Woods | Daily Plog

July 24, 2009

Dreamy Summer Sunset

Filed under: HDR, Minnesota, Nature, Outdooors, Rebel XT/350D — Tags: Forest, Forest Lake, HDR, Minnesota, Nature, Sunset, Wilderness, Woods — Jacob Crosby @ 2:42 am

A photo taken whilst driving down the road. I learned from a person I would consider a friend, that should you see something you think is picture worthy, it is most likely best to stop and take the photo.

I nearly missed this one as I thought, "I should stop and get a photo." Yet kept driving, I did this for about a half a mile, which seemed like next to eternity, since the voice of Trey Ratcliff was in the back of my mind repeating, "Stop and get the photo, it will be worth it." In some sort of Steven King of nightmarish chant… Sorry Trey, but that is really what happened. Needless to say, I took the advice and avoided the slippery slope that might have been a missed photo.

Now, having said that, this is a bit of an abnormal photo for me, as I do not use Photoshop unless someone specifically requests that I add/remove something. Yet for this photo, I opted to use PS, since again, there was a nagging voice claiming that will a little love this could be a great photo. I am very pleased and will likely add it to my top 5 photos ever captured and processed.

Rating: 9.6/10 (5 votes cast)

Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Comments (1)

July 2, 2009

A Good Friend

Filed under: HDR, Minnesota, Nature, Outdooors, People, Rebel XT/350D — Tags: Forest, HDR, Minnesota, Nature, O'Brien, Park, People, River, State, Wilderness, William, Woods — Jacob Crosby @ 9:30 pm

This is a photo taken when my friend Andrew and I went to William O’brien State Park. I kind of wandered a little closer to the river and a small ledge of rocks and looked up and found that this was a fitting pose for Andrew. I did very much like the angle, with the tree and the roots in the foreground I think the photo turned out very well. Andrew is clearly far more photogenic than I am, no matter, this is my photography site, not “My Photograph” site.

And please, let’s keep the ratings based on photographic quality and not something like “Hot or Not”…

Thanks!

Rating: 9.0/10 (5 votes cast)

Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Comments (0)

“The Artist”

Filed under: HDR, Minnesota, Nature, Nature Preserve, Outdooors, People, Quarry Park — Tags: Forest, HDR, Minnesota, Nature, Park, People, Quarry Park, St. Cloud, State, Wilderness, Woods — Jacob Crosby @ 1:04 am

“The Artist”, as titled by my friend that both took and processed the photo, Steve (http://www.srmartinez.net).

Steve and I were able to spend a little while together at Quarry Park in St. Cloud, MN and I feel that we both took some great photos that day, some of which I have already posted. This particular photo is a very rare photo I would say, though I may love taking photographs, I am not exactly fond of having my photo taken, so typically they end up being candid shots, as this one shows.

I will state that, in my defense, I do usually notice the faint clicking sound of the mechanics of the typical SLR firing away, and order the photo of me to be deleted, however, for some reason or another, Steve’s Nikon SLR and lens are the quietest combo I have ever heard, or not. Not sure if it is just a fluke that his is so quiet, as I have used them in stores, and a friend (Andrew) also has a Nikon and I have not heard one so magnificently silent as the one Steve owns. Regardless, I am confident that the next SLR I purchase will be the Nikon D90, as it has every feature I could dream of, and still uses a relatively small form factor, so when I have a spare $1,200 to spend on a camera, and a fairly good reason to do so, oh yes, it will be mine….

Rating: 8.3/10 (3 votes cast)

Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Comments (1)

June 9, 2009

Mid-Fire Barn

Filed under: Barn, Fire, HDR, Minnesota, Outdooors — Tags: Barn, Danger, Duluth, Fire, Forest, Forest Lake, HDR, Minnesota, Wilderness, Wildfire, Woods — Jacob Crosby @ 10:13 am

This photo was taken after trudging through a heavily charred marsh. My shoes were soaked, and black, along with the pants I was wearing. I ended up only being covered in char up to my knees, which easily could have been worse. See, the things I go through for a photo. The char in question was caused by the crazed firefighter from a previous post.

Rating: 9.0/10 (5 votes cast)

Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Comments (2)

June 6, 2009

Sunset Sari

Filed under: HDR, Minnesota, Nature, Outdooors, People, Travel — Tags: HDR, Minnesota, People, St. Cloud, Sunset, Woods — Jacob Crosby @ 9:03 pm

Though I did not come up with the name for this particular work, I do enjoy it nonetheless. This is the ever beautiful Chandra in the traditional dress of the Nepali culture. It really is a quite elegant dress with the way it moves in the wind, and compared to the typical drab American colors we have, this is a colorful and quite beautiful piece of attire. I was stunned when she lifted up the loose part of the Sari and the sun shone through it, it was quite a beautiful moment to see.

