Week 25 - Barn Bluff

Week 25 - Barn Bluff
Originally uploaded by OhCaptain1

I missed a few weeks. It happens.

This past Fathers Day, I talked the family into joining me on a hike of Barn Bluff in Red Wing, MN. I hadn't done this hike since high school. The single best view of the Red Wing river valley there is.

If you click through to Flickr, you'll see the most of the series. This was my favorite. I'm still going through all the shots. I took close to 300 in 2 hours. Many of the are family shots.

Enjoy!

Week 21 - Illusion

Week 21, 4 weeks in a row! W00T! W00T! You've probably seen something like this before. I know I have, but part of doing something like this challenge is just posting what you have. I took about 400 pictures in the last week. Some at a wedding reception, some more at the Science Museum of Minnesota and even more at my nieces birthday party. Most of the involve people that I really should ask permission before posting their picture on the Internet. Sigh.

I don't need permission to post this one. This was taken at the Perception presentation at the Minnesota Science Museum. It's the classic, do you see a face or a vase demonstration. I was pretty excited it turned out as well as it did. The lighting in that room is changing constantly and I had never seen it before to know how the timing went.

If I get permission from my sister-in-law, I'd like to post some pictures of my niece eating her birthday cake from 2nd birthday party...so incredibly cute and a bit funny. As of right now, she's not called me back. Bummer.

So, do you see a face or a vase?

UPDATE:

Just got permission to post my second favorite picture of the week! This little lady was working pretty hard on the birthday cake and ice cream. I just love her expression!

Week 20 - Bloom and Balloons

Been a pretty busy week again, last weekend, we had a garage sale. I'm so glad those only happen bi-annually.

Here was my choice for my picture of the week for the 52 week challenge. Not one of my favorite pics but I like the composition and the depth of field. It's really got me thinking about getting a better macro lens. I've really been craving better glass lately. Must be the midlife crisis.

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Runner up is this guy. It's a shot of a balloon landing behind the houses across the street. Neat trick if you can pull it off. The did, thankfully. We've had tons of near misses lately with the balloons. Our neighborhood is often in their flight path but lately, their landings have been pretty much in the subdivision. Well done boys :)

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This next one is of a similar shrub/bush/flowering thing from our front yard. This one is a lot more filled out in the bloom category. I just couldn't find a composition I liked. Again, this had me longing for different glass. Excuses, I know.

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And finally, a shrub. Keeping with the attempts at macro and not really finding what I was looking for. At least, it was green :-/

Week 19 - Target Field Panorama

Here it is, week 19. Sorry I missed last week. I had a pretty good feeling nothing was gonna happen last week. My wife was at a conference in San Antonio, Texas, so I played the part of a single father of two daughters for 5 of the 7 days in the week. I had the camera out for some family fun but by Thursday, I was wiped.

This weekend, on Mother's Day, my wife really wanted to go see the Minnesota Twins play at Target Field for the first time. I gotta tell ya, this park is amazing! For my picture of the week, you should also notice that I'm venturing out of the "as shot" mode and into something different. This is actual a panorama I created in Photoshop Elements out of 8 separate stills. I'd never really done this before so I'm pretty sure there is room for improvement.

Target field proved to be really challenging to shoot during a day game. I should have figured this since midday sun suck big time. I really can't wait to shoot this field closer to evening and even at night. During the day, the colors just seemed so muted from the blasting of the midday sun.

If you click the top picture, it should take you to the Flickr set from the day. If not, try this link. If you don't see much, that means I need to let you in. There are pictures of my wife and kids. My oldest is getting touchy about me posting pictures all over the Internet of her. She going to be in middle school in the fall. Girls...

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This is my runner up for the week. I'm not sure this small size is really showing much of why I like this photo. If you click it, hopefully you can see what I like. The little boy is clearly enjoying the game standing on mom's lap. It's great to see the Twins fans starting this young.

It's the mood and the story I like so much. I think I got that.

We had a blast at the game. I took a ton of reference shots and plan on taking notes to the game with me the next time I go. I'm pretty sure that shooting later in the afternoon, evening and at night will produce more shots I just love. Even though it was in the 50's for temps, midday sun is just a tough thing to shoot. If you have any ideas for me, let me know. In most of these shots I was shooting with a circular polarizer. Although, to this day, I have no idea how to get anything more out of a circular polarizer I can't get out of a standard polarizer. Another one of life's mysteries.

Week 17 - The Brothers Mayo

The spring blooms on the Mayo Clinic campus have been at or near peak for a couple of weeks. Until you see it for yourself, it's hard to describe.

This past week, my wife told me I need to go downtown and photograph the beautiful flowers in front of the Gonda building. The sun was shining bright, the flowers were in full bloom, it was a sight to see. Thankfully, it was windy too. I tried shooting the flowers but the kept moving. Statues. Statues don't move in the wind.

This first picture is my submission for the 52 week challenge. The two gentlemen you see are the brothers William and Charles Mayo, M.D. They are the founders of the Mayo Clinic.Two very inspiring men.

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My first runner up was this shot. I just loved the reflections in the windows above them. The deep blue of the sky. It would be nice though if I could get this shot without someone driving through.

