Feb 28 - On the dock

Feb 28 - On the dock, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

I don't do a lot of Candids. There is something about this shot that I really like out of all the shots I took today on a "Portsmouth Shoot" with Erik, a fellow (and local) Flickr photographer. The shot is taken in Portsmouth on the North Pier, the machinery (crane) is in Maine, part of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

There are lots more photos from today's shoot in my Flickr Gallery.

Feb 27 - St Johns at 11mm

Feb 27 - St Johns at 11mm, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

I drove around Portsmouth a couple of times before I was able to figure how to park in front of St John's. It's a good thing I've been doing my PaD shoots in the AM (before 9am) as I had to stand in the street to take this kind of shot of the church. I would be listening for the sound of an oncoming car (luckily traffic is one way in front of the church) so that I could avoid getting splattered.

Feb 26 - Hull

Feb 26 - Hull, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

Not what I intended to shoot, it was actually just behind what I intended to shoot. This boat kept getting into frame, it was either this or a farm implement on the other side. It was an interesting test of my new (to me) Tokina 11-16 f/2.8. I had to get up real close to this hull for this shot (and it is cropped at that).

This is right on my way to work, a relatively major road for our area. After I arrived at work, a coworker asked if I normally go walk around old boats and trucks (the truck is what I intended to shoot) in the morning with my camera. My answer was "yes", though I am not limited to boats and trucks.

Feb 25 - Danger

Feb 25 - Danger, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

Some equipment from the line crews. I don't think these will be here much longer so I snagged a photo of part of them this morning ;-) And, yes that is an accurate orangish-red color.

Feb 24 - Just a road

Just a road, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

Its just a road. There is nothing on this road (short though it may be), no houses, no signs, no people. Funny that there are also no potholes. . .

That's it, just a simple post today.

Feb 23 - Sidewalk

Sidewalk, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

So my photo for today's blog is NOT simply a mirror of my PBase & Flickr PaDs. While I was out shooting this morning, I simply had to capture this sidewalk. Technically I was walking back to my car (just out of frame up on the right) from shooting a church (to this shot's right, also out of frame). What isn't so apparent is the sheer slipperiness of this sidewalk. We had a heck of a storm last night, it started as a rain storm then turned to freezing rain then snow as the temps dropped. This left a base of slush that froze over beneath the snow. Driving just plain sucked, riding on a pocked and pitted dirt road would have been smoother.

Hindsight is always 20/20, looking back at this photo, I wish I'd been a little more conscious of where I was when taking this photo. I should have been over to the left a little more. A person or two out and about would have been nice also.

Feb 22 - Swimming's Done

Feb 22 Swimming's Done, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

Photo of my son after his last swim lesson (for this session). I was able to utilze his modeling services for all of 45 seconds this afternoon. After that, his patience wore thin.

I have the flash off camera, sitting in the bleachers behind me to the left. He is looking at a point between the flash and myself. It isn't that bad for a single bare 580EX-2.

Feb 21 - The Trainyard

Feb 21 The Trainyard, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

I 'd never actually been to the train yard in Dover (NH) before. It isn't a huge trainyard, it is basically a couple of parallel tracks and a muddy parking area. But, it is very interesting, lots of things to photograph. These tank cars were lined up and just sitting there, waiting for someone to photograph them. There was another train on the other side of it that began to move while I was out there. I expected to be shooed away while I was out there with all my photographic gear, but there was no one in the actual yard, per se. The crew had already boarded the freight train.

I actually found this area (yard) on google maps a few weeks ago and made a mental note to check it out. Google maps rocks, I've lived in this area for pretty much all my life and never knew about areas like this. I've been able to scope out some interesting locations by just 'browsing' through maps (Satellite view).

Feb 20 - Slick Road

Feb 20 - Slick Road, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

We got some snowfall last night that was completely unexpected. The roads this morning were a little slick. I tend to see cars off the road around two times in the winter.

The first time is the first snowfall, drivers have forgotten what it is like to ride in the snow and take their minds off the road for a split second and wind up in a ditch the next moment.

The other time I see this is right towards the end of winter, like the last or next to last snowfall. Especially after we've had some very nice weather. Last week we had great weather, we had a weekend of 40's and 50's lead into a nice warm[er] week. I was able to get 90% of my driveway cleared, most of the ice had been chipped and/or melted away. Roads widened as the snowbanks melted. We all felt like it was spring. Then this morning, we were reminded that we live in New England.

