The street was deserted so I pulled up and had the 'Strom pose with Slugger. And NO, slugger is NOT holding up that sign. This was shortly after my completion of Maine State Route 25, a 41.9 mile trip that started in the boonies at the NH border and ended in Portland just around the corner from the baseball park.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
May 29 - Where have all the golfers gone
I took a quick run out to the golf course after our baseball game. I as a little shocked to see the course empty. The Tee box for the 18th hole is right in front here, with this much light and no rain, I would have expected it to be backed up. My son couldn't stay in the car, he popped out to ask about the markers, though his description of what he was asking about was quite confusing.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
May 28 - New Door
Flip side of yesterday, this is the new garage door. I have driven my wife crazy opening and closing it every 15 minutes or so. I have my son following in my foot steps. Just before he went to bed, he asked if he could go test out the door. The thing that my wife really likes is the fact that she can park her car in the garage. We've not had a car in the garage in about two years.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
May 27 - Last day
This is the last day on earth for our garage door. Tomorrow the Garage Man Cometh and will be ripping this old thing out and putting up the new metal one. A few years back the panels began to warp and pop out. I replaced the three panels on the right side of the door when they looked something like these two. Shortly after the base of the door began to show signs of rot. I decided to hold out for as long as possible before shelling out the umpteen $$ to replace the garage door. Last fall the opener died and I had to open the double-wide manually (though we have a very nice spring, it is not a chore) to get my motorcycle in and out. With the new garage door, I am getting a special opener for my motorcycle. I will be able to ride in and out of the garage again!!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
May 26 - Old Home
Our town has quite a few old homes, if it wasn't for the power lines and the new windows, this photo could have been taken many years ago. My son & I stopped to take this shot on our way back from a Cub Scout Pack Meeting. This was a big event, he earned his Wolf badge and our den crossed over to Bears. This is his last year as a Cub Scout, next year when he crosses over, he will be a Webelo.
Monday, May 25, 2009
May 25 Memorial Day
Earlier today we marched to this spot with the Cub Scouts (My daughter marched with the Marching Band) for a Memorial Ceremony. We couldn't have asked for a better day, the weather was beautiful. Our town has a bunch of American Flags on wooden poles that are placed in holes in the sidewalk in town. It is really quite striking. I waited until sunset to go out to get a shot of the street with all the flags, perhaps get part of the memorial in frame. When I got into town, I'd realized that all the flags had been put away. These flags were still at the memorial, in fact, just as I finished with my shooting, someone from the American Legion came and put them away. We chatted about our military experience for a little while though. I set out on a 15 minute 'mission' and returned 45 minutes later. . .
Sunday, May 24, 2009
May 24 - No points, just cute pigs
It took us quite some time to double back to get these pig vehicles. Off Route 5 in Limerick, ME. I am using this for today's PaD, not sure any other photo I take could possibly top this. Notice the duck off to the left in the background. The title reflects the fact that my oldest & I were out riding this morning and doing a Treasure Hunt. You collect points for photos of various things that you find, as long as you are on your bike and have your bike in the photo (it is an excuse to get out and ride). There should be 100 points awarded per "Pig car" that you locate on your ride.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
May 23 - Not my kayak
Nor my view. I started out too early for an evening shot, realized my error and put my gear back, making a mental note to be sure to pop back out just before 8PM. I ran into a guy with a "Desert Storm" hat and we swapped stories for quite some time, next thing I knew, I'd missed my light, or so I thought. There is a slight band of red that I was trying to capture here, it's doubled due to the reflection off the pond. I drew a bit of a crowd with my tripod and camera. One guy was this kayak's owner who was interested in what I was doing. I think he was more interested in getting something out of his truck which I was near. Another guy was a fellow photag, I explained my "Photo A Day" thing and we kept talking. He has a Nikon, D40 setup. We talked for a bit, I touted Lightroom, told him to do the 30 day trial (he wouldn't be sorry). At one point his wife came out of their camper to jot down the name of the package (so there is interest ;-) I was a little slow in posting this, I spent the last hour or so showing my oldest the advrider (www.advrider.com) site to explain my obsession with "Tag-O-Ramas" and a Treasure hunt. These are friendly competitions which equate to nothing more than an excuse to ride. It fits right into my "Photo A Day" paradigm, things to keep you 'fresh'.
