My eyes popped open about an hour before my alarm was set to go off. Since I was awake and worrying about how much I had to accomplish today, I got up.

And looked out my window and saw this.


...I haven't posted since April 2009. It's now September.

To be perfectly honest, it really may be a while before I do this regularly again. Not only do I not shoot often, but I don't have the time or patience for the post-processing and posting. (I do all cropping, resizing, and cross-linking--the archive page, for example, and the way you can click the feature photo to be transported back in time--by hand. Every time. And it gets tedious. Or, more accurately, it got tedious.)

So.

'Sall.





Date: September 2009
Where/What: Sunrise over Chicago (yeah, that's the Sears Tower to the left of the second photo)
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/60
Aperture: f 3.5
ISO: 100

Listening to: In the Mood (The Andrews Sisters)
Thankful for: Sunrises like this.

I miss New Jersey! There, I've said it.

This is the inside of the Asbury Park carousel house.

Rather than re-type everything I've typed in the past, here are links to my previous features of the TOTALLY AWESOME (seriously!) structure:
Link 1 & Link 2



Date: June 2008
Where/What: ...c'mon, read the post.
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/50
Aperture: 4.0
ISO: 200

Listening to: Begin the Beguine (Artie Shaw)
Thankful for: Big Band Cantina. I have discovered my favorite old standards on internet radio, and I am LOVING IT.
...And I feel 85 years old because of it.

Taking photos in Chicago is a bit nerve-wracking. I haven't entirely figured out yet where the good areas are and where the bad areas are and where people won't give a damn if I take pictures and where the Chicago natives will eviscerate me for being a tourist with a camera--or just steal the camera.

When I saw this, I had a couple friends watch my back while I grabbed my camera out of my bookbag and snapped a couple long-exposures. If I'd been alone, I probably would've just admired the scene for a couple seconds and continued on my way.

I kind of miss suburbia.




Date: October 2008
Where/What: Clinton station
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 4.0
Aperture: f 4.0
ISO: 100

Listening to: I Melt with You (Modern English)
Thankful for: Cloudy days (which yield dorm-room temperatures of under 90 degrees Fahrenheit, thanks to being on the south side of the building with no cooling available now that it's October)

In order to get into the physical positions you sometimes need to get into to capture the photograph you're after, you sometimes need to take a deep breath and remember that you're a serious photographer. If you make a total ass of yourself while trying to get this shot, that sort of humiliation just comes with the territory. (Well, I need to reassure myself, anyway. At least, I did when I climbed under this bridge and balanced precariously and awkwardly to take this photo.)

Pretending to be a semi-serious photographer in a world of enthusiastic amateurs (while waving around a highly amateur camera and trying to ignore the fact that my own status is "enthusiastic amateur" at best) is a tricky business.

It's funny. Last year, when I bought my Fuji S700, part of the reason I bought it was for its snazzy looks... so that people would look at my gear and not automatically say, "What kind of a loser tries to take serious artistic photos with THAT kind of a camera?" This year, while I still think the Fuji S700 is one of the best-looking point-and-shoots out there (and I still love the fact that its 10x optical zoom is internal), there's no denying that EVERYONE and his dog has a digital camera. And uses it to take attempts at artsy photos. I see people with pretty fancy cameras--DSLRs, lens hoods, the whole deal--and I think to myself, "Huh. I'll bet they're an AMATEUR. Pfft." (Which is of course ridiculous because I myself am as amateur as they come.) It's not until I see huge 100-mm lenses that I start believing the photographer might be a professional.

But even professionals are using point-and-shoots now. A journalist for the Asbury Park Press came to one of my band rehearsals to take some photos of the group; she was using either a Fuji S700 or its Canon or Olympus or other brand equivalent. Whatever it was, it was not a DSLR. And those photos made it into the weekly version of the paper and onto the website.

I'm not sure what it just goes to show you, but I'll bet it's something important.



Date: April 2008
Where/What: bridge over Spring Lake's lake
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/50
Aperture: f 3.5
ISO: 200

Listening to: It Only Takes a Moment (Hello Dolly)
Thankful for: dachshunds

O Chicago. How your days do go by.



Date: April 2008
Where/What: Chicago by sunset, nighttime, and sunrise
Camera: Fuji S700

Listening to: L-O-V-E (Nat King Cole)
Thankful for: Toilets that work. I may have said this before, but seriously, man, every time I don't have to plunge a toilet I am SUPER-THANKFUL.

I went for a road trip to North Carolina last spring (to the International Whistler's Convention, no less!). On the way back to Poughkeepsie, we were stuck in Bridge traffic for about 3 hours. Three hours! To cross one measly bridge! Once we'd finally finally FINALLY crossed it, I took a celebratory photo of the bridge behind us.

Whew. I hope I never have to do THAT again.



Date: April 2007
Where/What: George Washington Bridge, New York
Camera: Nikon E3200
Shutter: 1/3000
Aperture: f 5.6
ISO: 50

A few months ago, I was stuck in Chicago's O'Hare airport for four hours (or so). To keep myself amused, I spent 2 or 3 of those hours wandering around.

I think I went up and down this quarter-mile concourse about eight times (or so).

(I have always loved moving walkways [especially walking the wrong way on them! not possible when it's busy like this, though]. Giving me a moving walkway in a tunnel full of colored lights is like taking me to an amusement park!)




Date: April 2008
Where/What: Moving walkway delight at O'Hare!
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/50
Aperture: f 3.5
ISO: 200

"I'll build a stairway to Paradise
With a new step ev'ry day!
I'm gonna get there at any price--
Stand aside, I'm on my way!"
-George Gershwin


Date: December 2006
Where/What: Stairway in the Monmouth Medical Center parking garage, Long Branch, NJ
Camera: Nikon E3200
Shutter: 10/57
Aperture: f 2.5
ISO: 59