We finally had our first snow in New England. I wouldn't call it much
of anything, but I thought I'd post this pic of the Mystic River from
one of last year's snowstorms to get us in the mood for more. It's
going to be 45 today, so it won't last long. Enjoy.
A beautiful old train station converted into a senior center here in
Medford. I just love the hand hewn wood columns that evoke the feeling
of a tree. Also the rusticated stone treatment on the facade. So glad
they didn't tear this gem down. Enjoy.
North End, Boston. I used a filter in Photoshop on an HDR photo to give
it a painterly look. Mikes Pastry is a famous pastry that, as you can
see, is quite popular with the tourists. Enjoy.
I pick things up and put them down!
Yea, this looks
like a lot of wheels, but this is the small version of the machine that
lifted the 800 Ton bridge a few weeks back. This machine is specially
made in Germany for heavy construction lifting. The other unit had 120
wheels, each individually operated by computer. Each wheel can turn 45
degrees and lift hydraulically about 24". It moves really, really slow,
but it lifts things that the largest cranes in the world can't lift.
It's pretty cool. Enjoy.
Central Park last Fall. How is this possible it's in the middle of the greatest city in the world? Enjoy.
This is a struggling dandelion that bloomed earlier in the week. This
is blasphemy having dandelions in the yard on January 1, we are supposed
to have snow. Enjoy.
Hey, can you hook me up?
I tried to get the angle w/o the tree in the background, but I just wasn't 10' tall. While the sun had just set, I loved the shadow from the crane and the construction lights providing some rim light on this beauty on a 30 ton crane. Enjoy.
Stayed up till 1:30 am working on this shot. Santa had just visited. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, the kids were all nestled, snug in their beds and their nutjob dad was fiddling with lighting the living room just right. Merry Christmas. Enjoy.
There is a drive through theme park of lights somewhere near Alliance,
OH that we happened on a few years ago. Thankfully there was a nice snow cover and some really cool lighting displays. Merry Christmas to
all. Enjoy.
This is just crazy. New England, three days before Christmas and it was
55 out today. Almost balmy. To get myself in the spirit of Christmas,
I thought I'd post this ice mosaic that formed on my car earlier in
December on one of the few cold nights. I love the way nature forms
it's own patterns. It looks like leaves on the roof, but it's only ice
crystals forming on the metal. Pretty cool. Enjoy.
Turn your head, you just might see a better shot.
I
pass by this building every day on my way to work and never really
thought much about it till I visualized it in portrait mode. I think
the column, the arches, the horizontal rusticated limestone, the arched
brick and the green shrub make for a very compelling composition, when
cropped out of the building. The cross on the column capital gives it
away that it's a church. Enjoy.
Sunrise over Dorchester, MA. If any of you know about Dorchester, MA,
it's reputation for crime and murders precedes it, but on this one
morning last weekend, while I was standing on a rooftop taking photos of
a construction project, for over 20 hrs. straight, in the 20 degree
weather, I captured this beautiful sunrise.
The silhouette of the
church and another structure located in the town square could only be
seen from my vantage point. I was happy to make it off the roof without
incident, because it was a sheet of frosty ice. Enjoy.
I caught this bird while taking photos of a pond for a local magazine.
An unexpected find near the outlet stream, hunting for fish.
Off
to a 3 day straight photo shoot of a train bridge replacement, south of
Boston. First time at it, so it should be fun. Enjoy.
OMG, I'm in the middle of a rollover.
Sort of. My 16 Yr. old
daughter was logging some driving time and I was goofing around w/ the
camera. I learned this trick from +Rick Sammon
years ago at a photo workshop. Set the shutter on 1/15 of a second
turn and shoot, wait to you get a good one. You aren't typically going
at 40MPH when you do this, but try it standing still. It works great
with flowers and colorful things. Thanks Rick for the fun technique.
Enjoy.
I was at a 2 yr old's birthday party and found this photogenic young
lady ready and willing to pose for some glamour shots. She was so cute
and the light coming in from the window was perfect. I wish all the
kids I photographed were as helpful as she. Enjoy.
Don't you just love the impromptu family moments. I had taken the
tripod on vacation and was photographing some sunset photos and we all
decided to jump in the frame and act goofy. This was taken on Marco
Island, FL. Enjoy.
Ok, so I'm walking to my home office after dinner and I caught this
sunset over the neighbors roof and thought the beautiful blue sky with
the Christmas lights wrapped around the porch column looked cool. Isn't
it great to take a photo when you are least expecting to make one?
Enjoy.
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.
