Monthly Archives: January 2014

Dominos

Posted by Mike on

I sat at my desk during lunch the other day creating a list of photography projects for this winter. I was focusing on indoor projects since the weather and lack of light after work has hindered my exploring with the camera. Surprisingly I was able to create a fairly long list which I hope will keep me occupied as we head into the snowy, cold part of winter.

This is what I am going to call my Game Pieces project. I have seen numerous variations on Google+ and the strongest influence would be Steve Johnson’s Black and White Games gallery. I read Steve’s book The Minimalist Photographer last year and have been following his blog ever since. My goal is to explore monochrome images with the effect of light and shadows. I will also be playing with depth of field so I can more quickly select the right aperture when I am out with the camera.

Game Pieces – GP1

Dominos Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 8s, 70mm, f/8, ISO 200

Dominos
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 8s, 70mm, f/8, ISO 200

A Day at the Beach

Posted by Mike on

Whew! Saturday! It has been a long week. Work was quite busy and interesting. My oldest headed back to college (only one more week for the youngest). Some crazy weather here in Upstate NY. And limited ambition to take the camera for a walk. Until last evening.

As I walked out of work I was happy to see some clouds rolling in from the southwest. It was setting up to be a beautiful sunset. Now for a place to get to before it was too late. I headed up to my old stand by location of Delta Lake State Park. I was able to get in about thirty minutes of exploring before my fingers started getting numb and the sun completely disappeared.

Approaching Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/20s, 17mm, f/16, ISO 100

Approaching
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/20s, 17mm, f/16, ISO 100

Seat with a View Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/13s, 17mm, f/16, ISO 100

Seat with a View
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/13s, 17mm, f/16, ISO 100

Covered Lake Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/15s, 17mm, f/16, ISO 100

Covered Lake
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/15s, 17mm, f/16, ISO 100

Grooming

Posted by Mike on

This January marks the ninth year that the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, NY holds it’s Winter at the Zoo photo contest. Last year my daughter and I made the trip out to the zoo and had a great time visiting all the animals. It wasn’t the greatest day to be at the zoo but we had a great time.

I apparently have a bad knack for picking days to visit the zoo or I bring the bad weather with me. It was a cold, rainy day yesterday and we were only brave enough to visit the animals inside. I’ll have to make another trip back to Syracuse to hopefully get some more images.

Grooming Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/80s, 70mm, f/5.6, ISO 6400

Grooming
Golden Lion Tamarin
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/80s, 70mm, f/5.6, ISO 6400

Snow Sports

Posted by Mike on

Yes, the title is a little misleading, but it did get you to investigate this post. The theme this week is square (1×1) format images. Most cameras produce an image that is either a 2×3 format or a 4×3 format. There is a lot of creativity possible by changing your image in another format and I have found the 1×1 format to have a lot of potential. That is evident here on my blog via my Squared series.

On Saturday the weather was absolutely beautiful and I had an idea for some images out in the snow that would utilize this week’s theme. I grabbed as much sports equipment as I could find in the garage and went outside with the camera to create images of the different pieces in the snow. I purposefully waited until I had strong midday light so there would be strong shadows. I thought that would add to each piece. Here are the three best from my little experiment.

Snow Baseball Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/800s, 35mm, f/8, ISO 200

Snow Baseball
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/800s, 35mm, f/8, ISO 200

Snow Racquetball Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/400s, 32mm, f/8, ISO 100

Snow Racquetball
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/400s, 32mm, f/8, ISO 100

Snow Basketball Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/250s, 58mm, f/8, ISO 100

Snow Basketball
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/250s, 58mm, f/8, ISO 100

I’m not sure this little experiment turned as well as it was envisioned but I had a great time running around the yard utilizing the areas of untouched snow. It also got me off the couch that day and I was quite happy with the Juxtaposition image I posted a few days ago. 🙂

Nature’s Ice Sculpture

Posted by Mike on

I went looking for the bald eagles over by the dam outlet at Delta Lake on Saturday. I had a good walk but was not fortunate enough to spot any eagles. I did manage to get some images of the ice that forms on branches hanging into the river. This stuff always fascinates me.

Nature's Ice Sculptre Nikon D5100, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6, 1/500s, 200mm, f/5.6, ISO 800

Nature’s Ice Sculptre
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6, 1/500s, 200mm, f/5.6, ISO 800

Sunrise Snowfield

Posted by Mike on

I missed the colorful sunrise on Saturday (and truth be told, it was just too cold outside) but this morning I bundled up and trudged my way into the field across the road. The colors in the sky were great just before sunrise. I so love living out in the middle of nowhere!

Sunrise Snowfield Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 0.4s, 21mm, f/16, ISO 100

Sunrise Snowfield
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 0.4s, 21mm, f/16, ISO 100