July 17, 2013

News from John D. Roach

Image Maker at

Bumming Around the World with Camera in Hand

Exhibits and Another Set of Photographic Awards

Wow!  Time flies when one is having fun in retirement.  I am delinquent in posting on this blog.  But I thought today I would bring everyone up to date on some of my activities during the past 6 months or so.  Those of you who watch me on Facebook, Flickr or my Website will know that I continue to learn photography and practice new things.

In January and February I focused on learning Portrait photography.  That definitely is not my cup of tea, but I know a lot more about it and can do it with some degree of skill now.  Jennie (first image) the daughter of my camera club friend Ellen Mann and another friend Shannon (second image) were kind enough to pose for me while I fumbled around with equipment and controls.

This learning experience was driven by the need to make sure I knew what I was doing, since a good friend of our family asked me to do their daughter's Senior Pictures.  At the end of this month, I will be doing those pictures.

In March, Joann and I went to Alaska (Fairbanks and Coldfoot) spending a lot of time well above the Arctic Circle on a Road Scholar adventure trip for two weeks.  What a wonderful time and experience. I was able to take pictures of the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) as well as other uniquely Alaskan things.  We attended lectures at the University of Alaska - Fairbanks and travel far up into the Brooks Range almost to the North Slope along the Dalton Highway.  Here are a few images from that trip.

In April I was proud to exhibit two my images at the Art Bar in Milwaukee.  They are architectural images that I had had the privilege of displaying with fellow camera club members back in October at City Hall.   The first image shows two contracting buildings (Wisconsin Gas and US Bank buildings) and the second reflects the architecture of 1876 in Milwaukee (Mitchell Building).

In April also, I entered the Annual Photography Contest at the Union League Club of Chicago.

I was delighted to win three first place blue ribbon awards in various categories (cityscape, black & white and street photography):

I also received a second place for another in the nature category

This summer I am exhibiting Milwaukee some of the above work as well as this one which I am so delighted in:

I continue on my quest of improving my fine art photography.  Here are a few:

In early June, Joann and I went to Door County for a long week-end enjoying the scenery, great dinners and some pretty good wine:

Recently I was in the Upper Peninsula Michigan.  Here are a couple of my favorite from that trips:

Finally, we enjoyed Summerfest in Milwaukee.  We went to the Eagles and Foreigner Concerts.  That was a lot of fun.  Here are two images (Foreigner first, and Eagles second) from those recent events:

Soon I will be taking a trip along the Mississippi and later this year going to Northern Arizona.  Retirement is good.

Copyright © 2013 John D. Roach