I had a ball!!!!

Yeah, you know, I'm a pretty punny guy and so I had to say it. But honestly, I did have a ball on this roadtrip with my parents.

I am completely and thoroughly blessed with my parents love for me and concern for my well being. Quite honestly, I would easily rate this in my top vacations I've ever taken. Ever. In hindsight, I know that it will probably be number one until I have, if ever that time comes, children of my own and I get to see them enjoy the world.

America's an awesome place. Rich with diversity, complexities, subtleties and a myriad of wealth and poverty. What I found interesting that, sometimes those with the most were the poorest compared to those with the least which falls right within the Beatitudes. (Matthew 5 for those that are curious).

That's not the point of this blog rather it's just to express the richness of the trip. Over the past week of blogging you've seen some humor, some beauty and some simple lifestyle photography that conveys the slice of life - "diehliciously". I hope you enjoyed.

Keep watching, I won't quit creating. I've got a city of a million peeps to photograph still and many square miles of Heartland to capture, so stay tuned.

Oh & back to the ball! The story of this sphere, believe it or not, moves. If you want to know the story, ask. It's fascinating and nothing moves it. It moves itself about 2 inches a year I believe. Of course when you have Superparents like I do, it moves a ton, but this is a secret and don't show the folks at the Marion OH cemetery these pics because then it'll hit the fan.

Isn't rain fallingwater? And can it erase 1's and Zeroes?

I was walking around Ohiopyle State Park and Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright's most famous residential design that's located within this amazing state park in Pennsylvania. As I was photographing in the rain, I wondered as I wandered, if I for some reason fell into the Cucumber Falls or whatever falls fall around Fallingwater, would the water erase my files on my compactflash memory card. In other words, would water erase zeroes and one's?

Yeah, I know it's really a deep thought, but I just thought it was kind of a funny thought. But today has been really full of funny thoughts and signs and sayings. I only got one sign photographed today that I found funny. What I couldn't capture because I was driving though, was the best of all I've seen: "Dangerous Mountain Ahead". I just didn't know that mountains could be a serious threat, nor that there was legal hunting of the handicapped.

Pennsylvania is seriously an incredibly beautiful place, but, it's obviously a very dangerous place. I'd live here, but really think I'd have to get a gun permit. Mountains and people hunting me could get pretty freaky. Perhaps I'd be better off just roadtripping and visiting. I'd be happy to visit often though.

To see any of my pics, like always, feel free to double click and I love your comments, so please don't be bashful, share your thoughts and become a "follower"

Thanks!

Technology gone wrong today and a hundred and ten years ago...

So a friend of mine gave me Microsoft's new GPS map/trip locator with an actual GPS USB plug so if I were dumb enough to drive and compute, I could lock in missile coordinates to hit my car while I drive and believe me,today, I wish I had missile capabilities. Here's why.

This road trip was pretty much my mom's idea from conception to completion. One of the main foci of the trip was to see Mercer Tile/ Fonthill Mansion in Doylestown,PA. So last night, we were staying the night in Newgyburger, NY and I got on my computer and hit the Microsoft trip gps lovefest program and dialed in the location. Starting point: Newgyburger, NY, and then I put in Doylestown. Well, you have to put in counties with this software because, well, there's more than 1 Doylestown. So, I knew this, but really... there's 2 in Pennsylvania and, well, I got it wrong. So we set off this morning and make it to about 60 miles northeast of Harrisburg and about 80 miles past Doylestown, which is in Bucks County, aka, Philly and well, I guess that's when it hit the fan and I wished I could go back to the night before and check wtf I was typing in and getting directions to. So after I post this, yep, I'm checking, and well, that's the first part of Tech gone wrong. The other is building a home out of concrete.
As you'll see in these photos, the Moravian Tile building & mansion is really amazing. And, well, I'm sure architects and the like really admire this place. But, here's the lesson: technology is no substitute for love and personality. Mr. Mercer was never married, he lived alone in a 32 room mansion that is/was a museum. He was a mama's/auntie's boy, his father played little or no role in his adulthood and this home reflects his personality. Cold, intellectual, hungry for knowledge, never satisfied. Tech can be described with such similar words, right?

Click my pics, hug them, love them, lick your screen, just don't eat them even though they are diehlicious.

The Beauty of the Berkshire's and Robert Frost's ghost

I've been a big fan of James Taylor's for a long time. He has written a few songs from his songbook where he mentions the Berkshire's.
I honestly can see why he writes about them, and most likely, I believe, why he lives up here. Surprisingly, this part of the Appalachians really remind me of Wyoming. For those that know Wyoming only from the purposefully ugly path of I-80 that spans the entire east to west, what you miss across Wyoming is what you find in the Berkshire's and Vermont.

