Photography: Winter Lighthouses

by | Jan 7, 2014 | ,

I haven’t done any photography posts in quite a while. I think I completely skipped over all the fall shots! Actually I’ve only been out shooting once since fall. I figured I’d share those since here in Michigan (and half of the rest of the country), we’re under this deep freeze. These were actually taken before this freeze. I haven’t mustered up what it takes to go out there in this weather yet. Not to mention, kids have snowdays, and I have too much work to get done.

So anyways, and friend and I headed out to check out a few lighthouses between Christmas and New Years. We dragged our butts out of bed hours before the sun was up so we could be there for the sunrise.

First stop, South Haven Lighthouse, South Haven Mi.

Whew! Those piers get icey!!

Iceburgs Ahead!  Yeah, those were actually large [sand covered] chunks of ice floating in Lake Michigan.  All that white…that’s the lake.

Looking out towards Lake Michigan around the ice.

The back side of the South Haven Lighthouse coated in sheer ice.

If you’ve never visited the lakeshore during the winter, I highly recommend it. It’s GORGEOUS. (I do NOT recommend venturing out on the piers though. Not safe!) There’s a completely different arctic landscape out there. I was absolutely fascinated with the frozen waves closer to shore. I know waves didn’t actually freeze mid-wave, it’s just a build up of water freezing with each pass, but they sure do look like frozen waves. Here I’m standing on one looking over the lake. See the lighthouse way out there?

South Haven’s North Pierhead Light.

Next stop was the St. Joseph Lighthouse. They didn’t have anywhere near the amount of snow as South Haven when we got there.

But the Pierhead still had some ice on it.

And the pier was still covered in ice.

A closer shot of light shining through the ice.

To top things off, we even found a Snowy Owl hanging out on the lighthouse.

I think I took about 500 images, these are just the ones I got around to editing.

If you’d like to keep up to date or see more of my photography, head over to my photography facebook page and give me a like.

Cover: “Called” by Robert J. Crane

by | Jan 6, 2014 | ,

Introducing the new [new] cover for the first book in Robert J. Crane’s new Southern Watch Series, “Called”.

Look for it coming soon to print and ebook!

****

BLURB: Archibald “Arch” Stan was a local cop in Midian, Tennessee who was good at his job, good at being a husband, and exceptionally good at hiding his disappointment at not being able to figure out what was missing in his life that made it all seem so empty.

Lafayette Hendricks looked like a drifter, a broken-down hitchhiker blown through Midian on the prevailing winds. When Arch catches him in a fight on the town square, though, things start to get weird, fast, because the guy he’s fighting doesn’t die when he gets shot. And Hendricks is carrying a sword.

Pretty soon, Arch’s whole life is turned upside down by Hendricks’s revelation that there’s a secret world operating under the one he’s been living in his whole life – one filled with demons, chaos, and unspeakable evils, one of which is already in town, stirring trouble. And if the two men don’t band together to keep watch on the darkness falling on Midian, then this small town might just get swallowed up by the forces of evil – with the rest of the world to follow shortly behind.

Print Edition

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Cover: “Lowcountry Punch” by Boo Walker

by | Jan 4, 2014 | ,

I recently finished up the new cover for author Boo Walker’s “Lowcountry Punch”.

Look for it coming soon to print and ebook!

*****

BLURB: After one of the worst nights of his life, DEA Agent T.A. Reddick leaves Miami for Charleston, SC, hoping a return to his roots will heal a wounded heart and the guilt of killing a friend.  The sleepy and sultry city of Charleston is filled with echoes of the Old South: genteel playboys, society debutantes, and quiet cobblestone streets.  But as Reddick will soon discover, there’s danger lurking under her charming veneer.  When a movie star’s death shines a national spotlight on Charleston’s underground cocaine trade, he must go undercover to find the main supplier and shut him down.  As a hurricane bears down on the port city and the DEA gets ready to spring its trap, Reddick must contend with more than he ever could have imagined.

  Brash and bold, TA Reddick is a hero you won’t soon forget.  Lowcountry Punch is an action-packed novel that will have you on your knees begging for more.

*****

Print Edition

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Cover: “Evilution” by Shaun Jeffrey

by | Jan 2, 2014 | ,

I recently finished up the new cover for author Shaun Jeffrey’s horror novel ,”Evilution”.

Look for the change over coming soon to print and ebook!

*****

BLURB: Humankind is about to change …

Shrouded by fog for nearly two years, the picturesque village of Paradise harbours more than its share of secrets. Having won a cottage in a competition she can’t remember entering, Chase Black moves to Paradise, only to discover that its beauty is skin deep – murder and madness fester in its shadows. When her travelling companion, Jane mysteriously disappears, she starts asking questions. Why are the villagers behaving so oddly? Who are the strange figures she sees lurking in the fog? As Chase becomes afraid that something terrible has happened, events escalate dangerously out of control. A virtual prisoner; too late she discovers the real reason she’s there …

*****

Print Edition

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Cover: “Turn or Burn” by Boo Walker

by | Dec 31, 2013 | ,

I recently finished up the new cover for author Boo Walker’s “Turn or Burn”.

Look for it coming soon to print and ebook!

*****

BLURB: Harper Knox has ripped up his family’s cherry orchard in eastern Washington State and planted grape vines, hoping that a contemplative life making wine might help him conquer his debilitating battle with PTSD.  But on the other side of the state in Seattle, the Singularity Summit, a conference celebrating and encouraging the growth of artificial intelligence, is about to get underway.  The controversial nature of the Summit has many reeling in fury, and protesters are taking over the city.  A man Harper has been fighting alongside since Fort Bragg shows up at the vineyard offering a generous payday if Harper will join a team charged with protecting Dr. Wilhelm Sebastian, the keynote speaker at the Summit.  Hungry for the cash and the danger, Harper agrees to join the team.  But has he signed onto something much bigger and deadlier than just another bodyguard gig.  As much a love story as it is a gripping thriller, Turn Or Burn, driven by the wonderfully cynical Harper Knox, will keep you up late into the night.

*****

Print Edition

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Cover: “Milovaná” Czechoslovakian version of “Beloved” by Beatrice Small

by | Dec 27, 2013 | ,

I have recently done a few covers for Baronet, a publishing company in Czechoslovakia who has the Czechoslovakian translation rights to many well known  romance novels. A lot of times when a publishing company gains the translation rights, they have to have a new cover created. That’s where I come in. I have to admit, I’m quite giddy about this, but shhh! Don’t tell them! I have to play it cool and professional. 😉

Our most recent project was on the cover for the Czechoslovakian version of Beatrice Small’s “Beloved”, translated to “Milovaná“.

The print editions are hardcover not paper back, and I do not add the back text, or inner flap information because, well I don’t read Czechoslovakian. So I leave it blank for the publishing company to add. The hardcover wrap is what makes the overall flattened image look so long compared to my usual paperback print editions.