North Carolina
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Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
Piney Wood Park in Durham, NC
Piney Wood Park is a small city park in Durham. There are a couple of these unusual buildings with locked blue doors, which I assume are some sort of storage facility.
As part of my forensic pathology fellowship, I get to spend a week rotating through the various parts of the SBI Crime Lab in Raleigh, NC. Here are some of the things I’ve learned:
- The only thing dumber than committing a felony is bragging to your “buddies” about committing said felony (audio analysis).
- “State of the art” video security systems are often equipped with low end cameras (video analysis).
- The ever expanding capacity of hard drives is essentially there to accommodate large porn collections (computer analysis).
- Proprietors of clandestine labs who emboss their product with an original logo get an A for effort (drug chemistry).
Work on my HDR tutorial is progressing nicely. I hope to have it published by the end of the weekend.
Posted in Durham, North Carolina, buildings, mysteries, parks | No Responses »
Tags: blue, building, city park, crime lab, door, Durham, enigmatic, forensic pathology, hdr, high dynamic range, lab, laboratory, locked, mystery, North Carolina, park, pathology, Piney Wood Park, Raleigh, SBI, sky, storage, unusual, winter
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
Pullen Park in Raleigh, NC
I have a half marathon coming up soon. I originally intended to start training 12 weeks out. Then, 12 weeks became 10 weeks. Then, 10 weeks became 8 weeks. I finally forced myself to go for a run this morning. It was nothing to brag about (2.5 miles), but I have to start somewhere.
Posted in bodies of water, parks | No Responses »
Tags: autumn, bridge, colorful, fall, hdr, inertia, NC State, North Carolina, park, pond, Pullen Park, Raleigh, reflections, water
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
The Sailboat Pond at the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science in Durham.
We make it out to the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science on a pretty regular basis. The ‘Catch the Wind’ exhibit features a neat little concrete enclosed pond where visitors can captain radio controlled sailboats. In this photo, I was fortunate enough to capture three of the sailboats in a staggered formation. The boat reflections turned out well and are enhanced by the gentle ripples on the pond’s surface.
I’m working on an HDR tutorial which I will debut in the next week or two. I also have several exciting photography opportunities coming up over the next couple of months, if I can break away from doing autopsies on moldy exhumed bodies long enough to take advantage of them!
Posted in bodies of water | No Responses »
Tags: autumn, catch the wind, colorful, Durham, exhibit, fall, hdr, museum, NCMLS, North Carolina, pond, reflections, sailboat, science museum, toy
Sunday, January 3rd, 2010
The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, NC
I took the girls to the Natural Sciences Museum in Raleigh today. We’ve been there several times before, but I got a couple of new and interesting shots today. This is shot from the second floor, overlooking the Coastal North Carolina Exhibit. The giant whale skeletons are pretty amazing. I’ve never had much luck shooting up at these from the first floor.
I’m working on integrating my Facebook, Flickr, Digital Photo Project, and Imagekind websites. What a pain in the ass! I need more time to devote to this stuff. I’d better cut back from 5 hours of sleep a night to 4.
Posted in historical, nature | No Responses »
Tags: fossil, hdr, indoor, museum, Natural Sciences Museum, North Carolina, Raleigh, whale
Sunday, October 25th, 2009
The 2009 North Carolina State Fair in Raleigh, NC
We waited until the last day to go to the state fair this year. Aside from the weather being a little on the cool side, it worked out very well. The crowd was small (people were pouring in as we left). The ride lines were short. The food smelled amazing, as always. The giant turkey leg was delicious. And none of the rides fell apart while we were on them. I’m already looking forward to the ‘10 state fair.
Natalie was handling the cold pretty well up until the point this photo was taken. It was very overcast and in the mid-50’s, which is not terrible, but there was a chill in the air. We were walking away from the Ferris wheel when she stopped us to proclaim that she was cold. She was making some adorable faces so I had to stop and capture the moment.
Posted in amusement/theme parks, parenting | No Responses »
Tags: cloudy, cold, funny face, hdr, Natalie, North Carolina, Raleigh, state fair
Monday, June 1st, 2009
Miniature Golf (Course #1) at Frankie’s Fun Park in Raleigh, NC
This was the first time that Kate and Natalie (really) played miniature golf. I say "really" because they played on a tiny course at a resort in Disney World one time. They both had a blast. I abstained from playing. Instead, I chose to keep them in line and to snag a few RAWs.
