new look for a new year…
Here’s my new look for 2011! Hope you like it as much as I do! And check out my new page of photography quotes, which will slowly grow as the year wears on.
P.S. Shout-out to the boyfriend for snapping the photo that was cropped into the header of the page. Great shot, Jay! And yes, that is me wearing my camera bag in the photo. And that cliff was very high up. And there was no “guardrail”…we hiked outside of the guardrail to climb onto the ledge. Smart? Probably not. Exhilarating? Definitely. Windy? Like all get-out.
Taken at Blackwater Falls State Park in West Virginia! What a wonderful day of extreme hiking and waterfall hunting! More photos to follow!
Uncropped version, to give Jay credit for great composition:
footprints in the sand…
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
other times there were one set of footprints.This bothered me because I noticed
that during the low periods of my life,
when I was suffering from
anguish, sorrow or defeat,
I could see only one set of footprints.So I said to the Lord,
“You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you,
you would walk with me always.
But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life
there have only been one set of footprints in the sand.
Why, when I needed you most, you have not been there for me?”The Lord replied,
“The times when you have seen only one set of footprints in the sand,
is when I carried you.”“Footprints in the Sand”, by Mary Stevenson
I took this picture up at Lake Erie during the Great Mom/Daughter Saturday Trip of 2010. We were walking along the water’s edge when I saw these 2 lone footprints in the sand. No prints leading up to them, no prints extending from them. It instantly reminded me of the poem above. The prints looked oh-so-human, but their isolation on the sand had a slightly divine quality. Besides, the setting sun had cast the loveliest light upon them, so I simply couldn’t resist snapping the shot. Obviously, taken with the Canon G7. Small contrast adjustments made with Photoshop CS3 to bring out the depth of the prints.
Enjoy…and stay tuned!
city of bridges…
“Pennsylvania’s Watersheds and You”
Check it out!! I was contacted a while ago by a Pittsburgh engineering firm–they wanted to use my photography on a conservation poster that they were creating! Well, just click on the photo above (or the link underneath it) and have a look! I’m so excited that my photograph is on a real publication that will be hanging in real places! 
The photo is of the Pittsburgh skyline in May, as seen from the banks of the Allegheny River (directly across from Point State Park). It was a river-fest with free kayaking…hence all of the little banana-like things in the picture. And yes, I did kayak. And yes, it was great fun.
The image was taken with the (now stolen) Olympus Stylus 820. Post-processed in Photoshop CS3 for contrast.
DON’T POLLUTE YOUR WATER SUPPLIES!!! Keep them fresh and safe for yourself and generations to come.
surfacing at sunset…
The grand finale in the “People Series”!!! Once again, a shot of my lovely sister. Everything just sort of lined up perfectly in this shot…her pushing out of the water, the sunset, the sliver of sunlight highlighting the edges of her silhouette, and (my favorite) the sun glinting in the small drops of water falling from her arm. This was taken about 200 feet out in the water at Playa Norte, Isla Mujeres, Mexico (see previous Isla posts for me going on and on and on about the gorgeous water there and how you can walk out about 300 feet…uh oh…I’m going on and on again…).
I don’t think there’s much to say about this photo, except that I think my sister should scrap her career and become a model. Perk of this: she could visit locales such as Isla Mujeres more often. Perk of this for me: perhaps I’d be able to tag along for a vacation when my brain is totally fried from my clinical rotations!!
I hope everyone enjoyed the People Series. I’ll post more shots of people as they come along, but until then, back to random photo posting!
Oh, yes. I almost forgot. The picture was taken with the amazing Canon G7. Contrast fixed in Photoshop CS3. That’s it. No airbrushing needed on this model!
gone fishing…
He’s a man with a mission: to catch his fill of fish! And second to last photo in the “People Series”!! I took this shot down in Puerto Morelos, Mexico while admiring the view from the dock. It was quite a site to see. It was a bit after lunch and many of the fishermen were headed back out to sea for the afternoon catch. One minute all the boats were lined up along the shore, the next, they were zooming off into the distance. I like this photo because its very tranquil with the gradations of blue in the water, but also because I think it shows off just how small people are compared with the vast sea. Whenever I look at this photo, I get a sense of serene isolation and a refreshing dose of perspective.
