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Friday, December 31, 2010

The Cat's in the Bag

- Sherlock just loves to investigate a bag. May be he's looking for Brand Names, Closeout Prices! Cindy called me in to capture the moment this morning. This is my 730th straight photo a day blog post. 2009 was take and post a new picture everyday, while 2010 saw only about half of the posts with pictures taken the same day. The rest came from my archives. Thanks for following and commenting for the past two years. Canon G11, 1/80 sec @ f/4.5, ISO 1600.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Sunrise from Church Street

- The historic First Calvary Baptist Church in Norfolk Virginia is highlighted by the rising sun. The 1916 Second Renaissance Revival style church is a real architectural gem and is located off Henry Street just behind the Attucks Theater of the same period. This area was the center of the African American cultural community during the first half of the 20th Century and was often referred to as the "Harlem of the South." Canon G11, 1/1250 sec @ f/4.5, ISO 400.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Tudor at Night

- A clear winter night, snow, holiday decorations and a grand old tudor style house in Norfolk Virginia's historic Ghent neighborhood made for nice winter scene. Canon G11, 1 sec @ f/4.5, ISO 400, camera braced against a tree.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Back in the Box

- There goes the holidays back into the box and into the attic until next year. It always makes me sad to see them go. Canon G11, 1/80 sec @ f/4.5, ISO 400 in macro mode.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Snow Hat

- My neighbor's holiday ornaments had nice little snow hats on today. I liked the way they picked the reflections of the tree's shadows on the snow underneath. Canon 7D, 1/200 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 200, 200mm focal length.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

It's a Blizzard

- The biggest winter storm in 21 years hit Southeast Virginia today. Ten to twelve inches of snow have paralyzed the area. Canon G11, 1/60th @ f/4.0, ISO 400, with flash.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Santa Delivers

- Santa delivers and Robert plays. The Lego jetliner is pretty cool and Robert is getting ready to push back from the gate. Santa and his elves at VBFD Station 2, C Shift out did themselves. Canon G11, 1/60, F2.8, ISO 160, flash.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Cookies for Santa

- Robert get cookies and milk ready for Santa before heading off to bed. His mommy and daddy are both working tonight so we got to enjoy a four year old's excitement on Christmas Eve. Canon 40D, 1/160 sec @ f/2.5, ISO 800, 50mm prime lens.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Christmas Eve Eve

- Christmas Eve Eve at the Sullivan's. Note all of the wrapped presents, it's so wonderful to be married to someone who is organized. Canon G11, 0.8 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800 - man that's a lot of 8's.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Winter Sunrise

- The sky over Norfolk Virginia lit up bright orange as the sun was rising around 7:00am this morning. When the sky looks like this - one must stop and take a picture. The problem for me this morning was finding a decent foreground before the colors were gone. The sky changes very rapidly, literally minute to minute, as the sun rises so there not much time to putter around looking for the best spot. This photo was captured standing along Granby Street just north of 18th Street. Canon G11, 1/800 @ f/8.0, ISO 200.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Unexpected

- I love when something is totally unexpected. This bicycle with its white frame and bright green wheel rims was one of those. The colors were just unexpected. Also note that the chain is the same green. Canon 40D, 1/250 sec @ f/10, ISO 200.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Expired

- This parking meeting pretty well somes up my mood staring this week. Canon 40D, 1/400 sec @ f/10, ISO 200, 50mm prime lens.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Bows

- Cindy was busy wrapping away today and the box of bows caught my eye. Canon 7D, 1/250 sec @ ~f/2.8, ISO 800, Lensbaby, wide angle with star shaped aperture.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Candy Cane Twine

- Candy cane twine, who knew there was such a thing. I ran across this delightful holiday spool at Beach Scrapbooks in Virginia Beach, Virginia today while out shopping with my wife. Blackberry Bold, 3.2MP camera, no flash.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Holiday Bokeh

- Our Christmas tree lights captured out of focus. The out of focus lights are blurred into the shape of little Christmas trees by using an aperture disk I created with with one of Cindy's scrapbook punches. This effect in photography is known as bokeh and is usually seen in the soft out of focus backgrounds of photos taken with a large aperture opening on a normal lens producing a very shallow depth of field. Interchangeable aperture disks are one of the very cool creative features of the Lensbaby Composer that was used to make this photo. Canon 7D, 1/20 sec @ ~f/4.0, ISO 800.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Ornamental

- It's been a few days since I broke out the camera for some new pictures. It was wet, cold and just yucky outside so the camera ended up focused on the Christmas tree. Hope you enjoy the sights of the season. Canon 7D, 1/5 sec @ f/6.3, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens, mounted on a tripod.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Open Window

- The open window from an old farmhouse in Chesapeake Virginia looks out on former fields now full of suburban housing. Canon 40D, 1/20 sec @ f/13.0, ISO 125.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

