I had to run out to a baseball field tonight to get our team shirts. I packed up my camera gear to find something interesting along the way. The field I was at is behind an elementary school that sits up on a hill, down the hill is a pond with another baseball field and some real nice public area with this grandstand by the pond. I've never seen this grandstand used for the traditional purpose of concerts, but that didn't concern me today. I put the Tokina on and got up real close (like almost on the floor close). It looks larger than it actually is, you can't actually land an aircraft on this.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Apr 29 - In an album
This is one of those photos that you might find lost in an album from years back. I was looking for an opportunity to try this Lightroom preset called "Tripleprint" which is supposed to mimic the old over processed photo lab treatment. I could see this in one of my old albums, some photo I took as a teenager with my Olympus OM-10, had developed through the mail and stuck in some album (possibly it was an assignment in Photography class). I realize that it was taken a few minutes ago on my front lawn with a Digital SLR & then processed through Lightroom to look this way, but still. . .
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Apr 28 - Boy in dah hood
We just got back from our pack meeting on the third floor of our Town Hall in this 92 degree heat. Actually it wasn't nearly as hot up there as I thought it would be, we had a nice breeze kick in. In a rush for today's PaD, I kept eying the sky on the way back, it was a tad bit too late for this shot, but it still kind of works. I asked him to look 'cool' for this. This is in between his "Daddy, can't I go to the bathroom?" rant, which I wasn't aware of until after I'd pulled out my camera gear.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Apr 27 - Baseball
Here's where my evening went. Not from trying to capture the best angle on these hats, but on a Coach's meeting, writing up our schedule, and other various tasks related to coaching that I seem to forget about. I'd hoped to catch some kind of sunset theme, but our meeting started pretty late and ran past sunset. I can't believe it is 10PM already, not sure where this day went!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Apr 26 - Awakening
One of the homes at the entrance to our neighborhood had these apple blossoms pop out this weekend. They are not in full bloom yet, just starting to show. I took a short break right after putting the baked potatoes on the grill to snap a shot or two (or thirty as the case may be) of these. I was all grungy from a day of working around the house & standing out on a baseball field with my team. The grunginess didn't seem to affect my camera skills. This was a partial mistake, I was going for a silhouette, but decided against it when I saw the preview in the camera. It wasn't until I finally started looking at these in Lightroom (after finishing the BBQ & taking a shower to remove said grunginess) that I realized this was the keeper.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Apr 25 - Restin by the songo river queen
Took advantage of this premature hot day and headed out for a motorcycle ride this afternoon. The Songo River Queen (II) is still wrapped up in the black tarp behind us. We are sitting on the boardwalk in Naples, Maine, approximately 70 miles into our trip. My wife's not a huge biker chick, so I have to entice her to go. For day trips its a nice dinner (we ate at the Muddy Rudder in Yarmouth, Maine). For overnight trips, I have to book us at B&B's. We are Sans Gear here, though I am still wearing my riding pants (I don't normally wear suspenders). There were not a whole lot of bikers out today who practice "ATGATT" (All The Gear All The Time). We wound up doing 160 miles today, which isn't a whole lot of riding, but pretty nice for an April day. I am trying to work her up to some nice long riding days in hopes of touring Nova Scotia this year.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Apr 24 - My bookworms
My wife is always reading something. My eight-year-old son is fast becoming a bookworm, like the rest of his family. At some point, we are going to have to get a bigger house to fit all our books. This is a nice cool evening before the heat wave. I've talked my wife into a nice late afternoon/evening motorcycle ride/dinner tomorrow night so we will beat some of the heat. Two days of 80 degree weather though will be nice, considering it was in the twenties earlier this week (at least at night/early morning).
