Lake Needwood

I’ve stopped a Lake Needwood a few times this fall to take pictures. Once the trees were all in their festive fall clothes. Once it was foggy and mysterious. Today, it was bright and sunny and the blue of the water was enhanced by the reflection of the blue sky. It was a chilly morning but very pretty out so I stopped for a few pictures.

I took some with the longer lens and got some nice pictures with geese on the water. Then I switched to the wide angle and took a few more. This is one of the wide angle shots and it emphasizes the blue of the water, contrasted with the dull brown of the trees on the shore.

I would be pretty awesome to take a picture looking in this direction at the same time every day for a year and turn that into an animation. Not that I’m going to do that, mind you. Just that it would be pretty awesome.

Christmas Lights

I stopped in front of a house with lots of Christmas lights on the way home this evening and took a bunch of pictures. Some of them were taken with fairly long exposures and I moved the camera around a bit to see what patterns I’d get. In this one, there are two lights that stand out from the rest and you can see the pattern that was made by my movement. What do you see? I showed it to Dorothy and asked her what she saw and she said the same thing that I saw.

Note: This post was originally titled What Do You See? It was quickly pointed out by my brother that, given the season and the reason for the lights maybe the title should be, Do You See What I See? He is right, of course, and I changed the title. I only wish I had been so clever from the start.

Stop Light

I was waiting at this traffic light on the way home from work and realized that I really liked the rich colors of both the light and the sky. In the picture the light has washed out just a bit and turned slightly orange, but it still works well with the deep blue evening sky.

Then the light changed to green and I moved on.

Foggy Morning

It was a foggy drive to church this morning but I headed into the mist without fear. Alright, perhaps that is a bit dramatic. Still, visibility was significantly reduced, particularly in low lying areas, like here as I headed down toward the creek. I like fog, actually, and wish we had it more often, although it does not do wonders to traffic around here. I remember leaving for school in the fog in Cambridge years ago. I honestly don’t remember if that was a happy memory or not, but it is now. So there.

Window Reflections

Negative Space

Marsh Reflections

Three pictures today, all featuring reflections. The first is a picture of the sun and clouds reflected in an office building. I had to walk over here to pick something up today and, as I sometimes do, I brought my camera with me. The sun was reflecting brightly in the windows and along with the clouds, I thought it looked nice. I had to be careful to have the sun not quite in one of the windows or it was way to bright. Actually, it’s a bit blown out in parts as it is. Still, and interesting photo.

After that I walked down into the woods between my building and the one with the reflections. The stream that runs between the two buildings has a fairly strong flow here and I was looking for patterns on the surface. This one is a little interesting because where the tree is reflected on the water the reflections are absent and you can see down to the rocky bottom, where I focused. It’s almost hard to tell that the shiny surface is water, because it is ever so slightly out of focus.

The last picture is from a little pool of water that lies just above the stream and yet somehow separated from it. In the summer it is a place of dragonflies and skimmers but it has a very different feel now that the cool weather has come and the insect life is not apparent. I’ve come down to this pool a few times when it is very busy at work and I need a few minutes of quiet solitude. It’s a good place to sit and think.

St. Mary’s Church

The old St. Mary’s Church, shown here on the left, was built in 1817. It is the first brick Catholic church in the county and the oldest church still in use in Rockville. The new church building, on the right was built in the 1960, but fortunately the old church was saved from demolition. Cathy and I were in Rockville for some business this morning and this is the view from the office we were in.

Turkeys

Thanksgiving is over and the decorations are being put away. These are three turkeys that Cathy gets out every year. I’m sorry to say that I’m not as supportive as I should be when it comes to seasonal decoration. I’m not really a scrooge but I’m not necessarily affected by the decorations. Still, there’s no real harm in them and decorating makes some people happy. When “some people” includes your spouse, you really should make an effort. Sorry, Cathy. I’ll try harder for Christmas.

And yes, that’s Edgar Allen Poe in the background.

Bell Peppers

There are not many foods I don’t like and as I get older, the list gets shorter. Bell peppers are probably at the head of that list, though, along with licorice, perhaps. Unlike licorice, however, I think bell peppers are beautiful, in all their amazing colors. As long as I don’t have to eat them.