Snapped this photo of my daughter next to our Christmas tree. The light
coming from the tree was so soft and essentially like a giant soft box.
Not sure how this would work if they were multi-color lights, but with
all white, it works nicely. Enjoy.
On my way to work last summer, I saw this spider web that had caught these cool
raindrops from the night before. I grabbed the tripod and started
shooting and it wasn't until I looked at the shots, that I noticed the
spider in the web. This spider was no bigger than the tip of a pen.
Interesting things come in all sizes. Enjoy.
Yes, riding home with my 16 yr old daughter, I needed something
to take my mind of her new driving skills, and coaxed her to pull over
while I took some photos at Lake Quanapowitt in Wakefield, MA. Enjoy.
Every year, my daughter takes a living room tabletop and turns it into a
little Christmas village with all these miniature houses that plug in
and streetlights, and carolers, and a really cool tree. This is her
masterpiece creation. If you look close, you'll see Santa checking out
the scene. Enjoy the holiday spirit.
I was with my 16 yr old daughter logging some road miles with her new
permit, and I could see the sunset coming. I had her drive around Lake
Quanapowitt in Wakefield, MA and scoped out this weeping willow and dead
tree reaching out over the water. It's almost December, so very few
leaves remain, but I think it makes the shot more interesting. I tried a
bunch of HDR's and to be honest, they just weren't cutting it for me,
so I just grabbed one of the darker photos and lightroomed it up. Too
bad I left too soon, because about 10 minutes later, the sky was a deep,
deep pink. Enjoy
Just getting in the spirit of things this time of year brings me to this
photo. I took this last year on the John Hand bridge in Medford, MA.
This is adjacent to my offices which are off to the right. It was such a
beautiful morning after a soft and thick overnight snowfall. Enjoy.
Pre-HDR. Yes, it looks a bit like an HDR image, but I took this back in
2005 while the family was vacationing in the Grand Tetons. This is a
view of the mountain range from Jackson Lake Lodge. A view seen by
millions, but on this night, while the sun was setting, the Moon still
lingered above the horizon. I just love this area and can't wait to
re-visit some day. Enjoy
How's this for a view outside my office? Add a little soft focus and
warmth and the trees look like they are on fire. So sad the leaves are
almost gone. The colors turned so erratically this fall, I had a hard
time finding a bunch of trees turning color at the same time. Enjoy.
Driving from Ohio to Massachusetts, we hit a rest stop with three wind
turbine blades on three wide load tractor trailers parked side by side.
This one seemed to be having a problem with the steel beam spanning the
cab to the rear trailer. It appears to be twisted of axis. These
things were huge. I would guess close to 100' long. I had to go with a
hand held HDR for this shot, but the sun was nicely behind the clouds
on an overcast sky. Enjoy the arc of the blade.
When near a river, I'm always looking for branches to frame buildings, bridges, etc. Fall is a great time of year to get the leaves to provide a color punch. This is the Rt.16 Bridge over the Mystic River. I kind of cheated, it's right outside my office. I had to noodle my camera outside the fence and hold it against the rail to steady this hand held shot. Enjoy.
Sometimes you just have to get wet to get the shot. While vacationing in Marco Island, FL a few years back, we took a day trip sailboat ride to a nearby reef/island that was loaded with shells. It seemed to catch the good ones, so while the kids looked for shells, I noticed this sea grass reaching out over the water. Framed the sailboat in the background and the sky was a pristine blue. Standing in the water was the right vantage point. Enjoy.
Patterns, lines, and details "OH MY"! Throw in a little bokeh and you've got something. The architect in me comes out on this one. While walking around the "City", I was fixated on the cool detail of this wrought iron framework that's applied to the limestone of some swanky jewelry store on Madison Ave. in New York City. Don't forget to look for those converging lines, patterns and details. Architects spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about this stuff. They also work great in photographs. Enjoy.
It's not that often that I get a chance to get out and take sunset photos, but as we were riding back from Hampton Beach earlier this summer, we stopped at this seafood restaurant for dinner. I could see the sky setting up for a beautiful sunset. There was this tidal creek in the back of the restaurant that as we were waiting for our dinner, I snuck out to grab some sunset pics and the clouds started rolling in from the west. They gave the sun nice blanket to shoot at. This is an HDR of that beautiful sunset. Enjoy.
What more can you say? It's Central Park. The best city park on the planet. The place is just beautiful all year round. I just love the combination of nature juxtaposed against Architecture. Amazingly, this was taken in late October this year and very few leaves are turning. It almost looks like mid summer. I was trying to frame the two high rise buildings w/ the branches, so it gave them a hat. Enjoy.
A few years back, we were visiting the city and ended up staying in Jersey City, NJ. This turned out to be advantageous for taking night shots of Manhattan. This just felt better done in black and white and I think it gives it a timeless quality. Enjoy.
