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!
We’ll be right back after the break…
(Cue Mrs. Doubtfire voice) Heeellooooooo! Just a quick post so that no one thought I perhaps fell off the face of the earth. Well, I suppose that I have in a way…studying for 8-10 hours per day for the boards has turned me into a recluse. A recluse who has been spending an ungodly number of hours with her cats. Med-student-with-a-brain-that-is-quickly-reaching-its-exploding-point? Check. Crazy-cat-lady-in-the-making? Check. Kitties very happy to have a stay-at-home mommy for 3 weeks? Check (don’t get used to it, my darling fuzzballs…once rotations start, I’m just going to be the seld0m-seen character that feeds you and seems to be warm to sleep by at night…and if I’m not warm at night, please call for help…I presume I will have been worked to death).
Help! I’m trapped in my apartment and can’t get out…until May 7th! Well, I have been patronizing Borders quite a bit. And I’d really rather not attempt to tally up the number of sugar-free raspberry iced black teas that I’ve consumed in the past few weeks…mmmmmm…..
That said, May 7th from 9am-5pm (!) is the big day! USMLE Step 1, better watch out, ‘cuz I’m gonna kick your tushie. And 8pm to who-knows-when is going to be one fantastic night out in Center City with me and med school peeps who have all been cooped up for way longer than can possibly be deemed healthy by the medical profession.
So, I’ll be back with some photos after the most important test of my life…see you then!
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!!
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!!!
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”!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
green with envy…
This little bugger was snapped with my new lover…er…Canon G7. I just can’t get enough of that little gem! The tiny tree sprouting on a wall by the Schyulkill River (in Philadelphia) looked ever so lonely, stuck between essentially a rock and a hard place. I used the color selection capability on the camera, coupled it with the macro setting and just went to town. I also post-processed the image into an HDR photograph.
A little something green to tide everyone over until spring!
