Tag Archives: Trees

Sunday May 5, 2013

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Sunday May 5, 2013 4.7/5 (93%) 3 votes

WARREN CONNECTICUT – Over the years we’ve developed a park-like area to the East of our house here, systematically clearing out underbrush and encouraging grass and ferns, and emphasizing the large, mature red and white oaks and sugar maples. In early spring the oaks have clusters of small light green flowers that look like nothing and shed pollen like the devil. Visually they lend a light green haze to the landscape – one of my favorite times of the year. Here you go, photographed with my Leica S medium format camera and a 24mm super wide angle lens.

Park

Park

On this day one year ago: Breakfast.

White

White

Friday May 3, 2013

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Friday May 3, 2013 5/5 (100%) 1 vote

WARREN CONNECTICUT – We drove up here early today, in time to catch the golden hour here. I’ve turned again to my Leica S, which I struggled with a bit yesterday – it’s a big complex system and I’ve been shooting mainly with my Leica Ms for the last few months so my skills operating the S have slipped a bit. I’ve resolve to tune up my approach to it over the weekend. It does produce remarkable files. Here you go with the Leica S and 120mm macro lens.

Callery Pear

Callery Pear

On this day last year: Gas explosion. Back to back duds last year.

Vacant lot

Monday April 29, 2013

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Monday April 29, 2013 3.5/5 (70%) 2 votes

NEW YORK NEW YORK – On the sidewalk near home. A plant with a punk haircut. In this era of the hipster I didn’t realize that this style still existed.

Weird plant

Weird plant

On this day last year: Infrared. I’ve got a small Panasonic point and shoot that I’ve had adapted to infra red only shooting.

IR Trees

Monday April 15, 2013

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Monday April 15, 2013 3.8/5 (75%) 4 votes

NEW YORK NEW YORK – That’s right . . . the date above says April 15. Tax day in the US. Ugh . . . We pay our first quarter estimated taxes today and it turns out that the recent tax increases have real teeth. I may have to give up photography for chalk drawing on sidewalks. My heart’s certainly not in imagery. Here’s what seems to be my best photo effort for the day.

Obscure

Obscure

On this day last year: More damned Spring color. Stop doing this you idiot.

Pears in bloom

Pears in bloom

Saturday January 12, 2013

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Saturday January 12, 2013 5/5 (100%) 1 vote

WARREN CONNECTICUT – Another foggy day. This seems to be going on forever. Here I am talking about the weather, but remember that my photographic interests tend towards landscape and the weather really does play an important role out here. At least in Connecticut I can do moody, which is greatly in evidence. Here are two images with my new Leica S – the first with my 35mm Summarit lens and the second three frames stitched with my 120mm Maco lens. The files are big. My aging Apple desktop tower is straining under the load.

Fog

Fog

More fog

More fog

On this day one year ago: Colorized infra red.

IR on Lexington

IR on Lexington

Sunday November 4, 2012

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Sunday November 4, 2012 4.2/5 (84%) 5 votes

WARREN CONNECTICUT – I’m a landscape guy who lives in the Eastern United States. I’ve written in the past about the challenges of Eastern landscape: deciduous forrest presses in on you; there are hills not mountains; dramatic points of view are scarce; there are people and their artifacts everywhere making images of virgin acadian paradise difficult. One approach to this problem is the Robert Adams approach – shoot what there is and the hell with you if you don’t find it interesting. So here are the woods near our house in good winter light.

Woods

Woods

Park-like setting near our house. This isn’t the first time that I’ve experimented with these shadows.

Monumental shadow

Monumental shadow

Residue of the guy who sold us a portion of this property.

Guy's Treasures

Guy’s Treasures

All shot with my Leica Monochrom and 35mm Summilux FLE lens.

On this day one year ago: really close. Taken with a Rikoh GRD camera – one of many compact cameras that I’ve tried and rejected.

Placemat

Placemat

Saturday October 27, 2012

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Saturday October 27, 2012 3.7/5 (73%) 3 votes

KENT AND WARREN CONNECTICUT – We’re showing our age: Maria and I went to a birding class in Kent this morning. We took a walk with the group behind the Kent town hall. Interestingly there were fewer birds that normal (our guide reported) because they had gone to ground feeling the low pressure as Sandy approached. Later in the day I experimented at bit with high ISO landscapes – shooting at ISO 5000 and f16 to maximize depth of field. Both images taken with my Leica Monochrom and 28mm Summicron lens.

Birding

Birding

Rocks

Rocks

On this day last year: S. Feldman Hardware.

S. Feldman Housewares

S. Feldman Housewares

Sunday October 21, 2012

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Sunday October 21, 2012 3.8/5 (75%) 4 votes

WARREN CONNECTICUT – Out with my Leica Monochrom today. I captured a backlit tree line – actually three frames stitched. And a store in New Preston run by a close friend. Also a stitch.

Tree line

Tree line

New Preston Kitchen Work

New Preston Kitchen Work

On this day last year: X rated at the Public Library. This was too good to be true.

