COMPUGLOBALHYPERPHOTONET - or Drew's Photos

Happy Valentines Day

2012-02-14T22:03:00.001-05:00

Jenn got me a bag of these delicious heart candies for Valentines day, and I had this idea for photographing them. I took a few different pictures of the candies randomly laid out and the had the idea to set them up in this heart shape with one of the canides in clear focus over the rest. Enjoy!

Bloom

2012-02-09T18:01:00.002-05:00

They said last night on the news that because of the unseasonably warm weather that some flowers are starting to bloom around here. This picture is from last year, around early March when we took a trip down to the WWII memorial near Annapolis. Enjoy!

February Sunrise

2012-02-08T14:53:00.004-05:00

One thing I love about winter are the crisp clear night skies, which in turn lead to awesome sunrises. Pre-2011 I didn't see to many of them, but then I started getting up earlier for work, and BOOM, I see sunrises. But on during daylight savings. This was the sunrise this morning looking down my street. This is a very accurate representation of what it looked like. Enjoy!

Pregnancy

2012-02-06T16:01:00.001-05:00

At the end of last-last month (December), Jenn and I went to Downs park on a day when it was somewhat warm so I could take some pictures of her pregnant. Last time when she was pregnant with I took some pictures in our basement, but this time I wanted to get outside and try and take some shots that way.
I took quite a few and the narrowed them down to the best ones and edited them, and it took forever. I used this photoshoot as my first attempt at editing in Adobe Lightroom, instead of Apple Aperture. More on that another time. I think this is my favorite picture of them all. I like how Jenn is smiling, but not to much, she just looks happy. Enjoy!

Barrel of Monkeys

2012-02-03T17:02:00.001-05:00

Dangling across the walkways in the Pixar themed area at Magic Kingdom are these Monkeys. I couldn't help photographing them when I saw them. I just throught it was neat how they used the idea behind Toy Story and integrated the toys into the decorations in that area of the park. Enjoy!

Sir Mickey's

2012-02-02T22:43:00.001-05:00

This is another one of the places in Magic Kingdom decorated like Jack and Beanstalk. One of the things I love about Disney is how they find a way to integrate Disney into all the little details. For example, at the top of the sign, there is a little cutout of mickey ears. Amazing how they fit into things. Enjoy!

Car Mirror

2012-02-01T18:45:00.002-05:00

Last night on our way to Jake and Ange's house Jenn was driving and I noticed the sunset behind us through her side mirror. I thought it would be cool to capture the view through that perspective. So thats what you have here. Jenn is driving on 695, outer loop, towards Essex when I snapped this picture. Enjoy!

Log Perspective

2012-01-31T15:50:00.002-05:00

Here's another picture from the snowfall a week back. This tree has been hanging out in this position for a while now, and I thought with the snow on it, it made for an interesting composition. Enjoy!

Ice Leaves

2012-01-30T15:04:00.002-05:00

Last Saturday after we got the icy snowfall overnight, I went out the next day and wandered around a path behind our house. On that path I saw the leaves from this tree and snapped this shot. What I liked here was that I could get some color from the berries, but I was also able to capture the ice on the leaves, with a little bit of snow piled up at the top too. Enjoy!

Christmas Pictures

2012-01-26T16:44:00.002-05:00

The other night we took Abbi to Picture People in Columbia to have her Christmas pictures taken. While I realize Christmas over a month ago now, we still wanted to get it done. She did fantastic there. She smiled and didn't get upset at all. She really seemed to enjoy having her picture taken. I'm thinking it has something to do with the fact that I photograph her a lot at home. The picture below is the one we chose to have printed. Enjoy!

V is for Vintage

2012-01-25T08:41:00.000-05:00

I was originally going to use this image for the letter Y, until I realized I had already used that one up for Yellow. So, thankfully many words can be used to describe a single image. Abbi found this Yo-Yo among a bunch of other old toys that Jenn and I have down in the basement. She of course wanted to play with it, and then I decided it would be interesting to photograph. Enjoy!

I is for Insomnia

2012-01-24T16:33:00.000-05:00

I took this picture last night, and it wasn't 1:00 am. It was about 11:15. I just jumped the clock forward for photographic potential. I knew the concept of the image I wanted to convey, that sight of seeing the clock blaring at you at early hours of the morning when you can't get to sleep. I've had this image in my mind for quite sometime, but last night laying bed watching tv, I finally thought to try and capture it. I had always thought I would need my SLR to get a good shot, turns out the iPhone did a perfectly fine job. What I love about it, especially with my older clock, is the bright red display set against the black background. Enjoy!

M is for Memory

2012-01-23T09:16:00.002-05:00

Over the weekend I upgraded the RAM in my laptop. The computer is almost 3 years old and a few weeks ago I realized that I hadn't ever maxed out the RAM in the machine. So I ordered an upgrade. It was incredibly cheap compared to what it used to cost to upgrade RAM. I went from 4GB to 8GB for $45.

I was telling Jenn while taking the screws out of the laptop that I remember when my first computer had less than 8GB of storage, certainly not 8GB of RAM. This is another instagram photo, the big change here was that I used selective focus to put emphasis on the memory chips. I love how the green chips pop against the otherwise dull black landscape of the computer internals. Enjoy!

Berries

2012-01-20T13:45:00.000-05:00

Its been a while since I've been able to get out and photograph things that aren't family, therefore I'm going back through older galleries of photos and looking for pictures I would have posted but didn't get around to.

I took this at Downs park about 3 months ago. When I went I was thinking about color, and different ways to try and photograph things. I liked how I was able to isolate these berries and get the background blurry so they would have even more punch to them. Enjoy!

Color

2012-01-19T17:58:00.002-05:00

Now that we are in the dead of winter here (the only thing missing being some snow), all the barren trees become depressing and I start to look forward to spring when we'll get some color back. This picture is of a tree down in Washington D.C. in late fall of 2010. Enjoy!

Tomorrowland

2012-01-18T18:16:00.000-05:00

Each time we've visited Magic Kingdom and the Tomorrowland section there, I'm always reminded of a recurring scene in Futurama where the people wake up from their cryogenic frozen state and a man says loudly "Welcome to the World of Tomorrow". Tomorrowland was Walt Disney's idea of the future. There's rides and such, and the carousel of progress ride detailing what he thought things would be like today I suppose. With all that in mind, this is the entrance way to that section of the park. Enjoy!

Custom Strap

2012-01-17T15:25:00.000-05:00

This "new" camera strap is thanks to both Jenn and her mom. At Christmas I opened up a small box and inside was a Redskins lanyard, and I immediately thought "what is this crap for", but before I could verbally say that to Jenn, she told me what it was for.

I had told her before I'd like a custom camera strap, something more personal, but I hadn't been able to find one, and not so surprisingly, neither had she. So, she bought me a basic lanyard and then talked to her mom about sewing it on for me. But since it would be rather permanent, she wanted to make sure I'd like it first.

I love it actually. I think the yellow/gold lines on the top and bottom go perfectly with the gold in the redskins logo. In case its not 100% clear, the new lanyard was sewn on top of the old standard issue Nikon neck strap. Enjoy!

The Nursery

2012-01-16T11:00:00.001-05:00

Over the weekend Jenn and I finished putting together the nursery. The crib took about an to put together, but we weren't rushing and I didn't want to get frustrated putting it together. We both love the color of it and think it looks really good with the shade of blue on the walls. As you can hopefully see on the blanket hanging on the crib, or the vintage mickey on the furniture, the idea was vintage/classic Mickey as our inspiration. With that in mind we found the sheet, changing pad cover, hamper and blanket, and then I found some artwork online that I felt really added to the look. Enjoy!

Tower of Terror

2012-01-13T18:04:00.000-05:00

I love this picture from Hollywood Studios. This ride is a type of elevator ride that drops a random number of stories each time you ride it. That way it isn't predictable and each time you ride its a new experience. I really like the surreal nature of the colors in the image as well. And of course the framing, the palm trees leading up to the big building. Enjoy!

Paint Job

2012-01-12T18:09:00.000-05:00

After a lot of hours of taping and painting, the paint portion of the nursery is complete. It took me two hours to tape around the edges of the room to do the initial base coat of paint and then once that was done and dry, I waited 3 days to then tape up the vertical lines you see here. It took another 5 hours of taping, laser leveling and more taping to get them taped up then about an hour to paint these lines.

The hard part in painting these lines was that the darker color wet, was exactly the same as the base color dry, so it was extremely hard to paint the initial coat of the darker color. I love how it turned out. The idea was to create something that would work as a focal wall, but be classy and not stand out to much. I think we succeeded. Now we just need to get the crib put together and the other things setup and we'll be all set for the new baby to sleep (occasionally) in the room. Enjoy!

Night Sign

2012-01-11T10:44:00.002-05:00

And now, the second image. Just before we left the park that evening, I was wandering around taking shots of things, and I happened upon this sign again all lit up. I took this picture, and really liked it. I even thought to myself that I wish I had seen it earlier in the day to photograph it during the day. It wasn't until I was going through the pictures that evening that I realized I had actually photographed it that morning as well. Enjoy!

Day Sign

2012-01-11T10:43:00.001-05:00

This is the first of two posts of kinda the same thing. This first shot is of a Hollywood Studios sign taken when we first got to the park in the morning. I love that they play up the filmstrip aspect of things and use it for art and decoration around the park. Enjoy!

Lamp Post

2012-01-09T18:30:00.001-05:00

This is one of those attempts at taking an "artsy" picture. These lamp posts were in the medieval section of the Magic Kingdom, behind the castle. I thought it looked cool on the wall, and then once I did a little effect work to it in post-processing, I really like how it turned out. I added a bit of vignette and reduced the saturation a bit too. Enjoy!

French Toast

2012-01-07T22:11:00.002-05:00

Jenn's been watching a bunch of food shows this past week, and its had me wanting to cook here and there. So this morning I decided that I wanted to fix us some french toast. I hadn't ever fixed it before, but Jenn said it was easy. 2 eggs, 1/2 cup of milk to make the dredge and slapped them on the griddle. We had some delicious french toast. It was certainly easy, and tasted very good. This is a picture just before devouring occurred. Enjoy!

Christmas Topiary

2012-01-05T16:01:00.000-05:00

The topiaries that dot the landscape of the Disney World parks are really cool to look at, and photograph of course. This Mickey and Minnie were decorated with Santa hats, and are placed strategically in front of Cinderella's castle for optimal photographing. There were people all around, but I managed to hop in and snap this picture off before the next family stepped in for the obligatory family photo op. Enjoy!

Framed

2012-01-04T08:41:00.000-05:00

I love this picture. When I post-processing it, I couldn't wait to share it. What I love about it is the natural frame that I somehow lucked out and used to frame the castle. I took plenty of pictures of the castle, and I like a lot of them, but what I love here is the blurry foreground that only helps put more focus on the castle in the distance. Enjoy!

Piggy Back

2012-01-03T17:56:00.001-05:00

After many weeks I have finally finished going through all the pictures from Disney. I still have pictures from LEGOLAND to go through, but I've at least finished all the pictures from Disney.

I love this picture of me and Abbi at Magic Kingdom. She got quite a few piggy back rides while we were there, and this one was posed so that Jenn could get a shot of the two of us in front of the castle. Enjoy!

Best of 2011

2012-01-02T20:50:00.003-05:00

With the start of a new year, much like other people, I have set new goals for 2012. I have my alphabet project that I'm about 70% done with, so I'm definitely going to finish that one up this year. This post marks my 1400th post on this blog since I started it April 18, 2006. So this year will mark 6 years of sharing pictures.

I think the on goals I'd really like to attain this year, would be to hit 300 posts. Since I don't ever post more than once a day, each day really counts. Although this year, I get the added bonus of a bonus day in February to help me catch up.

Finally, to borrow from a friends post, I decided to post what is probably my favorite picture from 2011 to start of 2012. I took this picture of Abbi back in early October. She wanted me to take the picture, and I think that's part of what makes it so special. I love the smile on her face, and just everything about the picture. I looked through my archives on this blog and the other and didn't see it posted. I would have re-posted it regardless, but I don't think I have before. So...Enjoy!

Disney Animation

2011-12-30T16:36:00.001-05:00

This was a "sculpture" or some kind of decorative thing on display at Hollywood Studios. I love the filmstrip and Mickey climbing it. Which is why I photographed it. I think it might be the sign for the entrance to one of the attractions actually, but I'm not 100% sure. Either way, Enjoy!

Cinderellas Castle HDR

2011-12-29T15:09:00.001-05:00

I'm still working my way through the pictures from Disney. I feel like at the rate I'm at, it will be March before I'm done. Regardless, last night while working through them, I got to this image. I felt like it was the perfect picture to convert to HDR. With HDR I was able to bring out the highlights of the castle reflection in the water, and boost the overall tones of the image. As I've said before, I usually don't go for the over the top HDR effect, going more for the subtlety of it all. Enjoy!

Stocking Hung

2011-12-28T20:23:00.002-05:00

I was really excited this year, because for the first time we were able to hang our stockings above a fireplace. More importantly, from a mantle. The past 7 years we've hung the on the wall, and clearly thats been perfectly fine, but it was nice to be able to hang them from the fireplace. Just a neat look to it all. Enjoy!

Our Tree

2011-12-27T11:27:00.001-05:00

This year was a big year for our Christmas tree. After years of asking Jenn if we could get a fake tree and being told no, this year Jenn wanted to go the fake tree route. I was very happy to oblige her. Her reason for the switch? Last year just to decorate the tree we wore gloves because the needles were so prickly, and then every year de-decorating tree is a huge hassle. Plus, putting it up and getting it straight, she was done dealing with me getting upset.

So this year we bought a pre-lit fake one. I love it. Jenn really seems to like it, and of course Abbi does care. So here's a shot of our tree from Christmas Eve night. Enjoy!

Santa 2011

2011-12-24T08:47:00.000-05:00

This year, instead of facing the mall Santa, while we were at Disney World, we had the good fortune of being able to take Abbi to see the Santa there. As you can see from the picture below, he really looked the part well. She wasn't to afraid of him, and did tell him what she wanted for Christmas. Which was a "Muppet Gift Card", later we found out it was so she could buy a "Belle Doll". I was really happy for her to see Santa here because I was able to take my own pictures. The worst thing about going to see a mall Santa, is their retarded policy of not being able to take your own photographs. Merry Christmas Eve and Enjoy!

Wrapping Paper

2011-12-23T16:59:00.003-05:00

With Christmas just a few days away, we've been busy wrapping presents many nights this week. I love all the different papers that you can get. We of course go out each year after Christmas and hit up the stores for some sales. I'm sure this year won't be any different. This is one of the papers that we got last year, a metallic blue/gold paper. Enjoy!

Neon Bikes

2011-12-22T17:36:00.001-05:00

At Hollywood Studios, lit up for Christmas they had these bikes sitting on the side of the road. I love them. I love the neon lights that they have and all the bright colors too. It just looks really cool. Enjoy!

Fantasia Mickey

2011-12-20T16:31:00.000-05:00

At Hollywood Studios, the Fantasia version of Mickey is all over the place. I have a soft spot for Fantasia as well given my appreciation for music, and so I like the gratuitus use of Wizard Mickey around the park. In addition to that, I love the Sorcerers Apprentice short from Fantasia, which you can see re-created here. I also like how I was able to frame the Hollywood Studios sign off in the distance. Enjoy!

Sunrise

2011-12-16T15:52:00.002-05:00

Living over in the new community and getting up early has one nice perk. I often leave for work as the sun is coming up this winter, and its cool to see the shadows of the leafless trees lit by the rising sun. I like that there were some wispy clouds floating around and the sun is just starting to show. Enjoy!

Lighted Rails

2011-12-15T18:03:00.000-05:00

Over in "Tomorrowland" at the Magic Kingdom there is a monorail ride that takes you around the area and through a few of the attractions, I suppose trying to highlight the transportation of tomorrow. Its a nice little ride that we did with Abbi and she seemed to like. As the sun was going down our last night there I noticed that it was lit underneath and gave off this awesome red glow so I took a few shots. This is one of them with an instagram effect. Enjoy!

Magic Kingdom Wrap Up

2011-12-14T17:02:00.001-05:00

We had a great time at Disney last week. It was awesome weather and I don't think anyone got to worn out. I mean by the end of each day we were all tired, but no one was dragging mid-day the next day because of doing to much. I'll focus on our days at Magic Kingdom though for now.

Our second day in Disney was our first at Magic Kingdom. The "main" park if you've never been. The first thing we did was hit up the princess tent so that Abbi could meet the princesses. Abbi thoroughly enjoyed that and then we hopped back into a different line to meet Mickey and hopefully Minnie. I asked about meeting Minnie, Abbi's preferred mouse meeting and was told that she's "elusive". Garbage. What Jenn and I think is that she's always there, however there are two rooms with Mickey and only one with Minnie. Thankfully, as you can see in the photo below for all of our sanity, Minnie was in our room. From there we met Snow White and headed off to Fantasyland for some rides.

Abbi's first and favorite ride was the Carousel, which she loves everywhere. Then we rode Peter Pan, It's a Small World, Dumbo, all the kiddie rides and again, Abbi really seemed to enjoy them. From there we had lunch and headed back for naps.

After our naps we went back for the "Mickey's Christmas Party" an extra even held at Magic Kingdom this time of year. Whats different is that the Castle is lit up with thousands of lights, they give out free hot chocolate and snickerdoodles (which taste AMAZING) and you get extra time for the rides and such. Plus there are additional Christmas themed parades and shows. And speaking of the shows, Abbi loved those too.

Friday we went back for a second afternoon at Magic Kingdom and rode some more rides and got in our visit with Santa, which was probably the highlight of the afternoon. To sum it up, I think we all had a great time there, and I can say with confidence that Abbi did too, which was the point. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Jenn

2011-12-13T08:48:00.001-05:00

Today is a big one for Jenn. Just a few months back I had the "pleasure" of celebrating my 30th birthday and now Jenn gets that same joy today. We celebrated some over the weekend with friends, cake and a good home cooked meal. Tonight we'll head out for a celebratory dinner at Jenn's always favorite Chili's. Happy Birthday Wifey!

Legoland, FL

2011-12-08T23:08:00.001-05:00

Today we headed a little south of Disney World down to the new Legoland park down here in Florida. We took a shuttle bus for about a 45 minute ride to the park and then had a great time taking Abbi on some good kiddie rides. In addition to the kiddie rides, Abbi got her first experience with roller coasters today too! We rode a real deal roller coaster that only had a 36" height restriction. She was nervous while waiting for the ride but once we were in the car she loved it. Finally we hit up what is called 'Miniland' and I took a ton of pictures, including this one of the White House. Enjoy!

Magic Kingdom

2011-12-07T23:34:00.001-05:00

Today was another jam packed fun day. We started our day with Abbi meeting some princesses and Mickey and Minnie. Then we headed out into the park and Abbi ride a ton of the kiddie rides. This picture is of Cinderella's castle with what I thought was a sweet reflection. Enjoy!

Hollywood Studios

2011-12-06T23:15:00.001-05:00

Today we visited our first park of our trip. We went to Hollywood Studios. We weren't very sure how much there would be for Abbi to do there but it turns ou that there was plenty for her to enjoy. Thanks to their tie in with Pixar there was a bunch of stuff she recognized and enjoyed.

We asked Abbi what her favorite thing was today and for her it was meeting Jake, from the neverland pirates cartoon, and meeting Mickey. This is especially funny because in both instances she was terrified to meet them both. She did great and seemed to have a good time.

This picture is of the sorcerers hat at the center of the park. I took this shot after the sun had go e down and was able to get some awesome nighttime shots. Enjoy!

Dedicated Lights

2011-12-05T12:15:00.001-05:00

The guy that does this tree up in lights every year never fails to impress. He is clearly dedicated to decorating his tree in an incredibly detailed way, and it looks amazing. We drove through the old community this past weekend so Abbi could see some Christmas lights and I couldn't resist snapping a pictures of this tree. Enjoy!

Saturation

2011-12-01T15:27:00.001-05:00

I was thinking prior to writing this about how my photography has changed, evolved hopefully, over the last 6 years that I've been sharing images here. I feel like more of the images have an "artistic" side to them, then what they did back 5/6 years ago. Back then they were more snapshots of a moment, or of something. Now I feel like I'm going out and trying to capture something, take a picture worth having.

All that to explain that this image, I really like. I like the composition, I just didn't care for the lighting. So in post processing I upped the saturation to make the colors pop. I like the bench sitting on the edge of the water pointed out towards the reeds. It just feels relaxing. Enjoy!

Three

2011-11-30T17:47:00.001-05:00

While walking in the woods at Downs Park I looked down and noticed these little flowers sitting along the side of the path. I got down real close and tried to frame them up in some kind of interesting way. There were some that were lone buds, and others in clusters. I liked this cluster of three and how straight in line they were. Enjoy!

Fetch

2011-11-29T14:11:00.001-05:00

Sunday after church Abbi and I played with Max a little bit before we got down to cleaning up the leaves. I had the camera outside to snap some pictures of Abbi up, but with Max running around I thought it would be a good chance to photograph him too. I chucked his stick and then waited for him to run back and then just held down the shutter hoping to get some good shots. I love this one of him. He's in full stride, looking right at me and I feel like you can "feel" the speed that he's moving with. Enjoy!

Christmas Lights

2011-11-28T15:43:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, thanks to the fantastically warm weather, Jenn and I decided to get a jump on Christmas Decorating and we put up our lights. Since its our first year in the new house there were some new challenges, but we think we won, at least for now.

In years past we've simply wrapped lights around our railing and put garland up as well. This year, we don't have anything like that so we busted out the icicle lights from years past and hung them up on the garage. We had some plastic things that hook onto the house and then in turn hold the lights, i'm not 100% sure about the stability of them, but for now, they are up and looking good. Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T22:48:00.001-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm incredibly thankful for such a wonderful family in my wife and daughter and son on the way. After a long day of food and family, winding down watching the Ravens game is good fun. Tomorrow another day of good food and family until we get to the weekend for some at home relaxation. In addition to seeing our immediately family we've had the recent pleasure of sharing Thanksgiving with Jake and Ange, and then again getting together with my friends from high school. As for this little turkey, of course its made of LEGO's! Enjoy!

Fall Pier

2011-11-23T13:25:00.001-05:00

Continuing my conversation from yesterday, after wandering the woods at Kinder Farm, I headed out towards the pier to get a shot back towards the park, and hopefully the foliage. I wasn't disappointed. I really like the contrast of the all the different fall colors against the bright blue sky and then the varying color of the water too. I also like how the pier kinda leads our eye towards and along the shoreline. Enjoy!

Leaf Isolation

2011-11-22T16:34:00.001-05:00

This past weekend I was able to finally finish processing some pictures from a recent trip to Kinder Farm park. The point of the trip was to try and capture some of the awesome fall colors on the trees. I really wanted to get out to Skyline Drive this year after reading about it online, but when we finally had the time to make the trip I didn't think their would be enough foliage left to see.

So instead we headed out to Kinder Farm park. I wanted the woods and Jenn and Abbi played on the playground. Everyone was happy. I found some leaves like this one and decided to lay one out on the paved walking path to photograph. What I love here is the isolation of the leaf and the bold contrast of the yellow to the black path. Enjoy!

Max

2011-11-21T21:06:00.001-05:00

This and a few others pictures I just recently posted of Max are actually a little over six months old, but I just finally got around to processing them and posting them online. He was hanging out on the front step of our townhouse one afternoon when I took this picture. This picture just about sums up max. The calmness of the dangling feet coupled with the fact that I think he looks like he could pounce right up sums him. Thats about Maxy! Enjoy!

Leafy View

2011-11-18T20:12:00.001-05:00

This is another shot of some leaves from the tree in front of our old townhouse. Again, just like the other picture, I love the rich bright color of the leaves in this picture. Enjoy!

Ceilings

2011-11-16T16:08:00.001-05:00

I'm not entirely sure why, but I'm at a point where I struggle to post things here each day. I still have pictures to share and thoughts, but I just haven't had the motivation to find the time each day to post. I haven't been able to get out and about to get new pictures in new places recently, in quite a few months it seems like and as a result, I feel like I'm posting junk.

I have enjoyed using my phone to take different pictures at different times and trying to explore some more creative avenues, but at the same time it all kinda starts to feel the same. Regardless, I took this picture and edited it over the weekend. This is a shot of the center ceiling of the metro at L'Enfant Plaza. I love the design work of the metro down in DC. I tried to center the converging lines here and went with black and white to remove the "dim lights" distractions. Enjoy!

Sunlit Tree

2011-11-14T15:23:00.001-05:00

Saturday Jenn and I stopped over at our old townhouse to check on things and before we headed out, I made sure to stop and take a few pictures of the awesome tree in the front yard. I've always loved the tree and how it looks in each of the different seasons. This time was no different. It getting close to sunset, and the way the sun comes towards the house it really lights up the tree and makes the oranges pop just that much more. Enjoy!

Green Pop

2011-11-11T15:30:00.001-05:00

This is more of an abstract creation using Fall colors. I used the instagram app to create this image that makes the colors pop like this. I took this picture of the yellowing leaf the other morning because of the holes in the leaf which I thought added some character to it. Then I changed the colors to make them pop more and make it less dull. Enjoy!

Punkins

2011-11-10T15:28:00.001-05:00

One thing I love about fall is all the awesome colors. You don't see a ton of orange is nature, but come fall, yellow, orange and red are all over the place. Especially with pumpkins. I took this picture of a collection of pumpkins when we went pumpkin "picking" a few weeks back. I added a little Instagram effect to give some pop. Enjoy!

P is for Path

2011-11-09T15:32:00.000-05:00

Again this morning was another foggy morning around our house. So this morning I decided to wander out towards the woods behind my house. Saturday while working out in the backyard I discovered a path that wound around through the woods behind my house. So this morning I went back thinking a shot of the path with the fog looming would make a cool shot. I'm very happy with how this one turned out. Enjoy!

Foggy Morning

2011-11-07T10:52:00.000-05:00

This morning on the drive in it was incredibly foggy. So when I got to work I wanted to try and get some kind of picture to capture it. I decided that I would drive to the top of the garage near where I work and snap this picture of some of the trees, and the fog surrounding it all. I'm pretty happy with the little snapshot. Enjoy!

Starry Night

2011-11-02T14:56:00.001-04:00

Sunday night was a particularly clear night around the house and I noticed that the stars were pretty bright too. At least they were pretty easy to see with the naked eye. So...with that thought in mind I busted out the DSLR and shot a few pictures of the night sky. I propped the camera up in the house and pointed it upwards. This shot was a 25 second exposure and I love how it turned out. I did a little bit of color correction to bring the reds down and make it look a little more like it did that night. I love how many of the stars you can actually see in this image. Enjoy!

My Little Princess

2011-11-01T17:50:00.001-04:00

Last night we dressed Abbi up as Princess Belle from the Beauty and the Beast cartoon. She LOVED it. As you can see here, she was decked all out. She had the dress, gloves, necklace, purse, everything it seemed. We candy hunted for about 45 minutes and she got more candy than she needs to eat in an entire month. Afterwards her and Audrey played together for quite a long time and just had a good time, which is nice to see. I remember when Abbi was born I was hoping that her and Audrey would grow up to be good friends with each other since Ange and Jake are good family friends of ours. Enjoy!

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T13:42:00.001-04:00

Yesterday we carved and decorated our pumpkins for Halloween. This year instead of trying to do something ridiculous and crazy time consuming, I simply carved a basic/classic jack-o-lantern face. Abbi used some stickers she got from Anna's birthday party to decorate the outside of her pumpkin with a cool "scary" face. We even used the seeds from inside the one pumpkin to make a snack. Jenn took them and washed them and baked them and made some kinda flavored pumpkin seeds. I wasn't a fan, but Abbi and Jenn were. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-27T17:12:00.001-04:00

Last Saturday after a long morning/afternoon in Delaware for a band competition, on our way home we stopped off at a Pumpkin Patch. I wasn't to sure how free we were going to be this weekend, so I wanted to make sure that we were able to take Abbi to get a pumpkin. It wasn't the greatest place we've ever been to get a pumpkin, but then again it probably wasn't the worst either. After we picked our pumpkin we headed back to pay for it, and I asked Abbi if she wanted a piggy back ride. As you can see, she did, and seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. Enjoy!

Maxy

2011-10-26T17:41:00.002-04:00

I had a friend comment once that he found it interesting that I posted regular (or semi-regular) updates about our dog. That I would feel almost obligated to post about Max. Well, its been a while, no clue how long, but a while since I last posted a picture of Max. I took this one a few weeks back of him out in our back yard. He really loves the new house and all the space in the yard he's got to run around in. Plus, since we've got natural wood floors now, he can finally get traction on the floor and definitely seems like a much happier pup. Enjoy!

Inside

2011-10-25T08:41:00.000-04:00

Last Friday I posted a picture of a tree at the waterpark in O.C. Today I'd like to share another perspective of this same tree. This one I shot almost directly upwards into the tree canopy. Just like my post yesterday, I love how changing the perspective really changes the image and how you look at the object. I particularly like the contrast of the green against the overcast sky. Enjoy!

Winding Road

2011-10-24T17:02:00.001-04:00

A few months back I posted a picture of a road outside my sister-in-law's house, and over the weekend I happened to be in an area with nice windy roads again. I love the idea of getting down close to the road an capturing the curve of the road and giving a difference perspective from what we normally see. In this image you've also got some nice classic white fence running along the one side of the road. Enjoy!

Reflections

2011-10-21T16:21:00.003-04:00

I took this shot while out on the mini-golf course at Frontier Town in Ocean City this summer. I loved the way the tree was reflecting off the water and just how green and full the tree was. It's also interesting to me to share a picture like this, and think about how hot it was that day in contrast to the cold late fall day we've got today. Enjoy!

Emblem

2011-10-20T16:53:00.001-04:00

This has got to be one of the most iconic emblems, at least in terms of automobiles in America. You see this logo all over the place. On shirts, vests, bikes, buildings - everywhere! I this picture of one of the bikes at the Harley store in Leonardtown, MD back around Christmas, quite possible around Thanksgiving last year. Its been sitting on my phone since then and I just saw it again and decided to do something creative with it. So I used Instagram to pop the colors and blur the stuff around the emblem. Enjoy!

Vacation Shots

2011-10-19T15:33:00.002-04:00

I finally, after two and half months of evening edits, have finished going through the pictures from our Ocean City vacation. I'm not sure how many pictures I started with, but I finished up with 108 pictures that ended up online. I really liked how this picture of Abbi and Audrey turned out, so I figured I'd start by sharing this image. One of the post-processing effects I added was an over-saturation which makes the colors of the girls dresses really pop in the image, which for this I really like. Enjoy!

Footprints

2011-10-18T17:08:00.000-04:00

These footprints are Jenn and my footprints from our recent trip to the beach. When we were walking down the beach, I stopped for a minute to push my imprint into the ground and then asked her to do the same next to my foot. I commented and joked at the time about how much lighter Jenn's footprint was than mine. I did a bit of post processing here, converting the image to black and white, adding a vignette and some edge blurring as well to bring more emphasis to the footprints. Enjoy!

Fredrick Farmhouse

2011-10-17T17:52:00.002-04:00

I don't know if this is actually a farm, but I know its a house. So there you go.

This weekend I was up in Fredrick, Walkersville High School to be exact, and on my way to the school I noticed this awesome house sitting in front of the mountain landscape. So on my way home, I pulled over to the side of the road to snap a picture. I did a little bit of cropping to get the house better positioned in the image, and boosted the flat iPhone colors just a tad. But that's about it.

I love the scenery up that way, I just wish it didn't take an hour to get there. The one good thing is that up I-70, the traffic moves, and moves fast. So I was definitely ok with that. It was nice to see some leaves turning and everything looking very fall-like. Enjoy!

The Wheel

2011-10-12T15:19:00.001-04:00

The single biggest thing Abbi wanted to do and see at Hershey Park was the Ferris Wheel. And of course, we did not disappoint her. We didn't go until after lunch but when we got over to the wheel she was a little aprehensive about it. Once we actually got on it thought, she loved it. She couldn't really see out all that much, but she could see some, and she really seemed to like it.

I like this shot of the Ferris Wheel at Hershey because of the colors and the way they've personalized it for the park. Enjoy!

It's a Boy!

2011-10-11T08:28:00.000-04:00

Over the weekend Jenn and I had the opportunity to share the news about our newest child to our family. Jenn had wanted to share it in some kind of creative way and while we were in Hershey Park last weekend, we saw these candies in the store. Once she saw them she knew this would be a neat way to share the news. So when we saw my parents and her family over the weekend, we offered up some candy and news at the same time. We're gonna have a little boy and its definitely exciting!

Key Bridge Sunset

2011-10-07T14:11:00.002-04:00

Last night while coming back from North Baltimore I snapped this shot coming across the Key Bridge. It was much easier to do since I wasn't the driving in this case. The sunset last night looked really awesome, and even more so because of the scenery the bridge provided. So I snapped this picture with the bulk of the bridge infrastructure up ahead and then some of the skyline as well. Enjoy!

