Silhouettes of Four

I was amazed by my brother's girlfriend the other day.  We were driving around, and she kept going on and on about how beautiful the countryside is.  I live in a beautiful area, so that reaction on its own doesn't warrant my amazement.  What does warrant it is the fact that she is from an area that I find ridiculously beautiful.  I wouldn't have thought she could be so taken by the countryside...but she was...so I decided to look around today and realize just how much I'm taking for granted. 

Country Roads...

It's not like I disregard the beauty of where I live...not at all...I'm always out photographing it (I must find something about it tolerable).  She just helped me see that even if you are from a gorgeous area, that doesn't stop other places from being awe-inspiring, nor should you let it.

My Uncle

Due to my sister's wedding, much (extended) family time occupied my day.  Even with many people around that I normally don't see, I just didn't think to take my camera out until around midnight.  This uncle was the last person to leave.  He is an awesome uncle.  I just searched his name and the school where he teaches...the article title "Mars Pathfinding in the Channeled Scabland" came up.  He worked with NASA for the Mars Pathfinder Mission.  Pretty sweet.

Uncle

He is probably thinking about some phase of the moon while making my mother think he is actually paying attention to what she is saying.

Elusive Birds of Middle Creek

Today, my wife and I took a trip to our favorite place to hike and see wildlife.  I always get so frustrated by the pamphlets that can be found there.  Basically, the photography of the animals and landscape is pretty poor, in my opinion.  I feel I could do much better, but never get around to offering my services. Perhaps it's a good thing I'm yet to do so.
Normally the photos I get from Middle Creek are quite decent.  Today, though, I came across two birds, slightly hidden, and I realized there might be a reason that the photography isn't as good as it could be.  It was hard for me to get the shots I wanted, and the results really are less than fantastic.  But they remind me oh so much of the pamphlet photography.  Here they are:

Pheasant

I did not do this beautiful bird justice.  Let it be known that it was hiding in a grove, avoiding me and my camera.

Canadian Goose

I like the way the bushes frame the goose.  I don't like the fact that sometimes I can't move around and get my subject from the direction that I'd like to get it from.

Starting June With an Abstract Day

I went with my sister, her fiance, and my mother to buy a suit for my sister's wedding.  It is rare that I am not in the driver's seat, so I took the opportunity to try something that I've never had much of a chance to try before.  Long exposure time from a moving vehicle.  My end result looks much like an abstract painting I did about a year or so ago.

An Abstract View out of a Window

I only post processed the image slightly...basically, I just warmed up the colors.  I love the single thin stripe of orange under the thicker whitish/bluish line.

Near Infrared

I have a near infrared filter.  This allows me to take some interesting pictures in that I can use it as a neutral density filter or just by using it to get those other-worldly images due to the color.  Today I used it as a neutral density filter, getting nice soft water effects with slow aperture speeds.
I'm not going to get into the way it works or all that you can do with a near infrared filter, but look for an upcoming  post that does indeed get into all that.

Stream of Brick

This stream is missing much of what makes a stream a stream...water.  If I really wanted to show how a near infrared filter could be used like a neutral density filter, I would have waited for the water to rise.  The addition of bricks to a stream make up for the lack of water.

Memorial Day at the Beach

Today we went to the Delaware Bay with our friends from yesterday's wine tasting adventure.  We were on the beach long enough to see some young sea turtles as well as a large amount of breeding horseshoe crabs.  My friends were there a little over a week ago and said the beach was entirely covered with the horseshoe crabs...there weren't nearly as many for us to see today.  We then made our way to Bombay Hook which is a national wildlife refuge close to the Delaware Bay in hopes of seeing some more animals.

Horseshoe Crabs

The female horseshoe crab is about the size of one and a half males.  A bunch of the males would climb on top of one female and they would all attempt to fertilize her eggs.  The eggs looked like tiny green tapioca balls.

Great Egret

There were tons of birds.  Sandpipers, grackles, bald eagles, plovers, terns, cormorants, herons, and egrets.  This is a great egret, but snowy egrets were just as abundant today.

