Mar 31 - Photoboothed

Mar 31 - Photoboothed
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

Not sure if this is an actual phrase, but after a very long day where I had hoped to get an evening (dusk) shot, but I come home at 9:30, I am turning to my Mac to get today's PaD. Ever the optimist, I didn't realize that there were such cool effects built right into Photobooth. So, technically, this is "Right out of the camera" also.

Mar 30 - Words could not describe

Mar 30 - Words could not describe
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

There is no way I could possibly describe this without a photo. I saw this scene yesterday when I was coming back from my PaD shoot on the pond. You are looking at an old mill house, built on the side of a ravine that drops about 40' to the river below (which drains into the pond I was at). In the foreground is a small piece of the falls that plunge downward. I am standing across the river on a bridge beside another mill building. Those ladders you see are resting on a ledge with a couple of feet to spare. From this angle it looks like you'd continue to plunge into the gorge below once you reached the bottom rung. There has to be a Discovery Channel film crew floating around here (no pun intended) covering either the "World's most dangerous jobs", the "Future Darwin Awards", or possibly both.

Mar 29 - Melting

Mar 29 - Melting
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

I expected to find the pond had thawed out, I was a bit shocked to see so much ice. It was raining out and I wanted to try a semi long exposure closeup of the pond water to capture the water drops landing on it. There was too much snow for me to get close to the pond which was mostly iced over anyway. The falls on the other side of Leigh's Mill Pond were pretty spectacular, but I saved them for another day.

Mar 28 - Someone is coming

Mar 28 - Someone is coming
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

After we had a dinner with the inlaws in Wells (on the coast) I took the remaining family members (my wife & my oldest daughter) on a quick jaunt towards the ocean for my photograph today. I didn't expect to make it to the ocean, and I didn't. I am parked in a restaurant parking lot in the middle of the tidal marsh. I had been shooting the water & fog when I decided to rotate the camera towards the oncoming traffic. I like the glow effect of the headlights into the fog. Today was supposed to be a beautiful day, it was cloudy and foggy pretty much for the most of it (but it didn't rain). Tomorrow is supposed to be a rain fest. I can't wait.

Mar 27 - Down the road

Mar 27 - Down the road
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

This morning I knew that I wouldn't be home in time to do any kind of evening shot, so I drove around a little, looking for something to shoot. This is a dirt road just outside of an attached development that parallels a cemetery on the right (out of frame). Like most of my other PaD shots, I initially drove by this with intentions of a different shot altogether. I got about a 1/2 mile away and turned around (it took that long for my brain to process this shot apparently).

The reason I wasn't supposed to be home before dark related to an after work meet up for drinks with the group. That never happened, as I predicted, something important came up and kept a few of us there late. I wound up heading out with a coworker to check out his new property that he bought (just around the corner from this road). I find it interesting that this shot of a slightly muddy road, taken in the morning, is how I ended my day. We went muddin' in his Prius and my Suzuki (bike). I only wish the road we drove down was 1/2 as improved as this dirt road in the photo.

Mar 26 - Army Surplus

Mar 26 - Army Surplus
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

My daughter told us that tomorrow there is some kind of "WWII Theme" at school. There was a lot of drama about other various requirements, all of which had to be completed "right now" (wow, this really sounds like working at a Software Company). When asked how long she'd known about this (which we knew would have been an "Oh, a few days") we explained the difference between "expected" and "actual". Somehow, a WWII theme extends to BDU pants from my wife (who did not serve in WWII), dog tags, new style combat boots (again they were not in WWII), and a "Hot Shirt" which was most likely not standard issue in any war. On the PaD forefront, I left the camera gear at home this morning on purpose with the expectations ("illusion") that I would come home before 6pm so I could get out and get some kind of dusk shot. I'd envisioned a beach scene if there was enough time. I got out later than expected, it had already started to rain, and was so overcast that it was too dark to do anything outside when I got home.

