Contemporary

Vermont Life

An intense thunderstorm moves through Bennington, VT.  The area received a record breaking 9" of rain in the month of June.

A sign posted on a telephone pole in front of a home in Pownal, VT.

More rain falls in Bennington, VT making this Catamount statue even more relevant.  This has been one of the wettest Junes on record.

A sign warns motorist to look out for tractors in the Southern Vermont Orchard.

A view of the Southern Vermont Orchard and the famous Green Mountains of Vermont.

Portfolio Submission

#1
I chose this image because of the way that it plays with scale.  The lizard which would otherwise be of an unknown size is contrasted against the puzzle pieces which gives the viewer an idea of his actual size.  The depth of field was also appropriate for the image highlighting the head and front leg of the lizard but also allowing for a pleasing blur of the puzzle and the background colors that it offered.  I prefer images with a shallow depth of field and this image is a good example of why - a good representation of my photographic vision. 

#2
This image was extremely difficult to capture.  There was a big storm headed for us and I was determined to capture a strike.  It took hours of trial and error and I ended up with three decent images.  I would have preferred more detail from the mountain beyond but i was happy that I was able to at least capture a decent strike.  I used a very long exposure time of 30 seconds and realized after checking my first round of shots that any more than one distinct strike in an exposure negated all of them and only produced atmospheric lighting.  I decided to wait for a good strike and then physically cover the image with my hand to preserve the single strike until the shutter closed.  While I wish there had been more detail in the back and foreground I was thrilled at even capturing what I did and felt a huge sense of accomplishment at doing so. 

#3
I loved the shape and texture that this image of my wok brush provided.  Again, it exemplifies my vision by using a very shallow depth off field which can offer a lot of visual interest to otherwise mundane objects.  It was one of the first images I took for the course and it was a challenge since I was stuck in my house for several days which forced me to be very creative about my subject matter since at first glance none of it seemed very interesting at all.  This is another aspect of my vision which has emerged and that is I enjoy taking pictures that are visually interesting but somewhat abstract.

#4


This was another image that took a looooong time to get right.  I shot close to a hundred images of the fish, changed lenses several times and tried many different apertures.  In the end I found this image successful for a couple of reasons.  First the framing of the fish,  the bamboo and the surface of the water were all exactly what I was looking for and made an otherwise boring picture of a fish interesting and visually pleasing.  It was also extremely difficult to get the depth of field right while still maintaining a crisp focus - fish don't tend to stay still for very long!  Another image which shows my affinity for a shallow dof.

#5

This image was the most sentimental of the bunch.  It features a long time friend of mine who recently moved back to the area affording us the opportunity to rekindle our friendship after years apart.  She lives in Williamsburg now, where this was taken and it really exemplifies our past and present relationship.  We both are lovers of street art and graffiti so it was only fitting that her portrait be against an amazing example of famous Williamsburg graffiti.  I love the colors and textures and mostly it's just a great representation of our friendship and common interests. 

Portraits

Chloe, Red Bank, New Jersey, 2013.

Mike, The Beninngton Monument, Benington, Vermont, 2013.

Self Portrait, Red Bank, New jersey, 2013.

Red

Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY.

Gateway national Recreation Area, Sandy Hook, NJ

Fort Hancock, Sandy Hook, NJ.

Black & White

Composition

The feathers and leaves in this photo are a good example of line, texture and pattern.

This statue, at Mount Mitchill Overlook Park in New Jersey, is commemorating the people from Monmouth County that were killed on 9/11.  I chose this image as an example of foreground-background relationship because in the background you can see the new WTC being constructed.

 

I chose this image as an example of abstraction.  It's the same WTC  memorial but the perspective has changed from a wide shot to a close-up of the talons which are clutching a piece of twisted steel recovered from Ground Zero.

This image uses the monkey bars to frame and mirror the shape the sun while adding pattern as well.

The tennis ball in the final image is clear point of interest, while the lines, texture and pattern of the bench help to draw your attention to the ball.

