palm perfection…
Ahhhh…the California sun setting behind a palm tree. With a lens flare. Does it get more quintessential than this?
Taken at the Descanso Beach Club on Catalina Island, CA (and yes, for you Bachelor/Bachelorette fans, the show did a date here a few seasons back).
A little relaxation after zip lining between mountains and landing on the beach!!!!! Click here to see photos of the zip line!
All I have to say is, good Lord, that was the single most exhilarating thing I’ve ever done in my life. During the longest zip, that spans the two mountains, you are 300 feet above the valley below. Lets just say, taking the step off of the deck into nothing so that the “zip” could begin was the most difficult step I’ve ever taken in my life. You literally just walk off the deck into the thin air and…whooosh!…are whisked off over the valley at 45mph! This photo gives a good representation of that step.
Hehe…and here’s me in my “zip” gear:
Note the expanse of ocean in the background. Needless to say, the tour gave the best view of the island itself, valley flora & fauna, and the ocean from high above. Great facts and tidbits about the island and its animals/plants from the tour guides. Did you know that while the school on the island does not have Snow Days, they do have Bison Days, for when the buffalo randomly venture out of the mountains/island interior and roam the town? And that they were left there after a 1924 movie and now have a full-on colony on the island? Note for ladies: do not zip line in tiny shorts. Trust me, you’re gonna want full-coverage walking shorts or capris with that harness at those speeds.
Ahhhh…California. I cannot wait to go back.
big sur…
So, from this point forward in our journey down the California coast, we start into some of my favorite photos EVER. The coastline became just stunning around Monterrey/Big Sur areas on Highway 1. Especially Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park in Big Sur. Seriously. Go there. Its incredible. I rather like the view shown in this post’s photo…but wait until the next post. Its like a dreamscape. OMIGOSH. I’m so excited for the next post. I’ve seriously been just waiting to post it since I started this California series and ITS ALMOST TIME!!!!
So, this photo was taken from the walking trail that takes you out to McWay Falls in the Park. This is the view from the “other side”. Not to be taken lightly. I would have been satisfied with just this view!!! But just you wait…
And the little specks on the beach is a flock of seagulls. Oh, and if you’d like to imagine the soundtrack that went along with this wondrous nature view, it went something like this: “CRAZY LOUD OCEAN WAVES. INSANE WIND NOISE. SEA LION HOWLING.” Ah, yes. Nature.
Taken with the Canon Powershot G12. Minor exposure fixes in Photoshop CS5.
flowering friday…
Setting: Alamo Square, San Francisco.
Time: An impossibly clear and sunny, crisp afternoon in May.
Players: Liz, Jay, the Canon Powershot G12, and a very patient flowering tree subject.
Off to the ER in a few hours, so I’m keeping it short and sweet today! Also, my computer has slowed to a snail’s pace & is running ungodly hot and thus needs an emergency virus scan. So, quick post and on to saving the computer!
chillin’ at crissy…
Well, here’s another Golden Gate Bridge photo! This time, we are pulling back a bit from the bridge to capture the full bridge span, some of the Marin headlands, San Francisco Bay, and the beach flora at Crissy Field/Park. Wow! That’s a lot of stuff! I love how the beach flora unexpectedly takes center stage in a Bridge shot. :-) Why be ordinary? ;-) Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy the rich beach colors and brilliant blue sky as much as I did in person!
Of course, taken with the Canon Powershot G12 with a wide-angle lens attached (it seriously was the only way to get that whole darn bridge in a picture!). Contrast touched-up in Photoshop CS5.
Stay tuned for more of California through my eyes and lens!
we interrupt your regularly scheduled programming…
We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming…for a quick trip from the West Coast over to the East Coast. West Virginia, to be exact. ”Wild and Wonderful,” as they say. So, I realized that I forgot to post a couple of photos from my Blackwater Falls State Park last year (and I can’t believe this photo is one of them, as it’s one of my favorite photos!). So, ladies and gents, here you have it: a snap-shot of the Upper Elakala Falls. Absolutely beautiful location. You walk across the falls on the bridge in the picture, then follow the trail. If you’re daring like Jay and I, you then off-road yourselves and climb down the slippery dirt and wet rocks to get to a place closer to the falls to take a picture and then prop up your tripod with rocks, jam one of the legs deep in the soil, and use the camera timer so as not to disturb the shot but then slip and fall as you back away from the camera too quickly (again, so as not to disturb the shot). :-) I used a wide-open shutter and neutral density filter to get this one. It was crazy-tricky, as the sun was just starting to fade for the day and it was hard to find a balance between the shutter time and the use of the filter. But…I got it! Taken with the Canon Powershot G12 with the built-in neutral density filter. Specs (just because it took so stinkin’ long to get them right!): f/5.6, exposure 10secs, ISO 80. Enjoy! I do believe I have one or two more from WV, but stay tuned to find out if they get posted next or if we jet back to the California coast!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!