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Apr 23 - See no evil
This is the church that is across the street from my kid's gymnastics class(es). On my way in to drop off my daughter and pick up my son, I noticed this incredible scene. There was direct sun coming in from camera left and these dark clouds serving as a backdrop to the steeple. On my way back, with my son in the car (complaining that he had to wait for Dad to take another picture) I snagged this shot. I exposed more for the clouds than the steeple itself and then selectively bumped up the exposure in Lightroom. I used the healing tool to remove some power lines in the lower left hand corner. Luckily I had irregular clouds behind the power lines so I didn't have to be super careful.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Apr 22 - Disjointed
While this shot, to me, is pretty interesting, there is a sort of disjointed and possibly morbid tone to it. I really wanted to capture my son's expression via a reflection in a puddle, which I was able to get. The cut off legs at the top with the continuation of his top, upside down at the bottom of the image is hard to process (something just isn't right). Still a cool image though.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Apr 21 - I see a red barn
I have no desire to paint it black. It was a drizzly, overcast morning. Nothing in Dover excited me, I kind of had this in mind as a fallback. I love this barn, but never drive by it at the right time to capture it. I need to pop by some evening at dusk and position myself a lot more to the left here so that I can get the barn and the field in the background in frame.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Apr 20 - Urban art
Just outside of the gymnastics center that I dropped my son off to this morning is this textbook example of Urban Art. What I'd wanted to shoot was a Utility truck driving down the railroad tracks behind this panel. The truck passed right by the train station, I'd hoped to catch some of the waiting passenger's expressions, but I wasn't able to grab my camera in time and there was a fence in the way that would have prevented me from getting the angle I wanted. This gym thing is a week long event since there is no school this week. I am holding out for a decent shot of something train related.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Apr 19 - Cool gadgets
I am trying to showcase the GPS and not the fact that I am on a dirt road. After a Cub Scout Leader's meeting this evening, I shot on over to a co-worker's home lot (there is a concrete pad on which a temporary house shall be sitting in a few more weeks) to check on the status of his road before the rains hit (something like 2" coming), to test out the new GPS mount on the bike, to get his coordinates into the GPS, and to just plain get out and ride a little (very little). You will notice that the Odometer is showing 0 mph. I am not about to attempt to take a photo while riding on this dirt road (or any road yet). Though they do make a mount for the camera (hmmm, good idea).
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Apr 18 - Struggle
From now on when I set out on a "photo mission" I am only going to arm myself with a "vision" and not a "plan". We had a pretty busy day today, I found it getting towards dusk and still no PaD. I grabbed the gear (including the tridpod) and walked down to the river (our association has a common area on the river) to take some shots of the river. I had these elaborate river/water shots in mind with trees and various aquatic, aviary, and topiary subjects. Nothing was really working, as I was walking around to get a better view of a branch across the river, I noticed this bobber in the tree (which could belong to one of my children) and tried capturing it. The light was failing, I was on a tripod and shooting ISO 100, so I had a rather slow shutter speed. There was a bit of a wind and so I wound up with quite a few throw away shots. This one slipped in just before I bumped the ISO up to 800 to get a slightly faster shutter speed. The higher ISO shots just didn't do it for me, this one did though. A simple view of this image totally desaturated gave me the idea for selective coloring. I used Lightroom 2.x with a selective adjustment. Pretty much the entire image is desaturated, save for the red in the bobber. Should some very affluent curator of fine arts wish to spend gobs of money on this, I can do a much better job at the selective coloring in Photoshop. Since I don't see that happening, this works just fine.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Apr 17 - Floral Theme
Since yesterday's shot was a floral theme and I more than established the fact that I have zero botanical genes in my system, I figured what better way to prove this then to take yet another photo of a flower. It had nothing to do with running out of time for a PaD shot today (and oh what a beautiful day it was). I will count this session as a bit of a learning session, especially during Post Processing as the image I was about to post wasn't quite the same as the image that is seen here. Since the subject was nearby and movable, I decided to grab it and compare it to the monitor. The color was pretty far off. It was this sick blue color, nothing like the purple that the flower actually is. I assure you that the image you see here (should you have a semi-calibrated monitor) is a correct rendition of the actual flower. I cannot, however, tell you what kind of flower it is, other than one that is in a vase. My daughter received this yesterday for participating in a rendition of "Treasure Island". She was in the chorus and played the bongos between each scene.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Apr 16 - Sign of Spring
Give us a few nice days and we start catching glimpses of a potential spring around here. These are some kind of flower that grows every year in our back yard. Yes, you've guessed it, I have no clue what kind of flower this is. I know it is yellow and it comes out every spring even though I don't actually do anything to make this so. It is a nice thing to see every spring though. (If I had to guess, I would say this is a Jon-Quil or perhaps a Lily).
