Some days just don't work the way you hope ...

Battery Weed, originally uploaded by Nadia McIlhany.

This past weekend, I drove to NY with my parents. I was hoping that I would find some time to do some cool photography and even located what seemed like a promising location on the way - the Gateway National Recreation Area contains Fort Wadsworth, a fort located underneath the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge on Staten Island. Unfortunately we missed the one daily tour inside the fort by about an hour. And the weather was a little on the gloomy side. The Battery Weed (pictured) here, nonetheless looked pretty cool. Not exactly what I had hoped to shoot but ... some days are just like that.

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.

New Ways to Post my Images

My parents., originally uploaded by Nadia McIlhany.

I've been spending a lot of time on Flickr lately. I've been working on several self-portrait projects. The main project is "fiftytwo" - one self-portrait a week for a year. I have completed 4 weeks now. Once a week is not such a big time commitment - although I was scrambling this week - mostly my own fault. I also have joined the Flickr Group Roulette group. This is also a self-portrait group and the theme changes daily. Luckily you only need to participate when you want to. I've done a few.

While playing on Flickr, I noticed that I can link to my blog and facebook pages directly from Flickr. I'm experimenting with this interface. If it works out well, I may start posting all my blog entries this way.

We'll see.

This is a shot of my folks at my sister's house. We went there for dinner last night to celebrate my niece's 16th birthday. I'm not sure when she got to be 16. I remember just the other day ... but that is a story for another time.

If you want to take a look at my Flickr photostream, click on the photo of my parents above.