I agress with shatch - I think we have 83 winners!! What a great challenge and great learning tool!! Below are my 15 favorites in order of entry, but I had another 15 standing by right behind them.
Stephanie
#4 Multiple points of view by douglas
#8 Stockton, NJ by richters
#13 City silouette by davev
#17 Morning dew by WomanWithaCamera
#29 All Swung Out by Grly
#34 Slippin into Darkness by Roaddog52
#39 Home Tme! by peterst6906
#51 Evening Prism by Tdcompton
#59 Another day's end at Horsetooth Reservoir by sbarge
#67 Morning dorys by mactoll
#68 Soft Flowing Morning by swintonphoto
#69 Capturing the Norning Light by anwmn1
#79 Its Around Here Somewhere by Travis
#81 Golden Harvest by Lars
#84 Evening Mist by Michael Atkins
You know, I think it says something about the high quality of all the entries that so few of the pictures are appearing on every single list - there really are an awful lot of fabulous images to choose from!
And I am BESIDE myself to be included in a couple of people's lists - I'm such a beginner, and feel so completely n00b at all this that ... I'm just over the moon that anything I shot was noticed among such superb entries - wow... I'm all verklaempt here... ::! Thank you so very much!
Anyway, my shortlist (although I could easily have created another list using completely different pictures! As somebody said... all 83 are worthy . I've really struggled to get it down to only 15... had to cull at least 7 more that were all on my WOW list...:cry
In order of posting:
3 Desert Dusk
9 Nightguard
23 Chime of Dawn
35 Enchanted Breakfast
39 Home Time
41 Apple at Dusk
50 In the Misty Morning Fog
51 Evening Prism
54 Night Evaporates
67 Morning Dorys
69 Capturing the Morning Light
71 Got a Nibble
72 Day is Done
76 Fog Diner
84 Evening Mist
Hey I made the finals Thank you dlplumer, Jag, Idiom, Markr, WomanwithCamera, and Peter for picking my shot in you top ten just as much an honor as making the vote list .Thanks again Jeff
Wow! Thanks to all that put me in their top lists and thank you for choosing me as a finalist! Holy cow! I am super excited and honoured to be mentioned among such talented people! Thanks again and good luck to all!
A great round of entries. Congratulations to all who entered and to those picked by the judges, I know what they went through to pick just ten. Thank you to those that included me in there favorite picks
I have been killing myself to pick my top ten.
I recently became semi retired :ivar and have been trying to hand off the keys to someone else, enter the challenge and pick some favorites while putting my van back together to leave the 8th for three weeks in Montana and Yellowstone.
I took 40 shots of the basic same image, I have been working right across the street from the park.
Here are some of my favorites by order of entry,
#14 Sunrays, dlplumer
#19 Oats in the Morning, JAG
#36 Cascade sunset, quark
#45 Dusk storm, bch2300
#50 In the Misty Morning fog, ic4u
#55 Getting up, jwear
#67 Morning Dorys, mactoll
#73 Wake up and smell the coffee, Halite
#83 San Fancisco from Mt Tamalpais, Harrington
#84 Evening Mist, Michael Atkins
Now I must check my gear and pack, and will hopfully get to see who wins this round before disappearing into the land of no cell phones and computers (a good thing)
Thank you so much to KevX, mactoll, divamum and roaddog for including me in your favorites! I am smiling big:D!
So many fantastic images this round...scratch that, they were ALL fantastic!
Congratulations to all who made it to the finals, and best of luck!
EDIT: And thank you to everyone who offered up their opinions on my requests for help, I'm not sure that I would have chosen the right one!
I seriously struggled getting down to 10, but these are the ones that seemed to make the most impact on me, (in no particular order)
Karin
"Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you've never been hurt and live like it's heaven on Earth." — Mark Twain
Wow is all I can say for this round
amazing what you all were able to achieve in Camera!
The last entry in this round was my personal favorite out of all of them! But here is my top 10
A big thanks to Pyro for giving me permission to shoot my idea that was cooked up before he posted his but I was not able to shoot it until Saturday. How could I not have his idea in my top 10 when it is a similar off the ground idea
Oh and thanks PTM for your vote! I am floored it was chosen from among all the greatness this round.
