February 2012 – Fotografia

Taking Care of the Lawn

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Nelson in Uncategorized

Visiting my dad at my sister’s place was a bit of an experience. I hadn’t been close to a horse since I was five or six years old. Now there’s a whole “herd” of them living on the property she shares with her cousin. It was very strange being awakened by the sound of up to seven horses galloping across the property in the morning. I’m not that much of a city boy, but it was something brand new to me. The morning after I arrived at my sister’s place, I decided to go see how cooperative these horses would be to me taking some photos.. the answer was “not very cooperative” unless I was a fair distance away. Oh, well. Still managed to get some good shots of them in spite of their diva personalities.

The hilarious thing about these photos is that they’re being taken in the “front yard.” That shows how rural this place is. One thing for sure, you might be star struck when you first see these beauties.. but you’d still better watch your step.

What Do You See From Your Window?

Posted on February 25, 2012 by Nelson in Uncategorized

These were all taken on a cold Winter evening over the course of a spectacular sunset. I had already taken a few shots of the sweetgum balls you see in the first photo, so my AE-1 was already out and ready for more pictures. I looked out my window and saw a sunset that seemed to become more glorious by the second. The sky close to the horizon started to take on the color of lava running out of a volcano.

Sweetgum balls! This was the first time I ever saw them on the tree! Normally, I found them on the ground with my bare feet. Oops.

Vignetting below, presumably from shooting wide-open aperture.

The photo below looks like it was taken on another planet, if you ask me. The orange and red areas of the sky give a sense of distance in an unexpected way.

The photo below is one of my favorite photos. Everything lined up to give me all the elements I wanted. How often does that happen? (A tripod and zoom lens didn’t hurt either.)

Catahoula Cur

Posted on February 23, 2012February 23, 2012 by Nelson in Uncategorized

One of the most beautiful animals I’ve ever photographed. He was such a sweet dog the entire time I was snapping photos in his face. Rest assured he was given lots of treats for being such a good sport during his photo shoot.

I got several good images from this shoot, but after much deliberation these were the top two.

Incidentally, if you’re curious about this guy and his particular breed, check out this link: Click Here . I hope you enjoy the photos and, if you clicked the link, learned a little about something beautiful from my home state of Louisiana.

Oakland Cemetery: First Visit Part 2

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Nelson in Uncategorized

I’m glad you enjoyed the photos I posted yesterday, especially since I’m posting more of them today. Hah!

So without further delay, here goes!

This photo is of a large marble statue located on the site of a mass burial that was the final resting place unknown Confederate soldiers. According to what I’ve read, it was made in 1894 and is called the “Lion of the Confederacy.” (This is all according to the great and wise Wikipedia page)

I thought this was a fun photo using monuments and a skyscraper in the distance.

The photo below is of one of my favorite mausoleums in the cemetery. It’s not the “Grant’s Tomb” you read about in history books, but it’s a Grant tomb nonetheless.

To end this post, here are a couple of statues in the cemetery. Very sad, but very beautiful.

I hope you enjoy these. A couple of them are rather large if viewed full size, so if you’re bandwidth challenged or not using a 50″ screen, beware! I hope you enjoyed these photos.

First Visit: Oakland Cemetery

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Nelson in Uncategorized

Before I get too far into this post, I want to give a *HUGE* thanks to Lisa over at FoodTable//LaVieEclectique for awarding me with the Liebster blogging award! It’s nice to get a little recognition, and this totally made my day. Thanks again, Lisa! And to anyone else who reads my blog, you should check out Lisa’s blog as well as the blogs of the other people I follow. They’re all great reads from very talented people.

I haven’t posted in a few days, so this one is a bit picture-heavy to make up for it. I hope you enjoy them. There are really too many of these to put in one post, so it will be a two-parter. I’ll post the others tomorrow.

I’m not exactly sure what these blooms are, but they were everywhere around the cemetery. I thought they deserved a little representation as being a vibrant sign of life in a place that has a reputation for being only about the dead.

This statue is one of the last things I see every time I go to Oakland. It’s near the front where my car is parked, but the cemetery’s path takes you on a loosely-circular path that brings you to this statue at your walk’s end. I was so excited when I looked up and saw this shot just begging to be taken. The hazy sky and buildings of downtown Atlanta were a perfect background for this statue.

This was the first photo I took upon my arrival at the cemetery, once I had visited the visitor center to get a map. Yes, the cemetery is big enough to require a map. This statue has such a “real” physical presence, and I think I caught it pretty well with the composition.

These flowers were growing along the first leg of the path through the cemetery. Daisies, I think? I’m not up on my flower knowledge. If you know what they are, let me know!

I’ll be posting more from this visit to the Oakland Cemetery tomorrow. I’ve posted photos from this cemetery before, but I just keep finding more and more of them. There is so much to see, and I’d love to show you as much as I can! Have a great day and look for more tomorrow!

