National Parks are open again

In honor of the "return" of our National Parks, I want to share the winning photos of their Summer Scrapbook. Notice that many of the photos are all about the light, often taken near sunrise or sunset. The color of light is often more saturated and beautiful toward dawn and dusk. At noon, the light if flatter, with short shadows. Get out there and take some pictures of those fall colors in good light!
http://www.nationalparks.org/summer-scrapbook

I'm sharing an August 2013 panorama from Shenandoah National Park's Black rock summit trail taken with an iphone app called Photosynth. A rock slide is at the summit.

Winning photo for the Photowalk!

Hot off the press!

The winners of the local Kelby Worldwide Photowalk in Leonardtown were:

Third place to Pat French for her Sailboat photo.

Second place to Steve Bruza for his coffee cup picture.

And

First place to Joanna Macaulay (hey, that's me!) for a reflection photo of the Café des Artistes window.

The photo was a little busy, but colorful, picking up the reflection of the flowers in the square by standing at just the right angle and waiting for the cars to disappear.  I think about half of the photographers took a photo of the "happy chef".

The photo will be entered in another contest, and I win something, but I don't know what.  My husband, Jim won the first prize last year, an e-book copy of The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby.  His photo was a panorama photo of a pond at Flag Ponds Nature Park in Calvert County.  See my blog from October 31, 2012.

 

To see the other photos in the contest, click Leonardtown Photowalk Contest.

Photowalk Day Leonardtown Photos Taken Before and After the Official Walk

Jim and I participated in the Kelby Worldwide Photowalk in Leonardtown, MD on October 5th.  The light was very interesting before the walk.  There was some low fog hanging around the farms and St. Mary's City on the drive to the walk, with a lovely sunrise at the Leonardtown Wharf.  I was planning to include photos of items in the stores and people walking on the street during the Photowalk.  There were very few people and the stores that I saw were closed till 10 AM on a Saturday morning.  Most of the people I saw were other photographers! 

Sooo,  I am posting photos taken earlier in the day, and photos taken at the Corner Critters pet shop after the Photowalk.  Corner Critters is always an interesting store to visit.  They have many reptiles and also have mice, guinea pigs, fish, birds and there was even a pink parrot.  The staff  I've met have been very nice and willing to share information about the animals.  (To see photos taken during the Photowalk, you can visit my Flickr site or my Facebook page, all listed under Calm Reflections Photography.)



Catholic Chapel Historic St. Mary's City



Bench at Leonardtown Wharf
 



Kayaker at Sunrise Leonardtown Wharf



Leonardtown Wharf

Photos After the Photowalk at Corner Critters Pet Store

 
 
 

Mouse taking an afternoon nap

 


Snake

 


Yellow Python



A fun photography app

If you have an iphone, I recently discovered a fun app called Lenslight. As of this writing it is free.

It adds stars, suns, lens flares, bokeh, dust, and color and black and white filters to photos on your phone. And you can add them in layers and move the flares around. I probably wouldn't use it on a serious photo, but it sure is fun and creative.

I added a filter and sun to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and a chroma ring to my Blue angels photo.

For more information see:
http://www.brainfevermedia.com/lensLight.html

Please add a comment and a link if you find lenslight available for android or other phones.

The Ferris Wheel at the St. Mary's County Fair

We went to the St. Mary's County Fair in Leonardtown on three different days, Sep 19-21.  One day we bumped into our friend Beth and had fun taking Ferris wheel photos together.  The larger Ferris wheel was covered in little LED lights that made fascinating patterns as the wheel was stationary or spinning.  Here are just a few of the patterns I photographed using a tripod to steady the camera in the dark at a low speed.  The colors were gorgeous!

Fair winners Sep 19-22, 2013

Congratulations to the photography winners at the St. Mary's County Fair photo photo exhibit. Adult champion was Beth Fabey for a bicycle on a street, pictorial photo.
Life in st marys champion went to Cindy Pastorius for a corn photo.
The previous County Fair champion winner was Rose Guyther with a photo of goats and sheep.
Junior Champion was a still life by Dana Schwalbe of a "Love" shadow on the sand.
Kids Champions were Halei Long for a mosaic photo with a embedded heart shape and Kaia Ganzell for a photo of a female street vendor with a child. Great job!
I was one of 3 photo judges this year for the contest.

Solomon's Offshore Grandprix boat race

We spent most of the day on Sunday September 15th on Solomon's Island watching the exciting boat races from about 12-5 pm along the boardwalk section of the Patuxent River. It was the national finals.
I photographed a red boat (623) and Cisco with the bows off the water and Cleveland Construction (green) racing by the Solomon's pier restaurant. I am sharing some interesting pictures of Wazzup (purple with yellow flames) accepting a winning checkered flag and the crazy celebration circles it made in the water afterwards.
Some of the winners included Tug It, Cisco, Wazzup, and Miss Mary Mac.
For once, the day was lovely, bright and sunny, which made for poor photos with bright overhead light and a happier crowd.
(overcast days and photos early or late in the day have better contrast)
To learn more about the race, see
http://www.solomonsrace.com/