My Amateur Art & Photo Blog

I chose this scene for my Holiday season blog post because as I stood there taking it it felt like I was in a Christmas card from the olden days. As serene as the scene was I couldn't wait to get back in side to the warmth of the fire. I can almost smell that burning wood now. The Holiday Season - River and Snow Scene in Maine Taken with the  LG Optimus Elite ,  handheld,  contrast increased in p ost processing.

As I write this it's the tail end of summer when I look back at this photo taken in February, I can hardly believe how cold it is when it's so hot and humid here now. I guess in a few short weeks we could all be out there again with our snow shovels. Snow - Boston Common Taken with the  LG Optimus Elite ,  handheld,  no p ost processing.

The Celtics were victorious with a 97-84 win the Friday night we saw them playing the Orlando Magic at the TD Garden. Sports Taken with the  LG Optimus Elite ,  handheld from what seemed like a different zip code to court, but it was fun all the same .  No post processing.

New buildings are popping up every day in the South Bosto area. A good sign the economy is rebounding but not such a good sign if you need to park anywhere as the number of parking lots spaces gets increasingly rare in the area. Industrial - Construction Site Taken with the  LG Optimus Elite ,  handheld,  no p ost processing.

I start off my photography project for this year with the goal of capturing an image (or images) of Ice. This seemed like a good topic to start with because of the frigid temperatures in the Boston area this holiday season. Icicles On Back Porch Taken with the Pentax K200d with the  Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL lens  , shot with MF. No flash was fired. P ost processing to remove dust spot and some color correction.

Are you looking for inspirational ideas for your photos for this year? Well, here are the broad topics that I'm hoping to stick to for each week of my photography project for this year. I hope they give you some ideas for your own project, I'd love to see your own shots too if you wanted to follow along with me!   Rules: I have set myself the goal of capturing one (or more) shots over the course of the week following that week's theme and posting them in a timely manner is very important of course ;)  I reserve the right to amend the topics if weather or circumstances prevent me from fulfilling the requirement of that week's topic, but I hope to stick to this closely as I possibly can!   Note: I've decided to pick from this list any assignment I want over the course of the year and as many as I want in a given week or day but to end up at the end of the year having at least 1 photo matching each topic/assignment, wish me luck! Assignment 1 Ice Assignment ...

Happy New Year 2013 A new year, a new goal. Last year's a photo a day project fizzled out towards the end of the year, this year I'm going to attempt several projects, a photo a week project, a 'good' photo, not just a photo of something taken on my phone because I need a photo for that day. Also as side projects to my photography interests I'm thinking of starting a 'French Word of the Day' blog to keep up my French studies and also over the Christmas holidays my brother-in-law inspired me to learn chess. I've always known the basic moves but never really studied the tactics or played for anything or than a few times in my life, so I may post the occasional chess related rant or article as I aim to improve my skills. Note: Image above acquired on Google image search, it's not my own, I forget where. If it's yours and you want credit let me know and due credit will be given, thanks.

And that's all she wrote, as they say. That's it the end of my 365 photo project and despite missing a few days this month due to reasons I won't go in to here for the most part I have really enjoyed the project and having the determination to continue taking shots day in and day out and also being made to give them a description if some what brief I found to be helpful in my creative process. I have no idea how long Google will keep blogspot going but I can only imagine looking back at fondness in a few years time over these shots and I hope if you were following along you enjoyed the journey too. I have  thoroughly enjoyed reading your comments.

New Year's Eve It's been way too long since my last post, having missed several days I became uninspired to continue and with the goal of the reaching the end of the year so close I am sure I will be kicking myself one day, however we end the year with a photo of the News trucks gathering in Copley Square earlier today for the New Year's Eve revelers. Taken with the  LG Optimus Elite , No post processing.

Winter Freeze Christmas in Maine is even colder than Massachusetts apparently! That probably won't come as much of a shock to most of you, and as evidenced by the frost on this tree it certainly was true this holiday season. Taken with the  Canon PowerShot SX230HS  handheld, flash did not fire, tone adjusted in post processing.

Log Fire What better to keep you warm during the winter season than a log fire? The wood burning stove at my relatives Maine home kept the cold winds at bay. Taken with the  Canon PowerShot SX230HS  handheld, flash did not fire, cropped and tone adjusted in post processing.

Through The Mist Yesterday's photo was of the fog in the Boston area, today's photo is of the man made mist created in this holocaust memorial in Boston's center. I stood there waiting for the person I could see walking towards me to make it in to the frame but still appear anonymous enough to not mind being posted on my blog. Taken with the LG Optimus Elite, No post processing.

