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Making the Most of a Busted Sunrise Photo Trip

On By Mark DoddIn Baltimore, Baltimore County, Fort Howard Park, General Blog Post, Home Page Slider Images, Inner Harbor, Maryland, North Point State Park, Photo LocationsLeave a comment

On a recent Sunday, I planned on getting up early to get Sunrise pictures. This is not something that I do easily as I am not a morning person. I normally do not get up until well after the sun has risen as I work the later shift at work.

Well on this Sunday I did my best the night before to check what the forecast would be. Based on what I saw I thought it was worth getting up early and driving down to the Baltimore Inner Harbor to get the sunrise as it had the potential to be a spectacular sunrise.

I arrived early enough to find a nice cloud deck above, the water was still, and there was a small sliver of an opening on the horizon. Well, the appointed time for the sun to come up came and went and it never made an appearance on the horizon as the clouds were just too thick. So my chance of an epic sunrise was a bust.

So I made the best of disappointment and decided let’s see what else I can get photos of. I ended up driving to four different locations this day as it was one of those rare warm days in February.  Here are some of the pictures I got on my 102-mile round trip.

 

Since the water was still in the Inner Harbor tried my best to get a few reflection shots. Here is one of them.

West side of the Inner Harbour on a still Sunday morning

It was so early I was able to get a shot of the visitors center without all the folks walking around. Sometime I’ll actually be down at the Inner Harbor when the visitors center is open so I can go in. It is supposed to be a very nice visitors center.

Baltimore Visitors Center

 

Next Stop, the Under Armour Corporate Headquarters and the pier nearby.

Seagulls on the Pier

I don’t have too many usable pictures from this location as I was testing out some manual lens that I had acquired. Seems I need to learn a few things about them still as things didn’t turn out as I had hoped for some images.

Off to North Point Park to meet up with a photography buddy, but along the way, I took a picture of some street art that I have been meaning to get for some time.

Unknown artist’s work only Key Highway

 

Last spot of the day, Fort Howard Park

Still working on editing some of the other images, but found this one dark room in one of the bunkers that had some artwork painted on the back and had some fun going a little overboard on the editing as I though it just lending itself to the wild side. So here are 2 different versions.

 

The first is a standard HDR shot.

BY THE LAW OF THE SISTERHOOD OF THREE AS IS DONE TO THE INNOCENTS THRICE SHALL IT BE

 

I didn’t like the fact that the words were covered so I’m trying my hand at some photoshop techniques. Still learning and this is my first attempt at combining 2 shots together to get the words.  Not quite happy with this version yet, but still figuring things out.

Let me know what you think of this or any of the images in this post

 

Shot the Cherry Blossoms

On By Mark DoddIn General Blog Post, Home Page Slider Images, Spring, Washington DCLeave a comment

Shot the Cherry Blossoms in Washington DC

I had a pretty productive day shooting the Cherry Blossoms around the Tidal Basin in Washington DC. Spend pretty much the entire morning down there and walked the entire basin.

It is taking a bit longer to edit the photos as after coming home I discovered I must have dirt on my sensor or somewhere in the camera. So it is taking me a bit longer to edit them as I have to clean the dirt spots of each picture. Although there is software out there that can remove the spots it is always best to make sure your camera is clean before your trip. In my case I did check out the sensor and cleaned the lens before this trip, but either the dust is very small on the sensor or I had dirt on my ND filter. I’m going to re clean everything and see if I can figure it out and do some test shots to see if I got it clean.

 

Washington Monument and the Cherry Trees

The Cherry Trees along the Tidal Pool with the Washington Monument in the background.
The Cherry Trees along the Tidal Pool with the Washington Monument in the background.

One of the first shots I got during the day and turned out as one of the better shots I got during the day. It is from the bridge on the way to the Jefferson Memorial.

#Cherryblossoms #WashingtonDC #DC #Flowers #Cherryblossomfestival #tida

First snow storm of the year is on the way…

On By Mark DoddIn Baltimore, General Blog Post, Home Page Slider Images, Johns HopkinsLeave a comment

Major Snow Storm on the way to the Mid-Atlantic

Trying out a new posting format that will include a photo header and a recent photo that I’ve taken. Figured this would be a perfect time to break out an old photo of Pine Trees in the Snow with the pending snow dump that is going to hit the Mid-Atlantic area I”m in this weekend.

I’ll admit I”m not a fan of winter, but if it is going to be cold I do like to see snow falling just as long as it doesn’t trap me at home for too long. Since I live on a private drive, the neighbors and I have to dig ourselves out and sometimes that can take all day.

I am looking forward a little to the first real snow of the season for our area. But when it is over and gone, I’ll be just fine until next winter. For now, enjoy a photo from a much warmer time this fall.

 

The Dome in the Fall

Photo of the Johns Hopkins Hospital Dome in the Fall

This is is the Johns Hopkins Hospital Dome and is the icon for the Johns Hopkins Hospital taken between some trees in the fall.

