Have A Holly-Jolly Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS to ALL! This photo was taken right outside the office where I work. I used a friend's Kodak EasyShare and snapped 6-7 photos. This was the best of the bunch.

Turn One...

This is the view of Carolina Motor- sports Park's turns one and two... with several Porsches roaring through it. BTW, if you enjoy this type of racing (not to mention drooling over the cars), like I do, you might want to check out the Walter Mitty Challenge in Atlanta, GA. Drop an email to CMP and let them know you'd like to see the HSR Event held there annually, too.

What?!? Another Porsche

You betcha! This photo shows a late 1960s Porsche 911 (or was it a 912). In any event, it was FAST! I love listening to the distinctly "winding out" of a Porsche engine. AWESOME!

"Double-Naught" Bullet

Here's another fine example of German auto engi- neering. This photo was also taken at the Carolina Motorsports Park HSR event during Labor Day Weekend, 2004. Featured is an early 1970s Porsche 911 wide body. BTW, the guy at the wheel is a 16 year old whose coming up in racing circles. Keep an eye on 00!

One Of My Favorite Cars - The Porsche 911

This photo was taken during a family weekend trip to Kershaw, SC. We attended Historic Sportscar Racing Association's inaugural event at the Carolina Motorsports Park. What an awesome weekend! The kids had a great time and my wife fell in love with a sport I've been interested in since my teen years -- IMSA style auto racing. Some of the marques represented at the races were Porsche, Lotus, Mazda, Panoz, Chevrolet, Ford and BMW.
The car shown in this photo is one of all-time favorites, a beautiful yellow, slant nose Porsche 911. In the coming weeks, I hope to be able to bring you several more photos of racing cars from the HSR event in Kershaw/Camden, SC.

Is It A Snowflake?

This flower looked so much like a snowflake to me. It was amazing. The photo was taken along a mountain road in western North Carolina. I have always enjoyed calling North Carolina home. Can you guess why?

Daisy, Daisy, Give Me Your Answer True...

I'm half crazy... oh well, I *feel* half crazy some- times. :-) This is yet another photo- graph taken while on the 2005 mission trip to the mountains of... you guessed it, North Carolina. Daisies are such beautiful flowers. I may play around with the original (much larger) image and see if I can do something fun with it. We'll see soon...

"Orange Blossom" Special

OK, so this is not a true orange blossom, but it is an ORANGE blossom. Like many of the others posted on the Blog_o_Foto, this picture was taken along a rocky road in the mountains of North Carolina. Just a mile or so from where this blossom was located, I could see Tennessee. If you've never visited this area of the country, you owe it to yourself to see the sights of the Appalachian Mountains (an hour or so off the Blueridge Parkway).

Fall Deck-orations

My stepmother is gifted at putting little items together and using them for "deck- orations". This photo shows her Fall, 2005 display -- situated on the back deck of my parents' home.

Shrooms, Dude!

Do you know what you're looking at? Well, you can make a very good guess from the title. This is a crop of gorgeous rust colored mushrooms. They popped up in the front yard after a 3-day rain shower during the Fall of this year. This closeup view reminds me of human or aquatic mammal skin. What do you think?

The Best For Last...

I saved the best for last. No, not the photo- graphic quality, but the best wrist- watch. BTW, I realize my watch photos are not perfect. However, the SS Rolex Cosmograph Daytona 116520 is one of the most sought after wristwatches in the world. It's simple styling and workhorse movement make it a highly coveted timepiece. Sadly, this piece is no longer in my personal collection. It took up too much room (monetarily speaking) to stick around. Ah, but the joy of having owned it is awesome!
Well, this concludes my watch collecting-slash-photography joined theme. I hope you have enjoyed the pics. Next month, it's back to "regular" photography...

Joining Hobbies...

The Rolex Sub- mariner 5512 is a true classic. In my opinion, it embodies what a wristwatch should be -- simple, stylish, ruggid and self-winding. The Submariner is the watch of choice among professional divers. The 5512 is a certified chronometer, not to mention water resistant to more than 660ft.
You know, I really enjoy photographing wristwatches -- joining my two primary hobbies into one. Furthermore, when using macro lenses (or setting on digital), I get to see details on a watch dial that my presbiopic eyes can no longer see on their own.

Have You Ever Seen A Zephyr?

This is not really a rare timepiece, but it is unusual. The Rolex SS/14k #1008 Zephyr was produced for several years. The example shown here was in great shape. The bezels on Zephyrs from the 1960s are normally quite worn. The dial was almost perfect, too. I'm very sorry that this timepiece is not still in my personal wristwatch collection. It was a deusey!

A Little Bling...

This is the third most "bling" wristwatch I've ever owned. The first two were both Rolex Day-Dates (aka Rolex President). I traded a friend in Myrtle Beach for this dial. However, it took me six months to talk him into the trade. I was so very pleased with the result. The original dial was "oyster" colored. Doesn't this one look much better?

Rolex SS/18k Datejust w/ Jubilee Arabic dial and two-tone Rolex Jubliee bracelet.

Into Chrono...