bliss…
I found it! I really did! The hills from the famed Windows XP “Bliss” background!!! As we were driving up the Pacific Coast towards Santa Rosa on Highway 1, I decided to snap some photos from the car. As the highway curved inland a bit, I remember saying how it looked like we were driving through a Windows XP desktop! Well, when I looked at my photos later on, this one in particular looked a lot like the “Bliss” wallpaper. Upon taking my query to trusty Google, I was directed to the all-knowing Wikipedia…which informed me that I had, in fact, been in general vicinity of where the photograph for XP’s “Bliss” was taken!! Score one for awesome chance photography!!!!!!
Of course, taken with the Canon Powershot G12, and edited in Adobe Photoshop CS5 to remove one stray cow in the photo that looked more like a spot of schmutz on the computer screen than an actual cow.
Stay tuned for more photos from my time in California!
lonely tree…
So this photo was taken in Canaan, West Virginia during a horseback ride through the mountains. Jay and I planned a lovely day of horseback riding followed by waterfall hunting and hiking in Blackwater Falls State Park. The ride was lovely–it was a cool day, but the sun was warm on our backs as our trusty steeds followed along on well-worn trails in the mountains and meadows. As I was riding, I saw this tree all by itself and knew I just had to take a photo…even if I was on a moving horse. I one-handedly wrangled my camera out of the saddle-bag, pointed, and shot…and fortunately was able to get a nice photo, stay on the horse, and have the horse stay on the trail. Hooray for multitasking!
Anyhoo, when I looked at the photo later on, I decided that it was just entirely too brown…leafless tree with a backdrop of brown grass and brown mountains. So, I changed the photo to black and white and hand-colorized it in Photoshop CS5. I added in a vignette blur and desaturated the tree by hand to really make it pop. All in all, after spending entirely too much time fiddling with a photo, I’m pretty happy with the results. It still has that slightly cool, forlorn feel of approaching winter, but a little added interest.
Taken with the Canon Powershot G12!! 
) Stay tuned for more West Virginia trip photos!
wild and wonderful…
So, here is another shot from my trip to Blackwater Falls State Park in West Virginia last October. If you look closely at the bottom of the valley, you can see the river meandering through the mountains. As you can probably tell from how tiny the river looks, this lookout point (Lindy Point) is quite high up. Now, I’m not afraid of heights, but stepping out to the edge of these rocks to take a picture in the ferocious wind was a bit unnerving, even for me! But, a good photograph is totally worth a bit of risk, right? One of my favorite things in this photo is the intensity of the autumn leaves still clinging to the trees on the mountainside more protected from the wind.
By the way, the freshness of the air in this wild and wonderful was simply incredible. Maybe I only noticed it because of my city-girl lungs, but holy cow. It was gooooooood. I think you can appreciate a little of the clean air in the clarity of photo. I seriously couldn’t stop taking super deep breaths just so I could enjoy the pure, clean air! Did I mention that this park is literally in The Middle of Nowhere, WV?
Of course…get ready for it…taken with the Canon Powershot G12 (and contrast fixed in Adobe Photoshop CS5)!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, folks, I upgraded (both things!)! That little puppy is INCREDIBLE (and by puppy, I mean camera, not a reference to my family’s dog Lexie, a white Siberian Husky-German Shepherd mix, who at 3 years of age is still a giant puppy). Amazing image quality, HD video, swiveling LCD screen, fun effects, and so many dedicated wheels for manual photography (including a front thumb wheel that you can dedicate to whatever function you’d like) that the camera literally turns into an SLR if you want it to! Stay tuned for more G12 photos, including some more at Blackwater using some of the SLR magic of the G12!!!
My thoughts and prayers go out to those in Japan devastated by the earthquake and tsunami.
midsummer’s midnight blooms…
So, I know I promised “Sandy Stonehenge Part 2,” but I’ve been so antsy to post this photo for quite a while. Why not build a little anticipation for the second stonehenge with this picture?
