10-FEB-2009
Day 041 - Tug and Ship
I've wanted to get a shot of the tug(s) with a ship for a while. I was able to get right onto a deck of a seasonal restaurant for this shot. The deck was full of snow, but was also deserted. I even had a place to set my gear (the railing has a bench on it) and a place to hold the camera in lieu of my monopod or tripod (which were both sitting back in my car). Parking is free before 9am, something I wasn't aware of earlier, but noticed this morning. Makes this morning photo jaunt 25 cents cheaper ;-)
I got a few other shots while I was down by the 'docks' this morning:
09-FEB-2009
Day 040 - Line Work
Last fall there was work started on the power lines that run parallel to a very popular commute route for me. They have been working on getting these new poles into place all winter (my guess is that they can only work in the winter as the swamps are frozen). In the past few weeks they have been making incredible progress. This morning I noticed this one line worker at the very top of this one pole and thought it would make a great shot, but continued on. I got a little farther and saw a lot more trucks with more line workers and another person half way up a different pole. The next pole down had wires hanging from it and the rest of the poles had the wires already strung. I realized that I was looking at possibly the last day of noticeable activity. I turned my car around and went back to this one worker who was luckily still hanging out at the top of the pole.
A lot of my PaD shots have happened this way this year. I drive past something and think "that would have made a great shot" and then realize that I will probably regret not having stopped for the rest of my life. One of those "go with your intuition" sort of things.
I wish I'd had more time and a better area to take this photo. Looking at this after the fact, I realize that I really needed to give this shot more context, I opted for the widest angle I had, but I think I could have conveyed more meaning had I been able to capture the line worker with the rest of the new poles in the background. Of course, this would have required me to either own a crane, or somehow climb someone's roof a 1/2 mile down the road and possess an 800mm lens.
At the very least I have a shot (well a few more that I am not publishing out here) that reminds me of the work that was going on this winter.
08-FEB-2009
Day 039 - Under the bridge
I just realized this is the second shot this year that I called "Under the bridge" (I export all my PaD shots to a common folder before uploading & Lightroom warns of filename clashes).
Another shot in Dover, this one behind the Goodwill store, I originally thought this was an active railroad bridge until I noticed a small construction vehicle (backhoe) was sitting vacant on the tracks. The 'Downeaster' makes about 8 runs (4 up & 4 back) a day, plus freight trains. I realized my mistake after questioning the backhoe & then noticing another bridge behind this one that handles the active line. Which then makes me wonder what this track is used (or was used) for.
Someone had placed this particular graffiti signature on a couple of the support piers for this bridge (that were accessible on land).
07-FEB-2009
Day 038 - Red Door
After the kids' swim lessons, I had to head to the other side of Dover and was still in need of today's PaD. I've seen this stone church a number of times (right across from the police station) and decided to capture it today. It wasn't as straight-forward to actually get to the church as there are some funky traffic patterns around this part of town. I had a number of other shots, but the sky was completely blown out and really didn't help the "stoneness" any.
This door is NOT the same as the one from last January, taken in Portsmouth:
06-FEB-2009
Day 037 - Port's Mouth
Another cold morning. I believe I made it to an area that broke the single digits, it was probably around 10 degrees or so near the river this morning. I was at my favorite riverside hangout when I realized there was an interesting angle on the ship that got the steeple from North Church in it. I had just been talking with a coworker about interesting angles on Portsmouth, getting the steeple in a shot (and I told her I stole her idea too ;). I took a little artistic license with the sky, there were no such colors in the sky such as these, this morning. If you can suspend disbelief and NOT look at the time, it works as a sunset. Actually I bet most people that view this image only view the image (and skip my verbal renditions).