The Comet

2011-10-05T15:28:00.002-04:00

The Comet is definitely an old roller coaster. It was built in 1946 and still operates at Hershey Park. You can read a bit more here if you want. Something I really like about wooden coasters are the massive amounts of support structure that is necessary to keep them stable and together. I took this shot of one section of the Comet from behind the kettle corn building. Enjoy!

H is for Hershey

2011-10-04T19:43:00.003-04:00

This photo is a perfect example of what I love about Instagram. I really liked this shot of the smokestacks at Hershey Park, but it was bland. Once I cropped with Instagram and added a photo effect, I ended up with an image that I can really appreciate. Enjoy!

Excited

2011-10-03T16:31:00.003-04:00

Saturday we took a trip to Hershey park. Abbi was most definitely excited about the trip. I took this picture of her just before we left. She was really excited about seeing the Ferris Wheel (something she's been talking about for months), and then she loved riding all of the other kiddie rides. It was a completely different experience going to an amusement park with a small child as opposed to just Jenn and I, but still a good time. Enjoy!

The Drink

2011-09-29T17:38:00.003-04:00

I imagine, because so many movies have taught me to, that when there are large lakes and such on golf courses, like this one, big time golfers refer to it as the drink. We did not. When we were playing golf two weeks back, we only commented that we wanted to stay away from the water, as to avoid loosing another ball. Even with the comments it didn't help the majority of us who in turn lost balls in this water "feature". Enjoy!

Sea Foam

2011-09-28T14:20:00.001-04:00

Last weekend in Ocean City, Jenn and I made sure to find some time to actually go to the beach. It certainly wasn't great beach weather if you like laying in the sun, being super warm, or playing in the water. But if you like it kinda cool, empty and relaxing, then it was perfect. We grabbed donuts from Fractured Prune and then headed out to the beach to enjoy them. After donuts and some Frisbee time, we took a walk down the beach. While walking I took this picture of some of the sea form and the arc that it created. What I really like about the picture is the waves in the distance and how the foam line leads your eyes up the image. Enjoy!

Chocolate Puzzle

2011-09-27T17:59:00.002-04:00

If Jenn has an all time favorite puzzle, this is it. We affectionately call it the "chocolate puzzle". Its a design made up of different candy bars and chocolate candies. While we were down at the beach last weekend, Jenn really wanted to work the puzzle. So, while I took a nap she got started on the border, and once I woke up I started with her and we worked at the puzzle. Once we got into it it was more fun that I expected, and harder. No matter how many times you've put it together before it doesn't really get easier. The pieces are still a mess, and all over the place, and just as confusing to put together. It was a good time for Jenn and I and always fun to put together. Enjoy!

Getaway

2011-09-26T14:14:00.002-04:00

This past weekend Jenn and I had the fortunate opportunity to get away for a couple of days. Jenn's grandparents were nice enough to watch Abbi for us and let us stay at their trailer down in Ocean City. So we headed down on Friday and stayed 2 days. We had a good time. We spent time working a puzzle, something you certainly can't do with a 2 year old running around, ate some donuts on the beach, and of course, played some mini-golf. It was really nice to have a chance to get away and spend time just the two of us. Obviously with the picture, we also made a trip down to the inlet and checked out Sunfest, a giant outdoor craft fair basically. We got Abbi a new giant piggy bank there. Enjoy!

K is Kaleidoscope

2011-09-23T08:41:00.001-04:00

Two nights ago I had to run to Home Depot to drop off some blinds that weren't cut properly (or at all in this case). On my way out of the store it was raining and so I pointed the camera phone up towards the parking lot light to see if I could get a shot of the rain coming down. Instead I got this awesome color picture. I was thrilled and surprised all at the same time with what I got. Enjoy!

Laying There

2011-09-22T17:45:00.003-04:00

I've wanted to share this picture for a couple of days now but haven't gotten around to actually posting it. This past weekend I went into the bathroom and saw this barbie (bath-time Belle Barbie to be exact) lying on the floor of our shower. I could help but chuckle at her position and proximity to the drain. Enjoy

Oriole Bird

2011-09-21T13:27:00.000-04:00

Last Friday the family and I headed to our last Orioles game of the year. Abbi had been talking about going to the game all week. I'm still suprised that as young as she is, how fixated on going to the game and see the Oriole bird and all the people she was. But she was excited. We got free tickets because we purchased a suite earlier in the year so we were invited back with free good and the game.

While we were eating our food the Oriole bird came through and I took Abbi over to see him. She excited and terrified all at once. She high fived him, but when I tried to get a picture she got super scared. So I held her and one of the Oriole bird's helpers took a fantastic photo for us. Enjoy!

Setup

2011-09-19T17:59:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, in between scratching the crap out of my legs and arms, I put together two new pieces of furniture for our house. This piece from IKEA contains our entertainment consoles. Its got the playstation, wii, cable box and a large area for the future audio/video receiver. To keep fingers and others such things out, I put a glass door on the front, also to help it look a little classier too. It fits nicely in the corner and doesn't take much space! Enjoy!

Post Rain Sunset

2011-09-16T08:41:00.001-04:00

Last night after the afternoon rain had passed there were still some clouds hanging around which led to an amazingly colorful sunset. I went outside and took some shots to put together this multi-exposure HDR. I loved the colors that were in the sky last night. Enjoy!

Berries

2011-09-15T16:52:00.000-04:00

These are some berries I shot while visiting my parents down in St. Mary's county, near Leonardtown. I've been looking through my galleries lately looking for images to share and I came accross this one. I cropped it a little, recentering the image, putting more focus on the berries as well as adding a little bit of focal zoom to bring more focus to the big red berries in particular. Enjoy!