This is just a closer shot. In terms of composition, this is one of my least favorites.

I was enjoying the challenge of getting the background. This was the angle I was trying before the top one. I just wasn't able to get the words placed just right without including way too much road.

The Mayo Clinic was created in cooperation between the Sisters of St. Francis and the Mayo brothers. This statue is in the park with the brothers Mayo. I had fun composing this one although several of the people I asked to help me narrow down the shots thought that the sister looked like was posing in an unpleasant manner. Actually, this was probably close to my second favorite shot. The interplay of the lines was really fun.

Lastly, some flowers. They were the reason I was in this park. My biggest problem with shooting them was it was just to dang windy. Every time I was close to composing my shot, the wind would blow something unexpected into the view. My buddy Mark thought this should be the one. To me, the pink flower was just too distracting.

If you haven't already, be sure to check out my other photos from this years 52 week challenge at my Flickr site!

Week 16 - Around the grounds of St. Marys

How about a big round of applause?

4 WEEKS IN A ROW!
Go Me!

I guess, in the grand scheme of the universe, there are probably much greater accomplishments, but I'll take what I can get. I have no idea how Jim Brandenburg did Chased By The Light: A 90-Day Journey. (You really should look into Jim Brandenburg, very inspiring)

This is the shot I choose for week 16. Today was the only day I had a camera in my hand that didn't have iPhone on the back. I suppose I could use that one of these weeks as a challenge, but really, I'm holding out for the next iPhone to get into that.

I found this view walking into work this morning. It's actually very close to Week 1's "Caution Icy" sign. As you can probably guess, I really liked the lines. I thought the dancing light, shadows and steam made for an interesting composition.

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Not sure about this shot. I've been fascinated by this retaining wall near the chapel. I love the lines, but I just can't figure out to make it more interesting. Ideas?

This is the Chapel at St. Mary's. This old building has so many interesting shots that need exploring. I've shot here before.

This power plant needs more time. Here's another angle. It's attached to the building on top of this post. So many lines. So little time. Getting here during dawn and dusk might just be worth it.

Week 15 - Cheers! & Underwater World

It's week 15 of 2010. I really had high hopes for this week. I was heading to the Mall of America with the family for a wedding reception. Plenty of opportunities for shooting photos.

Well, I made a huge rookie mistake. Ugh. So frustrating.

My last outing, I had put the circular polarizer on the 17-85 lens I use as my walking around lens. You guessed it, I forgot all about and struggled with exposures all night. Most of the night, I just convinced myself that it the rooms were deceptively dark. No biggie, I'd just compensate.

Well, these are the shots that weren't completely noisy or so full of motion blur as to be unpalatable.

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This photo was my runner-up. I really liked the lighting, I just really wish I hadn't shot it on ISO HI. Damn circular polarizer.

The tunnels under the take are just cool.

Sharks rock.

The beauty of walking inside the fish tank. You really need to see it to experience it.

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As usual, if you want to see more pictures, check out my flickr site!

Week 14 - Hi!

I took a lot of photos of the kids in the last week, again. My 10 year old is getting really skiddish about having her pictures on the Internet, in fact, she continually asks me not to share them.

In some ways, this photo was her idea. All the kids were climbing this tree in my parents yard. Man, I remember when this tree was just a little twig. Crap. That means I'm getting old.

I plan on bringing my camera to work with me for the next few weeks at least a couple of days a week. The campus of the hospital I work at is just breath taking this time of year. It's spring and the blooms are plentiful!

Happy Easter! Happy Spring!

By the way, before I forget to remind you, I've been playing around a little bit with Flickr. Some cool stuff there. You can find me there at http://www.flickr.com/photos/oh_captain/ - be sure to say hi and look around!

Week 13 - Buffalo

Wow, week 13 already? Seems like I just missed a week :)

We've been hitting life pretty hard in this house. Not anything bad, we've just been busy like beavers getting ready for summer, and smelling the roses along the way. Unfortunately, most of my photos have been less about photography and more about scrapbooking. I'm sure things will turn around soon.

This picture was from last weekend. I took the kids out to Oxbow park to watch them make maple syrup. That was so fascinating I totally zoned out on taking photos when I should have. That program was just fascinating.

Of all the pics I took, this one seemed to be the least over exposed. I have no idea how I did it, but I totally over exposed most of the shots of the animals and the kids. D'oh!

Week 11 - Bon Appetit!

Yeah! 2 weeks in a row!

This top picture was my choice for our 52 week challenge. This past Sunday, my wife hosted a baby shower at our house. The spread was fantastic. You'd think men had organized this by the shear volume of food people brought.

My wife his this really cool set of Ratatouille spreaders. Picking the background was pretty easy. FOOD!

Even better this weekend, I got a new computer! um, but old habits die hard. Both shots for this week are as shot. The lighting was what I found lying around, aka...it's the stuff coming through the windows.

The party was a lot of fun, or so they tell me. I spent most of the time playing on the new computer. I'm hoping to get some time in trying out this digital editing thing.

The second picture, or as some would say, the runner-up/bridesmaid, was the cupcake spread. How cute is this? The whole spread was much bigger then this, but you can't beat a cute baby, can you?