Of course, the photo was taken with the Canon G7. I adjusted the contrast in Photoshop and also converted the image to an HDR image. Enjoy!!
contemplative in kensington…
Hello, world! It has been so long since I last posted an installment in my “People” series! A little thing called exams decided to crop up in med school…and then I was outta Philly so fast for break! Hence, no pics. Oh well. I enjoyed all of the sleeping and holiday eating.
So, this photo was taken at the Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby, which I attended with the wonderful Dr. Heather. This guy was just leaning against an abandoned building for quite a while, looking rather deep in his thoughts. He was quite fascinating to photograph, as I could only imagine what inner workings were keeping him so occupied for so long.
As usual, taken with the amazing Canon Powershot G7. Contrast and hues were adjusted using Adobe Photoshop CS3. Also, the ugly garbage can was cropped off.
On another note, the photoblog has passed the 50,000 hits mark!! Yay!
On yet another note, HAPPY 2010, PEOPLE!!! Let’s make this year the best yet!!!
solo soccer…
Fourth photo in the people series! Este niño jugó fútbol en la arena del campo de juegos, acerca la playa del Puerto Morelos.
Okay, sometimes I just feel the urge to write descriptions of the photos I’ve taken in Mexico in Spanish. C’mon! Its fun!! Anyhoo, for those who think that previous sentence is all Greek to them: “This young boy was playing soccer in the sand of the playground near Puerto Morelos’ beach.”
No, I wasn’t being creepy and watching this kid playing soccer and taking photos. In fact, my sister and I were enjoying the seesaw that was more or less right behind where I was standing to take the picture. Has anyone tried, as an adult, to get on a seesaw? We couldn’t do it! We’d try to keep the thing at a height so we could both get on, but, wow! A lot harder when you’re 3 feet and an undisclosed number of pounds larger than when you first learned to mount that contraption. Anyways, I was taking photos of the brightly painted playground and the kid got in my way. Then I figured, heck, he might be the superstar of the FIFA World Cup in a decade or so, so I’ll take his picture now! Actually, I wish that was what I was thinking. The fact of the matter is, the kid got in my way when I was taking pictures and when I finally looked at them on the computer, they looked nice with a live human in them. Thus, Niño Boy was not cropped into oblivion. Kind of creepy that you can just make people disappear *poof* with the modern photography. Gotta love it, especially when you’re taking a great group shot of your friends at a restaurant and there is inevitably the jerk that has to crash the photo behind the group. Be gone, Photo Dude. *Poof* You’re no longer in existence.
The photo was taken with my Canon Powershot G7. Processed in Adobe Photoshop CS3 to fix the contrast that so easily gets out of whack in bright Mexican sun and to mute the colors a little for the feeling that I seem to apparently be trying to evoke with this photo series. What is that feeling? Emotion. Nostalgia. Innocence. Slight surreality. Take your pick.
strolling down the street…
The next installment in my series on people! I visited the Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia this past spring and was taken for quite a wild ride! The sculptures were absolutely crazy and the whole derby had a cool bohemian vibe to it. Luckily, I brought my camera! Granted, I brought it so that I could better show my mom exactly what this “thing” was, but I got some cool shots as well. As the crowd was beginning to line up at the finish line, I noticed this little curly-haired girl enjoying a solitary stroll down the street with her balloon and little stuffed puppy. Fortunately, she wasn’t walking down the lane for too long, as that was the exact street that served as the final leg of the derby.
Of course, this photo was taken with the Canon Powershot G7! I used Adobe Photoshop CS3 to remove the company logo that was splashed across the balloon (it was so distracting!). I also enhanced the contrast and lighting in the photo for a slightly more dramatic “solitary” feel. Enjoy! Stay tuned for more in my “People Series”!