A lot of us, myself included, didn't think anything of the snow until we saw this car off the road, then we paid a little more attention to the road. I want to thank this guy (or gal, there was no occupant when I pulled over) for reminding me that the roads were slick.

It's easy to make light of this situation now as I am from and was in Maine when I took this shot, the car had New Hampshire license plates, that state is so much further south, they have better weather ;-)

Feb 19 - Just before the fall

Feb 19 - Just before the fall, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

This old condemned building beside the pier at Prescott park is literally on its last legs (it's not even touching the post in the foreground). I imagine I will come by some day to find that a quarter of it has slid into the river (or more). It was raining out this morning as I was taking this photo (the rest of the photos got canned).

I really like the tones in this photo and believe I might have to come back to retake this photo when the weather is better, I can try a better composition.

Feb 18 - All for a bag of chips

Feb 18 - All for a bag of chips, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

I took a different route this morning through Kittery, Maine and came across this scene. It was quite the event, police directing traffic from three directions. I swung around after realizing that Tody's PaD had found me. While I was walking around snapping photos, the driver (in this photo on the right) shouted to me "All for a bag of chips". (He explained he was reaching over for a bag of chips that fell under the seat) He perked up and was quite chipper with me when he thought he was going to make the paper. After I explained what I did, he looked confused (I get that a lot).

Just as I was packing up, this cruiser pulled up beside me presenting this particular vantage point. I couldn't pass it up.

Feb 17 - Concrete Example

Feb 17 - Concrete Example, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

Quick one today:

Here is a concrete example of a vignette.

Feb 16 - Frothy

Feb 16 - Frothy, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

I snuck out of the house this afternoon to take some photos and stumbled on a path beside the Salmon Falls river in Somersworth. The river has started to show itself, working it way through the ice and snow. This is the perfect time for some long exposures as the snow and ice provides for a great surface for me to walk and set my equipment on.

Feb 15 - Weathered and Worn

Feb 15 - Weathered and Worn, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

The side of this barn has seen its better days. I noticed this while driving this afternoon (the barn, that is) and caught it on our way home. It was the weathered look that caught my eye, I knew it was worn, but didn't realize the door was just resting on the side of the barn. While Post Processing, I noticed the track was about a foot higher than the door, there are missing boards, and there are some extremely rotted (possibly burnt) boards further to the right (out of frame). I love the colors.

If I could do it over again, I'd push the ISO up and open the aperture up to f/8.0 as it's a tad soft on the edges.

Feb 14 - Winter Thaw

Winter Thaw, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

The river in downtown Dover has begun its thaw. I had a few minutes while waiting for my daughter to change while I was at the pool, to get a few shots in.

Feb 13 - Rusty

Rusty, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

My morning photo jaunt took me into downtown Portsmouth today. I thought I was going to shoot something in the alley on Church Street (behind the North Church) but the shot didn't happen after I actually made it to the street. A short walk down the alley and I saw a number of potentials, including a very interesting angle on North Church with the Church Street sign in the foreground (but it didn't pan out during Post Processing). This is the kind of fire escape that you'd have to think twice about in the event of an actual fire (is it safer to brave the flames?).

Back to pbase.

Feb 12 - Misty Ski

Feb 12 - Misty Ski, originally uploaded by DamnBeavers.

Powderhouse hill. The local Ski, Snowboard, and sledding hill (just around the corner from us). Sledding is actually to the left of the ski hill, there is no sledding allowed on the ski hill as indicated on the sign. We've never actually skied or snowboarded on this side, we've only used the sledding side. In the coming years, I believe my son will be using this side for snowboarding. The posts support a rope tow that is powered by an ancient motor that just keeps on ticking.

Powderhouse hill is named so because there was a gun power house on the top of this hill in colonial times. As far as I know, there is no longer any gun powder stored on this hill.

My kid's daycare is pretty close to the hill, after dropping off the kids this morning, I saw the mist on the hill out of the corner of my eye and did a U-Turn to come back to the parking lot and get this captured. I lucked out, it stopped raining out long enough for me to get out a couple of times for shots (I returned to change lenses).