Lego my Eggo. Oops, wrong phrase. This is a telephoto shot of the giant Lego sign in Rockefeller Center, NYC. If you look closely, you will see that the sign is made up of tiny little Lego construction workers arranged strategically to spell out their logo. Very clever. It looks like the inside of one of those extreme home makeovers with all those workers jammed into a house. Enjoy.- Happy Halloween too.
Whatchulookinat. I don't know what she's looking at. Perhaps the bra store across the street? I can't say I remember who this was a statue of, but it's located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, overlooking the ice skating rink. Yes, last weekend they were ice skating already. Very cool. We didn't ice skate, but it would have been fun in October. Our recent snowfall makes it all seem right. Back to the photo, I had to make this an HDR image because there was too much contrast going on. Hand held as well. Enjoy.
Have you seen the hanging sculpture in Central Park South in NYC? It's a collection of giant inner tubes that hang from a network of steel pipes. Looks like a collection of botox lips. I converted this into a black and white because, well, it just looks better that way. Enjoy.
So, we are walking around New York City and end up at the Park Plaza. It's getting late in the day and Central Park is right there so we took a short walk around the lake. It's a great time to cruise around Central Park, the colors are out, the people are out and the weather was awesome. I don't know the name of this bridge or pond, but I love the Ivy spreading across and turning a deep red. Enjoy.
We were visiting NYC last weekend and my daughter insisted we check out
this church right down the street from 30 Rockefeller Ctr. I didn't
have my tripod, so I rested my camera on a pew and did a 3 step HDR. I
couldn't get in the middle of the church, so I had to make due with this
angle. Enjoy.
Yes, this is a sunset photo looking east out over the Atlantic Ocean.
The family was in Kennebunkport, ME a few weeks ago and we wanted the
kids to see President Bush's home/ compound up there and it was getting
late. Having the moon rising in the east was a bonus. I don't know if
President Bush was there, but the security was definitely a presence. Enjoy.
I was strolling around Kennebunkport, ME a few weeks ago while the girls
were shopping and I was trying to find a way to photograph the steeple
of this beautiful church in the center of town. Sometimes it takes a
while till you find your vantage point, but after a while, I found the
best view. There was a clearing in the trees that nicely framed the
steeple. Keep walking around your subject and you'll find where it's
best shot is. Perhaps a few weeks later and the leaves would be a
beautiful color, but you take what nature give you. Enjoy.
OK, yesterday I was talking about not just focusing on the things in the
air, but on the ground too. So this post is more about getting LOW.
For this shot, I was literally sitting on the dock of the bay, while
sitting my camera on the dock itself and taking a shallow depth of field
shot of the wood planks on the dock. This was in Maine north of
Ogunquit. Hard to believe it was almost 80 degrees in October when I
took this. There is a manual draw bridge for pedestrians in the shadows
beyond. Enjoy.
Don't forget to look down. It's fall, and everyone talks about the
trees, the trees and their beautiful colors. Don't forget those
colorful leaves end up on the ground and can create some beautiful
colored displays. These are a few shots I took this morning on my walk
to work. Even the base of the tree was coated in a rich green moss that
extends to the root down the hill. Enjoy.
As I was walking to work, I was struck by the trees and how they seem to
be changing colors in stages in front of the Medford Public Library. I
made it to work, grabbed my trusty 40D and walked back to snap a shot.
I had rained all night, the rain had stopped for a while and the clouds
gave me a huge soft box to shoot into. The colors really pop when it's
cloudy out. Hard to figure, but that's how it usually works. Enjoy.
I keep driving by these marshy, open areas with all these dead trees in
and opening. I find it very creepy, so I had to take this photo last
Saturday. I was out driving with my daughter (she's 16 now) and
purposely had her pass by this area that I've wanted to shoot for a
while now. Hope you like it. Enjoy.
f you've ever visited Millersburg, OH, you've seen many Amish buggies
roaming the streets. What's cool about that is they run right alongside
with cars, and gently pull over to the side to let the internal
combustion vehicles pass by. There is even a special wide shoulder for
this to happen. The fields are also quite beautiful and rolling so I
waited for this buggy to pass when it was in front of the background I
wanted. It felt like a good black and white would suffice for this
shot. The sky was grey and there wasn't much color in the original
shot. Enjoy.
Lots and lots of yellow flowers. Taken in NH at the Red Fox restaurant
while waiting for a table. I also grabbed several macro insect shots at
their huge flower bed outside the building. Why is it flowers and
plants grow so huge in norther New England? If you look close enough,
you'll see a bee stealing a few last bits of pollen from the flower.
Enjoy.