I took this shot back in Philadelphia during one of my riverside jogs-turned-photo-excursion. These little white flowers were blooming everywhere on the ground by the Schuylkill River. They were lovely on their own, but I couldn’t resist the temptation to add in a “midnight filter” in Photoshop to really make them into something special. I love the bit of a fairy-tale glow that they now have!
Taken with the Canon G7 and “made extra-special” with Photoshop CS3 & the Midnight Filter.
Stay tuned to for Part 2 of Stonehenge!
colorful cardinal…
Story behind this photo: I was talking to my mom one afternoon when I looked out my window and saw a lovely red cardinal sitting the tree of my courtyard. I yelped to my mom that I’d be right back because I needed to take a picture. The funny thing was that it didn’t phase her a single bit and she just patiently waited for me to capture my perfect shot. Can you tell I come from a shutterbug?
Anyhoo, this little red fellow was taken with the awesome Canon G7. I desaturated everything but the bird in Photoshop CS3 and just tinkered with the contrast a bit. Enjoy!!
a rose by any other name…
This pretty little bud made its debut in my mom’s garden this past summer. It just looked so lovely after a sunshower that I simply couldn’t resist taking a few snapshots! Aren’t rainy roses just wonderful?
Sorry for the few and far between posts! Med school is a bit demanding right now, especially with my boards just a few months away, so keep checking back for a new post!
As usual, taken with the Canon Powershot G7. Post-processed for contrast in Photoshop CS3. Enjoy!
For Grammy, 11/10/1918 – 2/12/2010. You are loved and missed.
playing on the “playa”…
Second in my series of people photography!! Now, I know I said that the Mexico series was done with, but, surprise! More Puerto Morelos pics! Were these strategically saved for this series or did I just forget to put them with the other series? You’ll never know. Anyhoo, its fun to photograph kids doing their kid-ly things. They always seem so completely absorbed in what they are doing and bring such a fun, carefree-because-they-don’t-have-bills-to-pay feeling to the photo. I find that looking at pictures like this always makes me remember how much I liked to do (blank) when I was (blank) years old, long before medical school sort of owned my soul.
So, this boy and girl were playing in the sand on the shore by the Puerto Morelos pier in Puerto Morelos, Mexico. They are in front of the original lighthouse that was transformed into the Leaning Lighthouse of Puerto by Hurricane Wilma. Since it’s more or less non-functional now, there is a new lighthouse a bit further back from the shore. It is much taller and, personally, if I were a sailor, I’d be glad Wilma killed the old short lighthouse so that I could guide myself home with the more modern upgraded model.
The photo was taken with the Canon Powershot G7. I used Adobe Photoshop CS3 to adjust the contrast a bit and to bring out the slightly sepia tones in the picture to help create a more nostalgic feel and to highlight the angle of the sun.
the wild side of central park…
Interspecies sunbathing? YES!! This lovely heron seemed to know that it was posing for the camera as it gracefully posed to fully show off its figure. And the turtles? Well, I’m loving the little guy in the middle who seems to be trying to replicate the heron’s moves, complete with outstretched neck and head. He’s (she?) just trying so hard. I think he achieved the overall effect, albeit by replacing a bit of the grace with comedy. The other turtle, well, I just don’t think he got the memo about the sunbathing photo-op. That, or he’s just not quite as proficient as his cronies at “finding the light”. Or perhaps he feels his backside is his best angle…
Taken, of course, with the Canon Powershot G7. The location: Central Park, NYC. The post processing: a quick crop and contrast fix.
Enjoy. I found few more photos from my NYC trip that I forgot to add into the NYC series. They’ll slowly make their appearances!
a stroll down memory lane…
Autumn is my favorite time of the year. It makes me want to study for hours on end in coffee shops. I love pulling out my cozy sweaters. The crunching of the leaves on the ground makes me feel like a little kid without a care in the world. And yes, at the age of 24, if presented with a pile of leaves, I will still jump in and play.
There’s a certain ‘feeling’ in the fall and it just makes me feel happy inside. Whenever I need that feeling at other times during the year, I’ll take a look at this photo. My boyfriend and I embarked on a fall photo shoot in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, and this was one of my favorites. Looking at it evokes that happy autumn feeling and the feeling of contentment that comes with strolling down a colorful leaf-laden path with someone you love…
Taken with an Olympus Stylus 82o and processed as an HDR image to help bring out the vibrancy in the leaves. Enjoy the fall! Get a nice mug of cider, step outside, and breathe in the sweet brisk air that will slowly bring in the winter!
