Jax

My little buddy Jaxon had his 1st birthday this weekend!

The kid ate so much cake; I'm not sure where he put it all.

Dude was pumped about some cake.

See? So happy :)

Baby Chucks make me smile

Pretty sure he was ready to fight me for getting too close to his cake.

NOLA

My annual trip to New Orleans was a mess this year,

with hurricane Irene rearing her head at home

& keeping me from my original flight.

But in the end I got a couple days of vacation & a few decent pictures.

*No specs this time. I don't have time, unfortunately*

Inside St Louis Cathedral.

This is the first time I've been inside, & it's absolutely stunning.

Railroad tracks on the river side of Washington Artillery Park

On the shore of The Mighty Mississippi

St Louis Cathedral from atop the steps at Washington Arillery Park

Candles inside St. Louis Cathedral

Picturesque French Quarter street corner.

*I'll likely add more as I get them looked over.*

The Rivah

I took a mid-week mini vacation to the rivah (more accurately, the bay).
It was hot & clear; perfect conditions for a serious sunburn
that I'm still paying for 2 days later.

[I've seemingly lost all knowledge of html I'd amassed during the days of Myspace,
so until I reeducate myself, all camera setting info will be listed below,
as well as any edits if it's not SOOC(Straight Out Of Camera)]

SOOC
f/13
1/160 sec
ISO-200

SOOC
f/13
1/200 sec
ISO-200

SOOC
f/10
1/400 sec
ISO-200
[this one is a little washed out, but I haven't had time to fool with it yet]

f/13
1/160 sec
ISO-200
bumped up contrast & saturation.
[I like the way the sand looks :)]

f/13
1/200 sec
ISO-200
Bumped up the contrast just a little.
My blue dog ended up loving the water!

f/13
1/160 sec
ISO-200
Upped the saturation a little to enhance the gradient in the sky.

I'll go back and add post dated entries as I have time.

July 5th

The usual 4th of July fireworks displays around Richmond
were postponed this year due to some crazy thunderstorms.
I was supposed to work at the fairgrounds,
but ended up being trapped in the back of a box truck
for 3 hours waiting for the storm to pass!

They rescheduled the show at Dogwood Dell
for the evening of July 5th.
There's no way I was missing that one;
Fireworks are my favorite :)

f/5
1/250 sec
ISO-400
I used Picnik to edit these--
I don't remember everything I changed,
but most noticable is the temperature,
which I "warmed up" to make the sky look more like dusk :)

f/11
3 sec
ISO-200
I know, the ISO is crazy low,
but I wanted smooth lights & very little noise.
I sharpened & added the "cross process" filter to this.
f/11
3 sec
ISO-200
Cropped, slight contrast bump, & "blur" filter,
to smooth out the light trails.

f/11
3 sec.
ISO-200
Bumped contrast to get rid of stray sparkles.
This one looks like some sort of crazy
black hole supernova ferriswheel. Or something.
;)

f/11
3 sec.
ISO-200
Slightly blurred.
I like this filter on fireworks;
it gives the appearance of a longer shutter speed
(which is nice because I didn't use a tripod,
& 3 seconds was as long as I could hold still!)

f/11
3 sec.
ISO-200
I added the "cross process" filter to this,
as well as some sharpening & blurring
(yes, both. yes, it made a difference).
This is my favorite shot of the night--
probably because it's pink :)

I can't wait until the next time I get to photograph fireworks.
I am already enamored with them,
& now I'm a little obsessed with capturing them on camera.