The Rock

- Looking up through the lighted trees at the Rock - 30 Rockefeller Center in New York City. Canon G10, 1/15 sec @ f/3.2, ISO 400.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Radio City

- The famous marque of the Radio City Music Hall at Rockefeller Center in New York City. This photo is from our trip to NYC last November. Canon G10, 1/8 sec @ f/4.5, ISO 400.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Red & Green

The simple and distinctive colors of the season. Canon Rebel XTi, 1/80 sec @ f/3.5, ISO 200, 50mm macro lens.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Tracks

- The tracks of the Chicago "L" looking west toward the late afternoon sun from the Oak Park station on the Green Line. Canon g11, 1/800 sec @ f/4.5, ISO 200.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Bauble

- Bauble - according to Wikipedia is "a virtually worthless decorative object." So does that make the picture of one also virtually worthless? Canon 7D, 1/15 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 400, 100mm macro lens.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Roses are Red?

- Of course they are but sometimes they can be black and white. Canon 7D, 1/100 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 1600, 100mm macro, converted to black and white. You may remember seeing this picture last week in color, but I think I like the B&W better. There's just something about that deep gray and the texture.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Herding Cats

- Tonight's picture documents a photo failure on my part. While this is a nice picture of Sherlock, my goal was to get both Sasha and Sherlock together - looking at the camera for a holiday photo. Try as I might, I could not get them both to pose together. When I started I figured Sherlock with his boy kitten incredibly short attention span would be the challenge. But nooooo! Sherlock was a trooper, Sasha was being being a real diva and totally uncooperative. Cindy said that I failed to get her consent before proceeding, so I was doomed before I started. I'm going to complain to her agent. Canon 7D, 1/250 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 200, lots of flash. Strobe bounced of the ceiling and two side slave flashes down on the floor.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Star Light, Star Bright

- In this case the start lights are seasonal LED's. Canon Rebel XTi, 1/100 sec @ f/5.0, ISO 400, 50mm macro lens.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

My Little Buddy

- Sherlock was busy attacking the feathers on stick toy this morning when I called his name and he turned his head for this picture. I know Susan, Teresa and other members of his fan club will appreciate this shot. Canon Rebel T2i, 1/13 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 1600, 85mm prime lens.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Snow Rose


- Seasonal temperatures finally arrived this week after an Indian Summer that lasted through Thanksgiving. Tonight we are getting a very light snow, so I rushed out with my camera, macro lens and litepanel. This is a red "Knockout" rose with a few ice crystals. It seems kind of silly rushing out to a light dust of snow when the Midwest is getting pounded with an winter storm. Canon 7D, 1/100 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 1600, 100mm macro lens, Litepanel Micro LED.

Friday, December 3, 2010

'Tis the Season

A holiday seasonal photo I took last year. We're decorating this weekend so I wanted to get into the mood. I hope you're having a wonderful holiday season. Canon Rebel XTi, 1/25 sec @ f/3.5, ISO 800, 50mm macro lens.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Third Edifice

The massive eight level Romanesque style tower of the First Baptist Church third edifice located on East Bute Street in downtown Norfolk Virginia basks in the morning sun. Completed in 1906, this amazing building was designed by noted architect Reuben H. Hunt and features an exterior faced in pink New England granite. The church was founded in 1800 as a Baptist congregation of whites, free blacks and slaves. It remained an interracial church until 1848 when social pressures for segregation came to great to overcome. Canon G11, 1/320 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 100.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

1919

- 1919 Monticello Avenue in Norfolk Virginia has been the location of Doumar's BBQ and Cones drive-in since 1934. The restaurant is a local legend known for its barbecue, hand made ice cream codes, and curb service. It was featured on the Food Network's series Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, hosted by Guy Fieri. Eighty-eight year old Albert Doumar still makes ice cream cones daily at the restaurant on a cone making machine invented by his uncle Abe that dates from 1905. I stopped by tonight after work for some take-out. My grandson Robert is our family's 6th generation customer. My favorite Doumar's desert, the "Ringo", is a hot fudge sundae made on top of bed of crunched up cone chips. I think I'll feature a photo of one of those soon for my venture into food photography. Canon G11, 1/100 sec @ f/4.5, ISO 400.

Sconce

- Photography is the capture of light and I've taken a number of photos of cool light fixtures. By using the camera's capability to to capture light in different ways, the resulting image can be much different than what your eyes see. This image is way under exposed creating the deep blacks and highlighting the illuminated patterns coming from this wall fixture. When seen with your eyes the brain and the iris will automatically adjust for the light to balance the wide range of bright and dark. The camera, especially digital cameras, are much more limited in the range of light that can be captured. In most cases this limitation is the photographer's nemesis, resulting in a loss of detail in shadows and in bright sun. But here that limited dynamic range creates a different view of simple everyday object. Canon G10, 1/15 sec @ f/3.2, ISO 400.