PAW Photography Gallery

Photoshop Sports Template: Soccer Star 1

2008-05-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

Only $3.00USD

Photoshop Sports Template: Soccer

2008-05-20T08:39:00.003-07:00

Download for only $3.00USD

Photoshop Template: Football star 1

2008-05-20T08:36:00.000-07:00

Only $3.00USD

Photoshop Template: Football

2008-05-20T08:31:00.000-07:00

Only $3.00USD

Photoshop Template: Basketball Star 1

2008-05-20T08:28:00.000-07:00

Download for only $3.00

Photoshop Template: Basketball

2008-05-20T08:25:00.001-07:00

Download for only $3.00

Photoshop Template: Baseball

2008-05-20T08:21:00.000-07:00

Download for only $3.00USD

Free Photoshop Template of the week

2008-05-20T08:14:00.000-07:00

Click here for your free download: http://www.mediafire.com/?4o1l91pl2yg

Photoshop Sports template: Baseball 1

2008-05-20T08:00:00.001-07:00

Only $3.00USD

Save yourself time and energy designing Photoshop templates. All my templates are in saved in layered PSD format at 300 dpi 8x10 and can be used with any program that supports PSD files. Since the layers are editable, you can change the colors, fonts, and resize the template for a different purpose. The possibilities for use are unlimited!!

The templates are very easy to use. Simply drag and drop your image in the provided spaces, personalize the text and you’re done. Photographers, scrapbookers, parents will love these. You will save time, and produce a professional looking Photo.

Free template

2008-05-17T10:57:00.000-07:00

Click here to download: http://www.mediafire.com/?0e03zntohzh

Mother's Day Gifts From Zazzle

2007-04-17T08:43:00.000-07:00

More of my stock images

2007-03-21T12:31:00.000-07:00

© Photographer: Bpmcwill Agency: Dreamstime.com

© Photographer: Bpmcwill Agency: Dreamstime.com

© Photographer: Bpmcwill Agency: Dreamstime.com

A new collection at FeaturePics

2007-03-21T12:13:00.000-07:00

My image collection of horses at FeaturePics.com

Free Stock Images

2007-03-14T20:52:00.000-07:00

This image is available free download at 123RF

Stock Images

2007-03-14T14:08:00.000-07:00

© Bpmcwill

© Bpmcwill

© Bpmcwill

© Bpmcwill

To download non-watermarked images, click here:

Cape Lookout Lighthouse

2007-02-05T09:40:00.000-08:00

I photograph to see what things look like photographed. Gary Winogrand

Butterfly

2007-02-05T09:26:00.000-08:00

To some an extremely sharp picture may be positively painful, for it will perhaps disturb and break the train of thought, whereas a less-defined one would allow the mind to wander at its own sweet will. Frank Meadow Sutcliffe

http://www.ncmls.org/exhibits/exhibits.asp

One of my favorite places: Topsail Island, NC

2007-02-05T09:18:00.002-08:00

It is the unexpected, hit or miss, instant impulse, these strange accidents, this surrealistic serendipity, out of which great photographs are born. Carolyn Kenmore

Backlighting

2007-01-24T13:59:00.000-08:00

More flowers

2007-01-24T13:54:00.000-08:00

Hostas

2007-01-24T13:49:00.000-08:00

Tree tunnel

2007-01-24T13:45:00.000-08:00

Orchids

2007-01-24T13:36:00.000-08:00

Irises

2007-01-24T13:26:00.000-08:00

Perspective

2007-01-24T13:23:00.000-08:00

Spring

2007-01-24T13:20:00.000-08:00

Fall's Color

2007-01-24T13:18:00.000-08:00

Complimentary colors

2007-01-24T13:16:00.000-08:00

Red Barn

2007-01-24T13:13:00.000-08:00

Sunset Glow

2007-01-24T13:08:00.000-08:00

Windmill

2007-01-24T13:06:00.000-08:00

Yellow Iris

2007-01-24T13:05:00.000-08:00

Leaves

2007-01-24T13:00:00.000-08:00

Fern

2007-01-24T11:58:00.000-08:00

To purchase fine art prints, click
here

Buds and raindrops

2007-01-24T11:48:00.000-08:00

To purchase fine art prints, click
here

Along the Blue Ridge Parkway

2007-01-24T11:46:00.000-08:00

Cherohala Skyway

2006-12-21T09:46:00.000-08:00

The Cherohala Skyway is located in southeast Tennessee and southwest North Carolina. The skyway connects Tellico Plains, Tennessee, with Robbinsville, North Carolina, and is about 50 miles long.. The Cherohala Skyway is a wide, paved 2-laned road maintained by the Tennessee Department of Transportation and the North Carolina Department of Transportation. The elevations range from 900 feet above sea level at the Tellico River in Tennessee to over 5400 feet above sea level at the Tennessee-North Carolina state line at Haw Knob.

