Red Anthurium

by Posted in Black & White, Flowers, Nature Leave a comment
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I was sitting at our breakfast table when this plant caught my eye. A friend of ours had given it to us as a Christmas present. It has green leaves, and red waxy flowers with a projecting bit in the middle that’s a lighter color of green. Although it’s quite colorful for some strange reason I thought it would work well in black and white. At first I thought that I’d use an old Canon f1.4 lens in Leica Threadmount, but then I realized that it doesn’t focus very close. Then I thought of an old Canon FD 100mm f4 macro lens that I’d bought some time ago and had only used once to test it (see Weekly picks – 11/12/2012), dusted it off and gave it another try.

Incidentally I just ‘googled’ the flower and discovered that it’s called an Anthurium.

Happy Anniversary!

by Posted in Buildings/Structures, Places Leave a comment
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Mural by the entrance.

January 10 is our wedding anniversary and we decided to go to La Cremaillaire in Banksville. It’s a lovely place: although billed as a “French Country Restaurant” (which it certainly is) it also has many of the characteristics of a certain type of English Pub (low ceilings; wooden beams; lots of brass and numerous ceramic ornaments etc.), which I miss quite a bit. The setting is great (a former farm house dating back to 1750) and the food is wonderful. We had a terrific time.

It was pretty dark inside and I didn’t have high hopes for the pictures, but they didn’t turn out as badly as I thought they would.

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One of the dining rooms.

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Porcelain chickens on a mantel.

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My wife with her Kir Royale.

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Sign in the bathroom. I had to include this because my wife worked for years in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector.

Christmas Ornaments

by Posted in Still Life, Things Leave a comment
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It was a cold, gloomy day and I was feeling lazy and didn’t want to go out. So I took a look around the inside of our house to see what I could find to photograph. My wife had been putting away the Christmas decorations on our mantel and these were lying on the stone in front of the fireplace. Somehow they seemed a little sad as if they didn’t much like being put away for another twelve months.

Tree and Rock

by Posted in Black & White, Landscapes Leave a comment
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This tree is at the end of a neighbors driveway. I’ve walked past it many times and there is something that attracts me to it: maybe it’s the way the tree divides? maybe it’s the rough textures of the rocks and the tree bark? Somehow I’ve never been able to get a shot of it that I liked. I couldn’t get angle I wanted. Sometimes I didn’t have the camera/lens I felt I needed. This time, however, it seems to have come together and I quite like this shot. I suspect it’s something to do with the light shining on the left side of the rock. It’s enough to emphasize the 3D nature of the rock, but not enough that it puts the other side of the rock into deep shadow. Maybe it’s something else that I’m not recognizing?