Back from the Rockies

We rolled into home this PM after a GREAT week in Colorado. While the purpose of the trip was social not photography, thanks mostly to my Canon G10 which was always at hand I did manage to get a few shots. Now to find the time to process them. The blog image was shot one evening as we were headed to The Devil's Thumb Ranch for dinner. This was a day of truly amazing light. We had a hail storm that went on for more than thirty minutes and covered the streets with at least 6 inches of dime-size hail. Post-storm light that was magical. And then a double rainbow. More images to follow.

From the flatlands.......to the MOUNTAINS

We have had a near perfect summer - so far - in Northern Virginia. Low humidity and very little hot weather. The country is truly beautiful with more to photograph than anyone has time to do. BUT it is still basically flat. True one can head down Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway and see topography that suggests a geological past with real mountains. We are lucky to have friends with a house at 9000 feet in Colorado and will be setting out for there tomorrow. If there is a downside, it is that this has been declared a "family" vacation -- minimum photographic equipment and activities dedicated to renewing relationships. This is not a challenge with which most of us who have a passion for photography are unfamiliar. Someway, somehow.......

It's a frightening world.....at the macro level

I spent several hours today around the Lotus pond at Lily Pons, MD. with a macro lens. When you look at these images on a large computer monitor the abstract beauty is the first thing that hits you. But the more you look, the more you realize where all those frightening images that were the stuff of nightmares and science fictions stores at a younger age got their inspiration. This image was made with a Nikon 105mm on a D300.

It's the best of times, it's the worst of times....

July brings a riot of flowers, both wild and cultivated, in the mid-Atlantic. Unfortunately it also usually brings heat, humidity, bugs and glaring sunlight. What's a photographer to do? Get up early, go out late, seek shade, pray for clouds and remember to bring the polarizer. Oh, do remember to bring the bug spray, but under no circumstances get it on your lens. The other piece of advice is to get out every day because these wonderful days will soon fade. Back to shooting!

What Fish Again!!

Or more likely the look is one of "You call yourself a fisherman and that is all you brought back!" For whatever the reason, the Osprey population has done very well this season in our section of the mid-Atlantic. Almost every nesting platform and a lot of telephone and light poles have active nest with most that I have observed having at least 3 fledglings. They are starting to leave the nest this week. The fledglings in this particular nest arrived early and last week, when these pictures were taken, were ready to leave home and have fledged by now. These photos were taken with my Nikon 80-400mm VR lens. This lens, was Nikons first VR, and is long in the tooth waiting for Nikon to replace it. But if you handle it carefully, shoot on a tripod with a mid-range aperture - these were shot at f/10, 1/1000s at ISO 400 - can still turn out a decent exposure. Not as good as the Nikon 600mm VR, but cheaper by about $9000!

Norman Rockwell's American still lives

We were very fortunate to be able to celebrate the Fourth in a slice of America that belies the cynicism of Washington, DC and gives one hope that the values that sparked the independence we celebrate and that sustained us through good and bad times will continue to sustain us. We spent four days in Rock Hall, MD a town founded in 1707 and that has more boat slips, about 2500, than it has population, 2000. In the ways that we generally consider good fortunate, Rock Hall is not a particularly lucky town. Nearby Chestertown got most of the political power and wealth and has some of the most beautiful surviving 18th and early 19th century architecture. Rock Hall has always been more of a blue collar town, even before there were blue collars. While George Washington did pass through eight times on his way to and from Philadelphia, it has not benefited from any political largess. [By the way, in the late 1700's the most efficient way to get from Virginia to Philadelphia was to take a ferry across the Chesapeake Bay and proceed by horse to Philadelphia. I must remember this the next time I am stuck on I-95.] It provided a good, if modest, living from its fertile fields and the even more fertile waters of the Bay. Pollution and politicians have not been kind to the Bay. Today most of the watermen have left the water and most of the Maryland Blue Crabs that you eat in town have at best honorary Maryland citizenship.
But George Washington, if he were to come back, would be happy to find that the citizenry remains hard working and optimistic. And the summer is filled with festivals of various kinds done not for the tourist but by and for the locals - who are more than happy to have the tourist join in! The parade on the Fourth lacked the glitz and sophistication of bigger places. BUT, with the exception of the white cat being pushed in a stroller, there was not a frown or complaint from either the participants or the on lookers - about an equal number of each.
I have selected just a few photographs from the July Fourth parade to give you a taste of the fun that we had.