The road was opened and dedicated in 1996. The road has been designated a National Scenic Byway. The road cost over 100 million dollars to construct.

The Cherohala Skyway crosses through the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee and the Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina. The name “Cherohala” comes from the names of the two National Forests: “Cher” from the Cherokee and “ahala” from the Nantahala.

The Cherohala Skyway Visitor Center in Tellico Plains, Tennessee, is a product of a grant from the National Scenic Byway program. The visitor center was opened in September 2003 and is owned by Monroe County, Tennessee. Management of the visitor center is in partnership with the US Forest Service, Monroe County, Tellico Plains, and the Cradle of Forestry Interpretive Association. The gift shop in the visitor center is a “not-for-profit” gift shop.

Maintenance of resources along the Cherohala Skyway is by the highway departments of the appropriate state and/or the US Forest Service.

The Cherokee and Nantahala National Forest through which the Cherohala Skyway traverses are managed by the US Forest Service, Department of Agriculture.

http://www.westernncattractions.com/cherohal.htm

Overgrowth

2006-12-21T09:33:00.000-08:00

Wild Ponies of Shackleford Banks

2006-12-21T09:30:00.000-08:00

Sunning Reptile

2006-12-21T09:26:00.000-08:00

Hummingbirds

2006-12-20T10:01:00.000-08:00

One good way to enjoy the company of hummingbirds is planting a hummingbird garden. In addition to providing them a natural diet, a hummer garden is an excellent way to attract birds to your nearby feeder: since hummingbirds feed by sight on regularly-followed routes - called traplining - their inquisitive nature will quickly lead them to investigate any possible new source of food. A hummer garden is also a great way to capture the birds on film or video, and makes a much nicer backdrop for your photos than the typical plastic feeder. If you plan carefully and select a variety of plants that flower at successively later dates, you will be rewarded with happy hummers throughout the season.

Using pesticides around hummingbird plants is a very bad idea. Killing garden pests will also eliminate the small insects hummingbirds rely upon for protein. In addition, hummers might directly ingest pesticides sprayed onto flowers, which could sicken or kill the birds. Remember: if you wouldn't eat it yourself, don't feed it to a hummingbird! (Well, maybe not the bugs...)

Since hummers, like most birds, have virtually no sense of smell, the flowers that attract them tend to have little or no fragrance, apparently directing their resources instead toward high visibility and nectar production. Note also that cultivated hybrids often make much less nectar than wild strains. While you should visit your local nursery for suggestions specific to your climate and area, here are some of the best plants to consider if you're planning a hummingbird garden:

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Plants to Attract and Feed Hummingbirds
Trees and Shrubs
Azalea
Butterfly Bush (Buddleia)
Cape Honeysuckle
Flame Acanthus
Flowering Quince
Lantana
Manzanita
Mimosa
Red Buckeye
Tree Tobacco
Turk's Cap
Weigela

Vines
Coral Honeysuckle
Cypress Vine
Morning Glory
Scarlet Runner Bean
Trumpet Creeper

Flowers
Some may be annuals or perennials depending on climate.

Perennials
Bee Balm (Monarda)
Canna
Cardinal Flower
Columbine
Coral Bells
Four O'Clocks
Foxglove
Hosta
Hummingbird Mint (Agastache)
Little Cigar
Lupine
Penstemon
Yucca

Annuals
Beard Tongue (and other penstemons)
Firespike
Fuchsia
Impatiens
Jacobiana
Jewelweed
Petunia
Various Salvia species
Shrimp Plant
NOTE: Japanese Honeysuckle attracts hummingbirds, too, but it's an invasive and troublesome exotic species that's no longer recommended.

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In addition to food sources, convenient perching opportunities will make your yard more hospitable to hummingbirds, since they spend around 80% of their time sitting on twigs, leaf stems, clotheslines, etc., between feeding forays and sorties against trespassing rivals.

Another way to get hummingbirds' attention is to festoon (be tasteful, now!) your feeder with red or orange surveyor's tape, available in hardware stores. It is thought that hummers are sensitive to ultraviolet light, which these fluorescent tapes reflect in abundance. Regardless, if you hang a feeder, sooner or later a hummingbird will come to investigate; it has been conjectured that, in a given year, not a square meter of the U.S. or southern Canada goes unchecked by hummers in their relentless quest for food.

