with a different camera (a Minolta QTsi – old school) and just got it done – shooting a nice roll of images on Kodak Ektar 100 at Jubilee College State Park. The entire story is over on her blog – so check it out to see how much pain this really caused her.

And as I said – this draws PDT to a close. We had a blast shooting 29 projects in about 48 weeks. But even more fun was involving other people in the project. We created a group on flickr for PDT – and a total of 25 other folks participated to some extent – creating their own images right along side ours during each project. A total of 167 images ended up in the pool. Some played along more than other (and kudos to Maria Boy who did almost every single project right along with us – and I suspect will do them all before she gives up) but we really did appreciate every image submitted.

And believe it or not, Stacy and I have some future ideas on PDT – so after we decide how committed we are (our should be) – we’ll be back with some more news. Until then – we’ll keep shooting and we’ll urge you to keep shooting too. Good luck in 2011!

Well as the year winds down, so doeth Project Double Take.

Our 24th regular assignment (along with five special assignments) was a traditional compositional element known as Near/Far. The idea was to have a foreground object offsetting a background object. And just as the early PDT efforts were done in the snow, well we ended up back in the snow again.

For my final regular PDT image, I ventured to a spot that Stacy and I had trod back when it was warm – and very buggy. I wandered out to the McCluggage Bridge for a shot I had in mind with some wooden piers. And looking up at my shot, you can see that I went a different route (although the pillars are located just behind this old bridge pylon). This pylong has been a target for graffiti for as long as I’ve know about it. The only remaining support for a bridge over the Illinois River long gone, it juxtaposed the current bridge very nicely. The fact that “Peace is unreal” appeared on a mostly overcast day in a wonderful blue only made things more interesting. Also – I have no idea where my little jut of land ended and the river began – except that I think I was darn close a few times. But I had Goretex® shoes on so I was perfectly safe. Perfectly.

Stacy worked just a short distance up-river from me, at the Illinois Valley Yacht Club. She ventured out on their breakwater and found a little Christmas cheer with a nearby “Christmas tree” and the distant shores of Tazewell County in the background. You should of course read the much more interesting story in Stacy’s own words over on her stupendous little blog.

We’re back one more time next week – for our final reveal – with our old friend Film. C’mon back y’all.