Another edition of “In My Town.” This one’s not technically in my town, but it’s close enough. I go on a group ride on Tuesdays that rides right past this Mill. Wonderful scenery in Clarke County, VA.
Some wonderful scenery in Clarke County, VA including the Burwell Morgan Mill.
I know it’s late, but it’s still Mother’s Day. I think we’ll make it a tradition now to create a very memorable image each year for this holiday. First, a little throw-back Sunday…
Mother’s Day 2013. From L-R: me, my sister, my older brother and my younger brother.
…and this year’s image…
From left to right: my mother-in-law, my wife and my mother. | I think I need a little help filling in the Balloons.
Well, that was just fun.
Lots more images to come, but picked one of my favorites of the evening. Not too often that I’m on this side of the lens.
You know how when you get older, you start telling your kids, your nieces and nephews, your students – just anyone younger than you are – about how “none of this was here when I was your age?” That was me at James Madison University today while talking with my daughter. The new part of JMU (east side of 81) is pretty cool and the architecture is dramatic. I might just be exploring more this weekend.
I went to school when the Carrier Library was the only on-campus library (and it had one less floor than it currently has). This is the second on-campus library across I-81.
I stumbled across a box today that was just stuffed in a closet. It had been there for quite some time and I’d acknowledged it for several years and questioned what was in it, but never actually looked inside. Curiosity got the better of me today and I’m glad it did. What I found represents about a decade’s worth of memories in my racing “career.” These awards include Commonwealth State Games of Virginia, Duathlon and Triathlon series in Maryland, Virginia Criterium Championships and countless memories. Everybody should be so lucky to find a similar box of memories. Good times…
Lots of fond memories just waiting to be found in my closet today!
A person who has never owned a dog has missed a wonderful part of life.
– Bob Barker
I had to take their picture because they have the same taste in colors.
Alright, gearing up for the senior portraits in the next year. Took some test shots this afternoon and am pretty happy with them. I certainly have some improving to do, but this was a good start – I really need a hair light to make this image really pop. I got a new light diffuser kit just before Apple Blossom – I knew I’d be using it everywhere. I’ve tried plenty of light diffusers in the past, but none have had very pleasing results. I’ve made them work for me, but have always known I could do better. Along comes Gary Fong. Granted, he’s been around for a while, but I’m just now trying his stuff. And I’m loving it. It’s not just the products themselves, but the techniques that I’m learning along with them. I’m kinda digging portraits and am looking forward to doing more.
Any takers…?
I’m learning so much about light and how to control every bit of it. This was shot in the heat of the day at about 4 o’clock outside with an ugly-looking background. The cover photo is how bright it was outside. You’d never guess from the final result.
A horse is the projection of peoples’ dreams about themselves – strong, powerful, beautiful – and it has the capability of giving us escape from our mundane existence.
– Pam Brown
Ran across this guy on my shoot out in Clarke County this morning. What a great morning to be out shooting.
Either way, it’s a cool car – the Excalibur. I usually go to the Apple Blossom Weekend in the Park, but this weekend kicked my butt. I’ll settle for snapping a few shots in my church’s parking lot of all the cars that the celebrities ride for the parade. This one was just sitting there oozing style. Those menacing clouds off in the distance never really produced anything the entire day (at least not on our parade).
Another successful Grand Feature Parade.
Love me some tuba shots. Yeah, it’s a weird obsession of mine. It could make for a really cool band poster…
…hmmmm.
I’ve never liked the vendors concept at Apple Blossom – especially the street vendors who roam the parade route with the grocery cart full of goodies that just drive all parents bonkers. My kids are grown and have almost OUTgrown the stage where they want stuff from those carts. I’ve never liked the vendors…until now. You see, the “in” items now all have lights. Sure there are still plenty of noise makers, but the lighted toys seem to be more popular than ever. And not just with the kids – I like them, too. It’s kind of like a pre-fireworks show for me.