Mar 25 - Two Scoops

Mar 25 - Two Scoops
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

Now THIS is what I was envisioning yesterday. In the whole "Agile Photographer" kind of thing, I took a look at what I had achieved yesterday and actually had the chance to go back today (while the snow was still there) and get the shot I wanted. It helped that I happened to be back in town this evening at dusk. I was able to get the silky falls with a slow shutter speed without having to put an ND filter on the front of the lens. The two ice/snow caps are more centered in the frame formed by the bench, with the beautiful light that I had, I was able to pick up a lot more detail of the snow, they look a lot more like two scoops of vanilla ice cream now.

Mar 24 - Springtime

Mar 24 - Springtime
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

I knew that this evening was going to be hectic, I didn't have room on the bike to bring my camera gear (I brought my Mac Book Pro into work), so I took my gear with me when I dropped the kids off to school. This was a bit of a whim, the park beside the falls. The last time I was here, I trudged through two to three feet of snow to get to the wall just beyond the end of this park bench to take a photo of the ice on or around the rocks in the background. Today there was no snow to be seen, the parking lot was open (eg: not covered in snow). I had numerous shots from this vantage point, most with the falls and the snow/ice that is almost framed in this shot. I nixed those shots because the composition wasn't right, turns out I needed to get a little lower to get the snow ice mounds, that looked like two scoops of vanilla ice cream, in frame. I might go back tomorrow and try again, we are fast approaching the day where there will be no ice or snow left to shoot, at least not for another 9 months or so. The lack of a working off-camera flash did hurt this a bit, I would have liked to expose for the lighter background & then light the bench in the foreground.

Mar 23 - Stool Bus

Mar 23 - Stool Bus
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

I rode behind this truck on the Tradeport and was laughing (inside my helmet) at it. I made a decision that if he turned the same direction I was heading at this one intersection, that I would try to follow him to get a photo. He turned. I thought he would go to a construction site, my mind was spinning trying to do an internal "Google Maps" kind of thing to locate a construction site in the direction we were going (there are none, the other direction had a bunch). Turns out he went to the "Septage Receiving Station" which was news to me. It is a gated off area just down the street from where I work. I parked the bike outside the gated area and walked in with my camera (in my riding gear again). I tried to find someone to ask permission, but there was no one around. I certainly couldn't have been mistaken for spying, I was in my neon orange riding jacket. Just a note, the hose coming directly out the back doesn't come anywhere near where I was standing, it doglegged to camera left into that building which must be the "Receiving Portion" of said building. I sure home there isn't a cafeteria in there.

Mar 22 - Bandaged

Mar 22 Bandaged
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

My youngest daughter took a babysitting class over the weekend. Part of the class involved First Aid, she even received a First Aid kit at the completion of the course. I'm not sure what is left in the kit though. To be honest, I've not been around, I've been at a conference during the days over the weekend, so it is possible that she created this bandage from scratch by weaving tiny strands of silk gathered from the various cobwebs that exist in our family room. It is possible, not necessarily probable.

Mar 21 - Someting interesting on the screen

Mar 21 - Someting interesting on the screen
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

A sort of rarity for me, a P&S shot straight out of the camera (with cropping). I am attending a conference just outside of Boston through this weekend and I am riding my motorcycle each day. There is no room for the 40D gear and my "geek stuff" so I packed the LX3. I took some boring shots of the hotel (even though the hotel isn't all that boring) that won't make it into my PaD. This shot was supposed to be for our weekly "52 of Us" set, but it is pulling double/triple duty today.

Mar 20 - Local Memorial

Mar 20 - Local Memorial
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

I've wanted to take a shot of one of the civil war cannons in our town for a while. This morning I found myself in a "non-rush" situation since I wasn't going straight into work, so I gave it a shot (so to speak). I really needed my remote flash to light up the shade side of the cannon, but it wasn't behaving (I couldn't get the flash to trigger from only 2' away, which has not happened before). I gave up with the flash and relied on some Post Processing work. This is a pretty early post for me, but I won't be back until 9pm or so tonight, it is better to take care of this now.

