Who can? PELI-CAN!!!…
This little photo was taken from the Puerto Morelos (Mexico) pier. Apparently there is ALWAYS a pelican on that specific pole. Seriously. I’ve heard this mentioned on numerous travel blogs…he (she?) even shows up in lots of pictures in Google!! My theory is that he’s (she’s?) just a bird trying to catch his (her?) big beak…er…break… in these hard times. You know, just trying to get his (her?) picture out there and hopefully be scouted by a top bird modeling agency. I mean, look at those wings!! And that arch in his (her?) neck! So perfect!
Now, in all seriousness…oh, heck. How can one be serious when making a post devoted to pelicans? Is it just me, or do you find yourself a bit giggly when you think about those birds? Okay, maybe its just me. Anyhoo, I played around with the tint in Photoshop and decided that sepia (rather than color) suited the photo quite well. Precisely the feel I was aiming for. And I think it brings out his (her?) features wonderfully and thus increases his (her?) chances of getting that big break. C’mon America’s Next Top Pelican, this is your bird. Oh…yes…of course it was taken with the trusty Canon Powershot G7!!
heaven on earth…
Okay, folks! Back again! I have to apologize for my scanty postings…second year of med school is crazy!!! But, I’m ready to make up for lost time.
This photo is from my trip to Mexico this summer. My family and I visited Isla Mujeres (everyone must go there! GORGEOUS!) mainly for the white sand beaches (will post beach shots soon!), but we found the town was simply amazing to wander around in. A cemetery on Calle Lopez Mateos was particularly eye-catching. I can’t even begin to describe the intense colors of the monuments and how densely they were packed in there (hmmm…perhaps I’ll just have to post visual evidence). However, there was one monument that towered above many others and that was this particular angel. To my luck, when I looked at the photo I had taken, I noticed that the flare of the sun combined with the angel looked just like a tiny glimpse of heaven! How…divine!
As usual, the picture was taken with the Canon Powershot G7 (oh, what fun we had in Mexico!). I then cross-balanced the image in Photoshop CS3. Enjoy and stay tuned! More photos to come, I promise!
from my point of view…
Okay, folks! I know you have been waiting with bated breath, but alas! The wait is over! Here is one of my photos from my trip to Puerto Morelos, Mexico. It is a small, sleepy fishing village nestled on the Mayan Riviera coast of the Yucatan Peninsula between Cancun and Playa del Carmen. It hasn’t been overrun or completely adulterated by tourists yet and retains its cultural charm. It sure made for one amazing trip to Mexico!
The hotel my family and I stayed at was the Ocean Coral and Turquesa Resort…basically a small slice of heaven on the shore. This picture was the result of me enjoying being both sneaky and creative while taking pictures on my last day. It really is fun taking snapshots from angles and places that you don’t necessarily notice at first. I can tell you that I only saw the “pool view” through this tiny arch on my last day…after 7 days of countless trips past it! This was taken shortly after sunrise (hence the perfect lighting and strange lack of pool-goers). I just love the yellow of the wall contrasted against the blue water and hotel (& reflection). More sunrise photos and Mexico photos to come! And, obviously, taken with the G7!
And feel free to ask any questions you may have about Puerto Morelos (or Playa del Carmen or Isla Mujeres, for that matter)…I’d be more than happy to answer them (especially if you think you want to visit yourself!).
New York City: Part 1
I finally made it to the Big Apple! About time, considering I’ve been living a mere 2 hours away from it for an entire year now! The wonderful future Dr. Heather served as one of our guides…and certainly showed us some impressive sights. My next few posts will be shots that I took in NYC.
This photo was taken from on the Brooklyn Bridge, back to Brooklyn, facing Manhattan. A much longer bridge than I thought…nearly 1.2 miles. Guess I’m just used to Pittsburgh’s myriad bridges (446 to be exact) which happen to be a fraction of the length of this puppy.
Anyhoo, I couldn’t resist taking this classic shot of the Brooklyn Bridge. Another classic shot that I couldn’t resist taking was what I call my “chick flick pic”. The boyfriend and me stealing a quick kiss on the bridge with a backdrop of NYC, complete with a popped leg. And no. I’m not posting it. A lady has to leave something to the imagination.
