Making lemonade out of lemons

I spent all morning dealing with computer issues - the downside of digital photography is that you must become an IT geek to keep the process going. Most of the real IT geeks I know say they want to become photographers, but none of the photographers that I know want to become IT guys. Go figure.
After getting everything running smoothly, I decided to grab a camera and head outside. Not surprisingly it was raining! Not to be stopped, I started shooting through the windshield at traffic lights and stops signs and became hooked on the effect. Now I am working on a way to mount the camera and shoot with a remote. Definitely this should be safer.

Sunsets are a lot like Gumbo, you never know when you will get it next

Sunsets continue to fascinate and frustrate me. They are largely unpredictable. A perfect sky with beautiful clouds to color up can suddenly die as at the last moment the clouds move and thicken to obscure the sun. A clear sky that looks uninteresting can suddenly light up the mountains and trees behind the photographer. For a variety of reasons, the admonition "to watch your back" has a special meaning for photographers. A thick layer of clouds can, but not often enough, lift at the last moment to give a spectacular sunset. And more often than not, nothing happens and you are left to gather up your gear and stumble back to the car in the growing gloom. At least at this time of year in the mid-Atlantic sunset occurs sufficiently early enough that food and drink, or usually drink and food, can still be had when you find your way back.
And even when you have witnessed nature's fireworks in all its glory, there still remains the problem of trying to reveal that magic in the images you have just captured. Those sophisticates who sneer at sunrises and sunsets should try to coax that magic out of a digital image. The dynamic range of a sunset far exceeds what digital cameras can capture without a lot of post-production effort. The fact that you are pointing your expensive glass at an object that remains very bright even as it dives toward the horizon through all that pollution that man has thrown up ensures flare and ghosting. And then there is the matter of color. How often it never seems to match my memory - but as I get older that seems to be true of most things of the senses.
These three images were captured this week on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving on Skyline Drive in Shendandoah National Park. And sure enough the next night was a complete wash out. Well maybe not a complete wash out as Texas did beat Texas AM!
HDR with Photomatix certainly helps, Topaz Adjust is vital, Lucis Pro often moves the image closer to the mind's eye. But nothing kills my desire to try it again next time - it is a lot like Gumbo.

If you need a smile

If you need a smile, it is hard to beat an hour spent with a puppy, in this case a Golden Doodle that had just arrived at its new home. As with photographing children, it is even better if you can walk away after tiring them out and leave their parents to deal with the results. While there is no great social purpose served by such photography, witnessing the interaction of new animals - and I include children here - does remind you of the power of unconditional love. The world would be a far better place if we could only hold on to that experience as we grow older and more "mature".

Rain, Wind, Floods

What set out to be a four day photography trip to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge (CNWR), turned out to be a four day stay in the confines of the Hampton Inn. Beginning on Wednesday of last week and lasting through Saturday a massive Nor'easter tore up the Mid-Atlantic coast from North Carolina to New York with wind gusts of more than 50mph and 8 or more inches of rain. Chincoteague is a small barrier island connected to mainland Virginia by a two lane causeway that is barely above water level at normal high tide. Imagine getting across the casueway only to be told it is going to be closed and will probably only open the next day. CNWR is mostly wet lands with at best of times a road network that is marginal. These were not the best of times, and CNWR was closed on Wednesday with an expected reopening "sometime" this week. The dunes will not be a pretty sight.
Given these circumstances there is a lot to be said for the Hampton Inn - the electricity stayed on, it did not flood, and - most importantly in times like these - the WiFi stayed up with full connectivity to the internet. This was not the worst storm to hit Chincoteague - four days stuck in the hotel provides lots of time to read up on history! In 1962 a Nor'easter put the entire town underwater. The destruction, however, did have one benefit as in ended all thought of developement on neighboring Assateague Island and three years later Assateague Island National Seashore was established.
Well stuff happens and the birds will still be there for the next trip. And I will be out there again too.

PS Well, I did finally break out and went hunting for cool neon signs.

Nature's Garden Hangs On

The Washington area has so far not had a killing frost, and the gardens while greatly diminished are certainly not yet dead. I made a quick trip on Tuesday to Meadowlark Gardens, the jewel of the Northern Virginia Regional Parks Authority. While the volunters were hard at work clearing away dead plants and putting in the winter-blooming pansies and violets, many plants were still blooming and the honey bees were as active as the volunters. This is a great time to search out this activity as well as find a wealth of natures abstracts.

Nature's Abstracts

While waiting for the ghosts and goblins to appear yesterday, I decided to ignore the continued grayness and dampness that seems to have more or less permanently descended upon the Washington area the last two weeks to take a walk along Goose Creek. This is one of the scenic waterways of Northern Virginia and can always be counted on to lift the spirits if not to produce stunning photos. The wind, rain and lateness of the season meant that most of the Autumn leaves have fallen and turned to dry brown.
This seemed like the perfect time to explore swipes, swirls and assorted camera motions. The great advantage of digital photography is that this is costless - try doing this film! - and the feedback is immediate. Soon it was time to headback and get ready to add to the sugar overload of the neighborhood children.
In an entirely unrelated matter - well it is actually not unrelated - led me suggest that if you are using a Mac you rush out and get the just released Magic Mouse. This is a wireless Bluetooth mouse that lets you use its entire surface, not just little buttons, to control your cursor. It is almost as if I were using my iPhone to control my computer. Very Cool!!