Mar 19 - Old Reflections

Mar 19 - Old Reflections
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

I actually had a few extra minutes to spare before zipping off to a Spring Concert (oldest, Flute). I decided to head around the corner from our house to THE "Old Mill" (we live in a development called "Old Mill", though there were no mills in or on the site of our development). I originally started with the UWA and decided to pop back with the 17-55 to get a little tighter. This is actually a cropped down version of the shot I went with. The full version was too busy, there was nothing to focus on. In this version, there is a bit of symmetry in the center around that little outcropping of building. One of those "hindsight" things, but I wish I captured the roof of that building as well as it's reflection. Perhaps another time.

Mar 18 - Suspended

Mar 18 - Suspended
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

I hit up the boatyard that I visited for my PaD back on the 20th of January. There is a lot less snow at the yard now. In fact, some of the boats are working their way back into the water. Someone was backing a boat in (behind me in this shot) while I was walking around taking photos. I was on the bike again, I was doing that "crazy guy in the balaclava thing" this morning, bumped into a number of people, some at the boat yard, and a few joggers and dog walkers. I pulled off the road and had to work on my kick stand so that it wouldn't sink all the way into the mud/muck.

Mar 17 - Shadow and downspout

Mar 17 - Shadow and downspout
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

I've been here before (9 Jan 2008) but at a different time of day and with a different composition. I was in my riding gear when I took this, I'd pulled into the parking lot & took off my gloves & helmet, but had my balaclava still on (think ski mask) because it is a pain to get back on right. So here is this guy in a ski mask, toting a telephoto zoom lens & camera, taking photos of a transportation building. One car full of people pulled into the parking lot and soon exited, not sure if they couldn't find a space or if they were worried about me ;-)

Mar 16 - Riding season

Mar 16 - Riding season
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

This is the obligatory "I'm out pretty early" kind of shot. To call this vain, would be an understatement. When I left the house this morning, I had this Church's Parking lot in mind as a destination. I needed a large pile of snow, larger than the bike, and it had to be clean. Most of the snow that is hanging around right about now is this dingy black/grey stuff that wouldn't make for an interesting background.

I am also going to file this under my "Agile" group as I have something that I would have (should have) done different. I should have parked in the snow (I actually wanted to this morning) and I should have taken a tighter shot, perhaps of the front wheel, so that it looked like the entire bike was engulfed in snow. Perhaps I will stop by again tomorrow to see what snow is left.

Mar 15 - Levels of rust

Mar 15 - Levels of rust
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

Old fire escapes on an old factory building in Dover. Taken from an angle that puts each level almost inline with each other. It helped that I was able to step on a snowbank for this shot. I had to crop it pretty tight as I was on the North side of the building in the shade, the sky was pretty blown out. I realized this while I was out there and tried to compose it in such a way that the intricate curves on the escape would make the crop. While I was out there I noticed the rust but didn't pay much attention to it. During Post Processing, I can see that theses landings were pretty rusted.

I was with my youngest daughter, coming back from her swim lessons when I saw the factory out of the corner of my eye. I've probably seen it a hundred times, it is not one of the more prominent ones, this is back behind one of the churches parking lots. It was a great area for me as I was able to pull into a small turn around and park. It is Sunday, there is no one there, during the week it is used as a warehouse for a local auto parts chain. For the most part, its location was a boon, I was shooting in the shade which gave me some nice lighting.

In keeping with the theme

So I am now 31 (OK this makes 32) posts into a Blog that has changed it's course a tad since its inception last month. This blog is completely focused (no pun intended) on Photography. It was conceived of during my first complete Photo A Day project out at pBase where I could not simply post a photo each day, I had to comment on it. I had to comment on something, some verbal indication of what I was doing when I shot the photo, or what I was doing after I shot the photo, or what I was thinking. Well, you get the point.

