Saturday at Sotterly

A couple of Saturdays ago I took a photography class from Robert Tinari that was given at Sotterly Plantation. We were focusing on the gardens and scenery. The light was a bit harsh given that we were there from 11:00 - 3:00. It was also pretty windy out. Even given those conditions I did manage to get out a few good pictures.

This first picture is the under side of one of the flowers in the garden. I had to use my camera pack to block the sun wind. Pink and green is one of my favorite color combos. That is probably why I was so drawn to this flower.

Most of the really colorful butterflies were gone for the season, but these little ones were still having fun. I love how the wings look like they have many "eyes."

Alma Mater Visit...Go Bucks!

Well I did get the pictures back from the old film taken with my antique shop find. They actually printed out. I haven't scanned the pictures yet. I was surprised it could actually be developed. I have new film in the camera now and will see what happens with that. I'm excited.

For now I want to share a picture of my daughter doing her first tree climbing on the Oval at The Ohio State University. She had sooo much fun. I used my 50mm lens for this picture.

We also had to go check out the new student union where I went at least once a week to eat at Mark Pi's. Sadly that eatery is no longer there, but the new union is gorgeous with other types food to energize the growing minds. There was a fabulous life sized Brutus sitting on one of the benches there too. I believe I used my 55-200mm lens for this one.

I have a camera class at Sotterly Plantation on Saturday with Robert Tinari. I'm going to take both my film and digital camera. Hopefully I'll come back with some great pictures.

Antique Store Find

While visiting some family back in Ohio this past week, I found out that my mother-in-law had a booth in an antique shop dowtown. She is starting do downsize some of her belongings. I figured I would go check out the store and see what all was there. Well on a table next to my MIL's booth something caught my eye. It was a camera case that was in excellent condition. Curiosity peeked my interest so I decided to look in the case and low and behold there was a camera that also was in fabulous condition. I checked ou tthe lens and looked through the view finder and both looked outstanding. There is not a single scratch on the lens. The leather strap looks like it was never hung over anyone's neck AND it had the user's manual! I knew this had to be mine. So I looked at the price and it was marked $20. Oh yeah, this baby was going home with me. I forgot to take a picture of the bottom, but it has "Made in USSR". Of course I had to find out what I could about it. It seems to be a Russian made camera for US export called a Kalimar SR200. The Russian version of this in the Zenit-E. It is a 35mm film camera. It takes no batteries. I think it dates about 1979-80 from the Olympic rings on the front. The US had boycotted the Olympics and when Russia was hosting them and sent us these cameras with the rings on there. When I got it to my MIL's house I discovered there was film already in the camera and some had been used. I finished the film yesterday and dropped it off to get developed. How old the film was and whether anything took I will find out tomorrow. I will say the film I pulled out had metal rings on the top and bottom. I will try the camera out with fresh film next. I hope there are pictures and I didn't ruin the other ones when I slightly opened the film area. Anyway here are the pictures...

Island Landscape

Hi all. I'm always sharing pictures with you of the bridge to Solomon's Island. How about a couple of pictures from the bridge of Solomon's Island? Now keep in mind these were taken in a moving car and no I was not the driver. LOL.

It was such a gorgeous clear day which is essential in trying to get a shot like this. Otherwise you would just see a buch of haze. Here is the second picture. The water was a popular place that day.

Garden Splendor

I was off on Friday and after I got things done around the house I decided to take a little trip to Sotterly Plantation to work on playing with manual mode, exposure, and using my telephoto lens as a macro lens.

I spied this bunny statue sitting on bench next to the children's garden. It reminded me of Peter Rabbit and I just loved the weathered look on him. I shot this in manual mode, but the original picture was much darker. I edited the picture Photoshop Elements 6 to lighten and sharpen the image. I actually took a picture that was done in aperture priority, but prefered the underexposed image because the sunlight wasn't as harsh in this picture.

This is a picture a took trying to use my zoom lens as a macro. Not too bad, but I have a feeling that a true macro lens will need to be added to my list. The sun was really bright in the mid-afternoon, but it was the only free time I had so I had to do what I could. I think one thing that I normally come across when shooting in these conditions is that light or white colors will get blown out. This one actually turned out pretty decent, I can see detail on the inner petals although it is a soft focus.

Another Evening at Solomons Island

Today was an outing day for the Camera Club that I am in. I got there at 6:00pm this evening which was still a little bright for sunset pictures so I just walked around the boardwalk thinking of things I might want to capture. The sky was gorgeous and the breeze on the water was perfect. Here is a sunset picture of the bridge.

After I finished on the front side of the island I moved to the alcove in the back to take pictures of some of the boats docked. There are a ton of boats back there.

Last Days of Summer

Yesterday I met a friend and her two daughters at a local park to practice taking some pictures and of course let my daughter enjoy the cooler temperatures. We enjoyed a little picnic and some monkeying around on the playground. My baby brought some bubbles to play with and here is a picture I happen to catch.

Ahhh...to be four years old. Thanks for visiting and have a fabulous day.

Evening at Solomon's Island

Today I have a couple of pictures that I took over at Solomon's Island. I had taken a Robert Tinari Workshop earlier in the day on Saturday. I learned several things on how to make a better picture. On our way from our 11th anniversary dinner, I told the hubby I wanted to try and get some sunset pictures at Solomon's. Well I think we were almost too late. By the time we got parked and I got my camera out the sun was going below the bridge instead of just above it. I wanted to try and capture the sun setting anyway. Here is my picture.

I also went to the backside of the island where I found my favorite light with it's yellow glow for the evening. I was hoping there would be just enough light to capture the edges of the lamp since I didn't have my tripod with me or much experience taking low light photos. I don't think picture turned out too bad. Although I don't know why you see granulated pixelation artifacts in the sky around the lamp on the blog. It isn't there in the orignal picture.

My First Post

So why did I start this blog? Well I wanted a place where I could share some of my pictures with those that want to look. I'm very new to photography, but have had an interest in it since I was kid. I'm just now seriuosly getting into it and I'm trying to learn all that my brain will absorb about taking good pictures.

I bought my Nikon D90 after seeing pictures a college kid, majoring in photography, took of my daughter on his Nikon D40. He captured my daughter beautifully and I wanted to be able to do that myself. The pictures I always got back from in store studios cost way too much and were way too posed. So I think it only appropriate to add my favorite picture I've taken so far of my daughter as my first picture.

Here my daughter was in the kiddie pool at Long Bay Resort in Myrtle Beach. It had a great bright yellow submarine that provides the great color in the background. This was taken with my 55-200 mm lens.

These next pictures are ones that I recently took while just practing composure and exposure.

I took this picture because I liked the shape of the street light. I didn't realize the added bonus of the reflected shore line in the dome base until I got home. This was taken with my 55-200 mm lens.

As I was turning into our development one evening driving home from work, I saw these HUGE mushrooms next to the fire hydrant on the corner. I knew I needed to try and capture them before they got knocked over. This was taken with my 50 mm lens.