Fortress wall of the Forbidden City
Posted on October 11, 2014
Fortress Wall of the Forbidden City
A recent trip to Beijing resulted in a few hours to walk around the Forbidden City. The smog was almost unbearable – I didn’t recover for weeks after returning to the US. But, I did manage to capture a handful of images that I liked. This one of the fortress wall around the Forbidden City is interesting. I used Photoshop and Lightroom to work with what I had – the smog was amazingly dense and when I looked at the image on my MAC looked like a foggy day so I went with it. The result is here.
I love the image but it makes my heart hurt every time I look at it because I know the truth about what the people in the city are living with. The good news is economic development in China is creating an enormous working-class and eventually middle-class. The bad news is nothing in life is free and this is part of the price.
Abby the Great
Posted on March 16, 2014
Abby the Great on Point
Abby had ACL surgery in September of ’13 so we were more than a little concerned that she would not be able to hunt again. We went out on Saturday for a short hunt at Black Meadow in New York’s Warwick Valley. We put four birds out and she found five – not unusual for Abby, she is always cleaning up after lesser dogs. This is a point on a Chukar (Partridge family) near the end of our short hunt.
The picture was taken with my new Fuji X100S at 1/1700, f8, ISO 320, 23mm (fixed). This is my first experience with the X100S and so far I am very impressed. The dynamic range in the shot was very high and I adjusted exposure in Lightroom with no noticeable noise or artifacts. Most of the adjustments for this shot were done in Lightroom with some retouching and blur added in Photoshop.
A walk through Siena
Posted on February 13, 2014
While in Tuscany this summer we spent a few hours walking around Siena . A spectacular Tuscan hill town, Siena is a wonderful walk through the middle ages.
These ancient iron rings are throughout Siena. Used to secure your horse (or other animal) while you did business in town, they are so well used that indents from the ring striking the wall can be an inch deep. If you look closely near the bottom of the ring you can see the impact of several centuries of use.
It will be no surprise to you that I immediately thought of my grandfather and his spectacular work horses when I saw these rings. I could imagine his delight at the utility and workmanship of these devices as he tied his horse outside of a pub or general store.
At the top of one of Siena’s (many) hilly and narrow streets we found this amazing mercato.
As with all of the other images on this blog, these pictures were captured with my Canon GX1 point and shoot and edited in Lightroom and Photoshop.
Birdman at Musée du Louvre
Posted on December 17, 2013
Sometimes the street is a wonderful place. While walking the grounds of the Louvre I encountered this special soul.
Birdman at Musée du Louvre
Tin Cup
Posted on November 16, 2013
One of my earliest memories is of my grandfather working out by the barn on a hot summer day. He would occasionally stop and walk over to the hand pump by the basin we used to draw water for the cattle, grab an old tin cup that was there and pump the handle of the well pump, running the water until it was cold. He would then dip the cup in the stream of cold water filling it to overflowing and in one motion pull the cup out of the flow, tilt his head back and dump the water into his mouth and over his head. This ritual was repeated until he was both quenched and cool. Occasionally he would finish by dipping the tin cup in and quickly douse the closest grandchild with delightfully cold well water.
I like to think this is Grandpa’s Cup, right where he left it last.
A few years ago I was back at the old farm and took some shots. I saw this image today and was instantly six years old again.
What a great day.
Newark Penn Station
Posted on November 3, 2013
Grabbed this with my iPhone this summer on a trip to Washington, DC. I did some simple editing in Photoshop and Silver Efex Pro and really like the result. I can feel the history when I look at this image – the millions of lives that this platform and these trains have served seems to echo throughout the image.
Edgartown Harbor Storm – iPhone Art
Posted on October 25, 2013
Taken from the harbor on my iPhone while on a sailing trip around the island. The power and size of the storm is obvious when you compare the size of the un-landed tornado in the top right third of the image with the Edgartown Lighthouse below and to the left of it (its the little white speck).
Statue of Neptune on the fountain in Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Italy.
Posted on October 17, 2013
Statue of Neptune on the fountain on Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Italy. This was taken about midnight in the Piazza. It was one of those nights when everything seemed perfect – location, light, temperature and the energy in the Piazza.
Nobska Point lighthouse – cape cod
Posted on May 21, 2013
I have wanted a shot of the Nobska Point Lighthouse from the bay side for some time but never really had good light at the right time of the day. This shot was taken a little after 12PM on a day with good light and low humidity with my Canon 5D Mk3 and EF70-200 using a 2x converter @ 400mm effective. I shot three images at roughly -2, 0 and +2 exposure because while the light was good there still was quite a range of shadows and highlights that I wanted to capture. It was a bit of a challenge shooting this from a moving boat and then getting the images aligned without ghosting. I processed in HDR using HDR Efex Pro 2 and pushed structure and saturation a bit more than normal. Finally, I took out some visitors that were sitting on the hill in front of the lighthouse using Photoshop. The sailboat in the foreground was an unexpected bonus. All in all a fun shot.
ron boire 