KODAK MOMENT of the Day

Being always around (and often underfoot), my cats are among my most frequent models. All three are highly photogenic, and most cooperative, often striking elegant or amusing poses for the camera.

The spirit of the new Vietnam is seen everywhere in the faces of entrepreneurial workers making a living in the private cash economy, such as this woman who ferries both locals and tourists on the Mekong River.

The colorful Florida "Plumbago" blooms, and provides a refreshing vision on a hot summer day!

I was on vacation in Venice this past January, and this was our first day. We got on the vaporetto, which is kind of a cross town bus Venice-style, and as soon as we took off this dense fog rolled in. I thought the fog created an incredible sense of depth, and I moved to the front of the boat and starting taking pictures. This is one of my favorites from that vaporetto ride.

I took this photo while I was visiting Palm Springs, California. These wind-mills in the sunset looked surreal. The sounds that they made, made me think I was on a different planet.

Do you ever wonder what would happen if you tried to hold a race with two year olds? Lets just say it can take longer than you would expect. This was taken in July 2004 at our local "Fun Run." My little boy and his buddy were "racing" in the two and under group. Everyone is a winner in this race.

"Athletes of the world, welcome to Athens." With those words the Opening Ceremonies of the 28th Olympiad began. The pagentry and spectacle celebrated the history of Greece, a history which includes the origin of the Olympic Games around 776 B.C. Athletes from 202 nations marched into Olympic Stadium to the cheers of a nation who worked very hard to bring these Games to life.

The Men's Cycling Road Race wound its way through the streets of Athens today. The Parthenon, atop the Acropolis, provided an incredible backdrop. Italian Paolo Bettini took the gold.

In fencing, an Olympic sport since 1896, the Men's Individual Sabre gold medal match was won by Aldo Montano of Italy. The silver went to Zsolt Nemcsik of Hungary.

Australian Ian Thorpe wins gold in the Men's 200m Freestyle. Pieter van den Hoogenband, reaching to congratulate him won the bronze.

Archery warm-ups in Panathinaiko Stadium. Built at the end of the fourth century B.C. it went through extensive renovation in the 1890's to host the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. This stadium is will also host the finish of the Marathon

The Men's and Women's Shot Put events were held at the ancient stadium in Olympia, the site of the first Olympic Games in 776 B.C. The Sacred Altis, start of the Olympic Torch relay, overlooks this ancient stadium. The theme of the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games is, appropriately; "Welcome Home."

Michal Martikan, of Slovakia, navigates the course during the Men's Kayak C-1 Single's event. The sport reached the Olympic Games in 1924. Almost half a century later, in Munich in 1972, canoe/kayak branched out into the dramatic whitewater version, the slalom. Slalom events, involving men's K1, C1 and C2 and women's K1(denoting one or two paddlers in a canoe or kayak), require the paddlers to negotiate 20 to 25 gates in turbulent water over a 300-meter course.

Table Tennis can be referred to around the globe as; Gossima, Whiff-Whaff, Flim-Flam, and Ping-Pong. It has been an Olympic sport since 1988. Pictured is Hyang Mi Kim of Korea as she serves during the Women's Singles Table Tennis quarter finals.

Takayo Kondo of Japan catches some air in the Women's Pole Vault Qualifying Round. The women's pole vault and hammer throw debuted at the Sydney 2000 Games.

Australia set an Olympic and World Record in Men's Team Pursuit Cycling. Cycling at the Olympics features three exciting disciplines; road, track and mountain biking. The track is called a velodrome. In the Athens Olympic Sports Complex (OAKA) it is housed in an architecturally spectacular structure.

Justin Gatlin of the USA edges Francis Obikwelu of Portugal and fellow countryman Maurice Greene to win Olympic Gold in the Men's 100 Meter Sprint Final.

Equestrian is the only Olympic sport where man and animal are established team-mates. A horse and rider work together for years to hone feats of grace, daring, agility and speed. Pictured is Ludger Beerbaum of Germany competing in the individual show jumping event at the Markopoulo Olympic Equestrian Centre Jumping Arena.

Fani Halkia of Greece crosses the finish line in first place in the Women's 400 Metre Hurdle Final. The crowd in Olympic Stadium erupted showing their appreciation and pride as hosts of these Olympic Games.

Gabriel Mercedes (left) of Domincan Republic and Oscar Francisco Salazar of Mexico compete in the Men's under 58 kg Taekwondo preliminary match. Contests are scored by awarding a point for each legitimate blow and deducting a point for each penalty. It has been an Olympic sport since 2000.

USA's Rachelle Kunkle shows form in the Women's 3 meter Springboard Competition. Competitors perform a series of dives and are awarded points up to 10, depending upon their elegance and skill. The points are then adjusted for the degree of difficulty.

Argentina and Paraguay squared off in the Men's Football (Soccer) Final. Argentina claimed the gold in a hard fought contest with a 1-0 victory. In 1900, football became one of the first team sports included in the Olympic Games.

Katrine Fruelund of Denmark leaps to take a shot at goal in the Women's Handball gold medal match against Korea. Handball is played in an indoor court between two teams, of seven players each. The players objective is, by only using their hands, to put the ball into the goal post of the opposing team.

Fireworks light the sky during the Closing Ceremony of the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games. The President of the Athens Organizing Committee said; "Tonight, the Olympic Flame will cease to burn in Athens, but will continue to warm our hearts." Thank you Athens! Thank you Greece!

I was wandering through my mother-in-law's garden to see the beautiful, yellow sunflowers, when I was struck by the sight of this red sunflower, as I had never seen one before.

