Earlier during our current trip to Ohio for the summer, back when Anthony's cousin Josh was here, my sister (“Aunt Marci”) told Anthony how to make a sand castle...
Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 28 mm — 1/40 sec, f/4, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Initial Construction
as Josh looks on
I've got to explain Anthony's fashion a bit. He's still wearing his jammies, and had mixed the upper from a cute little Japanese kimono-type sleeping ensemble, and the bottom from a girl's set of western pajamas. (Why a girl's set? Because he wanted to try them.) Anyway, either set looks cute, but the mix-n-match doesn't really “work”, fashion wise, especially with the shoes.
Anyway, back to the sand castle. All these pictures were taken by my sister while I was inside frantically trying to get my Lightroom stuff ready for the Adobe Lightroom 2 launch. I have taken the liberty to crop some of them a bit, though...
Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 28 mm — 1/125 sec, f/4.5, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Heavy Lifting
Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 28 mm — 1/40 sec, f/3.5, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Adding Flags
Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 50 mm — 1/30 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Drawing Windows
Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 30 mm — 1/125 sec, f/4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Ninja Castle Construction
( with just a tad too much fill flash )
Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 60 mm — 1/30 sec, f/5.6, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Final Touches
I'll continue with Part 2 another day...
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 19 mm — 1/60 sec, f/4.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Hello!
Anthony was feeding the birds outside, and I joined him just in time for a little friend (a Carolina Wren) to join us...
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 19 mm — 1/60 sec, f/4.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Mmmm, This One Looks Juicy
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 19 mm — 1/60 sec, f/4.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Oh, Hey, Thanks.... Gotta' Fly
My mom walked out later, and I gave her the camera. By this time, Anthony had the peanuts out and was ready for the bluejays.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 28 mm — 1/125 sec, f/4.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Quality Time
Photo by Grandma
Some other birds-on-the-veranda shots, from last year, here and here.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 32 mm — 1/1000 sec, f/3.5, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Just Another Day
of dynamic Ohio weather
Today in Northeast Ohio was sunny in the morning, turning to mostly broken overcast and occasional light rain in the afternoon. I was inside most of the day, but when I saw some bright sun around 7pm, I ventured outside and down to the lake for a look. It started sprinkling almost right away, but I was treated to a small rainbow.
(Upon reviewing the images, I see that it was a double rainbow, but I hadn't noticed at the time, perhaps because I was getting wet.)
This was my first rainbow in a while, since a bunch of rainbows in January. None of them even come close to a rainbow I saw in Kyoto last year, but couldn't get the camera in time to take a picture of. Because I was bummed about missing the picture, Anthony colored a picture of a rainbow for me. It was sweet. (A friend who saw it did snap a shot with one hand, while driving with the other.)
Anyway, back to today. As I mentioned yesterday, the weather has been dynamic, so even though it was dark and overcast, there were still patches of brightness, and some deep blue sky peeking through...
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 22 mm — 1/200 sec, f/10, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
They say in Ohio “If you don't like the weather, wait a minute.” and true to form, the opening in the clouds that had allowed the sun to stream through quickly moved on, so I lost the sun, and soon the rainbow followed (although a bit is still visible in the next shot)...
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
An hour later, not long before sunset, I noticed the sun peek out again, so I went again to take a look. No rain this time, and no rainbow, but the golden sunset light was decidedly harsh on the backdrop of gray, slightly purplish clouds...
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 23 mm — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 26 mm — 1/125 sec, f/7.1, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
I thought it was pretty.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1/1250 sec, f/10, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
The clouds, these two weeks while I've been in Ohio, have been wonderful. The weather has been dynamic – clear one moment, thunderstorms the next – and so there have been many types of clouds, mostly really beautiful.
On a typical afternoon, with a deep, clear blue sky hosting towering puffballs of richly detailed cumulus clouds, I marvel at the beauty. Kyoto is normally fairly humid and hazy, so even when it has puffy clouds, they're not set against a deep blue background. Ohio's clouds are better, for sure, but even the locals are commenting at how wonderful the clouds are this week.
With the pretty cloudscapes, I've been trying to capture some of it in photos, but the results are always bland. I really don't know how to take pictures of white fluffy clouds, because the beauty is in both the details – the sharply delineated edges, and the many puffy folds of the cloud – and also in the big picture... the expanse of blue sky dotted by clouds, the trees, the grass, the sun. I don't know how to capture both.
But that doesn't stop me from trying, almost every day.
A couple of days ago, I saw some amazing clouds in the late afternoon, and not having a wide view at my folks' place due to all the trees, I headed out to the local little league fields (where Anthony launched a rocket last year).
The weather was dynamic, and so by the time I got there, the clouds had changed considerably for the worse....
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1/320 sec, f/10, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
At least Anthony was having fun, doing something that involved smashing rocks.
Toward sunset, there were some pretty views, but I couldn't really capture any of them well....
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1/250 sec, f/8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Facing West
( A thunderstorm was coming; we got walloped two hours later )
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 26 mm — 1/200 sec, f/10, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Facing East
( looks like a touch of rain way in the distance )
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1/200 sec, f/10, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Increasing Cloudiness over the Soccer Fields
I actually took the one above while sitting in the car on my way out, having been stopped in my tracks by the sudden “hand of God” streams of light radiating from the clouds far in the distance. They barely show up in the photo, but they were almost graspable at the time.
On the way out, we stopped for a bit at a playground, where Anthony scampered up a big pile of wood chips....
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/200 sec, f/4.5, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
On Top of the World at Sunset
The sun had set for us, but some of the big, puffy cumulus clouds were still in the area, far above the lower storm clouds that were starting to roll in. The way-up-there puffy clouds were basking in the golden rays of their own sunset....
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/250 sec, f/6.3, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Two hours later, we were blasted by a short, violent thunderstorm. It was nice.
“The Big Picture” is a thrice-weekly online feature of The Boston Globe, a collection of large high-quality photos on a subject currently in the news. Today's, for example, is on the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.
The images are absolutely stunning.
The images, taken from the news wires and such, are selected/compiled by Alan Taylor (who I assume is on staff at the Boston Globe), and are always of the absolute highest caliber. Jaw-dropping. Awesome, in the true “inspires awe” sense.
The quality of the images that Alan selects are so utterly compelling, you find yourself enjoying subjects that you normally have no interest in. For example, I'm not really into bike racing, but his compilation on the Tour de France had me saying “wow” over and over again.
If you are a photographer, you will be humbled by the photos in The Big Picture. I'd like to think that I've taken a few nice photos in my time (for example, some of those on my Japan photostream), but really, the photos selected for The Big Picture are so far beyond what I could ever do, I can't feel anything but truly humbled.
Speaking of the Olympics, if you'd like to see a bit about what goes into making some of these photos, here's an article from Vincent Laforet, shooting the Olympics for Newsweek, on his preparations for the Olympics. It's an impressive amount of equipment and preparation.
And just as I'm about to post this, I see that Vincent has written another post about his first attempt at an Olympic photo. It also shows how much work can go into this. He spent 12+ hours preparing for one photo, and didn't get it. Had he gotten it, it might have shown up in Newsweek, and you might have spent two seconds admiring it as you flipped through.
12 hours. Two seconds. If he had gotten it.