I started getting comments on my comments. People would tell me that they not only enjoy my photos, but the stories or rants or verbal diarrhea that accompanied each shot. The 2009 year started off with a new resolution, I would stop with the comments and focus on the photos. This resolution lasted all of 3 days, in fact, I went back and added comments after the fact. Something was missing.

Enter the Blog concept. I decided to give Blogging a shot. For the most part, this Blog to date is simply a mirror of the pBase entry (which is a photo blog in itself) which is also mirrored out at Flickr (you'd think I have an endless supply of free time on my hands). While this might be true at first, I have diverted on occaision, posting a different photo in the Blog than at pBase. As time progresses, this will become more frequent, until this Blog grows a life of its own.

My first true Blog was called "PhotoBikah", a name I have used on a few motorcycle forums. I love photography and I love motorcycles, why not combine the two? Well, for one, I started this in the winter, not much motorcycle-related photos or articles, or desire for that matter when there is still 3 feet of snow in your front yard.

"The Agile Photographer" came about after I hearing the word 'Agile' misused in the technology (aka: "Software Engineering") sector. The term 'Agile' was coined by people who were trying to explain the success of software developers who were highly successful. Perhaps not financially, but certainly in delivering product. Coders who could block out the noise and live in their own world(s) for a period of time, often creating intricate components first, then figuring out what they did later. It was (and still is) a highly iterative cycle, figure out what you are going to do, do it, regroup, figure out what worked, what didn't, what's next, do it, regroup. While regrouping, gather feedback, and readjust. Shorten the feedback loop, or the time it takes to learn if something works or doesn't.

So anyway, I've heard this term over and over again. I've heard it used as a noun and as a verb. I've heard it misused so many times. The word 'Agile' is not a noun, its not a verb, it is not something that is used to describe what will be. It is not a word used to describe something that can be. It is an adjective to describe something that is. Period, end of story. At the end of the day, you are either 'Agile' or you are not. There is no writing in a little notebook or diary "Tomorrow I will be more Agile".

Digital cameras have provided us with a very short feedback loop. We can take a photo and look into the preview screen to see if it worked or didn't. We can look for overexposed highlights, adjust the exposure, shoot again, check adjust, etc.

I would love to say that I can tell whether my shot is going to work for me by looking in that tiny window, but it doesn't. Often times I might think I have a great shot, but then think otherwise when I get back to my computer and begin the Post Processing cycle. I usually see a different photo when I get back to my computer screen. Tree branches that were not apparent in the tiny preview window are glaring at me on the screen. Composition errors are magnified, along with blur.

So I finally come to my point here. I have created an unofficial rule for myself for my Photo A Day Project, that I can't shoot the same location/scene twice. I didn't write this down anywhere, I didn't click "I accept" on any Photo A Day license agreement form, there is nothing signed in blood. It's too bad because in a bunch of my photos that I wasn't 100% happy with, I posted my criticism along with the photo ("If I did this again, I would try this..."). It is my hope to use this Blog as a forum to come back to photos that didn't work and reshoot them.

Don't overthink things, go out and "Shoot first" then ask your questions later. . .

-=Glen=-

Mar 14 - Decaying

Mar 14 - Decaying, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

Even though it is weekend, I still found myself on the Tradeport for my PaD. My oldest & I were in the area and noticed a very beautiful sunset as we were getting into the car to leave. I realized that the sunset would be gone by the time I got to a spot where I could actually capture it. I tried anyway, had to get onto the Tradeport, when I realized it wasn't going to happen, I decided to catch some of the yellow/orange tones from what was left of the sunset. I find it fitting that I converted the image to Black & White & then added some split toning (so it's a Quad tone now) effectively removing the natural coloring. This is part of a wall on a building right beside the flightline. It has not been in use since the base closed, there are bushes growing out of it and birds living in it (according to my daughter who saw birds flying into a hole in one side of the wall of this building).

