Fall in Central Wisconsin

Fall and I have had a falling out. We used to get along splendidly, the smell of fall leaves was once given to me as a birthday present.... I used to love the colors, the sweaters, the apple orchards and my October birthday. Unfortunately, fall has been tainted by Wisconsin's winter. Now I just see fall as the end of summer and beginning of winter with no fun between and especially no fun in winter.

I decided that I am going to try to find fall again. Since I tapered off my 365 project around June, I have decided to try it again, but for a shorter, more manageable period, the fall equinox. It started in North America September 22, yesterday. For some scientific reasons, it starts today in Europe and Asia. I will take a photo daily, hopefully of nature-y things,  until the first day of winter, December 21, 2010. Here is my first photo!

I photographed this at Cherokee County Park yesterday. It seemed like a good beginning photo to me.

I got the idea to follow the seasons awhile ago, but never did.... because I never felt like it, I suppose. I have the book, Looking for Summer, by photographer Jim Brandenburg, and have seen Chased by the Light. These books follow the summer solstice and winter solstice respectively. The images are stunning and from the North Woods in Minnesota. I would definitely, definitely recommend them if you are into taking photographs of nature.

CMN Balloon Rally

Last weekend I photographed the Children's Miracle Network Balloon Rally in Wisconsin Rapids. I went there three different times to take photos. There were a couple early mornings, which I am not used to, but oh well! Here is the gallery at the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune.

I also took my Holga, so here a few digital pics and a few analog pics from the event.

This was Sunday morning, it was sunny the balloons were able to actually fly across the field.

Same photo situation, except with my Holga.

Eeep! Don't blow away! Friday night was pretty windy. After this they took the balloons down.

 Moving the balloon via feet across the field. I got to go up with this group from Farmers Insurance, so it was pretty neat. We didn't fly though, we just went up on a tether.

This was my favorite balloon. I liked this photo because the balloon was just in the middle of a field and I liked the truck parked next to it.

Engagment Photos

Last Friday I photographed my first engagement photo session at Wildwood Park in Marshfield. I am photographing Tim and Jill's July wedding in Duluth, it should be beautiful! The session went great and they were really fun to photograph. I'm looking forward to their wedding!

I have always been drawn to this hill at the park, but never been able to get photos on it. Lucky me, I got to pose people on the hill and finally got some photos that I really love! Hence there are so many on the blog of Jill and Tim on the hill.

I experimented using actions and vignetting with a lot of these photos, which was kind of fun! The light, sky and green grass were working in my favor!

And... Action!

And.... action!

I downloaded some actions from Actions and Textures by Michelle and was waiting for the right neutral-ish, yet not snowy, photo to experiment with, something that had color and details. Finally, the snow melted and the first flowering tree/bush that I saw, I photographed for that purpose.

I don't use actions for my work photos, and don't normally use them for day-to-day personal photos, but I do occassionaly use them for post-processing wedding photos. I tend to stick with a mild vignetting action and some vintage-type black and white actions. Many professional photography studios and start-ups use actions and I feel like they are pretty trendy right now. I think it is important to experiment (and I am not a huge Photoshop guro and not sure if I want to put the time into developing my own actions) so I wanted to check these out for that potential use. I am not sure about how I feel about actions in general, it seems like a lot of times, actions are used to disguise a bad exposure, or every photo has a ton of post-processing that diminish details in the highlights/shadows of the photo.

Original toned photo

Basic Pop

Warm Cinnamon

Breeze

Mint

Barely Vintage

Lovely B/W

Memories

Antique Vintage

I think these are nice actions and the Lovely B/W, Basic Pop and antique actions would work well for  wedding photos. The mint is a bit too green and manipulative for my liking.

If you are interested in downloading these free actions, HERE  is the website. The blog, http://actionsbymichellenicole.blogspot.com/, also has a ton of other actions and textures for photo post-processing.

Work Weekend and Live Music

I had to work the past weekend, which I usually don't mind, but this weekend I was still not feeling well and was totally dragging. Especially after 12 hours of work with one more assignment to shoot and the inability to breath through my nose. My final assignment for the day was a show at The Encore at the Dreyfus University Center on the UWSP campus. The two bands were high school bands and I was prepared for how horrible it was going to be. You know.... kids just up there playing their guitars, music ok, but no stage presence... awkwardly trying to "get into it." Not always great for photos. Yeah, I had a pre-conceived idea about it. It ended up being a blast ! The band from Stevens Point, Black Sheep, was great. The lead singer was seriously all over the place and super-fun to watch and photograph. It made me not think about how tired/crabby/stuffy I was and enjoy being there. I should photograph live music more often.

I also photographed an Easter egg hunt.

