A Day Early and ...

I know that I usually post the PHOG on Sundays but I will be away from a computer this Sunday so ... you're getting it today.

I had a short work week this week because we went to the Thursday night Virginia Tech - Clemson college football game. Night games are so much fun. Here are a few shots - fans, players, fireworks, the band.

Oh, yeah, the HOKIES won this game. YAY!!!

On the way back I had hoped to catch some of the fall color in the Virigia mountains. But it was raining. We stopped at a winery and tasted (and bought) some wine. The vineyard looked so dismal because it was the end of the season AND it was raining.

Our friend Melanie posed for some maternity shots. I have to process what I took but here is a portrait of her with her husband, our friend Jeff. I like the looks that they have in this one.

PHOG will be back on it's regular schedule next week (Sunday, November 5) with some of the maternity photos AND images from our Florida vacation!!!

Crisper Days (and Nights)

It was another busy photography week.

On Thursday evening, I tagged along with a photography friend and tried my hand at night sports photography - at a local high school JV football game. This is a difficult skill. This was my first attempt and I can honestly say that I have not mastered the skill. Here are the best of what I shot that night.

On Saturday morning I went on an artist outing with the Northern Virginia Artist League. We went to Claude Moore Park in Sterling, VA. The fall colors have started to come out and I took some shots of the red leaves ... and of my fellow artists.

On Sunday, we went to Annapolis to see my boss' husband's acting debut at the local community theatre. The theatre was 1/2 a block down from State Circle and the Maryland State House. It is a beautiful state house.

Triangles ... I am still working on the NVPS visual design theme of triangles. Here are this week's attempts.

Annapolis, MD

The tree in front of my house - down to one lone leaf.

Claude Moore Park, Sterling, VA

Links:

NOVAL: http://www.novalart.com/
Claude Moore Park: http://www.co.loudoun.va.us/prcs/parks/claude.htm
Colonial Playeres: http://www.cplayers.com/
NVPS: http://nvps.org/

So it's FALL

I know that it has been fall for a few weeks now but I don't really believe that it is fall until the cold comes and the leaves begin to change. The first signs are finally upon us.

I seem to take my camera to work with me on Wednesdays. This past Wednesday was no exception. I was going to the Library of Congress to do some research so I figured that I would throw my camera in the bag and look for some shots up on Capitol Hill. The Capitol is a pretty impressive structure.

The Northern Virginia Photographic Society self-improvement topic this month is triangles. I didn't make it to Green Spring Gardens with the other society members on Sunday morning. However, I took a walk around the neighborhood looking for triangles.

Do you see the triangle in this picture?

I am also working on a fall foliage challenge this month. The leaves are just starting to change in our area. They don't seem to be as colorful as they have been in other years. We'll see how they develop over the next couple of weeks. The tree in front of our house has lost most of its leaves. The ones left are shades of yellow and a little bit of orange.

I'm sure that there will be more color next week.

Links:

Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/index.html

Northern Virginia Photographic Society: http://nvps.org/

A Squirrel In Need Of A Handout

I got my new Nikon 18-200 mm VR lens this week. And I was all excited to use it alot this weekend but ... the weather was bad ... and I was tired ... and it just didn't work out the way I had hoped.

But I did shoot some pictures this week.

On Wednesday before heading home for the day, I took a walk around Lafayette Park. This is the park right near the White House. Not much going on at the White House that day.

Although there was a squirrel in need of a handout.

On the way to the Metro, I saw an American flag reflected in the VA building. I thought that it was kind of interesting.

I had hoped to take pictures of Joe and his friends who joined us out at the Chesapeake Bay on Friday night and Saturday. But the weather was rainy and grey and was hampering my creativity. Evir came out the the pier with me so I shot some pictures of her.

This last shot was not from this past week. It was from the Virginia Tech football game the week before. My friend and co-worker, Jon, has season tickets right next to our seats. Here he is happy. Unfortunately that did not last since Tech lost that game. :(

Remember. There is a sign up form below so that you can get word when I post a new PHOG entry. And if you are thinking of holiday portraits, contact me.

Link:

Beyond Mere Words Photography (that's me): http://www.beyondmerewords.com

FOCUS?POCUS

I’ve had a busy week so I did not get in as much photography as I would have liked. I did figure out how to create a subscription form for this blog so if you want to be notified every time I post a new PHOG entry, fill out the subscription form in the blog entry below this one (Friday, September 29, 2006).

I’ve been having focus issues with the new D200. It has so many different settings for the auto focus and I was not getting them. I spent some time this week trying to learn them and practice.

On Friday night I took some shots of Ivan, our 2 1/2 year old lab retriever mutt. He is sometimes a willing model.

On Saturday, Charles and I headed down to Blacksburg, VA to see Virginia Tech play Georgia Tech. This battle of the Techs did not go so well for the Hokies (VT’s team for those of you who don’t follow college football). It made for some interesting shots.

I was hoping to continue my lines theme from last week at the game. After all, as my mother-in-law recently mentioned, football is a game of lines. I got some.

I was captivated by the sky. At one point we thought the heavens were going to open up and drench us. I was actually expecting this since I did not bring a poncho or rain suit or anything like that. But we lucked out and got no rain.

On Sunday, Joe and I went over to Meadowlark Gardens and played with the camera. Here is the best of what we got.

Me:


Joe:

Have I got a deal for you!

