Author Archives: Mike

Looking Up

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52-week Challenge
Week 5 – Shoot from Below

The challenge this week at 52 Frames was to Shoot from Below. Basically, change your perspective and capture an image from beneath the subject. I definitely have done this style while using my macro lens, and Daisy Time is a perfect example. But it isn’t the summer and as the week marched on I was running out of opportunities.

I had a pretty good idea for an image that I attempted this morning. I was at Bellamy Harbor and the main road into Rome utilizes a bridge over the barge canal. The concept was to incorporate one of the street lamps on the bridge with the moon in the background (with me being on the ground under the bridge). The composition was what I intended but I totally flubbed the focus (more on that later). I had other concepts to work on but they would need to wait until later in the day.

I go to Bellamy Harbor quite frequently. It is an easy location for me, roughly five minutes from my apartment, and I generally find an image worth capturing. I photograph the view down the barge canal which includes the Mill Street bridge practically every visit. What I haven’t done much of is capture the underside of the bridge. See, shoot from below…

Under Mill St.
Nikon Z6 II, Nikkor Z 24-70 f/4 S, 1/6s, 24mm, f/11, ISO 100

After Bellamy Harbor I made my way over to the Mohawk River Trail. There were numerous opportunities for me for the various “challenges” I was planning on participating in this week. I also knew there were plenty of tall trees to use for my next image. I was looking for a pine tree or two.

If you went to the challenge page at 52 Frames you will notice there is an “extra challenge” that can be incorporated into your image. This weeks extra was to utilize leading lines. Leading lines are a compositional technique where human-made or natural lines lead the viewer’s eyes through a photograph to the subject or the heart of the image (borrowed from Adobe.com). I found my trees…

Into the Pines
Nikon Z6 II, Nikkor Z 24-70 f/4 S, 1/40s, 24mm, f/11, ISO 100

I had one more concept I wanted to capture. I drove over to the International Sculpture Garden and walked to the water tower. Now, I have photographed the water tower numerous times. Mostly I focus on the ladder cage attached to one of the support legs. One of my latest captures can be viewed in this post Going Up?, but I didn’t want to repeat myself (completely) so I planned on a bigger view. It worked out well that the sun chased most of the clouds away today.

Attack of the Tower
Nikon Z6 II, Nikkor Z 24-70 f/4 S, 1/100s, 25mm, f/11, ISO 100

Did you participate in any photo challenges this week? Let me know if you did so I can see what you created. And remember, photography isn’t always about what is in front of you, look up, look down and look all around. The images are out there…

Scattered Throughout

Posted by Mike on

Squared – SQ184

A jumbled mess.

What is?

The state of my mind.

I doubt it.

No, it is.

Too many thoughts running through the cluttered mess that is my brain today. Too many ideas to process. Where do I begin?

Let’s start with an image I converted to look like it was painted. A simple flower I found at the Flower & Garden Festival in Epcot back in 2021. Yellow is the color of happiness and optimism. Yellow can affect the logical part of the brain stimulating, mentality and perception. It inspires thought and curiosity (borrowed from Color Meanings). Today is a yellow day…

Lost in Yellow
Olympus E-M1 MK III, M, Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 Macro, 1/1600s, f/2.8, ISO 100

There are numerous photography “challenges” I am currently working to complete. This week’s challenge at 52 Frames is Shoot from Below. I had an idea this morning that I tried but didn’t nail the focus on the image (sad face). I have a few others that I will go capture but I’m waiting for the temps to improve just a little.

My friend Karma is back online and we gently convinced her we needed one of her photo hunts. They were always fun and generally made me think (which I probably don’t do enough of). You can read about the latest at Well Dam, I think I just came up with a photo hunt!. I probably have too many ideas I want to try and should focus on one, but I’m leaning toward trying as many as I can. Stop back and see how I do with this one…

I saw another post of a different weekly challenge and really want to play along. The challenge is about patterns and/or repetition in your image. Examples would be a row of fence posts or a pattern of rocks in a landscape. I know I have images in my archives but I want to get out and search for something new. Again, you’ll have to stop back to see what I find.

Other thoughts in my head?

Right, I started off with those comments…

I work with a lot of people. I interact with most of them on a daily basis, but I don’t know a lot about them. Case in point – there was an after work get together at a local bar to celebrate two employees recent retirement. I ended up talking with a few of the younger engineers and discovered they are bookaholics like myself. We ended up discussing various books they have recently read, what types of reading they enjoy (a good portion are sci-fi aficionados like myself), and exchanged a few recommendations. I knew we shared a fondness for video games but sharing books brings better conversations to the table. I have a few more books to get and read after that night.