Thanks everyone! & Emily and Dr. too!
Sean
P.S. - since the subject came up I took over 400 frames of my planets to get the composition, angle of light, Saturn ring angle and sparkle just the way I had envisioned it in my head... it still is only about 80%
of the way there.
I am absolutely ecstatic that I was chosen as a finalist... When I look at the photos posted by the members of this forum I am almost always in awe and hope to shoot something of that quality someday!
A special, heartfelt thank you to those who have listed me in their favorites as of now...
Greensquared
Llywellyn
Cmkultradome
PyroPrints
Divamum
Sherstone
First of all - thanks to everyone who picked my image as a favorite! I'm thrilled to be in the finals and in such good company. I'm SOOO glad I didn't have to judge the top-ten. Here are my favorites from the round, in no particular order (could have picked a LOT more too...)
Huge thanks to everyone who picked me as a favorite! I'm completely floored by the wonderful response to my picture and I am honored to be in the voting round with such incredible entries! Truely this has made my day!
Here is my top 12 pictures from the round placed in no order. It was really difficult to narrow it down. Some really fantastic work from everyone in this round.
Thanks Michael for including my pic in your favs. My hubby and I were wondering where you shot your picture? Mine was taken at the Cook inlet arm down by McKinsey Point.
Its nice to be back and shooting again and thank you all for putting my shot in your ten..ish...things
First great shots everyone..lots beautiful photographs in here.
I have to say if you can shoot them this good right out of the camera I can't wait to go back and look at the previous rounds
Anyway few favorites of mine and a quick behind the scenes (we still do that don't we...?)
1st post is the hardest so all of these deserver a big congrads
as for a quick behind the scenes...I haven't seen this posted so I guess this is where it goes?
Shooting straight out of the camera is tricky...I had to pick this round to get back into this...nice choice to jump back in the water so to speak.
So here goes I had a hard time figuring out what dusk was so I checked weather.com to find out what time the sunset then pulled the kids in the car at about 4:30 pm on Saturday - and headed out for the lake...had no plan in mind but figured something had to happen
Got to the lake about 5:30 pm and walked down to the lake spotted the tree and said...hey boys want to get wet?...as if they needed to be asked
So I shot around 150 frames...figured dusk had to be in there somewhere
For me dusk didn't come as the sun was setting rather it seemed to have started after the sun went down and it turned blueish
For some reason after the sun set I couldn't find the light but decide to do something I normally wouldn't which was to use the silly pop up flash thingy...I really don't like a flash as I have no idea how to use it.
low and behold it made the sky red as a fire ant..and I was off
change the settings a tad and blue goes red..weird...ok...I also put my fingers over the pop up flash to lesson the harsh light it puts out...who knew fingers work as a diffuser...
Title for the shot came a few frames later...when you guessed it...got a nibble...and a fish that sent his little brother scurrying off the log
Good luck with the votes...on to the next round for me....who is poe and why does poem have an m at the end...did he make these...poem things
Thanks Michael for including my pic in your favs. My hubby and I were wondering where you shot your picture? Mine was taken at the Cook inlet arm down by McKinsey Point.
I shot my picture at 6-Mile lake on Elmendorf AFB. It's on the north side of the base back behind the flight line out in the woods. The base is pretty big back there with several lakes. After the snowfall sunday I thought I would try to get back there for the sunset and get some shots since I hadn't had an opportunity to shoot earlier in the week for the challenge. Let me rephrase that, I went to shoot on Friday morning out in Girdwood but got distracted on the way by about 30 Baluga whales in Turnagain Arm. I've been down that road probably 50-60 times in the 2 years I've lived here and never seen any. Was an opportunity I couldn't resist. I didn't get anything I thought was too spectacular and was even considering sitting this one out cause the weather didn't seem to be cooperating after that on Sat or Sun. But at the last minute I was like screw it, I'll go and see if i can at least get an entry. I'm really glad I did.
