From the monthly archives: "July 2011"

Abandoned House

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G+ iPhone App:  24 hours later

Okay, whomever the user interface programmer was for Google needs to be given a raise.  The simplicity and ease of use for this app is wonderful.  Each of the screens gives what you need, but not to the point you are overwhelmed.  So far, the only problems I have found have been posting links through the App and limiting your stream to individual circles.

Today’s Photo:  Abandoned House

My wife thinks I have a problem with stopping the car.  I told here it is not a problem with stopping the car, it was a problem not getting in position for the shot fast enough.  Am I the only one with this problem?  Surely there are more out there that drive twice the number of miles to get some place just because they are constantly turning around to go back and get the shot they just saw.  This was from one of those days.  The bad thing was, when I turned around for this shot, I saw another.  She was rather perturbed by the time we made it to town.

Abandoned House

The Lake

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Google+ iPhone App: First impressions

The iPhone Google+ app was released today.  This is a great improvement over the web app with which Google started.  So far, I have found that all the functionality which was not working in the web app appears to be fixed.  I am able to view my circles, add contacts to the circle I want, but the posting is still lacking.  I like to post links to photos instead of posting photos through Google+.  This is not available through the iPhone app.  I envision something like the facebook share button on a web page where it adds a link and you can type something short to go with it.

Overall, I really like the layout of the home screen for the app.  Google has manage to keep it simple and not add so many features that you can not use the app.

Today’s Photo:  The Lake

I could not help but post another photo of this lake.  I am fortunate enough to see it very often.  Okay, nearly everyday.  On nice puffy “Simpson” cloudy days, I love to sit and watch the reflections.  I just happened to stop being in awe long enough to get the camera for this and a few more shots.

The Lake ©2011 Just Shooting Memories (all rights reserved)

Camaro SS

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I am looking for some good seminars or classes in the Metro Atlanta Area.  Any suggestions for something in the urbex or street photography would be a lot of fun.  Or maybe a photowalk in downtown Atlanta.  I have been working on one, but I will give detail on that later.

Today’s Photo: Reflections of a Camaro

This is one of my car show expedition photos.  I love the detail and attention classic car owners put into their beauties.  I can’t help but attempt to capture this detail.  Sometimes I even get surprises with my mundane detail photos.  This was one of them.  Make sure you look at the big version.

Camaro SS Symbol

The Blue Room

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What is your favorite place to take photos?  I am still up in the air. I always seem o go for the big landscapes or vast distance photos.  However, I have begun working on some close-ups.  Does anyone have suggestion on a photographic style they would like to see me attempt?  I could then write a post outlining my trials and tribulations.  Click the “leave comments” link at the top of this post.

Today’s Photo:  The Blue Room

This is one of the exhibit halls in the Museum of Asian History in Washington D.C.  I just loved the blue along the ceiling.  I don’t know if this is a skylight or just a back lit light.  But, however it is done, it is cool.  The only things lit well were the actual exhibits, the galleries themselves were very dim.  This was handheld, 3 exposures.  To get the shutter speed where I could hold it, I had to crank up the ISO.

The Blue Room

White Top

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I don’t know about you, but I take my camera everywhere.  Well maybe not to the bathroom.  However, I have it with me all the time.  I have had too many times when I said “I just wish I had my camera because that would make a great photo”.  So I have made it a point to eliminate that statement.  But, that has led to another problem altogether…Composition.  I routinely see fabulous sunsets (not sunrises because I can’t seem to get my wife up early so any sunrise is an event dedicated to just my photography) but most of the time, I find that I am not in a very conducive setting for a photo.  I usually am in a parking lot, along side the road, leaving a restaurant or traveling somewhere.  I seem to have trouble getting a good setting and then I get in the car and drive around like a mad man looking for the perfect setting while the sun is going down.  Today’s photo is one of those experiences.  How do you handle this?

Today’s Photo:  White Top

I went to eat with my family the other day.  When we left the restaurant, I noticed a beautiful sunset in the works.  Of course, I grabbed my camera and began the sunburst pattern (walking toward an object then away and repeat until the right angle is located.  Usually taking photos all during the process).  However, I found myself in the parking lot of a strip mall with tons of lamp posts and cars in the way.  I finally settled on what I thought would be a good shot.  I just loved the top edge of the thunderhead being a brilliant white where the sun hit it and then seeing the shadow lines cast through the air.  Click on the photo to see it in Flickr and then select the large size to see the detail at the top of the cloud.  I just loved it.

White Top

Landing

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I love to fly.  It does not matter what it is, helicopter, single engine prop or commercial.  My love of flight started when I was younger.  I was always amazed at how airplanes could stay in the air with out falling.  I became hooked after my first flight.  I happened to be in NJROTC (just because everyone wants to know, Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corp) at the time.  I had the fortune to fly on a Navy DC9.  Thinking back on it, our pilot must have been a former fighter jet pilot.  We took off the runway and it felt like we were going straight up.  What an amazing feeling.  Do you like to Fly?  What types?