Hummingbirds get the energy they need to maintain their astonishing metabolism primarily from flower nectar and the sugar water they find at feeders (here's the recipe). For protein and other nutrients, they also eat soft-bodied insects and spiders; I like Bob Sargent's perspective: "Hummers need nectar to power the bug eating machine that they are." Think of them as miniature flycatchers, and sugar is just the fuel for getting their real nourishment. You might try setting out some overripe fruit--banana peels are good--to attract flies for your hummers. If you have developed a particularly entertaining method of providing bugs for their dining pleasure, I'd be more than happy to publish it here. :-) Meanwhile, let's talk about nectar feeders, some of which are reviewed on another page.

Choosing a Feeder
There are many imaginatively-styled hummingbird feeders available today, and they're sold in stores ranging from birding shops and garden centers to discount marts, as well as by mail order. Most feeders are made of plastic, glass, and/or ceramics. Since feeders are much too recent a development for hummingbirds to recognize instinctively as food sources, they must learn to use them, which they do from watching other hummers and though their own natural inquisitiveness. If your birds seem to prefer one style feeder over another, it's probably a simple matter of familiarity. If you change feeders, they may not feed immediately from the new one, but they will adapt; it may help to hang the old feeder, empty, next to the new one.

Any feeder can attract hummers, so perhaps the most important design feature to look for is ease of disassembly and cleaning. In this respect, the basin-style feeders are much, much better than the inverted-bottle types. I recommend the HummZinger and similar well-designed basin feeders for their ruggedness as well as their ease of maintenance. Hummingbirds will come to any feeder that holds fresh syrup, so you might as well buy one that's easy for you to keep up - if it's easy, you're more likely to do it faithfully, and that's important.

Should you buy a feeder with perches? Many photographers prefer not to use perches, because they can get better pictures of hovering birds. But hummers live at the edges of their energy envelopes, and perching saves a lot of calories. Consider that when hummingbirds feed from natural flowers, they spend very little time at any one blossom; on the other hand, they may drink from one feeder port until they are satiated, and hovering is considerably more tiring to them than normal flight. Give them a break, and provide a place for them to rest. After all, many hummingbirds spend around 80% of their time perching anyway, on twigs and leaf stems.

Location, Location, Location

Some people feel that a hummingbird feeder should not be placed close to a window unless there's a drawn curtain or blind behind it, to avoid injury from striking the glass. Other ways to alert birds that the window is not a clear flyway are to add cutouts of predatory birds, windsocks, or decorative flags (on the outside). I've never had a hummer strike my windows (although a few have been pushed bodily into the glass by aggressive territory defenders), and I have mini-blinds that seem to be a good deterrent even when tilted open.

Filling the Feeder
The sugar water we use to fill hummingbird feeders is only a supplement to the birds' natural diet. It's not necessary to buy a commercial "nectar" mix that includes additional vitamins, protein, or other substances, because the birds get all they need from the flower nectar and insects they consume. All they want from us is the quick energy they get from ordinary white cane sugar. It's just fuel for chasing bugs, and causes no known health problems in hummingbirds, whose metabolism is significantly different from humans'.

Please, do not put honey, Jell-O, brown sugar, fruit, or red food coloring in your feeder! Honey ferments rapidly when diluted with water and can kill hummingbirds. The effects of red dye have not been not scientifically tested, and it is not necessary to color the water to attract birds to your feeder. Further, there are unverified reports that red dye can cause tumors in hummingbirds; this may or may not be true, but why take the chance?

Here's the recipe for artificial nectar (syrup):
Use one part ordinary white cane sugar to four parts water.

It's not necessary to boil the water. The microorganisms that cause fermentation don't come from the water; they are transported to the feeder on hummingbird bills.

Store unused syrup in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

This mixture approximates the average sucrose content (about 21%) of the flowers favored by North American hummingbirds, without being so sweet it attracts too many insects.

Any syrup solution will spoil rapidly in warm weather and especially in direct sunlight, so strict maintenance is required (see below).

Feeder Maintenance

Cleaning

Every filling, flush the feeder with hot tap water; a bottle brush can be very helpful. Do not use soap - hummers apparently don't like the taste, but bleach will remove it if you have this problem. Visually inspect the entire feeder for black mold; a bleach soak is the best way to remove mold. Discard any unconsumed sugar water - if the birds are not emptying your feeder between cleanings, just partially refill it. If the sugar solution in your feeder turns cloudy, it's spoiled and needs to be replaced When the temperature is over 80 degrees (F), clean and refill every three or four days. Over 90°F, it might spoil in two days.