I’m still processing “clutter” from a daily prompt two weeks ago (Clutter, Clutter Everywhere…). I see more of it around my apartment and I’m trying to determine how best/how much I want to tackle. But this process is adding to the clutter in my head… I can’t win.

I’m still processing where I want to be. I’m not a fan of being cold. As much as I like winter images, going out there in the cold is a big deterrent. My original plan was to move toward the south and warmer weather after selling the house. The sale happened four years ago! WTH!

I troll the job sites looking for the next opportunity but generally stop short of pulling the trigger. I’m not positive what is holding me back. I think it is a reluctance for change. Maybe it is a general laziness. I would have to put in some effort to pursue a new opportunity and if it required moving, that is a whole other can of worms… ha ha ha

I see the sun starting to burn through the clouds and there are patches of blue sky. I’ve talked your ear off enough for today. I have a few chores around the apartment to finish and then I need to find those images for all the challenges.

Thanks for listening…

Time For A Little Color

Posted by Mike on

Beach Club Resort
Crescent Lake, Walt Disney World

I have been on a run of monochrome images recently. I thought it was time for a little color. Mother Nature has not been helping in the color department as of late, so I turned to my stockpile of images from Walt Disney World. I couldn’t pass up this sunrise reflection of the Beach Club Resort.

Beach Club Reflections
Olympus E-M1 MK III, M, Zuiko 12-100mm f/4, 1.6s, 12mm, f/16, ISO 100

Three Brothers

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Wordless Wednesday
Monochrome Winter

Three Brothers
Nikon Z6 II, Nikkor Z 24-70 f/4 S, 1/50s, 58mm, f/8, ISO 200

Vision Obscured

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Monochrome
Landscape

Yesterday’s search in the fog was related to this week’s challenge at 52frames.com, ‘Scene From a Movie’. I was thinking film noir but looking at the images nothing feels cinematic to me. I still have today to work on the challenge.

I like the images I was able to bring home. As I said, yesterday’s image is my favorite. The images today are me looking for that cinema feel with the shrouded dam. I believe the issue with them, for me, is the composition. I didn’t find the right one.

The last image was the most difficult to capture as the fog was too intense for the camera to detect focus. I manually set the camera at infinity but it still is blurry. I’m going with, “I intended for it to be that way”… ;)

Somewhere Out There
Nikon Z6 II, Nikkor Z 24-70 f/4 S, 1/30s, 29mm, f/8, ISO 200

Lost in a Haze
Nikon Z6 II, Nikkor Z 24-70 f/4 S, 1/40s, 31mm, f/8, ISO 200

Vision Obscured
Nikon Z6 II, Nikkor Z 24-70 f/4 S, 1/40s, 36mm, f/8, ISO 200

Memories Fade

Posted by Mike on

Monochrome Winter

Late January and it has been raining more than snowing. Weird winter so far.

Although the fog prompted a weather alert for low visibility I thought I could create something interesting within the morning conditions. I threw the camera bag in the car and drove around the city before sunrise looking for opportunities. My usual spots didn’t resonate with me. I eventual gave up and went for groceries.

After getting home, and after sunrise (somewhere behind the clouds) I headed out again in search of that foggy composition. I thought Delta Lake would give me what I was looking to capture but on my way there the car turned the dam at the south end of the lake.

Yes! This will work. I played for a while near the dam. My favorite turned out to be this image of the Mohawk River from the single lane bridge crossing it. The fade into nothingness hit the right tone for me. Plus, reflections! Right up my alley.

Memories Fade
Nikon Z6 II, Nikkor Z 24-70 f/4 S, 1/30s, 34mm, f/8, ISO 200

Lonely Sentinels

Posted by Mike on

Monochrome Winter
Bellamy Harbor, Rome, NY

I’ll preface it as a statement, not an excuse, OK, maybe a little excuse. Work and weather have been conspiring against me. Getting out of work close to sunset provides little time to get the camera or enough daylight to go explore for images. And the weather definitely has it out for me. It is the full moon today and Friday morning is the best time to photograph it setting (my favorite time), but the forecast is for rain all day. :(

So, sitting here pouting this morning, drowning my sorrows in coffee, I give you the Lonely Sentinels at Bellamy Harbor.

Lonely Sentinels
Nikon Z6 II, Nikkor Z 24-70 f/4 S, 1/500s, 35mm, f/8, ISO 100