The Cynic’s Photography Dictionary on Photofocus

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Ambrose Bierce

I’m a fan of the satirical and cynical definitions of Ambrose Bierce, first written as a daily newspaper column and later collected in The Devil’s Dictionary. (It was originally called the Cynic’s Word Book, but so many politicians of the day called Bierce a Devil that he felt the new title more appropriate.)

Unfortunately, very few of Mr. Bierce’s definitions apply to photography. Seeing a need that should be filled, I immediately began working on a Devil’s Dictionary of Photographic terms. Hopefully, some of you will join in and help to expand this desperately needed work.

via The Cynic’s Photography Dictionary | Photofocus.

I particularly liked:

Image Stabilization – a technologic triumph consisting of lenses, magnets, position sensors, springs, and electric motors that is nearly as effective as 3 sticks of wood attached to a base plate. See also, Tripod.

and…

Sharpness – The amount of fine detail visible in an image before it is compressed to 1/10th its original size to post online.

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

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Old Dutch Church and Burial Ground.

In Winter this is one of the few locations that I can reliably expect to be cleared of snow. So it’s a place of last resort for walking the dog when it’s cold and there’s snow on the ground. It’s also a large and very interesting cemetery with lots of celebrity graves, picturesque statuary, flowering trees etc. It’s a very tranquil and peaceful area to walk around in, which I guess is what you would expect.

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John Archbold Mausoleum

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Door Detail

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Edwin Lister Grave. Born: Sep. 10, 1829, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. Died: May 18, 1898, Newark, NJ. President of Agricultural Chemical Works, and Assemblyman in New Jersey.

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Spring Blossoms

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French Castles – Loire Valley, 2002

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Chambord.

We had a very pleasant holiday in Loire Valley in 2002. We had been visiting our younger daughter in Geneva, Switzerland and took a train up to Paris and then another train to Tours. After picking up our car rental we drove down to the Chateau de Rochecotte, which we were using as a base to explore the area. This castle was formerly the private home of the Duchess Dorothée of Dino and Prince of Talleyrand. After several days of visiting castles I was just about “castled out”.

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Ussé.

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Azay-le-Rideau.

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Chenonceau.

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Villandry.

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Langeais.

Snake

by Posted in Wildlife & Animals Leave a comment
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Another wildlife picture. I came across this little guy slithering around in the leaves at Hardscrabble Wilderness Area. A say ‘little’ because he (she?) really was quite small – much smaller than he appears in the picture.

Old Roller

by Posted in Black & White, Things Leave a comment
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I was walking the dog around the playing fields when I came across this old roller in the undergrowth. I usually move my glasses up to the top of my head when I’m taking pictures and this time one of the overhanging branches must have knocked them off and I couldn’t find them. I had to “dig around” in the undergrowth and finally came across them. That was the good news. The bad news was that I must have come into contact with some poison ivy (or one of its siblings). Although fairly minor it’s still itching quite a lot over a week later.

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