Durham
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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
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, 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
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
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
