May 30, 2011 -- Bird and Bug

f4.9 | 1/125s | ISO 200 | Panasonic Lumix

While walking we saw this bird sitting on the side of the road. At first I thought it was a Wild Turkey, but as we approached it lifted off. Definitely not a Wild Turkey. Pat thought it was a hawk. My guess was a Turkey Vulture, as it had a huge wingspan and was ugly as a Turkey, with that red neck and strange beak. Later we consulted our "Field Guide to the Birds East of the Rockies" and also some photos on the web. Confirmed: a Turkey Vulture. When it took off, it really lifted, with those huge wings beating.

This "monster" was on the wall at the entrance to the apartment we are staying at in the Pocono Mountains.

It is a "Luna Moth" which lives only about 1 week. Adults like this one have no mouth and hence do not eat (explaining why they live only a week). The Luna Moth adult lives only to breed.  Apparently we were fortunate to see this one, as, while common, they are difficult to find.

f2.8 | 1/15s | ISO 160 | iPhone

May 28, 2011 -- Brooklyn Windows

f8 | 1/25s | ISO 250 | Nikon D200 | Nikkor 24 - 120mm lens

Walking all over Brooklyn we ventured into Ft. Green and then back to Park Slope, where we are staying. 

There are many truly lovely brownstone homes in both areas. This photo was taken along 6th Avenue somewhere between Flatbush Avenue and 12th Street.

I liked the reflections set off by the stone facade and the planters. All produced a good contrast photo.

May 29, 2011 -- Three Wonderful Ladies

The day provided lovely, summer-like weather so we took the opportunity to take another long walk. Among the various places we visited were the 9/11 site where the building is taking place now at break-neck speed. WTC building is now at 50% of its slated 104 stories.

Then we walked to Pier 17 and had some lunch followed by a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was from there that I caught this photo of this grand lady still standing strong. I slightly adjusted this photo to bring out color and contrast because of the haze that made the scene slightly murky. Then I cropped it to bring the distant cranes in parallel with her. I think only walking on the bridge could I have found this opportunity.

f14 | 1/750s | ISO 200 | ev -.33 | Nikon D200 | Nikkor 24-120mm lens

The other two wonderful ladies are shown in this next photo. Our daughter Melisse and her long-term partner Tif were married on Friday and then celebrated in a formal wedding / commitment event on Sunday. Here Melisse and Tif are seated in a lovely room having their photos taken by the wedding photographer, whom you can see in the mirror. I saw this "shot" and grabbed it, showing part of the story of this wonderful wedding event: Melisse and Tif, wearing their wedding clothes, the photographers, the opulent setting. 

f3.5 | 1/60s (flash) | ISO 500 | Panasonic Lumix

May 27, 2011 -- The Wedding

Melisse (my daughter) and Tif (her partner of close to 10 years) were married in Darien, CT. Here is a shot taken with my iPhone.  In my excitement and anxiety to reach Darien from Brooklyn (Google Maps said 1:05 mins or 1:40 in traffic), I left my compact flash card in the download reader for my laptop. Duhhhhhh. 
But who cares. The iPhone took great shots.


Look at the excitement on these two women's faces. The Justice of the Peace was a lovely, warm woman who conducted a very sweet ceremony. There were 13 onlookers. We all hugged, kissed, laughed and hugged again afterward. Then we went to Tif's sister's home in Darien where we all gathered to celebrate. 


The "wedding" will take place Sunday in the West Village.

f2.8 | 1/20s | ISO 100 | iPhone

May 26, 2011 -- Self Portrait in Mirror

I couldn't ignore this wonderful mirror occupying the full back wall of the restaurant we went to.  You can see Pat leaning against me and you can see the cars which look like a painting in the "background".  

f4.4 | 1/15s | ISO 1600 | Panasonic Lumix 

May 25, 2011 -- The Food Challenge

Man vs. Food.  That's what we witnessed last night at Denny's Beer Barrel and Pub in Clearfield, Pennsylvania. The place is famous for its burgers and has them in about 30 styles and sizes. It's burgers have been the focus on the Travel Channel, the Food Channel (Rachel Ray visiting for a taping) and rumor has it, Man vs Food.

Food challenges are a big thing here. While we were eating our basic 1/2 pounders (Pat's with onions, green pepper and tomato & mine with Irish cheddar, onions, and mushrooms grilled in Irish ale), this guy and two friends came and sat by us . He was ready to do a food challenge with the 2 pounder that you see here. The challenge is that he must eat everything: bun, burger, fries, pickles, and whatever else was on his plate in 1 hour.

