Fremont Ave Gingkgo

I carried my DSLR with its new "walkaround" lens, a Tamron 18-270mm zoom, with me to work today for the first time.

There are some gingkgo trees just before I get to the entrance of our building, but I tend to only notice them in the fall, when their leaves turn yellow and carpet the sidewalk. But today, I finally "saw" them and took a few photos.

The new lens seems to have nice bokeh, as I was able to smoothly blur some cars, grass, and brick walkway in the background.

I bought the lens in early June after a few weeks of gearhead anxiety. Once it arrived and I had a chance to shoot with it, I wasn't sure if I was going to keep it. But I decided to do just that over the past day or two. More on that later.

Lawn Chair Flyer

I was enjoying the spectacle of dozens of hot-air balloons taking off in the morning when I spotted this fellow - he instantly became my hero!

This is one of the last photos I took with film before my conversion to the Digital Dark Side. This was back in my all-Commie-camera days, using a Praktica MTL5 with a 135 mm CJZ Sonnar, both made in the now-deservedly-defunct German Democratic Republic (aka East Germany, which was neither democratic nor a republic.)

Steamboat Springs, Colorado, July 2003

Lime Shadow

Proteus Bicycles is a well-stocked, well-equipped and friendly bike shop in College Park, Maryland. This is a very old building by College Park standards, built in the 1930's as a car repair garage. The stucco exterior now sports a flourescent lime paint job that screams to be photographed. I had passed the shop on other sunny days camera-less too many times to let it happen again.

Casing the joint, I did find several good images. My favorite one is this one, the most simple imaginable - just a little pipe vent, it's shadow, and that maginificent lime stucco

I call this a "Seinfeldian Image," that is, it's a photo about Nothing. Just light, texture, and shadow.

Swedish Donut Brigade

I noticed these brightly-colored trucks at a commercial bakery along MD Route 100 several years ago during my daily commute.

Acting as if I knew what I was doing, I brazenly went onto the parking lot as the sun was low on the horizon and tried to capture the bold blues and yellows.

Crossing Bay Bridge

Caboose Detail

The caboose on the Verde Canyon Scenic Railroad. Like the rest of the train, the caboose is dressed up in "Southwestern" colors.

Grafitti Pullman