It’s snowing like crazy out there, and here in the Washington DC / Northern Virginia area they are calling for anywhere from 10 to 25 or so inches of snow.  According to the weather this morning, they’re saying it may be more than we got in 1983, when the last big blizzard hit the area.  Photographers all over the region are out taking pictures, or at least will be once the snow settles... 

I’ve lived in Manassas for about a year and a half now and have come to really appreciate the history of this location.  From the Battlefield (there are a couple other shots of the Battlefield in this post) to the downtown area, there are a lot of photographic opportunities.  Right now I’m staking out locations for portraits — if you have any suggestions or would like some portraits... 

Yesterday I went to shoot at a pumpkin patch in Delaplane, Virginia, with friends Kim Baker and Dawn Casey.  The sky wasn’t that great as it was raining most of the morning, and it was crazy windy, but we stayed about an hour and a half and got some decent shots.  A bit of tweaking in Lightroom made the sky pop so it added to the image rather than detracted from it.  Overall I’m happy... 

Wanted to try my hand at manual exposure and was a bit bored with some of the other subjects around Vienna so figured I’d go to the next boring option: myself Found some places with good color and interest and started there.  For the first shot, the sun was too high in the sky so there’s some harsh lighting and shadow but I guess that’s what post-processing is for!  All shots... 

During our Harrisonburg visit last year, we happened to drive by an old cemetery that I just had to pull into.  We both enjoy history-related locations and this definitely provided that.  Where we ended up was Staunton National Cemetery, which has just shy of 1,000 people buried there, and only about half are known.  Here is more info on the cemetery.  Read More →

Picked up a new macro lens (finally!) from Adorama using the Bing.com cashback bonus.  Here are a few test shots from it — lens is a Sigma 150 f/2.8 Macro.  I still need to practice with it some, I really do like the focal length of it — a few bee shots (not sharp due to camera shake) I was far enough away to not worry about getting stung!  Have to keep shutter speeds up at 150mm though,... 

Late last year my wife and I went to Harrisonburg, VA to stay at a bed and breakfast and just “get away” for a while without going too far.  The place we stayed at had this great cat that lived there — he greeted us when we got there pretty much, and hung out with us the entire time, probably from all the lovin’ he got from us (we pet him constantly while sitting on the porch!) ... 

Today and tomorrow will be the hottest days of the year so far, so I thought I’d share one of my favorite photos from spring.  Shot this tulip with a Nikon 35mm f/1.8G, holding my D80 to the ground and shooting straight up.  The colors of the flower and sky were perfect, but a bit of saturation boost made it even better.  This shot is available for purchase in the gallery. Shot with a Nikon... 

Last week my friend Geff asked if I wanted to do some shooting in Old Town Alexandria, a photowalk of sorts.  Unlike a regular photowalk, this would be just the two of us, rather than 50!  The trick would be that everything was shot in B&W — no post processing to change color to B&W (though I did post process for levels, contrast, etc — just no color->B&W conversion). ... 

Because I don’t have a green thumb, I’m not sure what these are (though I’m sure Patty does!) –  I found them on my way to work in Vienna.  Shot taken with Nikon D80 and 35/1.8 AF-S lens, 1/1000 @ 2.8, ISO 100, with a little bit of Color Efex Pro thrown in.  Read More →