I’ll be going over the river and through the woods today. I wish all (three) of you a very happy and peaceful Christmas, and I hope you all have as much fun as I’m going to have.
Merry Christmas
25 December 2008 by lizardbrainNational Ammo Day
16 November 2008 by lizardbrainJust a reminder:
This is National Ammo Week. Go out and buy a hundred rounds of your favorite caliber(s). Do it for the children.
Oldie But Goodie
11 November 2008 by lizardbrainThis one is almost six years old, but it’s still one of my favorites. Mainly because I like to retreat there (in my mind, anyway) when the weather around here starts turning wintry. As I write this, it’s about 30 degrees warmer there than the 39 degrees here in Portland.
Crystal River, Florida, in the morning
The image is of a small tributary of the Crystal River in Florida, taken early in the morning. It almost looks as if people don’t exist there.
Semper Fi!
10 November 2008 by lizardbrain
Must Read: The Comprehensive Argument Against Barack Obama
21 October 2008 by lizardbrainThe Difference of a Week
12 October 2008 by lizardbrainDifferent weather. Different light. Peak foliage. A tripod.
I wasn’t satisfied with the stuff I got last week on Pleasant Mountain, so I tried it again yesterday. (I’m not satisfied with the stuff I got yesterday, either, but for different reasons.)
There was a dad-gummed hiking tour convened at the top when I got up there. Twenty or so self-congratulatory Sierra Club types who sounded like a flock of starlings. I didn’t realize how loud they were until they left and it got quiet. I don’t understand why anyone would do something like that in a group. I go for the solitude and silence. And the pictures, too, but mostly for that other stuff.
I did manage to keep the crowds out of the images; although I had to edit out a couple of apple cores, left behind by some pig, that I didn’t notice for several frames.
On the way up:
American Beech (fagus grandifolia)
At the top:
Looking northwest towards the White Mountains. Kezar (kee’ zer) Pond is at right, Mount Washington is just to the left of center at the top. If you embiggen and look closely, you can see both Tuckerman and Huntington Ravines.
Another perspective
It took me three hours to get down, because I kept stopping to take pictures.
Looking southwest, over Moose Pond towards the town of Denmark
Southwest view, again
More of the same
Red maple (acer rubrum) leaf, backlit by the sun
Some local color
If I’m gonna do any more fall foliage this year, I’ll have to hustle. It’ll all be gone by next weekend. Well, the bright maples and birches and stuff; after that comes the quiet umbers, siennas and ochers of the oaks and other late-fall foliage. But the stuff most people think of as “New England Autumn” will be past.
On the Run
10 October 2008 by lizardbrainI hate to post just pictures (I have to explain them, doncha see), but I’m pressed for time right now. Here are a few from last Sunday’s hike up Pleasant Mountain in Denmark. The colors weren’t at peak, but still nice.
View from the summit looking northwest towards the White Mountains
That’s Kezar Pond at middle right, and Mount Washington at the upper left
Striped Maple (acer pensylvanicum)
Oo! The colors! (acer rubrum)
Gotta run.
Hurricane!
28 September 2008 by lizardbrainOr what passes for one in these parts: mostly a big bag o’ wet. Kyle passed offshore this afternoon, throwing a bunch of rain to all sides.
Looking at the boiling water at the base of the light, it’s not difficult to imagine how the bark Annie C. Maguire got smashed against that big chunk of ledge at the right, on the night of Christmas Eve, 1886 (as usual, click the pix to embiggen):
Portland Head Light, Hurricane Kyle: quite a difference from five days ago
From this angle, I couldn’t keep the lens dry, no matter how much I wiped it. It was better from the east, with the wind behind me:
With the wind at my back
I gave up after a while, fearing for the electronics in the camera, and decided to go for a short hike. By the time I got home, my Gore-Tex lined boots were holding the water in, and I was soaked to my skin. It was lots of fun. Even at my age, I enjoy being outdoors in adverse conditions.
Cram It!
26 September 2008 by lizardbrainMy bookmarks file is a bloated two megabytes. I save bookmarks that look interesting, and then forget them. A few days ago, as I was browsing some of the photography-related links, I found some good stuff.
One of the links was to NatureScapes.net. I originally found the link at Reflections By Kris, but this time I took the time to read it.
I found a link there to an article by a Michael Brown, titled “The Art of Abstract Macro Photography.” I haven’t been a big fan of macro photography, mainly because my attempts have turned out to be mostly boring. In the article, he discusses a technique he calls the “Cram It” method. It looked interesting, so I tried it out.
Some of the stuff I got was pretty crappy, some of it was okay, and some of it I really liked.
This rose wasn’t, strictly speaking, “crammed,” but I like it anyway, so I’m including it here:
Rose Carefree Beauty
Some of them came out looking like the sorts of things Georgia O’Keeffe obsessed about:
New Guinea Impatiens
Some were, indeed, filmy and abstract:
New Guinea Impatiens
Pink Petunia
Rose Carefree Beauty
And some were so vague as to defy analysis:
Purple Petunia
I really like this one:
Rose Carefree Beauty
I think I’ll do some more.
One Afternoon at the Shore
25 September 2008 by lizardbrainI don’t usually shoot late in the day; dawn is more my style. But lately I’ve been sleeping till seven o’clock or so, and missing the morning light. These were taken a couple of days ago at Portland Head in Cape Elizabeth, late in the afternoon.
Portland Head Light and Ram Island Ledge Light
Portland Head Light, up close and personal
Portland Head Light, from the East
One of the things I don’t like about shooting later in the day is that it’s hard to keep people out of the frame. They lead the eye right to themselves and distract from the other elements of the picture. Early mornings are much less crowded.
I guess I gotta get off my lazy rear end and start getting up at a decent hour again.
