Halloween decorations

More and more people are putting up lights and decorations for halloween. I guess this kind of fun can't wait for Christmas. So these days homes are decked out with orange, black and spooky, at least until it is replaced with the red, green and Noel.

Africa

This certainly violates my rule: included photos are less than 2 days old before upload.

However, even though these were shot over 10 years ago, the digital files are only 2 days old. When I traveled to East Africa in 2000 I was using a APS SLR (I think I bought one of only a dozen or so ever sold). By APS I mean APS film, that attempt by Kodak and Fuji to bridge the gab between film and the coming digital revolution. Some readers will recognize APS-C as a sensor size in todays mid-sized digital cameras... the APS designation was taken from the film format.

For a long time I considered getting some of the APS negatives professionally scanned and a Groupon for ScanCafe was what got me to actually get it done. I had doubts that the quality would be very good by todays standards, and actually most of the photos in retrospect were pretty much of the snap-shot variety, but there were a few images that had possibilities.

The photos suffered from high contrast and most days in Africa did not offer very good light (perhaps the time of year or the fact that most of our drives were in the middle of the day). It also reminds me of the great benefits of digital... the ability to take lots of pictures and not worry about film and processing costs, the better dynamic range (at least when compared to APS), the lack of film grain (but with digital you have noise which seems easier to deal with these days)m the ease and extensive options for editing.

By the way, if you are interested in seeing more of the shots from my Africa trip click here.

False front

How do you make an aging suburban strip plaza more attractive to tenants as well as consumers?

Just slap on a new front.

Brick looks solid and steadfast. And give each storefront a unique shape or texture. It does look new, but it is only "skin deep". And it really is one long building behind all of the various facades.

But if this is all it takes to fill up empty spaces, I am all for it.

And it does look pretty good.

Autumnal green and being real

Autumn of course is not all orange and red and bright yellow. There is also green and browns and even grays and blacks.

Shots of pretty trees are nice. And some photographers take great pains to avoid anything man-made in those kind of shots. A year ago I would not have included a light post, or what is obviously a parking lot, in a "nature" shot.

But I am looking at things a bit differently these days.

One of my recent posts generated some discussion from two picture makers that I admire. Colin is always encouraging (and has an interesting blog that I enjoy) and the Landscapist (a great teacher) is perpetually challenging my viewpoint (literally and conceptually). For this I am grateful and appreciative. The fact that these photographers occasionally visit this blog is very flattering.

As I have said from the beginning, this blog is primarily for me, as an exercise, and to compel me to generate photos and words. If anyone else sees any value, that is an unexpected bonus.

So here's to real, and not too much orange.

Which is not to say the photo above is necessarily any good.

Path through the trees

Autumn returns

It is hard to resist the colors of autumn. When the light is right and leaves are full of oranges and reds and yellow it seems like the perfect photo opportunity. Is this too much cliché? Are the colors too vivid? I don't know... I just like the look.

Bug on the window

Just a small bug on the outside of the window. But here in extreme close-up he looks like quite a monster.

Past the cemetery

Carpeted pond

I have shot photographs of this pond before, but there is something strange going on now.

At first you may think that beyond the foreground there is a luxuriant meadow. Take a closer look and it appears to be a lush green carpet. But I would not advise you to try walking on this carpet, because you would get rather wet.

I am not sure what is going on this season. Apparently the surface of this pond is covered with some kind of algae bloom, so perfect and continuous that it almost does not seem possible.