...and the sky opened up!

Tonight I was driving home from Elliot's in Norfolk and this is what I saw. I thought that maybe a funnel cloud would come down and do some damage, but no such luck. That would be a great picture! Anyways, for anyone who lives in Hampton Roads you know that you can't go anywhere without going over a bridge or through a tunnel. This happened to be while I was going throught the Monitor Merrimack. Of course we were stopped for some unknown reason, and I thought what else do I have to do while sitting in traffic. So I took out my D80 and began to shoot the sky. It was beautiful. It was that time during stormy weather when it looks like it getting ready to be pitch black but the sunlight provides a nice backlight. So romantic!

Get In Line

So, I am loving industrial pictures. I drove around all day to get this shot. I followed Warwick all the way up route 60 to Williamsburg and found nothing. I probably wasn't looking hard enough. I did see Busch Gardens and a lot of cops though. I finally decided to go downtown to see if I could find some more things to shoot. Here is what I found. While I was there I also found at new place to fish and eat. Hopefully, they don't get their fish from that river though. I know that the fish must have five or six eyes, simply because there are rusted carriers in the water. So more cranes -- I changed the color, but I'm not sure about it. Though, I do love how the cranes line up. Too by the book--maybe. Beautiful--definitely to me.

What a drought!

I haven't posted in forever. I haven't had the time to take pictures! This makes me sad, because I feel as if that is my only creative outlet. I guess I can't really say that I haven't been able to take picture, but all of my pictures are of children. I have reservations about putting children's pictures on the internet. Now don't get me wrong I know there is some safety thing you can do, but you never know what people do when they look at pictures. So hopefully this memorial day weekend I will be able to get out and shoot some things. So if you know of anything that is going on this weekend let me know. I would love to get out and take pictures.

Dancing Cranes

So cranes -- not much I can say about this. Yesterday was so beautiful! I went out to find some spots to shoot, which led me to downtown Newport News. It's an area that's industrial. It's also near the shipyard. So there are a few things to shoot. I had a little trouble finding them though. I think it was because it was way to bright outside. I know an unwritten rule is that it's best to shoot early in the morning or around sundown. But I was sleeping in and I wanted to see Star Trek that night. (Sidebar -- that movie is so good! Go see it.) Anyways, I walked a while and decided to move to a different area until I turned around and found these cranes. It was something about the way that they looked together. I originally shot them in color, but decided they looked much better in black and white. I love shooting industrial type objects, but I find it hard to find the best way to shoot them. So any suggestions are appreciated.

The Little Things

This place is one of the best place I have ever eaten. It probably holds about 15 people total, but has some of the best food. On my last trip to New York, we stayed in Chinatown. And, on our last day we needed a place to grab a quick bite to eat before we went to the train station. We found the Cup and Saucer online and decided that it would be the best place because of proximity to the hotel where we were staying. Little did we know that we would fine this treasure in the middle of Chinatown. I can't remember what I ate, but I do remember that they had huge pastries. Delish! Also, the coffee was some of the best that I have had anywhere. Sometimes it's the small things that make your trips worth while. Not that I think this picture is the best by any means, but I did want to talk about this restaurant. Next time you're in Manhattan -- google, then visit it!

Flower Power

So I wonder if everyone takes pictures of flowers when the first pick up their camera. I find flowers the easiest to shoot. For obvious reasons -- they don't move and they're beautiful. Well this one was shot in Williamsburg near William and Mary. I was looking for some old buildings to shoot, but instead I came upon some tulips. Not a fan of flowers -- meaning never really wanted a boy to send them to me, but when I saw these I fell in love. There was a big patch of tulips behind this lonely flower. But I think that this picture turned out the best.

Wall Street -- This is about all I can stand, and I can't stand no more.

So it's been a couple of days since I last blogged, and again my picture is of a spot in NYC. Can you guess where? There are two reasons why I posted this picture: one, I think it's one of the better pictures that I have taken; two, it's in my "quality world picture." Only a few people that read this will know what that means. Anyways, my friends and I take a yearly trip to NYC. I definitely think that we would live there if we could afford it. This picture was taken this past December -- it was freezing and I don't even know why we went out. But I got a really nice shot. Not much else I can say about this shot. I laugh while I write this next statement -- My mom asked me for this picture. She said she really liked it. I love that she is always there to support me.

Oh yeah, no standing in the middle of the street to take this shot! Hooray!

Car Meet Tree

So the first person I told about starting this blog told me that I needed to post something everyday. That immediately made me nervous because I have a fear of commitment. I think that I always have one foot in and one foot out the door. This is in case something better comes along, but I feel that if photgraphy is something that I truly want to do then maybe I need to post everyday. My second thought was what if I can't find that much to shoot. So today was the first day that I decided to carry my camera with me and this is what I was able to shoot. We had a horrible, horrible short thunderstorm today. It came fully equipped with downpours, heavy winds and hail the size of gumballs. As I mentioned before it lasted only 10 minutes, but all of that business caused this. I immediately thought "CAR MEET TREE." This sucks for this owner of the car, but makes for a beautiful shot. I didn't want to get too close because I believe that was the owner standing near. I would be pissed off already, but to have someone snapping a picture would put me through the roof. So I kept my distance, but I stood in the middle of the street. I should trademark that! So funny thing -- I can appreciate this person's pain. About three years ago a breaker exploded in front of my house. All of the pieces landed on my car and burnt little holes in it. It sucked because I had to pay to get it fix. Hope it works out better for this person.

Freedom Plaza, but Skateboarders aren't really free!

Oh my gosh, I have not been to DC in so long! We did they crazy tourist thing -- we saw the zoo, the Washington Monument, the White House and the Capitol. And, of course skateboarders! I have an endless love for skateboarders. I even spoke to one of my friends before I went up there to ask him where the hot skate spots were. He said the one that he skated and really liked was Freedom Plaza. Plus it had a lot of skate history. Now, I didn't even think that we would find this place, because in my mind I thought it would be in some seedy alley. So as the day passed and we continued to walk on to see Obama's house my hopes of getting any skateboarding shots faded. We walked out of the Metro, continued towards Penn Avenue and one of my friends I was with needed to run into the drugstore to get some water. So we walked across the street to sit at this plaza and take pictures of the Capitol (which again called for me to stand in the middle of the street.) All of a sudden we ran up on about 30 skateboarders. Even then it didn't really click with me. So I just started shooting them doing tricks. It was a lot of rolling around and kick flips at first, but it eventually led to these types of tricks (see pic). They really were amazing. So funny thing happened -- I noticed that all of the skateboarders were looking in the same direction, like they were scared of something. Then they all just broke camp. I mean it was like cockroaches when the light is turned on. When I turned around there was a cop rolling up. So, I immediately pretended like I was taking pictures of my friends. So really cops harassing skateboarders --this seems like a waste of time. (As the soapbox turns over and I fall to the ground.)

Times Square

So if I stare at this picture any longer I might convince myself that I'm better off living as a bum on the streets of New York, then middle class in suburbia. I love NYC! There are so many things to look at and so many things to shoot. It seems as though all of New York is photograph. This picture was taken (obviously) in Times Square, but I had to get into the middle of the street to take this shot. Brave -- some may say, but stupidity comes to mind. If I had really thought about it, I probably wouldn't have stood in the middle of the street in the middle of Times Square. But then again, I wouldn't have gotten this shot. I am very proud of this shot. Tell me what you think.