Early Evening Jog

I got out for (my wife made me) a jog in the brisk December evening. I have not jogged in a very long time.
Thanks dear.

Mossy path 12/24/2013

The City and The River

 

 This is the view from the War Memorial in Richmond. The memorial is perched up over the James River over looking the skyline.

This was an unexpected find, it is a building next to the War Memorial and the Glass and reflection was too much to pass up. I think it is actually ended up being the pest shot of the short session.

Headed Towards the Light

Escape from the Christmas shopping.

A Night Out

This structure is in the backyard if a big old house near where I live. They had an estate sale there today and sold everything that was inside the house. I wasn't there to buy anything just wanted to see the old house up close. We were told the wife had past away and the husband was some kind of assisted living. We will probably never know the story if why there was no one in the family to take all the stuff that was auctioned off today.

Motion

I was asked to help photograph the Movin' & Groovin' 5k a charity that benefits Pancreatic Cancer research.
I have not finish processing the images yet so I don't have a favorite to share but I do like how this one turned out. It isn't tack sharp but I do think it conveys motion.

New Rule

If you are going to have a don't litter sign you have to have a trash can next to it. Yes their were plenty of trash cans around but people can't be bothered to carry their trash to the trash can that is on their way out of the playground.
So make it easy on the lazy people otherwise they are going to ruin the park for the rest of us.

Lines and Drops

This plant outside my front door has beautiful red and yellow flowers but the leaves have such great texture, especially after it rains, I opted to shot them instead.

It Is Sad Really

This is a stairway at my office building. The building used to be a mall a long time ago but it doesn't have a highway by it and the local community couldn't sustain it on their own. Looking at this stair well you would think it is still abandoned. But it isn't it has been an office building for more than 10 years. It is a shame they can't take better care of it. “They” being the building management company and the people that work here.
I do appreciate the fact that the building was not left abandoned or leveled to make way for another building to be built right on top of it. The thing about an office building is it doesn't have to have easy access. The workers have to show up; shoppers have a choice.

Sometimes ferns look so alien

NIght Walk

I took a short walk last night. The reason for my walk is in a little bit of dispute. My wife came home from her jog with one of our dogs and said "I dropped the poop bags. Do you feel like taking a walk and looking for them?" This could have just been a simple case of not wanting to loose the bags and not wanting to leave plastic laying on the ground. However once I was on my way I called my wife and asked how long I should spend looking for these bags. She replied "Well your already out there so you might as well get some exercise ..." ulterior motive #1..."and since you are going to be right by the store you might as well pick up a beer for yourself." ulterior motive #2. Regardless of her motives she was looking out for me and that makes me happy.
Right before I left the house I thought I would bring my camera along hoping to catch the sun setting behind the railroad tracks that were on my way for my quest to find the poop bags. No luck on the railroad snset. I thought my photo op would be a bust it was getting dark so I resigned myself to just enjoy my walk.
Then I came across this little leaning tower. It looked like it could make a good picture but there wasn't much light... hey it's digital just take the picture and see what happens. I thought maybe and HDR process might work or I could just try to brighten it up in post, either way just take the picture. I didn't want to make it look like daytime so I figured brightening it in Photoshop would work if the HDR didn't. Photoshop has often failed me in the HDR arena and once again it fell short.
I can not place all the blame on Photoshop. I am sure some of it is operator error. I have tried some of the other HDR programs (free trials) and have had better luck so I think those are just more intuitive for me.
I was not going for the grungy or surreal HDR effect I wanted the that is that is a lot of detail for a picture taken at 8:30 at night effect.
As usual Camera Raw and some extra levels adjustments gave me a better result than PhotoShop's HDR.

Rainy Morning

Turns into rainy day
Clive and I missed our walk this morning due to inclement weather. However sitting on the porch swinging my boy isn't bad way to spend my pre-work morning. My wife has planted some beautiful (almost as beautiful as her) flowers and plants in our strip of dirt.

Cook out in the country

Went over to my sister in-law's for a cook out. Last time I went over there they had corn growing, this time it was soybeans. I guess that is country livin'

Hollywood Cemetery

Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, VA.
I have been re-woking some old images with my new copy of PhotoShop CS6

Street Light

I took this picture with the desire of making a picture of an ordinary thing look interesting. I have seen many photographers do it from taking pictures of the isles of a big box store to pictures of suburbia. I usually try to find an old interesting building to help my picture out but this time I wanted to use a planner subject and capture the brightness and simplicity of the day.

This shot was also taken a little off so I used the Adaptive Wide Angle filter to try to straighten some of the elements I the photo. I didn’t want use one of the straighten tools that just rotates the canvas because I lost the top of the street light. I hadn’t used this filter before so I am still trying to figure it out. If I decide I really like this image I might go back and try to do it a little better. But hey they are old buildings…

… they have a little sag to them.

On the left is the image as is out of camera. A little crooked and flat.

The image on the right is after the Adaptive Wide Angle filter and then I used content Aware Fill, and it actually worked pretty well the first time. I just had to tweak an area in the upper left hand corner.

If I decide I really like the image I might go back and fiddle with the Adaptive Wide Angle filter, always room for improvement.

Pump house

Clarke-Palmore House Museum, Richmond, VA.
This is a little hidden jem in Richmond. It is down 60 past Shockoe Bottom. It is tucked away from all the bars and industrial areas and set in a quite little patch of woods next to a small neigbourhood.
This is one of the out buildings around the 1930s Depression Era house.

Old Florida

 

 

I just came across these old photos from Florida. My lovely wife took me to St. Pete’s to visit the Dali museum for my birthday (in 2010). These photos were from a small island we went visited to go snorkeling or as my wife refers to it the time she almost drowned.

 

 

As with any time I am taking pictures when my wife is around I also got this pic.

 

She loves to photo bomb my shots… future blog post.

 

I never did get the shot. I still wonder what it could have been.

Swing with my boy

Summer is here and the temperature is rising very quick in the morning. Clive got his swing on before it got too bad, only 80 in the shade.
My wife has set up our patio so it seems like something is always blooming.

6/25

Right out side my door

Bonus photo

For better if worse (and I'm leaning towards worse) the go to camera for me and probably many people is the phone. I almost always have mine with me and pull it out more to take pictures than to make phone calls.

I say worse because even though camera phones have come a long way they are still a long way away from the quality of a decent DSLR. When I take a picture like this and think that might be nice to have a print of the quality just isn't there. It will look food on this blog, instagram, FB or tumblr. I will be posting this pix to all those sites but I still wish I had taken it with my "real camera". Even though the DSLRs are getting smaller they are still big compared to the ever shrinking cell/smart phone and digital point-and-shoot.

Some of this might be my laziness or insecurities after all this plant is right out front of my house. I could have done back out with my Nikon and taken a picture in the time it has taken me to write this. But whenever people see a big camera with detachable lens they think you are a professional or in the press... so I don't like the stares.

Alright I'm going to get my camera and take that picture... oh wait, no... Uh I'm burning dinner gotta go cook.