Mt. Washington never looked so good. Yes, my family was patiently
waiting in the car doing a slow burn while I ran for the tripod and took
some pics from this beautiful magic hour sunset over Mt. Washington,
NH. This is clearly taken from the lookout point, but I didn't see any
other tripods grabbing this colorful photo that night.
I have to give it to my family, they are so patient with me as I don't
get out too often to only take photos. My girls are often left sitting
in the car waiting for me to "finish" my shots. Enjoy.
Yesterday was a glorious day in Kenebunkport, ME, where it was an
astonishing 85 degrees on Oct 10, and very clear skies. I was hoping
for a few clouds to add some drama to some photos, but it wasn't to be.
We had just made a quick run before dinner to show my kids the George
Bush compound, and on our way back, this looked like it could be a cool
sunset over the Atlantic Ocean. I did an HDR of this, but this was the
first photo of the bracketed shot. It doesn't reveal any lens flare,
but I really liked the rocky coast in dark shadow. The clouds just gave
it some nice sunburst effect in camera.
Go ahead, take some photos into the sun. I'm getting more confident in
doing it and actually, don't mind the solar flare, it's kinda cool.
Enjoy.
It's hard to believe it was 86 degrees out today here in New England,
but there are signs that fall is setting in. I was out in Medford
taking photos of buildings and happened on this sprawling vine that is
turning from green to red in beautiful fashion. The textures and colors
struck me in a calming way. Enjoy.
So really? This is "Sepia Saturday"? I'm really not with the program. Anyway,
this is a shot I took a couple of years ago post heavy snowstorm along
the Mystic River. You can't see the river, it's to the right, but this
is one of the railings that keeps you from falling in. I processed it
then converted to B&W, and thought giving it the sepia treatment
would do it justice. All done in Lightroom. Enjoy.
I think I chased this fly around the flower garden for about an hour,
trying to get a close up of his eyes with my 60 MM macro. Finally, he
wasn't spooked by my being so close, so I was able to grab this just
before he launched to another flower. All this, while waiting for a
table for dinner at a local restaurant. Enjoy.
I guess I'm a sucker for marshy dead wooded areas. They have that
eerie, murky, what's in the tall grass kind of thing going on. The sun
was on it's way down and I've been waiting for the right time to take a
photo of this open area near Kimball Farms in Westford, MA. Enjoy.
Somewhere Over the Rainbow - electric lines bisect. We had just driven
through some heavy rain and the sun cleared right near this lake in
Maine. Timing is everything. Enjoy.
Have you ever been walking in the forest, and you happen upon an old
fallen tree, wondered when it fell, how it fell, and did anyone hear it?
JK. I really liked the textures, rocks, mold, colors, and all that,
while heading back to the car in the woods near Jackson, NH. I was
looking over my shoulder for Bears, but stopped quick enough to grab
this HDR shot. Enjoy.
These little guys don't stay in one place for too long, so this was purely accidental. I was taking pics with my 60mm Macro of the beautiful flowers outside the Red Fox Restaurant in Jackson, NH. Waiting for our turn at dinner. He's lucky this wasn't a venus fly trap. Enjoy
I'm glad I was able to grab this photo three days before Irene came
through. I understand that these little falls were more like Niagra
falls in the aftermath of Irene's rainfall. I'll have to go back, take
some pics from the same location and see if any of those rocks were
dislocated.
This was taken when the sun was setting behind me and most of the foreground was in good shade. HDR required here. Enjoy.
I ended up capturing a bunch of waterfalls during our trip to NH
recently. This is one of the waterfalls with a serene and easy drop, at
an area called the Basin.
This is a view of the Mt. Washington Valley at North Conway, NH taken from Mt. Cranmore. We did one of those day passes, traversed the tree tops on ropes, zipline, and chair lift to the top. Beautiful day and awesome view. Enjoy.
I was wrapping up taking some cliffhanger waterfalls photos and walking back to the car, looked to my right (keeping an eye out for bears) and noticed the sunlight filtering throught the trees. The family was anxiously awaiting me so we could head out to dinner. I knew this was going to be a great candidate for a wide angle shot, distortion and all. Located near Goodrich Falls, Glen, NH. This kind of thing is only possible in HDR. Enjoy
Only three days after I took this photo, Irene came through and added another 12' of water to this sleepy waterfall. I saw a video of this area on youtube and where I was standing was completely covered in rushing water. I beleive it's back to normal now. This is in Glen, NH at the Goodrich Falls. I'm anxious to revisit this next time I'm up there. Many of the roads and bridges were washed out in this area and it's hard to imagine this beautiful, serene view is forever changed. Enjoy.
Just dreaming about the beautiful sunsets we had off the Cruise last summer. This was one of them. Enjoy.
Boston's famous Quincy Market with the Custom House Tower looming in the background. A little bit of HDR to get the detail in the shadows. Enjoy.
