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Tuesday, April 30, 2013

First violets

We have violets in the yard.  No idea where they came from; we dug out the yard completely at one point, but they're here.  I'm guessing it was birds, but honestly, who knows?  They sure are beautiful to see though!


F Number5.6
Lens IDLUMIX G VARIO 14-45mm F3.5-5.6
Focal Length34.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 68.0 mm)
Exposure Time1/80
Exposure ProgramManual
ISO200
Exposure Compensation0
FlashOff, Did not fire

Monday, April 29, 2013

Lana's last day


Saturday, 27 April 2013

F Number4.9
Lens IDLUMIX G VARIO 14-45mm F3.5-5.6
Focal Length25.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 50.0 mm)
Exposure Time1/50
Exposure ProgramProgram AE
ISO100
Exposure Compensation0
FlashOff, Did not fire

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

St George's Day

The City Daily Photo community are running a set of 'national days' to celebrate the various nations we all come from.  They're a bit like theme day, only they fall in the middle of the month.  Today is St George's Day - for England.  St George was famous for slaying the dragon, and recently we had an addition to our menagerie - fire belly toads.  They look like dragons to me!  I myself have some tenuous connexion with Old Blighty as my Mom is a British colonial (The Bahamas).  She taught me to spell properly :-)

Please visit the City Daily Photo blog's St George page to see how other photographers interpreted this theme.

F Number5.6
Lens IDLUMIX G VARIO 14-45mm F3.5-5.6
Focal Length45.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 90.0 mm)
Exposure Time1/8
Exposure ProgramManual
ISO400
Exposure Compensation0
FlashOff, Did not fire

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Daffodil

The jonquil's larger cousin, the daffodil is also up and blooming!  These are in the front and see more sun than the jonquils get on the side.  They have been blooming for a week or so.

F Number5.6
Lens IDLUMIX G VARIO 14-45mm F3.5-5.6
Focal Length45.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 90.0 mm)
Exposure Time1/250
Exposure ProgramManual
ISO400
Exposure Compensation0
FlashOff, Did not fire

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Jonquils

These have been up in the side yard for a few days.  Queen Anne is said to have had a special place in her heart for these dainty flowers and I can see why..  They also have a marvelous scent.  A very cheering little flower for the gloomy early days of spring.

F Number5.6
Lens IDLUMIX G VARIO 14-45mm F3.5-5.6
Focal Length45.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 90.0 mm)
Exposure Time1/400
Exposure ProgramManual
ISO400
Exposure Compensation0
FlashOff, Did not fire

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Sunrise in the city


I'm off on a trip; won't be posting for a few days.  One of the benefits of being up and about earlier than usual is I get to see the sunrise.  Sunrise in the city is a funny thing; the houses block that first glint on the horizon, but they also frame magnificent old trees; trees so tall their gaze isn't obscured by mere buildings.  Trees that have seen thirty thousand suns rise and set.  I don't begrudge them the first look.

F Number8.0
Focal Length45.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 90.0 mm)
Exposure Time1/640
Exposure ProgramManual
ISO200
Exposure Compensation0
FlashOff, Did not fire

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Skunk cabbage - the other early spring flower

These are some of the most unusual plants that live in this area.  They start out as... well, they look like pods from a science fiction movie, and then they get large, luxurious leaves which... dissolve away as the season progresses.  Very hardy, always near surface water and almost always the first green plant to burst above last year's leaves.


F Number5.6
Lens IDLUMIX G VARIO 14-45mm F3.5-5.6
Focal Length45.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 90.0 mm)
Exposure Time1/200
Exposure ProgramProgram AE
ISO100
Exposure Compensation0
FlashOff, Did not fire

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Hyacinths

We got a dusting of snow yesterday.  The hyacinths will be all right.  They sure look pretty this way, and I appreciate that I can enjoy the beauty without having to shovel it!

F Number5.6
Lens IDLUMIX G VARIO 14-45mm F3.5-5.6
Focal Length45.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 90.0 mm)
Exposure Time1/125
Exposure ProgramManual
ISO100
Exposure Compensation0
FlashOff, Did not fire

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Coltsfoot

Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) is another early spring flower.  It's considered a pest in many states as it is invasive.  Until recently, I never linked these flowers to the plant because the flowers appear before the leaves, and then the flowers are gone when the leaves are out.  They look like dandelion flowers, which is what lets me spot them so early in the season, and which camouflages them later on when the dandelions bloom.

F Number11.0
Lens IDLUMIX G VARIO 14-45mm F3.5-5.6
Focal Length45.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 90.0 mm)
Exposure Time1/1000
Exposure ProgramProgram AE
ISO400
Exposure Compensation0
FlashOff, Did not fire

Monday, April 1, 2013

Monthly theme day - Pedestrians crossing

On the first of the month, the City Daily Photo community suggests a theme for all of us to interpret.  This month, the theme is Pedestrians Crossing.  Please click on the link to see the wonderful photos interpreting this theme from round the world!

I found this theme to be somewhat challenging.  I don't often take photos of people, and when I do, I feel... funny about posting them online.  I realise this is irrational - they can see I have a camera, they can see it up to my eye, they know I'm taking photos, and yet I still feel uneasy about posting them.  Thankfully, Eric came to my rescue with an idea that many in the community have dubbed 'The Tenin Technique' - putting the camera down low; practically on the floor.  Now that I had a way to photograph pedestrians in a way that wouldn't impinge on their privacy, I needed to find some pedestrians!

That isn't as easy as it might seem.  Schenectady in late winter is not a place where people spend a lot of time outdoors.  Sure, I could probably search through some older photographs to see if I'd inadvertently taken photos of pedestrians, but given my proclivity for nature photos that seemed unlikely to succeed.  So, I went to the one place I knew that would be crowded - the downtown Greenmarket in the Proctors building.

The layout of this building is a bit unusual by modern standards.  There is a long hallway called the Arcade which connects Proctors theatre and the small shops located in the same building.  Behind those shops, opposite Proctors, is a large open space called Robb Alley.  This is where the Greenmarket sets up on Sundays in the winter.

Here, people are crossing from the Arcade, the hallway, into Robb Alley, the room.  Pedesrians, crossing.

F Numberunrecorded
LensMinolta MD 50mm f/1.4
Focal Length50.0 mm
Exposure Time1/160
Exposure ProgramManual
ISO1600
Exposure Compensation0
FlashOff, Did not fire
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