Mystic Seaport

Hi there. I hope you enjoyed your weekend. I had a great weekend off......spent most of Saturday with Mr. S and we watched the movie "WE Bought A Zoo" Saturday night. It was adorable, and I recommend it.
Sunday was spent with my camera club down in Mystic Seaport CT. Not sure if you remember, but I had mentioned back at New Years that Mystic Seaport was on my list of places that I wanted to photograph this year. It was my first time visiting here, and I loved it. The weather was perfect, and it was early enough in the season that there were no crowds, which really helped from a photography standpoint.
Here's some of the ship and ocean scenes that I captured:

The Mystic Seaport Lighthouse:

Ship's rigging and a sail:

I have lots more to share with you from this outing so will be posting more this week.

The Specs:

All Nikon D90, 17-55 mm lens, ISO 200

Photo one: 1/1000, f8, -2/3 EV

Photo two:  1/640, f11, -2/3 EV

Photo three:  1/4000, f2.8, -2/3 EV

Photo four and five: 1/640, f11, -1/3 EV

Burrage Pond

I FINALLY went out today. I've spent the past few weeks in the house.....only time I've gone out is to go to work......so it felt really good to be outdoors getting some fresh air and exercise. Although I am still not 100% better, I NEEDED to do this. Yes, I'm still coughing......a lot........but my breathing is improving and I'm not as short of breath as I have been the past few weeks. It's looking up from here! :-)
Today was a great day spent with my sister Nancy. We went to the Burrage Pond Wildlife Management Area in Hanson MA. Neither one of us had ever been there before, but wow, we will be going back. We decided it's going to be our new favorite place to go walking. There are miles and miles and miles of walking paths/trails. Here's some info about this area:

"The Great Cedar Swamp and Burrage Pond area of Hanson and Halifax was a very large Atlantic White Cedar Swamp, which was diked and altered for cranberry bogs. In 2002, the Mass Department of Fish and Wildlife bought approx 1700 acres here from the Northland Cranberry company.  Located off Pleasant St, the preserve is composed of cranberry bogs, Burrage Pond, Red Maple Swamps , Atlantic White Cedar, and grassy marshes and numerous small streams.
Large numbers of bird species either live and migrate though this area.  Osprey, immature eagles, hawks, swallows, red-wing blackbirds, warblers, river otters are just a few examples of what can be sighted here.  Also, it's quite a spectacular place to be during the fall migration of the monarch butterfly."
Excerpted from http://www.grumpymagz.net/burrage%20pond.htm
Here are a few images from today:

I didn't want to push myself too far, so we never made it all the way out to the pond, but are planning on going back as soon as my lungs are capable. I'm looking forward to exploring more of this area, and yes, I will surely bring my camera along with me when we return here!

The Specs:

All images taken with the D90, 17-55 mm lens, ISO 200

Photo one: 1/640, f9, -2/3 EV

Photo two: 1/500, f9, -1/3 EV

Photo three: 1/640, f9, -1/3 EV

Photo four: 1/640, f9, -2/3 EV

Textures

Hey there! Hope all is well with everyone. I'm still battling the bronchitis and dealing with the Prednisone mood swings. Not a fun week, but won't complain. Better days are ahead. My biggest disappointment this week was missing two photography workshops that I had previously signed up to attend.........a waterfall workshop on Tuesday, and a sunrise workshop at Nantasket Beach this morning. These workshops are being offered by my buddy Greg Lessard and are being paid for by a grant through the Mass Arts Council. See Greg's blog post for more info:
http://blog.greglessardphotography.com/2012/03/capturing-natural-beauty-fo-south-shore.html
I have taken this weeks down time and put it to use by practicing with some post production textures on some of my images. It's a fun thing for me to take some of my images and transform them into a different look. Here are some of the results:
This is from a beautiful tulip plant that my son "N" gave to me for Easter:

An early morning image taken a year ago in Middleboro with some texture added:

A gull closeup:

A textured view from Franconia Notch NH:

A less is more approach:

I hope you enjoyed viewing these as much as I enjoyed making them.

Alphabet Challenge

Before I begin with the alphabet challenge (the purpose of this blog post) I first must tell you that I have discovered the amazing power of Nyquil (yes, I mean Nyquil....the night time sniffling sneezing coughing aching stuffy head fever so you can rest medicine.)
Why oh why didn't I ever take Nyquil before this week I will never know. It is like a little magic spoonful of sleepiness which is just what my body needed this week.
So, seeing as though I am home with a miserable cold which has turned into bronchitis and I am back on the Prednisone (a wonder drug which is even more amazing than Nyquil but I hate.....I mean HATE the side effects) I was not able to join my camera club buddies this morning. Oh how I would have LOVED to have joined them for an "Alphabet Challenge" photo walk. What is an alphabet challenge you may ask? It is going out with your camera and looking for letters in the alphabet in your environment. It is a great exercise and a good way for you to "see" things you don't normally "see".
So, seeing as though I couldn't join 'em, I went out into my yard and did my own little alphabet challenge walk.

I LOVED it! :-)

Great Egret

What was supposed to be an outing to photograph Osprey, turned into something else. I got up at 5:15 this morning, to get to Squantum in time for sunrise. (Oh.... how I wanted to stay in bed when the alarm went off. I was sound asleep and it was so nice and comfy cozy in my bed.) I really wanted to get out there for the good morning light. So........I stumbled out of bed, threw water on my face, brushed my teeth, got dressed and was out the door by 5:30. I may or may not have run a hairbrush through my head. I forget.......
Anyways.......the point of my morning outing was to photograph the Osprey who are nesting on a platform in Squantum. It was a pretty decent sunrise, and yes, the Osprey were there.......but I'm not happy with the Osprey images I got, so will not be posting them here. Some day when I have a decent long lens I'll be able to get the pictures I wanted to get today. Someday.......
So, I switched to plan B and got to spend some time with this Great Egret who was in the marsh across the street from the Osprey nest. Notice the breeding plumage. Just beautiful.

The warm morning light just after sunrise was delightful. I hung out for a while and then decided this was all I was going to get for today. It was time to head home.

The Specs:

Nikon D90, 18-200 mm VR lens, ISO 200, 1/500, f8, -2/3 ev photo one

Nikon D90, 18-200 mm VR lens, ISO 200, 1/400, f8, -2/3 ev photo two

The Fine Art Of Photography

"As the band played on.........."

Mr. S and I attended the opening reception of "The Fine Art Of Photography Show" held at the Plymouth Center for the Arts yesterday afternoon. This is a juried photography show which had over 950 photographs submitted for consideration. I am very pleased to tell you that 2 of my images were accepted into the show.

The above photograph shows the band that was playing, as well as a guest over on the left-hand side (Wayne Horridge) viewing one of my images........."Sunrise at Powder Point Bridge".

The building itself, located in downtown Plymouth MA,  is magnificent......multi rooms, hallways, and a foyer........which showcased all of the accepted images.

There were tables set up in each room with delicious appetizers, dips, crudite, etc., as well as 2 cash bars. It was a wonderful reception. This show will be on display for the month of April. If interested in viewing, the Art center is located at 11 North Street, Plymouth MA, and is open Mon-Sat 10am-4pm, and Sundays from noon to 4pm.

It's a fantastic show featuring some amazing photography.

The Specs:

Panasonic LX3, ISO 250, 1/50, f2.3 for image one

Panasonic LX3, ISO 80, 1/50, f2 for image two