McKinsey Point is that down KGB road? I haven't ever continued down that road towards the end. Been about as far as that little inlet with the abandoned boat sitting out there. Always wondered what was further down the road but haven't made it that far. My father-in-law lives out there so I'm a little familiar.
Thanks to all
I just want to say thank you to all who had chosen my pic as one of their top ten. I really meant a lot to me with all the great photos out there.
Ok, pulled the trigger and voted. It nearly killed me, since I could happily have chosen any of them for a winner, and there were four that were a dead tie imo - I practically had to draw out of a hat to click that poll!
Glad to see others posting background stories - I was wondering if/when that would happen I alluded to a fair bit in the (numerous - sorry!) posts I made while shooting for the round, but here's the whole story.
Here in the mid-Atlantic we had HORRIBLE weather for most of the last 2 weeks - torrential rain (oh, my poor roof!) and when it wasn't pouring, skies were grey and dull. You don't necessarily get spectacular dusks/dawns in this part of the world anyway and while a sunrise or sunset wasn't strictly necessary, dull, grey, suburban gloom isn't exactly photographically appealing. What to shoot?
My first idea was to hope that one of my "New Dawn" rosebushes might throw out a rogue autumn bloom that I could catch in early morning light, but no luck there - they finished their second flush about a month ago, and then when the downpours started... not a chance. So, I scratched that idea as a non-starter.
At the end of the first week, the weather report said that we would get a Sunday afternoon that was intermittent sun/t-storms. Since that was the bset we'd had in 10 days, I sweet-talked my husband and daughter into coming on an "adventure" with me (it's all in the sales pitch - that sounded better than "keep me company and hold my lens bag while I stand in the rain trying to take pictures" lol), and we drove out to Havre de Grace, MD up near the PA border where I'd heard there was a lighthouse and boardwalk along the Susquehanna. Sure enough, very pretty location. When it wasn't raining..... (I took this just to prove how BAD it was for the memory collection! This is when we were huddled in the car hoping that it MIGHT clear up. Well, I was hoping it might clear up - my family were hoping we could go home and dry out!)
I got some decent shots of rain-socked docks and stormy light on boats, but none of them were really "dusk". So I went back a few days later to try again, and came up with my first entry of the bird on the water.
Last weekend, I had to travel to Iowa to sing a concert with a symphony there (ok, I'm now totally outing myself, but it's all good!). Before I left, I couldn't decide whether to take the dSLR rig with me, but in the end figured it was a small town, wouldn't have that much time on my hands during the short trip, and blah blah blah. I didn't take it.
Imagine my surprise when I got there and discovered that the hotel was practically IN the MIssissippi river (which, despite having travelled this country far and wide I had never seen before!), and that the bridge just up the road was definitely shot-worthy... And I only had the little Canon Elph 750 with me (a camera which has NOT lived up to my expectations given the reviews it got). However, on the grounds that "any camera is better than none", I decided to give it a try. The first attempt was on my way to rehearsal at 5.45, but it was too early; I got some neat shots, but way too bright and sunny for "dusk" (and also in need of some pp, ie cropping, to make them work.)
I went back out after the rehearsal during the dinner break (missing my dinner in preference for shooting, since everything had CLOSED by the time I got back!), and got the first batch of sunset ones that I posted for feedback - these had great light, but I'd had trouble keeping the cameral level and even SEEING the composition in the LCD (no viewfinder on this P&S), and everything was too centered up, or crooked or ::some kind of obvious technical flaw::
The concert was the following evening - I have a real routine before gigs which most certainly does NOT involve sneaking down to the river in between doing my hair and putting on my gown and makeup, but I figured I had one last chance and that as long as I was at the theater by 7 I'd be fine... so I managed to do another 1/2hr of snapping between 6-6.30. I also realised that the Elph had a "wide" mode which opened up some better composition possibilities, so I tried that for a few of them... including the one I entered. I didn't have the camera's manual with me, but I groped through the menus and found several in-camera adjustments which enabled me to raised the picture quality a little (the lens on this camera is invariably soft, so I sharpened it slightly) Got quite a few good ones, although the one I entered was the one that worked best without pp to balance the high contrasts and crop out a few stray bits and pieces.