So, enjoy the Bridge. Taken with the fabulous Canon G7 and post-processed into and HDR image. And keep checking back for more city shots!
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?
have i told you lately that…
This one goes out to the one I love (sorry for the REM quote). Some say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I think this one says precisely three. THE three little words. My wonderful boyfriend (of over 3 years!) and I embarked on an adventure out to the Jersey Shore on Friday. I love the beach. I love my boyfriend. I was ridiculously happy. Anyhoo, the water was wonderful, particularly for body surfing, and lounging in the sunshine was simply delightful. He fried to a wonderful lobster-red shade, I turned a lovely golden brown. Ah, the wonders of sunblock. Towards the end of the day, I noticed that the clouds were simply beautiful overhead and I got an idea. I had seen silhouette “writing” somewhere and I thought it would be a cute surprise for the aforementioned man in my life (who will willingly watch the Bachelorette with me while enjoying Chinese take-out and ice cream) if I did a little sky writing myself. The people behind me on the beach obviously thought I was nuts as I kept making contorted hand shapes in the air and then snapping pictures of them, but oh, what one will do for love.
So, now for the specs: Six pictures taken against a beachy sky with the Canon Powershot G7. Compiled and contrast-enhanced in Photoshop to really make my hand-letters pop. Size of final image reduced in Photoshop because the original compilation was over 3oo inches long and my computer was visibly having trouble handling and touching up such a massive photo. Enjoy.
glutamine, shmutamine…
Its been a while since I put up a hardcore nerd photo. And, well, there’s no time like the present! I made a solution (at my old lab, of course) of the amino acid glutamine. When a drop of the solution is placed on a microscope slide and allowed to dry out, crystals of glutamine form. I tossed those puppies under the microscope (Olympus BX51) and took a picture at 10x. Gotta love the ice-like quality of the crystals and the rainbow refractions!
Gosh, I sure do miss the good ol’ lab days sometimes! I was always able to do the most unique microscopic photography there!!!
through the drinking glass…
Allow me to fill you in on the birth of this photograph. I was studying for my Block 6 Pharmacology/Pathology/Immunology final (fun, right?). At the same time, I was enjoying a nice cold glass of grape juice. Drinking the grape juice was infinitely better than studying, so I sat there and finished it in one shot. Placing the glass down on my desk and looking inside of it to waste yet more time, I noticed that, “Heck, this could be a cool photo.” Translation: anything, including photographing grape juice residue, is better than studying for this darn final. Grabbed the trusty Canon G7 and had a small photo shoot with my glass. Then I popped the picture into Photoshop for some contrast adjustment and bleaching effects…and there you go! Amazing timewaster…I mean, piece of photographic art!
Oh, and for those of you who are wondering, yes, I did pass that final and successfully completed my first year of medical school. Yay!
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!
one of these things is not like the other…
Can you find it? The one thing that’s not quite like the others? Yes, okay, that was pretty easy. The open window. So much for that bit of fun. This photo was taken out in Old City in Philadelphia…near Shirt Shop Corner! I simply fell in love with the old worn brick and weathered blue wood around the windows…it felt like that building just had so much history in it. Perhaps Betsy Ross or Ben Franklin visited friends in that building at one point? Who knows, but its fun to imagine the happenings in old historical places!
Anyhoo, the photograph was taken with the lovely Canon Powershot G7 (of course!) and just had a smidge of contrast adjustment done to produce the final product! Enjoy!
there’s always a silver lining…
Well, if this photo doesn’t convince you, then let me have a try: SUNSETS FROM PRESQUE ISLE ON LAKE ERIE ARE GORGEOUS. If you live in Pennsylvania (or not!), you simply must venture up to Erie for the solar show of your life. Grab that special someone and settle into one of the numerous jumbo lifeguard chairs on one of the many beaches to watch a dazzling display of colorful light dance across the rippling water.
Photo was taken with an Olympus Stylus 820 and the contrast was fixed in Photoshop (because it seems that basic point-and-shoot cameras can never properly capture sunset colors and dynamics…but that little bugger of a camera was water resistant and quite nice for a day at the beach). Enjoy!
a stroll down a sunny street…
This photo was taken on that wonderfully sunny day when the amazing future Dr. Heather gave me a tour of South Philly and the Italian Market. There was just something about that sleepy, sunny street with the bicycles leaning against the stoops that was screaming, “Take a picture of me!!!” So, here we have it. Taken with the amazing G7 and softened to create the pretty glow and muted colors in Photoshop. Enjoy!