We left just after he got started. 

f3.9 | 1/60sec (with red-eye flash) | ISO 400 | Panasonic Lumix

May 24, 2011 -- Boxer in Window

Waiting in line at a stop light, I felt stared at and glanced to my left. There I saw this unique scene. My Nikon D200 was on the passenger seat. I grabbed it and shot two images before the line began moving. I was lucky to get this shot. Slightly modified to bring out the Boxer and cropped to 4x5.

f5.6| 1/4000s | ISO 200 | Nikon D200 | Nikkor 24-120mm 3.5-5.6 lens

May 23, 2011 -- Birthday Party

Not every photo I take is intended as photographic "art". 


I like the idea of documenting life. Here the life is my life. 
Last night I had the pleasure of hosting friends and family for a small "birthday celebration". A good friend and colleague (far right) and his associates were visiting from Belgaum, State of Karnataka, India. I took the opportunity to invite them along with some friends and of course family. Not everyone I would have loved to be with us could be, but I am happy for who was and our enjoyment of the moment and each other.


While not the best of the photos I took of the group, it is the one with 
everyone visible (to some degree).

f3.5 | 1/60s | ISO 500 | Red-eye compensation flash | Nikon D200 | Nikkor 24-120mm 3.5-5.6 lens

May 22, 2011 -- Bill Bloom

This is my brother-in-law. He will be 54 years old on May 26th. Bill lives alone and has a girlfriend, Mary, who is a part-time waitress. Bill posed for this photo, which really depicts him to me. He is a sweet guy who is suffering with horrible diabetes and failing vision. But he is mostly always smiling. Photo modified in Lightroom to give grain and sepia qualities.

f3.3 | 1/30s | ISO 1600 | Panasonic Lumix

May 21, 2011 -- Homeless Man

Pasteur's statue resides in this park close to Cook County Hospital and Rush University and University of Illinois College of Medicine. Sadly his work did not cover economics. We need to find ways to help the mentally ill, support those who wish to find jobs, and work to decrease homelessness and poverty in this nation.

f4 | 1/125s | ISO 80 | Panasonic Lumix

May 20, 2011 -- Lovely

I have these flowers but I have no idea what they are. Growing from a bulb, they shoot up and then form these lovely flutes. Just lovely.

f25 | 1/20s | ISO 100 | FL 120mm | Nikon D200 | Nikkor 24 - 120mm 3.5-5.3 lens

May 19, 2011 -- Street Jeans

Shooting on the fly, I saw this page torn from a magazine. Didn't do a thing, just shot it. This image is slightly cropped to give the long perspective focus in more on the paper.

f4 | 1/400s | ISO 80 | Panasonic Lumix

May 18, 2011 -- Sears Tower in Cloud

This photo was shot from the Ogden Avenue bridge over the Eisenhower Expressway and the Blue Line Elevated line. I couldn't take the shots fast enough, as the clouds were changing as I shot. I am only sorry that I didn't have my Nikon with me. Still, with some post processing in Lightroom and Photoshop, I think it worked out well, although I am bothered by the extreme crispness which may be a remnant of my still poor Lightroom skills.

f5.6 | 1/500s | ISO 80 | Panasonic Lumix

May 17, 2011 Corrugated Boxes

I got taken away by the textures of these corrugated boxes compressed, bundled and waiting for recycling. 

There are so many photographers looking at texture. It's one of the great things to mess with, I think. 

So, I experimented with texture by placing a B&W side by side with the color.  Although often B&W shows texture so well because of the nature tonal contrasts, I think in this case that the color image is better. I You decide.

    

f4 | 1/60 | ISO 80 | Panasonic Lumix

May 16, 2011 -- Moon and Stars

I was experimenting with long exposures again. In this photo, which was over 2 1/2 minutes long, you can see short star trails and also the perfectly straight line of a plane which flew over during the shot. The evenly placed dots along the flight line would be the flashing wing lights.

f8| 2 mins 41s | ISO 200 | 24 mm | Nikon D200 |Nikkor 3.5 - 5.6mm lens

This almost perfect full moon was rising over my garage. I couldn't escape its lure.

f14 | 30s | ISO 200 | 24 mm | Nikon D200 |Nikkor 3.5 - 5.6mm lens

#129 May 10, 2011 -- My New Neighbor

Cardinals are very hard for me to see as I am fully color blind. But this guy was just singing away in the birch tree in our front yard, calling me to him. I couldn't miss the shot. 

f14 | 1/50s | ISO 200 | Nikon D200 | Nikkor 24 - 120mm f3.5-5.6 lens

#134 May 15, 2011 -- Chris is Going to Oprah

Oprah!  To some people this name injects excitement into their veins. Chris is one of those. She has been watching Oprah for 25 years! She is one of Oprah's "Loyal Viewers". So just imagine how Chris felt when she learned that she had successfully obtained two tickets for the vaunted final show recording. Chris and her niece Liz, another Oprah groupie, are going. Here Chris is showing off her much valued tickets.


