Islands Magazine 2012 Photo Contest | Washington D.C. Travel Photographer

The 2012 Islands Magazine Photo Contest has begun! I’ll be starting to look through my images from Venice to see if I have any worth entering. The prices to enter have gone up a bit this year, but it’s not too bad. Take a look at the video describing how the judges chose the 2011 Contest Winners (including mine for Reader’s Choice!) My prize was an all-inclusive trip to Jamaica and I have my reservations for this spring! I can’t wait to go make some new island images! Hopefully I’ll be able to sort through the new images quick enough to enter some this year. And who knows, maybe it will bring another trip for next year! This is the image I entered for 2011 that won Reader’s Choice. Thanks again to everyone who voted for me! The video describes it as a sunset, but I can tell you it was definitely a sunrise! Waking up at 5:00am to drive to Lanikai from Makakilo is not something I do every day ;)

 

Sunbeams in CS5 – Before and After

I’m always looking for easy ways to enhance my images with fun tips and tricks in Photoshop. I’ve wanted to learn how to add sunbeams to images for a while, but never actually sought out a tutorial. I came across this video from The Russell Brown Show, while searching for new ideas and thought I would give it a try. This one is super easy and can really add a lot to an otherwise boring image. This was my first attempt, so I wanted to post the before and after to show the difference.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

It’s very subtle, but just enough to give it a little something extra! I’ll definitely be using this one again!

Absolute Maui is here! | Washington D.C. Travel Photographer

It’s been months now since I was first asked to submit some photographs to Douglas Peebles for a photography project he was working on. His project was an updated version of the book, “Maui on my Mind”, and he was seeking photography of all types to make this a well-rounded and beautiful book. I submitted about thirty photos and found out that about four of my images made the first cut. After several emails back and forth I was later told that all of my images were edited out and did not make the cut. At that point I was wishing that I had submitted more and was definitely disappointed, but was most of all grateful for even being afforded the opportunity in the first place and sent an email to Doug to thank him for that.

The next day I got another email from Doug saying that they were adding two pages back into the book and would be using my image of Wailua Falls from the Road to Hana. Needless to say, I was ecstatic, and could not wait to see the final product. I received my copy of the book just a few days ago and it is gorgeous! I am happy to share a few images of it here and I am so honored to be a part of this beautiful project. A special congratulations and thank you goes to my good friend and mentor, Randy Jay Braun, whose image is proudly displayed on the cover.

Absolute Maui can be found at Costco on Maui and here on Amazon.