Morning Plants

I really need to get out of this "macro" mode, but I am finding out so much about the possibilities of it that I hate to just move on to something else just to feel like I am moving on to something else. The philosophy of moving forward to things new seems empty when that which one is moving away from is not fully understood.

With that said, here are four shots from the many I took of the plants in the living room under the morning sun.

Takin' Down the Christmas Tree

So I took a ton of pictures while still in macro mode. Jen and I were getting ready to take down the tree and I had shot the ornaments the other night with the lights on, so figured I would try with sunlight coming in through the windows. I put the 75-300mm lens on my Sony Alpha and screwed a 2+ filter on the front of it, and then played with focal lengths (focus by camera movement) on the zoom as I looked for pictures.

I'm not really happy with the sharpness of the images, but they look alright and give me some good compositions, so I can't complain!

The other thing I did right from iPhoto, was to post them to my Flickr account. I haven't done this all that much, but with a bunch of photos like that (10) I thought they might do better in an album rather than in this scroll down blog. The link is: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chartlie/sets/72157647691348704/
and I will post one shot here so you can get the idea of what they are.

At the End of the Day, At the End of the Year

I know, I know... sunsets tend to be a cliche no matter how cool they are, but I took this one in very little light, with my phone, through a living room window and still got a great sky and the coolness factor of the lights of Bar Harbor under the shadow of Cadillac Mountain!

As the Year Ends...

So does the life of a lowly fly. I got "buzzed" by this creature in Jackson's room Friday, and without thinking I reached out and grabbed it. I've always been quick enough to "catch" flies, but this one I crushed in my hand as I moved to the bathroom to toss it in the trash. I remember so distinctly thinking that showing a disregard for any life form was not the best thing to teach my grandson, but after all, it was "only a fly", so I wasn't too concerned with it.

I am now, I  truly think I shall remain so, although the battle with ants and wasps that has taken place around the "kid's house" may teat that resolve over the summer.

Another Christmas Gone

This one had two grandsons to celebrate with, and there will be many more to come; Christmas's, not grandsons. I have featured photos of our oldest grandson quite a bit on this site, so this post is for Emerson, who is changing daily and has developed quite a personality!

Merry Christmas

Three shots from our tree before we take it down. One green, one red, and one red and green.

Wet Christmas Likely

I guess the guys on WTOS this morning called it a "brown" Christmas, but I don't think the rain is that bad, especially after the winters we have had in the past where there was no place to put the snow! I walked up to get the mail this morning and I noticed the drops of rain clinging to the branches. I realized that I still had the clip-on lens for my iPhone in my pocket, so I put it on and took these photos. I did switch around and use the "fisheye" when Vern came down the driveway to take a shot of the house, so I will post that picture first.

The details of taking a picture still fascinate me, and I catch myself on that "search" for the most interesting and best shot I can find whenever I am in "shooting" mode. There is something about where the "macro" shot takes you in terms of looking at the details existent in life and the myriad situations of form and color that we see without seeing every single minute of every day.

Ice Crystals

Cold enough in New Gloucester this morning to create ice, and the resulting crystal formations were beautiful. No high quality equipment here, just an iPhone 5 with a macro lens attached. It never ceases to amaze me at the images which I've captured with that thing, and yet they are so much better than any of the first digital devices for making images. Carrying on!

Looking Closely

I screwed a +4 close up filter on my zoom lens and went out this afternoon (too dark, though - should have gone when the sun was out) and shot a few images even with the wind blowing everything around and making the focus hard to achieve. The act of moving the camera toward the subject to get focus created movement I'm not sure I liked, but the images always seem so unique when done with this technique. Compositions are so simplified that they tend to be difficult to mess up.

Here they are, also one from the studio with the more sensible +1 filter!

What is this third image? A blue compact fluorescent in my studio! 

Classroom

My "A" block class is an eclectic mix of students with a wide assortment of artistic skills and sensibilities, which makes the interactions I have with them all the more interesting. They were engaged amazingly well all this past week, and the work they are presenting is remarkable. I know this may come across as a brag, but it isn't me, never has been, and I give them full credit for the efforts and outcomes that result from their fascination with the arts and what can be done with some simple photographic devices and a bit of imagination!

I had to post this image of them working.

Zooming Toward Christmas

We do have the tree up, and there is a feeling other than humbug creeping into the air, but I had done this (look at previous Christmas time posts on this site - maybe a few years ago) before and thought that this tree is a little simpler and might make some interesting lighting shots! Here are a couple I "filtered" out to post. Not anything great, I'm just looking for something to post tonight!