27. 15 Minutes

021909_6203, originally uploaded by steve_kurth.

15 minutes one way or the other can make a big difference. In my commute in the morning, if I'm a little too early or too late the traffic is noticeably different.

Today I left work later than usual and came home to this. I hadn't seen a good sky in weeks. Five minutes later it was gone, ten minutes before it was nothing. Happy snapshot.

26 Zero Out

120408_5638, originally uploaded by steve_kurth.

My photography resolution this year is to remember to zero my damn camera out.

Zeroing out is returning all the settings back to what you like to start with. I spent a couple hours hiking through the park yesterday taking shots. Great, except that they were all shot at 1250 iso and fluorescent white balance. I remember thinking it was bright out, but the numbers were goofy. That's what I get for being lazy and shooting aperture priority instead of full manual. It was too bright to really see the display correctly, but that's why you think and zero out.

Ugh. Lazy and stupid.

The other thing I learned is that instead of hauling a backpack which basically only had an extra lens in it, I'm just going to bring the d40 along. One wide one long. It will look lame but switching lenses in the woods is clumsy and risky.

Anyway. None of that has much to do with this nice sunrise. It's snowing out now. An article on Strobist had a throw away line about deciding what kind of photography you want to do. I've been thinking about that. I shoot skies and plants because they are around me. I want to shoot more people. Maybe I'll hate it, but I want to try. That should be photo resolution #2

25. Solo Thanksgiving

112708_5605, originally uploaded by steve_kurth.

It's a happy Thanksgiving. I took it easy, starting my day with a champagne cocktail. I spent it alone and I can't say I minded that at all. I goofed around, watched the parade, and basically didn't do a damn thing. I'm grateful I have a job. Thankful Martha and Barbara called me three years ago. Who knows where I'd be if they hadn't? I shudder to think. I was broke, broken and alone. One step or two from real disaster.

Well, the company is on the brink of disaster now, The stock plummeted so low they took us off the market. Not really sure where this next will find me. I think there will be real changes in 2009. But for now I'm ok. Happy and buzzed and looking at the clouds.

24. Zeus' Revenge

111508_5512, originally uploaded by steve_kurth.

The graffiti on the block says "Zeus", but it was Poseidon's day. I had planned on shooting some trees in the fog, but when I stepped outside and heard the surf, I changed my mind and went down under the boardwalk.
The waves weren't huge, but they were very noisy. Every few minutes I really loud one would come up and I had to look down from the viewfinder to make sure I didn't get caught.
The pilling here isn't bad, but on another one the concrete was chewed up so badly by the tides it looked like a beaver had taken to it.
So, I capped off a bunch of shots and was deciding where to go next when the sky opened up. Big, sloppy silver dollar drops forced me back into the car. Zeus the sky god got his revenge on the day after all.

23. Raw Brackets

110108_5359, originally uploaded by steve_kurth.

Time: 8ish
Location: Plum Island
Mood: Neutral

I went out to Plum Island this morning with an eye towards shooting brackets I could composite together. I shot about five versions of this and tried to fit them together. It was irritating because my Wal Mart tripod isn't very steady and the shots aren't very together.

It occurred to me that instead of using different shots, I should just work from different developments of the same RAW shot.

So that's what we have here. The sky is one development, the foreground another. A mask and a few adjustments later and I called it good. I dunno how I feel about this technique exactly. Looks sorta fake, but not without its charms.

22. Wind on the Beach

Time: 7ish

Location: Salisbury Beach

Mood: Buffeted

The wind was crazy today. I went down to the beach to get some bracketed shots to try some HDR stuff. It was frigid. My hands got cold after a few sets and I bailed out of the wind.

The wind also messed up the HDR shots because the foliage and fence moved around so much. I have to blame my crappy WalMart tripod a bit, too. That thing shakes like it has the DT's.

Anyway, this is the result of the morning. I'm not volcanic about it, but I like the little sequence at the base of the clouds enough to share it with the no one that reads this. 

Still plugging away..

21 Break in the Rain

092908_4740, originally uploaded by steve_kurth.

Time: 6:30am
Mood: Bleary

Monday there was a brief break in the rains and this was the sunrise off my front porch. I had slept poorly, partially due to my frustration with work. Today the crew would learn that company had done a not-so-cool thing and I knew a lot of people would feel bad.

There's a lot to feel rough about. Most of the crew doesn't get who's really getting screwed. So, girding myself for a day of loose emotions, I stepped out to see this. It only lasted a few minutes before it turned into a rainbow over the marsh and then folded back into rain. I'm not going to make up any silver lining take-your-moments-where-you-can bullshit out of this. It was just a moment and then it was gone.