Lest We Forget

Happy Memorial Day! Today is the day when we remember those veterans, past and present who sacrificed for us to protect our way of life. In honor of my great grandfather who fought in the Civil War, I present today's image to you. This shot of the graves of Civil War Veterans was taken in the Mountain Grove Cemetery in Bridgeport. Eugene Clydon Alderman and his wife Ellen Holmes Alderman are buried in Forestdale cemetery in Massachusetts. Thanks to my cousin, Judi Heit (a Holmes family researcher) I now know a lot more about my family background. Ironically, great grandfather survived the Civil War but died when he was 75 years old when he fell out of an apple tree he was trimming. I will post again later today with a picture of my Dad who was a World War II veteran.

Guess What I Am?

For today, I present an image that you will have to guess about. After you have a chance to view it, please tell me what it is.

Rockefeller Center

Well it's the beginning of Memorial Day Weekend, a time we remember all of our veterans, past and present. One thing I must do more of is visit New York City and just walk around, it's only a one hour train ride. That's how this image evolved. I was in the city and happened to walk by Rockefeller Center. This composition caught my eye and after some cropping here is the result. Many of you have expressed an interest in becoming a photographer. If you're just starting out, you don't need an expensive camera. This was shot with a small Canon point & shoot digital. A famous photographer once said "Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst". My point is, get out and start taking pictures - might as well get that first 10,000 out of the way.

Hartford Sunrise

Now this is a scene I have wanted to do for years, especially because of the blue onion dome that sits atop the factory built by Samuel Colt. That would be Colt as in "Colt 45" - the gun, not the liquor. I was driving to Holyoke, MA, running on a tight schedule, but I couldn't resist pulling over on I-91 to take this shot. With cars whizzing by at 75 mph plus, I was limited to shooting out the car window. It's not exactly what I wanted but it will do for now. Next time I'm going to shoot from the Charter Oak bridge which I think will give a better angle.

Bank of Southport

Yesterday it was well over 90 degrees for most of the day well into the evening. While we all love the summer, most were complaining about the heat and probably wishing for a day like the one you see in this image. This was shot early in the morning after a snowfall. I like the contrast of the fluffy snow on the tree branches against the backdrop of the red brick.

San Francisco After the Storm

Today I thought it might be nice to honor our friends from the west coast since I heard from a few of them yesterday. This image was created many years ago quite by chance from the balcony of a friends apartment. At that time I didn't realize the benefit of a monopod or tripod so it isn't tack-sharp. But it is an image that would be hard to duplicate so with that in mind I present it to you.

Chamonix-Mont Blanc

For today's image, I thought we'd scoot on over to Chamonix in France, the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924. It's on the French-Swiss border and the skiing was magnificent. On the subject of "it's a small world", I met some folks from Fairfield in the tram line. We all hung out and had a great time in the village. This image was originally taken on slide film, then scanned in order to digitize it.

Onion Dome in Lucerne

On a cool rainy day in Lucerne, Switzerland I came across this structure that is part of a wall that has surrounded the old city for centuries. Originally shot in color (on slide film) I converted it to black and white.

Spring Rose

I was walking up to the church office and saw the roses blooming. By following my rule of always having a camera with me, I was able to grab this shot.

Lemon on Marble

While experimenting with some still life shots, I was able to create this image. I may try it again with some type of reflective background. In any case, it struck me as a clean interesting composition.

Ye Old Yacht Yard

I often drive through Ye Old Yacht Yard is Southport because I always seem to find something interesting to shoot there. On the day this image was created, I noticed a woman painting this scene otherwise I probably would have missed it. Out of all the images I've created, this is still one of my favorites.

Blue Mountains of Australia

Yesterday we visited Scotland so today I thought we'd skip to the other side of the world and look at an image created in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. I don't recall the name of this valley but to me it was an interesting composition.

Scottish Borders Area

It's a cool overcast misty day here so I though we'd take a trip to Scotland. These images were created during one of my trips to Galashiels in the Scottish Borders area. First, the stone monolith marks the dividing line between Scotland and England. If you are facing the other side, it reads England. As you can see in the second image, the area is rich with natural beauty. In addition, the history dating back to ancient times is amazing. One of the structures that was truly a marvel was Hadrian's Wall built by the Romans around 100AD.

