06-MAY-2015
Enter Here for Wisdom
This stone turned owl sits next to the office entrance of my psychiatrist. I chuckle every time I see it.
01-JAN-1980
Windows in the Snow Bank?
I found this light pattern interesting as my walking partner and I left a bagel shop last week. At first I couldn't figure it out .... looked like the snow bank had a "window" in its lower extremities that was allowing sunlight through the snowbank. Finally I realized the light was really bouncing off of a window behind me and patterning the ground. See if you can see it as I did. Sun at 10:30 position off to the left.
16-FEB-2015
Nature as Artist
A brief one-day melt in the middle of our six weeks of snow left the "cap" on top of a fence post in an interesting shape. Out came the tele lens for a sharp, sharp capture of nature's own snow sculpture.
01-MAR-2015
Snowiest Winter in Twenty-Five Years
While we didn't get as much snow in Western Massachusetts as our neighbors in Boston, we did set a record for the last twenty-five years. And frankly, it was more snow than I recall since I was a kid growing up in Central Pennsylvania. It snowed five straight weekends, and stayed below freezing most of the time in-between, so little snow melted.
This is a scene looking out over my own patio and others in the apartment complex.
30-NOV-2011
Macro Shots 20111130_233 .JPG
A macro photo of a 2" leaf, one of three left hanging on my crabapple tree as of Dec 1. This and the next six images were taken with a cobbled-up macro lens consisting of a Nikon 85mm lens, a Kenko Pro 1.4X telextender, and an Olympus screw-in macro lens adaptor.
30-NOV-2011
Macro Shots 20111130_231 .JPG
A macro image of some very small cloth "buds" on a neighbor's ornamental all-year-round planter. These tiny "buds" are less than a dime in diameter.
30-NOV-2011
Macro Shots 20111130_229 .JPG
A screen door, obviously with the screen slightly out of plumb.
30-NOV-2011
Macro Shots 20111130_226 .JPG
Close up of Lenny's ear. Lenny, as you may have guessed, is my cat.
30-NOV-2011
Macro Shots 20111130_221 .JPG
Handle of a wrought iron camdlestick holder sitting near my front window.
30-NOV-2011
Macro Shots 20111130_218 .JPG
The business end of the candle sitting in that candlestick.
30-NOV-2011
Macro Shots 20111130_211 .JPG
Macro shot of the front of my phono cartridge, complete with dust from the last playing and subsequent "dust web". Incidentally, this is one terrific-sounding cartridge, a moving coil design, that cost me $300 in 1982. Let's see, that was 29 years ago.....do you think $10 per year is too much to pay for absolutely top quality vinyl sound?
Incidentally, this and the preceding six shots were taken with a cobbled together macro lens, consisting of a Nikon 85mm f/1.8 AF lens coupled to a Kenko Pro 300 1.4X telextender and sporting an Olympus 62mm screw-in macro lens adaptor. This combo does exceptionally well as a close up lens, as witness the clarity and smooth background bokeh shown here.
25-JUN-2010
Jarvis Ave 20100625_Grynn and Barrett
Wonderful story here. Very successful family business....major studio for portraits, commercial but with a mainstay in the school photography hereabouts. Decided to change their name three years ago....chose this. Probably so subtle that 90% of people miss it.
Two Double Meanings:
#1 - "Grin and Bear It" .. colloquial similar to "Keep a Stiff Upper Lip"
#2 - "Grin" and "Bare It". Perhaps more germane to the photo business.
Did they do it deliberately? You bet your life, and proud of it, too. A company / family that obviously doesn't take themselves too seriously.
25-JUN-2010
Jarvis Ave 20100625 - Old Basset RD
Wonderful vine-covered street sign at corner of Old Basset and Jarvis Avenue near my home.
20-MAR-2010
Holyoke Road Race 2010 - Heliocopter.JPG
To better enjoy this look at the underbelly of a copter in flight, a rare experience, I've included a full-size JPEG here. Be prepared to allow a few seconds to open fully after you click on it, then enjoy.
07-MAR-2010
White Hole
I took this shot of melted and refrozen snow on a small patch of remaining snow outside my kitchen window this morning. I wanted to catch the pinpoint reflections of the sparkling sun, and since the patch itself didn't have much photographic interest I quickly focused on shooting only the snow, especially around the mysterious sunken hole in the center. The hole and the sparkling ice nodes remind me of pictures of some of the distant nebula photographed from space.
In stead of a black hole spanning millions of light years, we get a white hole spanning perhaps two feet. But a pretty one at that. At least in my opinion.