Doorways to many worlds - Family Room Series

After a short break I’m back to my “Family Room Series” of photos for a few more days. I couldn’t envision a family room without books. I love to read and books have played a large part in my life.

My love of reading began at an early age with my mother reading to me. I quickly wanted to learn to read for myself and explore the magic hiding in those pages.

I can remember being so excited in elementary school when the school had “Book Fairs” where we’d get to bring home a list and order form to pick out books we could order for ourselves. I’d study those listed books for hours and then sit with my Mom or Dad and go over my “wants” to see what they would let me order. After the orders were returned to school it was difficult waiting for them to arrive. When they were delivered to school they were handed out for us to take home. I felt I had treasures in those books.

With reading I learned of worlds I hardly knew existed but quickly learned to imagine and enjoy.

The “Jack and Jill Magazine” (ages 8 to 12) was also a source of adventure, education and reading enjoyment during a number of summers. Oh, and comic books — man, I loved those things!

I’ve always seen books as a primary means for learning. Many years ago while living near Washington, DC, I was looking for a job to bring me back home to NC. I’d heard of this manufacturing company that was looking for a Systems Analysis in an Information Systems Shop programming in RPG on an IBM AS/400 system. Now while I had some computer experience I knew nothing about RPG or an AS/400 — I didn’t know what RPG (Report Program Generator) stood for and couldn’t have begin to tell you anything about what an AS/400 was.

A couple of books and quick study over a period of a few days got me that job which led to three promotions and 18 years. So I’ve never seen books as simply entertainment.

The above photo is a few books pulled from the bookshelves in our family room and of course down front is my Amazon Kindle, used for much of my current reading. The white case of the Kindle is blown out a bit. I pushed it a bit with spotlighting to make it pop and draw the eye to that area — I wanted a feeling of energy.

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Post tags: Books, Photography, photos

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Cooleemee River Park Dam - Flooded

Ran and snow runoff makes a big difference on the river. The photo above was today at flood stage and the photo below is how it normally looks.

Cooleemee River Park Dam - Normal

Taking a short break from my family room series of photos:

With the recent heavy rains, melting snow and flood warnings I had to make a short visit to Cooleemee River Park (Bull Hole) this morning to check on the status of the river and dam. The water level was the highest I’ve seen it since I’ve been photographing this site.

Flooded Sandy River Beach

Looking down across the dam

The river sand beach is mostly beneath water and walls I often walk and photograph are now barely seen beneath raging waters. You can see photos of these walls that were today under water here and here.

I also shot the short 1 minute video segment below using a Flip Video giving a sense of the massive energy of the pounding water. Double-click on the image below to watch.

Let me know if you have any problems with the above Apple Quicktime Player Video.

I wasn’t the only one who enjoyed a visit to Bull Hole this weekend, be sure and read Paul’s impressions.

© Earl for Meandering Passage, 2010. | Permalink | 13 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bull hole, Photography, photos

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The Family Photo Wall - Family Room Series

Our family room has a family wall — a wall dedicated to family photographs.

In the photos, the happy young in-love couple on the right happens to be my parents. This was their wedding photograph taken in July 1943. You can see my father’s in uniform. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942 and served with General George Patton’s 3rd Army in Europe during World War II. They married before he shipped overseas. My mother made the wedding dress she’s wearing and my sister still has that very dress.

Both my parents have since passed away — my father in 1989 and my mother in 2008. Still, every time I walk past this wall I think of them and all the other family members I catch a glimpse of in the numerous family photos.

© Earl for Meandering Passage, 2010. | Permalink | 17 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: family, Photography, photos

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Keep the 'Pilot' Light Burning - Family Room Series

There’s a brick fireplace in our family room with a set of ventless gas logs. During the winter months the pilot light is always lit and on particularly cold nights we’ll have the gas logs burning.

Often when I walk by the fireplace I’ll see the small blue flame of the pilot light in the darkness of the fireplace. I was intrigued enough I decided it would be one of my photos for this family room series.

This photo is a 6 second exposure at f/6.3 and ISO400. The edges of the flame looks soft because of the flames flicker over the long exposure. Post-processing was the normal Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop CS4.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

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Post tags: Photography, photos, pilot light

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Mirror, Mirror - Family Room Series

A little visual trick here. This photo includes two mirrors. The first is a full height coat/hat rack mirror with wooden frame and hat hooks that the lamp and the other wall mirror are reflected in. The second is of course the wall mirror behind the lamp.

These mirrors are in the front entry hall but I was standing in the family room as I shot this so I’ll count it.

Not much post-processing and what there was took place in Adobe Lightroom.

© Earl for Meandering Passage, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Photography, photos

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Golden Morning Sunlight - Family Room Series

Morning sunshine filters in through windows and doors of the back wall of our family room and strikes the golden wood of our coffee table illuminating it so brightly at times it looks like the wood has an internal glow.

This second series photo tries to capture that moment of illumination.

Where yesterday I was looking to impart comfort todays focus is on warmth — I feel this room has both, comfort and warmth.