Perspective

Easter in Red Bank

Jukebox Reflection

A typical diner scene featuring: a woman eating, some people working and a guy reading who is looking for someone.

Happy Easter from The Broadway Diner - one of two restaurants on the same street who use "Broadway" in their names though the actual street is Monmouth Ave.

Lit-Up like a Christmas Tree

Retro Indoor Gardening

My husband was less than pleased with my solution to our unseasonably bad weather and late frosts.  I assured him it wouldn't be more than a week. 

As we sat in our living room last night relaxing I couldn't help but laugh.  The room, normally a little on the dark side owing to no overhead light, was lit up brighter than Times Square! 

I replaced the two living room lamp bulbs for "Daylight" CFL's.  It's a little ridiculous, but it has been so cold I can't leave my plants outside and everyone is starting to get a little leggy and cramped.  Hopefully the weather evens out and we don't get anymore snow.

The Neighbors Moon

My final shot is one of the hazy moon and my neighbors house.  I experimented with multiple lenses outside and ended up with the 16-24mm which had the widest angle - the only one wide enough to get the moon and the houses in the same frame.

A Car Drives By

My next mission was to do some nighttime tripod work.  Unfortunately it was overcast and there were no stars or distinct moon to work with.  Some lucky timing produced a car and a light trail in one shot.

The Angel and Bamboo

I was surprised at how difficult this shot was to take.  The biggest challenge I faced with this assignment was making time to shoot.  With a toddler it's difficult to find time to "go out" and shoot.  I realized that my mission had to be to make my immediate surroundings look interesting to other people.  

The fish, oh the fish.  I have several in the tank but was plagued by inexperience with the camera - it's my husband's Canon, I shot only with a Nikon, there's a difference!  I couldn't change the focus field, I couldn't set the aperture priority - I was totally lost.  I shot more than 100 pictures of the tank with a 10% success rate in terms of composition and focus.  FOCUS - fish move - a lot.  This was the very last shot I took.  It was what I was looking for the entire time.

The Wok Brush

I've been having difficulty finding time to shoot.  My daughter is at an age where she wants to be involved with everything and can't be left alone for a second.  Not the most productive environment.  So, this morning I decided to experiment with different items found within my house.  This is my wok brush.

Jerry the Bearded Dragon

Yesterday we got our daughter a baby Bearded Dragon.  I knew that I wanted to photograph him so I decided to use a recently completed solar system puzzle on my kitchen table next to the widow for some needed light, color and texture.  I wanted to capture the detail of his scales and also play on the idea of scale and size.  The curve of the sun in the puzzle mirrors the curve of the lizards back which added to the overall composition.  I chose my 24-70mm lens at f2.8 for a very shallow depth of field to make the lizard pop.  I enhanced the image using the Quick Selection tool, Levels and the Unsharp Mask in Photoshop.  I didn't crop the image, which I was happy about.  I try not to crop unless absolutely necessary - a personal preference.   

The Zombie Apocalypse : Yet Another Reason to Garden

I don't really watch a lot of TV.  That isn't to say I'm adverse to television.  In fact, quite the opposite, I really enjoy quality programming - as long as I don't have to watch commercials.  The problem is there isn't enough time in the day to do everything I have to do on top of everything I want to do.  This means I watch most shows on demand or after they come out on Netflix.

So that brings me to my recent case of stomach flu and AMC's The Walking Dead.  Over the course of those two days in bed I watched all of season 2 and part of season 3.  Now, I know a lot - A LOT - of people don't like horror anything - for reasons - but this show is different.  Yes, it's excessively gory.  Yes, it's freaking scary.  But, the story and characters are so well written, so complex, soooo good.  Robert Kirkman is truly a master of his craft.  Plus, it serves as a reminder of why canning tomatoes is so important! 

Keep Calm and Hide Behind Daryl Dixon

I love canning my own tomatoes and sauce.  It's incredibly labor and time intensive but also infinitely rewarding.  My last real canning effort I milled 70 pounds of tomatoes by hand and canned them in a water bath.  It took nearly three days from start to finish.  But the pure satisfaction I received after reaping my red reward was unparalleled.

