Day 59~ Feb 28, 2011 Marvelous Marvin

A friend of mine asked me to take some pictures of her dog for her. It turned out to be a rainy day so natural light, which is my personal preference was limited. But we worked through it using the  camera flash as needed to supplement the elevated ISO. We got a few good shots.  This one of them.

Day 58~ Feb 27, 2011 It's a Dog Thing

As usual when I try to set up for a photo shoot at home I have unwanted help. Short of locking the the 2 cats in another room there isn't much I can do but use them as the subject. So I never got to my main set up but I settled for a little "comic relief".

Smokey

Day 57~ Feb 26, 2011 Geese Alert!

I discovered that someone has been feeding the geese on the Lake Sabbatia and when you pull in to the only pull off, the gaggle with the white goose always comes swooping in. It's quite a sight and I've been trying to catch just the right moment. The first time I saw it I was so surprised I never even raised the camera. I did better today but didn't quite capture what I wanted. Let's call this the first attempt.

Day 56~Feb. 25, 2011 More Snow!

Oh No! More Snow! I guess Old Man Winter wants to be sure we know he's still around.

Day 55~ Feb 24, 2011 White Church with Blue Sky

It seems it's either feast or famine. I either have nothing to photograph or I end up with multiple pictures that I would be happy to put here. Today was one of those multiple days but I finally settled on The picture of the church. I hope you like it too.

Day 54~ Feb. 23, 2011

I have some more bird photos but I thought I'd use a different photo for today.
I was with my friend and her 6 soon to be 7 year old son at TJ Max when he spotted  a knight's helmet and sword. Voila! Alex the Dragon Slayer!

Sir Alex the Dragon Slayer

Fot the bird pictures, check out my flickr photostream or my new photo website
http:dustyroadsphotos.com

Day 53 Feb 22, 2011 A walk in a Cemetery

It's a cold but clear day with bright sunshine. I had errands to run and not much time to look for  subjects so grabbed the camera as I went out the door just in case. As I was driving past a cemetery I was struck by the way the bare trees lined the road through the head stones and the vivid blue sky. I can't wait to return in the spring when the trees create a canopy!

Day 52~Feb. 21, 2011 Window Reflections

Well it's President's Day. Seems like I should be posting a flag or something but I didn't think of it until after I got home tonight. I did take a wide variety of pictures today so I really had trouble deciding which one was best. In the end I am choosing to use a picture of the building where I work because the reflections are so clear in the windows.

Day 51~Feb 51, 2011 Noir?

When I first got my camera I was trying to do the weekend assignments from digital-photography-school.com They were fun and challenging and they made me try different things so it helped me learn what my camera could do. One assignment that totally stumped me was the "Film Noir Photography". I had ideas but no idea how to create the effect. It's frustrating to "see" something in your mind yet have no idea how to create it. Well, I've learned alot over the year and although this isn't perfect, I finally got something that I can say is a start. Maybe I'll be able to move it to the next level over the course of  2011.

It just needs the shadow of the "gumshoe" on the wall!

Day 50~Feb 19, 2011 Tennis Anyone?

Really tough day today for subjects. I was at work and did not get a chance to go outside on my break. It was really cold and windy anyway so I prowled the office looking for something I hadn't shot yet. Balloons?, St. Patrick's day decorations? What to shoot? And then I saw it. Ace had an unusual tennis trophy on his desk. So here you have it!

Day 49~Feb. 18, 2011 Abstract

A friend of mine challenged me to do something abstract with the camera. He wants me to broaden my approach to photography. So here  is an attempt at "abstract. ".

He gave me a spiral vase a few years ago. I set it on a black drop cloth and directed a light into it. I did not adjust the WB but left it on auto. I then tried to put the camera into the top of the vase but couldn't focus so I backed off just enough to be able to get a spot focus. This is the result. I hope that is enough "abstract" for awhile.

Day 48~Feb. 17, 2011 Snow Melt

It was a beautiful day. A hint of spring was in the air and oh, how the snow banks started melting!



Let the Melting Begin!



Day 47~Feb. 16, 2011 Birds and Sky

I headed to Bristol, RI today to see what I could find for the  photo -a -day project. I was going to the Audubon  Society Environmental Education Center on Hope St.  I am going to have to invest in a GPS. I never found Hope St or the Center but I did find some birds, a bridge and a really great sky. A bird shot won out but I hope you'll check my photo stream for the runner's up.





Day 46~Feb. 15,2011 Smokey

Smokey is usually the well behaved cat so when I saw him squeezing his chunky little body under the planter. I had to try to capture the moment.

Shows off his eyes, don't you think?

Day 45~Feb. 14, 2011 Happy Valentine's Day

I took a lot of pictures today including some more silk flower still lifes but the one I settled on was totally unplanned. My little "helpers" decided to rearrange my arrangement. This was the result. Happy Valentine's Day!