Foggy You might not believe it from this shot but there hidden somewhere is the Boston Financial District. Taken with the LG Optimus Elite, No post processing.

Miniature Winter Scene I'm not sure if it was intentional, but do you notice the lack of snow on the miniature scene in Boston's South Station this year? It must be global warming! Taken with the LG Optimus Elite, No post processing.

Easy Drive To Work As the Christmas holidays approach I am noticing a definite improvement on my drive times to work, if only everyday of the year it was this easy! ;) Taken with the LG Optimus Elite, No post processing.

Cheers! Cheers for the weekend, and alcohol! Taken with the LG Optimus Elite, filter added in post processing to make the photo look a more grittier.

Medford City Hall Earlier this month I posted a image of Somerville Town hall, now it's Medford's turn to make my blog. Taken with the LG Optimus Elite, No post processing.

Financial District Sun While walking through Boston's Financial District today I was blinded by the sun reflecting off of the area skyscrapers. Taken with the LG Optimus Elite, No post processing.

12/12/12 Concert  With work and home life taking over this week there was barely any time to capture a photo for today, so this shot Pink Floyd playing at the Concert for Sandy Relief will have to surfice. Taken with the LG Optimus Elite, No post processing.

Boston Public Library The US Flag hangs with the Christmas decorations on the facade of the Boston Public Library on this dreary winters day. Taken with the LG Optimus Elite, No post processing.

Somerville City Hall The drive in to work this morning took me past this municipal building in Somerville.  I hope there was no one at this bus stop when someone hit it. Taken with the LG Optimus Elite, No post processing.

Pudding No matter how much I eat at a restaurent I always make sure to leave room for dessert, and this pudding from a local area restaurant was très délicieux! Taken with the  LG Optimus Elite , No post processing.

Christmas Tree Lights The tree might not be quite as grand as the one captured in yesterday's photo but we love it all the size. I can say that keeping our Christmas tree in the sun porch has been a lifesaver in preventing a cat-astrophes! Taken with the  Canon PowerShot SX230HS  handheld, flash did not fire, some adjustments and edits made in post processing.

Christmas Tree In The Square This tree in Teele Square looks  radiant  surrounded by the street and traffic lighting. There's no post processing here, this is how the shot looked out of my fun when I took it. I think the lens was steamed up from being in a warm restaurant coming out to the cold  and wet winter air. Taken with the  LG Optimus Elite , No post processing.

Curiosity And The Cat Looking for inspiration for a photo of the day project after a hard days slog at work isn't always easy but chasing one of our cats around the house until they concede to have their photo taken wasnt such a chore because they are inevitably various curious creatures. Asta tried to smell the lens on my camera and wondered why I was shoving it in her face. Taken with the Pentax K200d with the  Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL lens  , with a close-up +10 filter attached in MF. No flash was fired. Color correction in p ost processing.

Sunset Over Science Center As the sun set over the Boston Science Museum the temperatures dropped sharply this afternoon and the red sky at night was a small delight. Taken on my camera phone and split in to 2 layers in post processing, the foreground layers levels adjusted to decrease the area in shadow to bring out my highlights but unfortunately also more noise. The 2 layers were combined again to be a poor man's HDR attempt. Taken with the  LG Optimus Elite , post processing as described above.

Cranes In The Fog The c ranes on this construction site were barely visible in the thick fog today before it cleared to the unseasonably warm temperatures in South Boston. I wouldn't want to the guy you can see in at the top of this crane working on a day like this stuck up there all on his own. Taken with the  LG Optimus Elite , brightened in post processing.

Winter Sun Driving in to Boston these days can be hazardous to your health, and I don't just mean the road rage gun fights on I93, I mean the low winter sun blazing on none overcast days. This was captured this  morning  while I made my best attempt not to kill any children on the way to work, when viewed the camera the very dirty windshield of my car didn't look quite as bad as this! T aken with the  LG Optimus Elite , no post processing. PS. I noticed later that it looks like I may have used a sky light or graded neutral density filter but actually that's just the sun protection at the top of my windshield.

Christmas Lights Closeup Today was spent putting up some more Christmas lights and decorations, and the subject of my photo of the day. The close-up +10 filter was still on my DSLR so a macro photo was in order. After trying a few attempts to get real close and in focus I thought a slight out of focus shot of several of the Christmas lights looked much more artistic. Taken with the Pentax K200d with the  Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL lens  , with a close-up +10 filter attached in MF. Noise reduction attempted in p ost processing.

