Brick Wall

Quick post for the night. This is a picture I took back in Boise earlier this year on one of my photo trips around the city.

I took a page out of my buddy Lee's book and vamped it up with high saturation and contrast.

Snow Blower

Finally back from the dirty south, with a slew of new pictures to edit from Christmas. What little time between adventures... So I figure I will continue posting some of my pre-edited/captioned pictures and will probably get around to posting new pictures next week (when all these holidays are finally over).

This picture is from the snow storm this year, but is a little misleading as it was taken the day after. We were on our way to the White House, and the wind started to pick up, which made this snow blowing effect without having to stand in the middle of an actual storm. I didn't quite like how the colors got blown out, but I think Sepia helped compensate to still give it the effect I wanted.

Dirty Politics

Additional picture from DC after the snow storm. I had been thinking about this type of picture for a long time, as I love the look of pictures I have seen from other people. I have a bunch of similar pictures from New York City post the rain, but I didn't really like the look of any of them. As we were walking to the Christmas tree in front of the Capital Building, I saw this image in some of the melted snow and loved the way it looked.

Also I tried some Lightroom Presets for the first time to add a little variety to an another wise straight forward picture; and I definitely think it helped.

Fence Shadow

As I mentioned yesterday, the snow storm allowed for a great clear day on Sunday when the snow stopped falling and the sun came out. It was actually kind of blinding how bright the sun was on that day when it reflects off the white snow.

One of the better parts of having such a bright day was the great shadow effects it created on the snow banks. After I got done with the birds, this chain link fence next to the National Christmas Tree made for a great photo op.

Bird on a Wire

As I am sure everyone knows by now, we had an epic snow storm over the weekend on the East coast. With over 16 inches of snow in the Delmarva area, it was definitely huge.

I was just recovering from a cold so I didn't go out too much, but when it got nice on Sunday my brother and I went into DC with our mom and saw the sights. Near the National Christmas tree, there were a ton of little sparrows hopping around on one of the park benches. I got off a ton of pictures, but I liked when one landed on the chain nearby the best.

Ladybug Mountain

The ladybugs have been especially bad this year in Maryland, but that doesn't keep me from enjoying the photo-ops they present. This one was an unposed pic (I did take a lot more where I did pose the bugs), and I enjoyed watching that bug on top coming in to annoy the one on the bottom who was just hanging out.

I really dug the contrast of bright red of the bugs and tractor with the texture and gray tire treads, and I created quite a few pictures with this same theme.

Flying Solo

Back in Boise, I discovered a family of Burrowing Owls one day while driving home from work on a back road. It was mid fall, though, and they were gone after 2-3 trips. I remembered it this last summer and went out to the same location again to see if they were back.

I got lucky on that day, and saw the family of owls far out in the field sitting on their mounds. So I pulled over, took out the telephoto and started snapping pictures. As I was checking the pictures, I looked down and saw this little fella in a hole right next to my car. It had an injured wing, so it just sat and stared at me, and made for a perfect model.

Just to ease my mind, I called the World Center for Birds of Prey and told them to go look at the bird, but I am not sure how it turned out ...

Green Toe

Here is another picture from the farm back home. When the weather was bad at Thanksgiving, I kept to taking pictures of objects and details instead of landscapes and animals. In fact the weather has not been my best friend lately, and has given me a nasty cold...

This picture is of a statue that was sitting on one of the planters in the garden. I loved the greens of the bronze statue and the green growth on the cement planter.

Close Shave

Using a brush to apply shaving cream has become kind of a lost tradition. I remember my dad taking all the partial bars of soap and adding them into a mug and using a brush to make a nice lather to shave with. Nowadays you just buy the canned stuff that foams on its own, so what's the point.

The left over brush/mug combination does make for a nice picture though.

Rims

This shot was taken at one of my last trips to the Saturday Market in Boise. I had done the fruit and vegetables shots multiple times since I had been down there, so I decided to do something new and shot some of the art booths.

City of Angels

I know that title is reserved for LA and technically NYC is "The Big Apple", but this picture makes me think otherwise.

As we headed over to the Apple Store and FAO Schwartz outside of Central park, I spoted these cool Cherubs along one of the light posts. I didn't really get enough time to frame it right (it was getting really cold and we wanted to head inside to warm up), so I ended up with a tree branch growing out of his arm pit. (Nothing a little photoshop can't take care of).

