Agree; this seems like phishing. Asking to send and transact outside of the forum is suspicious.

Beautiful....to be there now would be excellent...

I don't think I've ever seen such a resplendent, glorious, radiant or exquisite lizard as this. Practically made for modeling.

Thank you! I love all kinds of photography and if I could shoot exotic bug macros all day I'd be happy. But people are where the business is I've determined...

Thanks, I sure hope so! I'm definitely counting on it. I just need to be getting in exhibits of sorts. In OC it is much harder than other places since the Standard Police are quite efficient here in Irvine.

Yeah, this little corner of Irvine is called "Old Town Irvine" and has a few other buildings on it too.

The Irvine Hotel, 1913 has been picked up and moved twice, once so that they could reroute a road that seemed to have lots of train accidents as it intersected the tracks
The Bean Shed, 1895 a historical building that was used originally for sharecroppers to bring their lima beans to be graded and weighed, then later were fed by conveyors to huge silos for the delivery to freight cars on the nearby track. Today those silos are made into rooms called the La Quinta Inn. Great if you like the sound of trains zooming past your bedroom at wee hours.
The Blacksmith (forget year but pretty close to the Irvine Hotel) which is now the Knowlwood Restaurant, and because it wasn't moved like my building it is an actual National Historical building.
The General Store (also darn old, forget the year) but it is now an asian salon, massage parlor and wedding photographer. You can imagine my thrill at this combo.

I have been very busy trying to get my studio off the ground; it has been challenging for sure and things never move fast enough when you are bleeding cash. My little studio is an old building built in 1913 and is called "The Irvine Hotel". In a town that is built to a master plan (all beige, nothing older than 1976, no particular culture evident) this building is a gem really.

I have specialized in these portraits since they are difficult to produce, take a long time and involve much "hand artistry" so that I am differentiated from the thousands of local photographers taking digital imagery. Each piece is large (40 x 30) and completely framed and ready to hang. The process includes some old school combined with current technology; instead of retouching a negative we brush stroke the digital file, by hand. Instead of surface retouching (on the print) we do that by hand on the digital file. Rather than printing to paper then stripping the emulsion off and pressing onto canvas, we giclee print directly to canvas and stretcher or board mount. We contour the surface of the brushstrokes to match the digital underpainting, add oil paint to highlight areas for depth, then lacquer the entire portrait. The results really have to be seen in person to fully appreciate, which is what my biggest problem is today: you don't get the impact online or with brochures.

So now my work is getting in front of as many people as possible in my client demographic. Very hard when you are still working FULL TIME in IT ;-)

Irvine Hotel, built 1913

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Gallery/presentation area

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A "Masterpiece Portrait" with Jessica, traditional Vietnamese attire

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A "Leadership Portrait" with Richard Solo

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A "Masterpiece Portrait" with Mimosa, playing Vietnamese instrument

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A "Masterpiece Portrait" with Richard and Dita (Richard is President of the Center Club OC)

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Now that I am using the 5DSR for nothing but professional work, I really don't want the form factor to change. I just want the resulting image resolution to be much higher. Also, if dreams were to come true, a FF 10 - 200mm f1.8 lens would be perfect.

When a photograph is discussed at length for composition, elements of emotion, etc. that just aren't there (but they are trying to make something out of it anyway.)

this looks like a composite of the red rock, the sky, and a lightning graphic. The tops of the rocks that look like where the source of light is hitting makes the sky look off to me....a fun exercise in surrealism though.

Exactly! A nice niche business...what is the camera you are hooking to?

These are incredibly artistic! I can imagine the whole series printed big on a long wall....wonderful!

Well I'm glad I'm not the only masochist on the 'Hog. Remembering them is tough..

Good catch; it was new it was a 1997!!!

thanks Loren

I have a friend that called me a "car guy". I never considered myself a car guy since to me a real car guy gets in there and does all the repairs himself, changes his own oil, etc. Also, they know every technical spec of the engine and all the unique features from one year to the next. Me, I just pay for them, pay to get them fixed and drive them. But if loving cars is makes me a car guy...I guess I am...