Doreen's Pelicans

Today's image is named in honor of my Auntie Doreen, an Australian artist, who had taken me to the park where I was able to get this shot. It was taken many years ago when digital cameras were just a thought. I scanned in the slide of the image, made some adjustments, and here is the result!

Gianni at Rest

Yesterday, I ran into my friend Pam who reminded me about this family portrait we created in Central Park. While we shot in many locations, this image was my favorite. The white shirts against the texture of the rock formation made it interesting, especially when converted to black and white. Gianni, who is always in motion, added to the image by pretending to sleep.

Locked Out

Here's a close-up of some old doors I shot at a local marina. I liked the contrast and the texture in the wood. It was originally color, but I converted it to black and white which I thought was more interesting.

Miami Beach

While today's image may be pleasing to some, think about how much warmer you'd feel viewing it in February which is when I got the shot. This was taken from the ocean side bar of the hotel where I was staying. It was slightly elevated which allowed me to create a nice, clean image.

Making the Bounty Ship Shape

Sometimes it's just being in the right place at the right time. This weekend a replica of the HMS Bounty is at Captain's Cove in Bridgeport. It was used in the making of the 1962 version of the movie, Mutiny on the Bounty. After reading about it in the paper, I thought I'd drive by to see if it was in early since I was in the neighborhood. It turned out to be a good move because I was able to catch some shots of the crew tidying up the rigging.

Mother and Daughter

Normally I would wait to use my large editing screen but I'm just so excited about this composition I couldn't wait! Just happened to see this on the side of my church on Tuesday.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Well it's a rainy day here so I thought something cheery might help. Also finding the pot of gold at the end of the Rainbow would be awesome. This image was taken at the tail end of a rain storm at Fairfield Beach. Fortunately, a neighbor had called to alert me and I was lucky enough to catch it.

Beautiful Children

Since we seem to have started the week with some fun portraits, I thought I'd continue the trend. A few years ago I shot this image for a friend's holiday card. It is certainly a challenge to get 3 young sisters in sync, but we were able to do it and the result was today's image.

Our Future Leaders

Sometimes it's just fun to catch an image at the spur of the moment. This is one of my favorite shots. I was taking photos at a church dinner and these kids decided to ham it up for the camera.

Happy Mother's Day

As children we receive a lot of influence from our parents. My mother's father, otherwise known as my Grandfather, was a professional photographer in Australia. The first camera I ever used was an old Kodak brownie given to me by my father. He'd taken many images in his travels around the world and I used to enjoy looking through them. When my mother first arrived from Australia in 1947, Dad took many photos of her on their honeymoon. This is one of my favorites. Sorry the quality is not better, I misplaced the original scan and had to lift this out of a PowerPoint presentation.

Stairs

One great way to create a variety of images is to use a subject list. Many camera clubs provide a yearly list of "Assigned Subjects", one for each month or you can make your own. That's how this image came about. The subject was stairs and I came across this in Southport, CT.

Foggy River

It's an overcast somewhat rainy day here in Southern New England but sometimes that's when you find some great shots. The clouds act as a filter to provide a gentle soft lighting effect and you generally don't have to worry about hot spots in your image. I'm hoping to find some shots like this today. This image was taken a few years ago near a spot where my brother and I used to fish on the Sudbury River in Framingham, MA.

Trio

While leaving the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge MA, I sighted these flowers in a traffic island. I took several shots (various exposures and compositions) and was happy to find that one had almost no background distractions. After making some edits I was able to create this image. Another example of always having your camera ready to go, you never know what you are going to find.

Monadnock Sunset

Sometimes the best images you create happen by chance. This was taken from the back deck of my cousin's house in New Hampshire. As I was pulling up to their house, I could see the beautiful sunset with Mount Monadnock in the background. Fortunately, I had my camera already mounted on my tripod (a must in low light) and was able to quickly set up and get the shot as they say.

Fall Bounty

Here's a fun fall-themed image of the front steps at a friend's flower shop in Southport.

Fayerweather Island Lighthouse

This one was taken last Sunday in the late afternoon so that the sun would light the western face of the structure. From a composition standpoint, I was able to catch the Cat Boat just to the right of the lighthouse.

Southport Barn in Winter

This was taken in Southport, CT early in the morning after a freshly fallen snow. It was one of those days where I got up early and went out hoping to find an interesting composition.