I told the kids that I was going to stand in front of them and told to to not run me over as they raced out to search for eggs. I had an unfortunate incident at an adult Easter egg hunt (sponsored by a strip club) while working at the The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, IA. I stood in the middle and was shooting as people ran out into a circle looking for the Easter egg with that held the ticket to a "new" car. Some guy sprinted out and totally ran into me knocked me down. The camera was on mother drive and the photos are closer... closer.... closer....bang - the sky. The camera hit my face and busted open my lip and cracked my front tooth. I was bleeding all over and trying to get names of people. Then I tried to leave and had to pull over and I passed out because looking at my own blood makes me queasy. I now have a fake front tooth. Dentists tell me it looks good though. Oh, and that "free" car.... well it was a 1999 Ford Probe. Luckily, at this event the kids ran around me.

After the Easter egg hunt, there were worms to be found!

Feel Good Photos

I usually like to wake up and feel awesome, but this past week I have been sick and starting my days feeling less than stellar.  Ewww, I hate being sick-ish. Today (which is Friday) is my first full day of work this week. Since I haven't been working much, and haven't been taking very many photos, I don't anything new to post.  Here are some photos that make me feel happy and healthy.

Kayaking in Lake Superior in the Apostle Islands. I can't wait until this year's trip. I love the aqua blue water and being so close to it.

Oh, summer-ness and bright colors and flowers make me happy (although I am also thinking of allergies right now.)

Friends and wine are always a good combination. This should happen way more than it does. 

Under the water of Lake Superior, kayaking again. I think this was near Bass Island where the water was super-clear and you could see your shadow on the bottom.

Evening on the lake. This was shot at Lake Dubay after I used my kayak on the first real trip. I think there is a trend here with water, kayaking and feeling good.

Weekend Photos

I am back at work after four days off, which were full of spring things. It is supposed to be 70 degrees today and I am working a half day! Unfortunately, I am sick so my half day can't be spent doing things that are fun. It will be spend guzzling orange juice and trying not to be sick for the busy-ness of the next two weeks.

  On Saturday we collected sap out at the farm. I was thrilled (yes I used the word thrilled because I am a dork and get thrilled by this) to see that there were plants of some sort pushing through the ground.

On Sunday we put the canoe in the water for the first time this year. There was still some ice on the lake, but we broke through it with our paddles. By the end of the day, the little bay was clear.

The drive home from the cabin. The clouds are spring.

 

Monday about 2 gallons of syrup were cooked. I had to watch the fire for a few hours and got kind of bored. Once the sun went behind the house, the light got better though and there was something for me to take out my camera for.

I also got in the first mountain bike ride of the year. The weather was awesome, shorts and short sleeves and there was a nice warm breeze.  Unfortunately I don't have any photos from that because taking my camera along while I bike wouldn't bode well for the camera and lens. I did take my new Camelback and enjoyed my new grips, tires and seat. It was great to be outside.

Botanicals

My 85th photo out of 365. I may have missed some days in there...  We pulled out all the taps for sap yesterday. By the time we were done biking and made it to the farm, it had clouded up.

Friday Outtakes

I'm not gonna lie, this work week wasn't the most visually stimulating - hence all the spring photos. I am really glad it is Friday. Here are a couple photos from work that didn't run this week. They are from a disaster training event at Saint Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield.  It was fun to cover, and the highlight of the event was my first ride in an ambulance. Hopefully, I will never have to ride in one for real.

Medical personnel in the Saint Joseph's Hospital emergency room room work on "victim" Elijah Johnson, 5, of Wisconsin Rapids during disaster training.

Derek Pionke, a paramedic from Wisconsin Rapids, acts as a victim as Brian Barnes a paramedics with the Marshfield Fire and Rescue Department, calls in the "patient's" condition during the disaster drill at Saint Josephs's Hospital.

I wanted this to work ... but it just didn't. I liked how the kids were just at counter level and the way they were all standing in line with their legs crossed. But the colors and the fluorescent lights weren't doing it for for me. The actual photograph and what I wanted to see

This is what we ran in the paper. I don't miss eating school lunch, although I never did in elementary school except on waffle day. I was able to photograph some yellow though! I made it a point to find yellow after Monday's yellow mosaic when I realized that I don't  photograph yellow very often.

Have a great weekend!

Spring Details

I had the chance to walk around yesterday and take photos while my car got fixed. Normally I drive around and look for photos, but it was nice out and I needed new tires, so it worked out. It is good to slow down and really notice things happening around me. I like how spring is so subtle, and the changes of light and nature aren't noticeable unless you really look for them.

Here are a few photos of spring details.

Buds on bushes

A branch in the evening light

Buds on trees!

The ice receding from a pond

A walking path in a park. I realize these are evergreens, so they don't really count for spring, but I took this photo because of the light green grass and the light on the tree trunks. It seems like a path through an enchanted forest .... something like that.

Buds again

And more buds!

The photos with a shallow depth of field I photographed with my Canon 28-70mm lens at f2.8. This lens also shoots macro, which is what most of these photos are. Macro drops the backgrounds, since my lens only opens up to f2.8.

I also blogged about spring for work!