I stand corrected, apparently this is some form of Daffodil. They are so popular, there is an entire society established for the education of such floral illiterates like myself. The American Daffodil Society has provided illustrious chapters of propaganda related to this flower. I now consider myself edu-ma-cated.
I stand corrected, apparently this is some form of Daffodil. They are so popular, there is an entire society established for the education of such floral illiterates like myself. The American Daffodil Society has provided illustrious chapters of propaganda related to this flower. I now consider myself edu-ma-cated.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Apr 15 - The taxman commeth
The dollar bills represent what we are left with this year after paying the bill. I am dedicating today's PaD to the IRS. Now if only I could find a way to deduct this. . .
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Apr 14 - Not many left
Struggled for today's PaD. This is what I get by waiting til the last minute. There aren't very many of these cookies left now. They went fast AND I didn't let my kids know that I made some (must have been the cat who ate them).
Monday, April 13, 2009
Apr 13 - Reboot required
I love this barn, at least I love its character. I've been here before, recently too. From the angle of my previous shot , you couldn't see the true condition of this barn. It is quite evident here that there is no hope for it, it is only a matter of time before it succumbs completely to the elements. While I was outside shooting this, a person who owns a similar barn (but in better condition) stopped and started talking to me. Turns out the silo is made of tile. I was wondering how it was so shiny and provided such a great target for manually focusing in live view. This shot has a similar Post Processing treatment as yesterday's Nubble Light shot, only I left the greens desaturated this time (not that there is any green out here yet).
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Apr 12 - Rough seascape
I had to take my bike out for a 30 minute ride to finalize the 'baking' of the ceramic coating I sprayed onto the header. It took me 31 minutes to reach Nubble. I took an extended trip to get there, it should have only taken me about 15 minutes if I went direct. I was the only Photo Biker there. Technically, I was the only biker there. I had my tripod strapped to my rear seat, it came in handy for some other shots that I quickly deleted when I got back (they didn't make the cut). It was a good thing I was in my gear for this shot. I was wedged into this crack with my back pressed up against the rock (the armor pad came in handy today). I wanted a different composition for Nubble as it is the most photographed lighthouse in either the US or the world, everyone has seen the stock "Full Frontal" version, I usually try to walk around a bit and find a different angle. You can't really tell that Nubble is on an island from this angle.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Apr 11 - Reflections
I went down to the pond to get a long exposure of the falls and was a bit shocked to find them pretty much non-existent. I tried to capture a loon that was close to shore, but by the time I had setup, it was 1/2 way across the pond. This scene looked interesting while I was out there. I liked this tighter shot that shows the base of the birch tree and its reflection much better than the wider shot with the whole tree, sky, etc.. I tried to capture a loon that was close to shore, but by the time I had setup, it was 1/2 way across the pond. This scene looked interesting while I was out there. I liked this tighter shot that shows the base of the birch tree and its reflection much better than the wider shot with the whole tree, sky, etc.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Apr 10 - Aftermath of a magic trick
When I came home this evening, my two youngest had a magic trick to show me. They'd put together a stage, complete with a "Box" that was covered with a blanket. My son crawled in and promptly disappeared. He was also able to be brought back. Shortly after the trick, I asked them to hang out for photos. This is something like the 4th shot, things broke down fast, we went from posed shots on their 'stage' to "Hey, let me hold my Brother". . .
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Apr 09 - 22222
I wasn't actually planning on this as a semi-Self Portrait, but my helmet & camera are in the reflection off the bezel. If you look close enough, you can see that my riding gloves are still on for this shot. I was able to get the LX3 out of the tank bag, opened up, and shoot all without removing any riding gear at all. So the main point of this shot is the odometer though, I am just shy of 1,000 miles this season. If I do the rate that I intend to this year, I should see 33333 right at the end of this riding season (November/December).
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Apr 08 - Golden barn
I almost made it to my intended location for today's PaD. Another 100 feet or so and I would be posting a shot of yet another waterfall/rapids. This barn has alluded me for years, I've always wanted to shoot it, but it has always looked like, well, just a barn. This evening I was driving in this awesome light, the sun had just popped out from behind some pretty serious clouds, about a 1/2 hour before setting. I noticed this golden glow coming off this barn as I approached it and never thought twice, I pulled a little further forward so as to not cast a "Car shadow" onto it. I tried to handhold at first, but at ISO 400, I was still borderline. I had the tripod with me, with the RRS QR plates, it literally takes a few seconds to get all set up, so I played it safe (good thing too, the handheld shots weren't that great).