Friday, May 22, 2009
May 22 - Spring colors
An extension of last night's "Campsite scene". A little to the right of the image is this particular scene. I was attempting to capture a Dragon, but should have known better. There were two of the buzzing around the shrub/branch thing to the left of the ferns. It is/was windy out and the Dragons would not land anywhere. After I gave up on the insect approach, I went overboard on this. I even grabbed my flash & diffuser and dialed in a little fill to bring out some of the detail in the ferns. I'd intended to process this as a Black & White, but decided to stick with color when I couldn't get enough separation between the ferns and the water.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
May 21 - Campsite scene
We got a jump on the weekend and got to the campground a day early. My wife realized that the kids had tomorrow off, so she took the day off and roped me into setting up the camper on Thursday evening instead of Friday evening. I still have to work tomorrow, but at least when I get back, everything is already setup now. This campground (Beaver Dam Campground) is about 5 miles from home. This is our third year doing this and it works out well. As we get older, we forget things, lots of things, like the 30Amp power cord so that we can enjoy things like electricity, lights, etc. Other things like sewer adapters and other various 'things'. Tomorrow I will have a few more things to bring from home. Since I am stuck to my motorcycle, I will leave from here in the morning and go home, take a shower, then jump on the bike and head to work. Since I have to cart children and baseball gear around Saturday morning, I will take the bike from work to home, then pack up the Tahoe and head back to the campground. All in the name of fun!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
May 20 - Special Delivery
No, I am not delivering this in person. I sold my old OEM topcase and need to ship it out UPS tomorrow. A couple of large bungee straps and it is good and secure. Makes for a very nice backrest too. I've not driven a car into work since the 2nd of March and I'm not about to start to until winter.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
May 19 - Where my evening went
Aside from other various running around, most of my evening was spent replacing the pump on our Whirlpool Duet Washer. Last night it crapped out and I was able to download a service manual. I cleaned out the pump (thank goodness for a service manual, I didn't even know it had a clean-out) and got three more loads through before it decided to go to sleep. You can see a bit of moisture in the lower right hand corner, I had to drain the tub (again) and the water simply spills all over the damn place. I like this drain/cleanout idea, but the engineers need to put on their thinking caps and realize that the water has to go somewhere when you open this thing. They should take a cue from Campers and put a 5/8" or 3/4" drain off this cap so that we can hook up a hose to divert the water outside instead of onto our floors! Anyway, I called around and the place we bought this from, 4 1/2 years ago (anyone shocked that our 4 year extended warranty expired 6 months ago?) had this pump in stock. The hardest part was getting the hose clamps back on, they are located in the most awkward place, it requires a certain amount of dexterity and luck. Anyway, the washer sounds great now and works fine. . .
Monday, May 18, 2009
May 18 - Tower and contrails
I took my camera to our game again with hopes of capturing something on the way back home afterward. We had this great light in the evening and I wanted to make use of it. I got this tower before from a much different angle, I was much further away this time (my first try I was practically beneath it).
Sunday, May 17, 2009
May 17 - Hair on fire
No, my hair is not actually on fire. I was trying to get a quick shot of the two of us for our "52 of us" shot this week when my wife thought it would be absolutely hilarious to tickle under my arms. The light fixture in the background is not swirling, my hair is not on fire, I am moving and yet somehow able to finish the shot.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
May 16 - Bikers
My daughter & I on the bike in front of my parent's store. My daughter is sporting her new pink jacket & gloves that we picked up at Rochester Motorsports (one of our destinations for today). The LX3 didn't do a good job with my Orange glow jacket. We were getting ready to leave and my mom wanted to snap a photo (from her cell phone). I always have the LX3 in my tank bag, so I decided to take one of us too. If you look in my sunglasses, you can see my mom's reflection in my left eye.
