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Wednesday, April 7th, 2010
Great Falls Park in Northern Virginia (HDR from 5 bracketed exposures)
According to a nearby sign, you are looking at the ruins of “the first of 5 locks on the Great Falls portion of the Patowmack Canal. Used from 1802 to 1828, they lifted or lowered riverboats the 75 feet that the river drops in going over the falls.”
I recently stayed with family in Great Falls to attend the USCAP 2010 Annual Meeting. During a break from conference activities, I found myself exploring the Great Falls Park. Walking beside the Potomac River and the falls was a nice, relaxing break from everyday life. For instance, today I spent the late morning doing an autopsy on someone with blunt force injuries of the head and multiple gunshot wounds. Immediately upon completion of that autopsy, I walked a short distance to the scene of a suicide. It was just another day at the office.
I have been unable to work on my photography very much lately. I have a lot of things going on. I’m winding down my forensic pathology fellowship, I’ve got a clinical faculty position in GI pathology and cytopathology coming up very soon, my house is currently on the market, and I’m in the process of building a new home. Things are crazy, as they often seem to be. And, when things get crazy, my photography suffers.
Posted in Virginia, historical, parks, travel | No Responses »
Tags: canal, colorful, exploration, Great Falls Park, hdr, high dynamic range, hike, locks, national park, Northern Virginia, park, Potomac River, ruins, spring, stones, trail, USCAP, vanishing point, Virginia
Monday, April 5th, 2010
The Washington Monument and Washington Monument Lodge in Washington, D.C. (HDR from a single RAW)
I was recently in the District for a work related conference. The weather for most of the week was downright dreadful. But, I made the most of it. In this photo, the Washington Monument in the background towers above the Washington Monument Lodge.
The girls were able to come up and spend a couple of days with me. It was their first time in D.C. We visited a couple of museums and did a lot of walking on the National Mall. We miscalculated the weather and decided it would be safe to walk all the way to the Lincoln Memorial, which put us about 1.2 miles from the Smithsonian Metro station. Just as we started to walk back, we got hit with a deluge. The kind that renders umbrellas useless. The wetness, combined with being pummeled by stuff getting knocked out of trees, made for a pretty rotten commute back to where we were staying.
Posted in District of Columbia, buildings, historical, life's unexpected challenges, parks, travel | No Responses »
Tags: city park, cloudy, D.C., deluge, downpour, hdr, high dynamic range, historical, Lincoln Memorial, Metro, monument, museum, National Mall, park, rain, rainy, sky, Smithsonian, spring, the District, Washington, Washington Monument
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
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
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
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
Pullen Park in Raleigh, NC
This small pond at Pullen Park in Raleigh is a neat little spot to shoot. The reflections here are amazing, the bridge is photogenic, and the trees in the background are often very colorful. You’ll notice that there is a conspicuous layer of yellow pollen on the surface of the water.
Posted in bodies of water, nature, parks | No Responses »
Tags: bridge, colorful, hdr, nature, North Carolina, pollen, pond, Pullen Park, Raleigh, reflections, spring
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
West Point on the Eno in Durham, NC
I’m not much of a history buff. It’s not that I don’t care about historical things, it’s just hard to find the time to learn about them. This old tobacco barn at West Point on the Eno made for a really nice subject and the redbuds framed the barn nicely.
Posted in Durham, North Carolina, buildings, historical, parks | No Responses »
Tags: barn, beauty, city park, colorful, country, Durham, Eno Indians, Eno River, farmers, hdr, hike, historical, history, nature, North Carolina, park, redbuds, river valley, rural, rustic, secluded, settlers, Shocco Indians, spring, tobacco, tobacco barn, trail, wagon, West Point on the Eno, woods
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
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The William B. Umstead State Park in Raleigh, NC
The runner-up title for this photo is “Home of a Million Tiny Biting Insects”.
I took this photo during a spring hike through Umstead State Park. The location where I was standing was under water the last time I had walked the trails. After several days of rain, the creek had been well over its banks. I actually didn’t think this side of the creek was accessible. The walking trail leads to a pile of large rocks that are stacked on the edge of the creek. The area seen in the photo is on the other side of those rocks. The risk of climbing down the rocks and getting to this spot seemed acceptable so I went for it.
Posted in North Carolina, Raleigh, bodies of water, nature, parks | No Responses »
Tags: climb, creek, Earth, edge, fairies, fairy, fantasy, green, hdr, high dynamic range, hike, hiking, insects, moss, nature, North Carolina, park, path, pixie, pixies, rain, Raleigh, reflection, reflections, risk, river bank, riverside, rocks, spring, state park, trail, trails, Umstead State Park, water
