Anyone?

Does anyone know why pictures look a bit soft until you enlarge them?  It's annoying!

FDR's Mansion

The Roosevelt's small family home (yea, right!) has a much more comfortable feel than the Vanderbilt's.  The home is quite modest for, arguably, the most popular U.S. President.  The cottage seen above is Eleanor's place.  After FDR passed she had no interest in remaining in the Roosevelt's home (she lived with her mother-in-law for years!)  Looking at the photos I bet you can tell what his favorite horse was named.  Again, tough conditions for a photographer as the Roosevelt home is very dark/dimly lit.

The Vanderbilt's were only one of the rich and famous families who owned mansions in Hyde Park, NY.  These photos document the mansion without creativity; however, when on a tour there is no time for creativity.  In fact no tripods were allowed and absolutely NO flash!  I'm very happy with the quality considering such rules.  I'll spare my thousands of blogs followers the stories told on tour; however, I will give one compliment to the Vanderbilt family.  Apparently, though their status was unmatched during the Gilded Age, they were a generous and kind family to work for.  I found myself connected to this family as I too treat my 'help' well.

Love In New York City

My goal here was to manipulate the image to give it a 1960s feel.  I've seen photos from the 60s which are rounded and yellowed.  Don't all "older" people have a box full of photos which are curling on the corners and whose colors are fading?

Macro- Getting ready for work

My assignment was to photograph objects using Macro.

Searching for a subject was frustrating until I came upon this idea while looking in the mirror.  It isn't the most exciting subject but I am happy with the theme that I created.

LOOKING FORWARD TO HIKING SEASON!

click to see a larger version

The Greatest City In The World!

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Assignment- A picture within a picture

This assignment was a challenge.  It was difficult to hold an image up to a scene where the scene has changed (it's even difficult to describe), and keep both shots in sharp focus.  I like the concept and was successful up to a point.  I will try again with subjects that I'm more connected with, using some family photos for example.

The End Of My View

The beautiful barn, across the street from my house, will soon no longer be there.  I must say that even though I will never forgive my neighbors they did have the barn taken down in style!  They were considerate enough to have the barn dismantled in a photo-friendly way.  This scene unfolded by surprise since I did not know the barn was coming down; therefore, I grabbed my camera and shot the images through my bedroom window.  They aren't award winning photos but they tell a story.

The photo above has a vignette effect and the photo below has a 'glow' added to it.  Since the sky was so bright and white I chose a 'glow' to make the subject blend with the sky.  Rather than apologize for the white sky I worked with it.

 Below, I turned the image into an old-fashioned image. Again, I think the subject lends itself to an antique look.