My Amateur Art & Photo Blog

Another month almost gone and here we are, half way through the year now. I have to say I am quite proud of myself for sticking with the project through thick and thin, and at this point of course having a half decent camera phone should mean I have absolutely no excuse for capturing an event from each day as the year progresses.

Parking Lot Scavengers While pulling in to the parking lot of a local grocery store the scavengers were out to pick up whatever had been dropped or discarded on the ground. Is this what they mean by the circle of life? Taken with the LG Optimus Elite , cropped for aspect with no other post processing, the harsh summer sun overhead is almost too much for my camera phone here.

Need A Shotgun For The Weekend? As if I needed a reminder, but every time I walk in to a sporting goods store here in the good old US of A I am truly reminded that I am not living in England anymore. Today's photo brought to you by the good gun toting folks at Dick's Sporting Goods at the Square One Mall in Saugus, MA. Taken with the LG Optimus Elite , cropped for aspect with no other post processing.

Science Park This is a view of the Science Park area of Boston/Cambridge taken on this morning on my way to work. Early in the AM is certainly the time of day to be out and about in Boston in the summer before the heat and humidity hits you. Taken with the LG Optimus Elite , some selective blurring added in post processing.

Shoes On A Wire Today I felt like posting this scene seen all over urban America today, unfortunately! Taken with the Canon PowerShot SX230HS cropped slightly, no other post processing.

So today I decided to look up how much more $$$ FiOS Quantum would cost me on top of my current FiOS subscription, and I'm being left asking the question 'how much speed is enough?' Having had FiOS at 35 Mbps/ 35 Mbps for the passed several years (give or take a brief affair with Comcast while living in a Cambridge rental at the beginning of the year) I have not, yet, come across a situation where I've thought to myself 'if only my internet speed was 2, or even 3 times faster' my life would be more complete. Are there times when downloading from file sharing sites (legal ones) could have been a little faster? Sure, but has Netflix, Pandora, or any number of the online European radio or TV stations I stream ever had any issues, even when done simultaneously on multiple connection devices? very rarely. So I am left asking myself the question, 'how much speed do I really need?' After some clicking through the FiOS Quantum presentation and being guided to th...

Storm A Brewing The weather in the Boston area continues to be as unstable as ever today with the storm clouds brewing, just as I am about to leave work of course the heavens then opened. Taken with the LG Optimus Elite , contrast adjusted slightly in post processing.

Daisies These daisies were craving any welcome break of sun they could get during today's thundershowers. Taken with the Canon PowerShot SX230HS daylight filter added in post processing.

Desktop Size (1024 by 768) Get your free July 2012 Monthly Desktop Calendar Wallpaper. Simply click one of the above images to get the full size version and right click to save it to your picture directory (depending on your browser). Once saved locally you can set it as your desktop background. For instructions on how change your desktop background on a Mac or a PC click here or here .

Industrial B&W The high contrast of the late morning sun and the long shadows was beginning to give me problems while out on a photography walk so I decided to use it for my advantage here and take this photo of a run down industrial building. Taken with the Canon PowerShot SX230HS converted to B&W in post processing.

Meat Between the thunderstorms today was another great grilling day, and today's photo shows the feast that was fired up. My mouth is watering just looking at this again! Taken with the Canon PowerShot SX230HS in miniature mode with no post processing.

Grilling Time The heat wave continues and it is just way to hot to cook indoors this evening, so I throw a few dogs, burgers and potatoes on the grill, I'm getting hungry again just typing this ;) Taken with the LG Optimus Elite no post processing.

101 Degrees During the drive home this evening the temperature outside in the Boston area reached 101 degrees Fahrenheit according to the thermometer in my cars dashboard, it actually read 102 just before I took this shot while waiting in traffic. Having A/C inside the car though made me not want to get out when made it home through the local traffic. Taken with the LG Optimus Elite no post processing.

Boston Harbor Panoramic With the heat rising I headed for the comfort of the Boston waterfront at lunch today, big mistake there was no sea breeze, just ever rising temperatures and decreasing parking lot spaces. Here 5 shots taken with the LG Optimus Elite were combined in post processing to create a pano image of 6378x1740 px before being uploaded to blogger.

Coreopsis Closeup With the sun shining high and the temparatures rising this Coreopsis bud reaches for the sky. Taken with the Pentax K200d mounted to a Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL lens with some nice bokeh, no post processing.

Never Be Less Than Your Dreams Nothing more to be said about the fortune. Taken with the LG Optimus Elite , no post processing.

