A Dog By Any Other Name

I didn't get up as early as I had wanted. The warmth of my bed was just a little too comfortable. But I did manage some morning photography - back to the place I scouted the other day. Here is a shot of the Memorial Bridge.



It wasn't the shot I had hoped for - at least not the shot that was stuck in my head. I will have to get up earlier the next time and perhaps check out a slightly different spot.

I still had a hankering to shoot some ice and on the way home detoured to Walney Pond. Despite the warmer weather the past couple of days, the pond was solid ice and not very pretty. Maybe it will be better with sunlight hitting it at an angle - at sunrise or even sunset (I sense that there will be an early evening trip today). I hiked over to the creek to see if I could find some ice to shoot but while the pond was frozen, there was very little ice to be had in the creek. Probably the result of the flowing water.

I did find, however, a small horse - actually a great dane - named Hamlet. His owner told me that he weighed 170 pounds. That is 100 pounds on my own Ivan. Hamlet was beautiful and very friendly. He didn't really want to pose for me but I just had to capture his wonderful face. I hope to see him again when I get over to the pond again.



I have some friends that are doing a 100 strangers photography project. I wonder if I should do a 100 strange dogs photography project. Hmmmmmmmm.

Remember, if you click on either image, it will be displayed in a larger size.

Until the next time ...

Not Exactly Open to the Public ...

This past Sunday several of my photography friends (the daring ones), my son Joe, and I went on an Urban Decay photo adventure to the Henryton Center (aka Henryton Sanatorium, Henryton State Hospital, Henryton Asylum, etc...), an abandoned sanatorium just southwest of Baltimore near Patapsco Valley State Park. The Center was built in the 1920's and closed in the mid-1980's. It is now a ghost hunters' and photographers' playground. Well, it is not exactly a safe playground. A visit to Henryton requires you to take some serious safety precautions, including an asbestos rated (P100) dust mask, strong boots, a flashlight, ... Plus when you get home, you do not pass Go, do not collect $200 until you put your boots outside and your clothes in the wash. Needless to say, this is a cool place and I will probably go back one of these days - soon. I know that I missed a lot.

Click on the photo below and you will be magically transported to my Flickr photostream where more pictures live. Click on the photostream link and then click on the slideshow link in the upper right corner of the page. These are my first real ventures into HDR Grunge style photography - I've tried a little before but I think that I may be getting the hang of it ... or so I hop. Henryton was the perfect place to use this technique.

MAR_0462_1_0_tonemapped, originally uploaded by Nadia McIlhany.

Many thanks to Tony Sweet for alerting me to this place.