Here Today

One of the participants of my portfolio class takes pictures of falling down buildings and old abandoned businesses.  I was particularly taken by one of the pictures because I have driven past it and it is only 10 minutes from my house.  I finally made the time to stop and tale a few pictures of my own.  I am told that it had served food and ice cream.  It has been abandoned for a long time.

Providence Photo Walk

I went oThen a night photo walk with Hunt's camera in Providence.  We went thru some historic neighborhoods and visited the Roger Williams park where you get some beautiful views of the statehouse.  Then we went down to one of the canals.  It was a beautiful night but I was not very happy with my results.

The Christian Science Church.  It was hard to get a good shot.

A close up of the dome 

Roger Williams at night

The state house from Roger Williams park 

You don't have to go to Venice for this scene.

Thomas Street where I tried to get motion with car lights.

September Flying By

September is one of those months that seem to disappear too quickly.  There is always something to do and this year is no exception.  

I am taking a class on how to put together a portfolio of my photographs which causes me to have to actually think about them and what it is I have to say.  The truth of the matter is, I have no deep thoughts and I have nothing particular in mind when I press the shutter.  As for subject matter, I am where I am and whatever catches my eye is what I take.  I will never voluntarily get up early to take sunrises but I will take a sunset and last night's was beautiful.  Unfortunately I was driving home from work so that didn't happen.

A lot of times I only take one or two photos of something when I should have taken more but these seem to be all I need.  I like taking pictures of critters but they are not Audubon quality.  For that I need better equipment, better post production, and more time.  And for now, I have resisted the Photoshop and the Lightroom routes and I have been using the humble IPhoto that comes with the Mac.

Anyway, here are a few recent examples where I should have taken more.

More Grand Canyon

Here are some more pictures from the Grand Canyon.  Most of these were taken at our early morning shoot.  I am not a morning person so this is a big deal for me.  The only time I see a sunrise is when I take these workshops.  The critters are an added bonus.

It was fun to take abstracts of the aspen trees

Grand Canyon

It was a relief to leave the Phoenix 106 degree temperature for the Grand Canyon.  It is so beautiful there and the scenery is amazing.  Here are a few pictures from our first day.  By the way, we work hard on these photo workshops.

Phoenix Botanical Garden

We arrived  in Phoenix early morning, which actually restarted our day, and we had some time to waste before we could check into our room.  We decided to go to the botanical garden.  It was very nice but it was HOT.  Don't let anyone tell you that it is better when the air is dry because 106 degrees is really hot.  I did manage to take a few pictures there but they were more of the snap and move on variety because it was so HOT.

A hummingbird who posed for quite a while

There were some Chihuly sculptures.  Very cool and they reminded me of the ones at the MFA in Boston

Back Again

I have been away for a while with all the great intentions of posting from the road but there is no WiFi at the Grand Canyon.  I was going to post some photos and things but that didn't happen.

My purpose at the Grand Canyon (north rim) was a photo workshop with Arizona Highways. The workshop was great and the weather was excellent, which turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment because there were supposed to be thunderstorms.  We had been hoping to capture lightening and dramatic clouds.

The highlight of the trip for me was on the last day when we ran across a herd of buffalo.

Back in the Saddle

Now that the heat wave is finally gone, I can go back into the studio.  Since I have been out of it for a while, it is hard to get back in the groove but I decided to clean out some things i have been keeping too long.

I had the pleasure to going to the Myopia Hunt Club for a photo workshop and polo match where I got to use a very nice Sigma 150 - 600 lens.  I was able to get pretty good shots and it was a great afternoon.

Taking a Break

I have taken a week off from the studio in order to entertain my granddaughter while her parents were in Mexico.  She has been taking an art class and I can't wait to see what she has been working on.  We have also been to the movies a couple of times and swimming.  All in all, it has been a fun week.

In between all of this, I have been working on the Botanical Garden photo contest.  I was pleased with my last outing and here are a few of my favorites: