Dutchess County Fair Connection

We went to the fair (Dutchess County) yesterday. There we got to see all the photos people have submitted for the photo contest. Amy (Artistically Amy) and I each submitted 8 photos in the categories of People, Animals, Flowers, Nature, Birds, Unclassified, DC Fair Connection, and Scenics. I have news to share on the results: Amy received a 1st place, and I received a 2nd place! All of the photos I submitted to the fair are here, in the order of category:

People (My friends granddaughter, from the wedding in New Jersey)


Animals (This rabbit was sitting peacefully while we walked by)


Flowers (From the local library property)


Nature (A tree at the Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies)


Birds (From the Bronx Zoo)


Unclassified (I was on my deck. I looked up and saw the jet...I just pointed, focused and shot!)


DC Fair Connection (Cows on a farm near me)


Scenics (This was taken from the Walkway, which is an old train bridge crossing the Hudson River)


And there you have it. My second place winner was the Nature shot. Any comments welcome. I will post more photos soon...I promise.

Hi...I'm back. I realize I have not posted, nor have I commented on anyone's blog, and for that I apologize. I have been...well, busy and just lazy. Taking a break from the blog thing. It can be overwhelming, and time consuming. I don't know how some of you manage with all the followers and posting to so many blogs. Also, and this is the best part, Amy and I have been getting ready for the Dutchess County Fair, as we are entering some photos for the photography contest! Now, Amy and I are not professionals, but we thought, 'what the hell'. We'll give it a shot. It all started with a photo I took of a little girl from the wedding we did in New Jersey (the one where I lost all those photos when my card corrupted). In any case, my wife said "You should enter this photo at the fair". So I thought I would share a few of my shots from the last few weeks. I'll post the girl photo after the fair, which is August 24-29. So, the following are just some random shots.


1. Sunset shot in New Jersey.



2. One of the upside down topsy turvy tomato plants we have hanging in the back.




3. A macro flower shot from the pot at the mailbox by the road. I love flowers, but became overwhelmed in the spring when all I photographed was flowers! But by next spring, I'll be sick of winter and will be anxious again to plant flowers all over.




4. This little fellow was on a chair on the deck. He was actually playing hide and seek with another bird...it was so funny. I wish I had a video of it. One of the shots is blurry.





5. This is one of the photos I am entering into the fair contest. We have these rabbits all over in my neck of the woods. They are in almost every yard around here.




6. Just a shot of my road looking east. I like how the road appears wavy, like how a long straight road might look in the hot daytime sun out west.




7. Flowers at my neighbors driveway. She tries to do flowers in several spots. You should see her grass...greenest grass around (she waters it daily. We have not had a good rain here in weeks).I only water my plants with the water from my new rain barrel...I should post a photo of it.




8. This was taken earlier today as we returned from our daily walk. I had never noticed these until today. The sun was hitting them just right.

Almost done, I promise.....

9. This was an attempt to stop the flow of water thru photography. I have seen some fantastic shots of water droplets, especially at Deviant Art.




10. Recently I was sitting in my car, eating lunch, outside one of my schools, when I noticed this. Imagine how old the fence, AND tree are, wherein the tree grew into the fence. I can tell you, the school was built around 1920. Next to the school is a church, which looks just as old as the school.




And finally, I'll leave you with this... I often wonder if anyone has actually taken the advice of rule #1. (and I don't mean the machines). The sign graces the wall at the local laundromat in town. I have been at laundromat since our dryer died. But I think we are actually saving money going there...no extra electricity usage.



Oh, I'll be guest blogging at Amy's blog on Sunday, Aug 15. Amy is in Florida, baking in the HOT sun. I hope she is putting on sun block. So check out Amy's blog for my post.

I am still working on organizing my photos...in time I'll post my sky shots. Until then....Happy Trails!

B&W Wednesday: Log

We had a tree taken down last fall, and in the process of cleaning up, this log was sitting there soaking up the sun. I noticed it was sparkling, from the sap oozing out, and forming little round balls reflecting the sun. I had to stand in just the right spot to see all the little reflections, but I wanted to use this as my photo for B&W Wed, run by Lisa at The Long Road to China. Check out the great BW shots offered up by the wonderful photogs who have shown their work. Some of Lisa's photos are really nice!



This is as taken, before editing for B&W Wed.


I have to admit that my shot is not that artistic, nor fancy, or worthy of any praise. I just wanted to see how this would fare as a BW shot.

Textures and Actions

Textures and Actions and photos oh my! Amy, over at the Purple-Hippie blog, is always up for new challenges and adventures in blogging and photography. I got her interested in photography, and she turned me on to PSE, and using actions and textures. I was using GIMP to do my photo editing because it is free, but I got my hands on an old version of PS7, so I could learn actions and layers. GIMP does not do actions, but there are filters and many scripts to apply similar functions as in PS and PSE.

Anyway, on her blog was a challenge presented by Lynda at the Daily Window. There is a photo of a rose, and the challenge was to present how we would use actions and textures to improve the photo. The following photo is the original from Lynda:




Now my version, for which I used GIMP: I applied an HDR effect, then tone mapping. I did a slight adjustment using curves. After this I ran the file thru the "Noiseware" program. Next I went into PSE8 and applied the 'Define and Sharpen' actions from Pioneer Woman. Next I ran 'Fresh and C0lorful' action, also from PW. A final run thru Noiseware to produce this:

Good? Bad? so-so? As Amy said , no 2 people will edit the same, apply the same actions, and produce the same result.