Today’s Photo: Landing

This was a photo I took of the Life Force helicopter landing for a local event.  How is it even possible that something weighing that much can stay in the air just by spinning some blades in a circle?  And then to see the blades stopped in mid spin by the speed of a shutter.  There were other planes there that day, but I don’t think any will match the wonder I have of catching this in mid-flight.

Landing©2011 Just Shooting Memories (all rights reserved)

More Fireworks

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Today’s Photo: More Fireworks

I could not resist posting some more photos of fireworks.  These are more from the Allatoona Yacht Club display on July 3, 2011.  I sat on the edge of the lake just opposite the location the Yacht Club was setting them off from.  The cool thing was, the beach area just down from me was super crowded, but I had this place all to myself.

Fireworks 15 ©2011 Just Shooting Memories (all rights reserved)

The Barn

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Nikon D90 Mini Review:

I have been fortunate enough to shoot both Canon and Nikon over the past several years.  I must say that I am impressed with both lines of cameras.  Most recently, I have settled on the Nikon D90 and have been shooting with it for over six months.  I must say, it is a very nice camera.  It has good functionality and decent speed with the “kit” lens (18 – 105).

Now, the bad.  To operate a camera effectively, the ability to change settings with out removing your eye from the view finder is a must for me.  Several of the button combinations to achieve some of my most used functions are awkward when trying to shoot.  For example: I routinely use exposure compensation.  To adjust the exposure compensation during shooting, you remove your finger from the shutter release and press the exposure compensation button just behind.  Then rotate the rear dial with the right thumb.  So, it takes two fingers from the same hand.  A better placement for the exposure compensation button would have been where it could have been operated with the right hand and then the left thumb could rotate the dial.

I have noticed a small amount of vignetting using the kit lens.  Maybe this is just a DX format thing.  However, it is easily fixed in Adobe Lightroom.

Now, for the Good…  This camera has been very rugged for me.  Traveling with two children and moving it between vehicles, it has shown that it can with stand a lot.  I have thrown this camera around, shot in the rain and generally put it through it’s paces and it is still working like the day I got it.

Overall, I would like to say that the D90 is a wonderful camera at a great price.  I keeps up easily with the other camera’s I have used.  I was sad to hear that Nikon has stopped production of this camera.

Today’s Photo: The Barn (again)

I think I may have used this name already for a photo.  Oh, well.  Maybe I should just call it “The Barn 2”?  What do you think? Any suggestions?  As I am writing this, my wife was suggesting something like “barny”, “barn number 2”, “barn fever” or “another barn”.  This is a sight I see every morning while driving to work.  I finally stopped and took a photo.  It turned out like I wanted and now I am going to begin a “Barn” series.  So, should I call it “The Barn” also?

The Barn ©2011 Just Shooting Memories (all rights reserved)

 

The Fast Plane

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For those of you who are new to the blog, I offer the vast majority of my photos under a creative commons license.  For details, click on the Creative Commons License link on the right.  Also, when you click on the individual photos in each post, it is a link to that photo in my Flickr photostream.  From there, you can get to an original size photo.  Unfortunately my one problem so far with Flickr is that individual photos are limited to 20MB.  So, most of my photos are in the 60 – 80MB range, this means there is some reduction in quality; something no one viewing these photos on a computer will ever notice.  Long explanation to tell you to click on the photos for your new desktop.  Along those same thoughts, at the bottom of each page, you can click on previous entries to work your way backward through my blog posts and see the photo of the day from previous posts.

Today’s Photo:  The Fast Plane

Today’s photo is another one captured from inside the Air and Space Museum at the Dulles Airport (The Udvar Hazy building).  I am so focused on taking photos when I make a dedicated trip that I tend to miss absorbing what I am actually looking at.  In that process, I also missed the names of most of the airplanes on this trip.  Or then, maybe I was still in awe ate getting to see the Enterprise, the Blackbird and the Enola Gay.  Next time, I make the promise to make a concerted effort to take a pad of paper and write down the description of what I am looking at, but until I am successful, I leave it up to you to help me along.

Fast

Huh?

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I have not had the time to slow down and think for myself today.  Let alone think of something fabulous to write.  I don’t know why sometimes, I can’t stop the words and other times, the words wont stop.  Is it like that for anyone else?

Today’s Photo:  Huh?

This was another photo from my sunken gallery expedition.  There were many statues and works of art here that I understood and appreciated, but then there were some that just had me scratching my head and thinking “Huh? What were they thinking.”  But then, I began taking photos of those odd things and started thinking “Then, What am I thinking for taking photos of these.”  The funny thing is, the thoughts still did not stop me from taking the photos.  This piece is actually tucked away in a quiet out of the way place in the gallery.  Like it was hiding there just for me to find.  I think it had something to do with a rabbit, but I don’t remember.

Huh?

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