This is my best friend's daughter, Valerie. She is adoreable and my star model for taking photos (when she cooperates -- you know how kids are). She is only 4 years old and what a personality. The day I took this picture she was playing out in the playhouse, and when she saw me, she stopped for a few minutes to pose. She is a princess.

Flamingos are one of the most interesting and colorful birds to watch and photograph.

On a recent trip around the British Isles we discovered this beautiful scene. At low tide one can walk through a causeway to the castle from shore. When the tide is in, water taxis (seen in foreground) are used to ferry people back and forth.

This is BullDozer (Dozer for short). He is our 8 month old English Bulldog. He loves just lounging around as you can tell. He really thinks he is the king and he is but we don't tell him.

All aboard -- the Union Pacific Railroad's CHALLENGER -- the largest wheeled machine on earth. This photograph was taken at a service stop in Gorham, IL.

This picture was taken in New Jersey in June 2004.

This is a beautiful place close to where I live. When I'm here, I have the feeling of travelling back in time.

I used the Kodak DCX 6490 and a Mini-MagLite to backlight the subject, turned down all the lights and set the camera to black & white using the highest shutter speed I could get in the manual mode. The photos was of a bouquet of flowers sent from my son's friends for the death of his grandmother. A copy of the photo was printed on the EasyShare printer dock and sent with a thank you card.

This photo was taken during the August 'monsoon' season in NW New Mexico. I was standing on my driveway down by the street. Most of the lightning strikes had died down and I was ready to pack up and go inside but I decided to stay for 'one more shot'. I'm glad I did! This bolt hit extremely close! The tree you see in the photo was directly across the street in someones yard. Needless to say, I went inside as soon as the shot was taken. The photo is special to me because it got me started on photographing lightning regularly, and I have captured many wonderful shots since then -- none however, as powerfull as this one.

Memorial to the Trade Center

For the last twenty years or so, the lives of more than 20 million people have changed. All those people once lived peacefully, and then came the hurricane of war and total madness. Now, when things seem to be settled down, due to NATO presence, the Eternal Flame is still on, symbolizing unity and brotherhood and the good old days of my happy childhood. Photo was taken in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. For me, the fact that I tried to freeze the fire symbolizes my tries to keep and remember pictures of childhood forever.

I found this inchworm at one of my favorite climbing spots. One of my hobbies is entomology and I often combine that with my love of photography. The idea came to me to shoot it inching along on the pages of my Bible. How small it looks in relation to the words on the page -- portrays how small I myself feel in the grand scheme of things.

This is a composite of two photographs. One of my daughter, Mackenzie, and another of her artwork.

I happened to look into my kitchen and liked the lines formed by the blinds and the chair. I thought it needed a little something else, though, so I put a kitty treat on the chair and voila-- it added the contrasting form I needed.

This is a picture of my three month old son. I took the picture when he was having his bath. It looks like he's still in the womb.

Thrillseekers ride the coaster at Lake Zurich's Alpine Fest.

I took this picture of me and my friends feet with an underwater camera. I think the design that the sun makes in the water is spectacular.

It sometimes fun to find the "bigger" picture within the "big" picture. I was sitting under a very large beach umbrella when I looked up and saw all of the patterns, shapes and colors that it made -- and just had to snap away.

This picture was taken in Guimarães - Portugal.

This picture was taken on the Snake River in Wyoming, very early in the morning. I love the transparency of the shallow river. Some of the pebbles I could touch as they where half out the water. It was a perfect mirror to the colorful Cotton Woods.

While driving through the Indian desert state of Rajasthan, we suddenly saw these women in their colourful attire and brand new earthern pots on their heads going to visit a newly wed bride in a nearby village. The sheer contrast of such vibrant colours with women cheering and singing against the backdrop of a dusty desertscape at 115F just changed the rest of our otherwise boring journey.

I caught "the boys" (aka, Buster & Finnigan) hiding from the heat of the day in the barn. It sums up their personalities to perfection -- they are like 2 boys with a fort to play in, and no girls allowed!

Photographed in Albuquerque, New Mexico using Kodak T-Max 100, 120 film.

This picture of a wedding couple in Montreal, was taken with a DCS 760. The picture shows how happy they were with the photographers.

I took this picture against the sun. In the original photo the leaves look transparent. I converted the colors with the help of several Photoshop filters.

I took this picture during my last travel to Puerto Rico. I really liked the whole scene, very typical of Old San Juan.

While on vacation, I visited a fascinating ethnic park in Beijing. I saw these cute little ducklings, and took several shots -- luckily I was able to get this one. I used the portrait and macro mode setting from my camera, and zoomed in just to fill the frame of four ducklings. I put more emphasis on the center duck, which happend to have the best pose among them.

Taken at the Angkor Wat ruins in Cambodia. His friend beside him was talking and laughing with some other people -- but this monk kept looking ahead, intently and stoicly.

This baboon was so sinister looking just laying there waiting for who knows what? Those eyes... The picture was taken during a trip with my daughter, Amy, in June 2004.

The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, CA is remarkable! There are so many beautiful views from all angles. This picture was taken at sunset. I could just spend days there.

This picture captures the very essence of my dog Marty. He's named after the Buffalo Sabres goal tender, Martin Biron.

I just love the contrast between the bright, sunlit foreground -- and the ominous, dark and foreboding stormclouds in the distance. I took this picture in October, on my drive to work near Keeler Township, MI.

I snuck up behind my sister in law just as her husband stole a kiss. The picture was taken while we were riding on the Ferry to Block Island, RI.

This picture was taken/made last summer.

Pictured here, a friend's child, peeking at me during a summer barbecue in Cortlandt Manor, New York.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa.

The fall colours began to appear here this year long before either the weather or the calendar said that fall was here. I shot this pretty autumn coloured leaf after a brief shower in late August.