Rocky  & Smokey..Happy Valentine's Day



Day 44~Feb. 13, 2011 Daybreak

I know that today's picture isn't the best or most interesting photo I've ever taken, but I am really thrilled with it. I took it as I left my condo this morning for work. It was about 6am right before sunrise.  I was struck by the beautiful, deep indigo color of the sky and I thought , I wonder if I can capture that. I set the ISO to 400 and opened the Aperture up to 4.7 and prayed that I wouldn't get camera shake. I was shooting in aperture priority  and letting the camera pick the shutter speed. That reads at 1/2 sec. My WB was on auto. This is the result!

Day 43~Feb.12, 2011 Silk Roses

Everyone was talking about flowers today at work. Especially roses. So here's my interpretation.

Day 42 ~ Feb. 11, 2011 M&Ms

I've been saving a bag of M&M's for the day that either time or creativity escaped me. I hate to say it, but today was the day. I had a long list of errands that had to be done before work. I had to be at work @10:30 am. Figure in a 45 minute commute. Then a 10 hour shift bringing me back home at 9:45pm so tired my eyes were crossing. I thought of "cheating" and putting something up from a previous shoot. Who would know? Just me. I couldn't do it. So I broke open the colorful bag of M&Ms....  And here they are!

Day 41~Feb. 10, 2011 Jungle cat peek- a- boo

Peek-a-boo I see you...and Rocky plays "Jungle cat Peek-a-boo"

Day 40~Feb.9, 2011 Meet Milton, European Barn Owl

I drove out to the Shepaug Bald Eagle Observation Area in Connecticut in hopes of seeing and photographing a Bald Eagle. Unfortunately they were too far away for my camera but The Audubon Society was there with several rescued birds. They all posed  for their pictures but Milton just had a certain charisma.



Milton



Day 39~Feb 8 Still Chasing the Cardinal

Another rainy, snowy, gray day. I stopped by the Gertrude Boyden Wildlife Sanctuary to see if "Red" was out on such a miserable day. He was along with Mrs. Red. Both continued to be elusive but I did try again.


 2 Birds in the rain



Day 38~Feb. 7, 2011 Red Cardinal

I'm still trying to get that male cardinal. There was a female at the feeder today too but she was even more skittish than "Red" here. Also spotted a woodpecker but he scooted around the tree before I could get much of a shot framed. My Squirrel buddy was in the tree but I'm using "Red" again. Still not up to standard but I'm trying.

Day 37~Feb 6, 2011 Superbowl Sunday

I had to do something with a football theme even if the Pat' s didn't make it to the Superbowl this year so I caught Yellow and Red, real football fans, enjoying the Superbowl.

Day 36 ~Feb.5, 2011 White Roses at Tea Time

I wanted to try a contrasty still life. Since I had some dishes with white and black designs I put a setting together to see what kind of result I could get. After taking about 6 or  7 shots I checked them on the big screen of the computer . I kept changing my mind about which one I liked best so although I have one posted here, by tomorrow I may wish I'd picked a different one. See all of the shots in my Flickr photostream.

Day 35~Feb. 4, 2011 Rocky's pets

Once again my little "helper" arrived as soon as I began to set up for a photo shoot. Up until I started to spread out the cloth, Rocky had been sleeping on the couch. I was being so quiet. How does he know???I decided not to fight it and let him join the little ceramic cats in the pictures. This one came out the best.

Day 34~Feb 3, 2011 Valentine Theme "Take 1"

I thought I had prepared myself for days that I couldn't look outside since February is Valentine's Month. I know, Valentine's Day is February 14 but if you look around stores and restaurants all have their pink decor out so I thought I'd follow that theme. I hadn't counted on 2 fuzzy helpers. This is my first effort after many, many tries and retakes due to a paw or tail or whisker invading my photo space. If I wanted them in the picture they'd be nowhere to be found!

Day 33~Feb. 2, 2011 Cardinal Red

The storm has let up. After a ton of snow yesterday and sleet and freezing rain overnight, the temps have risen and, although gray, everything is melting. Storm drains are flooding. It just isn't a nice day outside so I was pleased to see a spot of color. It was at the max for my lens so I had to sacrifice sharpness but it's the kind of day that needs to be brightened up.

A bonus post

I have a friend taking a photography class. He's working on DOF and stop action and show action this week. I had some examples from my own archives so I thought I'd share.


Shallow DOF



Long Depth Range



Stop Action



Show Action



Day 32~Feb. 1, 2011 Aother snow day!

It's another snowy day in what seems like the endless winter. It's starting to be hard to find anything that's not white or gray and there's no end in sight! Another storm tomorrow and one on the way for Saturday.
I want to know if there's really a car under this stuff.