Project 365 week 10

November is up and running and the weather is still holding on to the last bit of fall. No complaints there - not sure what I am going to do when winter gets here. I do not want every photo to have snow in it :(

A trip to Pittsburgh gave me the chance to take a city landscape. I did my best to research this and be as prepared as possible for the trip. Taking my tripod, my zoom lens, my new nikon remote and my map, I made my way through the back streets of West End a small suburb looking for the overlook. I set everything up in right before the sun set so I got several shots in different lighting. The remote was awesome to use because I was using a very slow shutter speed after dark to grab the city lights and I did not have to worry about touching the camera and blurring the image. I grabbed my photos and hurried to my car- after dark the West End overlook is not very well lit and was a bit creepy since I was by myself. Cell phone at the ready, I made it to my vehicle and locked myself inside. One thing I can tell you- although the way to the overlook is well marked by informational signage, the way back to the interstate is not. Thank goodness I have a decent sense of direction and was able to get back with minimal wrong turns. (only three lol)

Back to the water for this shot. The kids wanted to play at the play ground by the lake and we decided to make an adventure of it. They had their cameras as well and we made a photo field trip. I got some great shots of them playing and horsing around on the swings. But since I post online- the shot I chose was one of the dock out into the lake.

Making a pickup at the airport can be really boring when the flights come in late. So being that I was also early, it was going to be quite a wait. I parked the car and grabbed my camera, determined to find something interesting to take a photo of. Now keep in mind that Pittsburgh is an international airport and full of TSA employees. So in an effort to keep from having to explain why I was walking around taking photos of the airport and also from possibly making the terrorist watch list by presumably "scoping out" the target. I decided to hang out outside and see if I could get a photo of a plane taking off. I did manage to catch a couple... and as I later reviewed my pictures I had to chose this one for today. Sometimes just an angle makes a huge difference. Now if I had actually tried to take a photo of a plane that looked like it was running into the light pole - I would have probably sat there all day. So timing IS everything.

A trip to the Buffalo Farm proved to be a great photo oppurtunity for today. Most of the time when you go here, the buffalo are in the way back pastures and even with a zoom lens you have very little to show for your efforts. Today however, they were in close and possibly even in a good mood since they did not run away when I got out of my car

In a town once known for it's industry and the invention of the zipper. Industrial ruins are common as the companies pulled out seeking tax shelter from other states or even countries. Driving around you will see the skeletons of old factories and bits and pieces of history everywhere. I plan to try to capture some of this in the next couple weeks. Here is an old stack from a boiler that has been abandoned for years. I drive by it quite often, and it struck me that it would make an excellent photo. Pulling into the weed and sapling infested parking lot and avoiding stepping on rusty nails and broken glass was all a part of the experience I guess. Somehow I managed to get the photo without injury to myself or my car tires.

Today was one of those days that the photos just kept coming. Some days I struggle to find one good picture and others I have a ton of images to try to chose from at the end of the day. This happened to be the latter. I chose the first image only because I loved the way the wind blew threw the horse's mane and the fact that it was looking right at the camera. It took several shots to get the timing correct- so for that reason it made it to the official photo list. However, I loved the extra photo because it just is cool. I can not put a finger on why it's cool.... I just like it. Maybe it has to do with the grass growing up in the road... My favorite line of a poem is about the road less traveled.. and I guess this is what my mind pictures when I hear it.

Milk weed is and interesting plant and although it is a weed- I have a hard time wanted to remove it from our property. I remember the caterpillar brought in when I was in elementary school turning into the butterfly and of course the milk weed was in the jar as well. Since I was doing the ususal walk around looking for a photo I decided why not grab a picture of this plant. It goes to seed quickly and since it only lasts for a little while, it is also easy to miss. That to me qualified as something interesting and photo worthy- so it became the subject of the day. Making it a good looking photo was the next challange. I did not want to move the plant so I worked at creating a shallow depth of field in a high contract B&W to bring out the white of the plant. It may take some people a minute or two to realize what it actually is, but I do like the effect.

Still going strong and it is getting easier to make the time to take the picture. It is definitely at this point a way of life. Even the kids ask if I have my photo done for the day. I will see you in the next frame- but until then

"May you always have a seashell in your pocket and sand between your toes"