The harsh reality is that the sauce that resulted from seventy pounds of tomatoes barely lasted a few months - let alone the entire winter.  After giving away jars to friends and family I was left with 3 quarts and about 8 pints if I remember correctly.  It was several years ago so I could be off on the numbers, but it wasn't enough and that much I do remember.

This years varieties - Brandywine OG, Rutgers Heirloom and Roma OG

This year I will be single-stemming all of my tomatoes in hopes of having a good crop in limited space.  I have been struggling to find the right balance between planting big beefy slicing tomatoes - like Brandywine and Rutgers - which are such a treat fresh and the Roma or Paste tomatoes that I will use for canning.  Currently, my garden plan allocates only three squares for Roma and I'm sure that won't even come close to being enough for me.  However, in the interest of having a good variety I decided to supplement my own harvest with tomatoes from the farmers market.  That way I can grow beans and cukes too!  After all it's prime real estate along the trellis - and my love of homemade pickles is almost equal to my love for tomato sauce.

I'm always looking for recommendations if anyone has a favorite sauce or slicing tomato.

The "Lipstick Walker" - She's sexy, dead or alive.

Sugar High

Caleb and I recently started allowing our daughter to indulge in things like M&M's, cookies and the ilk.  I grew up with a Grandfather who religiously took us to buy penny candy at the local joints and doled out gum and other sweets from his personal stash like all the best grandparents do.  I've never had a bad association with sweets,  nor a single cavity and conversely never craved sweets as an adult.  I always had a taste for salty over sweet.

When I was in high school my friend Marisa told me that her parents wouldn't allow her to have "real" sugar because she was "hyper-active" and instead offered her one of those nasty, aspartame-laden, multicolored lozenges that proudly displayed their "Sugar Free" label while insidiously hiding a bevy of harmful sugar substitutes now widely accepted to cause illnesses like cancer and Alzheimers.  Sugar, in excess, causes its own plethora of infirmities but, in moderation, is one of life's enjoyable and acceptable rewards - like bacon.

Free of sugar but full of cancer - YUM!

So, that's my argument for sugar and in defense of our decision to give sweets (and bacon) to our daughter.

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Yesterday, Chloe woke up, rubbed her still puffy eyes, looked up at me and with the sweetest smile on her face and said "Choc-rate?"  I had to laugh, it was funny - and also terrifying.  I gently explained to her that "We don't eat chocolate for breakfast, honey."  To which her quick reply was, "Cookie?"

This, THIS is the reason I didn't want to give her candy to begin with and I am quickly regretting my decision.  Lucky for us, she's quite an agreeable child - most of the time - and like many toddlers you can use distraction to direct her attention towards some other delicious food that she also loves - most of the time.

I like these - they have more protein than regular yogurt and they have pictograms on the package!  And these.  Both work as a substitute for other non-nutritious junk food but I always feel like I should be making this stuff myself.  

So, I've decided to try this recipe for homemade Chocolate Chip Coconut "Cliff" Bars.  I am conservatively optimistic that they will taste just as good, if not better, than store bought Cliff Bars. 

The recipe I chose calls for something called PB2.  Which, after a little searching, I found out was powdered peanut butter.  I will see if I can find it at the local health food store before ordering it online, though since I've never heard of it before today I'm not holding out too much hope.

  

 

Thrifty Consumer or Stage 1 Hoarder

I love Pinterest.  Some of my favorite things to source on Pinterest are DIY projects using shipping pallets.  I'll be the first to admit that 98% of the things that I pin never come into being.

I've made the odd recipe and I attempted a gingerbread cityscape in a jar for my mom for Christmas. Complete with antique blue glass jar and snapping glass top - very classy.  The jar was beautiful, the cookies were delicious (mostly because I added cocoa powder), but in my haste I cut all of my little skyscrapers too big and not one of them fit inside the jar!  I was forced to give her the cookies on a plate with an empty jar...less than stellar.