Louisiana Scenes

Posted on February 18, 2012February 18, 2012 by Nelson in Uncategorized

These shots were taken in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 2003. I had owned my first SLR, a Canon AE-1, for all of a few months. I decided to bring the camera with me on this particular trip in 2003. I’m glad I brought it with me, and I’m also glad I picked up a polarizing filter on my way out of town. You can see some rather extreme effect from polarizing in the state capitol photo at the bottom of the post and in the cathedral photo. At any rate, here goes.

This cathedral is located in downtown Baton Rouge. I took this photo from many angles, but couldn’t find anything I liked better than just head-on. Tip: Don’t leave your glasses in the car when you’re using a manual-focus camera. Even though it is a bit out of focus, it’s still a great shot with the gradient sky making the foliage really stand out.

These tug boats have been docked this particular area of the Mississippi River for as long as I can remember. I was glad to finally have a camera with me to capture them. You can definitely tell there’s some haze in the photo, but I don’t think it takes away from the feel of the photo. I’ve since learned that a UV filter is your friend.

I’ve always called this photo “The Mark of Zorro” because of the obvious “Z” formation in the photo. It could possibly have been composed a bit better, but I don’t think it would have achieved its “Zorro” had I changed anything.

This is a shot of the Louisiana State Capitol taken during a part of the day where the proverbial planets seemed to have aligned to give me this great sky. Not a single cloud, and the angle of the sun was absolutely perfect to quite literally black out the skies around the building. I enlarged this one and it’s on my wall.

Not too awful of a series considering I had virtually no clue what I was doing. In a way, I think it was better that way. I couldn’t overthink settings like aperture and shutter speed at the time because I really didn’t have much of a clue about how they affected photos. I do admit these were taken while using the Automatic Exposure setting on the AE-1.

Feel free to drop a comment if you want. Until tomorrow’s post, have a great Saturday!

Gobsmacked!

Posted on February 15, 2012February 15, 2012 by Nelson in Uncategorized

Yesterday we decided to spend Valentine’s Day hitting the thrift stores, and wow did it pay off! Check out what I picked up!

The first find was a beautiful Miranda Sensorex II SLR in its (n)ever-ready case. It was a bit pricey at $16.00US, but much worth it. I’ve never seen any Miranda cameras outside of the internet. This one is gorgeous and it works perfectly. (apologies for the iPhone photos. I’ll post better ones once I’m at my place!) Bam!

My second, and more remarkable find came toward the end of our thrift store sweep. Yes, a Yashica T3 Super D. See the price in the foreground? Yes, with tax it cost a mindbending $1.28US!! We stopped to pick up a battery to test the T3, so you can say my total price was 12.00 for camera and battery. There’s a roll of Fuji Superia 400 in it, but the battery has been dead long enough for the frame counter to lose its place in the roll. We shall see how this baby works!

Family Portrait (of sorts)

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Nelson in Uncategorized

Yesterday’s photos were from the first roll I took with my Canon Rebel Ti. These two are from the second roll I used on the same day at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. I was almost done with my tour of the gardens when I happened upon this little pond at the rear of the orchid conservatory. It’s usually empty, but a family had moved in. Have a look! These photos still make me smile.

We Are Family

We Are Family 2

Saint Francis in the Gardens

Posted on February 12, 2012February 12, 2012 by Nelson in Uncategorized

These photos are from the first roll I put through my Canon Rebel Ti. Before I even received this camera in the mail, I knew the its maiden voyage would be a trip to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Neither the camera nor the gardens disappointed me. Two of my favorite shots were of a statue of Saint Francis of Assisi, known as the patron saint of animals. I hope you enjoy!

Saint Francis

Saint Francis Closeup

Blurry Kitty

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Nelson in Uncategorized

One of the things about using film cameras is that you don’t always finish the roll in a timely manner. My Elan II had the same roll of film in it for quite a while, which brought up a few surprises once I finally had the film processed.

Blurry Ginji

This roll was processed a couple of months after Ginji had left this world. I was a bit surprised when I got my negatives back and saw this image. I had taken several photos of him during his decline from cancer because I wanted to remember him. The photos showed him getting gradually thinner from lack of eating, and they were honestly very hard to view. Even now, his absence makes my heart heavy.

This photo, however, shows him in his prime and in his favorite place to sleep when I would be away at work. The camera blur was a bit unfortunate, but not unexpected. I was crouched on the stairs trying to take a handheld shot like some sort of goofball. When I look at this photo now, it does remind me that I do miss him terribly, for he was truly one of a kind. But more importantly, the photo shows someone I love and reminds me that there was more than sickness to remember in our brief two years as friends. The blur almost gives him an ethereal quality. Yes, I’m trying to justify a mistake I made, but the image definitely made me look at him in a different way.

I can only wonder how the photo would impact me had it been sharper, but it remains one of my favorite photos of him before he had to go.