Adventures of Mr. Toast and Assabi

Mr. Toast accompanied me to Perryville this week. Here he is enjoying a moon and watching the sunset.

Assabi having fun hopping over the sun!

And Here's Mr. Toast watching the sunset at Kilbys after eating his ice Apple Cider Donut Sundae

Perryville

Some landscape shots from Perryville!

Wrong turn Photo Op

On the way to Denver, I gave Liz the wrong directions by accident. What we saw surprised us - amazing colors illuminating the skies - some of the neatest I've seen. I'm having trouble depicting it through a photo but it looked something like this:

Not an HDR.

Sunset in Otis

Went to Otis, Ma a few weeks back and spent a nice weekend next to a lake. This was the lake and the sunset that we saw and went kayaking on.

On the way back - we stopped by Bash Bish falls (HDR):

We saw a steep trail upwards that wasn't traveled much so we decided to see where it took us and we found:

 and

This one was in HDR - Not sure which I like better.

I'm an Entomologist!

Went to Southwest Massachusetts this past weekend to explore Lizz's home town of Great Barrington and Otis. Saw lots of bugs out there. Conclusion - I like Massachusetts - lots of hikes and mountains and lakes, just what I like. 

Well, not so much here, but lookit the blueberries!

A Lil Damsel Fly on the Dock.

Buggy Eyed

A Green Thingamabob.

Mystery Salt

Who can tell me what this is a picture of?

Playing w/ the DOF on my new 35 1.8! Quite fun, and performs great in low light.

Shadow in time

I hate being in pictures - thats why I like to be the photographer. This weeks theme of "self portrait" was really tough for me. I couldn't think of anything at first and the deadline was approaching fast. I wanted to try a few things w/ an external flash - but I couldn't drop the 500 for an SB900. So instead, I bought an Infrared remote for my camera to control the shutter release.

Couldn't figure out what to do w/ the remote to tell you the truth. I did a few pictures where I would snap the shutter while I was in mid-air - but they all looked cheesy. Finally, I went to Christian and Michelle's farm for the weekend, I decided to try some night photography. This picture was taken w/ a 25 second exposure w/ the remote. I stood in the picture for about 15 seconds before walking off. Used a lawn chair for my tripod. Used the remote for shutter release. Picture taken at about 2:30 in the morning. Cheap man's photography. No post-picture developing - this is straight off the camera. Looks eerie.

The Road Ahead

Dan and I decided on a theme to post a couple of weeks back. The theme was "Lines" interpreted however you wanted it to.This was the road towards Patapsco Valley State Park close to sunset. I always enjoy driving down a road with towering trees on both sides. I took the theme quite literally - but to me, it represents something. Its what I envision a representation of life - a road full of experiences, happiness and hardships to overcome. Each life experience, everyone we meet, every action we take, every decision we make etches a unique pattern into the road - which makes everyones path different.

Beginnings

We don't see too many sunrises in Baltimore here - so I decided to take this picture from my last summer break. Granted it wasn't taken from my D90- I think a lot of photography has a lot of being at the right place at the right time kinda deal. Creativity has a lot to do with great pictures too - I'm working my way towards that - I'm beginning to see everyday things at angles I haven't though about before. Here's another of my sister on the Mt. Washburn Trail in Yellowstone.

Discus!

Went to a branch of Patapsco state park this past weekend and learned just how harsh direct sunlight can be on photos. So many black shadows and bright zones. Even still - I like this picture of Dan. The brightness of the sun seemed to wash out a lot of the color so I upped the vibrance up a tad. I like the foliage in the background though - its almost like bokeh.

Serenity

This past weekend, a few of us went up to Christian's farm for a relaxing weekend. It was much needed for a peaceful getaway from the city. We played games, fished, played some frisbee, swung from trees, and overall - just enjoyed the weather without sirens and gunshots in the background.

Got some macro shots with my canon 500d closeup. for an eighth of the price of a macro lense - I'm not going to complain about the shots it can take. I have to admit - I was skeptical at first but it exceeds my expectations.

Fly

Flower with Ladybug

A View from my Room

Interesting colors in the sky today during sunset. I've lived in the same room for almost 3 years now and I have about 30 pictures of the same view with different scenic skies - this is the first I've tried in HDR though. Learned how to do it this past week - I'll need to play around with the settings some more to make it not look so fake!

Iron Chef - Round 2!