 

Mine looked exactly like that - just picture all of the cookies on a plate and an empty jar and voila!

So, when I approached my husband about the possibility of building a small fence out of recycled shipping pallets he was, at the very least, dubious.


Caleb: "Where are you going to get them?"

me: "The dump."

Caleb: "You're kidding right?  And, where will you put them?  I seriously hope you're not planning on stacking them up in the back yard.  What  are we hoarders now?  Just because it's free doesn't mean it's good."

me: "I could always put them in the basement."

Caleb: "..."

I admit, this is a solid argument against "collecting" pallets.  They are cumbersome and moderately unattractive especially when piled up in your too-small backyard.  But (and this is a big BUT), their inherent value can't be denied.  For the most part, they are structurally sound, often single-use shipping pallets which are made of solid wood and can be easily modified or broken down entirely. 

Build a pallet fence by Clay Sawyer.

I've moved on from the idea of building a fence since we a) don't need one and b) don't own this house but, I never gave up on the pallets.  In fact, I'm quite sure we can easily break them down in order to construct our raised beds.  My looming concern now is that I am ill-equipped to tell whether or not the wood has been treated.  The last thing I want is to build an edible garden bed out of wood soaked in toxic chemicals which then leach out into the organic uber-soil that I just spent multiple dollars and hours preparing.

Any must see Gardening Boards out there?  I'm always looking to feed my addiction.

One of the many DIY Pallet Boards I follow can be found here.

Oh no! Not the Parsley...

I am now very confident that it wasn't the Cabbage that I sprayed with Clorox Green Works - it was the Parsley.  I planted 3 Parsley and 3 Cabbage side by side in a partitioned plastic plate.  I was so happy to see them sprouting that I disregarded the obvious fact that all of the cabbage and broccoli had sprouted and none of the parsley.  Such is life.

The trio of Parsley looking less than optimal at day 8.

So, today I move on from what is sure to be the first of many gardening failures this season and plant more Parsley.  This time I am going to germinate the seeds in a paper towel before planting them.  I've used this method many times before and I've always gotten good results.  Plus, there's no chance I will accidentally poison them.    

Gardening Fail : (First of Many) The Incredible Hulking Cabbage

I knew it was a bad idea to try and use my empty Clorox Green Works container as a water spray bottle but I did it anyway - because of reasons.  I cleaned and rinsed it for nearly 3 days trying to remove the cleaner smell.  When I was satisfied that the trace amount of cleaner remaining was negotiable (I mean the stuff says it's "plant based" after all) I went ahead and filled it with water - like an ass.  I even had the foresight to move the bottle with the cleaner to another area, you know, just in case.

The Green Usurper

Well it didn't take but 30 minutes for me to grab the wrong bottle and spray Clorox Green Works directly into one of my seedlings.  I knew something was wrong when I saw bubbles on the surface of the dirt.  I cringed as realization dawned on me.  I immediately decided to try and flush out the cleaner with water.  It was a long shot and, in hindsight, rather stupid since I only sprayed one plant and deluging it with water only served to spread the cleaner to the other tubes by osmosis.  But at this point, I thought, why not? 

Fast forward to yesterday and wouldn't you know, the tainted cabbage was the first to sprout.  I saw one peeking out when I was watering and I was happy, encouraged even.  This morning not one, but all of the cabbage seeds have sprouted.

I never thought they would survive.  Now they are not only sprouting earlier than their predicted 7 days, but all at the same time.  Did I unintentionally Hulk-out my cabbage seeds by spraying them with some radioactive, genetically modified plant based cleaner which also happens to be green?  Great.  I've created a monster. 

I still can't bring myself to throw away the tainted sprouts.  Especially now that they have thrived despite the odds being stacked against them - or sprayed directly on them as it were.  Since their ultimate destiny is to become sauerkraut I'm confident the fermentation process will negate any residual contamination.