Every since my buddy Yerg purchased a pop-art styled painting of Jeff Buckley from a local artist for $500 I’ve been on a mission to figure out how the artist creates his work. The pop-art is more of a shadowed, posterized effect. So, I started playing with Photoshop until I figured out an easy way to create the same effect.

I loved Yerg’s paintings, but couldn’t see myself paying a guy $500 for something I could do myself… or almost myself. I got pretty close. I played around a few times with Photoshop’s image adjuster, then I read a few online tutorials. Today, I think I figured it out.

It still takes a bit of work in Photoshop. And, I imagine that the painter still has to do some sort of photo transfer or tracing from an overhead projector to get this on canvas. But, I’m pretty excited at getting this far.

I think I have my new family project. The photo above is of my parents. My goal is to add each one of my brothers. This should make for some incredible wall art.

Click here to see the full photo stream.

As I said in my previous post, my father, my brothers and I just returned from the Grand Canyon. It was a blast - truly a trip for the ages. The trip was meaningful for two separate reasons. One, it was my father’s dream vacation. He’s always wanted to visit, and he’s always wanted to take a trip with his sons. To add to his delight, we took the back roads, ate in small dives along the way, and drank beers with the locals in bars most people would be scared to walk into to. It was right up his alley.

The second benefit of the trip is that it was a chance for all the brothers to get together outside of our hometown. (This is a goal of ours - to get together at least once a year outside the presence of our parents or our hometown.) We’re on year number two, and counting. These get togethers have been great at reaffirming our friendship, and making our bond of brotherhood even tighter. We are our own best allies. It’s important to nurture that.

So, as the trip began, we all flew into Las Vegas. We all arrived with a few hours of each other, and it didn’t take too long for us to check in at our first hotel - The Stratosphere, on the Las Vegas strip. This was as good of a place to start out as any. The rooms were only $25/night (thanks to Travelocity) and it had all the amenities you needed to have a good time in Vegas. We settled in. We hit the blackjack tables. Then took off for our first event - a helicopter ride down the Vegas Strip at night. I highly recommend this. You can find tickets online for about $60/person. And, the ride - athough short - was very fun and you get a view of Vegas that is priceless.

The next day was off to the West rim of the Grand Canyon. We setoff by 9:30am, and stopped off at the Hoover Dam to take the tour. Why not, right!?! This was totally cool, although the guided tour was about 20 minutes too long. From the Dam we headed toward Meadview, AZ. Along the way we stopped in Dolan Springs for some food and drink. This was an event. The food was failry good, but we had to walk across the street to the local biker bar for some suds. Althoug we didn’t fit in. The locals seemed to like us. Noah stepped right up to the bar, ordered drinks, then played a few songs on the jukebox which seemed to liven things up a bit.

After the drinks we were off to Grand Canyon West. This is the place which is building the Skywalk over the Canyon. The Skywalk is a U-shaped glass bridge which is cantilevered over the Canyon rim. This allows visitors to look straight down 4000 feet to the Canyon floor. Truly amazing! After a treachorous 14 mile drive down a dirt, rocky, unpaved, windy, bumby road, we made to the Hualippai Indian reservation ready for our tour. But, when we arrived we were informed we had missed the last tour of the day by 10 minutes. UUGGH!!! Before heading to our hotel we were able to get a few photos of the Canyon in the distance, but the sun was setting fast so off we went.

We checked into the Meadview Lake Motel. It was absolutely in the middle of nowhere! It was pitch dark when we arrived and it appeared as if nothing was around for miles. That night I had dreams that we were surrounded by the Sand People from Star Wars. But, when we woke we were preasantly surprised. It was a small town. But, this small town had a geogeous view of the Canyon. It was so beautiful. This is where we spent the next two days. We had dinner with the locals. Took a helicopter ride through the canyon from a nearby dude ranch. Played horseshoes. Had a cowboy sing a song for us. We caught both the sunrise and the sunset. And ontop of all this… we were the only tourists in the town. You can tell from our photos that no one else was anywhere in site.

Here’s a video my brother, Matthew, put together of the trip.

I just wanted to drop a quick note to let everyone know that I just got back from a trip to the Grand Canyon with all my brothers and my father. The experience was epic! I’ll be posting more about the trip in future posts, but I wanted to drop a short note to show some signs of life.

Yesterday I woke up with the farmers to catch a 6:00AM flight to New York. I was there for a short meeting, and flew back later that day. But, the day was jammed packed with cool little nuggets.

First, I flew on JetBlue. They just opened up in Charlotte, and I couldn’t be more thrilled. This was my first time on a JetBlue flight and I was overly impressed. Free Wifi in the terminals. All seats are made of plush leather. (I said ALL seats). Each seat has their own personal TV monitor and headphones are provided for free. Each TV comes equipped with 36 stations of DirecTV and XM Radio. And when it came time for snacks, the attendents didn’t roll out the drink cart, they personally went to each seat and took your order. I thought this was a nice touch to eliminate the drink cart, but it did lengthen the time to receive your order (my only complaint).