#JohnsHopkinsHospital, #JHH, #Baltimore, #Snow #Storm #Snowmagedon #WinterStoreJonas

Got published again….

On By Mark DoddIn American Kiwi Photo, Baltimore, General Blog Post, Home Page Slider Images, Maryland, Published WorksLeave a comment

Just found out today that I got published again in the Johns Hopkins Federal Credit Union 2016 Calendar.

This year I have the honor of having not one but two of my pictures featured in the 2016 Calendar, one of which made the cover.

The cover photo of the 2016 JHFCU Calendar is a cropped version of one of my Baltimore Inner Harbor Panoramas. Here is the cover of the 2016 Calendar showing my photo

JHFCU 2016 Calendar with a cropped portion of my Baltimore Inner Harbor Panorama
JHFCU 2016 Calendar with a cropped portion of my Baltimore Inner Harbor Panorama

 

The other is one of my photos that I took during the Sailabration event in Baltimore and is of one of the reenactments at Fort McHenry. It is the photo used for the month of September and shown below.

Photo used in the 2016 JHU Credit Union Calendar of a reenactment at Fort McHenry during the Sailabration events in Baltimore
Photo used in the 2016 JHU Credit Union Calendar of a reenactment at Fort McHenry during the Sailabration events in Baltimore

 

As always I’m humbled to have my images selected.

At first I didn’t even notice that I made the front cover as I just assumed my images would be on one of the interior pages. I did see the photo, but didn’t look at the caption right away and thought, looks like one of my photos but I didn’t send one in this format so it could not have been mine. I had sent the Panorama version in for possible use on their website, but I have no problem with the crop they choose as it looks great. Pays to pay attention to the details and read the caption. Anyway, very happy I’m on the cover as well.

Sold a photo of my Alma Mater Milton Hershey School today

On By Mark DoddIn American Kiwi Photo, General Blog Post, Hershey, Home Page Slider Images, Milton Hershey School, PennsylvaniaLeave a comment

Sold one of my favorite photos of my Alma Mater, Milton Hershey School, today

Thank you to the buyer from Wake Forest, NC for your purchase.

I have several other angles of Founders Hall and during daylight hours, but I have come to like this one the best as you can see Founders Hall light up at night like this from all over Hershey.

If I remember right, you could see the top of the Dome from the student homes I use to live in while there and it is one of the buildings that has not changed since I attended school there.

 

Founders Hall at Night

Had a busy time at the Star Spangled Spectacular Event in Baltimore

On By Mark DoddIn Baltimore, General Blog Post, Home Page Slider Images, Maryland

This week has been busy here in Baltimore.  From September 10-16, Baltimore has hosted the Star Spangled Spectacular Celebrating the 200th Anniversary of our National Anthem.

Part of the event included visiting Naval ships along with various Tall ships from around the work.  Along with the Navy’s Blue Angels.

I’d say my highlight of the weekend was the Blue Angels show, it was awesome seeing them fly over Baltimore, the inner harbor area, and over Fort McHenry.

Below is a small sampling of some of the pictures I got over the weekend. Check out Americankiwiphoto.com for my favorites when I’m done processing them.

Photo Featured in the Johns Hopkins Credit Union’s 2015 Calendar

On By Mark DoddIn General Blog Post, Home Page Slider Images, Published Works

I got some good news this morning that one or more of my photos are going to be included in the JHFCU’s (Johns Hopkins Federal Credit Union) 2015 Calendar.

Part of the Congratulations message I got this morning.

Congratulations! Your photo(s) has been selected for JHFCU’s 2015 calendar.  We received many entries and had only a limited number of slots, so picked the photos that we felt best represented the Hopkins community and Baltimore area.

The calendars are being printed now and will be distributed to members at upcoming benefits fairs, then in branches on November 1st.

I’m not sure which photo(s) they ended up selecting yet as I submitted 3, so I’ll have to wait until the calendar becomes available to find out.

I feel honored to have had them select any of my photos for the calendar and when I find out which photo or photos I’ll add the photo(s) to this post.

Yay Me!. As they said, there were a limited number of slots and the fact that any one of the over 38,000 members could have submitted a photo, I can’t help but be excited one of mine got accepted.

Update: Still don’t know which one they selected, but I did figure out which photos I submitted and here they are.

Which do you thing it was.

Domino
Domino Sugars Plant in Baltimore
Ship in Harbor at Night
Ship in Harbor at Night in the Inner Harbor Baltimore
The Pride of Baltimore II
The Pride of Baltimore II in the Harbor just south of Fort McHenry

 

My First Post

On By Mark DoddIn General Blog Post, Home Page Slider Images

We I’m finally diving into the world of online blogging after procrastinating for years.

I hope to have my own insights along with what I have found to be of use to me in helping me learn the art of photography.

I’ll state it up front that I still consider myself very much an amateur photographer. I do post some of my work on my AmericanKiwiPhoto.com website for those who might wish to buy some of it.

For now, enjoy one of my favorite Panoramas of Baltimore

Baltimore Inner Harbor with Tall Ships at night.