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!
verdant fern…
This shot is of a rather interesting fern that happened to catch my eye during a stroll through Pittsburgh’s Phipp’s Conservatory. It was taken with an Olympus Stylus 820 digital camera and colorized in Adobe CS3 to make the leaves really pop! Enjoy!!
teratoma…tera…tera…teraWHAT??
Image description: Human teratoma, 60x magnification, immunofluorescent confocal microscopy on Olympus IX81 with a Fluoview 1000 confocal head. Note the simple columnar epithelium with goblet cells (reminiscent of intestinal epithelium) and extensive vasculature. Image taken at the Center for Biologic Imaging (CBI). The tumor specimen is, in fact, my own. I had a softball-sized mature cystic teratoma on my ovary and it was removed during emergency surgery. See the comments section if you’d like the whole (fun!) story. Remember…I worked in an imaging lab…that’s why I was able to take the specimen with me and image it at the lab. What scientist could resist the chance to image something so cool and uncommon??? Not me, that’s for sure! And don’t worry…the lab thought it was cool, not gross.
P.S. They mention a teratoma in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” Don’t believe me? Watch the dinner scene towards the end where the parents meet each other. The aunt talks about her friend who had one on her neck. Dead serious about that.
Philadelphia Phood Phun…
Mamma mia! This Italian girl just found her heaven on earth! Fresh produce, spices, cheeses, pasta, and meat as far as the eye can see! All for pocket change! Oh Marone a mi!!!!!! Many thanks to the awesome future Dr. Heather for showing me the things that truly make this town great! Oh…and many thanks to her for watching my back so that I wouldn’t get run over as I stood in the middle of the street to take this picture!
As usual, this image was taken with my beloved Canon G7. Post-processing was done to bring out the vibrance in the photograph that I could see on the street in person, but the sun drowned out a bit on camera! The photo was also done in HDR-style. Enjoy! Eat, drink, and be merry!!
sakura!!!
It is that wonderful cherry blossom (sakura in Japanese) time of year! This little gem was growing, of all places, on a lovely little tree in East Falls underneath the Roosevelt Expressway! I used my shutterbug syndrome enabler, the G7, to snap the flower. Post-processing was done to transform the photo into HDR-style and to bring out the details in the petals!
just add flower and water…
So I went out to my car this morning to start the daily commute to good ol’ med school and it just so happened to be pretty much the one day that I had my camera with me, as I wanted to take some pics of our acapella group (shout out to the Transplantations!!). And, as luck would have it, my windshield presented me with the perfect subject to shoot in the morning light! So, I quickly chose to get on the road a bit late in favor of a bit o’ photography. Thus came this shot. The flower is actually the underside of some flower that had fallen off of a tree and drifted onto my car. The water was courtesy of the veritable 10 minute monsoon that we had the night before. So, here’s the recipe for a photograph:
Add flower to water. Marinate overnight. Capture in the morning light.
steel…er…spring magnolias!
These gorgeous magnolias were in full bloom right in front of my apartment. Endless flowers that seemingly touch the sky–what a wonderful way to bring in spring. The image was taken with a Canon Powershot G7. The photo was then post-processed in Photoshop to fix the coloration and then transformed into a high-dynamic range image. Enjoy!
a morning silhouette…
This beautiful tree is on the University of Pittsburgh campus between the Cathedral of Learning and Heinz Chapel. I took the photo at approximately 5am during the 1st annual Relay For Life at Pitt, just as the morning sun was starting to come up! An Olympus Stylus 820 was used to capture this delicate silhouette.
On distant shores…
This photograph was taken during a lovely trip to Presque Isle State Park in Erie, Pennsylvania last May. The slight glow of early sunset was truly gorgeous as it cast a rosy hue across the island…and I just had to capture it! I used an Olympus Stylus 820 digital camera and color balanced the photo in Adobe Photoshop CS3. Additionally, the image is an HDR (high dynamic range) image. If you have a free summer day, get thee to Erie!!
