Category Archives: Photography

Its That Time Again

Posted on by

New Years is right around the corner. A blank sheet of paper if you will. Lots of people will be looking back over 2016 and setting goals for 2017. There will be the usual “lose weight”, “quit smoking”, “be nice to the neighbor” and so on. I’ll probably make some “resolutions” too. After all, a little introspection is a good thing but I tend to think of this week between Christmas and New Years as a time to wade through a whole year’s worth of photos.

Red Fox on a rock

Red Fox on a rock

Most of my pictures are of the snap shot variety. I grab the camera and try to capture a moment, maybe something to share here but every now and then I try to get that special picture. One that makes me say ahhhh.

swan-family-2a

It gets harder and harder to get those special pictures. Everybody has a camera and everybody thinks they are a “pro”. Just this kind of atmosphere raises the bar.

dsc_3908-2-copy

I’m reviewing my pictures for that special , indefinable quality that makes them a “cut above”. I want to find the 10 best.

dsc_2338-copy

They have to be in focus, with lots of pixels so they can be blown up to gallery print size, and they need to be special in some way.

Puffin portrait

So for the next few days I’m going to share my pictures as I search for those special top 10.

dsc_3567

Some of these are pretty good but I don’t think they will make the cut. We’ll see.

 

In Search of the Perfect Christmas Card

Posted on by

Its hard to believe another Christmas has come and  gone and the count down to the new year begins.   One of my favorite parts of the holiday traditions is making my special Christmas Cards.

The photos I use are always from the year before. In other words, I will use a photo from this year for next year’s card and so on. I do this so I won’t feel too stressed out looking for a last minute holiday picture. Usually I have something in mind. Last year I planned a trip to Disney World with the sole intention of finding a picture for my card this year. The result was the train.

chiistmas-2016

A few years ago I wanted to use one of the decorated homes in town.

Christmas house

One year I was trying to get a good candle picture for my cards.

candlemerge copy

So with a possible card theme in mind I took off to Jackson NH for a day trip.  Now a drive to Jackson from Taunton is about 4 hours.  I figured I’d have about two hours there to get the  special picture and then I’d need to head back home.

What I had in mind was a sleigh ride drawn by a team of horses. “Dashing through the snow”…but when I arrived in Jackson, there was no snow! Oh Oh. Strike one.

dsc_4062a-copy

Strike 2 was that to go on the Jingle Bell Chocolate Tour you had to be staying at one of the Inns. There was no room at any of the Inns, not that I really had time to stay overnight.

dsc_4064-copy

Strike 3 was no sleighs (since there was no snow) well, in a way there were sleighs. They were mounted on wagon frames.

dsc_4077a-copy

To make a long story short, I didn’t get the photos I had visualized and at this point I don’t think they will make the cut for next year’s card but you never know. It all depends on what other shots I come up with. I had a good time and met some nice people and that’s what’s really important.

Bayou Bridge

Posted on by

When Sandy & I took our vacation to New Orleans we included a City Tour to see the sights. At one rest stop while everyone was in the coffee shop I ran across the lawn to take a photo of a stone bridge that I thought was gorgeous.

Bridge

Back home  it made my top 10 list for 2015. I stared at it for almost 9 months before I decided it needed to be enlarged and framed. Not to pat myself on the back but I think it came out great and it hangs in a place of honor in my living room.

bridge

Recently I thought I should see if I could locate the name of the park. It was kind of embarrassing to keep saying “Its in a park in New Orleans”.

To my surprise as soon as I googled “parks in New Orleans” I found myself looking at “my bridge”.

city_park_bayou_bridge

So I didn’t need any guesswork to identify the park. The bridge is the Bayou Bridge and it is located in City Park, New Orleans.

Current Weather Conditions

Some clouds. Low 71F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph.

Top 10 2015

Posted on by

I was just sitting here at the computer trying to learn the ins and outs of editing raw photos. One expert suggested going through the previous year’s photos and picking your top 10. He stressed it had to be the top 10 photos that you, the photographer, like not your friend, spouse, neighbor and so on.

That was a challenge! I took over 4000 photos last year. Still once I got into it I found that a lot of them were of the snap shot variety. I love having my prints enlarged, called gallery prints so that was the criteria I used to narrow down my selections. It had to be good enough that I would spend the “Big Bucks” to make a super large print.

To my surprise no people or pets made the cut. Here are my Top Ten Pictures of 2015.

The top 3 are from Orlando Florida when I was there with Nancy, her children and my friend Joe. I did have 2 of the egrets enlarged and framed as a set. They hang proudly in my office at work.

Egret 2

Egret 2

The Hot Dog picture is on Nat Geo’s site in the  “My Shot” section.

Hot Dog Anyone?

Sticking with the Bird theme I caught a shot of a Great Blue Heron doing something besides standing still. These birds can stand like statues for hours. This was taken in June at the Herring Run in Middleboro, MA. This one also made it to Gallery print and is framed and hanging in my home. Why buy prints when I can use my own photos?

Great Blue Heron

The next photos I chose were from New Orleans in October.

The bridge is in City Park.Bridge

The one I call Rain Forest was actually taken in the New Orleans Aquarium where I struggled with lens fog but turns out the effect was really pretty cool.

rain forest

The last New Orleans pic almost didn’t make the cut. It’s a shot taken of one of the cemeteries in New Orleans. Something about the dark atmosphere kept drawing me back to it. In the end I felt it captured the “spooky” atmosphere New Orleans is known for.

New orleans Cemetary

The last 3 photos came from my trip back to Orlando in December. The purpose of that trip was to take photos of the Holiday decorations at Disney World. Although I got great shots they wouldn’t make it to gallery size.

Lion

Mr. Lion is a resident of Animal Kingdom. He’d just given us a roar and was settling back down. I wish I’d caught the roar but the safari vehicle hadn’t pulled around the corner far enough.

DSC_1711a

This shot of Germany at Epcot was a spur of the moment shot. Joe and I were walking around the lake and it just caught my eye.  I love the way it came out.

Ice Castle

And of course what is a trip to Disney in December without Cinderella’s Castle all covered in Ice? I thought this night shot was a fitting choice for the final picture on my top 10 list.

So what do you think? Maybe I’ll get some pets or people in 2016. The goal is, of course, to improve in 2016.

http://dustyroadsphotos.zenfolio.com/

That’s a Wrap, Jack!

Posted on by

That about sums up this trip to Las Vegas. Nothing too crazy but still fun and a nice break from reality. The rumor is that our next company convention in January will be in Vegas. I may just have to add a couple of days and stay at Polo Towers again. Maybe I’ll make it to Mandalay Bay and the Shark Tank!

DSC_2501 copy

I think I forgot to mention that we did stop by the Bellagio so I could show Sandy the dancing fountains. I really think I got a better feel for Vegas this trip; traveled around more.

bellagio_fountain_BIG

So now what do I do and where do I go next?

My next scheduled time off is for a short trip in July to Maine but I think I need to find some things to share before then.

This weekend is supposed to be nice but my car is going in for “surgery”. Like me it needs a new  “rear end”.

car

They said to expect to have the car tied up all day but maybe I can squeeze in a short trip to the pond in Plymouth to see if there are any baby ducks or swans.

DSC_0767 copy

Another project is to learn to shoot in “raw”. (That’s photography speak to anyone who isn’t into cameras.) Well, actually it’s not the photo taking that’s hard, it’s the editing. I’ll have to learn how to edit “raw” photos. That means new software etc. Kind of boring topic unless you’re a photography buff.

But I’m sure I can find something to babble mindlessly about until the next trip. Feel free to share your thoughts and comments. I love getting dialog going.