And, I'm happy to say, I was dressed, warmed up and ready in plenty of time and the concerts I was there to sing went extremely well!!
Anwyay, there we have it. The obsession has now clearly taken me over enough that I'm sneaking out of the theater to go and take pictures - I dread to think what happens next.....
I had9 of the winning photos selected in my TopFavs.
Peace
Donna P
You're only as good as your next photo....
One day, I started writing, not knowing that I had chained myself for life to a noble but merciless master. When God hands you a gift, he also hands you a whip; and the whip is intended solely for self-flagellation...I'm here alone in my dark madness, all by myself with my deck of cards --- and, of course, the whip God gave me." Truman Capote
I shot my picture at 6-Mile lake on Elmendorf AFB. It's on the north side of the base back behind the flight line out in the woods. The base is pretty big back there with several lakes. After the snowfall sunday I thought I would try to get back there for the sunset and get some shots since I hadn't had an opportunity to shoot earlier in the week for the challenge. Let me rephrase that, I went to shoot on Friday morning out in Girdwood but got distracted on the way by about 30 Baluga whales in Turnagain Arm. I've been down that road probably 50-60 times in the 2 years I've lived here and never seen any. Was an opportunity I couldn't resist. I didn't get anything I thought was too spectacular and was even considering sitting this one out cause the weather didn't seem to be cooperating after that on Sat or Sun. But at the last minute I was like screw it, I'll go and see if i can at least get an entry. I'm really glad I did.
McKinsey Point is that down KGB road? I haven't ever continued down that road towards the end. Been about as far as that little inlet with the abandoned boat sitting out there. Always wondered what was further down the road but haven't made it that far. My father-in-law lives out there so I'm a little familiar.
Yes I have been on the base several times...there are lots of pretty lakes there.
Point Mckinsey is on KGB road and where we stopped for the picture was not much further than the boat you are talking about. Did you know this old boat had belonged too Joe Reddington Sr? ('the father of the iditarod'). He use to travel between anchorage and his home there in old Knick Town.
Nice find to see belugas. I have seen them once before years ago. But I don't travel that way often.
I had9 of the winning photos selected in my TopFavs.
Peace
Donna P
Sorry to ruin your chance for a 100% average , but thanks for putting "Wake up and Smell the Coffee" in your top picks. Thanks to everyone else who picked my image in their favorites as well. After numerous other attempts for this challenge failed, this was my last ditch effort to at least get something that worked even if it wasn't going to be a contest winner. Continuing to push through to make an image was a good exercise and proved the value of these challenges goes well beyond winning (although we probably all would agree that winning would be sweet as well! )
Yes I have been on the base several times...there are lots of pretty lakes there.
Point Mckinsey is on KGB road and where we stopped for the picture was not much further than the boat you are talking about. Did you know this old boat had belonged too Joe Reddington Sr? ('the father of the iditarod'). He use to travel between anchorage and his home there in old Knick Town.
Nice find to see belugas. I have seen them once before years ago. But I don't travel that way often.
Hey! I've taken a picture of that old boat!
It wasn't a very good day for it...Oct 28 '05...trying to rain. What a neat spot, and how cool to know more about that boat. I'll have to tell my brother that (he lives up Lazy Mountain and brought me to this spot).
Elaine
Comments and constructive critique always welcome!
Hey! I've taken a picture of that old boat!
It wasn't a very good day for it...Oct 28 '05...trying to rain. What a neat spot, and how cool to know more about that boat. I'll have to tell my brother that (he lives up Lazy Mountain and brought me to this spot).
Cool. Glad you got to visit up here Elaine! Come again soon! With all the photographers that are smugmuggers too up here...we could have our own shoot out!