The light show for me started about 30 minutes before the first firework!
I’ve been in Winchester now for 14 years and have “attended” Apple Blossom each year. I say “attended” because I’ve really only gone to the parades and the carnival/midway when the kids were younger. I’ve really never been one for the crowds and all that goes with them, but after tonight I can see why some people go overboard and nuts for all the events. This doesn’t necessarily mean I’m going to start attending more, but I can appreciate why some people do. I’ve got so many more photos to rummage through before it’s all said and done, but this one summed up my evening.
Miss Apple Blossom & Miss Virginia on stage with the “Right On Band.”
Every photographer has a huge pile of images that have either gone horribly wrong. Or maybe said photographer thought, at the shoot, that the image was worth shooting, but got back to their desk and realized how horribly wrong they were. I took this image back when I first started dabbling in HDR processing and haven’t gone back to that set of images…until now. I’m posting the three images that made up the final just so I can remember how bad I thought the original images were.
And here’s the final image after some typical post-processing – I could do without all the noise, though.
These are the train tracks that cross Millwood Ave, in Winchester. I took this image in 2012 and am just now processing it.
One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years.
– Tom Wolfe
Enough said.
On a brisk morning walk in New York City. I think this was the morning that I was on my way to the Apple Store at Grand Central.
I hit a pretty cool milestone this week – 100K miles on my car. I realize in the whole grand scheme of things that it’s not THAT big of a deal, but it’s cool. Yeah, I’ve had cars with over 100,000 miles on them, but I hadn’t put all of them on it. See, this is my first new car. I’ve been the only owner since I bought it in 2005. I didn’t actually think it was going to last as long as it has because in the first year alone I racked up about 35,000 of these miles. Anyway, here’s to another 100 grand!
Just hit 100K on my first new car!
I can honestly say that I did not know this series existed. It was a very cool experience to see all the different things that this race could represent for so many different people. It really honored all kinds of different aspects of women. It was really cool to see that the organizers celebrated every last finisher (even spreading the finishing tape for the actual last finisher).
I also learned that the Iron Girl logo is named Grace and stands for the grace that woman demonstrate when they compete in this type of event. Really neat day.
The finishing chute of the Iron Girl 1/2 marathon in Columbia, MD.
I think back to my youth and remember the birthday parties at the movie theater. I’d have a bunch of friends join me in the special birthday party room that overlooked the actual theater, we’d have cake and ice cream and then we’d have a private screening of a movie. I don’t really remember the movies, I just thought it was cool that it was private. My brother just threw his son a 3rd birthday party and had a local fire truck pull up to his house. As you can imagine, the kids went nuts (so did most of the adults). How cool was that?! I wonder how he’ll remember it 40 years from now.
I have a Photomatix setting that I created called Extremely Awesome loosely based on Trey Ratcliff’s Mega Extreme Do Not Click setting. I usually only use it to get a specific portion of an image to where I need it, but this time it worked “right out of the box.” This image, for the most part, is pretty much straight out of Photomatix. By the way, it’s the wheel of the fire truck that was the featured guest at the party today.
Another take on the incredible architecture inside the Handley Regional Library in Winchester. My next project is going to be shooting the inside of Handley High School. That place has got some architectural awesomeness and I’ve wanted to shoot it forever. Stay tuned…
The main staircase that leads to the second and third levels at the Handley Library. | Order a print of this image.
I know most people try to avoid having them in their yards. I leave them so I know for sure that Spring is here. Yeah, that’s my story…
A sure sign that Spring has “sprung”
I was near the Handley Library as the sun was setting and as luck (or design) would have it, I had my camera with me. I just wish there was a more interesting cloud cover this evening. Ah, well. Not bad for an impromptu shoot.
The Handley Library was constructed in 1913 with a major renovation in 2001. It’s apparently also featured in a photography book about libraries that was just published, but I’m unsure of the title.
Cedarmeade Studios 