Skating below Giants

We had thought about ice skating while staying in NYC, but with Dan having a bum ankle and myself having never skated it was probably for the best that we didn't, otherwise Jen/Jason would have had to carry the two of us back. We did get to pause at both Rockefeller Center and Wollman Rink in Central Park (pictured below) to see all the other people trying it out.

It was cool to see all the other photographers at Wollman Rink set up with tripods all along the railing like myself. One of them had some pretty neat levels that he attached to the flash hotshoe to ensure all his pictures were straightened (help reduce post processing).

Parkside

Had an awesome time up in New York City this weekend (thanks Dan and Jen). Not even a rainy day kept us from experiencing all the food and seeing all the wonderful sights. I got a ton of pictures from this weekend, and will be posting up a storm. Its very different to go around a city as a tourist with people that actually live there.

Jen was nice enough to take me around the park on Sunday, and we got to see the lake, the castle and ice skating rink (Christmas is definitely the best time to go see NYC). I like this pic of the park, but didn't really like the colors that much, so I figured why not go B&W.

Hotel Motel (but not the Holiday inn)

Another shot from the National Harbor tonight.

What really got me to go to this place was the Gaylord Hotel which you can see lit up from 95 (don't ask me if thats 295 or 495, since I obviously have yet to figure it out). I had thought that they were just the interior lights from the rooms, but after going inside I discovered they have these strips hanging from the ceiling covered with strands of lights.

I had started shooting without the tripod, but once the sun went down I wanted to get shots from the inside, and they weren't coming out sharp enough. So I had to waste time going back to the car to get it. Lesson learned: Always take it with me.

Oh Tannenbaum

I know it isn't Christmas, just yet, but driving back from DC tonight and passing by the National Christmas Tree; which they lit tonight; I couldn't help but post an X-mas image. I went to the National Harbor two weekends ago (got on the wrong 95, AGAIN), and they have a giant Christmas tree there as well, though it wasn't lit up until this past weekend.

I was amazed though at the large Christmas bulbs, which provided some awesome reflections back of the buildings in the harbor. Hopefully in the next few days I can venture back down there and get a few night shots.

White Towers

Driving down 495 to Washington DC, you round a bend in the freeway and in front of you is the massive LDS temple. Its a towering stark white building that shines so brightly in the night sky.

Coming home from Turkey day with my brother, we saw the building, and I could just feel my brother rolling his eyes. Getting out and walking around, the building is a beautiful white marble and is very reminiscent of the temple in Salt Lake City. The difficult part of taking pictures of this building was actually the whiteness of the building which made metering difficult. I ended up just overexposing all my images and then backing down the exposure in Lightroom to get the images right.

Sunshower

There are just some memories that stand out in your mind when you look back at your childhood. Working on the farm growing up, we used to bail and store straw and hay every summer in the haylofts. It was a ton of work and meant for some long, hot summer days.

While up in the haylofts in the middle of the day, the sunlight would streak thru between the boards of the walls. With all the dust hanging in the air it would create these columns of light connecting the walls to the floor. I tried during the holiday to capture this image, but it wasn't nearly bright enough outside any of the days I was home. Instead I played around with creating star bursts from the sun before it rose into the sky.

Rubber Ducky You're the One

The caption says everything. My younger brother found some rubber ducks and had left them in the bathtub of the house. Who can't smile when they see one of these guys.

Creeping Along

Among the hundreds of pictures I took on Thursday (no exaggeration, I was taking pictures like a champ waiting for Turkey to be ready), was this cool one of the barn wall.

Since its nice and wet now in the fall, the boards are soaked thru and green lichen like growth can be seen on all sides of the buildings. In addition, some ivy runners are starting to climb the walls, and the combination made for some cool images.

Luck O' the Irish

Even though the weather has been crappy all week, you can always find something to take pictures of. With all the mist and dew hanging around the farm, I went ape taking pictures of all the plants and buildings with water drops hanging off everything.

Also for the first time I reconfigured the tripod to the horizontal position so I could take pictures straight down and still keep them sharp. This patch of clover especially caught my eye, and made for a really sweet picture.

Passage

As I mentioned yesterday, I went with my buddy to Christ Church in Alexandria to take some pictures of the area. Its hard when you have been to a ton of churches to visualize something unique to take pictures of. I actually got my inspiration for this picture from my buddy who just recently got a Canon (I won't hold it against him).

