Living in the north does create a challenge for doing a 365 project once daylight savings time returns to normal and the days naturally get shorter.  There just isn’t enough light during the day to get out and photograph in if you are also trying to work a regular job.  Day 33 was even more of a challenge with my lunch time and hour after work already spoken for.  I did think it would give me an opportunity to try some night photography and I had one particular image in my head I wanted to get.  A local bakery has an unique billboard sign out front to attract drivers into their store.

Trying to get this picture from the parking lot of the bakery just wasn’t going to work.  You would be too close and there would be even more light flare.  Luckily there is a post office across the street with the perfect angle to take this picture.  It also had the advantage of being elevated compared to the bakery which helped me too.

Day 34 was shaping up to be a complete wash out.  It had been raining since I woke up and didn’t appear like it would stop.  Five minutes before I was ready to leave work everything changed.  The rain stopped, the clouds opened up and the sun put on a final show for the day.

I didn’t take the chance that this scene would last until I got home.  I threw everything into the car, grabbed the camera and stood in the front lawn at work snapping pictures. It turned out be the right decision!  The sky show was over before I made it home.

I had about an hour between the end of work and my dentist appointment yesterday which I thought would provide enough time to walk around town a little with my camera.  Walking I did, picture taking, not so much.  After the sun sets I learned it isn’t easy taking pictures without a tripod.  I just couldn’t hold the camera steady enough to get clear pictures.  The only one I was fairly happy with was of the holiday lights on the side of a parking garage.  Coming into Rome from the south this view is visible to all.

I ended up taking a shorter walk than anticipated and vowed I would do it again but with a tripod in tow.  I did mange one other picture but I had to play with it a little to make the out of focus condition not as noticeable.  I zoomed in extremely close and I like how it turned out but I’m wondering if more of the building would add to the picture.

I should have some more time after work today.  Now I just have to decide where to go for the best opportunities.

That didn’t last long…  a day late again!  Well, discipline be damned!  At least I get to it eventually.

It was a great day considering it was the 12th of December in Upstate NY.  I had an opportunity to go exploring with the camera during lunch and then I made the effort to stop at a few places on the ride home.  I had seen this path from the road over the weekend and the midday sun was creating a great symmetric shadow from the fence on the path.  I knew I wasn’t going to be able to capture that image but I thought one of the trail going off into the distance would be good.

I wanted to enhance the moody feeling of the location so I added some blur and selective focus to the image.  I have used this before on a similar shot from the summer and it does change the picture to be what I wanted.  Sometimes it isn’t about the sharpest, clearest representation of the scene but an interpretation of what your are feeling.  It still comes back to capturing the emotion and creating that connection to a memory.

Yep, I’m trying to break the habit of constantly being a day behind on these blog posts for my project.  I’m taking the time tonight to write this so hopefully it will turn out OK.  Usually my ramblings about the picture flow more easily the next morning in the sleepy fog, caffeine induced clarity at the start of my day.

I missed an opportunity to catch the sunrise this morning.  I hadn’t planned ahead and was at a lose for where to go to get a nice picture.  I felt I had done the sunrise views around the house and wanted something different.  By the time I made up my mind the sun had rose too much and the great early colors in the sky were gone.

My project picture today was a happy accident.  I had been sitting in front of the computer viewing my Google+ stream when I just picked up the camera and pointed it at the Xmas tree.  I zoomed in to the maximum of the camera and reduced the shutter to 1/2 second.  As the camera was capturing the image I shook my handle slightly to see if I could create light streaks in the image.  It worked!  After a few more attempts I ended up with this picture which looked like little hearts to me.

I think next time I’ll drink more coffee before attempting a same day blog post.  The words just flow better then… lol!

I keep falling behind!  I never feel like my day is busy but when it comes time to crawl into bed I wonder where  the time disappeared to.  My picture for day 28 ended up being something totally unexpected.  I had a few ideas in mind when I left work that day but the picture I ended with was really a happy accident of circumstance.  I was waiting in the drive through line at Wendy’s when I noticed the lights on the outside wall.  I really liked how the light illuminated the cover and created a deep contrast between the bricks and the mortar.

The day 29 picture was once again the result of me having to take my car in to the garage to get the same sensor fixed.  Luckily they have been doing all the work for free since the initial investment never corrected the issue.  The time the car was being worked on allowed me to walk around exploring with my camera.  There were snow clouds approaching and the sun was trying its best to fend them off.

The day was shaping up to be a wash out for taking pictures, but about an hour before my work day was over the sky cleared and the sun was shining brightly.  I didn’t stay any longer at work than I needed to and ran out with my camera to capture the light.  I knew exactly what I wanted to photograph…  the water tower at the Central New York Psychiatric Center.  There is a road about a mile from the tower that offers a nice view through a clearing in the woods.  I drove straight there and parked the car.

I hadn’t counted on the zoom of the camera not quite being strong enough to bring the water tower closer to me but I still liked the effect of the sun’s light on the tower.  A few clouds in the sky would have improved the picture but beggars can’t be choosers.  To reduce the impact of the bright blue sky I decided to include the silhouette of the tree which was about half the distance to the water tower.  I think it works.  At least I know a great spot for the future when I get a stronger camera and lens.

The sun and the moon were in a great battle of showing off.  The setting sun in the west with a brilliant orange hue to the sky and the rising moon in the east with a nice magenta color to the sky.  I raced in the car to get closer to home which gets me out of the valley and in a better position to see both views.  I didn’t quite make it for the moon but the even after the sun set it helped produce this image.

I liked the tree silhouette (again!) and the contrails in the sky behind the tree.  Over the next couple of days I’ll have to try and get to my vantage point early enough to setup for the battle.  I just have to get the clouds to take the evening off again.

I wasn’t positive about posting day 26’s picture.  I actually didn’t get it posted until a day later.  I processed and uploaded the picture to my album but just didn’t feel it was worth a post.  That was until I woke this morning to find I had a comment on the picture in my album.  That totally changed how I was feeling.  It definitely broke me out of the funk I was feeling yesterday.  

The unexpected sometimes is what you were looking for.  I had to work from home (for various reasons) and was able to fit in a little camera work throughout the day.  My original plan was to use a picture of one of our ornaments on the tree.  I had a few to pick from but nothing was standing out as the obvious choice.

Sitting in the big comfy chair in the living I noticed the lamp across the room from me with its slightly ornate neck and the shadow it created on the wall.  I snapped off a few pictures testing various exposure settings.  The big reason the lamp turned into my picture for the project has just as much to do with what I learned in processing the picture.  I have taken many pictures at higher ISO settings in low lighting inside but never managed to remove the induced noise especially within the lighter colors.  It all came together when I was working on this picture…  now I have another tool in my bag of tricks.

Toward the end of the day I was trying different angles and compositions on various decorations around the room when one of the pictures had a portion of two candle holders with some great effects from the flash.  I quickly moved a few decorations out of my way to create this picture.

I still had those ornament pictures I had taken throughout the day.  This one just brought our tree together in one image…  Disney, homemade and yearly ornaments for the kids.  Plus who can argue with ‘red ornaments on a green Christmas tree…’?

Well, my plan to be more thoughtful about my picture selection fell through for today.  Hopefully I can make it work going forward, but I’m not going to worry about.  The pictures tend to jump out at me anyway…