Mar 13 - More than Fore

Mar 13 - More than Four, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

From a distance, I thought these were golf carts, though I should have known better. I was driving into work and hadn't found anything to shoot. I saw what I imagined to be golf carts off in the distance on the Pease Golf Course (so there is a good reason for me to think they were golf carts). As I got closer, I realized what they were (and was reminded that the golf carts are secured in a fenced in area). The picnic tables were still interesting enough to make the PaD though.

Mar 12 - Upstanding

Mar 12 - Upstanding, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

Had to take a different way into work today to find something interesting to shoot. I left my snow boots at home thinking I wouldn't be doing any trekking around. I got lucky here as the ground was still frozen and there was no snow to traipse through to reach these lines from the road. I imagine there were a lot of morning commuters trying to figure out what the heck I was doing near these poles. Big honkin iron things shot with a very Wide Angle lens. I had no filters on the lens, the inconsistent blue sky is natural (due mostly to the inconsistent exposure across such a large field of view.

Mar 11 - Down the road

Mar 11 - Down the road, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

For some reason, this morning I just wasn't feeling it. I worked pretty late last night, I wasn't feeling so hot this morning, and it was raining out. I told myself a little lie that I would skip out at lunch and find something to shoot. At 3ish, I was able to nuke a quick lunch and return to my desk before heading into a long meeting. I skipped out with some sunlight still left but no idea what to shoot. It all worked out though, while riding out to the flightline, I spied this stretch of road (the flightline is off to camera left) and was able to pull over, setup the tripod, and grab a number of shots from this angle and from right on the double yellow lines. A car finally showed up as I was packing up. As I was driving away, the available light dropped to render this scene only a memory (but captured on Digital).

Mar 10 - Blocked

Mar 10 - Blocked, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

And to think, I was actually pulling into this used car dealer's lot to turn around and head back to shoot some snow covered pine trees. While pulling through the lot, I did a double-take when I saw this old camaflauged vehicle. The best part was the fact that this truck was beside and slightly behind the dealer's building so I was able to pull over, grab my camera and have unfettered shooting access without getting bothered ("Can I help you?"). Technically, he could have helped me if he had a reflector to get a tad bit more light on this side panel. ;-)

Mar 09 - Tell me this is a dream

Mar 09 - Tell me this is a dream, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

Yesterday I was riding around on my motorcycle, welcoming in the new riding season. I'd expected to ride in this morning to work. I don't follow the news or weather. I don't usually have time to watch TV. While the snow we received this morning was beautiful, I'd have enjoyed a ride in a lot more. At this point in the season, however, this snow will simply not last long. (At least, that is the hope).

Mar 08 - Bike season

Mar 08 - Bike season, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

I was able to chisel away a large enough pathway through the ice on the driveway to official open biking season. I took the Harley out for a spin, mostly to start working through the Sta-bil in the tank. The VStrom started right up, no real need to prep it, though I will go lube the chain after posting this. I took about 100 photos from about 5 different angles to arrive at this shot. I didn't realize it would be so time-consuming. . .

Mar 07 - Ice Fishing

Mar 07 - Ice Fishing, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

The ice is still about 18" thick, but with temps reaching 60 degrees (F) today, we had to slosh through about 3 inches of water and slush. Spring is almost here. From this photo, it doesn't look safe or wise to be out on the ice today. It was very safe, not sure about the 'wise' part though ;-) The Cub Scouts had a blast baiting the hooks then rushing off to go sledding (that whole patience part won't kick in for another few years). My son only popped out onto the ice in the final 15 minutes that we were there, he managed to become entirely soaked sledding down the slush and mud hill.

Mar 06 - Me

Mar 06 - Me, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

Better known as "this is what happens when you use your camera at work for work stuff and leave the CF card in your laptop which is still at work with all your intended PaD potential images from this morning on it". It gave me a great chance to set up my studio (black duck cloth background, my special flash reflector, flash stand, tripod, camera, and other stuff that gets in the way). I also got a chance to drop into PS CS4 to adjust the black levels of the background since some of the wrinkles from the fabric made their way into the image.