Second, and the downside of the trip, is that I flew into JFK. OMG! What a small, outdated airport. It’s located way outside the city, and by car it took 90 minutes to get from the airport to Manhattan. The flight from Charlotte was only 75 minutes. So, this was a bit unexpected. Ontop of rush hour traffic and being crammed in the back of a shared shuttle, this transit into Manhattan left much to be desired.

Then the good stuff. On the way into town, we passed all the goodies. Grand Central Terminal, Park Avenue, NBC Studios, Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center, Carnegie Hall, and I swear I saw Mayor Bloomberg walking on the sidewalk. I wish I had access to my camera then.

We arrived at the hotel at 10:00. Walking into the Hilton NY, Adtech was booming with activity. People were everywhere. Ontop of all that, the NY Marathon runners were all checking out, so it made for a hectic time. You couldn’t help to feed off of the energy of the room. You could tell everyone was amped. After a few brief meetings and lunch, I was back on my way to JFK to catch my 5:30 flight.

Is it me, or does any photo snapped from a moving taxi cab just look awesome. Out of focus? Who cares! Subject not fully in frame? I meant to do that! Fuzzy images through the back window? It makes the image authentic! I wish I had snapped some images going into the city, but these photos still do the job. Having NY, NY as the backdrop is only a plus!

The cab ride back to JFK sucked. But, after arriving back in Charlotte by 7:15, I realized I still had time to make it to my weekly card game. So, waking up at 3:30, flying to Manhattan for the day, flying back and being able to play a few hours of poker are days when you know you are blessed. Ok…back to work.

It has been a busy week with visitors and some traveling, but I managed to sneak away for a quick trip to visit my parents for Halloween. It wasn’t as much of a visit as it was an answer to the call for help. Each year my parents’ neighborhood in Beaufort, SC gets well over 500 trick-or-treaters. (This is in contrast to the 3 kids I get at my house each year in Charlotte). It’s a mad rush, and something you wouldn’t believe if you didn’t see it with your own eyes. It’s a true picture of Americana.

This year the kids didn’t start coming to the door until about 6:00. And by 7:30 we had over 300 kids come to our door. We ran out of candy and were forced to turn many kids away who were still circling the block. Even after we turned out the porch lights many kids were still knocking on the doors in hopes that we may have a few pieces left.

To chronicle the event, I took photos of EVERY kid who came to our door. Take a peak, and give it the page a few seconds to load. It’s well worth the look.

Update: My brother took these photos and did a short video. Check it out.

A few years ago a friend of mine turned me onto Ken Duncan. Ken is probably one of the most talented landscape photographers of our time. Gainer showed me Ken’s free screensaver, and I immediately was hooked.

Ken, a christian, has an uncanny ability to expose all of God’s splendor in each of his photos. Take a peak of his work via his website, or via this little image gallery I put together.

From his site…

As a landscape photographer, I am constantly reminded how wonderful God is, as evidenced by the beauty in His creation. So, if you’re feeling stressed out and disconnected, or you just need a reminder of God’s awesome love for us, then hopefully this multi-media presentation will encourage you. It’s certainly a lot easier for us to bring these stunning locations to you, rather than you trying to travel to them! … Enter the Sanctuary.

What a weekend! (except for the collapse of the Panthers against the Bengals today. Thanks to bumbling, fumbling Jake Delhomme!) Two of my brothers and I got together for a fun weekend of football and comradarie. We missed having Kari and Grace, but a brother’s weekend was just what the doctor ordered.

Noah and I played a quick game of cards at my buddy’s house. Played some ping pong at my crib. Wesley showed up at 11am after driving from DC starting at 4:30. And we were on the road to Clemson by 12:30. We snapped this photo right before we took off.

A 2-hour car ride later and we arrived in ESPN-crazed Clemson, SC. Before settling in to tailgate, I had to take Wes and Noah on a quick trip to the ever famous rollercoaster road. It was certainly steep, but somehow it wasn’t as fun as I remembered it being. I was driving my low-riding magnum and I was a bit too scared of bottoming out at the bottom of the hill. So, I ended up taking the hills a little too slow for excitement. But, still good fun nonetheless.

After a few hours of tailgating and being harassed by real life yellowjackets (actual bees, not the crazed GT fans), Wesley went and grabbed a ticket with his buddies, and Noah and I went off to scalp tickets of our own. I couldn’t believe it. Tickets were going for $150/seat on the street. There was no way that I was going to pay more than $50 for a ticket. (face value was $48). After battling the fans in downtown Clemson, Noah and I ventured up near the stadium and the ticket prices were still the same. I was getting a bit discouraged because Noah came all the way up from Beaufort to visit and to come to the game. And I was hoping to show him a good time in classic Clemson football fashion.

We were in the middle of all the ticket scalpers and still no economical options were available. Then, a miracle happened. A cadillac pulled up, parked, and I guess the driver saw me holding up my fingers gestering that I needed 2 tickets. He popped out of his car holding 2 tickets. Long story short - I scored two tickets on the 45 yard line for $60/each. I couldn’t believe it. Even though I paid a bit more than I expected, it was so well worth it. These were some of the best seats in the house, and Noah and I were up close and in the middle of Clemson fans for one of the best games we’ve seen in a long while.