Friday, May 15, 2009
May 15 - In a row
Should have called this "Kill two birds". The baseball field that we had our practice on this evening is in the background. After practice, my son & I practiced pitching (Which was nice, I am his coach and want my team's parents to play catch with their kids and I don't usually have the time). On our way out of the parking lot, I caught these swings, I'd not noticed them before. The park was full of people and strange enough, no one was on the swing set. I had my tripod with me, a necessity for evening shooting. The swings were moving a bit, but not enough to cause too much distortion, helps with the Depth Of Field anyway ;-)
Thursday, May 14, 2009
May 14 - Come back later
I wish there were some kind of hand-written sign in one of the windows with "Closed" or "Gone Fishing", that would have set more of the mood for this shot. I saw this out of the corner of my eye as we were coming back from my son's game (we got in two very wet innings tonight). I originally envisioned it as a Black & White, but 'settled' on the '300' Preset that I come back to from time to time. I like the subtle reflection off the wet asphalt.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
May 13 - National Register of Historic Places
Plaque that sits in front of what is left of the old "Conway Junction Station" turntable. It is also known as "Brock's Crossing", though I don't know why. My oldest daughter & I did a report on this when she was in 2nd grade. This was my first experience with expectations of young children and school reports. I went a little overboard, learned my lesson, and backed way off after that. However, I did contact the Walker Transportation Collection (they have a lot of Boston & Maine stuff) and got a lot of photos and maps of the old station. This is just around the corner from our house, I'd always thought it was a jail until that research project. It's starting to get overgrown now, there is a swamp complete with swamp-related grasses and brush growing out of the center of it now.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
May 12 - Velociraptors
My son has a dinosaur project due tomorrow. He had to make a dinosaur out of some kind of material, I'd been kicking around milk jugs or a cereal box (not literally kicking those items around) but never had the time. My wife saved the week by picking up some modeling clay. Our 11 year old helped him, hers is in the background (in focus) and his is the one in the foreground. I wish we had some beach sand, I could have spread some sand out on the wax paper to make it look like these guys have been uncovered in some sand dunes (I'd have to hide the toothpick though).
Monday, May 11, 2009
May 11 - Up close
We had a Cub Scout tour of the Counting House Museum in South Berwick today. While waiting for others to show up, we hung out around the falls. I'd never seen this particular angle before. I had to shoot through a fence, but with the zoom on, I was able to get a decent enough shot. This is the non-IS lens, handheld with a bunch of boys running around. It's not all that bad.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
May 10 - Unused
While we had a great time at Battleship cove these past two days, it was a little sad to see the state of disrepair that all the ships (and Submarine) have fallen into. I am not a nautical person (I'm an Air Force dude) but I have to believe that the fact that these ships are sitting in the water cannot bode well for maintenance. The deck of the Battleship was pocked with rusted out railings and broken or missing boards (I almost turned my ankle twice simply walking on deck). This shot is on the Destroyer (I think the USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.). It was on the side of one of the 5" gun turrets. I'm quite sure it is for spotting (the inside of the turret was closed off). What I originally saw was the spiderweb, while looking closer, I realized there was a windshield wiper as well, but it was so warped that it could not possibly help clear that window again.
May 9 - Jumping on the ship
We spent the evening on the USS Massachusetts at Battleship Cove in Fall River, MA. Hundreds of Cub Scouts flocked to the ship for an overnight stay. While I got a few OK shots of the ship (I left my 40D at home, decided it wasn't worth the effort), this is from a "jumping batch" that I really liked. My son was very impressed with the ghosting effect, at least in the camera review screen. I am a bit impressed at his ability to not only jump across the obstacles (which was technically forbidden) but to be able to turn and face camera in the air. So this is late in posting, but not in taking.