Comments
Stephanie
#4 Multiple points of view by douglas
#8 Stockton, NJ by richters
#13 City silouette by davev
#17 Morning dew by WomanWithaCamera
#29 All Swung Out by Grly
#34 Slippin into Darkness by Roaddog52
#39 Home Tme! by peterst6906
#51 Evening Prism by Tdcompton
#59 Another day's end at Horsetooth Reservoir by sbarge
#67 Morning dorys by mactoll
#68 Soft Flowing Morning by swintonphoto
#69 Capturing the Norning Light by anwmn1
#79 Its Around Here Somewhere by Travis
#81 Golden Harvest by Lars
#84 Evening Mist by Michael Atkins
http://danielplumer.com/
Facebook Fan Page
pyroPrints.com/5819572 The Photo Section
This time I will try and pick 10 Nik my comment is from friendship:D
#3 Desert Dusk ilbcnu
#5 Heading into the night sherwin james
#19 oats in the morning jag
#22 the 6:47 Kevxman
#23 the chime of dawn jrnylst
#35 enchanted breakfast ratty2austin
#37 castle rock nik Nik glad you swapped the
shots did not like the other one
#59 another day's end sbarge exifer
#67 morning dory's mactoll
#84 evening mist michael atkins I do love alaska
note CMURPH your shot was a great idea just wish
the comp was a bit more to the right and a bit more
light ,but I did feel that shot
“PHOTOGRAPHY IS THE ‘JAZZ’ FOR THE EYES…”
http://jwear.smugmug.com/
And I am BESIDE myself to be included in a couple of people's lists - I'm such a beginner, and feel so completely n00b at all this that ... I'm just over the moon that anything I shot was noticed among such superb entries - wow... I'm all verklaempt here... :
Anyway, my shortlist (although I could easily have created another list using completely different pictures! As somebody said... all 83 are worthy
In order of posting:
3 Desert Dusk
9 Nightguard
23 Chime of Dawn
35 Enchanted Breakfast
39 Home Time
41 Apple at Dusk
50 In the Misty Morning Fog
51 Evening Prism
54 Night Evaporates
67 Morning Dorys
69 Capturing the Morning Light
71 Got a Nibble
72 Day is Done
76 Fog Diner
84 Evening Mist
“PHOTOGRAPHY IS THE ‘JAZZ’ FOR THE EYES…”
http://jwear.smugmug.com/
::falls down in dead faint::
::picks self up:: :wow
::looks at finalist list again::
Ummm.... Wow. Just... WOW. Thank you!!
"If you saw a man drowning and you could either save him or photograph the event...what kind of film would you use?" - Anonymous
http://www.anitamatthews.ca
Congrats to the finalists!!!! GL!!
http://annasphotos.smugmug.com
I have been killing myself to pick my top ten.
I recently became semi retired :ivar and have been trying to hand off the keys to someone else, enter the challenge and pick some favorites while putting my van back together to leave the 8th for three weeks in Montana and Yellowstone.
I took 40 shots of the basic same image, I have been working right across the street from the park.
Here are some of my favorites by order of entry,
#14 Sunrays, dlplumer
#19 Oats in the Morning, JAG
#36 Cascade sunset, quark
#45 Dusk storm, bch2300
#50 In the Misty Morning fog, ic4u
#55 Getting up, jwear
#67 Morning Dorys, mactoll
#73 Wake up and smell the coffee, Halite
#83 San Fancisco from Mt Tamalpais, Harrington
#84 Evening Mist, Michael Atkins
Now I must check my gear and pack, and will hopfully get to see who wins this round before disappearing into the land of no cell phones and computers (a good thing)
Also a big thank you to all who have me listed in their favorites. I am very honored to be here with all of your great photographers.
So many fantastic images this round...scratch that, they were ALL fantastic!
Congratulations to all who made it to the finals, and best of luck!
EDIT: And thank you to everyone who offered up their opinions on my requests for help, I'm not sure that I would have chosen the right one!
I seriously struggled getting down to 10, but these are the ones that seemed to make the most impact on me, (in no particular order)
"Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you've never been hurt and live like it's heaven on Earth." — Mark Twain
amazing what you all were able to achieve in Camera!
The last entry in this round was my personal favorite out of all of them! But here is my top 10
A big thanks to Pyro for giving me permission to shoot my idea that was cooked up before he posted his but I was not able to shoot it until Saturday. How could I not have his idea in my top 10 when it is a similar off the ground idea
Oh and thanks PTM for your vote! I am floored it was chosen from among all the greatness this round.
