The Winds Of Fate

One ship drives east and another drives west
With the selfsame winds that blow.
Tis the set of the sails
And not the gales
Which tells us the way to go. 
Like the winds of the seas are the ways of fate,
As we voyage along through life:
Tis the set of a soul
That decides its goal,
And not the calm or the strife.

-- Ella Wheeler-Wilcox


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Backlight In Black & White

Backlight in black & white, a photo by DrewsView on Flickr.

Yes, I'm a big fan of black & white photography. In most cases when you remove the color from a photograph, you're left with just the structure of the composition to hang your hat on. There's something appealing about that for me. In this particular shot I like how the backlighting and the lack of color turns the crowd at the beach bar from a bunch of individuals into an almost monolithic structural element.

Being almost monolithic is a good thing in this case. Being able to make out some individual features in the shadows adds interest. Without the canopy over the bar, the shot doesn't work at all. I just happened to be sitting in the right place at the right time with enough technology in my pocket (iPhone with the Camera+ app) to capture the scene.

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Winter Woods

Winter Woods, a set on Flickr.

Just a few shots from the Quogue Wildlife Refuge - January 2012. If you're on Long Island and looking for a nice place to take a walk in the woods, check it out.

The shot of the stand of pine trees is my favorite for whatever reason. I like the spooky/desolate feeling, which was really the result of boosting contrast and saturation in iPhoto.

Local Dinosaurs

Local Dinosaurs, a set on Flickr.

I can't be certain, but I think any velociraptor would be pleased that the red-tailed hawk is still bringin' it, dinosaur style.

If you're on Long Island, its worth spending a few hours one weekend checking out what the Audubon Society is doing out here. These are from the sanctuary in East Moriches, where they do a great job educating the public about these really awesome flying machines.

Toolkit
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Canon 600D (EOS Rebel T3i)
Stock 18-155mm EF-S kit lens
My old MacBook and iPhoto

A technie note: This is the first photo set I imported and edited with my iPhone library mounted on a network drive. Prepping for life with a MacBook Air. Performance was quite acceptable across the network, even using a 5400 RPM laptop drive, especially when hard wired to a 100 Mbps link. It works over WiFi, but things get pretty slow that way.

Life Lessons Behind Glass

You know when you're taking pictures and you accidentally learn important life stuff?  I hate when that happens.

1. It's all about being in the right place at the right time.

2. The odds of being at the right place at the right time increase if you keep your eyes, ears and mind open.

3. Sometimes you're in the right place at the right time, but you don't know it because you're looking the wrong way.

4. Often you find gold just by changing your point of view.

5. In many ways, the discarded and disregarded are the most interesting.

See how much you can learn with a camera in your hand?

Eastbound 12:01

Eastbound 12:01, a set on Flickr.

The arc of lights bending out of sight at the Port Jeff train station caught my eye while driving by a few weeks ago. I've been waiting for some mist/fog to go back and play with the camera, and we had some last night. Only problem was we also had rain, so I really wasn't able to walk around much without getting me and the camera soaked. I'm pretty sure the Canon warranty doesn't cover standing in a downpour. As for me, I'm well out of warranty.

There's a whole lot wrong with these photos from a technical standpoint, but I had fun taking them and I actually learned a few key things about night photography doing it, so I'm pretty happy with the result if only as a learning experience.

Toolkit
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Canon 600D (EOS Rebel T3i)
Stock 18-55mm EF-S kit lens
iPhoto on my Macbook

Bones

Bones, a set on Flickr.

The bones of a small boat on display in Harborfront Park in Port Jefferson. Neat, but much more visually interesting up close and personal like this.

Mainly a study in depth of field.

I went with black and white so the red building in the background wouldn't distract the eye. The wood is all a monochromatic gray from weathering anyway, so color would be almost pointless.

Toolkit:

Canon D600 (EOS Rebel T3i)
18-55 stock kit lens

Low Tide

Low Tide, a set on Flickr.

Another little photography project, this time at Port Jefferson Harborfront Park. These were taken under a section of the boardwalk that you can only reach at low tide. I thought the circular opening added visual interest.

Toolkit

Canon D600 (EOS Rebel T3i)
Stock 18-55 lens
iPhoto on my MacBook

I was shooting in color, but went to black and white in iPhoto and added some color boost to tweak things a bit.

All in all I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out.

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