Exploring Alexandria and Annapolis

So it’s been a hot minute since I blogged. My friend Michelle called and asked if I would take pictures for her fro her to do a guest post for a fellower blogger. I was very excited when she called and we dicussed when and where and we came up with two or three different options. We thought we might hit up the National Harbor, Alexandria, and then finally downtown Annapolis. While I’ve been to the National Harbor lots of times, I have never been to Alexandria or downtown Annapolis. I know that’s a very sad fact considering I only live a little over an hour from each of those.

 

The day came, and honestly I was slightly hungover when I got to Michelle’s house and made her drive. So it was around 0930 when we got underway. I love car rides with besties. They are the best aren’t they? Nothing but the radio, chit chat, and lots of laughter. Especially when I’m with Michelle. I don’t laugh with anyone the way I do when Me-shell and I are hanging out. So, en route to the National Harbor we decided to skip there and go straight to Alexandria and then we’d meander up to Annapolis.

We arrive at Alexandria and Michelle is instantly planning places to go. Well neither her nor I are good at spotting parking so we drive past the parking garage once and one way streets and a bunch of left turns back to a parking garage right under a Farmers Market.

With no real agenda and and no goals for the day; we wandered and wandered into different shops and down alleys. We started in this shop called Gossypia. Very cool and very unique shop. Filled with lots of little gems, candy skulls, unique jewelry, and very cool clothing.

We went shop to shop and ended up by the water.

The closest I’ll ever come to Manolo Blahnik’s.

A freaking RIVER BOAT?! I’ve been wanting to take a river boat ride. Forever. I had no idea that there was one so close!

 

DUCKS!! I love Ducks. They are just very cool animals.

So from the boats and ducks we started heading back to the truck to head to Annapolis but first we stopped at a few more stores. There was a store called AMERICA!!!! How cool is that? I was in HEAVEN.

I love this one ❤

How cool is this little swing??

Buds in January?! I’ll take it.

Found this cool art gallery/school. I loved everything about this place.

Not sure what these things are made of that how NIFTY are these sculptures?!

I love a banjo! I love the sound of a banjo.

Michelle, a hippie at heart ❤

I love this chic.

Ain’t that the truth.

ANNAPOLIS

It took about 35 minutes to get from Alexandria to Annapolis.

We were hungry when we got there. So went parked at this parking garage near a place where Michelle wanted to get some pictures of soem huge blown up OLD pictures. We decided we would get the pictures on the way back because I was very hungry and needed food in my belly!!!!!

We stopped at this Irish pub and I had the most delicious tomato soup and grilled ham and cheese. We shared an Irish coffe at the suggestion of the waitress. 

By the way, there may have been an outfit change.

The pictures that Michelle wanted pictures of/with.

PHOTOSHOOT!!!!!!!!!

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St. Marys County Fair 2015

I WON FIRST PLACE IN THE CHILD 10 & UNDER B&W

I’m still very excited. I put six pictures in the fair and one won. You have to put the pictures in on the Wednesday prior to the fair. Sara and I had decided we were going to go and take pictures and I thought with open access to the fair why not go and take pictures before people arrive and everything is still set up.

The sun was setting it was perfect for that empty carnival, when do the scary clowns come out feel.

The sky was the color of cotton candy. I love cotton candy. Sticky sweet it reminds me being a little kid.

I love this picture.

The colors of the sky match the slide.

I love the ferris wheel. Didn’t get a chance to ride it ths year.

The crazy house was crazy beautiful in the setting sun.

My favorite. What’s on the menu at the fair? Rides of course

Enter if you dare. The sun was really going down at this point, it was starting to get very eerie without people. The open ride was very “Are you Afraid of the Dark” – do you remember htat show? I used to love it. I loved being scared as akid, now, not so much.

This is under one of the tents. My flash on my camera is acting up and I didn’t have my external, for who knows why not, so Sara was taking pictures with her flash and we were trying to time it just right. We were able to get one lol!!!

Does it kind of look like it’s breathing fire or is it just me?