There are three courses. We played the first one. It’s actually kind of a neat course. There are several tropical themed faux buildings. Also, there are several very pretty fountains and cascades with really vivid blue water running through the courses. Sure, there is an inherent amount of color enhancement that occurs with my processing technique. But, the color of the water is true to life. It’s a really cool visual.
When we approached the 18th hole, I anticipated a problem. "Kate and Natalie are going to freak out when their balls disappear when they go in the hole." I walked Natalie up to the hole and showed her that there was no bottom. I explained to her that she wasn’t going to be able to get the ball back this time, and I explained to her why the 18th hole is set up that way. She seemed to get it. But, throughout the rest of the evening, she asked about 12 times why her ball disappeared on the 18th hole. I think it frustrated her a little bit.
Posted in parenting | 1 Response »
Tags: Frankie's Fun Park, hdr, miniature golf, North Carolina, parenting, Raleigh
Saturday, May 23rd, 2009
The E.B. Bain Water Treatment Plant in Raleigh, NC
Natalie, my soon to be 3-year-old, fell down about 13 stairs tonight. She seems to be okay. Actually, I think she walked away from it without a scratch. I know that kids are resilient, but I’m very surprised (and so relieved) that she’s not hurt.
I was downstairs and everyone else was upstairs. Natalie broke away from the herd to come downstairs, presumably to get her sippy cup full of water. It sounds like she made it successfully down no more than one or two stairs before she fell. All I heard was a series of thuds that just kept going. It was a sickening sound and I honestly can’t get it out of my head. There were no screams or anything like that, just thuds. I started running to the stairs as the sound stopped. There was silence for about a second, then terrible screaming. The kind of screaming that scares you to death as a parent. I expected to find Kate (my older girl) when I rounded the corner. I was shouting, "Kate, Kate" as I was running to the stairs. Kate has fallen down 2 or 3 stairs before, but certainly nothing like this, not from the top. When I saw Natalie’s little hair covered face on the ground, it felt even scarier.
She was crying, which was a good thing. That ruled out a couple of really bad things right away. I got her to hold pretty still and to quit crying enough to be able to talk to me. She said the only thing that hurt was her head, she pointed right to the top of it. She seemed to be limping a little at first, but after a couple of minutes, she was walking just fine.
Even though she seemed unhurt, because she said her head hurt we decided to take her to the pediatric ED to get her checked out. I knew they probably wouldn’t do any diagnostic tests, but it was okay, I felt better getting her seen anyway.
Posted in historical, parenting | No Responses »
Tags: accident, art deco, emergency department, hdr, indoor, Natalie, North Carolina, Raleigh, The Bain Project, urban decay
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
The E.B. Bain Water Treatment Plant in Raleigh, NC
The title of this photo explains the feeling that I had while exploring the Bain Project. I really have no idea what most of the equipment was used for. And, that doesn’t even matter. I’m glad that there were no maps, no guides to tell me what I was looking at. I like that I was allowed to use my imagination to try to figure it out myself. And, if I couldn’t figure it out, I could just stand there and appreciate the colors and complexity and decay.
Posted in historical | 1 Response »
Tags: art deco, hdr, indoor, North Carolina, Raleigh, The Bain Project, urban decay
Sunday, May 17th, 2009
The E.B. Bain Water Treatment Plant in Raleigh, NC
The Bain Project
www.bainproject.com/
Wandering through the Bain Water Treatment Plant experiencing the Bain Project was exceptionally cool. I lived on the edge and went hand held, opting to leave the tripod in the trunk. It turned out to be a good move since the lighting was pretty good (in most areas of the plant) and I was able to maneuver better and cover more ground without it. I was able to get away with an ISO setting of 200 at f/4.0 and a shutter speed ranging from 1/4 to 1/20 of a second. Fortunately, there were no shortage of things to brace myself against when I took my photos, so they turned out to be damn near tripod quality (patting myself on the back for getting quality RAWs indoors and hand held using a long shutter speed).
I have no idea what kind of equipment I’ve captured in this one. If anyone out there is familiar with it, I’d love to know what you think. There’s nothing exceptional about the composition here. It’s the colors and contrast that make me love how this one turned out.
Posted in historical | 1 Response »
Tags: art deco, hdr, historical, indoor, North Carolina, Raleigh, The Bain Project, urban decay
Sunday, May 17th, 2009
West Point on the Eno in Durham, NC
I made my second trip out to West Point on the Eno yesterday. I shot this one after chatting with a couple of the folks who work and volunteer at the park on the weekends. They were very hospitable and I walked away knowing the story behind the West Point Mill and also having a better understanding of grist mills in general.