Wes & Noah - I can’t tell you how great it was to hang out with the both of you this weekend. I can’t wait for our trip to the Grand Canyon!

Click on any photo above to see all the photos. All the game day videos can be seen at this link.

A picture can say a thousand words. I found this on deviant art. (have no idea on how i found myself there. whoa! some depressing images. proof that God is still needed in this world.)

Who are you listening to?

…this is kind of cool (geeky). I stumbled across the Typorganism site (via, Lifehacker. via Brian Sawyer.) It’s a pretty cool web tool. Upload an image of yourself in proper format and it will spit out this neat little arrangment of letters or squares.

See mine here.

John Mayer has a song called 3X5’s. It’s a good song. The song sings of a person who travels and has left loved ones behind. As the traveler writes home, he slips photos into his letters of all the places he’s seen. The traveler comes to a point where he realizes he’s only sharing these memories with the lense of his camera, and not with the loved ones he cherishes. The chorus sings

“You should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes
it brought me back to life
You’ll be with me next time I go outside
just no more 3×5’s”

I always liked this song. But, this weekend, I decided to jump in the car and venture off to capture some memories of my own. Not a care in the world. No laptops. No cell phones. Just the car, a camera, and the road. I can’t tell you how relaxing this getaway was.

I originally had planned to stop thru Greenville, SC to check out some possible investment properties…which I did. But, as the weekend grew rainier and rainier, I decided to take the backroads up through the mountains, near Asheville then back home to Charlotte.

I went to a gas station, bought a NC state map, located some small, lesser known landmarks, highlighted some backroads, and plotted out my adventure.

While in Greenville, I stopped at Reedy Falls Park. It’s smack in the middle of the newly revitilized downtown area. So beautiful. Tons of river rocks, a gentle rain, green grass, well maintained gardens, and kids playing in the river. What else can you ask for?

After grabbing a hot dog for lunch (this area of the country must love hot dogs, because I passed over 10 hot dog joints in the Greenville area alone), I headed just north to Landrum, SC. Landrum (just outside of Tigerville) has the only covered bridge in South Carolina - Campbell’s Bridge. It’s a state landmark.

Campbell’s Bridge. Although I never saw the movie, this had to be like one of those bridges in Madison County. It was nestled over a quite little brooke. Nothing around for miles. Along side the bridge was the ruins of a grist mill. It was pretty cool. Kudzu had overgrown the entire ruins. But, you could still see the well, much of the foundation, and a small mill roof.

After this, I heard of another bridge close by, Poinsett Bridge. Poinsette Bridge is the oldest standing bridge in South Carolina. This place was absolutely amazing. Purely covered with trees, the bridge looks as if it were untouched and unharmed since the day it was built. One of the prettiest babbling brooks and bridges you’ll ever see. I just hope my photos do it justice.

After these two great finds, I jumped in the car looking for more adventure. I was very close to the NC border, so I ventured on up to Hendersonville, NC to visit one of the regionally famous Mast General Stores. Apparently they are a must-stop for any backroads North Carolina trip. I stopped, and picked up a few goodies. Upon checkout I asked the guy behind the counter “what’s there to do in Hendersonville?” He quickly replied with Jump Off Rock.

Apparently, from downtown Hendersonville you just take 5th street west for 7 miles, and you arrive at a dead end which is the highest point in the area. It’s a cool birds eye view of the entire town. Pretty cool stuff. I swear that from atop these peaks I heard eagles scream repetitively. By this time it was 6:00pm and the local band was just tuning their instruments in the visitor Center parking lot. After sitting there for a while, I realized I was dead tired. So, I was off to find a hotel for the evening. I eventually found one in Asheville.

That night I contemplated what I wanted to do the next day. On the list was whitewater rafting, tubing, caveing, venturing off to Boone, or just staying there in Asheville. My body decided for me. For some reason, I was physically drained. So, I decided to just tool around downtown Asheville on Saturday. Asheville was cool. It was a very cool day (in the 60’s all day). The cool weather, the cloudy skies, and the hilly terrain made me realize why people liken this town to San Francisco. Very cool.

So, I was tired. I looked at my watch and realized I could make it home in time for the Carolina Panther preseason game. So, I jumped in the car and headed home (back roads of course). Through the mountains toward Lake Lure, through Chimney Rock (which looked ominous darting through the thick clouds), and then racing through the foothills toward Gastonia. Finally, on Saturday evening I made it home.

Once I home I realized I took over 200 photos. Wow! And I didn’t take many photos of Hendersonville, and none in Asheville and the drive home. Imagine the damage I could have done.

I’ll have to plan another trip soon. Who’s up for canoeing on the Nantahala or French Broad?

Here’s my favorite photo of all the photos I took on the trip. Click any of the photos on this post to see the rest of the photos I took. (All 200+ of them!)