Under The Bridge

I really felt like I missed a great opportunity here. The sun was setting to my left and the light quality was superb. I had less than 10 minutes at this spot as I was on my way to an appointment. I switched lenses and camera positions and tried to work the scene as best as I could in that small amount of time. I didn't have a tripod, so I couldn't slow things down too much (to use the water movement as an element). I am not completely happy with the outcome.

This is one of those times where you catalog the place and time of day and make plans to come back another time.

Watercolors for Water Flowers

The Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in Washington, DC is really a gem of a place. It is surrounded on three sides by a marsh that offers plenty of wildlife sightings, amphibians and birds are most plentiful. Check out the link for more info. The site describes all that the park offers better than I can. Pay close attention to the hours and when it's best to be there for the various plants and wildlife.

For me, I go there mostly for the lotus flowers. However, I have been lucky enough to grab photos of dragonflies, herons, and other wildlife. That's my kind of outing. Getting images of your intended subject and getting quality images of other subjects, too. See my entry of April 7 for more.

The above "watercolor" image is of two lotus flowers from the Gardens.

Spring Tulips Landscape

This image was made with the same setup as the earlier "Spring Tulips Through a Lensaby" entry. That is, a LensBaby Original, widest aperture ring, and the Telephoto Adapter. "What, why would you use a Telephoto Adapter on a landscape image?" you ask. Good question, I did have the LensBaby Wide Angle Adapter (I mention this because I think your question implies "why not wide angle"), however, I wanted to compress the image. That is, "stack" the foreground subject(s) with the background. To me, it made a better composition.

If you haven't been able to tell up to this point, I have a preference for a more abstract approach to things. Abstract may be too harsh or too extreme of a word, but I gravitate towards soft focus, soft colors, certain in-camera techniques and other things that throw the subject matter into a different zone.

Display near Lafayette Square

I couldn't resist this scene when I discovered it. A very basic display going unseen by many. This image (and many others) was made just around noon time near Lafayette Square in Washington, DC. As I made image after image, I drew some stares from people walking by on their lunch breaks, on their way to meetings, talking on their cell phones, hailing a cab, etc. They would look at me and then at what I was photographing and you could tell most were like, "what's he taking a picture of the wall for?"

This is an example of simplifying a larger scene into a single, isolated frame that, to me at least, is worth more than the total of the larger scene.

Red-Tailed Hawk

This is a Red-Tailed Hawk that is a resident of The Raptor Conservancy of Virginia. Among many of the dedicated duties of this all-volunteer organization is to rehabilitate and release to the wild the ill, injured and orphaned birds of prey native to Virginia. The Red-Tailed Hawk is one such native bird. I wish I could remember the story (how it came to be a resident at the Conservancy) of this particular bird, but I can't. Sorry about that. Some birds that the Conservancy takes in can't be released back to the wild due to circumstances determined to be detrimental to the birds possibility of survival.

It's a beautiful bird that we see often in northern Virginia.

More Tulips

Here is another image from the same "tulip patch" I posted about the other day. This is a little more representational. It looks like a flickering flame. The camera technique used is called a swipe. Using a slow shutterspeed, during the exposure you gently tilt the camera up or down or pan left or right. Or, even move the camera in a diagonal direction. In this instance, I used an upward swipe.

Yellow

I shot this small series of images this past weekend, early in the morning, in the rain.

Spring Tulips Through a LensBaby

I came across a "patch" of tulips the other day and knew I had to shoot some images. Tulips are probably one of the most photographed flowers around, especially in springtime. So, with that in mind, I wanted to represent them in a different, non-conforming way. In other words, not just the usual tulip portrait.

I got a few that I liked and will share them over a few blog entries. This first one was made with a LensBaby Original and the telephoto adapter attached. I was pleasantly surprised when viewing this image in the LCD of my camera and even more surprised and satisfied when I pulled it up on my computer screen.

I know you can't tell that they are tulips, so in that sense they are non-representational of a tulip, but I think the image clearly comes across as a rainbow of flowers.

Heron Hangout and Lotus Flowers

This heron hangs out at a local aquatic garden. I consider it a bonus to get images of him when the purpose of going there is to get images of aquatic plants. He seems to be somewhat comfortable with people around, although he keeps a watchful eye and moves around cautiously. I suppose he finds the habitat familiar and the fishing quite good since there is very little, to no, competition.