Went to the fair Thursday to see my first prize picture ( I know I’m such a loser lol)

I decided I wanted to play with light trails. I didn’t have my tripod 😦 NExt year I will!! So things were a little shakey)

OBVIOUSLY THE BEST PART OF THE FAIR IS A FUNNEL CAKE

I imagine thats what they feel like on the ride lol

I love the fair. It’s the close of summer and the beginnig of fall. The animals, the people , the food, and the fun. The fair ushers in a season of change.

Walker Family Sneak Peek September 2015

Sunday morning I met my friends Bert and Michelle Walker and their little girl Lucy. I arrived and they arrived shortly after. My camera has had trouble reading my card but I can usually get it to work after messing with it a few times. This time was not one of those times. I had to mess with it for a half hour. I finally got it to work and started snapping away. Unfortunately half way through my camera acted up and stopped. My camera turned right back on and I started snapping away again. Upon plugging my memory card in and reviewing the pictures I noticed all the pictures before the freeze are gone. I am currently trying to figure out if I can get them off somehow. On a brighter side, I have finished editing the pictures that I got off the memory card. Here is a preview.

This is where it started working again.

I love these moments.

These people are AMAZING ❤ ❤ ❤

This little lady is the cutest

9/19 Sunrise at Pax River Naval Air Station

The time: EARLY

On the way to meet Sara at the Beach House on base, I stopped and took this shot. It was just gorgeous with the fog, the haze of light, and the receding of night into daylight.

This post is going to be a hodgepodge of things. I kind of wanted a model and Tina, Sara’s sister, was happy to oblige. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I wanted something red. I started off looking for a long scarf but at the Spirit Store I found a hed hooded cape instead. I can’t wait to really use this cape in the right setting.

Back to the sunrise. It was very pretty and the fog wasn’t too heavy yet but you could see it coming like slow moving wave.

If I didn’t know better I would have sworn there was mountain range on the horizon.

The sunrise trying to break through the moutain of fog.

We saw a ship out there. It was pretty cool!!

I was playing with settings. Adjusting ISO, aperature, and shutter speed. There was an article someone shared that said ISO – set first change it last. And count your clicks I tired to use that today and the counting clicks was very helpful. The ISO, the setting and light changes so it’s hard when things need adjusting. I guess it’s the easiest thing to change, so I have to figure out how to chnage for the lighting quickly so there isn’t a lot of noise when there is low light.

THE FOG… It came in quick and was so thick it was fogging the lens. It was crazy, I told Sara and Tina it felt mystical, magical almost. I always wanted to be a witch or a mermaid when I grew up. So maybe I’m supposed to be Ursula? hahaha

I love this shot.

This kind of reminds me of the sculptures on the beach at the National Harbor.

Tic-Tac-Toe I WIN!!

I was watching this bird watch me. I wanted to see how closeI could get before he went off.

That was close enough.

Bird mom and her little seagull baby. I was getting too close for comfort.

The fog.

I stand alone.

I used to think that if you left footprints in the sand when the waaves took it, it was like you going to wherever the tide took your footprints. While standing there I wanted to send out some messages for the tide to take to the world.

  

Peace

         

Peace, Love,and Happiness. Dear World- CALM DOWN and embrace these three thoughts.

And of course I had some other fun with sandy thoughts ❤

Jackie and Josh

It’s a dog eat dog world out there or a seagull eat crab world.

The model and cape pictures…

I LOVE THIS ONE

Solomons Sunset 9/16

Solomons at Sunset 

Sara wanted to go take pictures again, I’m happy to go and get more shots. The more practice the better right? So sunset it just happened to be, and we were trying to decide where, and Solomons came up and sure, why not. Every southern Maryland photographer worth their salt should have a gorgeous photo of the Bridge right?

We started off at the little beach right there and we were just going to meander. Sara arrived first and when I pulled up she was so excited to tell me about the ducks that were there. A handful of the cutest ducks ever, just chilling. I suppose they are used to being fed by humans and were waiting for someone to hand them something. So when no food was produced they were dubious.

 

No food? I say good day Sir!

Are you SURE you don’t have anything?

