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Straight Out of the Camera

One Photo & Twenty Words

October 15, 2014 by carol anne Leave a Comment
"Waves on Rocks" "Holgate, NJ"

(click on me to make me bigger)

If only you knew how many shots it took to get this one. Unedited save for cropping. I am proud.

One Photo & Twenty Words is a meme from Abi at Creating Paper Dreams.

Posted in: Photos Tagged: Holgate NJ, ocean, Photography, rocks, Straight Out of the Camera, waves

Straight Out of the Camera Sunday

September 14, 2014 by carol anne 2 Comments

I shot this photo the night before the full harvest super moon on September 7. I like the way it captures the clouds and motion, I am working on learning how to use back button focusing. I think it worked out well in this particular shot.

Uncropped Image

"almost full moon September 7, 2014" "almost full moon"

(click to see full size image)

Cropped image

"almost full moon, September 7, 2014" "almost full moon"

(click to see full size image)

You can see more straight out of the camera images at Straight Out of the Camera Sunday.

Posted in: Photos Tagged: Straight Out of the Camera

Sundays in My City Straight Out of the Camera (Blue Hour Edition)

November 13, 2011 by carol anne 10 Comments

Well, it’s been quite a while since I’ve done a photo post. The malaise of late summer and all its complications has faded into the beauty of autumn and a frantic need to take as many photos as I can before my next surgery.

Ever since a friend posted a link to a blog with gorgeous, fantastic, stunning blue hour photos I’ve been obsessed with getting some of my own. The Photos that follow include my attempts at blue hour photography, a blurry yet pleasing to look at photo and 1 nighttime shot of Boathouse Row in Philadelphia. This week’s photos were taken in both south Jersey and Philadelphia with a Canon Digital Rebel XT.

This is my first photo from the first morning I decided to try my hand at morning blue hour shots. It’s the earliest shot of the bunch. I love the blackness of the porch silhouetted against the blue of the morning sky and the red of the coming dawn. Not bad for a first attempt, no?

Even though the sky is more purple than it is blue in this shot I like it.

The same day that I was up early trying my hand at blue hour photos for the first time I also spent some time later in the afternoon outside taking photos. I took this one in my backyard facing west during what I now suspect must have been the golden hour. I guess I still had the camera on manual focus and forgot to you know actually focus the lens. *shakes head* I’m a mess. I suppose I should be grateful for my messiness because out of it came this happy accident. It’s blurry, yet oddly pleasing to look at. Go figure. I couldn’t have done this on purpose had I tried.

It rained the night of the full moon so I had to settle for this 99% full shot from the night after. I guess I lucked up having to take a moon photo the next night because it gave me the opportunity to take a photo of the moon on this most auspicious date, which by the way is dad’s birthday.

This next attempt at blue hour photography was shot using a tripod with my white balance set to tungsten so of course the sky is quite blue. (see next photo for more natural color)

This is the same shot but taken with the white balance set to cloudy, which gives a more accurate color of the morning sky.

As I said earlier, dad’s birthday was Friday so my beloved hubby drove us over to the city to see dear old dad and take him to lunch. After a late lunch he kindly drove me to the South Street bridge so I could take photos of the Philadelphia skyline during the blue hour. This first photo is the view looking south from the South Street bridge. I love the colors and the black silhouette of the factory. This too was shot with the white balance set to tungsten.

I am absolutely in love with this shot. I can’t believe it’s one of my photos. This too was shot with the white balance set to tungsten.

I like this one too. It’s a nice shot of the city with the Schuylkill Expressway and Schuylkill River. No, that’s not a comet or shooting star in the sky. My best guess is a reflection of a light or sensor dust (mine is in bad need of a cleaning). This photo was shot with the automatic white balance setting.

This! This is by far my favorite shot of the night. I’m going to frame this for myself and give another copy to my dad because he loves the Philadelphia skyline. This too was shot with automatic white balance.

And finally we visited Boathouse Row before returning home to feed the kitties. I’m really happy with this shot. Truly it is the only one that turned out from last night. The rest are a blurry mess. I think the get a really fantastic shot of Boathouse Row you’ll need a wide angle lens, which I do not have. We also were parked in a no parking zone by the side of the busy West River Drive. All photos were taken with one eye on the camera and one eye on the road praying there’d be no visits from Philadelphia Police Officers with ticket books in hand. *laughs* I mistakenly left the white balance set to tungsten so this too was shot with the white balance set to tungsten.