Post processing was done using Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop CS4 and Nik Color Efex plugin.

© Earl for Meandering Passage, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Photography, photos, sunlight

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Sunshine on Soft Leather - Family Room series

As with many new projects/themes the beginning or first shot is always the hardest to come by. As I stated in a previous post I’ve been playing about with self imposed limits, projects or themes this year. So thus begins my next series of photos.

This series of photos are all from or in the confines of my home, the family room and adjoining hallways to be specific. It’s a bit out of my comfort zone, shooting inside, but is affording more opportunity then I at first imagined.

This image is of early morning sun playing off the back of a soft leather chair in the family room. Since taking this shot two days ago there hasn’t been any sunshine so I was lucky I made this photo when I did.

I was initially working with the image in color trying to capture the rich reddish browns of the leather but wasn’t satisfied with the results. So upon a hunch I tried the image in black and white, which worked nicely. Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop CS4 and Nik Silver Efex were used in post-processing.

I intentionally went for a soft glow to give a feel of comfort and warmth, to make you hopefully want to reach out and touch and feel the texture of the leather (it’s very soft.) At least that’s what my goal was.

© Earl for Meandering Passage, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: leather, Photography, photos

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Like Water and Stone - Fluid Tree and Structured Roof

The red tile roofline belongs to the Salisbury, NC, Train Station and this is the final photo of this current urban theme — although with the tree I guess it could be considered a nature photo as well.

What appeals to me in this image is the contrast of the natural curved and random lines of the tree against the very structured and precise Spanish architecture roofline and walls behind it — somewhat like when looking at a stream bed, with the fluidness of the water over the ridged structure of rocks/stones, or something like that.

There wasn’t much post-processing on this image beyond a little adjustment in Adobe Lightroom and detail enhancement with Topaz Details in Photoshop CS4.

My next photo theme is a series of photos based on available light within a limited physical area, the family room in our house. I’ve set these restriction to challenge my creativity and I spent some time this morning and this evening observing the way sunlight moves through the room. I’ve captured a couple of photos that show promise and I hope the results will not be too boring.

© Earl for Meandering Passage, 2010. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Photography, photos

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Train Station Platform - Salisbury, NC

There’s a couple more of these urban scenes and then I’ll be switching to another photographic subject for a short period. I’m experimenting with shooting different themes under self-set restraints. A couple of weeks ago I was shooting nature-scapes along the river before moving to the current city/urban scenes. I’ll soon be switching again to focus on a different subject area. The goal of each theme period is to come up with at least a weeks worth of theme photos I feel comfortable posting here — but I’m not setting any actual time limits. I may take them all in one session or it may take multiple photo sessions but I can’t switch themes until I reached my goal.

I’m wondering in doing this if the creative mind or the “minds eye” will respond similar to how muscles respond when we strength train our bodies — doing repetitions of a certain exercise and then moving on to the next station forges stronger quicker reacting muscles.

When I switched from nature to this urban theme I was apprehensive because I’m more comfortable with nature photography. However, once I accepted the restrictions and began to “see” the opportunities of the new surroundings I found more interesting subjects then I would have first imagined.

Now I’m switching again, to an even more limited theme which I’ll expand upon later, and I’m actually looking forward to it. I’m switching “tracks” without most of the hesitation that occurred in between the nature and urban switch.

The question is, “How do you train you creative mind to be more aware of any type of photographic opportunities?“

This photo is of the Salisbury Train Station Platform. I believe what caught my eye in this image was the wonderful sky and clouds which added so much to the “feel” of the photo especially as a backdrop for the dark contrast of the railway structures and lights. To my mind it’s a little foreboding but at the same time draws you in.

© Earl for Meandering Passage, 2010. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Photography, photos, salisbury nc, trains

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Snowy Corn Stalks

Instead of staying in yesterday during the final stages of our recent winter event, the wife and I decided we were going to explore and enjoy the beauty of this new snow before it began to melt or became dirty.

Snowy Country Road

We did a loop into the country then drove to the historic homes district of our small town to admire some of the older historic homes. Snow brings out colors and contrast letting you notice things you’ve never seen before — we were commenting on several of the home trim colors that we’d swear were not there before.

I know it’s a small deal compared to the amount of snow some of you see in a winter but we don’t receive a lot of snow here so when it falls I like to enjoy it as much as possible.

Historic Home - Salisbury NC

I guess most towns in the U.S. have similar neighborhoods with tree lined streets and historic homes.

Snowy Streets - Salisbury NC

The streets had been scrapped but a lot of snow and ice remained. With the temperature dropping to 13°F tonight they will be even slicker tomorrow.

Historic Home - Salisbury NC

This is one of my favorite houses in the Salisbury historic district. I took a beautiful night photo of it decorated for Christmas two years ago. It looks good in the snow as well.

Snowy Streets - Salisbury NC

There’s not any one style of architecture for most of these homes.

These will be the last snow photos for a while.

© Earl for Meandering Passage, 2010. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Photography, photos, salisbury nc, snow

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