He was shooting around the alter and taking pictures of the candles with the bible passage in the background. I liked the look, so I framed my own picture. Sometimes its nice to go with someone to see things thru someone else's eyes in order to provide yourself with a new view.

Purring like a Kitten

Went to Alexandria this weekend, and went by Christ Church; a church frequented by both George Washington and Robert E Lee. Got some nice pics that I'll post later in the week. While shooting pics around there, I happened upon this nice vintage Jaquar.

I was really digging the hood ornament so I got off a few pictures before I decided it probably was weird for me to be fixating on a car with the owners looking at me thru the window.

Shallow

This picture doesn't really have much of a back story. I had just gotten the D200, and I was trying out stuff for the very first time (like controlling Depth of Field). I had gone to Seattle for a long weekend, and the garden near the Space Needle had a ton of different flowers growing that you usually don't see.

I liked this picture especially because it was my first good attempt at taking a picture where I consciously controlled the DOF (hence the title), and the framing and composition turned out well.

Street Lights

In addition to Quantico and Alexandria, I also went to Baltimore this past weekend. It was only for night, but I stayed at my cousin's place in Federal Hill, which is within walking distance of the inner harbor.

The balcony he had at the top floor gave some excellent views, and I will definitely have to go back some time to get some more pictures.

The Lost Symbol

After reading Dan Brown's new book on the drive east (I had a day and a half in Wyoming during a snow storm, and daytime TV is not that good), I was pretty pumped to be near DC and see some of the buildings he was writing about.

One place that featured prominently was the George Washington National Masonic Memorial located in Alexandria, Virginia. For a "secret" organization they are pretty open about people seeing the building and learning about their history; seeing as how you get to visit 4 of the 9 floors. The garden and symbol at the front were only recently added, but they were easily my favorite part.

The Few the Proud

What a weekend. Did a lot of partying (seems to be the trend since coming back), and went to Alexandria, Baltimore, and Quantico.

Quantico was kind of an accident, as I was driving back this morning from Alexandria and got on 95 S instead of 495 N, and didn't realize my mistake till I saw the Marine base. But as I drove by I saw this large triangular building from the highway. So me and my brother, who was following me, said screw it and took a detour (whats a detour when you are 30 minutes in the wrong direction).

Find out that this is the National Museum of the Marine Corps. The building is awesome, and the exhibits inside are phenomenal.

Floating

Its late and I am tired, but I wanted to get a post in before the weekend. So no elaborate back story, just the facts.

This picture was taken in the old irrigation canal at the Alamo in San Antonio. I was looking for something unique to photograph (instead of the buildings) and this single flower floating by looked just right.

Sushi Grade

On Sunday I went to eat Vietnamese for the first time with my Mom and brother, and I will definitely be going again (its down the road from my apartment!). Also, one of the guys at work was telling me about a re-known Korean restaurant in Anndale, so needless to say I will be sampling from all over :)

In this vain I thought about posting a picture I took in Boise at, in my opinion, one of the best sushi restaurants there (Shige). I was there celebrating with some friends, and I couldn't help breaking out my camera. The problem was that I didn't want to take too long, and forgot to increase the ISO adequately, and as a result it didn't come out nearly as sharp as I would have liked.

So I decided to try out something new and found a Selective Color Tutorial online for Gimp (best free photoshop program on the market). Only took about an hour, and I think for a first time try it came out pretty good.

Battle for Evermore

Finally got around to a little exploring today (emphasis on little), and one of the things this area of Virginia is known for is Civil War battle fields. The Manassas National Battlefield is a stone's throw away from my apartment, and I am sure it will be a regularly visited location. This is the spot where General Thomas Jackson got the nickname "Stone Wall" and where the 1st and 2nd battles of Bull Run took place.

The area is enormous and consists of many rolling hills, cannons, and old farm houses. Near the Visitor Center, there is an house called the Henry House, where the resident, Judith Henry refused to leave during the fighting. She was killed by cannon fire that was intended for snipers in her house. Her grave stone is by this house and is pictured below.

River Runs Thru it

I never got into flyfishing while I was in Boise. It was one of those things I wanted to try, but just never got around to. I guess you can only have SO many hobbies...

