Project365

Day 348- Candy Cane

Tagged with: Christmas, Project365

Dec 142010

Time: 8:10 pm
Place: Front Yard

I’m ready for it to snow, so that the orange extension cord running from the garage to the mailbox post is covered up!

I’ve changed how you see photos when you click on them. As seen here they are 614 x 408 pixels (don’t ask), but if you click on any photo it will open in a new window, and if you zoom in on the image there you’ll see it at the original 2859 x 1899 pixel resolution. Not that all of my photos need to be seen that close up, but if you want to you can!

The kids were mercifully playing quietly in the downstairs playroom and DB discovered a box full of Lego pieces. He and his sister spent the better part of an hour making various creations, they liked these 2 so much that they asked me to take pictures for them!

DB's "submarine"

PP's un-named creation

It’s time again for my response to a Digital Photography School weekly challenge, this week it’s Long Exposures. I tried messing around with this idea before, but wasn’t particularly happy with the result. This time, after driving around the area for a while I found what I thought might be a decent spot, so I pulled over and set up my camera on the tripod.

I like the look of a lone car passing by, as Veronica remarked it looks almost like a laser beam instead of taillights. The second photo was taken looking the other direction. And no, the town named on the sign isn’t where I live!

For the camera geeks, I shot these images using a 10 second exposure at F8, ISO 1000, and manually focused to infinity at 18mm focal length.

Years ago, it was either 1995 or 1996, Veronica and I saw the Boston Pops Holiday Concert at the University of New Hampshire’s Whittemore Center arena. The Boston Pops isn’t just any old orchestra, they’ve been providing live music to accompany the annual Independence Day fireworks spectacular for many years and have been around for over a century. Before Keith Lockhart took over as Conductor in 1995, none other than John Williams was the conductor. If you don’t know Williams’ name, you know his music, he’s written the scores for literally dozens of movies, including all 6 Star Wars movies, the Indiana Jones movies, the Jaws theme, and many, many others.

Yeah, the Boston Pops is a seriously good orchestra. And the Tanglewood Festival Chorus is no slouch either!

It was a good thing that we found a parking garage less than a block from Symphony Hall, it was cold! Walking up, we got our 1st look at the place

Symphony Hall is more impressive inside than out-great lighting and acoustics and not a bad seat in the house.

The concert itself was great with a mix of traditional and less-well-known pieces. The Hallelujah Chorus of Handels Messiah never fails to give me goosebumps! Keith Lockhart has an easy-going demeanor with the audience and the chorus was obviously having fun. Just like the last time we saw this show 15 yrs ago, it ended with an appearance by Santa Claus and a medley of a half-dozen Christmas carols, with the words displayed on a screen over the stage for the audience to sing along.

Veronica: However this time the appearance of Santa was made more special by the look of pure rapture on Princess Persistent’s face when Santa arrived. She tried her best but sitting still during the 1/2 hour before the show and then the 45 minutes before Santa arrived were kind of challenging for her. However once Santa arrived she beamed and clapped and was breathless. I was also impressed that she knew the words to many of the songs during the sing along, since I have not been playing holiday music in the car much.

I wasn’t fully into the holiday spirit yet, but this concert changed all that- I’m ready for Christmas!

If you ever get the chance to hear the Boston Pops perform live, I highly recommend it!

Day 344- Ice

Tagged with: Project365, Scenery, Seasons, winter

Dec 102010

338 days ago, during the very first week of my Project365, I took a photograph of some kids playing ice hockey on a pond

279 days ago I took a photograph of that ice melting, celebrating the first sign of spring

Yesterday, after several days of cold weather, the pond has a thin layer of ice. It won’t be long before kids are skating on it again!

Day 343- Mmm, cookies…

Tagged with: Home life, Project365

Dec 092010

For no particular reason other than she felt like it, Veronica baked chocolate chip cookies last night. Don’t they look yummy?

Day 342- Early Sunset

Tagged with: Project365, Sunset

Dec 082010

How early? I took this photo at 4:17pm on Tuesday.
And no, not while I was driving, the light just turned green and there were several cars between me and the light!
We still have 13 more days until the Winter Solstice, it’s only going to get worse before it gets better…

Day 341- Candle

Tagged with: Home life, Project365

Dec 072010

We have a number of candles around the house, when I got home Monday I decided to light a couple of them.
This is a Yankee Candle Christmas Cookie scented candle- the house smells really good now! Not that it doesn’t otherwise…

This weeks challenge at the Digital Photography School is “Signs“, driving back from NY after an overnight trip to my sisters gave me the perfect opportunity to photograph a collection of signs.

Stopping at a rest area on I-95 in CT, where did I park after getting gas and while waiting for Veronica for come out?
Next to the No Parking sign, of course!