Thompson Photo Arts

Our neighbor grows crops organically and uses antique farming equipment.  Healthy eating! The sheep are ours and the wool is used for spinning and weaving.

We took friends from Germany to the Walpack Inn, beautiful drive up the Old Mine Road.

Brent Rymon and I photographed pets with the Easter bunny at Pets Supply Plus in Easton to raise money for the shelter. We raised about $650. Thanks to all the folks at the pet store and the volunteers.

Brent Rymon and I photographed Pets with Santa at the Pet Supply Plus to benefit the Center for Animal Health & Welfare in Easton, PA. With the help of the terrific Santa and Santa’s Elves we raised over $1000.

I know I posted this before but I’m posting it again because I like it. I’m really liking this type of photography.

Since my last post we went to the NYC PDN Expo at the Javits center. We attended four workshops including one presented by Joe McNally and another by Scott Kelby which were both awesome.When I go to NYC I always like to photograph reflections.

Since the seminars we (my wife and our friend Brent) photographed pets at Pet Supple Plus in Easton Pa. The pet store supplied a nice Halloween scene, a printer and all the printing paper. All money collected went to the Easton SPCA which is a no kill shelter. We sold 67 4×6 pictures, at Christmas we do about 3 times that much. I’ll post some samples in my next post.

After the pet shoot I photographed a soccer game for a friend of mine. Tried some tips from Scott Kelby but it’s not easy .

Spent a day at the Easton Garlic festival, ate a lot of garlic and had a few vinegar shots. It was a fun day. The Leigh Valley Youth association put on a really nice performance.

It’s been a slow Summer for me concerning nature photography, between the heat of the Summer and an unusually busy schedule I just haven’t been out in the Kayak. I generally don’t shoot people and especially weddings but a family member asked me to shoot a few pre-wedding pictures. At least I was out using my camera. They had a photographer for the wedding and of-course I stayed out of his way but I did get a few shots.

I generally don’t post a lot of family stuff but it was an exceptional trip and I thought I’d share some of it. We met up my cousin and his wife, from Florida, in Portland Oregon after he had run a 1/2 marathon in California. He ran another marathon in Seattle! We visited two more cousins whom we haven’t seen for half a lifetime, Mike in Eugene and Steve in Vancouver. Both really great guys and I hope we will see each other again soon. Mike is a retired commercial photographer and Steve is a professor of statistics. The trip took us through some very beautiful country.

This is a picture of Corky, the the guy that makes things work at Alexandria Airport. I put two pictures together and it gives the impression that he is right in the middle of a busy time, which he always is.

It seems like I haven’t been doing much wildlife photography lately but I have been out making pictures. I enjoy photographing horses, these are of my wife on her rescued horse. He sure ended up in a good home!

I rarely do portraits unless they are out in the environment but my camera club had a model night  so I took a couple snap shots. The young girl is a family member that just wanted a picture.

The rest are buildings around home and some from my old airport. I really miss hanging out at the airport, a lot of really good people there!

Here are some more from my trip to the photo show in NYC. Also today I photgraphed an old mill near my home. The sheep belong to my wife. As long as I’m out making some pictures I’m happy.

A good time was had by all.

I visited the airport, N-85 (Alexandria Airport) in Pittstown N.J. I kept my airplane there and learned to fly there. It’s really a beautiful airport and has received substantial renovations since I sold my plane. It was really good seeing the owners and I got to see Shannon my flight instructor, she was sure fun fly with! When I was there visiting there were were sky divers, I was told they have a very active sky diving school. I took a picture but I didn’t have a long lens with me and I was on the opposite side of the field. Although I don’t fly much any more learning to fly was one of the most exciting things I ever did. Having a good airport and and an excellent instructor sure helped boost the experience.

I have been playing with HDR photography, not sure what to think about it but I’m having fun with it. I’m posting some of my Fall color HDR’s.

Just click on an image to enlarge it.

Finally got out in the kayak, I saw a lot of wildlife and they were cooperative. My photography from the kayak needs some work which means getting out more often and practicing. It was just great being out there watching nature! Sure beats being in an office.

Just bored so I shot some flowers around the house.

I went up to the Delaware River about a week ago but is was a 16 feet, whirlpools, muddy, and huge logs floating down. To dangerous to put the kayak in so again I was stuck photographing around the farm and near by. I really need to get the kayak in the river and do some wildlife photography.

With all the rain at least the flowers are doing well.

I went for a ride and noticed some of the horses at my brothers farm. I only had a long lens with me so I did a pano. Further on my ride I came across a little Highland steer.

We went up to Walpack Inn with friends and stopped to take a couple pictures.

Once I finally get to the River I’ll get some images on the blog.

It’s really heartbreaking how many beautiful animals there are that have been abandoned and are in need of a loving family and home. Brent Rymon (www.tacksoft.com) and my self have been doing photography work to raise money for “The Center for Animal Health & Welfare” in Easton Pa (www.spcanorthampton.org).

The center is a no kill shelter that is currently caring for over 500 dogs and cats in need of a home. Pet Supplies Plus in Easton, just off the Freemansburg exit, hosts a photo shoot each holiday. The store covers all printing costs as well as providing space and staff to assist. Every cent we take in goes to the The Center for Animal Health & Welfare.

Brent and I did a Christmas shoot there, “Pets with Santa” and today we did a shoot “Pets with the Easter Bunny and raised over $400.00 for the shelter. I think the bad weather, rain and wind, kept a lot of people from coming. The girls that wore the really hot bunny suit were all volunteers, it was a hard job and they really did a good job. I think Marcy Lewis organizes the events, she is always there making sure everything runs smoothly. Here is a picture of Marcy, her husband and pups.

Here are a few of the pictures we took today, we even had a baby to photograph.

They only charge 5.00 per picture but every dollar helps the pets. We will be doing another shoot for Halloween and hope a lot of people show up!

Our friend Tracy Bodeo (www.tracybodeo.com), an incredible photographer who does a lot of charity work to support animals. She got me started doing this and it really feels good to help. I got Brent hooked and glad for it, it is a long day, 10:00-5:00.

In November I was the shelter helping Tracy when Bugsy came in, a beautiful Boston. We adopted him and he is a great pup!! He had a very bad knee which required surgery at the Red Bank Veterinary Hospital and is now good as new. The Vet Clinic at Red Bank is outstanding! During the same time our other Boston had a large Mast cell tumor, cancer. It was removed surgically and then she was treated with chemotherapy. She just had her last treatment and is doing great. She was adopted from a shelter in Port Jervis, NY. We have one more adopted pup, a Beagle “Takoda” whom thankfully is very healthy.

Here are a few pictures of Bugsy.

Working on it, had a blog crash.

I see Bugsy”s pictures also appear in the first group. I’m pretty new at this Blog stuff and have a lot to learn. This will have to be good enough for now. Thanks for looking and help a needy pet if you can.