More Power

My romance with Smugmug may be over. This is about the fourth time in 2 months that I have had issues with uploading or viewing pictures... Very annoying, and becoming a deal breaker.

While walking around the inner Harbor of Bmore, we decided to maybe go to the Power Plant for lunch at the ESPN Zone. But after walking most of the day, we were too tired to hang out, and ended up going back to the apartment to crash. We did, however, walk over there, and I got a few cool pictures of the outside of the buildings.

Hang a Right

Annapolis was a fun town, hadn't really had the chance to walk around much in the past, and I was surprised at how nice the waterfront area is. It reminds me of all the other colonial type towns in the Maryland/Virginia area, but having the Naval Academy there gave it a special charm.

The round about near the harbor offered a great picture (in between cars).

Winging It

Took advantage of the nice weather on Saturday and went on a photo trip to Annapolis and Baltimore. Got a ton of pictures, but unfortunately most of them are city shots, so with the except of this one (and a bunch of flower macro pictures), almost all my shots are urban type pictures.

A bunch of kids were playing down by the water, scaring the birds up into the air and creating some great images of birds taking flight, which coincided with a perfect background of the Aquarium.

Pondering Pug

Gotta get back to posting more pictures of what I actually got into photograph for; animals and nature. The macro lens is fun, but it is still a tool, and will definitely help in the future when it gets warmer for me take pictures of plants and insects.

I know that dogs aren't a wild animal, but my cousin's pug was fun to chase around the lawn and try to shoot with the 35mm since the lighting was really low in the late afternoon. Its a great portait lens, and I will have to use it some more in the future when I get back to the farm to get some pictures of the critters.

Stovetop

Not much to write tonight, just still playing with the Macro lens everynight. Tonight is a picture of the stove top coils.

End of Laughter

Don't get the wrong idea, this isn't a serious post or anything. I just liked the concept behind this. My Aunt's garden had a bunch of inspirational words carved into rocks, but only this one happened to be broken, and made for the best image.

I have been trying to think of more conceptional pictures lately, and will probably start doing more still life and posed type pictures now that I got the 105mm (though if the weather gets nice again, the Cherry Blossoms will be calling my name...).

Bubble Bursts

Tried out some bubble photos today using a VERY makeshift setup in an attempt to try to emulate some of these shots. If you can't tell from the picture, I don't have studio lighting so I had to make do with a lamp. Still like the effects it created, but I do wish I had some flat white light.

Shots took forever, as I was trying to hurry and blow up the bubbles, then compose and shoot as quick as possible. The little gusts I created every time didn't really help my cause much...

The Is Have It

Back during Junior year of high school I used to play Boggle during some of my free periods with a bunch a friends (wow, that sentence sound nerdy even writing it...). But hey this was prior to Senior year, and we had to stay on the campus, so unless you had homework there wasn't much to do.

Found a bunch of game pieces while going thru stuff at the old house, so got lots of fodder like this for macro images.

Da Bomb

Got the new lens today! Was supposed to come yesterday, but UPS didn't deliver till 7, and so I didn't get it till tonight. Its pretty sweet, but I need to figure out if the VR is supposed to be as loud as it is sounding (might have to send it back :( ).

Anyway, hopefully it won't piss too many people off (not sure who even reads this thing), but I will most likely be shooting a ton of macro shots over the next few weeks trying out the new hardware :)

Shine Down

Got the inspiration today from one of my favorite daily blogs (Stuck in Customs). I love Trey's take on things and his excitement towards photography, it always gets me amped up.

Like a Drug

Quick post, I spent entirely too much time tonight trying to learn the Lightroom SDK, and now I am exhausted. I did figure out how to create my own Metadata, so we will see how much it helps with sorting/managing stock photos. Maybe I will try incorporate the FTP functionality in as well and try to drop out a few steps of the whole process...

This image is in anticipation of receiving the new lens I bought last week; the 105mm Macro. I love micro/macro photography, but the 18-200 and the 35mm just don't cut it, 1:1 can't be beat. I have a huge list of close up images I have been trying to capture for the last year or so, that I have never quite liked, so here's hoping its worth it.

Ms. Josephine

We grew up with chickens on our farm, it was a carry over from my mom's life as a Ag Professor's daughter. But not the 'normal' types of chickens, the nice exotic breeds. We named them all as well, so we grew very attached to the few odd balls (we had a blind rooster for about two years that liked nothing more than to just sit on your lap).

In addition we had three White Crested Black Polish hens like the one pictured below, that were named after three of the women that were our family friends (Ms. Hila, Ms. Josephine, and Ms. Retha), hence the name this time. This chicken though was at my uncle's home in Port Royal, Virginia.

Fallen Angel

Was down in Virginia this weekend for a family event, and my uncle's place is just a treasure trove of photo oppurtunities. As my cousin and brother said, he decorates in the 'Redneck Nouvea' style and has just a mishmash of stuff everywhere. (Needless to say, I captured a lot of pictures).

In their garden was this wonderful statue of an angel that I saw during the day and again right as the sun was setting. I almost didn't go get my camera, but after looking thru the pictures from the trip, I am definitely glad I did.

Light at the end of the Tunnel

Second post. This one again was kind of hard for me. This place is located behind the Tomb of the Unknown soldier and when you are in the presence of such a powerful symbol like that its hard to focus on anything else but the sombering feelings you get from seeing it.

But nonetheless, this image was kind of an amazing coincidence of location and time of day, because I caught the sun right as it broke below the roof of the outdoor theatre and sat between the columns. So I am thankful that I got to experience the moment at such a wonderful place, with such an overwhelming meaning.

Cemetery Row

I'm breaking my rules of one post a night tonight since this image was supposed to be posted on Wednesday, but Smugmug was down with technical issues... Not sure if I am going to continue with them or not after this year.

Anyways, here is a pic of some of the grave stones at Arlington. I felt reluctant posting this picture, even though I love it, because I don't know what the rules are on names on tombstones (should I blur them??). Regardless, I still liked the composition of this picture a lot, but I may have overdone it with the preset (a little too dark once online).

Eternal Flame

Weather was especially cold this weekend, and quite a bit dreary; but I convinced my mom to join me at Arlington and the Iwo Jima memorial. It was a first for me to finally see the statue and the Neatherland Carillon that stands next to it. This picture though is of the "Eternal Flame" that burns at the grave of John and Jackie Kennedy.

Lately though, I've been suffering from creative block and need to start mixing it up or get some inspiration, so hopefully over the next couple of days I can get some new ideas...