Fiddler Crabs

One of the trails took us down a little boardwalk where we saw sandy banks covered in hundreds of tiny holes.  Fiddler crabs kept popping in and out of them.

 Otter Tracks

The banks that were covered by fiddler crabs were also home to these tracks.  These tracks belong to the only mammal left on our "must see" list that we thought we had a chance of seeing today.  The otter.

At least we know where to spend a lot of time waiting for them next time.

Longwood Gardens

We went to Longwood Gardens with some friends of ours today.  Its a rather nice, rather massive garden about an hour away from where we live.  It was fun.  I took pictures.  It's late now, though, so I'm not going to do much more explaining of the day, the things we saw, the history of the place, or the things I photographed.  Hopefully the quantity will make up for the words I am without.

Lily

This is some part of some flower.  I only know that it is a lily because it was in a massive room labeled as a lily display.

Not Sure

Someone help.  I really should know this one.  It looks ridiculously familiar, but I just don't recall what it is.  It reminds me of a Jack In the Pulpit.

  Cactus

These edges are edges of some type of cactus.  I sure know my plants.

Lost Colony

I got a little taste of the farm life I so badly want.
In an attempt to make some extra money to make the move to Ireland a little less painless, my wife and I have been doing some odd jobs.  Her grandmother has been great and has allowed us to clean their church as well as help around on her farm.  Today, while my wife sold strawberries and after I hacked away at a field of asparagus, I wandered around with a camera.  Following a little path next to some wooded land, I stumbled upon a lost colony.  There were about six or seven bee boxes, crawling with bees.  I had no idea that her grandparents raised bees.  I questioned her grandmother about it, hoping we could get some honey, (her grandmother would not even know how to harm a bee, so I would be fine with taking their honey) but she told me she lets some guy use her land for his bees.  Sadly, she doesn't even get any honey out of the deal.

Little Boxes

 Here are some of the brightly colored hives in an area that I would not have expected them.  The colored boxes remind me of something...I'm thinking Sesame Street.

Hive Mind

There is something militaristic about the swarming of bees and the letters and numbers.

Back Roads and Church Parking Lots

The back/country roads of Ephrata and surrounding towns are littered with little churches.  In the parking lot of one of these churches, there sits a pile of junk.  Down the road from said pile is a little one roomed barn/shed/garage.

Pile O' Junk

A couple planks of termite ridden wood, a candle holder with a cross on it, and an ancient piece of farming equipment with a blanked draped on it.  That is what makes up this pile of junk.

Floating Window

I was amused by the little one roomed building.  The walls were very white and I knew if shot correctly, it would be near impossible to make them out.  The end result would be some vegetation with what appears to be a floating window above it.  All I did out of camera was add a little extra overexposure and some extra dark tones.  

For School...Again

Another part of my current photography project for NYIP became today's photo of the day.  Basically, I had to take two images of the exact same still life/setup, the only difference being one of them had to incorporate a makeshift reflector board for some additional side-lighting.  Though it didn't have to, mine became a product shot for Tiffany & CO. glassware.  I got some beautiful glasses from my grandparents when my wife and I got married, but we don't do anything that justifies the use of awesome glassware.  So today, their existence was justified.

Thirsty?

With my awesome photographic talent, I can sell you any product.  So yes...yes you are.

Go buy some expensive glassware so you have something to put your thirst-quenching water in. 

For School

I am currently attending the New York Institute of Photography.  So far it's going rather well and I'm rather enjoying it.  My hope is to get through the program before I move to Ireland, and at the rate I've been going, that really shouldn't be a problem.  I just have a few photo projects to work through...The one I was working on today ended up getting me today's photo. 

Kiwi

I'm pretty sure this bird statue thing is supposed to be a kiwi.  Like all kiwis, it is cute, unlike most kiwis, it is also deadly.  

People

My brother is free from college...for now...so my wife and I met up with him and his girlfriend for a rather nice picnic and some meandering around a quarry.  It was such a nice day today.  We almost told them no when they asked if we wanted to join them...we had just gone on a 30 mile bike ride and would have happily sat down and relaxed for awhile...but instead we told them we would meet up with them.  I'm quite glad we did, it's always fun to hang out with him, and more and more I find his girlfriend to be quite interesting, fun, humorous, and a fantastic match for my brother.  Also, she promised to take me spelunking in upstate New York.  That won me over.