Cranes - Desktop Size (1024 by 768) Get your free November 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 .

Christmas Lights It only took me the best part of the today to find, unpack and then decide I needed more lights today to get these up, and that doesn't even include time time to worry about decorating a Christmas tree yet! That will have to wait until tomorrow perhaps, I'm determined to go all 'Griswold Christmas' this year ;) Taken with the  Canon PowerShot SX230HS  in handheld night mode, flash did not fire.  Some post processing to remove house number. I like how the garden looks with a light coating of snow, if only that was the only snow we'd get this winter!

It's that time again to look back over all the photographs taken this month. As the seasons change there is definitely less visual interest, or should I say less colorful things around to be inspired by, however some of the trees in the Boston area managed to hold on long enough for me to capture them still this month, but more and more of photos I see are becoming indoor themed probably because of the dramatically dropped temperatures in the Boston area.

French Grammar Book Other than photography my other hobby is learning French. Looking back over the year I'm not sure which hobby I've had more success with, have I become a better photographer or a better French speaker over the course of the last twelve months? I think both of those are up for debate ;p Taken with the  LG Optimus Elite , no post processing.

Suburban  Street Today's photo is yet another example of my not being able to find the time or inspiration for anything else but a dull photo of what could be any street in the USA. How many days are left of the year? ;) Taken with the  LG Optimus Elite , no post processing.

Construction Cranes If you need a c rane to help you construct something, how do you construct the crane? Well that answer has been handed to me over the passed few days, you use another crane! I considered cropping this to remove the items at the left and right but that removed a lot of the interest from the frame I thought so went back to the untouched photo for posting. Taken with the  LG Optimus Elite , no post processing.

The Pru at Night With the weather in the Boston area turning nasty area commuters rush to get home. The Prudential tower in the background.  Taken with the  LG Optimus Elite , flash fired, attempted some noise reduction in post processing.

Banana Macro With my lack of inspiration palpable today I grab my DSLR and closeup lens and head for the fruit bowl, again! ;) Unlike my previous trips to the fruit bowl I didn't find any items past their prime and rotting but this banana which was still very tasty. Taken with the Pentax K200d with the  Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL lens  , with a close-up +10 filter attached in MF. No p ost processing, the dust spot on my kit lens is still evident on the lower right hand side of this shot.

Suburban Traffic It seems like there's no good time of the day or week to be on the Boston area suburban roads these days, even getting out on early Sunday afternoon is no guarantee of smooth ride especially as the holidays upon us. This shot was taken while the car was stopped a traffic light, don't drive and shoot photos kiddies! Taken with the  LG Optimus Elite , no post processing .

Mall Christmas Tree This area malls Christmas tree was towering above everything else and it was one of only several lined along this stretch of shops. Taken from a crouched perspective to the tree an even grander look. The 'Black Friday' sales may be over but that doesn't mean the crowds were any less crazy today; note to self stay home the entire Thanksgiving week next year! Taken with the  LG Optimus Elite , no post processing.

Moon Fail Early AM today the clear skies exposed a beautiful moon, so I grabbed my P&S Cam and snapped this shot. Needless to say that I was very dissappointed looking at the shot on my Laptop the next day, unfortunately I didn't take another picture to post so this is it! Taken with the  Canon PowerShot SX230HS  in landscape mode, flash did not fire.   No amount of post processing could save this one.

Thanksgiving Our  thanksgiving  dinner consisted of 6 courses, starting with Cheese Terrine and ending in Pecan pie and I am about to explode so no longer explanations behind today's posting. Taken with the  Canon PowerShot SX230HS  in auto mode, flash fired in some of these shots.   Combined in Post Processing. Disclaimer: The last image in this montage was taken on Thanksgiving eve, but added for completeness.

Pecan Pie Tis the season to be happy and eat lots and lots of pie, this homemade pecan pie may not make it through the night to see Thanksgiving though. Unfortunately I'm make a rather rookie mistake of having the on camera flash shadowing the lens in the frame. Taken with the  Canon PowerShot SX230HS  in portrait mode, flash fired.   Color corrected and cropped in post processing.

Bare Tree Lined Sidewalk As my year of taking photos draws ever nearer to an end I find myself continuing the theme of revisiting scenes I've captured previously to see how they have changed through the seasons. Today's photo of a tree lined street was first captured in July 7th  when temperatures in Boston were much more pleasant. Taken with the  LG Optimus Elite , no post processing.