I had a long drive home from Paradise Friday night. Between the burned out homes and the eerie farmland vistas, I was compelled to be thoughtful about my life. And thankful for my blessings and gifts. This property had new landscaping, but sadly, the house is gone. When we only read about the California wildfires in the newspapers, we don’t realize how devastating they have been.

Now, you can see what this photograph looks like in color or black and white. I have found if you shoot in B & W, you can see design better, because you have removed the emotion of color.

I was shooting flowers with my 1980’s Nikon Micro-nikkor 105mm lens on my new D200 yesterday morning. The D200 can be set to recognize the old lens and I was able to meter my exposure right in my viewfinder. All I had to do was compose and focus. Also, I was on a tripod.