Although not rare, this is one of my favorite watches. It is a SS Tudor "pre- Tiger" chrono- graph 7928, with special "Prince" bracelet. I don't know if there is a photographic aspect to my wristwatch preferences, but I am drawn to black & white dials on wristwatches. This dial is reminiscent of the Tudor chrono's sister, the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona. WOW, what a watch!

My Other Hobby - Watches

My other major hobby is wristwatch collecting. Like photo- graphy, I fell in love with watches at a very young age. The first timepiece I remember owning was an early 1970s Seiko diver's watch. Since that time, my collection has contained more than 250 gentlemen's wristwatches (though not all at one time).
From the extremely rare to the casual everyday watch, the collection has been widely varied over the past two decades. One of the rarest and neatest looking watches I've been blessed to own was this Tudor Tiger Prince Date chronograph in stainless steel and 18k yellow gold (SS/18k). What an awesome watch!

Our Tween Queen...

AJ will turn 13 in a couple of months... and she's already such a mature young lady. Like our younger daughter, she is an honor student (Junior Beta Club). She's also an award winning dancer.

Our Little Princess...

This is our eight year old daughter, Lyssi. She is our second child, but she's no middle child. We have never told her, nor treated her like, a "middle child". She's our little princess; a great young artist and quite a fashion designer.

My Little Guy...

This picture speaks for itself. This is my little guy. He's five years old... and oh so handsome!

Lest I Forget...

I just realized I haven't posted a picture of my lovely bride (14 years). Here she is, with our three children, on her birthday this year. She is a wonderful woman, a fantastic mother and one of the best teachers at the local high school. Take it from me, God blessed this woman in ways that make my life here on Earth worth living.

Charlie's Photo-History = Part V

Truthfully, I all but stopped taking pics during the early-1990's -- when I serious about a real job; got married and enjoyed the birth of our first child. After our daughter was born (look at her now), my interest in photography was resurrected -- with a new digital camera (Panasonic w/ FDD). With the birth of our second child, I purchased another digital camera (so I could keep one in the car) -- a Sony Mavica w/ FDD.

Two years ago, the photobug bit me -- once again. At that time, I decided to purchase the best "prosumer" digital camera I could get for $1200 or less. The result -- a Nikon CoolPix E5700. FYI - Most of the pictures you'll see on CharlieJ's Blog/o/Foto were taken with the Nikon.

As stated on the blog title, most (not all) of the photographs you'll find here are unedited. Unless otherwise stated, ALL of the pictures on CharlieJ's Blog/o/Foto are my own.

Charlie's Photo-History = Part IV

The next big step in my "photography career" was the purchase of a Canon AE-1. Man, what a camera! I must have shot 1,000 rolls (or more) in that camera. It was used to shot many of the pictures in my high school newspaper. It was also used for LOTS of attempts at artistic photography.

In 1982, I moved to Hawaii and joined the sales force of the largest camera store on Oahu. While there, I turned semi-professional (meaning I sold a few dozen pictures to tourists and locals)... and upgraded to a Canon A-1 (which I still have today, 2005). Shortly thereafter, I added a Vivitar Series One 70-210mm lens and a larger strobe. The Canon A-1 was my best and last 35mm camera.

The A-1 was my camera of choice as Photo Editor of my college newspaper; semi-pro work in Hawaii and hobby photography throughout the 1980s & into the early 1990s.

Charlie's Photo-History = Part III

I have been into photography since I was a child. My parents gave me my first camera when I was just 8 years old. Get this, it was a 110mm "instamatic" shaped like Mickey Mouse's head (pictured at left). The shuttercock was on Mickey's ear and the lens was the tip of his nose.
The Photobug bit me... and hard. My next camera was a Kodak 126mm Instamatic. In fact, my next couple of cameras were Instamatics. Then, when I turned 14 years old, I hit the big time. My Mom and I drove two hours to a large electronics store (we didn't have Wal-Mart in the Southeast at the time) to buy my first 35mm SLR - a Pentax K-1000 (pictured at left)

THANKS to CameraFinder for the pictures of my early cameras.

Charlie's Photo-History = Part II

I am a 42 year old certified computer geek. Really, I *am* certified (MCP, A+, Compaq/HP, Lucent). Sometimes, my friends and family think I am certifiable. Enough about that...
Our family consists of my wife (a darling girl from Ohio who is a high school Spanish teacher); our three children (whom you see in the photo); a bulldog-chow mix dog (Bear); a golden retriever mix pup (SweetPea); three hermit crabs (unnamed) and one adolescent corn snake (Cally). We live in rural North Carolina and enjoy our pool, exploring "in the woods" and vacations during the Spring/ Summer months. During the Fall/ Winter months, we spend a lot of time at church (AWANA, Choir, Bible study); visting with family and (of course) participating in educational opportunities.

Charlie's Photo-History = Part I

Oh, how I miss those lazy, hazy days of Summer. Since I am just starting Charlie's Blog/o/Foto, I wanted to tell you a little about me and my family. The best way to start a photoblog (or blog/o/foto) is with a picture. This is a picture of me and our three kids at home, in the pool, this past Summer.