Hibiscus

2011-09-14T08:40:00.001-04:00

While on vacation at the beach this summer I took this picture of a hibiscus plant at one of our neighbors places. I noticed it one afternoon after we got back from the beach and then when went over to it later in the evening it hat withered away. I figured oh well, so much for that. Then the next day when I went back around near the flower again (to hang towels by the way), I noticed it up and lively. So I grabbed my phone and shot this picture of it. What I liked about it so much was the giant leaves and of course the bright red color. Enjoy!

Some Blue

2011-09-12T16:01:00.004-04:00

After an entire week of clouds and rain it was really nice to end last week with some sunshine. It came later in the afternoon Friday, but it came. It was nice to see some whispy white clouds instead of the thick grey clouds. Enjoy!

Wings

2011-09-08T19:08:00.001-04:00

I love wings. I don't know what it is about them that I love so much, but I love wings. Today for lunch Jenn, Abbi and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings and on the back of the wetnaps they have, they have different slogans. I thought this one was to humorous to pass up. Enjoy!

The Ticket

2011-09-07T20:38:00.002-04:00

Here's another vintage picture from the Orioles club level. This is of a ticket stub (at least its meant to look like it) from the 1971 world series. Ahh, those were the days. When the Orioles were actually winning. I do hope one day to see an Orioles team that can succeed. Enjoy!

Rain Delay

2011-09-06T16:55:00.005-04:00

Yesterday the family and I headed out for a little bit of labor day shopping and once we got where we were headed (Kohl s by the way), it was pouring rain. I wasn't interested in getting soaked, so we sat in the car for a few minutes to avoid the torrential downpour. I took this shot looking out the car window towards some of the landscaping. Enjoy!

F is for Flower

2011-09-03T07:41:00.000-04:00

Abbi is in love the Beauty and the Beast. At the start of school one of Jenn's kids gave her this flower and we put it in this vase and then on the kitchen windowsill. Over the weekend I took a picture and the added effects to make it look like this. The reason I bring up Beauty and Beast is because this picture reminded Jenn of the movie and the flower that it is referenced in it. Either way, I like how the image turned out so...Enjoy!

The Pier

2011-09-02T11:27:00.000-04:00

I have a friend that has a few favorite spots he tends to photograph (I'm talking about you Nels) and this pictures reminds me of him. I myself have found myself photographing this pier and the surrounding beach at Elizabeth's landing many times over the last 7 years. Last Sunday after the hurricane we went over to the townhouse to asses any damage and then went over to the pier for a look around.

Things for the most part fared really well, and as you can see from the pier, its fine. I did some color alteration with this picture on the iPhone using Instagram, the app that has provided many of the images recently. I like how the colors look altered like this. Gives it a bit of a different feel. Enjoy!

Birthday Candles

2011-09-01T18:45:00.001-04:00

I finally got around to publishing pictures from Abbi's birthday party (which only happened 6 weeks ago) and so I wanted to share at least one here. This is a picture of her attempting to blow out the two candles on her cupcake. I went thought our cabinet and put on her cupcake the only candles I could find which unfortunately for Abbi happened to be trick candles that Jenn had bought for me a few years back. So despite her best efforts she wasn't able to blow them out, luckily she didn't seem to care. Enjoy!

Vintage Orioles

2011-08-31T14:16:00.004-04:00

On the club level at Camden Yards there is Orioles memorabilia and photographs all over the place. It definitely gives a nice atmosphere and I think its cool to see some of the older graphics that have been used in the past. This is one such graphic from either the 60's or 70's, either way, back from a time when they were consistently winning. Enjoy!

Big Sister

2011-08-30T10:06:00.004-04:00

Big News! Jenn and I are expecting another child! We found out about 2 months ago and kept it quiet to get past the 12 week mark, and then started telling family. Now that we've finished telling family, I'm telling everyone else that we're having another one.

Our method for telling people was to have Abbi walk in with this shirt on that say "Big Sister". Once people realized we often got the "are you trying to tell us something" response. Abbi is very excited to be a big sister, and she often tells us she wants a "little si-ter" or a "little bruder". Very cute of course.

Finally, we don't think we're going to find out the sex of the baby, we'll leave that mystery until their born. We do know to expect a new kid around February 13th, 2012.

Hurricane Isabel

2011-08-29T17:10:00.001-04:00

Saturday during the hurricane Abbi and headed out for some good ol' raintime fun. We put her poncho on her that she got when we did the Maid of the Mist tour at Niagara Falls and we played in the rain. We played in puddles. She ran up and down the sidewalk and had a great time. Max even came outside for a bit and had some fun. We fared very well with the storm and are very thankful for it. Enjoy!

Burj Khalifa

2011-08-27T08:41:00.002-04:00

One of the gifts that Jenn got me for my birthday was this LEGO set. It is a replica of the current tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa. It was on the list of ones I wanted, and it was a pretty fun little build. I've got other architecture sets including the white house, sears tower and empire state building. One thing I find interesting about this build and the other skyscrapers they have released, they are actually in some relation of scale to one another. Because this is the tallest building in the world now, even its smaller size is bigger than the other buildings I have. Enjoy!

The Reeds

2011-08-26T08:41:00.001-04:00

Last weekend when were getting ready to leave Captain Billy's I stopped for a minute and snapped a few pictures of the reeds (as I'll call them) hanging out at the end of the parking lot. Instead of taking the shot head on, I decided to get in among them a big and shoot upwards to give a different perspective and feel. I really like how it turned out. Enjoy!