Coin Closeup I decided to test the power of the zoom lens on the SX230 HS again with today's shot, the result above although a little noisy is still pretty impressive for a point and shoot don't you think? I am still a little envious of the zoom range on the newest Canon zooms though but at their price there is no way I am considering upgrading quite yet. Taken with the Canon PowerShot SX230HS no post processing. Addition: Here's a closer close up of the same coin

Campanula Blue Bells Another weekend, another trip to the local garden center to pick up some more plants and flowers to fill the yard of our new home. This Campunula immediately grabbed my attention and thought making it square to fill the entire frame would make a dramatic shot, especially being lit from being my the early morning sun. Taken with the LG Optimus Elite , cropped for square, no other post processing.

Mystic River Valley Panorama What a great start to the weekend today turned out to be, and a walk along the Mystic River Valley Parkway at lunch was the inspiration for today's panoramic shot. A total of 12 frames were taken, during the extremely bright midday sun, with the LG Optimus Elite from left to right while panning along the river front. Combined in post processing and cropped to a resolution of 6478x2335 before being uploaded to Blogger.

Mystic Sunset The sun was shining high in the sky this evening to make up for all the rain these past few days I think. Taken in to the sun with the Pentax K200d mounted to a Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL lens with no on curves adjusted slightly in post processing to enhance areas in shadow.

Rainy Day Driving Another photo taken while driving around the Boston area, today's commute was a little bit of a nightmare, driving around Boston at the best of times and you take your own life in your hands but when it rains you better start a praying! Taken with the LG Optimus Elite from the dashboard of my car (while stopped in traffic) cropped, converted to B&W White and selective color edited in post processing.

Office Building While at lunch today the side of this office building with its lines and continuing repeated windows caught my eye, unfortunately the lens on my camera wasn't wide enough to capture it all. Taken with the LG Optimus Elite, cropped in post processing.

Lavender Continuing my recent theme of photographing flowers today is the newly planted Lavender from our front garden. Taken with the Pentax K200d mounted to a Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL lens with no on camera flash, color adjusted slightly in post processing.

I95 Summer Driving In contrast to my post earlier this week today's driving around all points Mass was a joy (for the most part except for rt1 shopping areas). Taken with the LG Optimus Elite, cropped in post processing and yellow filter applied for that summer holiday of yesteryear look.

Bumble Bee A trip to our local garden center to purchase some new plants for our yard resulted in this little critter bumming a ride along in our cart on one of daisies. Taken with the LG Optimus Elite , no post processing.

Unnatural Curves Not what you thought this was going to be ? Well this is a photograph of the screen of my laptop running my own creation, the drawing simulator. To try it out go to massit.net . The reflection on the screen is glare from the sun and if you look close enough you can see my camera phone, thankfully obscured well enough by the red curves. Taken with the LG Optimus Elite , tone corrected slightly in post processing.

I93 Delays Interstate 93 is never fun to drive at the best of times, and avoiding it in the mornings is definitely the way to go (for me anyhow). However, my commute home on most days has been a breeze, not tonight however there were large delays in and out of Boston I93 North and South. If you're in the Boston area this evening avoid this route at all costs if you can! Taken with the LG Optimus Elite, cropped in post processing.

Clematis This unknown clematis breed is thriving in our backyard and became the focus for today's photo. Taken with the Pentax K200d mounted to a Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL lens with on-camera flash to add some 'fill', no post processing. Addition: I believe this is possibly Clematis ‘Etoile Violette’ after doing some research.

By The Power One of the things I didn't miss renting was dealing with the electrical issues, today's photo is of the numerous cables that lead in to our electrical panel in our basement, which incidently is where a pool of rain water was also leading, thankfully our electrician appears to be have been able to 'seal' out the problem, fingers crossed! Taken with the Canon PowerShot SX230HS no post processing.

Cats Eyes I was fortunate enough to receive a LED flash unit for my birthday, and this is one of the first shots I've had a chance to take with it. I really like the subtle level of light it brings to this photo of Asta's eyes without blowing out her highlights or making her squint too much which has typically been my complaint with my Pentax K200d's on camera flash. Taken with the Pentax K200d mounted to a Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL lens and using the Newer LED light .

Flying The Flag The weather was a little more co-operative today for flag flying. You might think this is for the Queen's Jubilee, but actually I'm flying it for my birthday actually, ha. Taken with the Canon PowerShot SX230HS tone corrected in post processing to add a little pop because it was still a miserable and dark day. Addition: As noted in the comments, I suck at flag flying. Next time I'll do better I promise!

Union Flag It seems only apt that the day I fly the 'Union Flag' in honor of the Queen's jubilee that is is the wettest weekend of year so far here in the Boston, Ma area. Reminds me of my heritage even more! Taken with the LG Optimus Elite, tone corrected in post processing.

Chillaxing Friday evening, with work all done, problems all solved and finally chilling in our new sunporch with a beer, a chicken sandwich and some time to myself - the very definition of chillaxing in my book. Taken with the LG Optimus Elite, no post processing.