Are my photos for sale?

While all of my photographs are copyrighted, they are available for non-exclusive licensing and I also sell large size prints. Contact me via email at greg.jones.design@icloud.com for pricing info.

Welcome

to my personal blog. Here I post examples of my photography and writing. I specialize in making unique and highly detailed photographs. Notice I said making and not taking. Yes I take photos but a lot of time and work is involved in pushing and punishing the pixels in my images to achieve the look I like.

Please feel free make comments about any of my words or photos. I enjoy constructive critiques, learning about locations to shoot or photography techniques. Click on the "Share Article" link to share any of my photos via Flickr, Facebook, Instagram, etc.

Want to use one of my posts in your own blog? No problem, but please make sure it links back to the original post here and do the right thing and give me credit. Don't copy my words, crop the images, remove the watermarks or claim my work as your own. This has happened more times than I can count so I've had to report copyright violations to ISP's and regrettably the violators blog is usually taken down.

Can't we all just get along?

Entries in California Science Center (3)

Monday
May272013

The Talon and the Tigershark

On Memorial Day I'll pause to say thank you to the men and women who have served and are serving our country in a dangerous world, protecting our freedoms and keeping us safe. I also want to say thank you to their families who sacrifice so much for us.

These two Northrop aircraft at first glance look quite similar but only the white T-38 Talon saw service as a training aircraft and MiG simulator for our Aggressor squadrons based at Nellis AFB near Las Vegas, NV. The gray F-20 Tigershark was an aircraft without a home. Designed by Northrop at the "suggestion" of the US government, once complete it found no customers. Only three were ever built and this is the only surviving example.

Friday
Sep212012

Welcome Home Endeavour


Welcome Home Endeavour, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

I’ve always been a big space nerd. I never cared if my friends, family or strangers thought I was odd for getting so excited and wrapped up with anything to do with the space program. When I was 7 years old I flew to the moon many times in a spacecraft of my own design (a discarded refrigerator box which I had dragged from the side of a dumpster into my backyard). My team and I spent many late nights (till almost 6:30 pm on school nights) installing the windows (my mom helped me cut holes in it) and installing the control panels (drew them with crayons) and toggle switches (Popsicle sticks). I installed a navigation computer (also drawn with crayons) and all of the other flight controls required to fly a box for a major appliance to the moon.


I really wanted to be an Astronaut so I drank a lot of Tang and waited for NASA to discover they badly needed the services of a 7 year old boy strung out on high fructose corn syrup.


Well NASA never did call, but I never lost my keen interest in the space program either. So I was still paying attention to developments when in 1975, Rockwell International's Downey, CA plant began assembly of OV-102 - Columbia, the first flyable and reusable space shuttle just a few miles from my home. I was fortunate enough to be able to visit the plant (left the refrigerator box at home) to see Columbia being built.


6 years later in March of 1981 I sat in my living room, literally on the edge of my seat, staring at our TV as Columbia, having successfully orbited the earth 36 times, re-entered the atmosphere and headed for a landing at Edwards Air Force Base in the high desert of California. Veteran Astronaut John Young was at the controls and sitting in the co-pilot seat was rookie Astronaut Bob Crippen. Bob was so taken with the view of our state from 135,000 feet he called out “What a way to come to California!” and urged John to take a moment to look. John, ever the professional pilot took a quick peek and said “the view hasn’t changed much”. Right about then I was startled when I heard what sounded like two distinct explosions. Columbia had just anounced its presence, slowing from supersonic to subsonic flight as the nose and tail set off a double sonic boom which rattled windows across Southern California.


Over the years NASA added more shuttles to the fleet and after tragically losing Challenger, obtained authorization from Congress to replace it with a new Space Shuttle which would be called Endeavour.


Designed and built in California, it is fitting that Endeavour returned home today. And I now 43 years past the age of 7, took my team (my mom) to Disneyland where we both witnessed Endeavour’s last flight and I dreamed for just a moment of summer evenings spent flying over the backyard.


So thanks Mom for never once crushing a little boy’s hopes and dreams and thanks Endeavour – Welcome home.

Wednesday
Sep022009

inside hangs a babylon, flowerfalls of love alive...

California Science Center's amazing atrium soars over my beloved wife who sits patiently waiting for me.