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.