Taking sometime this holiday weekend to take a look at some older images that I marked to edit but never got around to.
It is worth your time to go through your older images from time to time. As technology changes in photography software some of those images that you didn’t think would work may now be one of your better images. You never know.
Anyway, here is one of the images I worked on this weekend from a 2016 trip down to Fells Point in Baltimore with a photographer friend of mine. One of the early morning trips that I have taken. I’m not a morning person, so this took some dedication.
Two Baltimore Tug boats on the pier in Fells Point.
Went down for the last night of the Light City Festival at the Inner Harbor yesterday to redo some shots that I was not happy with and to get a few art pieces that I had missed somehow.
Although I did like the picture I got of the “Voyage” (the floating lights), I felt getting a few more shots when it was darker of just the lights would be better. I also went back to the Peacock to get some more shots when it was darker and was hoping with less people. Alas, it was as popular as before, but I think I got a few good shots in between all the folks walking up to the work who were there to admire it as well. I will say the “Voyage” and the “Peacock” were my two favorite pieces of the show. The Laser Lotus may have been another one, but the two days I was in the area it didn’t seem to be working.
I had gone back down to also get the “The Pool” as I had somehow missed that exhibit entirely last time even though I would have had to walk right passed them to get to the metro on my way home the other night. I guess I was just too tired to notice at that point.
Here are a few unedited shots I got of each. I took a ton of photos of each as I knew it was the last chance to get them. It is going to make it tough to narrow it down to the best of each.
The Peacock
The Peacock a 20 foot tall animatronics bird with illuminated wings up to 40 feet
The Voyage
Voyage presented by Brown Advisory: Aether & Hemera (United Kingdom) 300 “paper boats” with rainbow-colored lights that were manipulated by festival-goers.
The Pool
Colorful concentric circles that changed colors as folks stepped on them
Spent another night at the Inner Harbor for the Light City Festival last night.
This time I started over at Inner Harbor East and walked back towards the Inner Harbor. This was the side that had more of the individual artists displays. Out of the two halves that I saw this is definitely the more interesting side.
I did miss getting the tall ship Stad Amsterdam as it had left the Inner Harbor and was a bit disappointed about that. That just stresses the point of, if you see something you want to take a picture of take it as it might not be there tomorrow. As in my case, I got the stern of the ship and meant to get it from the bow last night, but it had left.
The show goes on until Sunday night (4/3/16) and it is worth the visit. If you are limited on time I would start on the East side and make your way back towards the Inner Harbor.
The Big Cube
The Beacon: The Barnycz Group (Baltimore, MD) A landmark multi-story cube built from hundreds of LED panels. The Beacon will engage, inform, and entertain festival-goers with Light City images.
The Floating Lights
Voyage presented by Brown Advisory: Aether & Hemera (United Kingdom) 300 “paper boats” with rainbow-colored lights that are manipulated by festival-goers.
Spent the good part of Tuesday night in downtown Baltimore at the Light City Baltimore event. This is just one day of many I plan on being down there for this event. Most of the displays are around the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, but some are also spread around the city. See the Light City Baltimore website at lightcity.org/ for details of what is where.
This first night I started out on Federal Hill to get the wide view of downtown and then slowly made my way up towards the Light St Pavilion. This is not even 1/2 way around the event. I took my time and in many situations, as I had to be very patient to get the shot I wanted. I will say I didn’t see as many photographers as I expected, but then again I haven’t seen all the displays yet and some of the more interesting displays are in areas I will go to on Thursday.
I’ve got many pictures to go through and process, but here is just a sampling of first the two I’ve processed quickly for you.
The Ferris Wheel
The Ferris when by Rash Field and the Maryland Science Center. My first attempt at doing this kind of photo. I think it turned out pretty well.
Although I did like it, something was not quite right. I had taken it on my tripod at the lowest height setting I could use. After someone commented on my Facebook page that they thought the hands were too close to the edge of the photo I realized that was what was bugging me about the photo.
Since I do not have a super wide-angle lens what was I going to do. My widest lens is a 18mm-135mm and that is the lens I used for this photo and was already at the widest setting of 18mm. I thought about it for a few days and decided I’d go back and just set the camera on the floor.
So yesterday I went back, set the camera on the floor and got ready to take a few photos. I’ve done this kinda thing before with sheer guesswork and multiple attempts. Take the photo, pick up the camera, check the image and repeat until I got what I was looking for. This takes forever and there is no sure way to know if I got the shot until I picked up my camera and took a look at what I just shot. Not to mention that you had to remember where the camera was when you picked it up so you knew where to place it when making an adjustment.
My camera does not have a flip screen or wi-fi, so I had no way to view the image live. Also it is inside and my camera doesn’t have a high enough ISO to let me hand hold it and get a noiseless photo without using a flash, which would destroy the look. What else was I going to do.
Then I started thinking. I have a cell phone, it has a forward facing camera so you will see on the screen what it is pointing to. Can I use this to see what I would see through the viewfinder. Turns out the answer is yes. I placed the camera on the floor, slide my cell phone under the viewfinder so the lens is lined up with the viewfinder, and low and behold, I could see on the screen what the viewfinder was showing.
Here is the picture of the setup on the floor at the base of the statue.
I did have to use my lens cap to prop up the right side of my camera to make it level. So if you are going to do something like this, have a few small items that are the same thickness as your cell phone just in case you need to prop one side of you camera up like I did. I lucked out in that my lens cap was the same thickness as my cell phone
Here is of one of the photos I took with this setup. I think it turned out rather well with much more space between the hands and the edge of the frame and showing much more of the dome itself.
The Statue of Jesus in the Billings Building of Johns Hopkins Hospital
I do have a Black and White version that is colorized like the first photo on my store page so be sure to check that one out as well.
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
This is is the Johns Hopkins Hospital Dome and is the icon for the Johns Hopkins Hospital taken between some trees in the fall.
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
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
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.
I was pleasantly surprised to find the 2015 Johns Hopkins Credit Union Calendar in my mailbox today and I’ve finally found out which of my images they selected.
And the winner is.
You find it on the month of September.
Again, I am humbled that they selected one of my photos for the calendar and hope folks enjoy it and the many other excellent photos in the calendar this year.
