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here and there

Scenic shots taken everywhere, from sunup to sundown
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Cherry Blossom Lane
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Cherry Blossom Lane

It is the spring of 2014, and now I was two years removed from tearing both of my rotator cuffs (pain and suffering like you wouldn't believe ). Two years of rehabbing, and physical therapy has mostly healed the pinch nerve in my neck, caused by the extreme shoulder instability). The numbness in my fingers has been greatly reduced. And while I wasn't healed enough to carry one of my heavy camera bags on one shoulder and one of my heavy tripod bags on the other, I was finally able to carry one of my heavier tripods slung over one shoulder while pulling my camera luggage roller behind me.

For over a year I could barely lift my arms parrelell to the floor, let alone try and lift a camera. So for most of the past 24 months I took very few photographs. Now feeling closer to normal than I have in a veeery long time I loaded up with more equipment than I had been able to lug around since I tore the cuffs. I celebrated the improvement by trekking out to the botanical gardens in Brooklyn to capture colorful spring scenes.

One place I was looking forward to visiting was the Esplanade which I fondly call "cherry blossom lane". This wonderful stone bench was a great looking anchor point. For several hours, later in the day, I parked myself at this same spot, and took dozens of shots that captured the interactions between people and bench. Sometimes there are objects in a park or cityscape that create an aura around it that people gravitate to or near, without even realizing it, and this bench during this time of year is certainly one of those things.

scenicspringBrooklyn Botanical gardensBrooklyncherry blossomsNYC

  • DSC_3193 late afternoon at Spittal pond
  • DSC_3211 late afternoon at Spittal pond
  • DSC_3214 late afternoon at Spittal pond
  • DSC_3191 late afternoon at Spittal pond
  • Michael's vision
  • DSC_3300 view from our balcony at dawn
  • DSC_3299 view from our balcony at dawn
  • DSC_3345 sea side view
  • DSC_3363 view by the bay
  • DSC_3384 view by the bay
  • Sunset over Devonshire Bay - HDR
  • Five minutes before I took the series of shots that I used to create the HDR image to the left, I took a handful of shots to judge composition and exposure.<br />
<br />
The sun was still in the sky filling the shadows with a lot more light. So the dynamic range (the difference between the brightest and darkest tones that I wanted to record) weren't so extreme yet. That of course would soon change, as the lighting during dusk or dawn change rapidly and often dramatically as well. One of several advantages of HDR photography can be seen in the shadow detail. Look at the shadow side of the boat in both pictures. Even though  there was more overall light to work with in the non HDR image, owing to the sun still being up in the sky, the shadows are darker and show less detail, because I had to cut the exposure time in order to not blow out the highlights. <br />
<br />
  The colors in the sky weren't so dramatic yet, but if they were, I probably would have had to let the shadows go even darker if I wanted to record the colors in the sky, depending how bright they were. HDR let's you capture everything.<br />
<br />
 Still for those who find HDR photography a bit too dramatic for their tastes, this shot taken under less extreme lighting conditions provides a nice natural way to capture this scene.
  • A beach, a breeze, and a bikini. Can't get any more classic imagery than that.
  • DSC_3568 view from our balcony at dawn
  • Sunrise over North Ireland island
  • Sunset over the Atlantic
  • Cherry Blossom Lane
  • Flower shower
  • DSC_4611 spring scene at the botanical gardens
  • Luce herb gardens
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