05-FEB-2009
Day 036 - Rim lit cat tail
On my way into work this cold, blustery morning, I saw this fog bank hugging some tidal marsh just off the main thoroughfare. I pulled around to get a better look and decided I could make something of it (I was wrong). The shots of just the mist were boring. I kind of realized this on site & started looking for a more pronounced subject. There were a number of cat tails along the edges of the marsh that were decently sun lit, so I trudged into position and captured a few. Up until I started on the cat tails, I was feeling quite lucky at not falling through the snow. Just as I took an extra step to get a little closer to one of them, I sunk in all the way to my crotch. It was -9 degrees out (I forgot to add that point). Jeans only retain so much thermal mass. . .
So I tried to get the cat tails and work on the lighting a bit. It was tough during Post Processing to get decent separation between the bright cat tails and the mist in the background. Turning this into yet another quad tone, seemed to help with the contrast a bit.
04-FEB-2009
Day 035 - Snow Boats
I went trudging through the snow this morning in Prescott Park in Portsmouth. This is an area that is not well known as a winter excursion hotspot. I didn't expect to encounter deep snow and sure enough, I encountered a lot of it. There was actually about a foot or more of snow on the wooden piers that extend out into the bay (where the water temperature is above freezing). I was able to capture these working boats in the marina on Pierce Island from one of the piers at the park. I kind of wish there was a little (or a lot) more snow to give this more of a wintery feel. The falling flakes aren't that apparent.
I need to look around for deals on snowshoes, this far into the winter season, I might get lucky and find a pair that fits me "priced to sell". They would have helped this morning.
Technically this is a quad tone as I added a highlight tone and a shadow tone (subtle).
03-FEB-2009
Day 034 - Urban shapes and textures
I set out this morning for another bridge shot, though this time of Memorial Bridge, the Southernmost bridge between Maine and New Hampshire (also the oldest). I found an interesting vantage point at a marina condo kind of place that was vacant as it is winter. I couldn't get the right angle and left unsatisfied. Memorial bridge spills you out right smack dab in the center of Portsmouth, I made it a few blocks before stopping near the "Warner House" which has been kicking around since 1716 (according to the sign in front of it). I like the brick shapes and texture, along with the windows, the arch above the door, and the fence rails.
Best thing about going a little wider, is that I didn't need my monopod, the Image Stabilization kicks in and gives me a little help. That was very helpful on the icy sidewalks.
02-FEB-2009
Day 033 - Monday Morning Commute
I took a much different route in this morning. There was a great early morning sun to my [South] East that I just couldn't compose properly (I stopped at 2 locations and just couldn't get it right). I wound up on "River Road" in Eliot (opposite the sun) going back North (my commute is south) and finding a lot to shoot. River Road is aptly named, hugging the river closely in places, giving a lot of opportunity for some kind of nature/landscape shot or two. If I go again, I know to keep a look out for ducks, although they were a little far for the 200mm reach on my Zoom.
I am standing in Eliot, Maine taking a photo of the "General Sullivan Bridge" that connects Dover Point (Right) with Newington (Left) New Hampshire.
I fell in love with this shot only after messing around with "Negative Clarity" in Lightroom. The temps were rising this morning and the river had a bit of fog and/or haze that kind of desaturated all the colors. I couldn't get anything to work right so, on a whim (well, I'd just seen an article over the weekend on Negative Clarity) I cranked down the Clarity slider and picked up some brilliant tones in the process. The sky was a lot more washed out, I used a gradient filter with a bit of color added. I thought I was going to get more of a blue sky, but the negative exposure and the blue I selected gave me this muddy kind of eerie "Sunset Quality" feel to it.
I was on the fence between this photo and another one of an island and lots of moody clouds. I really liked the other shot better, but opted for the bridge(s) because it appeared that my clouds suffered from some posterization during Post Processing (at least on my monitor). Here is that "other shot" that didn't make the PaD:
01-FEB-2009
Day 032 - Sanctuary Shapes
This morning's shoot took an interesting turn (so to speak). My oldest was over a friend's house for a sleep over and needed to get home. I grabbed my gear before leaving (this would be a typical weekend jaunt, camera gear always comes with me) and put myself in "Find a subject" mode. The trip out was uneventful, it was a great overcast morning and I really wanted to find something of interest outdoors to make use of the better lighting (a reminder that it is winter here, direct sun and snow don't mix that well).