Now, I must say that Vermont and Mass. are obviously about 200 years older than Wyoming and there's obviously "old money" all over the place here, but I think there's a sort of similar independent spirit here that's much like the Frontierism of Wyoming/Montanarama and the rest of the "big empty". So, what you get is history, beauty, individualism, terrain and attitude that's delectable. Which is part two of this blog and that is Robert Frost's ghost. I didn't see a ghost or anything, but for a long time, 13 years plus, since I sold books for the first time, did I adopt the "road less traveled" as a sort of definitive piece of simple poetry/literature that defined my life. So I hunted down his grave tonight. I found it strewn with pennies and under this note that I opened to read and photograph was even a dollar bill. There's still a bill, at least, I didn't take it. Someone else needs it worse. I'm curious how long it will be there. But that's just it, Frost is like a man that could have lived in Wyoming. Vermont isn't the same as Wyoming, but I like it here a lot. Would I live here full time???? No way, but if I found a way to be an artist in residence between here and here, I'd love it.

Erie, the lake and the canal....

Well I'm tired, or else I'd write more about my travels and travails so far tomorrow we should actually make it to Vermont which is apparently the farthest North and East we're going on this road trip.

Today however was exploring the Lake Erie region from basically Sandusky through Niagra Falls which is close to where we stayed for the night.

Lockport, NY is the proud host of the Diehl family tonight and, well, ummm, ... yeah. I like Lockport, my dad, not so much.

Regardless, Spring is absolutely beautiful around the great lakes and I hope you enjoy a few of my pics for the day.

Family of 6

I've been doing some rather abnormally large family portraits lately.

The Browns with eight awesome kids and then today, I went over to Lisa's to take care of her headshots for her biz and managed to finagle her guy Phil and the "kids", Bella, Schien, Lucy and Desi into a lovely backyard portrait.

Six subjects one day, Ten another, tomorrow is 13 people for a board of directors portrait. Then mom and dad are coming in to celebrate my birthday and head to the East coast for a week of galavanting (Is that a word?) :) And so a lot of momentum I've been acquiring will hopefully stay in check. I realize that positive, equal and opposite affects are par for the course so I'm excited about the result of a week on the road with my parents whom I don't get enough time with.

Stay tuned as I'll be shooting tons of pics from the side of the road....

POTD....i'm going "green"......(my Syllogism)

Happy POTD to my friends and fans! It was a cool, but delightful sunny day here in Indy. Spring is definitely here. Leaves are budding, pollen has dissipated thankfully for a few days but the bee's are buzzing and things are growing.

Metaphorically, literally, and from within, DPA and myself is truly mirroring mama nature and as I've been expounding on some of my aspirations, dreams, etc, I've been narrowing down my niche's in my head and my heart as to where I want to take my photography business.

I'm not trying to stop shooting weddings, and I still do lifestyle portraits /headshots, so those that want the most expensive wedding photographer in Indy can still hire me, but while my photography IS priceless, I am spreading my wings more into commercial pursuits and "Green" is where I want to put a lot of my stock. (pun intended)

I want to thank Dr. George Elvin director of the Green Technology Forum for some direction toward this pursuit. A couple years ago I had the pleasure of creating some lifestyle portraits at the Garfield Park Conservatory to represent him for his professional endeavors. Not to get too sidetracked, if you're interested in nanotech, "eco"architecture, or (ecotecture - as if I could coin the term but it's already been used) he's a prof at Ball State specializing in landscape/structural architecture with emphasis in "green".
Check out his website, greentechforum.net or look him up at Ball State and for more eco-info: http://gbn.myhomegreenpages.com/

All in a day's passion...

So there I was, on my home from Swan's place in Z-ville. Great meeting with fellow PUG's and a nice meet and greet with Pictage's CMO Simon Anderson. So I was sailing home and all the sudden, bumper to bumper traffic at like 9:30 just past Meridian exit.
So I get a pseudo wild hair and get my camera ready, pop the moonroof and start shooting. Some folks text and drive, I guess, although this was the first time I've done this m.o. of shooting/driving. Well, I got some really cool pics....

I did the math pretty quick, obviously there's road construction and they're hanging the girders for Westfield Blvd over 465 so apparently they have to close extra lanes and who knows whatever else to facilitate hoisting these monster beams to span the lanes.

Well, I decide to exit at Keystone and backtrack. I love construction/industry and always love shooting it. I don't know why exactly, I'm sure its partially just being a kid and always loving heavy equipment. My dad operated all sorts of large scale equipment and I worked at a gold mine for a few summers while in college, so I just guess I'm "drawn" to the lights like some folks are to the strip in Vegas.

So I get to the point where the road ends and start hoofing around the opposite side of the construction area. Picture goofy old me, dressed for success on the worksite. Black linen pants, nice brown silk campshirt, flip flops... Yep, I was decked out for an OSHA inspection indeed. Thank God, they were on the other side of the interstate and it was 10 p.m. They could care less about me as long as I didn't abscond with an excavator or blow anything up, I was golden. So, 12 am, I finished up.

Why you may ask??? Well, it's pretty simple. Because I love what I do. Even cooler, is that every shot, has not been touched, adjusted, manipulated. So, yep, the really wild slow shots..... straight out of the camera....

Just like Ice-T said, "I'd have to say it was a great day. I didn't have to use my, ..." Click
on the pics if you want to see them bigger.