I spotted this little guy on a bush while we were out looking at plantations in the Virginia countryside.
Given that we were primarily looking at the architecture, I’m glad I accidentally spotted him…
Looking into the abyss
Category Archives: Blog
Thanks, Seven by Five!
If you haven’t run across it yet, there’s a good online photo magazine out there called “Seven by Five.” Along with photographer profiles, and helpful how-to articles, they also have weekly and monthly photo contests based on contributions to their Flickr group.
This past week’s theme was “Money” — so I contributed one of my older shots (at the time, I’d had a DSLR for all of 7 months) called “Ka-ching!” In terms of technique, I could do a better job with this shot today — but I still like it a lot.
Anyway, lucky me — this shot was one of the 17 that they picked for their weekly shout out. Thanks, gang!
Pink ‘n’ proud
Another flower shot from our stroll through Colonial Williamsburg:
Startling
While we were wandering through Colonial Williamsburg some weeks back, we happened upon this little gem along the road:
I couldn’t tell you what it is, other than pretty.
Above as below
I saw this weathered old boat at Seattle’s Center for Wooden Boats, and since the water was still at the time (early morning), I just had to get this reflection shot:
I’m still a bit puzzled at how the weathering on the paint (looks like vertical streaks on the boat’s hull) is so much more prominent in the reflection than in the direct view itself.
Rolling out
Living as we do in the metro Denver area, we’ve been keeping an eye on the ongoing build-out (called FasTracks) of our light rail system. This past weekend, RTD shut down 6th Avenue (an arterial highway through town) in one section so a light rail bridge could be rolled over it — apparently the first time in the U.S. that this has been done with a bridge of this size (286 feet long, 600 tons).
My daughter and I were at loose ends Saturday morning, so we went out to see the goings on:
OK, I wouldn’t call it a particularly dynamic event (the construction folks allocated 30 hours for the rollout, but were done in half the time), but it was fun to swing by and see a taste of what’s to come in about 2 more years. Here’s a better view from the east:
And one from the Union St. overpass looking along 6th Avenue toward downtown (i.e., to the east):
It’s so weird seeing this normally busy highway shutdown like this… RTD also put up a time lapse video of the process, it condenses all the activity into a minute of video:
In mid-air
Another image from Hawaii — this one from along the trail to Akaka Falls.
It’s a quick little walk on paved trails — should you ever find yourself in the neighborhood, I’d heartily recommend you check it out!
Night along the trail
So let’s say you take a trip to Hawaii and manage to hike out to where the lava meets the sea. Pretty spectacular, particularly at night:
But of course, you hiked there in the dark (likely) over near-black lava (certainly), and now you need to get back to your car, in the dark. Makes for a pretty tough scene unless you brought a flashlight. Luckily, though, most folks remember this little item of equipment (although you’d be surprised how many show up unprepared)
Once you’re back at the trailhead, you can take a long-exposure shot of the folks behind you on the trail:
If you’re having trouble visualizing what’s going on, here’s a VERY STRETCHED shorter exposure shot from the same spot:
Note that all the ground below the horizon is solidified lava flows, the sky is only visible here because I took this on a cloudy night. I’m still amazed at how much detail is visible in this frame…
Still life with pinhole
So yesterday, April 25, was Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day — I thought I’d contribute a shot using my Lensbaby Composer and its pinhole / zone plate optic:
This is a shot of some flowers on our dining room table — the exposure took forever (OK, 20 seconds) since the pinhole has an effective aperture of f/177. It also needed some serious noise filtering, since sensor artifacts really start showing up on long exposures like this. Still, I like the dreamy, abstract sort of look that it gives the shot.
Just for fun, I also used the zone plate (f/19) function of the optic on the same scene — far dreamier:
So which do you like better?
BTW, once it’s been reviewed by the powers-that-be, my pinhole submission will be on display as part of the WWPD 2010 gallery here.
All we need now is the president…
A few days ago, we got back from a quick family vacation to the Washington D.C. area — in part driven by the lucky acquisition of tickets to this spring’s White House garden tour. Those words probably make the thing sound more exclusive than it is in reality — it’s more like the world’s longest conga line, just you and a few thousand of your closest new friends shuffling through the White House grounds between ropes.
Still, it’s as close as most of us will ever get to the place (particularly with a camera!)…
This shot came from right in front of the White House, looking across the rose garden (just tulips in bloom…) toward the steps outside of the Oval Office. I think leaving the building out of focus and mostly out of frame gives the shot a sort of expectant look, as though a big event is about to take place. Of course, the President was out of town at the time, so only some miscellaneous staffers appeared when we were there.