I was surprised at just how much the whole building vibrated when the mill’s machinery was operational. My D200 and tripod were visible moving when I was capturing my bracketed exposures, but fortunately the photo turned out nice and clean.
Posted in historical, parks | No Responses »
Tags: Durham, Eno, grist mill, hdr, historical, indoor, North Carolina, shop, West Point on the Eno
Sunday, May 10th, 2009
I shot this during an evening walk with the girls today. Earlier in the day, Natalie had a massive episode of explosive diarrhea (and I do mean massive and I do mean explosive). Fortunately, she was full of energy in the afternoon and seemed to be feeling much better. I’m not worried about her tick bite, at least not yet…
Posted in parenting | No Responses »
Tags: direct sunlight, Durham, gazebo, hdr, neighborhood, North Carolina
Saturday, May 9th, 2009
Ganyard Hill Farm in Durham, NC
This photo was taken at Ganyard Hill Farm in Durham, NC back in October of 2007. I’ve been going back and reprocessing some of my earlier work and this is a photo that I’ve always liked. There is a lot of activity to see in this one.
On a totally unrelated note, Natalie, my almost 3-year-old, got her first tick bite a couple of days ago. A tiny deer tick had latched on to her cute little face, right in front of her left ear. Fortunately, it had not been there very long before it was discovered. Natalie started freaking out a little bit because we were paying so much attention to a focal spot on her face. I can imagine how that would make a 2-year-old nervous. We were able to get her calmed down and she was so cooperative. I touched my arm with the tweezers and then I touched her arm with them. I touched my face with the tweezers and then I touched her face with them. I think this helped ease the apprehension of the whole experience. She held perfectly still while I tugged at the tick for what was at least 90 seconds until it finally released its grip and came off. We all got a good look at it (sunken at the bottom of its lethal isopropyl alcohol bath). So far, no rashes or fevers.
Posted in parenting | No Responses »
Tags: Durham, farm, Ganyard Hill Farm, hdr, Natalie, North Carolina, tick
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
The William B. Umstead State Park in Raleigh, NC
This was a really nice day to go hiking the trails at Umstead State Park. It was a little cloudy and the temperature was in the low 80’s. Most importantly, the humidity felt pretty low. I had been to this spot before, but it was after some recent heavy rains and the creek was very high and muddy. This day, I was able to hop on the rocks right into the middle of the creek bed. I like to set the tripod up very low to the ground in situations like this. I would have put it even lower if I could have. I really like the perspective it creates, especially with the 12 mm focal length.
One of the coolest things about high dynamic range photography is that you can create some amazing details in things like reflections. In an ordinarily exposed, non-processed photo, the pool of water in the foreground would have been completely blown out. No real details would have been appreciable and the shine and glare would have detracted from the photo.
Posted in nature, parks | No Responses »
Tags: bridge, creek, hdr, nature, North Carolina, Raleigh, reflections, Umstead State Park
Sunday, May 3rd, 2009
Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, NC
Being someone who really appreciates pretty things, I can’t believe it took me almost five years of living in the area to finally make it out to Duke Gardens on the Duke University campus. It’s just a couple of minutes from the house and it’s a really interesting place. That being said, I won’t ever make the mistake of going out there on a spring weekend morning again. The place was absolutely packed and people just kept streaming in. It was impossible to do any serious photography. I’ll have to make a trip out there during a rare weekday off to score some serviceable RAW’s.
As frustrating as it was for me, it had to be even more frustrating for the handful of professional-looking photographers there. At one location, there is a walkway made up of several elevated square wooden platforms. A photographer had zeroed in on that location for a couple’s engagement pics. Unfortunately, there were hoards of people crossing back and forth on this walkway, including several children. I ended up putting my camera away and giving up, choosing to fight another day.
Posted in parks | No Responses »
Tags: colorful, Duke Gardens, Duke University, Durham, flowers, Kate, North Carolina, tulips
Saturday, May 2nd, 2009
Falls Lake in Durham, NC
I’m not sure how I feel about this one. I didn’t roll out of the rack this morning thinking I wanted to create an image that is almost devoid of color. But, I get so few chances to get out and take pictures that I just have to work with whatever conditions (weather, lighting, etc.) that I’m confronted with. Waiting for the conditions to be “right” is a luxury that I just don’t have.
Posted in bodies of water | No Responses »
Tags: cloudy, Durham, Falls Lake, hdr, North Carolina, rainy, reflections