Friday, May 8, 2009
May 08 - Game Time
So I got a little "Photoshop Action" going on here. I have spent so much time in Lightroom the past year or so, that my Photoshop Skills basically suck now (not that they were that great before, but I could certainly fine my way around). This Polaroid treatment took about an hour plus, something that should have taken about 5 - 15 minutes normally. I wanted this shot to work out, but my daughter was not cooperating with me AND the UWA picked up some nasty flare from our light above our kitchen table (it is forward and above the lens).
Thursday, May 7, 2009
May 07 - Riding Boots
These are my riding boots. Technically they are the last pair of combat boots that were issued to me just before getting out of the Air National Guard in '99. They sat unused for a number of years, waiting for just the right motorcycle to come along. I started using them last fall in September, they took a few days to break in (as opposed to a few hours back in boot camp) and took a few hours to get water resistant (bee's wax). They leak quite well in a steady downpour, but work good enough for me for now. A new pair of riding boots is not cheap. This shot was taken up and close with my UWA, the toe of the boot in the foreground is actually too close and thus soft. I'm shooting wide open too, so there is a narrow Depth of Field to begin with. I just noticed that the inside soles are a bit worn, most likely from dragging my feet a bit at stops and starts.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
May 06 - Partial Kiwi
Another abstract attempt. I just got home from our game that ran a tad bit late. I really need to start packing the camera with me in the mornings, but I need just a bit more space on the bike first. I am holding the flash off-camera, above the glass & fruit. There is a distorted banana to the left.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
May 05 - Probably not what you think
A quick shot this evening. I find myself getting home a tad late. I would have been home much earlier for baseball practice, but had to call it due to weather. Then I got on a roll at work and forgot the time. This is an abstract via my Macro lens. It's not what you are thinking, yeah, you were thinking that, I know you were.
Monday, May 4, 2009
May 04 - Homework
My oldest doing her homework (at least I think she's doing her homework). We are down one child for the next few days as our "middle one" is off with her group from school on a camping trip up North (a 5th grade Rite of Passage for our school system). There is a hint of purple highlights and shadows, this is my oldest's favorite color (its our school's color too). That is her MacBook, though 7th & 8th graders get MacBooks here in Maine, she opted to buy her own, funded through a very thriving Babysitting business (It's good to live in our neighborhood).
Sunday, May 3, 2009
May 03 - Loud pipes
I was able to install my Stebel horn on my bike this afternoon. It will definitely make a lot more sound than the puny little stock horn that is standard on the bike. Before I could install the horn, I had to wait for a switched fuse panel & wiring harness to arrive. Those items arrived earlier this week. I have a few more goodies for the bike, but have to wait for a mounting shelf to arrive (correctly this time) before I can put those things on.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
May 02 - Eerie
It is kind of ironic that my oldest is clamoring for me to hurry up so we can go watch another episode of "The X-Files" (In fact, she just put the DVD in, I can hear it in the family room from here). This was not the effect I was shooting for. I was going for an abstract of my eyes, this was kind of a "what will this look like with the sliders all F#$@d up in Lightroom". It was opening day today for Little League, even though I put on sunscreen, I still got burned, however, part of that can be attributed to riding the motorcycle for a couple of hours after the game (my new face shield has been burning my face, not good). I am wiped, but can't miss a chance to get my daughter interested in The X-Files. My other daughter is over a friend's house, sleeping in a tree house tonight.
Friday, May 1, 2009
May 01 - Berry
I got home later than I'd wanted and still hadn't taken today's PaD. While loading the dishwasher, I uncovered some strawberries. I set up my 'studio' and went to town. I normally shoot with the monochrome picturestyle so that I can check luminescence during the shoot. I decided to keep with the Black & White theme after importing into Lighroom (they revert back to color after the previews are rendered).
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