Reflected Sky [Sky Watch Friday]

The weather in Rochester has been bleak for the last several days, so I need a ‘pick-me-up’. Looking through my folder of files saved for possible posting on SWF, I think this one will be good 'medicine'. It was shot with a cell phone camera while strolling with my wife and brother-in-law through a park in Riddagshausen [outside of Braunschweig in northern Germany], where my wife Rosemarie grew up. The paths stretch for several few miles around a lake, which pedestrians and bicyclists share with equanimity.  Unlike the 'average' American, Europeans in general, and Germans in particular, enjoy walking -- especially on Sunday. Yes, I already feel better thinking about it and looking at this ---

Anhinga [Sky Watch Friday]

This shot was taken several years ago in the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden [located quite a bit south of Miami]. The bird is a Anhinga, also known as the Darter, Snakebird or Water Turkey. It appeared to be drying its wings atop its lofty perch as we happened by. While I am not particularly a fan of birds, I must confess it was fascinating to watch. Besides, it made an otherwise uninteresting sky worth photographing.

Portland, ME Lighthouse [Sky Watch Friday]

Here is a shot of the famous Portland, Maine lighthouse.  The original image was on a 2x2 slide made in the 1970s, but scanned and digitized some 30 years later. The lighthouse is one of the most highly photographed sites in the USA, and you’ll find shots of it just about everywhere. Of course, I did not know that at the time and thought I had discovered something special. Yeah, right!

Winter Wonderland

The snow that passed through Rochester, NY last Friday dumped about 13 inches of snow in the city. Saturday was the day to go out and witness the result, which was stunning. There was not a whisper of wind to knock off the snow that had accumulated on the tree branches, and virtually no car or pedestrian traffic to disturb the calm in the air. So, it was time to grab a camera and record some of the beauty. Below are three shots taken outside and within 100 yds of our house, along with one shot taken in our garage

 

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Circles [Sunday Stills]

Time to get back into doing some Sunday Stills posts-- and, since this represents (sort of) my coming ‘full circle’, what better theme than Circles. The top image is from my neighbor’s decorated Xmas pole, which was loaded with lights. I decided I would play with bokeh and adjust the aperture to get the lights out of DOF clarity -- worked on the first try.

The image below was from the public market bin displaying farmer’s sausage/salami [Bauernwurst].

This image was shot in a Baltimore clothing store.

Abstract Aruba Sunsets [Sky Watch Friday]

These images complete my ‘Aruba cycle’. Actually, I posted the bottom shot just about a year ago, but I decided to repeat it since it complements the new image.  In both the funky coloration was generated in Photoshop Elements using the 'posterization' technique [I imagine there is a comparable procedure available in Photoshop.] To start, I clicked on FILTER in the overhead options bar, then clicked on ADJUSTMENTS in the drop down, and then selected POSTERIZE. A choice of LEVELS appears in a box; the number determines the degree of ‘funkiness’ you want to see [I used 4]. Basically, that is the whole process. What is appealing is that one can sometime transform a rather ordinary image into a strikingly abstract one.