I had a few things happen this week that provided me with some nice validation on my photography. First, I got a word of mouth referral to shoot a small wedding. Unfortunately it did not work out but the woman told me that she loved my work (after seeing it on my website). Perhaps I will get to work with her in the future. Later on the same day, I had someone else see my website for the first time and tell me that my work was beautiful.

If you’ve seen my work and like my style, have I got a deal for you. The holiday season is fast approaching. Before you know it, it will be time to send out holiday cards. What better way to let your family and friends know how you are doing than with a lovely portrait of you, your family, your child, and/or your favorite garden snail. Book a portrait session with me before the end of October and I will take one half off my regular sitting fee ($75 - so it will be $37.50).

Links:
Virginia Tech Football: http://www.hokiesports.com/football/

Meadowlark Gardens: http://www.nvrpa.org/meadowlark.html

Beyond Mere Words Photography: http://www.beyondmerewords.com

Get an Email When I Post A New PHOG Entry

Enter your email address below to subscribe to New PHOG!





powered by Bloglet

You Never Know What You Will See Between The Lines

This week was ripe for photography. Maybe I was inspired by my recent membership in the Northern Virginia Photographic Society (NVPS) and their upcoming year focusing on “Visual Design.”

Sometimes photography is about being in the right place at the right time. On Tuesday there were protesters outside my building. They brought a big inflatable rat with them. These pictures weren’t so great from a design standpoint but they were fun from a subject standpoint. After all, how often do you see a giant inflatable rat?

I finally found a “volunteer” to help me with my idea to take a reflective portrait in the boulders at the National Geographic building. On Thursday my friend and co-worker, Dale, came out and we took a few shots mid-day. I have a feeling that I will be playing with this much more in future.

On Sunday I had to be at the NVPS Self-Improvement field trip location, Green Spring Gardens, by 8 am. As I’ve mentioned (at least above), NVPS is spending the year focusing on “Visual Design.” The Self-Improvement field trips are following the Freeman Patterson book, “Photographing the World Around You (A Visual Design Workshop).” I already owned the book before starting this self-improvement project. Here are some of my lines pictures. I will be working on this focus until the next field trip in October. So be prepared to see more LINES.

I am finding it exceedingly difficult to include just a few images every week. Hope you don’t mind.

It’s fall. Time for pumpkins.

Links:

Northern Virginia Photographic Society: http://www.nvps.org

National Geographic: http://www9.nationalgeographic.com/

Green Spring Gardens: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/gsgp/

Freeman Patterson: http://www.freemanpatterson.com/

No Sleeping In For Me

This weekend there was no sleeping in for me. Not sure WHAT I was thinking but I planned early morning photography activities for BOTH Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday morning, I left the house at 5:30 am so that I could meet my fellow photographers from the Northern Virginia Photographic Society at Wakefield Park so that we could caravan down to Herrington Harbour marina for September’s photography field trip. The theme of the field trip was REFLECTIONS. Here are some of my shots from Saturday.









OK, this one is not a reflection. But this night heron was just sitting there posing for me. I HAD to take his/her picture.



On Sunday I didn’t get up quite as early. I left the house at 7:45 (I could have left later) to make it down to the National Museum of the American Indian by 9:30 for a Washington Photo Safari. The Safari theme was the Nikon D200, my newish camera. The idea of the safari was learning about the camera rather than creative photography but I got a few shots that I liked. Here is one.



Who knows what next week will bring!!!

Links:

Northern Virginia Photographic Society: http://www.nvps.org
Herrington Harbour: http://www.herringtonharbour.com/
Washington Photo Safari: http://www.washingtonphotosafari.com
National Museum of the American Indian: http://www.nmai.si.edu/

Anticipation . . .

I had a very productive photography week. The week began with Labor Day. We still had house guests so we all went on a picnic to Burke Lake Park. This was a treat for Ivan even though he had to be on his leash while we were there. This summer I got him some dollar Frisbees in the dollar section at Target. Ivan loves to play Frisbee. Unfortunately the dollar disks only last about one session. We also brought a regular Frisbee for us to play with. While Charles and Jeff were playing, Ivan really wanted to go play. He managed to slip out of his collar for a bit – until Jeff tackled him.






Our picnic spot was right near the park train tracks. There was a little mock station with an American flag flying. I though that it was very quaint.




On Saturday we went to see Sandi Croan’s show over at the Broadway Gallery in Fair Lakes Promenade. As I’ve said before, I love her work. Now Charles knows what I have been going on about. Check out the link to Sandi's website below - and to Broadway Galleries' website as well.

On Sunday I got to do my first (of hopefully many more) maternity photo session. A friend of mine came over and we shot for about 2 hours. I’m pretty impressed with my efforts – if I do say so myself. Here are afew of the shots … there are more on my website viewing gallery … and even more will be coming as soon as I finish processing them.








While photos were downloading, I worked on some high key lighting skills and did some self-portraits. Always an interesting experience. I am getting much better at working the remote.



I’ve got lots of plans for artistic inspiration this week. On Tuesday I’ll be going to a Northern Virginia Photographic Society (NVPS) workshop on reflections and shadow. And on Wednesday I’ll be going to the monthly Northern Virginia Artists League (NOVAL) meeting.

Links:

Beyond Mere Words Photography Viewing Galleries: http://beyondmerewords.photosite.com
Burke Lake Park: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/burkelake/
Sandi Croan Photography: http://www.sandicroanphotography.com/
Broadway Galleries: http://www.broadwaygalleries.net/index.shtml
NVPS: http://nvps.org/main/
NOVAL: http://nvps.org/main/