Well, I hope you enjoyed your tour of South Jersey and Philadelphia during the blue hour and beyond. Thanks for stopping by.

Love,

~  Carol Anne

To see more beautiful photos from around the world please visit Straight out of the Camera, where all photos are unedited and gorgeous. After that please stop by Sundays in my City to people sharing photos from their cities all around the globe. Tell them Carol Anne sent you!

Posted in: Photos Tagged: almost full moon, blue hour, Boathouse Row, full moon, moon, philadelphia, Philadelphia skyline, Photography, Photos, Straight Out of the Camera, Sundays in my City

The Story of My Week as Told by the Photos, May 29 – June 4

June 5, 2011 by carol anne 28 Comments

~ waves ~ Hey! Welcome back. Thanks for stopping by. I’m so glad you could join me. I love visitors. Make yourself comfortable. It’s been a long week during which I had 3 good days to take pics. I’m using the text from Saturday’s catchup post to pull together this Weekly Winners / Sundays In My City / Straight Out of the Camera post. I hope you enjoy the sunset from Cape May County, the beautiful Morris Arboretum and our local duck pond.

This week’s photos were taken with my Canon Digital Rebel XT and my iPhone 3GS. Some of the Morris Arboretum photos were taken using the Camera+ app, which I’m still figuring out.

Sunday

We woke up early and were supposed to head down to Millville for the Millville Airshow. Unfortunately for us the Blue Angels were grounded for a safety violation the weekend before and just as we were getting ready to shower the power went out at Casa de Soapboxville. By the time the power came back on and we transferred the UPSes we use for our computers back from the fish tanks to the computers it was later in the day than we’d anticipated leaving. By the time we made it to Millville there was only an hour left to the show and traffic was non-existent so Chuck mentioned driving down to Cape May for dinner at the Lobster House. I’m always game for a trip to Cape May so off we went down to Cape May for a good meal. We got lucky and were seated right away. This is a minor miracle at the Lobster House, where the wait is often an hour or better. I had fried flounder and the hubs had sautéed scallops. Yum.

We were going to take a walk on the boardwalk in Wildwood but there was no parking to be had for block and blocks and the paid parking lots were asking $20 to park. For the amount of time we were actually going to stay up there we decided against paying to park. So we made our way to Laura’s for fudge for us and salt water taffy to give to folks in the Radiation Oncology department and Chuck’s coworkers. Everyone’s been so good to us I thought that some salt water taffy would be a nice treat to say thanks.

The ride home wasn’t bad either and I managed to get a few pics of the sun and sunset as we drove home. It was a really nice day and at least 10 degrees cooler in Cape May than it was at home.

Monday

Memorial Day and there was a heat advisory, the sun was strong and I had the day off from radiation treatments so I spent the day watching a marathon of the first season of West Wing on DVD. It was nice to relax, drink iced tea and watch one of my most favorite shows.

Tuesday

Tuesday began week 4 of my radiation treatments. As we were driving to the hospital, Donna, who is one of the radiation therapists called to tell me they were having trouble with the machine and that I should come later. Since dad was already waiting for me at the hospital I told her that I’d just wait it out. As it turned out I didn’t get out much later than I normally do. I seriously love those women. I don’t know how they do it but Donna, and Lauren and Maria and Denna and Jill and the new girl who’s name I have yet to remember are always pleasant and smiling and calm. When I worked at the magazine we’d all be pissed off and grouching and bitching that we couldn’t work if there were the slightest problems with the network or computers. How these women maintain such a good attitude on a daily basis is beyond me but I’m incredibly grateful for their good attitudes and daily kindnesses.

Wednesday

My halfway point!

15 treatments down, 15 to go. It also found me 234 days into my journey, which began on October 11, 2010. I was 4 weeks and 2 treatments days into my 7 week odyssey of radiation treatments. We ate pizza from Pizzeria Pesto for dinner and got ready to spend time at not 1, but 2 hospitals the next day.

Thursday

Treatment number 16 of 30. For the first time since my treatments began the first number was higher than the second number. I also saw my Oncologist, Dr. Hughes. I got a good report from her. She confirmed that the Neutrogena is the best sunscreen to use and added that I should not be out in the sun without a hat. My head still looks good, my vitals are good, my side effects are minimal and I’m feeling pretty good; a little tired, but pretty good otherwise. Everyone from the radiation therapists to my nurses to Dr. Hughes to Chuck all think my scalp is handling the radiation well.