New York City: Part 3
Third in the series! Now our little travel troupe had made it over to Brooklyn…and was enjoying some much-needed ice cream. Of course, there was a post-ice cream photo op. So, here we have it. The pylon of the Brooklyn Bridge that is actually in…well, Brooklyn!
Taken with the Canon G7, naturally. Contrast fixed in Photoshop, image transformed into HDR.
busy as a bee…
I’ve been as busy as this little bee lately…hence the severe lack of new posts in the past couple of weeks!! I’m in between my first and second years of medical school (read: last summer EVER) and I have the most amazing job honing my clinical skills in the Temple ER! That said, I’m pulling insane hours at the hospital/preparing my body for the sleep-deprived years to come and simply haven’t had the time to really sit down with my photos and put together a decent post. So, for all of you anxiously awaiting a post, I apologize for the delay and present you with…A BEE!
I snapped this little bugger on my brother’s porch over the Memorial Day weekend. A wee bit of cropping was done, as it is pretty darn hard to properly compose a shot when your subject is a centimeter long and constantly moving. A little bit of contrast fixing was also done, as yellow flowers + yellow bee stripes + super sunny day = totally washed out color/contrast levels.
Oh, yeah, I almost forgot…this was taken with the fabulous Canon G7!!
put a lime in the coconut…
Now for a brief mental vacation!! This stately palm tree (complete with coconuts!!) was gently swaying in the breeze on one of Playa del Carmen’s beaches. Now for a little news update: I will be visiting Mexico once more this August, so stay tuned for new photos! WOOHOO!!!
The photo was taken with an Olympus Stylus 820 and was turned into a high dynamic range photograph when I got back to Pittsburgh . Can’t you just feel that Caribbean tradewind by looking at this picture?
divine dahlia: part three…
All good things must come to an end…including the Divine Dahlia mini-series! Hope you have been enjoying the photos! Now, I know that this flower was beautiful in all of its colored glory, but I really wanted to try some good ol’ black-and-white to bring out the details in the petals…and I think it worked!
As usual, the photo was taken with the Canon G7. Post-processed in Photoshop to select the color of the black-and-white filter. Enjoy and stay tuned for more pictures!
divine dahlia: part two…
Part two in the mini-series!! Again, taken with the Canon G7. This photo had its contrast fixed a tiny bit in Photoshop. Enjoy one of the bloomin’ beauties of spring!
divine dahlia: part one…
Ok. I’m in love with this flower. It is one of the gorgeous dahlia plants that my mother has at home…and it was so beautifully colored and flawless that I simply couldn’t resist making it the star of its very own photo shoot. This photo is number one of a 3 photograph mini-series.
As usual, the amazing Canon Powershot G7 was used. I think it was definitely more fortuitous than planned that the detail in this bloom showed up so well…who knew dahlias have tiny hair-like things on their petals (look at the center petals up close). And, I’m happy to announce that the sunlight was so perfect that absolutely nothing was “fixed” on this photo…straight from the memory card! Yay!
when life gives you lemons…
Ah, yes. My first foray into the wide world of still life! These were the lemons that I purchased at the Philadelphia Italian Market…10 Meyer lemons (the really yummy kind) the size of grapefruits (no joke…I have a photo to prove it) for $2. Yes, you read that right. 10 for 2! So, I used the lemon rinds to make some homemade limoncello. If you are interested in trying to make the stuff, just check out Michael Chiarello’s recipe on FoodNetwork. Its much simpler than most online…perfect for someone who has never made liqueurs before. So, the limoncello left me with 10 naked lemons. As mother always said, “when life gives you NAKED lemons, make lemonade.” I did just that…with the whopping 3 cups of juice I got from these gargantuan lemons.
Now down to business. I plopped the lemons into a lovely large blue bowl that I have, hung my afghan over a bookshelf, placed the subject on my ottoman, and went shutter-happy. I know…I’m working with such high-quality props, right? I used my amazing Canon G7 to capture the lemons and did a smidge of post-processing in Photoshop (namely a “bleached” effect). So, pucker up and enjoy some lemons!
