Trees Reflected

Another from my walk in the woods.  Enjoy!

A walk in the woods

Yesterday was my 44th birthday and my gift to myself was to take a walk in the woods, camera in hand.  These are a few of the shots I took along the way.  If you're in the DC area, I highly recommend visiting the Patuxent National Wildlife Refuge - an absolutely beautiful place to walk and connect with nature.

A few recent shots

And more here: http://365project.org/brundagephotos/365

Day 45 - Union Market, DC

Fall Reflection

You can see this and many more of my 365 project photos here: http://365project.org/brundagephotos/365

Day 44 - National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial

Among the many memorials and monuments in DC is the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, which honors the men and women who protect and serve us every day.  There are over 20,000 names on the Memorial.  It is a truly humbling place.

Day 38 - Capital Bikeshare

I love the lines and colors of all these bikes lined up outside the MLK Library in downtown Washington, DC.

Lots of New Photos to Share

To help manage my year long photography project I've been posting here: http://365project.org/brundagephotos/365

Day 30 - Man on Bench

Day 29

My challenge this week is to use my Lensbaby lens.  Particularly when using it with the macro attachment, it is a challenge because the focal point can really move around.  I made it extra challenging today shooting small flora on a windy day.  The top photo is a flower seed head I think, with all the seeds blown off into the wind.  I may revisit this one with a regular macro lens.  The bottom one is a bit of post-processing trickery.  The flower is really bright orange in the petals.  To highlight the center (and in focus) portion, I used Lightroom to selectively change the levels of exposure for the petals.  A little clunky - you can see some of the orange still in the petals, but it does put more emphasis on the center portion.

Day 28 - post 2 - Fall Caught

We put up some fake spider webs for Halloween decorations outside and this leaf was caught up in a section of it today.

Day 28 - Found My Marbles?

Playing around with my Lensbaby lens and some of my son's marbles.  I want to try this again and work on the extraneous reflections in the close-up marble.

Day 27 - Color Stretch

I didn't have much time to shoot to day, but I managed a quick shot in the library.  The stretch effect is really just the depth of field at play here - no computer trickery.

Day 26 - Light and Dark

This was taken at the butterfly garden near the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History during my lunch walk today.  It took a bit of twisting, but I was able to isolate this one flower from a whole bunch.

On my way up the Metro escalator, I took a quick snap of the concrete wall - the texture looked interesting.  I then used the creative filters built into the Canon 70D to convert to black and white and add a bit of graininess.

Pennsylvania Avenue Bench

Along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC, there are a number of places with old art deco features like street lamps and buildings with art deco elements. One of my favorite items are a number of circular benches that fit around trees. I love the lines and have been thinking the last few days how to capture the curves of a bench in a photo. Here's my first attempt.

Day 24 - Going Modern

I felt like I needed something with a little color in it, especially since it was a gray, rainy day here in DC. Photo on top, which is of a walkway near the National Gallery of Art (East Wing - modern stuff), is the product of "intentional camera movement" and some tweaking in Lightroom. I was drawn to the contrast between the lush green lawn and the granite walkway and the south wall of the museum.

Photo on the bottom is of a my train to work arriving at Forest Glen Station.  

Days 22 and 23 - Ooops...forgot to post last night

A bit much going on with this post.  The top photo is from our Monday trip to the National Zoo.  The next two are of an antique wood plane - both close up detail shots.  I think I'll be going back to the plane for other photos - lots of interesting details.  Fourth shot is from my lunch walk today.  This is actually a sculpture of a flower.  I used my 30mm Sigma to get in close and capture some of the interesting lines of the sculpture.  And last was a quick snap from the platform of the Fort Totten Metro Station of the late afternoon sky.  Beautiful altocumulus clouds.

Day 21 - Soft

I didn't have much time today, so I played around with my 30mm Sigma with an extension tube to get this.  I love how using the extension tube allows for this really soft color.  I also desaturated this a bit in Lightroom.

On the Edge - Day 20

Just before dinner, and after a glass of wine had been poured, I used a 20mm extension tube on my 30mm Sigma and got up really close to the edge of  the wine glass for this shot.

Day 19 - Playing with Extension Tubes

I had limited time today, so I decided to take something on my Metro ride.  I put a 20mm extension tube on my 50-150 lens and took this photo of the top edge of a seat and the metal seam created by a compartment cover.  I adjusted a little in LR, but this is mostly out of the camera.  I can't say this is the best photo I've ever taken, but there's a minimalist aspect to it that I find oddly appealing.

Day 18 - Union Station

Union Station in DC is an amazing place to just wander around, inside and out, with a camera.  Although my office is another two Metro stops away, I've been occasionally walking from Union Station in the mornings to find new subjects.

A few more of the lunar eclipse

From bottom to top here, different time points in the eclipse, with the top one near totality (you can start to see the red hue overtaking the moon.  

Day 17 - A Moon Shot

The Blood Moon Eclipse, about 20 minutes into the partial eclipse.

Day 16 - Sailor at U.S. Navy Memorial

I'm still working on black and white conversions in Lightroom, but I like how this one turned out.

Day 15 - Butterflies

Ok - so the bottom one I think is a moth, but I love the colors and how the antennae lined up nicely with the petals below.  Was such a gorgeous day in DC - I could have spent all afternoon out with my camera.

Days 13 and 14 - Spinning Globe and Water Droplets

These were definitely experimental photos.  The top one, from Day 13 (I did post to FB), is of our glob spinning around.  The bottom one is another attempt on my part to capture water droplets.  Still a work in progress, but definitely an entertaining project and great fun experimenting with my Canon 70D's high speed shutter.

Day 12 - Graffiti at 50 mph

One aspect of this project has been trying to find an interesting way to capture the colorful graffiti at several spots on my Metro ride home.  This is a bit more subdued than a prior photo I posted, but I this conveys a sense of movement.