Dragged Kicking And Screaming Into The Digital Age

I'm back! Here's sampling of my work with the digital format. In late 2006, I took my hard-earned little bonus from my excellent boss and picked up a shiny new 10-megapixel Nikon D-80 digital SLR. I had resisted as long as I could, but after seeing the results I got with the Kodak digital "starter" camera I'd received as a gift a couple of years prior (2.0 megapixels - responsible for the 2004 shot of Portland Head Lighthouse, above), I knew it was time. I'm *STILL* learning, by the way...

First train photographed with the D-80 - MARC's mid-afternoon westbound at Metropolitan Grove Road in Gaithersburg, MD.

En route from Maryland to Ohio for Thanksgiving 2006, we took a quick spin around the Cumberland area. I took one photo. This is a westbound empty coal train waiting for the signal at Mexico tower, and a single unit that thinks it can sneak out of the yard if it keeps its headlight off and goes really, really slowly.

In general, zoos kind of bum me out, but these prairie dogs at Washington's National Zoo in June 2007 seemed pretty contented.

The red panda would probably have preferred a nice, thick forest in which to hide and sleep, but no. This enclosure with a half-dozen good sleeping trees will have to suffice. I try to keep in mind that many of these animals in US zoos are not just here for show; they're here in an attempt to make more of their respective species.

The site of the fake moon landing, shot with my new zoom at 450mm in September 2007.

Moth! Washington Grove, MD - September 2007. I was pushing it with the zoom, not quite far enough from my subject. Note to Santa - I need a Macro lens!

In October 2007, we took the first real photo excursion for which digital was our primary format - North Carolina's Outer, Middle and Lower Banks. This is a perfect replica of the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse, Roanoke Island.

It was a bit of a challenge to find which little boat service was operating on which day, but we persevered and made two trips to Point Lookout to shoot its spectacular tower. This one's from the sunny day.

Always dramatically curving off into the sun, is the future.

Come with me...

Look To The Sky

Clouds have always intrigued me as a photographic subject. From a technical perspective, they're usually not difficult to shoot. The trick is to compose an image with the right amount and complexity of cloud cover, and to put the clouds into an appealing context. Before the days of digital photography and at-home editing software, the composition challenge was far greater. It was still just as much fun, though. The frame above is a crop from one of my shots of a Barbados beach in 1993.

Sunbeams - Thurmont, MD - 1999 (Shot by [Maris] on an Olympus Stylus point-and-shoot 35mm camera. That little camera had an incredible piece of glass in it, and that little woman has a hell of an eye.)

Clouds Behaving Weirdly - Harpers Ferry, WV - 1999.

Old Cape Elizabeth Light - Cape Elizabeth, ME - 2004. After slogging through a wall of torrential rain from Brunswick down east to the cape, we were rewarded for our patience here and at Portland Head Light, which will be featured in a future post.

Weird Sky at Point of Rocks, MD - 1997. It was really that color - no filters or retouching!

Sunset over Germantown, MD - 1996.

And one over Burtonsville, MD - 1996.

Storm clouds lit by the sun setting behind the camera - Germantown, MD - 1997.

B&O Railroad Museum and Skyline, shot from Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, MD - September, 1993.

Thanks for stopping by!

Fun With Light

Many times in my 24 years of taking photographs, I've seen mistakes turn into experiments and experiments turn into expressions. Here are a few examples of what can happen when the sun (or man-made light source) is in just the right place and the elements cooperate for a second or two. Above: "Sun, Trees" - Rockville, MD - 1989.

"The Old Pier" - Lewes, DE - 1997.

"From The Pool To The Wall" - St. Thomas, USVI - 1986

"Fair Ride" - Montgomery County Agricultural Fair - Gaithersburg, MD - 1991

OK, soon we will be entering the phase in which I find myself stalling for time so I can get some more of my pre-digital material scanned... :)