XXX rated at the Public Library

XXX rated at the Public Library

Saturday October 13, 2012

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Saturday October 13, 2012 4.6/5 (91%) 7 votes

WARREN CONNECTICUT – Back to a perfect display of fall foliage. Wildly colorful. And here I am shooting with my Leica Monochrom. In black and white. I’ve got a new lens, a Leica 28mm f2.8 Elmarit Asph. This lens is extremely compact making the Monochrom almost pocketable. It reputation on the Leica street is that it almost offensively sharp and high contrast, making it difficult to control in high contrast situations. I thought it might work well with the Monochrom’s flatish looking files, and it does. Here are some samples. Note that I’m using a yellow-orange filter here to darken the sky.

Fall foliage

Fall foliage

Tree line

Tree line

Tall grass

Tall grass

On this day last year: Chuck Close.

Chuck Close

Chuck Close

Sunday October 7, 2012

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Sunday October 7, 2012 4/5 (80%) 5 votes

WARREN CONNECTICUT – Still here. Warren. This is the best time of the year for this little patch of the Berkshire foothills. It’s foggy and rainy but I managed to shoot some foliage and record a tractor pull moment from the Warren Fall Festival. Leica Monochrom.

foliage

Antique Tractor Pull

Antique Tractor Pull

On this day one year ago: Central Park Reservoir. This in a single image captures why I’m selling my medium format kit to really specialize on my Leica. Once I get up on a tripod everything turns static and predicable.

Central Park Reservoir

Central Park Reservoir

Sunday September 23, 2012

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Sunday September 23, 2012 4/5 (80%) 1 vote

WARREN CONNECTICUT – More trees at our place in Connecticut – at least they aren’t birches. In the warm light at sunrise there’s a hint of fall color – a trailer for coming attractions. I’ve been shooting with my Leica Monochrom recently but went out this morning with my Leica M9 and 90mm Elmarit lens. I struggled with this lens yesterday but got better results today. Maybe it just takes practice. I focused my attention on a park-like area to the West of our house – an area that we created by mowing the underbrush in a stand of major maples and oaks. This is what they looked like in black and white and color:

Park - Black and White

Park – Black and White

Park - Color

Park – Color

On this day last year: One child policy.

One Child Policy

One Child Policy

Sunday September 16, 2012

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Sunday September 16, 2012 3.5/5 (70%) 2 votes

WARREN CONNECTICUT – Another beautiful day in rural Northwestern Connecticut. We’ve turned the two or three acres nearest the house into a parklike setting, mowing around the mature oaks and maples. Three angles captured with my Leica Monochrom and my 1957 lens, a 50mm dual range Summicron.

Trees

Trees

More trees

More trees

More trees yet

More trees yet

On this day last year: Self, on the way to
Hong Kong.

Self

Self

Sunday June 3, 2012

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WARREN CONNECTICUT – A perfect weekend. Here’s a view of the oak outside of our front door, and a snapshot of a picnic on our new old boat, and of the new old boat itself (a 1952 Chris Craft in amazingly good operating order – we got lucky on this one). I think of the second image as truly a moment to treasure. All taken with my Sony Nex-7.

Major Oak

Major Oak

Moment to Treasure

Moment to Treasure

New Old Boat

New Old Boat

I just received a camera that’s a bit of a curiosity. It’s called a Lytro. It incorporates highly innovative technology that lets you select a focus point after the image is taken, using Lytro’s proprietary software. This aspect of this device actually works and is amazing. But . . . the tiny viewing screen is useless in daylight (this is a point and guess camera) and the quality of the jpeg file output is poor. Here’s an example. Oh well . . .

Lytro

Lytro

On this day one year ago: Out my window.

Out my window

Out my window

Sunday May 27, 2012

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KENT CONNECTICUT – John Novogrod and I spent s few hours here hiking in Macedonia Brook State Park. I’ve written elsewhere on the differences between Eastern US landscape (here) and Western landscape (where I grew up). In the West the landscape is expansive. Long vistas are common with changing points of view as you move across the landscape. In the East sight lines are truncated by the heavy deciduous forests an the choppy topography. It’s like walking though a room. Mottled shadow/suniight presents a dramatic challenge to a photographer in terms of dynamic range. This bears an obvious relationship to work I’ve been shooting in my landscape class in Central Park in the Ramble and the North Woods, Here’s an image with my Leica M9 and a 1950s era lens, a Dual Range Summicron that I’ve had adapted to fit on the M9.

A Walk in the Woods

A Walk in the Woods

On this day last year: Francesca Campbell.

Francesca

Francesca

Sunday May 13, 2012

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Sunday May 13, 2012 5/5 (100%) 1 vote

WARREN CONNECTICUT – I should rename this site “Birches R Us”, or “All Birches all the Time”, or perhaps “Birch City”. They are irresistible. Maybe I should cut them all down to eliminate the temptation. Well here we go again. More birches. Growing up in Utah I had a thing with quaking aspens. Similar deal but even more impact. The white bark just gets to you. Oh and let’s not forget the ferns. Taken with my M9 and Noctilux lens.

More Birches

More Birches

On this day one year ago: Conservatory Gardens.

Conservatory Garden

Conservatory Garden