Spring Cherry Blossoms Part 2

Here are more cherry blossoms to enjoy.  I get a second chance at photographing them because the weeping cherry trees in my own yard bloom a lot later than the trees in Lexington Park and elsewhere.  The first photo is a stacked photo to improve the sharpness of the image, taken in a Lexington Park parking lot.  Notice how much more impact the photo with just a blue sky makes than the others with blurred backgrounds.

Autumn in St. Mary's County 2

I wandered around the south part of the county a few days.  Here are the best images.

 

St. Mary's College of Maryland Bicycler

Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church Woods

Red Maple Closeup

Red Maple Row

Home Grown Farm Market

Creek in Lexington Park

Lexington Park Cityscape

We are having a cityscape theme competition for our camera club this month.  But I don’t have access to a city easily, except Lexington Park and Leonardtown.  For fun, I took photos of some of the most interesting buildings I could find in Lexington Park in one afternoon with round or unusual shapes and mirrored windows.  My Photoshop skills need more work, so this was a learning experience.  I put the photos in a panorama and imported them into my tiny planet app.  It didn’t quite work.  So, I tried it again in Photoshop after looking up how to do it.  It still needs work, and didn’t make it in time for the competition.  I wanted to add in something about the water, so I added the Dove ship and anchored the buildings on sand.   All the building blocks of the story are my own photos.  It was a little blah, so I added a cloud and reshaped it.  Any suggestions besides fixing the background of the ship? Could I add water anywhere?

Any ideas for unusual buildings in Leonardtown to try again?

#LexingtonPark #cityscape

#Please share.

Tiny Planet App with the stretched photos

Photoshop “planet”

Blue Angels Practice Show June 1, 2018

 Since I wasn't sure if the weather would cooperate for the Air Expo this weekend, I photographed the Blue Angels in California and Lexington Park, MD on Friday afternoon.

Cherry Blossom Festival Photos

Just a few pictures from today's event, April 8th.  The sky was sunny and kind of cool, and we had lots of fun.

https://www.facebook.com/CalmReflectionsPhotography/posts/10155090173611572

Cherry Blossom Festival Lexington Park

Sarita, the bride

Smawlie and Sarita

April 2017 interview after the First Annual Cherry Blossom Festival with Sarita, the toy poodle.

Interviewer from radio station WOOF:   Congratulations!  You tied for first place in the dog parade at the Cherry Blossom Festival!

Sarita:   I won?!  Woof, woof!   I am so excited!

Interviewer:   I love your bride costume.  I guess the judge did too. Can you share anything about it?

Sarita:   Only that I just couldn't decide what to wear.  You can never have too many outfits, you know.  Mom's friend Nell helped me choose which outfit to put on right before the parade.  I guess she picked the right one.  My doggy friend DJ recently wore his groom outfit for a photo shoot with me.  He's just so handsome!  Grrrr!

Interviewer:   What was it like to be in the dog parade?

Sarita:   It had me panting!  It was so much fun with all those humans admiring me.  I'm just so adorable!

Interviewer:   I saw your Mom pick out a prize.  What did you win?

Sarita:   She chose a fuzzy fox toy.  I love it!  I love it!  I will play with it every day.  Grrr...

Interviewer:   Great News!  I heard there will be another dog parade next year.  Do you plan to attend next April 8th?

Sarita:   I plan on it.  See if all you big boys can beat me.  I hope all my pup friends come too.  Bring your human along to cheer for us, of course.  Let the competition begin!

Interviewer:   Wonderful!  I saw you over there posing with Smawlie.

Sarita:   Yes, for my winning portrait.  Although you don't have to win to pose.  Woofly friendly guy.

Interviewer:   Thank you so much for speaking with me.  I hope to see you on April 8th, 2018 12-4 pm at Coral Drive and Tulagi Place, Lexington Park, near NAS Gate 2.  The dog parade starts around 12:30pm.  Don't forget there will be vendors selling food and beautiful arts and crafts also.

Sarita:  Yeah, my Mom's one of the vendors!

Cherry Blossom Festival ArtsPark Photos

I really enjoyed myself at the Cherry Blossom Festival.  I made some new friends and caught up with some friends I already know.

Here are some photos of the Cherry Blossoms from March 25th 2017.  It is so hard to predict when they will bloom.

Sarita was in the dog costume parade.  She tied for first place for best costume.  I brought 3 costumes with me, since I wasn't sure what the temperature would be and asked my friend, Nell to pick which one she liked best.  Sarita was a cute bride, even if she tried to take off her veil a few times.  She posed in her bridal costume with SMAWLIE, the mascot for the St. Mary's Animal Welfare League.

Enjoy the ArtsPark Cherry Blossom Festival Sunday April 9th,11-4 at Lexington Park

There will be music, art, demos, performers, dancing, and of course I will be there selling cherry blossom cards and other photography crafts.

The festival includes a costumed dog parade at noon, so bring your dog too to join my cutie, Sarita.

Lancaster Dog Park photos added to Dog Services Website

I visited the John G. Lancaster Dog Park again after discovering a website that needed photos of the local dog park.  It is an excellent source of information for people traveling with their dogs and I thought I could help tell the local community that the dog park is available. 

The website www.bringfido.com includes pet friendly accommodations, places to visit with your dog (beaches, hiking trails, tours), shelters, kennels, airlines, and even pet friendly restaurants!  You can see my photos of the John G. Lancaster Dog Park in Lexington Park, MD and maybe even learn some useful dog information if you are traveling with your pet.

The park is very nice, with lots of open space for dogs to run, a little tunnel, safe separate double gate entry for large and small dogs, shade trees and running water.

I've met some very nice pet owners there and some of them have kindly given me permission to share some photos of their dogs on my websites.

 Gia playing in the tunnel

 

 Gia playing with another dog

 

Dog park regulations