Thanks everyone! & Emily and Dr. too!
Sean
P.S. - since the subject came up I took over 400 frames of my planets to get the composition, angle of light, Saturn ring angle and sparkle just the way I had envisioned it in my head... it still is only about 80%
of the way there.
A special, heartfelt thank you to those who have listed me in their favorites as of now...
Greensquared
Llywellyn
Cmkultradome
PyroPrints
Divamum
Sherstone
Aaron, how come you did not enter?
http://danielplumer.com/
Facebook Fan Page
Here is my top 12 pictures from the round placed in no order. It was really difficult to narrow it down. Some really fantastic work from everyone in this round.
First great shots everyone..lots beautiful photographs in here.
I have to say if you can shoot them this good right out of the camera I can't wait to go back and look at the previous rounds
Anyway few favorites of mine and a quick behind the scenes (we still do that don't we...?)
1st post is the hardest so all of these deserver a big congrads
as for a quick behind the scenes...I haven't seen this posted so I guess this is where it goes?
Shooting straight out of the camera is tricky...I had to pick this round to get back into this...nice choice to jump back in the water so to speak.
So here goes
I had a hard time figuring out what dusk was so I checked weather.com to find out what time the sunset then pulled the kids in the car at about 4:30 pm on Saturday - and headed out for the lake...had no plan in mind but figured something had to happen
Got to the lake about 5:30 pm and walked down to the lake spotted the tree and said...hey boys want to get wet?...as if they needed to be asked
So I shot around 150 frames...figured dusk had to be in there somewhere
For me dusk didn't come as the sun was setting rather it seemed to have started after the sun went down and it turned blueish
For some reason after the sun set I couldn't find the light but decide to do something I normally wouldn't which was to use the silly pop up flash thingy...I really don't like a flash as I have no idea how to use it.
low and behold it made the sky red as a fire ant..and I was off
change the settings a tad and blue goes red..weird...ok...I also put my fingers over the pop up flash to lesson the harsh light it puts out...who knew fingers work as a diffuser...
Title for the shot came a few frames later...when you guessed it...got a nibble...and a fish that sent his little brother scurrying off the log
Good luck with the votes...on to the next round for me....who is poe and why does poem have an m at the end...did he make these...poem things
I shot my picture at 6-Mile lake on Elmendorf AFB. It's on the north side of the base back behind the flight line out in the woods. The base is pretty big back there with several lakes. After the snowfall sunday I thought I would try to get back there for the sunset and get some shots since I hadn't had an opportunity to shoot earlier in the week for the challenge. Let me rephrase that, I went to shoot on Friday morning out in Girdwood but got distracted on the way by about 30 Baluga whales in Turnagain Arm. I've been down that road probably 50-60 times in the 2 years I've lived here and never seen any. Was an opportunity I couldn't resist. I didn't get anything I thought was too spectacular and was even considering sitting this one out cause the weather didn't seem to be cooperating after that on Sat or Sun. But at the last minute I was like screw it, I'll go and see if i can at least get an entry. I'm really glad I did.
McKinsey Point is that down KGB road? I haven't ever continued down that road towards the end. Been about as far as that little inlet with the abandoned boat sitting out there. Always wondered what was further down the road but haven't made it that far. My father-in-law lives out there so I'm a little familiar.
I just want to say thank you to all who had chosen my pic as one of their top ten. I really meant a lot to me with all the great photos out there.
There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.~Ansel Adams
Glad to see others posting background stories - I was wondering if/when that would happen
Here in the mid-Atlantic we had HORRIBLE weather for most of the last 2 weeks - torrential rain (oh, my poor roof!) and when it wasn't pouring, skies were grey and dull. You don't necessarily get spectacular dusks/dawns in this part of the world anyway and while a sunrise or sunset wasn't strictly necessary, dull, grey, suburban gloom isn't exactly photographically appealing. What to shoot?
My first idea was to hope that one of my "New Dawn" rosebushes might throw out a rogue autumn bloom that I could catch in early morning light, but no luck there - they finished their second flush about a month ago, and then when the downpours started... not a chance. So, I scratched that idea as a non-starter.