This picture was taken up at Boulder Lake near McCall, Idaho. It's a very easy location to get to, you just hike ~1-2 miles up to the lake from the parking lot. It offers lots of peace and serenity without the long hikes that Idaho usually has. I went up there with a few friends and once we had setup out tents, two of the guys went out to the water to do a little fishing. No fish bit, but I did get the one guy to tred out into the water to pose some great silhouettes against the sunset (thanks Thomas).

Above the clouds

I was just talking to some people at work about winters, and how different Boise is from Virginia. Inversion in Boise is one of the most depressing things ever, and to have it for almost four months straight is just miserable. It does, however, make for some great skiing conditions... In Virginia you will at least see the sun, but have to deal with a lot more rainy cold days. The only way to win is to take Daniel Tosh's advice: "I love seasons too, thats why I moved to a place that skips all the sh*tty ones."

During the inversion last year, I drove up to Bogus Basin and setup the tripod and waited for the sunrise (in the car of course). When it did start popping up, I got a ton of pictures of the foothills and the sea of clouds below (sans Boise and the Treasure Valley).

Guess who's back...

If you didn't already know, I am back on the east coast again; for a year. I will be in Manassas, Virginia; so I will start exploring the area as soon as I get over the lack of sleep I have been getting for the last few weeks.

To get things started, I am posting one of the pictures I took last year at Christmas time. My mom took me around the mall at night, and I brought the tripod along to shoot the monuments. If you ever do head into DC to photography, be aware that you can not bring a tripod up to the Lincoln, Jefferson monuments or the White House. I have heard the monopods are usually allowed, but I guess you look too much like a terrorist with a tripod. This is one of the better ones, of the WWII Memorial.

I am driving 85...

Finally got back on the road on Friday and made it from Laramie to Ames Iowa. Terrible drive in the beginning getting out of Wyoming (80 was still closed so had to take 287 south to Fort Collins than 14 to 76 and then back to 80). Got in to Ames at about 12:30, to a waiting friend and a ton of whiskey... Oh the college life.

Anyway, while driving I noticed a cool reflection from my speedometer and the lights from the cars driving the opposite direction. My camera was all packed up so I broke out the next best thing, the iPhone. The picture actually turned out really cool, and I only did some slight cropping and contrast adjustments. It reminded me of a book I had read some reviews on a few months ago called The Best Camera is the one that's with you, which is a collection of pictures taken entirely with an iPhone. In addition, in one of the composition books I have been reading, the author spent a chapter expressing his deep annoyance to the idea that anyone can make amazing pictures if they have a DSLR. I agree completely with both of these photographers, and will continue to try to improve on my talent, not my equipment.

Make it a double.

My journey back east had a slight delay today with highway 80 getting closed between Laramie and Cheyenne Wyoming. So I have been stuck in a hotel for the last day and a half waiting for the road to reopen. This gave me a perfect opportunity to catch up on some reading and drive around Laramie for a little (there is a reason the roads are closed, conditions are terrible).

Laramie is a college town (home of University of Wyoming), so I went to a local bar/restaurant and just grabbed a bowl of chili and a whiskey and water. When the bartender asked if I wanted a double, I said "Hell yeah, what else do I have to do today". The bar surface was pretty cool as well, as it was created from blocks of wood and rows of wine corks. I couldn't help taking a picture or two.

Snow field

Snow is definitely what I am going to miss most next year being back east. East coast skiing is almost a joke in comparison to the mountains and resorts west of the rockies. To wake up and have feet of fresh snow on the ground is just unheard of back home.

Driving back from Brundage a few years ago, the weather conditions started getting pretty bad. So instead of taking the normal route thru Horseshoe Bend, I went thru Cambridge. The wind had created some pretty amazing drifts along the side of the road, so I pulled over and trudged thru some of the snow to get close enough to the fence line to get this image.

So long Idaho

With moving east next week for a year, I wanted to post a few favorites from Idaho for the next few days to show some of my favorite memories.

This is one of the many many Sawtooth Mountain pictures I have, which is one of the main reasons I have fallen in love with Idaho. I woke up at 4 am one morning in Boise, and just drove up to Stanley for a nice sunrise and breakfast. By the end of the drive I was crashing pretty hard from my coffee and it was pretty cold standing around taking pictures, but it was worth it.

Number 4

Ok, just to set things straight before I get a lot of flack. I am not a Boise State Fan, and I will never claim to be. I picked this picture, because come on they have a Blue Field! How can you not want to photograph that?