To get this shot with the tickets readable I elected high ISO and no flash. The flash otherwise whited out the ticket. This is essential the portrait I wanted.

f6.3 | 1/6s | ISO 1600 | FL 4.1mm | Panasonic Lumix

#133 May 14, 2011 -- A Couple's Portrait and a Fire!

These are my friends Tracy and Doug. They were happy in the midst of a wonderful wine tasting their really good wine store, Park Ridge Wine Styles was hosting. Terrific people and great wines!

f6.3 | 1/30s | ISO 320 | FL 8.5mm | red-eye double flash | Panasonic Lumix

After the wine tasting we settled in to watch a movie: Boom!! three sudden explosive sounds: booming like a plane breaking the sound barrier. All correct except that this was just outside our house. The transformer behind our garage was spewing sparks and shooting like a set of fireworks. Then the electricity went out. A tree had fallen onto the power lines in the alley in the next block. This fire resulted as the power lines (12,000 volt) continued in their effort to serve. We were without power for 13 hours. I was so rushed and frankly a bit frightened that I would not get injured or killed, that I did not take any time to set the camera. I just shot. 

f6.3 | 1/60s | ISO 400 | FL 4.1mm | Panasonic Lumix

#130 May 11, 2011 -- Buddha in Candlelight

This shot and the one below it was taken in low light. In this particular shot, the shutter was open for 30 seconds. The only light was a small amount of available daylight filtering in from the windows on unseen left. and the candle. The moment was extremely overcast and dark in preparation for a large thunderstorm. 

f5.6 | 30s | ISO 100 | Bogen tripod with Manfrotto head | Nikon D200 | Remote Shutter Release | Nikkor 24-120 f3.5-5.6 lens

For this image I took five photos all in very low light. Only some available daylight (you can see the light pattern between the Buddha statue and the Buddha photo). As in the previous photo, the only other light was the candlelight. I was interested in seeing how much light the candle offered using HDR. I had the camera on a tripod with a remote shutter release to minimize any vibrations. Although I did not lock the shutter mirror, there seems to be almost no visible vibration. I set the lense with a constant aperture of f5.6 and batched the photos automatically. The result was a range of shutter speeds from 9 - 30 seconds with changes in the EV from -1.67 to +2.33.   It's amazing to me that we see so much more light in this HDR and the candle glow is lovely. 

ISO 100 | Bogen tripod with Manfrotto head | Nikon D200 | Remote Shutter Release | Nikkor 24-120 f3.5-5.6 lens

#132 May 13, 2011 -- "Snow in May"

Actually this is not snow. It is the detritus of fallen white blossoms from the commonplace White Dogwoods that abound our area. They are lovely on the tree and a mess on the ground.
One of those shots that I just grabbed on the fly with the iPhone. Not bad.

f2.8 | 1/60s | ISO 80 | FL 3.9mm | iPhone

#131 May 12, 2011 -- Moon with Clouds

I took this photo at about 9pm. The moon was in first quarter and clouds were moving, soon to obscure it. I set the camera up with a tripod and a remote shutter release and shot the photo with the lens stopped down in order to get the greatest detail. The shot too thirty seconds. The night was pretty clear. If you look closely there are a number tiny white dots. Those are stars. 

f25 | 30s | ISO 400 | Nikon D200 | Nikkor 24-120 f3.5-5.6mm lens | Manfrotto tripod and head

# 128 9 May 2011 -- Leaning Tower, but not of Pisa

Here is another place I pass regularly. This is the first time I have taken a photo of the "Leaning Tower". According to Wikipedia, "The Leaning Tower of Niles, Illinois, was completed in 1934 by industrialist Robert Ilg as part of a recreation park for employees of the Ilg Hot Air Electric Ventilating Company of Chicago. It is situated at 6300 W. Touhy Avenue and it is a 1/2 size copy of the original tower in Pisa, Italy, which is a Niles' sister city.

f14 | 1/90s | ISO 200 | FL 24mm | Nikon D200 | Nikkor 24 - 120mm Lens

# 127 8 May 2011 (Mother's Day) -- Blossoming Tree

Trees like this one are blooming and blossoming all over Northern Illinois. Spring is finally here. The garden that this tree is in has been the source of many of my photos in the past. The gardener, whomever they are, is really good. Quality plants and flowers abound. I think I could easily take 100 shots. One is simply insufficient!

f4.5 | 1/400s | ISO 80 | FL 4.1mm | Panasonic Lumix

#126 7 May 2011 -- Flowering Crab Tree Early Blossoms

Tree in my front yard is just beginning to blossom.  I have always been amazed by it as each year it seems to blossom for a month. I hope this year we get more of the same!

