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/

Pops on the Potomac

I'm posting this a little later than I should for a concert on August 17th. We photographed Pops on the Potomac, conducted by Jeffrey Silberschlag from St. Mary's County, with many members of the Chesapeake Orchestra. The concert began at 7pm at the National Harbor, just outside of Washington, D.C. near large hotels and an upscale shopping district. The National Harbor's stage is basically an open area near the water with a large backdrop behind the orchestra.
As the photographer, I was in plain sight, since there was no where to "hide" from the audience. The music sounds great from up close! We're also enjoying meeting lots of musicians. The orchestra members are all nice people.
They played some wonderful movie music including the theme from "Gladiator", "Superman", "Pink Panther" and James Bond music. "Sleigh Ride", the maestro's fun summer joke was played, as well as the patriotic portion of the "1812 Overture".
The next visit for Pops on the Potomac includes the jazz band for the Christmas tree lighting on November 29, 2013, Black Friday.

Summer in Shenandoah

We took a very brief weekend trip to Shenandoah National Park and took a short hike to Black Rock summit so we could see all the rocks. We also attended a lecture on birds of prey & met a tiny eastern screech owl. When photographing animals I always focus on their eyes and try to blur out distracting backgrounds or simplify them.

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

A Jazzy Finale Ended the River Concert 2013 Series on July 26th

For once we had beautiful temperate weather for the last big River Concert of the summer last Friday night at St. Mary's College of MD. The concert featured a young talented singer from Charles County, Sara Gray, and the Chesapeake Orchestra Big Band.
I was quite busy, wandering around trying to view the concert from new angles, in search of unique images. I try to avoid taking similar shots so there would be quite a few different photos to share. Here are a few photos to entice you to view my full review on the BayNet.
http://www.thebaynet.com/news/index.cfm/fa/viewstory/story_ID/33073

I liked the red light from the sunset on this one.

Sara Gray singing and Don Stapleson, saxophonist, having fun

Romantic Night Out at the Woodlawn Farm on July 20th

We went to Woodlawn Farm last Saturday July 20th to see the talented pianist, Brian Ganz representing the Chesapeake Orchestra.  He is so incredibly talented that he performed for about two hours with no sheet music. 

We expected rain and got a tiny bit, just enough to make a beautiful double rainbow over the Trinity Manor house.  Maggie O'Brien, owner and former St. Mary's College President, told us that Point Lookout got the storm that narrowly missed us. 

Between the lovely light on the water, the rainbow, the sunset and the beautiful sound of the keyboard by the slight glow from the house windows, it was a romantic sight.  The crickets and cool breeze assisted as well.

The piano was almost wedged between 2 pillars and the original front door of the house.  The workers who squeezed it into place deserve a lot of praise. 

If you would like to read my Bay Net review of the concert with a few dozen photos click here

Here are a few photos to entice you to visit...