Fountain Droplets at Sunset

Fountain Droplets at Sunset, originally uploaded by Allie.P.

Sometimes in order to find interesting pictures I find i have to tell myself to stop thinking. On this photo outing to some of the gardens on Michigan State University’s campus, i kept looking for that perfect flower with the perfect light, and it wasnt until i sat down to take a break that I saw the cool water droplets I could shoot.

This is actually a large fountian in the middle of the Hoticulture Gardens, and every shot I took of this looked completely different. I made sure my shutter speed was about 1/4000 and kept shooting at different angles. The little yellow circles at the top are actually another stream of water that was reflecting the light of the sunset behind the fountain. The moral of this photo, is to always experiment! I had no idea these shots would come out so interesting until I started to experiement and move around the scene

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Fireworks Sisters

Fireworks Sisters, originally uploaded by Allie.P.

These fireworks were part of Lansing, Michigans show on the 4th of July. Firework photography doesn’t seem like one of those “hit or miss” adventures, but rather I think that almost every single picture can turn out great… it just might not be your style.

I thought that since I did not have a tripod this 4th of July, that my firework pictures may not turn out as great as I had hoped, but actually, the slight added blur from my hand shake actually created a neat surreal effect that I like better than that ‘frozen in motion’ picture you always seem to see.

It seems like “blurry” isnt really an option for firework photography, but instead, it turns into “abstract.” So for any of you thinking you dont have the right camera or dont have good enough equipment to get those firework shots… think again, you may be surprised!

Delicate Arch Hike

Delicate Arch Hike, originally uploaded by senecacreekphotography.

This photo is from Arches National Park in southern Utah. The landscape out there is so incredibly unique and beautiful in its own way. It is nothing like the deciduous forest that I am used to… green grass and brown soil has been completely replaced by beautiful shades of red and incredibly blue crisp skies.

Even the soil in this picture is not simply just desert sand. It is actually sort of a crust, that contains lichens, bacteria, and algae that hold the soil together… just another interesting and unique way this ecosystem functions.

This particular photo is from the hike up to Delicate Arch, the famous arch that is on Utah’s license plate. The expansive rocks and unique landscape really was breathtaking and is worth a trip out to Utah if only to learn about the interesting geology and different ecosystem!

Love in the Wood

Love in the Wood, originally uploaded by senecacreekphotography.

Although a few days late, this photo is in honor of valentines day! Sometimes its nice to find creative ways to express “i love you” and i felt that saying it in graffiti on weathered piece of wood was not part of the norm

This was taken from one of the docks at Belle Isle in Detroit, and seemed to be one of the most pleasant type of spray painting work I found!

Carpet of Bluebells

Carpet of Bluebells, originally uploaded by senecacreekphotography.

In just a few months, the bluebells in this photo will be entering their peak blooming season that only lasts for a few weeks. It seems like this time in winter just seems to drag on forever and looking at beautiful nature scenes like this gives me hope and something to look forward to!

Click here to see more photos of the bluebells, or here to see some information on where to find this hidden secret!

Looking Down the Fountain

Looking Down the Fountain, originally uploaded by senecacreekphotography.

When James Scott died, he left everything he had into making this beautiful fountain. With a circumference of 510 feet and water projecting 40 feet into the air, and multiple tiers of marble structures, the Scott Fountain is one of the most beautiful fountains i have seen. Located on Belle Isle, which is a small bit of natural paradise only a few miles out of the busy city if Detroit, you can relax and be under the trees and in the grass while looking out at the city skyline.

Maybe its the fact that I have a place full of trees and ponds that i can escape too easily from the city that makes this place so amazing too me. If you consider yourself to be far from a city dweller, i highly encourage you to head out to the fountain and maybe you will change your mind about all the dirty busy city streets deprived of tranquility.

As the winter months drag on, looking at this picture only makes me wonder how many days it will be until they turn on the fountain and I can experiment with the multitude of photographic subjects at the fountain again!

Nature Meets City

Nature Meets City, originally uploaded by senecacreekphotography.

A year ago if you had asked me if I wanted to go take pictures of the downtown of a city I would have told you we should get together to go hiking instead. Typically in my pictures I tend to leave out just about any traces of man-made objects, especially people… if there was a street sign, i would crop it out so you could just see the leaves of the trees and could get the sense that you were in some remote back country, instead of some sidewalk.

This year i have had some “city dwelling” people force me out my forests and into downtown Philadelphia to take pictures. At first, I did not really find any subjects that interested me, but this picture if one of my first transitions to including cities in my photos. Typically, i would have experimented with every possible angle to try to crop this building out of the picture, but after spending a fair amount of downtown Detroit, I may finally be accepting the fact that i live in a concrete wonderland, and think that buildings may be just what i need to expand my photographic horizon and open my mind to not only the beauty of the natural world, but of our humanly creations as well.

Now I am including some urban landscape photography (in addition to natural landscapes) in my typical online musings and stumbled upon this basic article about urban landscapes.

Serene Reflection

Serene Reflection, originally uploaded by senecacreekphotography.

This was taken at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. While waiting around for the fountain show I decided that I would wander through the water gardens again just to kill some time after already taking pictures there…. I happed to be at the right place at the right time just as the sun was setting, the conservatory reflected perfectly in the water.

Sometimes a good photograph is really a matter of a photographers patience and persistence. Revisit places at different times of day even if you think you got a great shot already, each hour of the day yields a completely different light and mood!

Roadside Day lily

Roadside Daylily, originally uploaded by senecacreekphotography.

I seem to find the most day lilies just along the side of the road. They are beautiful for about two weeks but soon die and flop over due to the massive weight of how tall they are. I found this bunch on the corner of two roads and had some real problems getting to them without getting hit! With the right cropping and focusing selections, you can easily make a street picture appear to be tranquil and removed.

Nature is all around us.. you do not need to go to a big National Park to get some beautiful shots, you just need to learn to have a good eye to pick up the small details of the wilderness right in your backyard, or in this case, the street! The small depth of field hides the fact that they gray in the background is not some natural formation in some hidden and removed nature area, but in fact the road That disciplined eye or that awareness and capability to find natural beauty anywhere is really what i find my nature photography to be about, and is what i strive for as my personal goal.

Canaan Valley Sunrise

Canaan Valley Sunrise, originally uploaded by senecacreekphotography.

If you think of photographers as people who just sit around all day and take some pictures when they feel like it… well, I wish you were right! The best light and the best time to take pictures is often before the sunrise, and at sunset, and sometimes (okay, most time) its real hard to get out of bed at 5am to go outside and get your fingers moving in the cold just to get that golden light that you want.

I leave my curtains open purposefully so that I am woken up by the rising sun every morning. In that moment where I silently curse the bright light in my sleepy i-hate-mornings-eyes, when I realize that the light I am cursing is really a beautiful sunrise full of color, my mood changes, and if its a good day, I get out of bed and snap a few pictures… if its gray and raining, I close the curtains and go back to sleep. Sometimes, its the simple motivations that can just be enough to get you going and oh so worth it in the end.

This picture was the same way, taken a few steps out the door in Canaan Valley, West Virginia.