Tag: Photography

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2021 Fall Foliage Road Trip

It has been quite a long time since my last post. The Covid-19 Pandemic has restricted travel for many people in the past 18 months! Recently, my wife and I decided it was time to break out of our cocoon and take a trip. Since we have both received our full vaccinations, it seemed that a car trip would be safe. Autumn has arrived and what better place to see spectacular fall foliage that in New England! I wanted to share some photos from that trip with you.

Just before entering Vermont, we arrived at a beautiful reservoir lake near the border of New York and Vermont. As we drove by, the reflections on the lake caught my eye. I left the highway and drove on a side road to an open spot and took photos.

Reservoir Lake in New York

Continuing into Vermont, we stopped at the Visitor Center in Bennington for a brief respite. As I was talking with two of the staff, they proceeded to tell me the peak foliage had not yet occurred due to the warm weather. The date of our conversation was October 6th and as we drove thru Vermont and New Hampshire, I do not know how the color could have been any better a few days later! The photo below is the view from Vermont’s Bromley Ski Resort.

View from Bromley Ski Resort

The rest of that day was filled with more fantastic fall color, and I stopped frequently to take more photos. Our drive took us to Lincoln, New Hampshire where we spent the night. The next day was spent driving along the scenic Kancamagus Highway and the White Mountain Trail in New Hampshire. The photo below is from an overlook on the Kancamagus, and the high peak is Mount Osceola. Which is the name of a Native American Tribal Chief.

Mount Osceola

Mount Osceola is the highest peak in the small Sandwich Range, it is 4.315 feet in altitude. The Sandwich Range is part New Hampshire’s White Mountains. One of my favorite photos from this trip is the one below of that mountain range.

The Sandwich Range

The next photo is the view from Crawford Notch on the White Mountain Trail. The mountain is Mount Willey. In 1826, a family named Willey lived on this mountain and they all perished in an avalanche in 1826.

Mount Willey

Remember, I was advised that the color had not yet reached peak conditions. I do not know how it could be any more fabulous than what we saw! What do you think?

Thank you for visiting my blog!

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Patterns at the Shopping Mall

Each morning I try to go for a 3 mile walk. It is my only outdoor activity that I try to participate in since the Covid restrictions have darkened my door! A couple of weeks ago, we had snow and ice storms that made walking outside somewhat difficult and very dangerous. I decided to visit the local shopping mall before it opened to use that shelter for my exercise. As I was walking on the second level I noticed the patterns that were created by the skylights and supporting structures. Fortunately, I always have one of my cameras nearby, as usual it was my phone! I hope you enjoy the photo. Keep shooting wherever you may be.

Dulles Towne Center 2nd Floor
Blog PostsDiningEveryday Photos

Dining Al Fresco

Most of us have now experienced the various methods of dining on food prepared in restaurants, cafes, fast food places etc. In the past we would mostly enjoy this food inside the establishment in which we ordered our food and beverages. As many in Europe have done for ages, we sometimes dined al fresco or outside the restaurant on tables and chairs for that purpose. It is a treat to enjoy the fresh air as we dined, I think the food even tasted better.

In the age of Covid things have changed! A couple of days ago while on my morning walk, I passed a restaurant and stopped to take a couple of pictures of a current version of Covid dining al fresco. Bon Appetit!

Dining Igloos
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Focus Stacking

Ok, it is now 2021 and time to get my photography skills enhanced. This blog is not a how to or technical photography blog. My goal has been and continues to be the sharing of my photographic journey with other amateur photographers. Since I began this hobby a couple of years ago, I have learned more about the technical side of photography than the artistic side. Initially this was not my plan, but as it turns out, I do enjoy learning the technical skills. Post-Processing can be simple or you can make it complex with all of the digital photo processing software. The combination of camera, lens, aperture, shutter, ISO and more gadgets than you can imagine gives plenty of opportunity for technical adventures.

Having mumbled about all of this technical babble in the last year, I have made my goal for 2021 to attempt to create more beautiful or artistic photos. This will be a challenge because I don’t view my abilities to lie in the artistic plane. But if you don’t try, you can’t succeed, so here we go! My first photo of 2021 is of roses. The technical skill I tried to utilize was focus stacking to create a sharp image. You be the judge and hopefully we will all become better photographers this year! Happy New Year!

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The Egg

A few days ago, I was trying to find some inspiration for a a photo shoot. It has become more of a challenge this year due to COVID-19 to accomplish much away from your home. This is a problem most of the readers of this blog are also experiencing, so as amateur photographers we need to constantly be looking for inspiration! Nothing was coming to mind, so I went into the kitchen to brew a cup of coffee in my French Press brewer. As I was looking around the kitchen it seemed like a snack with my coffee would be a welcome treat. As soon as I opened the refrigerator’s door I saw a carton of eggs and thought about making an omelet. That is when the inspiration smacked me in the face! Why not try photographing an egg.

I finished my coffee with no snack because I wanted to get started on this egg idea. Now how was I going to set this up? I decided to use one egg and concentrate on the egg and its shadow. Below are three of the photos from this photo shoot. I had a lot of fun that afternoon creating different compositions. Hopefully, you may use this as inspiration to develop your own photo shoot around your home.

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Autumn Shadows

A couple of days ago I was sitting on my deck and gazing into the woods behind the house when I noticed the sunlight filtering through the trees. The leaves and grass had changed from their early autumn color to a richer and more colorful hue. That looked great, but it was the shadows that the sunlight created that forced me to get up from a comfortable chair and go and get my camera! The photo below is the one I decided to post. I used the Adobe Landscape Profile and adjusted the hue in the shadows, but that is about all the post-processing I did for this photo.

Autumn Shadows

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Gentrification

The COVID-19 Pandemic has been a disaster for many people and my heart goes out to them! It has been a minor obstacle to enjoying my retirement activities and nothing more to this point. For that I am grateful! In the last couple of months I have rarely touched my camera because my motivation to continue photographing around my yard and neighborhood has been lower than an earthworm.

So what to do with all this time and nothing to photograph? I decided to go through my photo archive and re-process some photos. Prior to the pandemic, I was in Washington D.C. near Howard University. This area is undergoing a major amount of gentrification. The photo below, if taken a few years ago, would look like an old, broken down series of rowhomes. Today, with the influx of young urban professionals and their money it has been reborn!

Gentrification
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Snack Time!

I don’t usually take photos of animals, so I rarely post a photo of an animal. Yesterday provided an opportunity to make an exception to this behavior! I was in my home office, when my wife told me to look out the window at a small fawn. It was eating some leaves at the edge of the backyard. I grabbed my camera and as quietly as I could I stepped onto my deck. These animals have fantastic hearing and this one immediately heard me. I just froze for a minute or so and it went back to eating. I managed to fire off a few shots before it ran off. This is the best of the group and I decided to title it “Snack Time”.

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John Lewis R.I.P.

Solitude on the Potomac

The Lord I my shepherd;

There is nothing I lack.

In green pastures he makes me lie down;

To still waters he leads me;

He restores my soul.

He guides me along right paths

For the sake of his name.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

 I will fear no evil, for you are with me;

Your rod and your staff comfort me.

 John Lewis, Rest in Peace!