 f8 | 1/160s | ISO 100 | FL 92mm |  Nikon D200 | Nikkor 28-105 3.5-4.5 lens | Nikon SB 800 flash

 f9 | 1/160s | ISO 400 | FL 92mm |  Nikon D200 | Nikkor 28-105 3.5-4.5 lens | Nikon SB 800 flash

f9 | 1/160s | ISO 400 | FL 92mm | Nikon D200 | Nikkor 28-105 3.5-4.5 lens | Nikon SB 800 flash

#125 6 May 2011 -- Forrest Pleasures

Given the huge urban mass we call Chicagoland, it is surprising how many lovely large and complex forest preserves abound. These photos were taken at the 2700 acre Lake County Forest Preserve near Wauconda, IL. Shortly after beginning the hike I captured the first shot. The photo was taken through a barricade of tall grass, shrubs and tree limbs. But I think the effort was worth it.  Until I reviewed the photo I did not realize that there were two deer.

 f5.6 | 1/125s | ISO 100 | FL 300mm | Nikon D200 | Nikkor 70-300 4.5-5.6 Lens

HDR photo of a lovely wetland area in which there were ducks, geese, herons, and other birds we couldn't identify. I chose to use this photo that had no wildlife because of it's serene quality. 

f8 | 1/180s | ISO 100 |  FL 70mm | Nikon D200 | Nikkor 70-300 4.5-5.6 Lens

# 124 5 May 2011 -- Number 1 son, Number 1 daughter-in-law, Number 1 wife

Out for a Cinqo de Mayo "pre-Mother's Day" dinner with my oldest son, his wife and mine. 

f3.3 |1/60s | ISO 400 | flash with red-eye reduction | FL 4.1mm | Panasonic Lumix

#123 4 May 2011 - Union Station

I caught this photo of Chicago's Union Station just at what I thought as the right time. I like the juxtaposition of the light and shadow. Waiting for about 4-5 minutes allowed me to capture 5 bracketed shots without traffic interfering. The result is the blended HDR photo. 

 f16 | 1/50s (avg) | FL 32mm |Nikon D200 | Tamron 18 - 270mm f/3.5-6.3 lens

#122 May 3, 2011 -- Raisin & Nut Bread In Progress

Rolling a yeast bread seems counterintuitive. In this recipe, after having had the dough rise for over 2 hours,  I had to punch it down and then roll the dough sufficiently flat so that I could lay down raisins and nuts. This step was followed by my rolling the dough so that the raisins and nuts would be spread throughout the bread. 

f3.3 | 1/30s | ISO 250 | flash | 4.1 mm | Panasonic Lumix

#121 May 2, 2011 -- Superdawg

People from all over the country come to Superdawg. It is a manifestation of American kitsch. As I was taking this photo two guys told me that the food is no longer any good. "Not since they took away the super cheesy." Actually I have never eaten anything here, so I will take his word at it. 

Panorama created in Panorama Maker 5.

These figures are perhaps as famous as the supposedly terrific Superdawg hot dogs. I will have to try them some day. 

f5.3 | 1/1000s | ISO 100 | Nikon D200 | Nikkor 24-120 3.5-5.6 lens

#120 May 1, 2011 -- Combine

Traveling through Western Illinois and Iowa you will find acres and acres, even miles, of deep black earth that is being planted with corn and hay. Getting that corn and hay once ready for harvest is no small matter. In the late summer and fall we often see threshing combine machines at work. Until yesterday I did not appreciate the size of these behemoths. In fact behemoth is not a sufficiently grand term for these marvelous mammoth machines.  


Just on the outskirts of Muscatine, Iowa, sits a John Deere dealer. Located on the property is a lies a line of these large combine threshers: the John Deere STS Combine Bullet Rotor. Pat and I stopped and walked up to these Brobdingnagian monsters. You can see in these two photos, just how elephantine they are.

f2.8 | 1/1500s | ISO 80 | iPhone

f2.8 | 1/540s | ISO 80 | iPhone

#119 April 30 2011 -- Bleeding Heart

A Bleeding Heart plant from my back yard garden. One of my favorite plants. 

f5.6 | 1/500s | ISO 800 | FL 120mm | Nikon D200 | Nikkor 24-120mm 3.5-5.6 mm Lens

#118 April 29 2011 -- Park Ridge Bank Building

This is a classic building in my town, Park Ridge. It is located at a spot called "six points, the intersection of six major streets. The building appears to have always been a bank building.

f4.5 |1/500s | ISO 80 | FL 25mm | Panasonic Lumix