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Apr 07 After the rain
There are so many good places within my town to shoot rapids & waterfalls. After the rainstorm we had over the night, I crossed the bridge into New Hampshire to get the lower rapids beneath the train bridge (beside an old mill). There is an excellent vantage point to shoot from behind the mill. Great solid, dry place complete with a parking lot. I took a few shots without an ND filter, one with a 1.8x and a few with the 3.0 ND filter on. I settled on this one wiht the ND 3.0 filter. I normally jump to the ND 3.0 and then struggle to get any kind of focus. Today, I gradually worked my way down, setting the MF without any ND filters then tweaking lightly after each filter change. With the ND 3.0 there is very little light coming through, so AF is impossible. It is also very tough to Manually Focus as you can't see anything. I might head back and use my 70-200 tomorrow and go for a slightly different composition.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Apr 06 A fitting opening day shot
I wanted some kind of baseball theme for today's shot. This morning we had sunny skies and cool, crisp weather. The Red Sox opener was postponed before it even started. I imagine that I could have cropped a little tighter and called this "Fenway Park" and it would look the same (deserted). Of course, I'd have to add about an inch of water to it too. We are in the middle of a huge storm right now, I imagine tomorrow's theme will be water based again. Spring is here!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Apr 05 - Part of me
I'm actually shooting into my bike mirror for this shot. A mirror that hasn't been cleaned in a little while. The mirror is pretty small, not your average SP mirror. I have the 100mm Macro on the front of the camera which helps a lot. I am actually in my garage, the lighting sucks. I'm not sure why I didn't take the bike outside and shoot this in the shade. Actually I know why I didn't, I had someone coming over to look at our popup camper and I looked a little odd straddling my bike with a tripod and a camera, shooting into a side view mirror. I wish had a bit more grain but I am too tired to muck with this in PS right now.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Apr 04 - Trophies are sooo cool
We had our Pack's pinewood derby today. I am still tired from it. My son got 2nd place for the "Wolves" and 6th place overall. He was in something like 16 races and had an absolute blast. He had been looking forward to this event for weeks, the past few days were an endless "I can't wait!" - fest. His car is in the foreground, lower left of the image (blue with green, yellow, and red). He pretty much did all of it, including cutting the car on the band saw (with dad's help). I'm not sure who is going to sleep better tonight, him or me (I'm ready now).
Friday, April 3, 2009
Apr 03 - Resting in peace
There is more than one reason why I'd like to be buried in this old private cemetery. This morning it provided a very tranquil scene that I had to do a One-Eighty to capture (Again, I set off for a different destination). The real reason I'd like to be buried here is that it is on a golf course. I was standing off the road, just above the 18th hole. I was able to crop out the green & got in tight enough to keep the clubhouse (to the left) out of the shot. Two foggy mornings in a row, tomorrow will be different as we are in the middle of a very large rainstorm, I might have to go capture some of the cresting rivers. That is, after the big Pinewood derby.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Apr 02 - Farm in the mist
When I saw the heavy fog this morning, I had a couple of potential destinations in mind, this was what I envisioned, I had actually forgotten about this particular farm. From this angle, the farm doesn't look as run down. If I moved about 500 feet to my left to shoot the barn from the side, you'd see that the topless silo was hiding a pretty huge rift in the roof and side of the barn. The silo isn't in great shape either. It is, however, very picturesque, especially with the stalks left over from last season (which allows me/us to see this barn from this angle).
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Apr 01 - Spring Falls
Trying a different set of falls, this angle was not achievable last year (at least not easily achievable). This is the bottom of the falls, the lower portion of the photo from yesterday, anyone falling off the ladders would plunge into this rocky area below. It is amazing how such a beautiful scene such as this is right around the corner from my house, but I have never seen this angle. I might not get a chance to see these falls from this angle again either. I was standing at the edge of a parking lot for a new set of condos that just went into this previously vacant (wooded) lot.
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