Bakeneko - or Ghost Cat from the Japanese tradition

I am a lover of traditional folk tales, especially those that involve animals. "Bakeneko" or "Ghost Cat" comes from to us from Japan and is used in Kabuki theater hence my treatment of the subject as a mask.

I've taken significant liberties with the original material subject, mainly in color choices. The overall effect adds more dimension to the otherwise flat image.

Have a great weekend. Peace.

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Water - a study of symbols and calligraphy

Symbols have always interested me. When I was a kid, I would scratch these obscure glyphs all over everything. I'm sure driving my parents nuts when it was into my bedroom furniture.

I've been developing this idea into a black and white series examining calligraphy and basic graphic symbols. In this case, "Water" is the Chinese character over source material from Ithaca Falls in New York. I wanted to use this particular image as water is a very cerebral element to me as well as being calming. Ithaca Falls plummets just below the campus of Cornell University, the epitome of the enlightened mind traveling and gaining momentum.

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Target Wave

Blog Update:

I've been quite bad at keeping up the blog lately. For that, I apologize. I am in the process of converting my blog into more of an image only format that helps me get away from extensive writing, which takes too much time at the moment, and I'm not the best writer anyway.

Thanks for all the continued support!

B

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Two Gates - new to the Reflections Series

Image copyright 2009 Byron O'Neal

This image reminds me of a Navajo rug pattern. I admit a bit of a loud pattern but this is what the image says to me nonetheless. 

My website is now I-Phone friendly thanks to the good folks that host me over at PhotoBiz. 

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Funk Wave - expanding the Quads Series

Image copyright 2009 Byron O'Neal Sphere: Related Content

Calligraphy Burning

Image copyright 2009 Byron O'Neal Sphere: Related Content

Birch Tree Abstract

Image copyright 2009 Byron O'Neal

I didn't need any specialized software to create this image, just a bunch of trial and error shaking the camera a little with a longer shutter speed. 

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Otter Point in Acadia National Park at night

Image copyright 2009 Byron O'Neal

This shot was taken at Otter Point in Acadia National Park just after moonrise. The cloud streaks were illuminated by the moon that was just over the horizon. 

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Otter Point HDR Black and White

Image copyright 2009 Byron O'Neal

Flip through any photography magazine about this time of year and you will likely see a version of this classic landscape. I took this shot, or shots as it were, at Otter Point in Acadia National Park. It is an HDR composite of five different images taken at different shutter speeds. I converted it using Photomatrix software after becoming increasingly frustrated trying to use Photoshop's HDR conversion automation. It's an easy piece of software to learn and their site has links to free tutorial pages to get you started. In this case, I took the closest to properly exposed shot from the original five and added it as a layer in Photoshop over the HDR composite. Adding a mask to the top layer, I selected for the HRD version of the sky and fine tuned smaller portions of the rest of the image. The black and white conversion was done in Silver Efex Pro. You might be thinking,"Geez, that is a bunch of different software." You'd be right. Most of them offer free trials so my advice is plan on trying the HDR capture techniques on your next vacation and wait until you have a little time to play with it after getting home. 

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Row Boats in Maine Fog

Image copyright 2009 Byron O'Neal

This wide shot has a 2:1 ratio that I am falling in love with. 

We were cruising around Seal Harbor on a foggy afternoon with little man napping in the backseat when we came upon this series of row boats tied to the docks . Fisherman and boaters use them to get out to their larger boats moored in deeper waters. The fog was rolling around quickly, obscuring and revealing great shots almost too quickly to respond to. Not wanting to wake the baby, I steadied the camera on a guardrail rather than try and snatch the tripod out of the back of the car. 

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Vamp - a new image to the Reflections Series

Image copyright 2009 Byron O'Neal

I really wanted to title this something else but Vamp just kept coming to mind. It does have that touch of the menacing to it. 

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Graffiti abstract on plywood

Image copyright 2009 Byron O'Neal

I'm rather pleased with this abstract found on a piece of plywood down by the tracks. It's a really busy piece for me but the combination of elements are a lot of fun. I think the plywood was just a place that folks opened their cans onto before they did any real tagging.

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Brush Fire - a new Spheres Series image

Image copyright 2009 Byron O'Neal

It's been quite some time since I was able to add anything to the Spheres body of work. I'm particularly proud of this image. It is tonally exceptionally smooth. 

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Abstract 11

Image copyright 2009 Byron O'Neal

Not to be confused with a picture of a painting, here is more from my delving into urban abstraction in the form of a picture of paint.

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Abstract 12

Image copyright 2009 Byron O'Neal

I'm working on the body of abstracts that are a combination of urban decay and paint. I can't bring myself to get away from the square format lately. 

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Nautilus

Image copyright 2009 Byron O'Neal

I will be exploring the idea here further this week. I shot this on a quick trip to the Oklahoma Aquarium yesterday with the boy and chasing him around was more important than taking pictures. 

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Alien Anatomy - new Reflections Series image

Image copyright 2009 Byron O'Neal

Can't call this anything but "Alien Anatomy."

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Old West imagery

A combo effort here from a friend's shot and a little work in Silver EFex Pro from me. Sphere: Related Content

Valkyries - New Addition to the Reflections Series

Image copyright 2009 Byron O'Neal

I was downloading a CF card yesterday and discovered that it had been a whole month since I'd shot any personal work. Man does time fly. Some people have inquired as to how I come up with a title for images in the Reflections Series. I base it on first impression and what I'm thinking about at that time. In this case, for some reason I was thinking about the movie Max Payne that I saw some months ago and reminiscing on the movie's awfulness. I've always had a fondness for the Valkyrie mythology and thinking about the inclusion in the movie caused me to see two clasping figures with wings which naturally at that time became Valkyries. Add to that the prominent orange letter "V" and there you go. 

My intent with the series is to examine symbolism as it spontaneously comes to the viewer. Some titles are more leading than others, but I'm just not happy leaving them untitled. It leaves me without any grounding as the nature of the series is abstract to begin with.

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A little bit of converting using Nik Software's Silver EFex Pro

Image copyright 2009 Byron O'Neal

I've been playing around with Silver Efex Pro the last few days, and I'm really impressed with the results so far. The best part about using this software is that you need not be a Photoshop whiz to quickly produce striking black and white images. 

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