I’d measure my relief later. I was in a hurry to get to Hahnemann Hospital to see my father. He had a heart catheterization and was scheduled to also have the blockage cleared and stay overnight. When Dr. Kussmaul (hope I’m spelling his name right) did the catheterization he said the blood vessel was too far back and the clog was too small and that surgical intervention or putting in another stent was too dangerous. He instructed my parents to talk to dad’s cardiologist, Dr. Victor to have it treated medically. Because they did not put a stent in dad was able to come home that afternoon. He has an appointment on Wednesday with Dr. Victor.

I’m on the fence about this development. Obviously part of me is glad they didn’t do anything that would be dangerous for dad but I’m also worried about the blockage growing or moving. I’m also worried about what exactly they’ll do for him medically. He’s already on at least 2 blood thinners; Effient and a daily aspirin. He bleeds pretty bad now. I can’t imagine how bad it will get if he’s on yet another blood thinner. I can’t do anything right now so I’ll think more about this on Wednesday when he goes for his appointment. If it’s later in the day maybe I’ll go with to listen to what Dr. Victor has to say.

Friday

Friday was a glorious day and since dad was not in the hospital Chuck and I decided to go to the Morris Arboretum after my radiation treatment was done for the day. We stopped in the city on our way out to the arboretum to pick mom up and take her to her weekly hair appointment. It was a long ride out to the arboretum and I was in search of a hat so we stopped at McDonalds for some lunch while searching for a strip mall with a clothing store. There was not a strip mall to be found within 5 miles of the arboretum so I called their gift shop from McDonalds to inquire if they sold hats. They do and so it was off to the arboretum. I was, or course covered in sunscreen — Neutrogena SPF 60 for sensitive skin. I Tweeted last week that I hated the Neutrogena sunscreen because it was too heavy but I did a better job of applying it this time and it wasn’t nearly as heavy, uncomfortable or yucky. I recommend it. I was out all afternoon at the arboretum and am as white as I was when I got up Friday morning.

I bought a straw hat at the gift shop before we set out on the trails. It was a gorgeous sunny, breezy afternoon. The arboretum is beautiful and we had a great day to be there. In addition to beautiful, trees, plants, flowers, fountains and a garden railway I saw quite a few chipmunks, ducks, birds, a spiderweb and a groundhog. The only downside to the day was they are currently playing host to an ungodly amount of gnats. They don’t bite but the swarms are creepy. I’d love to go back in the fall when all the trees are changing color. I bet it’s gorgeous in the snow also.

It took us 2 hours to get home in the weekend traffic. When we got home we took the kitties out for a walk in the beautiful spring sunshine on their leashes. It was a nice half an hour and then in we went to brush them real good and wipe them down from their outside adventures.

I was exhausted by evening and just about barely posted yesterday’s blog. What I wanted to say last night got tabled until today. If you see Chuck give him a hug. If you talk to Chuck tell him he’s a good husband. He took the day of my first radiation treatment off to be with me. He’s taken the last 3 Fridays off to be with me during my radiation treatments then spend the day with me. It’s made the fear and anxiety and worry more manageable to have a nice day to look forward to. Mr. Soapy’s a good egg with a good heart. I’m so blessed that he’s my husband. He’s been with me every step of the way right there by my side. I am well and truly blessed to have him right there by my side.

The next 3 photos are all of the same spot. I’m fascinated by the last photo. I couldn’t have done this were I trying but somehow I managed to capture the reflection of the sky. I actually had to look at it a few times to figure out what it actually was.

Saturday

We never did make it out in time for pretzels in the park. We did however have dinner at Outback, walk to the duck pond, stop for an iced caramel macchiato (me) and a Pop’s water ice (the hubs) for dessert and make stops at Target and Walmart to get some groceries and essentials.

I did something wrong and this photo came out really dark. (I will never make money as a photographer. LOL) However, I really like the way the water photographed in this pic.

You just know the goose is looking at me like, “Get that camera out of my face.”

Isn't this the cutest little kitty nose you've ever seen?

Love

I titled this one love. This is Mr. Soapy with Kupkake and Snöball. I stepped out to take a few photos the gorgeous late afternoon sunshine and as I came around the corner he was heading toward me with Snowy in the buggy and Cuppy in his arms. He’s the love of my life, my husband, my best friend, my rock, my strength, the person I love most in this world. He’s been by my side for almost 20 years now. I’m incredibly blessed.

I didn't even know they still made these

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Posted in: Photos Tagged: duck pond, Morris Arboretum, Straight Out of the Camera, Sundays in my City, Washington Lake Park, Weekly Winners

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