During the first week of November Julie and I took a much needed break from the daily grind and decided to take a little road trip to the Smoky Mountains. It was a perfect and more importantly affordable little getaway for the two of us. Plus it had the additional benefit of only being about an 8-9 hour drive from home (Northwest Indiana).

We left for our trip on a Friday morning, in the pouring down rain of course, though eventually the weather would end up being perfect for the majority of our time away. On the way down we eventually got out of the rain and enjoyed a beautiful drive through southern Indiana, Kentucky, and on into northern Tennessee. Without a doubt there is some beautiful countryside to be seen along the way.

This image was taken in Chicago, looking out onto Lake Michigan from a lake front park. Post processing in Photoshop included some layer masks, filters, and color balance adjustments.

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I took this image of the early morning sky the other day and the following composition is the result. Not too much post processing here, as the colors and levels have only been optimized slightly to create some additional contrast and balance. The sky can most assuredly make for an interesting artistic canvas and I feel this is reflected here. The comp is very subtle and light, but offers just enough visual presence.

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I took this image on the way home from work a couple days ago and was inspired to create, so the following is a result of said inspiration. It is a bit abstract, but it was an interesting end result I think. Also, the original image can be viewed on my Flickr photostream if you would like to compare and contrast the two.

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I was going through some old photographs I had taken and came across one of my favorites that I had essentially forgotten about. This photo was taken in June of 2004 and even I was surprised by how well it turned out. I figured I would frame it all nice and put it out there for everyone to enjoy. And this is probably as close to a some what professional shot as I will come.

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