Driving Range

Great weather forces people out of the house to practice their swings.

Fountain Hills, AZ

FL Botanical Garden

Change from arid to lush and humid locale.

This was shot a few years ago. Another attempt of my sepia mod.

A little about Florida Botanical Garden can be found at the link. It is located at Largo, FL (near Clearwater, FL).

It is free access, a nice place to visit when it's not too hot/humid.

Next door, is Heritage Village, another nice place to visit.

Lone Saguaro

Got up early in the morning, was hoping to drive out to Superstition Mountain, but GPS told me it's actually further out than I thought. Heck, since I am up, might as well see what's around Fountain Hills.

Saw this lone saguaro on a hill, lighting was nice. The only thing was, I left the ISO setting at 800 from last night, don't you hate that?! Reminds me of this article. At leat the memory card was in the camera when I left, :).

I have tried numerous times to get the darker sepia setting right. I don't think I have mastered it yet. Not using any fancy photo editor, but all done with Picasa. I think I am getting close to it.

Veterans Memorial Park - Fountain Hills, AZ

Another hospital visit, this time, we stayed at Fountain Hills, which is just a few miles east of Mayo Clinic.

There's a nice little man made lake across the street from our hotel. Had a nice little walk as we enjoyed the sunset, even though it was really windy that day, gust around 40 MPH.

A lot of olive trees were planted along the lake. Really cool.

Ultra Clamp

I found this little gadget at a REI store in Scottsdale. It's made by Pedco, who also makes the Ultrapod II, which is a handy little tripod.

The Ultraclamp is priced at $24 at REI. Ultrapod II is priced around $15.

Unlike the Ultrapod II, which flexes a little due to it's legs are made from fiberglass enforced nylon, the clamp seems much sturdier with the metal base. The head portion is not metal, but once tightened, is very strong, it does not move or flex.

It can be used on doors, car windows (it has rubber coating), with your pocket camera. Besides the camera, I can also use it with my off camera flash setup.