I started to walk down the beach a bit just to explore some more and they started to follow me. They were funny little things. One even came up to me on the beach and I tried to appear uninterested (you like my reverse psychology on the duck-haha) and he started nipping at my shoes. But what sucks, I was exposed for the bridge, and couldn’t get my setting swtiched in time to get a good one of him, I did get him close though.

I used to have a duck when I was in 9th or 10th grade. His name was Queek Queek and he followed me everywhere. My dad and I made him a makeshift pen, it was enough to keep him in but not a Jack Russell out. 😦 Still not a fan of those dogs. I do love some ducks

Talking about expsores and settings…

So obviously by the pictures above you can see that I did do some editing with the duck pictures, mostly adjusting the white, black, and the shadows, nothing too drastic. I didn’t edit the sunset pictures AT ALL. However, me playing with my settings I’ll show you the good and the bad.

Bad. Too bright, no color- this picture has not been adjusted at all.

Good.

So I belive my ISO was high, because I was photographing the ducks, (this is just before Mr. Duck was pecking my shoes). I adjusted the ISO to make it less sensitive to the light and uppped my aperature (to make it smaller) and boom, this was true to reality.

I went from ISO 800 to 400 and you can see the difference. I see the most difference in the blue of the sky. It really makes a big difference. All this time I’ve been shooting on Auto ISO and adjusting the aperature I really could have been some better images in previous shoots. Hindsight 20/20 got me again.

Me playing with my shutter speed as a car drove by.

Boats and hoes 

JK just boats.

 

LAND HOOO, oh wait…

The boat was painted like “Le Carrot” HOW FUNNY!

BIRDS the WORD

Mine.Mine.Mine.

Ever vigilant watcher for dropped food.

What we came here for; the sunset. I don’t think I’ve seen a sunset like this before. Walking out we heard this couple stop three ladies and ask them if they were local, they said yes. So the guy says he’s from New Hamsphire and wanted to know if the sky always looked like that, he was wondering if the apocalypse was coming! hahaha.

While our sunsets don’t always look that gorgeous, they are pretty regular. I don’t know if it’s just because I haven’t watched a sunset in a while, but MAN was it a spectacular show of nature or WHAT?!

Please note: only one of this pictures was adjusted (the one with Sara) only to make her shadow darker) all the rest are strictly my camera and their settings. It was truly a remarkable sunset.

I love the line/shadow.

Sara, my my you are very tall, taller than the bridge

What a way to make you feel small?!

I think this is my favorite.

(just a difference in ISO) the top is more true to reality.

What a fun time taking pictures.

Leonardtown 9/14 Taking Pictures

So Monday evening my friend Sara, of Sara Cavalcante Photography, went out to take some photographs. We Googled when sunset was, 716 p.m., and decided to meet at 630. I got free a little early and was at Sara’s by 615. We headed to Leonardtown Wharf for sunset. It was a pretty packed place. People where walking, running, kayaking, and picnicking and the day was gorgeous.

I had no real goal for what to photograph and I’m sure people thought we were nuts walking around taking pictures of this, that, and the other.

I saw the patterns of all the lines and and thought it was pretty. I had an idea while taking this one, I was going to try and find similiar patterns and stick with that.But I also had plans for the bouquet I picked up at Giant earlier.

Here is a carnation out of the bouquet that I randomly placed. While taking this one, I dug deeper and really appreciated to contrast. The flower and the metal; the soft and hardness. I wanted to explore this “theme”.

I did happen to photograph a few people that were there, I’m not sure if they caught me, I suppose I should have asked, but since I was only planning on using their shadows it would be ok. This guy makes me wonder. I’m usually ok with talking to people, but he seemed pretty deep in thought.

I really wanted to explore what I’ve been trying to teach myself and read about when it comes to adjusting settings and really get in there and try and take interesting shots.

My pattern shots:

Circles

I’m in shape…round is a shape.

My contrasting flowers:

#3 Favorite

Pictures with the people:

Love you Sara ❤

And he floated to tomorrow

Ride on

#1 Favorite shot

Just some pretty (to me) shots

Jelly fish! Thank you to the kayaker who helped get him up a bit

Fall is coming…

I forever love photographing the flag

Where does it end and the reflection begin?