At the end of the first week, the weather report said that we would get a Sunday afternoon that was intermittent sun/t-storms. Since that was the bset we'd had in 10 days, I sweet-talked my husband and daughter into coming on an "adventure" with me (it's all in the sales pitch - that sounded better than "keep me company and hold my lens bag while I stand in the rain trying to take pictures" lol), and we drove out to Havre de Grace, MD up near the PA border where I'd heard there was a lighthouse and boardwalk along the Susquehanna. Sure enough, very pretty location. When it wasn't raining..... (I took this just to prove how BAD it was for the memory collection! This is when we were huddled in the car hoping that it MIGHT clear up. Well, I was hoping it might clear up - my family were hoping we could go home and dry out!)
I got some decent shots of rain-socked docks and stormy light on boats, but none of them were really "dusk". So I went back a few days later to try again, and came up with my first entry of the bird on the water.
Last weekend, I had to travel to Iowa to sing a concert with a symphony there (ok, I'm now totally outing myself, but it's all good!). Before I left, I couldn't decide whether to take the dSLR rig with me, but in the end figured it was a small town, wouldn't have that much time on my hands during the short trip, and blah blah blah. I didn't take it.
Imagine my surprise when I got there and discovered that the hotel was practically IN the MIssissippi river (which, despite having travelled this country far and wide I had never seen before!), and that the bridge just up the road was definitely shot-worthy... And I only had the little Canon Elph 750 with me (a camera which has NOT lived up to my expectations given the reviews it got). However, on the grounds that "any camera is better than none", I decided to give it a try. The first attempt was on my way to rehearsal at 5.45, but it was too early; I got some neat shots, but way too bright and sunny for "dusk" (and also in need of some pp, ie cropping, to make them work.)
I went back out after the rehearsal during the dinner break (missing my dinner in preference for shooting, since everything had CLOSED by the time I got back!), and got the first batch of sunset ones that I posted for feedback - these had great light, but I'd had trouble keeping the cameral level and even SEEING the composition in the LCD (no viewfinder on this P&S), and everything was too centered up, or crooked or ::some kind of obvious technical flaw::
The concert was the following evening - I have a real routine before gigs which most certainly does NOT involve sneaking down to the river in between doing my hair and putting on my gown and makeup, but I figured I had one last chance and that as long as I was at the theater by 7 I'd be fine... so I managed to do another 1/2hr of snapping between 6-6.30. I also realised that the Elph had a "wide" mode which opened up some better composition possibilities, so I tried that for a few of them... including the one I entered. I didn't have the camera's manual with me, but I groped through the menus and found several in-camera adjustments which enabled me to raised the picture quality a little (the lens on this camera is invariably soft, so I sharpened it slightly) Got quite a few good ones, although the one I entered was the one that worked best without pp to balance the high contrasts and crop out a few stray bits and pieces.
And, I'm happy to say, I was dressed, warmed up and ready in plenty of time and the concerts I was there to sing went extremely well!!
Anwyay, there we have it. The obsession has now clearly taken me over enough that I'm sneaking out of the theater to go and take pictures - I dread to think what happens next.....
I had 9 of the winning photos selected in my Top Favs.
Peace
Donna P
Yes I have been on the base several times...there are lots of pretty lakes there.
Point Mckinsey is on KGB road and where we stopped for the picture was not much further than the boat you are talking about. Did you know this old boat had belonged too Joe Reddington Sr? ('the father of the iditarod'). He use to travel between anchorage and his home there in old Knick Town.
Nice find to see belugas. I have seen them once before years ago. But I don't travel that way often.
Sorry to ruin your chance for a 100% average
Hey! I've taken a picture of that old boat!
It wasn't a very good day for it...Oct 28 '05...trying to rain. What a neat spot, and how cool to know more about that boat. I'll have to tell my brother that (he lives up Lazy Mountain and brought me to this spot).
Comments and constructive critique always welcome!
Elaine Heasley Photography
Cool. Glad you got to visit up here Elaine! Come again soon! With all the photographers that are smugmuggers too up here...we could have our own shoot out!