Unlike some photos of people that are a “pseudo-HDR”, this is not, she was able to stay still just long enough for me to snap the necessary photos. She should be given an award for her ability to stay still, considering her level of energy and apparent inability to stay still for longer that several seconds at a time.

Rating: 8.2/10 (5 votes cast)

Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Comments (1)

June 2, 2009

The Actions of Stupid People, and Firefighters at Work

Filed under: Fire, HDR, Minnesota, Nature Preserve — Tags: Danger, Fire, Fire Truck, Forest, Forest Lake, HDR, Minnesota, Nature, People, Wilderness, Wildfire, Woods — Jacob Crosby @ 7:25 pm

Well, where to begin… This is a photo taken from the roof of the house I was living in. I have made a previous post regarding the situation of the dozens of firefighters in this photo, but to reiterate:

A crazy volunteer firefighter that owned a local Ford dealership decided that not only was it a good idea to run up a $4 million dollar debt with a credit card company for the purchase of automobiles that went to a gambling habit, it was also a good idea to take his daughter out in the car (That had his volunteer firefighter plates on it) and light some fireworks while driving down the road. Fortunately someone that witnessed the event turned around and followed him, clearly seeing the plate. Anyhow, the result was him getting arrested while, YES, he was helping to put out the fire that he had caused!

My front yard was laden with firefighters, members of The Salvation Army, along with Police and EMT’s. At many points in time it was literally impossible for us to leave, as well as the fact that our restroom was used in an excessive abundance.

After having found that the porch was just not high enough to capture all the firefighters, I mounted the roof, tripod and camera in hand, and quite literally as soon as I took a photo, their little powow ended and they rapidly dispersed. Fortunately, I was able to capture this one quick shot before they were entirely gone. This photo is my most popular photo as of yet, and was printed on the front page of the local paper, and has been entered to be printed on the cover of a firefighters magazine. Though it is not my favorite, somehow everyone likes it…

Rating: 8.5/10 (8 votes cast)

Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Comments (0)

May 31, 2009

Upper Falls Alcove

Filed under: Gooseberry Falls, HDR, Lake Superior, Minnesota, Nature, Nature Preserve, Outdooors, Travel — Tags: Gooseberry Falls, HDR, Lake Superior, Minnesota, Nature, Waterfalls, Wilderness, Woods — Jacob Crosby @ 12:40 am

This area was a bit of a pain to get to, it required climbing down a 20ft. nearly vertical wall with camera, tripod, and remote shutter release in tow. I cannot say it was the easiest photo to shoot, but I will say that the green in the foliage in the foreground was some of the most brightly green colored shrubbery I have ever seen, even this HDR shot does not do it justice.

While I was busy shooting from down below, a friend was up top chatting with another guy that drove from Chaska, MN up to this area for the same purpose, which is quite a bit farther than we drove. I was surprised because he was using a Canon S5 IS, with the CHDK software shooting in RAW and told me he was having some good luck with HDR.

This was one of my first shots of the day, and likely will turn out as one of the best once I get the fine tuning done, but for now, here is the lackluster product straight from the software.

Rating: 8.0/10 (7 votes cast)

Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Comments (3)

May 16, 2009

The Path Through the Ominous Forest

Filed under: HDR, Minnesota, Nature, Travel — Tags: Forest, HDR, Minnesota, Nature, Quarry Park, St. Cloud, Woods — Jacob Crosby @ 9:20 pm

Some photos are easily taken, some inspired by a scenic view, some, some are simply a fleeting moment in space and time. We are given our photo opportunities at varying moments in our lives, we may have wonderful memories, or a terrible tragedy may have befallen us.

For me, this photo will fall under the latter category. I was whisked away by a family that missed me in St. Cloud, MN upon the news that some medical issues were recurring and my health was diminishing. Regardless, I was blessed with the opportunity to spend an afternoon with a dear friend of mine, Steve. We decided we would go to the St. Cloud Quarry Nature Park to take some photos. Upon walking the first 30 feet in I knew that this was an area I had to shoot on the way out. Considering the current condition of my health and the idea of the roads we follow and the paths they may or may not lead us down, it was of a particular significance to me. All the philosophical goodness aside, here is the photo in all it’s splendor.

Rating: 8.7/10 (3 votes cast)

Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Comments (1)