A Girl

This is my brother's girlfriend.  I didn't ask if they minded being posted all over the internets, so I made sure to choose photos that don't show faces. 

  A Boy

This is my brother.  I was trying to get some abnormal angles for both shots...I did better with this one.  The angle makes him look like some giant standing on his own personal island.  Very Gulliver-esque.

Ode To The Best Season

Sometimes Summer annoys me.  Were I back in elementary school, I might feel otherwise.  But I'm not.  I work right through the summer.  So really, it just makes me hot and sweaty. 
Summer isn't even yet to really hit, but I know it will, and I know I'll have high electricity bills because of it.  So here is a picture for a better season.  The best season.  Fall.

Ode To The Best Season

Yes, the colors were altered.  But hey, when it isn't Fall, leaves rarely have that beautiful, dried red look that you see here.

Urban Alphabet

Today I stumbled upon the next three letters for my urban alphabet project.  DEF.  I now can write a few words.  I'm no longer limited to cab.  Feed, deaf, and bead are just the tips of the proverbial icebergs.

Urban Alphabet

I'm 23.07% of the way there! yay.

Ceiling

I frequently come across this building just as the sun is in line with the blue windows.  The ceiling itself is normally a whitish-yellow color but gets pretty bright when the sun shines through the windows and onto it.  The cross bars and piping and whatever else is up there become overly saturated with color and this is the result:

Complimentary Colors

 Any time I saw the ceiling in this stage of lighting, I always got mad at myself for not having my camera.  Knowing I would witness the colors playing their games on the ceiling today, I brought it.  I flipped the image upside down to get a more dramatic look.

Self Portrait Series - Fingers

Here is the next photo for my self portrait series.  It is a finger.  Or fingers.  We shall see if I decide to do one photo per finger.  If so, then this is the photo for my left middle finger.  Remember that.

G Chord

One of the things my fingers find themselves doing frequently is grasping guitar necks, positioning themselves on frets, and plucking or strumming the strings. 

And For Today

Just some light bulbs at my friendly flea market.  That is all.

Three Ideas

All I can think of now that I used the word idea is the lyrics to the Vandals' song I've got an idea for a movie.  Check it out it's about a boy who gets his fingers caught in a bottle of Mr. Pibb.

For Yesterday

Apparently Blogger had some problems yesterday.  Once I got off work and went to log in, bam, nothing.  I tried every so often and had the same results each time.  So, today you will get yesterday's and today's post.  Hurray.  Two for one Fridays!

Where's The Quartet?

Nothing in a deteriorated state can escape my eye.  Here's a barber shop pole.  The reason that they look the way they do is because in medieval times, barbers were also surgeons.  The pole represents the bloody bandages that would have been wrapped around it.  It is mostly an American thing to have blue incorporated into the pole as well as red and white. 

Self Portrait Series

I decided to try to continue one of the series I started the other day.  The series is a grouping of photos of different parts of my body with something significant attached to that part, be it conceptual or physical.  Today's is based off of my constant urges to be moving.  Whether it is hiking, biking, running, or traveling to a different country, I'm not one to ever really stop moving.  If I stop moving physically, my mind picks up where my feet left off and keeps on going.

Idle Will Kill

I tried to capture the image in a way that exemplifies the idea of motion or "going."  I toyed with using a slow shutter speed to actually get good blur, but I feel this image resulted in a better representation of something starting in one place and ending in another.

A Car

I am not a big car person.  They can look pretty sweet, that's for sure, but I don't feel like I need a special car that looks a certain way or does a certain thing.  Actually, I am trying to get rid of my current car, and have little to no desire of ever getting another one.  We shall see how that goes.
That being said, I was around some pretty nice looking cars today.  Here is one that is apparently a pretty desirable vehicle.

Cadillac CTS 4

I certainly won't say this isn't a nice car.  It looks pretty sweet.  If someone wants to give me one, I swear, I will not turn it down.