At least once a month, clean the feeder thoroughly with a solution of 1/4 cup bleach to one gallon of water. Soak the feeder in this solution for one hour, then clean with a bottle brush. Rinse well with running water and refill. Any remaining traces of bleach will be neutralized by reacting with the fresh syrup, and there's no need to air dry before refilling. Bleach is both safe and very effective.

When to Take Down the Feeder
Hummingbirds will not delay migration if a feeder is present; they are driven by forces more powerful than hunger. If you live in the southeastern U.S., leaving a feeder up might attract one of the western hummers that visit the region in small numbers every winter. The Pacific coast of the U.S. (and extreme southwestern Canada) has a population of non-migratory Anna's Hummingbirds; if a feeder is maintained over the winter, hummers will visit it year-round. Some other locations near the Mexican border also have winter populations of several hummingbird species

A Pink Rose bud

2006-12-19T12:44:00.000-08:00

A pink Rose Bud

Primary Significance: Love, Gratitude, Appreciation

Pink roses have a rich history that comes with being one of the longest existing roses known to us - in fact, pink roses have even been depicted in some of the earliest known pieces of art. When roses first began to be cultivated, the majority of them existed in various shades of pink, from the palest pink to the deepest crimson. Prior to that, pink roses were the dominant species among wild roses, and were likely among the earliest roses to evolve.

In time, discoveries of new rose species and the development of modern hybridization techniques would introduce many new colors of roses. Also introduced at this time were roses with the ability to bloom repeatedly throughout the year. This was a significant development, as earlier garden roses would typically only bloom once a year. As more colors and types of roses entered the palette, each began to take on their own meanings. So too, did the meaning of the pink rose become more refined.

Above all, roses are a symbol for love and gratitude. As the pink rose was the most prevalent among the old garden roses, it was most strongly associated with these sentiments. While different roses may have more specific meanings, these are still the underlying message of any color rose. Pink roses also now carry a connotation of grace and elegance, as well as sweetness and poetic romance. Different shades of pink also carry their own significance. Dark pink roses are symbolic of gratitude and appreciation, and are a traditional way to send a message of thanks. Light pink roses are associated with gentleness and admiration, and can also be used as an expression of sympathy.

With the many ways in which they can be used to express a range of meanings, pink roses continue to maintain their popularity. The beautiful appearance and fragrance so strongly associated with roses in general, as well as their symbolic importance, can be traced back to the pink rose. While much has changed over the years, pink roses have consistently held their place of prominence in the world of flowers. Today, pink roses enjoy their own unique position representing elegance and refinement, as well as communicating thanks and admiration. The recipient of an arrangement of pink roses is sure to feel appreciated and special.

http://www.proflowers.com

My cat

2006-12-19T12:32:00.000-08:00

Seals

2006-12-19T12:10:00.000-08:00

Seal Watching
To the oft-asked question, 'What camera or lens do you use?' I can only reply, 'I couldn't tell to save my soul--it is enough for me to know that I have something that will make pictures and that it is in working order. Edward S. Curtis

Minolta Maxxum 7D
Shutter: 1/300
F/Stop: 5.0
Lens focal Length: 70mm
ISO :400

A Pair of seals

Minolta Maxxum 7D
Shutter: 1/500
Aperture: 5.0
Lens focal length: 70mm
ISO: 400

New neighbor

2006-12-18T15:52:00.000-08:00

Camera: Minolta Maxxum 7D
Shutter: 1/250
Aperture: 9.0
ISO 200
Lens focal length: 300 mm

The good photographer will produce a competent picture every time whatever his subject. But only when his subject makes an immediate and direct appeal to his own interests will he produce work of distinction... Bill Brandt

Lightening over the Atlantic Ocean

2006-12-18T15:33:00.000-08:00

Everything is a subject. Every subject has a rhythm. To feel it is the raison d'etre. The photography is a fixed moment of such a raison d'etre, which lives on in itself. Andre Kertesz

Camera: Minolta Maxxum 7D
Shutter speed: 10 secs
Aperture: 3.5

The bright light on the right is from a spot light on the roof of the hotel, which draws the seabirds-- the white specks

In memory: Tia

2006-12-18T15:22:00.000-08:00

Camera: Sony CD Mavica
Exposure time: 1/40sec
f/stop: 3.9
ISO 200

My best pictures are always taken when I succeed in establishing a bond of sympathy with my sitter. Doris Ulman