The Barber to Boise race actually ended inside of the stadium last weekend, and so I had an opportunity to walk inside and shoot. It was cool to be down on an actual college field (can't claim I ever have before at any school) and to have free rein to shoot whatever I wanted.

Lock Down

A few weeks ago I FINALLY went to the Old Idaho Penitentiary. I had wanted to go for years, but it took Sam suggesting it to finally get me in there. But trust me, if you like taking pictures, it is truly a mecca for creativity. There is everything from old buildings and machinery, to flowers and views of the foothills. It was definitely worth the visit and I will go back the next chance I get.

When visualizing this picture, I thought about a few of the things I was reading in "The Photographic Eye" by Michael Freeman. It's an awesome book about composition and has some great chapters about framing and perspective. It takes a lot to stop yourself from pushing the shutter long enough to think about the final image, but when you can create an image that is exactly what you envision it to be without any post processing, it's definitely worthwhile.

Spit Polish

Not really, but walking into Robert Riebe's Shoe Repair‎ store in Downtown Boise, it feels like they would hock a big one just to get your shoes to shine. The store is very rustic and contains a lot of original equipment for repairing and cleaning shoes. We were hoping to walk into the back when we asked to take some pictures, but they were busy working, so we just shot in the front of the store, which was full of various cleaning and care products.

It was a weird experience to walk into a place and ask to take some pictures, but its one of those things I guess you just have to get used to. They seemed perfectly happy to let us, so I will have to continue asking in the future.

Legends of the Fall

Fall is almost over, but I wanted to at least post one foliage picture. The west coast does not seem to have nearly the explosion of color that the east coast has, simple because there are more pine trees out here. With that being said though, when there is a tree that changes, it does stand out more and is a nice contrast.

This picture was taken on 8th street downtown of some of the random leaves strewn across the ground.

Small wonder

On the same topic as yesterday; all this month at the World Center of Birds of Prey, they are doing flight demonstrations of some of their birds. During the demos they swing a lure (a ring with meat attached) and the birds attack it mid air. Even though Saturday was ridiculously windy (try standing on a hillside with no trees...) they flew three birds: an Arctic Gyrfalcon, a Peregrine Falcon, and an American Kestrel (which is what is pictured below).

The poor little Kestrel only weighs about 100 grams, so they tried not to keep him in flight very long, and you could tell he was fighting to stay in the air. The bird is so small in fact, that it reseted on a single finger of the falconer and she had to shield it from the wind just to show it off.

Another First

It's funny, I have tried for 2 years to capture a Chukar while in Boise, and when I finally wasn't looking I see a ton of them. I was at the World Center of Birds of Prey with Sam taking pictures of a Falcon demonstration; and I had just finished telling him how I have been here 2 or 3 times, and had never seen a single Chukar (even though its supposed to be a good place to see them). We get in the car and looking out the windshield we don't see just one, but a whole flock of them. We jumped out of the car and tried to get close, but with no luck. Giving up, we start driving out of the facility, and there by the side of the road was another flock.

When it rains it pours...

Flashing. Lights... Lights... Lights...

Quick post tonight, was a long day. Went and took some pics around downtown tonight and captured this image of a string of lights on a tree outside of Chronic Tacos (between 6th and 5th streets). I didn't even know the place existed, but the food was good and I as I took my last bite I couldn't help being reminded of the Ron Burgandy line "Wow, this burrito is delicious, but it is filling".

Sitting on the Dock of the Bay

The PCH area of California around San Jose, Monterey, and San Fran is one of the most beautiful areas in the US. This time two years ago I was lucky enough to stay in Capitola for a long weekend. The house we stayed in was a block from the beach which made taking pictures of the Bay a no brainer (especially with all the birds around).

The one section of the beach had a nice long dock with a great view of the pastel colored condos. It just so happened that while taking pictures of the buildings that this gull decide to jump in the frame.

Da Zoo

Hit up Zoo Boise sometime. For a city the size of Boise, we have quite the diversity of animals and a very convenient location to see them at. The new African area especially is very nice. When we went on Saturday it was the birthday celebration for the two giraffes, Julius and Joseph, turning 4 and 3 respectively. They had put out a "puzzle feeder" which is just a bucket with holes cut in the sides that they stuff full of leaves.

Below is a closeup of Julius on his way to the feeder and a second shot of one of the Spider Monkeys. The arms on this little guy were so long, that at one point he was sitting with his arm tucked under his leg with his chin resting on his fist.