#2 Favorite shot

SHADOW!!

She Gone.

Where do you begin? At the beginning of course.

Goodnight, moon, uh I mean street lamp.

Half Mast Flag 9/11

Some might know that I’m a SGT in the Army National Guard. This allows me a different perspective when taking photographs. I love my job. I love what I do. I love The American Flag. It’s a symbol of freedom, fighting, fairness, and an enduring feeling of doing what’s right. So normally I dont put the flag up at work, it’s a lot of work to do myself and maybe I should take more time to do it in the mornings, but Friday September 11th I felt compelled to put it up, and since the flag status, for obvious reasons, was half mast. It was such a gorgeous day, the wind was catching the flags perfectly and as I’m going to start saying now, TAKE THE SHOT.

Below are some of my favorites.

Playing with my Camera

I’m trying to get a better feel for my camera and the settings. I recently bought a photography book from Jim Ang How to Photography Absolutely Everything. It gave me some tips to adjust for lighting and the best advice got from it was, regardless take the shot.

So the following pictures are me playing with my different settings. and adjusted using lightroom.

The scenic overview on the way home from Tennessee. I didn’t check the picture and over exposed all the picture I took on the overview. I was able to fenagle some pretty pictures after messing around in Lightroom.

I didn’t even know my camera had a fishbowl (??) setting. I was intrigued and just started snapping away wondering what it would look like. Thought they were nifty looking. When I was editing them I saw there was a heart in the middle. LOVE!!!

I thought taking pictures from cars was almost pointless but the book pointed out that, that’s how you can some shots that are different and unavailble when you’re on foot, so regardless, TAKE THE SHOT. This is the Govenor Harry Nice Bridge connecting VA and MD.

So I started off trying to do still life of random items but it just wasn’t working. So I started playing with shutter speed, ISO, and a rolling orange. This picture is mid-roll but you can’t tell and I had the flash on.

I GOT IT TO BE SEE THROUGH. I was/am still very excited that I was able to do that. So OF COURSE I played with it some more.

Newborn- Jackson Hurley

So I recently just did my first newborn photo shoot. It was nerve-wracking. I know it should be the easiest, because they just have to sit there (what they are good at) and just essentially take pictures. It was my first one, I know for next time I’ll do better. I feel like I could have done a better job, there were things I forgot. I think I’ll begin taking a list of some sort to make sure I get all the shots I want to get. I did these shoot on two different days because I was not satisfied with the first shoot.

I love that there is a picture in the background of their Dad, aunt, and uncle when they were little. I got a few shots like these.

I needed to readjust the settings on my camera. Or I need to get the camera flash? Not sure, it’s not nearly as bright as I want but still looks really good in black and white.

I need to remember to look at the picture I just took and adjust if needed. It’s hard to remember to do that because, especially with little kids, in the moment those picture perfects are a blink of the eye. But I suppose it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t turn out right?

So the baby was PERFECT. Just so sleepy he could be moved any which a way and he just kept napping. He was definitely in a milk coma 🙂

I’m not sophisticated enough to manage the head being on the fist sitting up look. This pose feels a bit more natural to me. He looks just like his older siblings. A perfect mix of Lindsay and John.

The body parts. HOW COULD I FORGET THE UMBILICAL CORD, NOSE, and FINGERS?! ugh this is why I need a list. He was just so darn cute everything I wanted to do turned to mush holding that little baby.

Luckily Lindsay and John are so understanding and just two wonderful people. I have so many favorites from this session it’s trying to pick your favorite blade of grass. So I’ll break it up by two categories. Favorites of individuals and favorites of a group.

I ♥ black and white.

I love that Harper steals that shot in almost all of these pictures. She’s a funny little girl and John and Lindsay surely have their hands full with her wild and free spirit. Never lose that fire little one.

My favorites of individuals:

So the newborn shoot was not a complete failure (THANKFULLY) I did walk away wishing I could be a member of the Hurley family. Colin is such a good boy. Harper is such a little spitfire, Jackson is so cuddily. John and Lindsay have the most precious family.