Repetition

These are all from the Computer Science and Engineering building at University of Michigan. The first two are of the Eniac computer (front of vacuum tubes and back of vacuum tubes), which was one of the first ones ever made. The last is some stairs.

Amsterdam

I took a trip to Brussels last week.  On Monday, there was a strike throughout the country, so I couldn't take the train from Amsterdam (where I flew into) to Brussels.  So, I had to spend the night in Amsterdam.  I just grabbed a hotel near the airport, and it turns out that there is a great park with a lake in it very close to there.  I walked over and was able to get some pictures.  It was a very overcast day (seems typical of Amsterdam), so I converted all of these to black and white.

I was hoping to have more opportunities to take pictures on the trip, but, as usual, there were no breaks during the day that were long enough to get away, they sequestered us during lunch, and the meeting ended after sunset.  Oh well.

Monochromatic Flower

My daughter has an Amaryllis which just started to bloom a few days ago.  Digital photography school had a challenge this last week for a monochromatic (but not black and white) picture.  So, I took these, reduced the yellows and greens and kept the red.  I don't think that this is pure monochromatic, since it has greys in it instead of pinks.  I don't really know how to do that (probably a red filter in PS?) Anyways, I like the first of the three best (I entered this one), but the second has some nice features too, like more texture.

Snow in the Woods

I took this while eating breakfast this morning.

Puerto Rico

I went to Puerto Rico a couple of weeks ago and had the chance to take some pictures.  We went up onto a mountain in the rain forest.  It was raining for a while, as you might expect.  Some of the pictures turned out ok, while some were just sort of blah.  You be the judge.

Mushrooms

I found a log with a lot of mushrooms on it while I was stacking wood on Saturday.  I took a bunch of pictures, obviously.  I used a bunch of different light settings, with the lights above to the left and above to the right, but really, the best shots (in my opinion) were with the lighting from below.  That way you could really see the undersides of them. Here are the best three.

I like this one, since it looks like this little shroom is venturing out on his own.  Like he is coming up to me to say "We come in peace!"

The Mighty Huron River

I went to Hudson Mills Metropark the other day to take some pictures.  It was colder than crap, but I got some pictures.  I think that they turned out pretty ok.  I took about seven that I like, but I will post them a couple at a time.  Here are two.

A House in the Woods

On the way to work a bit ago, I came across this house.  It is clear that it has been abandoned for at least 20+ years, since there is a tree growing from right next to the front door.  I really liked the feel of the place, so I took some pictures.  These are probably the best two:

Blacksmith Shop 1

We went to a blacksmith shop a couple of weeks ago, and I took a bunch of pictures.  I think that I got a few interesting ones, that I will post slowly here.

Milkweed at Sunset

Car

My dad took us to look at some cars at a place where he is restoring his Morgan.  Very cool cars there.  It was relatively dark, and there were a ton of people, so I didn't take too many pictures.  This is probably one of the better ones.

A Vision of Winter

I think that this is one of the best pictures that I took this year.  It is very rare that you actually catch snow in the trees so clearly as this.  I really like that the snow is deep in the lower part of the trees and almost non-existent in the upper parts.  Also, the sky is so blue that it really gives a nice contrast.  It was a spontaneous picture on the way to work, again.

Pond at Dawn

Sorry that I have been gone for so long.  I have been a wee bit on the busy side.  Actually, I have been taking lots of pictures, but just haven't had time to process and upload them.  So, over the next many days, I will try to catch up with some pictures.

Here are some pictures that I took in early November on my way to work, just after dawn.

Alumni Band

Here is a picture of my Step Mom at the University of Michigan Homecoming game.  The top image is a full image taken at 53mm, so a tiny bit zoomed. The middle is a full image, but at 135mm, and the bottom is the same image but cropped.  This is taken from almost all the way across the stadium.  I really like my camera.  It is probably best to actually click on the images and look at the "full sized".

Tree at Sunrise

Yesterday I took my camera to work with me and got this on the way to work.  I walked out in the middle of a field to take this picture.  It is the first sunrise picture I have taken in a long time.  It is a rare occurrence.  Once again, I was searching for the elusive lone tree in a field with nothing in the background.  It seems to be quite hard to find this type of tree in Michigan.  I very much notice sight lines now, and the sight lines around here are quite short due to all of the trees.  I need to find some places in which there are large fields.

Fall Set I

On the way to work the other day (on my bike!), I took my camera and took some pictures.  Nice fall colors, some fog, a tractor and water.  Uber-cool!

Washington DC

We were in Washington DC about a month ago or so.  I took a few pictures and have processed them and such, but have never posted them.  I have been just a bit too busy.  Here are some of them.  I really like taking pictures of people, but I am extremely hesitant to do so.  I decided to take some pictures of people anyways (fight the fears!)  I feel like some of these turned out pretty nice.

Yet Another Flower Picture

I spent an hour last night playing with my light box and some flowers. I took a LOT of pictures.  What I find truly amazing is that you can have a flower in front of you and never see the spider webs until you take a macro shot and look at it on the computer.  Then, all of the flaws come out.

One thing that I have noticed is that it is very hard to get rid of pollen.  It is everywhere!  So, I guess I chose to embrace it this time.  With these pictures, I am just trying to get good composition, focus and such.  I could not really find "perfect" flowers in the garden.  I really do like some of these shots, though.  Here are four of them.

Matthaei Botanical Gardens

We went to the Botanical Gardens for a Meetup Event.  It was nice to be around other people who are interested in taking pictures.  The big problem is that I had both kids with me.  One is very interested in photography now, and the other was bored, bored, bored.  So, instead of being able to take my time and try to get perfect pictures, I had to move from place to place trying to get pictures as fast as possible.  Oh well.  Here are a few that I sort of like.