Cabin fever combined with sciatica is a real 'pain'. It's gotten so bad I've been redoing parts of my web site (chocphoto.com) and have been adding some Flash to it. It's kind of annoying the way Adobe caches the Flash content, and it makes it awkward to see changes when your browser keeps loading up the cached content. I'm trying to avoid using Flash for the actual galleries, since a lot of people block Flash in their browsers since it can be slow to load.

It's also a challenge getting anything to render correctly in IE, what a piece of junk. I actually have to have a blank space at the top of each page to get the tables and Flash content to center properly - of course Firefox, Chrome and Safari work fine as expected. I'll never be an HTML expert, but I know more now than when I started even though everything is still pretty much a work in progress.

Ah well, playing is fun, but I really need to get out and take some pictures. :)

Cabin fever has set in and I am busy planning (mostly daydreaming, actually) about this year's trips. My fist big trip will be back to the southwest, camping in Death Valley and southern Utah. I go to southern Utah at least once a year, but this will be the earliest and also my first visit to Death Valley. Son Ted will be meeting me in Death Valley for a couple of days, which will be great. He's off in Peru doing the Inca Trail now, I expect Death Valley will be drier.

Got myself a new 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II lens to fill out my landscape range along with my 17-35mm and 28-70mm, so I should be set for focal lengths and have no excuses in that regard..

Right now I'm debating whether or not to drive straight through to Death Valley or stop and camp a day or two along the way.

I'm also planning on a visit to the greater Yellowstone area this summer. I usually go in spring and/or fall, but this trip I plan on mixing in a lot of fly fishing and hope to hit the salmon fly hatch on the Madison - that is a blast.

I'll probably manage to squeeze in some trips to the Smokies again this year too, it's an area that I have neglected for too long - especially since it is so close to home.

I can hardly wait to hit the road again, where I can start to get homesick.  :)

The Atlanta Nikonians December get together was at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Our primary focus was the Orchid House and it gave me a chance to take some macro shots and experiment with my extensions tubes, neither of which I use often enough. I clearly need a lot more practice, but it was a good outing and I expect I'll be back there to visit.

Spent a couple of weeks chasing leaf colors in the Smokies last month. The first week was kind of a bust, not a lot of color, but by the second week the colors had started to pop. Other than one day of steady rain the weather was pretty good, but the crowds were bad on the non rainy days. People stopping in the road to take flash pictures out their windows, creeping along at 10 mph, etc. It's a beautiful but frustrating place to photograph. ;-)

Tried for a sunset shot at Balanced Rock but no joy, the sky was totally bland. Clouds coming in today with wind and a storm tomorrow so the skies should be more interesting. Went to the Windows and Park Avenue this morning and then drove the La Sal mountains loop for some fall color. Haven't decided what to try for sunset tonight.

Took a few sunset shots from an unnamed 'overlook' in Canyonlands and the next day we did the Neck Springs trail, about a 6 milers with around 300' of drop. Not a lot of photo ops other trhan dead trees but a fun hike. The climb back up was a bit of a test for me due to my aversion of heights, but I made it without freezing up on the slickrock and having to be rescued. ;-)

Staying at Dead Horse Point. Tried for a Green River Overlook sunset shot but, as usual for me, no color to speak of. Got up and took my usual Dead Horse Point panorama and then on to Canyonlands for a hike to the Upheaval Dome. Into Moab for some errands and then we'll head back to camp for dinner and decide where to go for evening/sunset shots.