Secret Ingredient: Horse Radish!

Competitors: Rick Gruntz Vs. Michelle Riach

All the food was done beautifully and deliciously - I couldn't even taste the horse radish in them because the flavors blended in so well. And since I still didn't know what horse radish tasted at the end of the meal - they gave me a spoonful of it to try. Quite interesting I say.

I could've done a better job documenting this event now that I look at my pictures - but here are some picks of the ones I took!

Horse radish and parsnip mashed potatoes in steamed artichoke

Coconut Macaroons for Michelle's dessert - sadly, I did not get a picture of Rick's. I think I was too occupied eating all the yumminess and goodness o_O

Michelle's Presentation: Malbec and horseradish braised beef with malbec horseradish and thyme gravy, Steamed artichoke w/ hose radish butter, horse radish and parsnip mashed potatoes, Jicama, apple, carrot, walnut, and green bean salad with horseradish carrot manischewitz and red wine vinegar dressing.

Rick's Presentation: Apple Spinach side, Risotto with Saffron, Horse radish - mustard - mascarpone dressing atop salmon, Horse Radish - basil and tomatoes Bruschetta.

Free

Taken way back on the ski trip to Wisp - my friend from Mariel came to visit from Florida. She was having fun w/ the snow  =) Weeee! I miss winter season already.

Gunpowder - Boom!

Went to Gunpowder Park this Sunday - it was quite a gloomy day, and cloudy, but pictures still came out alright. Found some rocks to go rock climbing on -  but the edges were really sharp and cut into our hands - not the ideal rocks to be climbing in; somehow I made it up to the 20 foot jut though. But I really love the 18-200 mm Lens - very versatile - you can get climbing pics like this and far away shots w/ the 200 mm zoom. This blue heron was about 150 yards away. 

Top of the World

Another hike today at Catoctin Mountain park - except this time our main objective was to do some bouldering at Wolf Rock and Chimney Peak. With our climbing shoes, we were able to get to some steep spots. Here's Lizz at the top of Chimney Peak. Don't know if pointing the camera directly at the sun is bad for the camera - need to get some filters. I kinda like the glare and silhouette effect though.

Cascades

It was a beautiful day to go hiking on Tuesday! No school - and sunny w/ 60 degree weather all day. We went to Patapsco state park to do some hiking - this was taken on the Cascades trail with handheld extended shutter speed. Fun stuff!

Iz A Cat!

As I was studying for SPTC or Operative (those nights blended together), I had this fuzzy lil fur ball keep me company all night. Princess is her name, and she would spend all night sleeping on me or next to me. In the end, it just made me fall asleep too, hah. I wonder how Oscar would get along with Princess. Anyways - I think I took this w/ Kuan's 50 mm just based on the shallow-er depth of field. I need to get me one!

Last Hold

All the pictures I have so far of people shots! I find myself using my camera as more of a point and shoot almost - sadly. But the more pictures I take, the more I realize I want - next on the list, 105 Micro w/ Ring flash. Here's Chris on the last hold of a bouldering course at Colombia. The one shot I wanted, but didn't get was a closeup shot focused on the hands with the remaining picture out of focus. The gym was closing though, so, next time!

Pan-Oh-Ram

One of the first pictures I took on the camera. It wasn't until last week when I found the stitching function on Photoshop!

The Dawn of Realization

I took this picture on the ski trip - and it occurred to me that good pictures sometimes aren't when you get everyone to look at you and count to 3 for the snapshot. Many times its when you get a portrait of a person when they don't even know you're taking a picture of them. In that state - they're smile is authentic or in this case - the natural expression can be calm and thoughtful. I then played around the vignette settings on Lighroom for the first time. Seemed appropriate for this picture to be black and white.

I'm still learning about the D90 and as of now - its just on programed settings set by Max. I've been reading a book called "Perfect Digital photography" by Jay Dickman and Jay Klinghorn and its been motivating me to take pictures.

Walking home from Fed Hill last night, I caught the sunset in the post-Blizzard sky. The colors were amazing - and I had no camera. I chose to bring my snowboard instead of my camera to Fed Hill and lost an amazing photo Op.

Unleashing the D90

Not as Photo-esque and creative as other peoples photos - but it was one of the first images I took with my D90, 18-200 VR lense. Here's Oscar looking at the plastic wrapper that the lense came in. I'm already loving the camera - we're going to have a good relationship.