Mar 05 - Wide angle crane

Mar 05 - Wide angle crane, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

Something for an UWA lens. I was amazed at how close I had to get to this crane for this shot. The Tokina is nice and wide. I have the B+W CPL on the front of the Tokina, I didn't see the exposure difference in the sky until just now, during Post-processing. I had read comments about a CPL on an Ultra Wide Lens but never really thought about it. This sky shot is after applying an aggressive gradient filter in Lightroom.

Speaking of Lightroom, I applied the 2.3 patch the other day. Today was the first time I'd tried Localized Edits in 2.3. There is a very noticeable improvement. I can now say that Localized Edits are very usable in Lightroom.

Mar 04 - Urban Scene

Mar 04 - Urban Scene, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

I have seen this fire escape a number of times when driving through Portsmouth. Today it marked my "Point of no return" for the morning PaD. I mentally dialed this shot in as my final choice. It was a bland morning, more for me than anything else, technically I could have stopped and captured any number of things along the way, but nothing really worked for me this morning. Photography is like golf, a lot of it is mental (and I am arguably mental ;-)

Mar 03 - Sign of the times

Mar 03 - Sign of the times, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

I've been to this stand a few times in the past 6 months or so. This sign is on top of the roof of the stand, I am hand holding the camera for this shot and NOT extending the camera above my head. There is a snow bank that I am standing on (out of frame) that puts my eyes about level with the "Farm Stand" lettering. I used the Tokina up close for this one, I should have gotten a little closer as I had to crop out a chunk of the left side (there was as car in a snow bank that didn't contribute to this at all). I'm not too pysched about the grey skies, but there isn't much I can do about the weather (except wait).

Mar 02 - Clearing the driveway

Mar 02 - Clearing the driveway, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

My old faithful Wheel Horse C-120 garden tractor with snowblower attachment. I have the 42" mower deck and the straight blade attachment (for use a a plow) for this tractor. I believe this tractor is circa 1974. It gets a lot of attention when I mention it at the local small engine repair (I go in for parts once a year or so). It just came back from service a couple of weeks ago, it got a carb rebuild & the snow chute was repaired (now I can control direction without getting off the tractor). The snowblower is a single stage, with the throttle on full, power to wheels set to Lo (directing most of the power to the PTO) this thing will throw some snow. You can barely make out the spruce tree to the right (it is about 15 feet from the tractor). Had I thought about it, I would have used a wider angle lens to get the full snow stream.

As this IS a Self-Portrait, I have to provide some details.

I set the camera on my Tripod (Bogen 055MF3, Culman Head, RRS QR Plates). Portrait orientation (RRS makes this easy). I have this Chinese Knockoff Timer Remote Cable called "Aputure". It allows me to set a Delay (The amount of time before firing starts), a shutter release value (which is meaningless on the camera if I have anything but "B" for Bulb set), an interval timer (the time between shots), and a counter (the number of shots).

For this shot, I set the delay to 20 seconds, that was enough time for me to get onto the tractor and moving forward into proper frame. I left the shutter release value set to 0, an interval of 4 seconds (between shots), and a counter of 20. One pretty cool feature on this timer (and the camera in general) is that with Autofocus on, the AF will lock on for each shutter press. This kept my back in focus when I was in front of the center AF point (You can set any AF point in the camera the center provided the most coverage for this shot).

The camera and lens was well-protected in my garage, I put the lens hood on to minimize any errant snow-flakes (or salt) from inflicting optical harm.

I've always wanted to get a shot of me on the tractor, I'm glad I did this!

Mar 01 - A Good Book

Mar 01 - A Good Book, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

My daughter enthralled in a book this snowy afternoon.

Today has been declared a "lazy day". No swim lessons, no running around for various groceries & household goods & no shoveling the driveway (at least until later this evening).

It was also a "No driving around looking for my PaD photo day". This just meant that I had to seek opportunities here at home.

It has been snowing on and off all afternoon, so far there has been very little accumulation. I guess we will have to wait until April to determine if March came in like a Lamb or a Lion.