sunset seagulls…
I’m baaaaaack!!! Oh my gosh…I can’t believe its been 1.5 months since I’ve posted!! Rotations and other things have just kept me so busy lately that my photoblog got shoved to the back burner. But, its officially Winter Break now, so here I am!!!
To help ward off the winter chills, here a warm and glowing sunset shot taken from Presque Isle on Lake Erie during the warmest days of summer! I shot this one during a much-needed daytrip with my mom. We stayed for sunset (both to see the sights and to justify another round of fudge milkshakes at Sara’s Camground, as our previous round happened only a few hours prior) and the seagulls were extremely active. They kept rising up in flocks off of the breakwaters offshore and streaking across the sunset as silhouettes. Gorgeous.
I cannot even begin to tell you how many photos I snapped of the seagulls at sunset. The number is a bit obscene. But it was just so pretty! With such vibrant colors!! I couldn’t help myself!!! Luckily, its not like I’m wasting film!
So, enjoy the photo and warm yourselves up a bit! And if you’re ever on Presque Isle, visit the diner at Sara’s Campground right at the park entrance: Best. Milkshakes. Ever.
(Of course, taken with the Canon G7. Contrast improved in Adobe Photoshop CS3.)
Happy Holidays!!!
small sandy stonehenge…part 1
Its an itty-bitty Stonehenge! A small, sandy stonescape!
Over the summer, my mom and I took a girls’ Saturday day-trip up to Erie to chill out on the beach at Presque Isle. What a lovely day! Towards the end of the day, my overly-relaxed brain apparently regressed to that of a 3-year-old and I built a tiny Stonehenge in the sand. Then my brain snapped back to photog-mode and I realized that, heck, my small and sandy Stonehenge looked pretty neat up close! Thus, this picture was born.
Of course, it was taken with the Canon G7. Slight sepia tone and contrast fiddling were done in Adobe Photoshop CS5 (yes, you read that correctly…I now have the immense pleasure of using CS5!!).
Stayed tuned for the second part of this itty-bitty Stonehenge series!
P.S.A. Time (and, no, I don’t mean “prostate-specific antigen”): TIME TO GET YOUR FLU SHOT, PEOPLE! I GOT MINE TODAY…NOW GO GET YOURS!
come under my umbrella…
I’m back! And I survived my surgery rotation! Onwards and upwards…to internal medicine! As a woohoo-surgery-is-finito-and-I-officially-have-time-to-myself confirmation moment, my mom and I took a girls’ day-trip to Presque Isle State Park up in Erie to enjoy the beach. Well, the combination of the beautifully clear, cloudless day combined with the fact that I haven’t taken a single photo since surgery began turned me into a Saturday Shutterbug. So, kind folks, here we have what I like to call “Colors of Summer.” Let’s just say that I pretty much think I have the prettiest beach umbrella ever…and I’m a total sucker for rainbow-colored anything. Enjoy…and stay tuned for more Erie pictures!
Of course, it was taken with the fabulous Canon Powershot G7.
P.S. Thanks for waiting out the photography dry-spell with me! Check back often, as I’ll certainly be more diligent with my posts now!
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!
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!
radiance…
Alright. I’m not going to say much about this photo, except that it is one of my favorite shots from my trip to Mexico this summer. It was sunrise at our hotel (Ocean Coral and Turquesa) and the sheer serenity of the world in front of me was breathtaking. Luckily, the (amazing) Canon G7 has a fun little feature that lets you select only one color in your photo to show through the black and white. Well, I found the perfect shade of sunrise and photographed away!!! This shot is pretty much straight from the camera!!! Only needed a smidge of contrast fixing. I recommend using this picture for a 5 minute mental vacation…it definitely works for me!! Enjoy and bon voyage!!
sailing…
“…Takes me away
To where I’ve always heard it could be
Just a dream and the wind to carry me
And soon I will be free
It’s not far down to paradise
At least it’s not for me
And if the wind is right you can sail away
And find tranquility
The canvas can do miracles
Just you wait and see
Believe me
Sailing
Takes me away
To where I’ve always heard it could be
Just a dream and the wind to carry me
And soon I will be free”
Yup, couldn’t resist. Just had to throw in those lyrics with this picture! So, this sunset shot was taken, well, at sunset, on Isla Mujeres, Mexico. Have I mentioned before how gorgeous that island is? Yes? Oh, ok.
Sunsets from Playa Norte are simply stunning. One of the few places in the Mayan Riviera that you can see the sun set over the ocean. Beautiful.
Taken with the trusty Canon Powershot G7! Stay tuned for more glimpses of Mexico (just bear with me with this period of scanty posting…med school’s a bit crazy!)
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!
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!!
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.
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!
It seems a little ERIE…
This picture was taken at Presque Isle State Park on Lake Erie. The sunsets viewed from Lake Erie’s shore are rather well-known for being nothing short of stunning. The photograph was taken using an Olympus Stylus 820 digital camera.
