Ah! You've found me out. I'm a Clutch fan. And when I found these tiny, wind-up robots in the basement their most excellent song popped into my head. Aren't these the best? Rescued from a box of junk, my husband set them aside so they wouldn't get tossed. He thinks he got them in high... Continue Reading →
Craving color in a black and white world
Yeah, I know I just wrote a whole big post about black and white photography and how awesome it is, but now I'm starting to crave color. It's the precursor to spring fever. Happens every year. I try not to let it get to me, but some days I just feel like these leaves -... Continue Reading →
The Elegance of the Forest
I've been doing a little winter hiking and snowshoeing lately so thought I'd share some shots. The forest is an amazing place to me in any season, but in winter it seems to be draped in finery. This first one I shot today while out in the afternoon. Those shadows are hard to beat. The... Continue Reading →
The Perfect Light for Snow Photography
Today had it! I love this light. Clouds obscuring the sun, but not completely. Just enough coming through to bring up texture and slight shadows. I love this brook. I go to shoot the falls, but so far no success. The brook however, I manage to get. Shot with the E-30, ZD 12-60mm and... Continue Reading →
Digital Photo Storage Strategy
A while back something happened to my primary hard drive that nearly gave me a heart attack. Suddenly, with no explanation I could find, my drive was no longer seen by the operating system. OMFG! Years worth of raw files, gone. Panic-stricken I researched data recovery services and found prices ranging from $800 to $1800.... Continue Reading →
Landscape Photography Light – Myths and Misunderstandings
How are a landscape photographer and a vampire alike? Neither goes outside at noon. Seriously, it makes you wonder doesn’t it? Blood-sucking fiend and Fun-sucking fiend, both taking the joy right out of life. I recently stopped following a landscape photographer’s blog because he just kept going on and on about only shooting at the... Continue Reading →
Junk or Junque?
Before I take on writing a Black and White Photography 201, I'm going to share some more junk drawer photos. Well, this first one isn't from a drawer, but a forgotten cabinet over the fridge. In a clean-out binge I found a bunch of weird booze we stuck there for some reason. Pepper flavored vodka. ... Continue Reading →
Black and White Photography 101
The other day someone asked what made a good black and white photograph. He went on to say that he only uses black and white processing when he’s trying to achieve an old photo look, but noticed when someone converted one of his color images to black and white it looked better because the distracting... Continue Reading →
What’s the frequency, Kenneth?
Frustrated by my inability to see outside in nature lately, I've turned my attention to the Junk Drawer in hopes of finding some worthy subjects. Dredged up this old transistor radio that was my husband's when he was a kid. It still works! These first three were shot with the Olympus 90mm f2 macro... Continue Reading →
Up All Night
From time to time I go meet up with a few other local photographers. We are all part of the same flickr group and it's pretty much the same core of people who go to them. We usually try for a sunrise. Winter shooting seems far more popular. Probably because sunrise is at 7am instead... Continue Reading →
Aliens Stole My Gear!
Well not really, but on a photography board someone asked if aliens stole your gear (all of it) and somehow digital photography was rendered out of existence or banned or whatever (no cell phone cameras either), would you shoot film or would you give up photography? If you decided to shoot film, would you go... Continue Reading →
OK, I shot
I can't help it. Discouraged and in my weird place I still had the urge to go out after a storm and take pictures of my front garden. The process itself made me happy and that hasn't changed. I basically just walked the driveway and the shoveled path and used the legacy OM... Continue Reading →
Shut up and Shoot
Lately I've been twisting in the wind over my photography. All aspects of it. Why do I do it? What good does it do? Is it good? Is it mediocre? Is it bad? Do I have a style? Am I a cliche? Should I try to market my images? Who would buy them anyway? Everyone... Continue Reading →
F-f-f-frozen
Part of the joy of shooting in the winter in New England is dealing with the cold. Mostly it's just a matter of the right clothing, but a photographer lives and dies by her eyes and her hands and it's the hands that suffer most. I think I need to get some of those pocket... Continue Reading →
The Great Marsh
My husband is a runner and goes to races in the area. Sometimes I go with him if there's something interesting to photograph in the vicinity. On New Year's Day he went to Salisbury Massachusetts and so I went to walk the Old Eastern Marsh Trail that runs about a mile and a quarter. I... Continue Reading →
Goals for 2011
For 2010 I had a few specific goals in mind for my photography. Here they are - 1. Be more methodical and deliberate; be a more thoughtful photographer 2. Organize digital files better 3. Purge digital files 1 - partial win. I did envision specific photographs ahead of time and go into the field to... Continue Reading →
Parting Shots
Well 2010 is on its way out. I can hardly believe I had such a successful photography year and I can only wonder what the next one will bring. Thanks to everyone who stopped by, commented or even subscribed to this blog. Here's the latest batch of photos and probably the last of the year. ... Continue Reading →
The Best of 2010
This is a new thing for me, choosing my best photos of the year. I’ve done it with books I’ve read and albums I’ve bought, but not things I made myself. It can be hard to subjectively judge your own work, but I think it's a worthy exercise for anyone who wants to get better... Continue Reading →
Miss Congeniality
There. I've done it. Chosen the best photos I've taken in 2010. And written a blog post about it. But this isn't it. This is about the runners up and nominees. I still love them and they are still special, but they lack a certain special something.... Stop that. No singing. Plus I wanted to... Continue Reading →
Oh look – something else abandoned
This time an old quarry up in the White Mountains in North Conway. It was collectively known as the Redstone Quarry and had several faces and cutting operations. The area is huge and I needed many more hours to shoot there to get all of it. Up until the late 1940s it was an active... Continue Reading →
Organization Resolution
Recently a thread about 2010 photography resolutions was resurrected on a board I post to on occasion. Scrolling through the replies I found mine. One of the 3 points on my list was to have better organization when it came to my picture files. While it wasn't a complete fail, it also wasn't a complete... Continue Reading →
Answers from photographers
Thanks to everyone for their considered comments on my last post. I got together with my friend the other day and even though she knew I'd be bringing mine, she didn't bring her camera. This tells me pretty much all I need to know about her stage with it right now - snapshots only, nothing... Continue Reading →
A question for photographers
All 3 of you who read this blog. How did you learn to do what you do? Assuming you're capable of making the camera give you the results you want, how did you figure it out? I ask because I have a friend who just bought her first SLR in ages...or maybe ever. She knows... Continue Reading →
Reflections on death – part 3
Some ask if I ever hang out with live people, that's how often I can be found in a cemetery. I'm just drawn to them. Here's a round-up of some of the best from the last few months - There are lots more in the Graven Images Gallery if you can't get enough.
Lucky in Light
Outdoors photographers are at the mercy of the sun and clouds. We can't make our own perfect light and so when it comes along we have to recognize it and get out there. My favorite kind of light is hazy clouds with breaks of blue sky. Not quite overcast, but not quite full sun either. ... Continue Reading →