I picked up my daughter & we made it about 500 feet from her friend's house before I had to swing around because I'd found my subject. There is an old church that is in the process of getting a new paint job. The use of bright colors really drew attention to itself (though for some reason I'd not seen it before). Before reading the sign in the front, I realized it was an Art Related establishment. My daughter gave me the "teenage sigh" and the look of "oh my god my dad is going to take more pictures" (if you have teenagers, you can insert whatever activity you want in place of "take more pictures", the look is the same ;)
There were a few other buildings surrounding the main "Church" building and a well plowed parking lot with a number of cars present. I figured the occupants were inside one of the out buildings, which I figured for a gallery, perhaps a number of galleries. I grarbbed my camera (and today I actually left the 17-55 on!) along with my
Whibal card (I knew this would be a color shot) and stood in the not-so-traveled-street to try and do some justice to the brilliant building.
As I was walking back, someone came out of the main building and asked what I was doing. This has happened a few times before, people ask me what I'm doing or I have to explain to people before I start photographing a scene, what it is I do this for ("you take a photo a day?"). I felt a lot more at ease this morning as I figured I was in the "Sanctuary" of other artists, they might understand. After a very brief explanation of what I was doing, we were actually invited inside where a private brunch was going on. My daughter actually jumped at the opportunity to go inside (shocking me).
There were quite a few people inside and lots of great food (my daughter & I both remembered this huge pie on the table as you walk in). We met a number of people, all of whom were very happy to find out that I was not some form of spy, that I really am just this really strange guy who goes around and takes pictures of things.
My daughter & I stayed for a little while, the person who originally engaged me (the brave soul who was sent out to investigate the 'spy'), Lauren, taught us about Foundry operations. Lauren is this bundle of energy who is obviously very passionate about casting. We were shown a few pieces cast in iron and in bronze and Lauren explained the process for creating each of them. As we were walking away, my daughter was very excited about all of the art in just the one room we were in. She was scanning the whole room while I was busy talking.
The name of this place is
Sanctuary Arts. Suffice it to say, there is much more to this School & Gallery than the shapes on the front of their building ;-)
31-JAN-2009
Day 031 - Escape Shadows
Took the two youngest to their swim lessons today (in Dover) and swung by this old factory building for my PaD shot. This particular building was actually in the family a while back. Northern Heel was a manufacturer of Heels in NH and Maine (there was another factory in Lewiston-Auburn). My 11-year-old takes gymnastic lessons right down the street from this building, I've explained the significance of this to them a few times, but they don't really understand. At their age (and a little younger) I was running through this building, defying OSHA & other various safety regulations in place today that would prevent the experiences my brother & I had in this building.
Some day I might try to figure out who now owns this building so I can get access to the floors that I still remember. Every time I stand outside this building, I am amazed by how much smaller it actually is from what I remembered. There is a side building that I swear was much larger (well, technically the original side building was much larger until it burned down in the late 70's or early 80's).
This one was tough as the white [vinyl] siding doesn't help matters in the bright sun. This probably should have been a sunset shot, but I wouldn't be anywhere near it at sunset (actually it is setting right now as I type this).
I have another wider shot of the fire escape that didn't make my PaD.
30-JAN-2009
Day 030 - Light Shadows
My goal this morning was to head to downtown Portsmouth and let the opportunity find me. I'd kind of envisioned some kind of urban street scene, either with pedestrians or of the buildings themselves. I was just outside the parking garage, trying to capture the Steeple from the North Church, in an alley when I noticed the interesting shadows of the street lights.
I had the 70-200 F4L mounted to the front of my 40D, on a monopod, focused on the wall. People were stopping to look at me and my subject (I didn't care).
It came down to two shots that I couldn't decide between so I exported both of them and randomly chose one for my PaD. As I write this, I'm not sure which one made it (though I have a hunch). The other will be in my "Not my PaD" gallery in mere seconds.
Here's the other one: