In Memory

In Memory [120/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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On Sunday, we went to my in-laws church for the dedication of a bench and this cross (made out of applewood by my father-in-law) in memory of my brother-in-law, who passed away three years ago today.

Brunch Buddies

Brunch Buddies [119/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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On Saturday, my sister had a bunch of family over for an elaborate brunch she cooked. The food was amazing - Sasha and Isaac certainly thought so!

Rusty Links

Rusty Links [118/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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Still not feeling that inspired or creative photographically, but it is a Friday so I've got an easy out with a fence picture. I walk past this fence (along the commuter rail tracks) whenever I walk to or from work. I've tried photographing it a couple of times but the light was never right until this evening.

Tea Quiz

Tea Quiz [117/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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Still not feeling very creative or inspired, and still very busy at work (we are going on vacation in about a week and the pile of things to finish before we leave seems to just keep getting longer). But I did take some time to play with my macro lens tonight, so here is a little quiz for you all:

There are four kinds of tea shown here, see if you can guess which is which:
1) An Azorean green tea (from this plantation)
2) Lapsang Souchong Black Dragon
3) Yin Hao Jasmine
4) Hearthside Blend Chai

The Azorean tea I purchased while on vacation there last year, and the rest are from the fabulous Upton Tea.

Bye Bye, I'm Going on a Trip

Bye Bye, I'm Going on a Trip [116/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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Yesterday was another hectic day, without much time for anything creative. So here's a cute picture of my son. :-)

He loves his toy black pickup truck, and ever since I went on a business trip (back on Day 66) his favorite game has been to tell us that he's going on a trip. The destination and mode of travel vary (yesterday he was taking a fast train to visit his Grandpa Toby), but he usually says "bye bye, I'll meet you back here" and sometimes we get a kiss before he leaves. It is quite cute and can keep him entertained for some time.

Seeing Double

Seeing Double [115/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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Yesterday was a very busy day at work, but I had some time to go for a little walk in the evening before heading back to the office. This is on the campus of the Episcopal Divinity School.

Servants of the Map

Servants of the Map [114/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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For Round 21 of the Get Pushed challenge group on Flickr, I was paired with Imani Danielle, who challenged me to " take a photo that is based on a song, book, or movie."

One of the best books I've read in the past year or so is Servants of the Map by Andrea Barrett. It is a collection of loosely linked short stories; in the title story, set in the 1860s, the main character is a British surveyor in the Himalayas who narrates his adventures via a series of letters to his wife back home in England. Letters recur throughout the stories, providing connecting threads to link families across time and space.

While thinking of how to capture this theme in photography, I remembered my own collection of letters from my childhood and early adulthood. Although I try not to keep too many mementos, I do have a collection of postcards my grandparents sent me when I was a child, as well as letters exchanged with my sister when she was at summer camp during her teenage years, a letter my mom sent me for my college graduation, and a letter from a college friend who spent part of a summer abroad in Bolivia. To up the antique feel, I applied a 'aged photo' filter in post using Lightroom 4.

Pepper

Pepper [113/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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Yesterday evening I finally got a chance to play with another of my new camera toys, a set of Kenko extension tubes. Here is my first attempt at macro photography: some pepper to go with the salt from last week.

A Window in My World

A Window in My World [112/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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On Saturday, we took my cousins down to the Boston Common for the morning. This is my cousin Elyse, taken as she was watching me from her stroller while everybody else chased pigeons. I can't decide if the reflection of me in her eyes make this a great shot or ruin it, but I wanted something a bit different for today's shot so here it is.

Sunny Happy Fences

Sunny Happy Fences [111/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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A nice sunny scene for your weekend enjoyment. Happy Fence Friday!

Spring Sunlight

Spring Sunlight [110/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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Wanted something simple today, after three late nights playing with my new strobe setup. The weather was gorgeous today, a perfect spring day, and the late afternoon light called out to me.

Lighting 102 Selfie

Lighting 102 Selfie [109/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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I think this lighting thing is turning into a bit of an obsession. I started reading the Strobist.com Lighting 102 series of posts tonight, and decided that I would try to acheive the effect demonstrated in this photo and described in the "Umbrella Specular Portrait" post. Three hours later, this is what I've got. It's not perfect but I learned an awful lot in the process. I think for my health and sanity, though, the flash is going to have to take a break for the rest of the week.

Eagle Rare

Eagle Rare [108/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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Today's cocktail is the Fancy Free:
2 oz bourbon (I used Eagle Rare, hence the title)
1/2 oz Maraschino liquer (Luxardo)
1-2 dash orange bitters
1-2 dash Angostura bitters

Stir with ice and strain, then garnish with a Maraschino cherry (the real thing, not the neon candy kind - try these, which are well worth the price). Happy Tipsy Tuesday!

Salt, Four Ways

Salt, Four Ways [107/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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I got a bunch of new camera gear for my birthday this year, including some basic off-camera flash equipment (a light stand, a couple umbrellas, and a hot shoe universal translator plus 16 foot wire). I finally had time to play around tonight. Here is the result: my first decent picture taken with an off-camera flash. Inspired by djwtwo and DadAndHisCamera, I figured my first shot should be of salt. These are the four kinds of salt I have on hand in my kitchen (clockwise from lower right): Celtic gray sea salt, coarse sea salt, Kosher salt, and plain old regular salt. The background is my cast iron frying pan. I am pretty excited to play some more with these new toys - I can see lots of possibilites that open up with some basic equipment. I suspect that I will be spending a lot of late nights with Strobist.com in the future!

Future Peas

Future Peas [106/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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To take advantage of the beautiful weather today, we drove out to my sister's farm in Concord, MA. She runs First Root Farm, a small, diversified, organic vegetable farm and CSA. She has just started putting plants in the ground - the peas, which will grow up these frames over the next couple of months, are one of the first seeds in the ground.

Goose, Reflected

Goose, Reflected [105/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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We had gorgeous weather this weekend, and took full advantage of it. Yesterday, we went down the Esplanade, which is a long park running adjacent to the Charles River in Boston. This Canada Goose, perfectly reflected in the still water of a side channel off the river, narrowly beat out the sunny tulips (in comments) as my 366 picture, primarily because I have lot of flower pictures already and almost no animal pictures.

This is Why I Take the Train

This is Why I Take the Train [104/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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I hate sitting in traffic, and there is a lot of it in Boston and Cambridge. So instead I take the train or walk and have a nice, relaxing commute (usually - when the subway is running smoothly).

April Showers

April Showers [103/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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A gray rainy spring day today, and a busy day at work so very little time for a picture. I noticed the water droplets and the new buds on the trees while walking from my office to the train, and thought that it was a nice spring rain sort of picture. I really need a macro lens for this kind of shot, though.

Religious Conflict?

Religious Conflict? [102/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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While trying to think of a different take on our little Easter egg tree I came up with this. Easter eggs + matzah. Actually quite delicious together.

Happy Birthday To Us

Happy Birthday To Us [101/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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This is my identical twin brother, Mike. Tuesday was our birthday; to celebrate, we met our parents for lunch at Neptune Oyster, a great seafood restaurant in the North End of Boston. In the spirit of my Day 100 post, I decided that there is no time like the present to start including more portraits in my 366 project. This is my first real attempt at photographing cooperative adults (as opposed to toddlers or infants, or just taking snapshots of friends and family), so please critique away!

Day 100

Day 100 [100/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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Today marks one hundred days of pictures. It has been harder, more time consuming, and more rewarding than I expected. I have learned an awful lot about photography, and managed some shots I never would have been able to pull off just six months ago. I've also dramatically expanded my photographic range, including my first real self portrait (Day 19), my first extensively Photoshopped image (Day 36), my first image to reach Explore (Day 18), my purposely composed arrangement for a photograph (Day 23), and my first attempts at using long shutter speeds to get a multiple-exposure image (Day 75), among others. Along the way I have been inspired by my fellow 366ers on Flickr, and learned more from them than I ever expected.

Over the next 266 days, I hope to keep growing and expanding my photography. The biggest thing I would love to get better at is photographing people. While I have a lot of pictures of my son in my stream, and a couple of me, I don't have that many of anyone else. So during the next 100 days, I am going to make an effort to keep shooting selfies, to capture more pictures of my friends and family, to branch out into candid street photography, and to start a 100 Strangers project. Check back at Day 200 and see how it goes!

Easter Egg Hunt

Easter Egg Hunt [99/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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My wife is Episcopalian, so we celebrate both Easter and Passover. On Easter morning, we did not want to do anything too elaborate but did hide an easter egg for Isaac to find, filled with a little stuffed hedgehog (our homage to Jan Brett). He was thrilled.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Flourless Chocolate Cake [98/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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Passover brings out the creativity in baking, as flour cannot be used. This year, over the course of two nights, we had four different varieties of flourless chocolate cake. This, made by my cousin Rachel, was the most photogenic - a raspberry flourless cake.

Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage

Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage [97/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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Friday night was the first night of Passover, the Jewish holiday celebrating, giving thanks, and commemorating the exodus of the Jews from slavery in Egypt. There are numerous symbolic and ritual foods associated with the holiday, the most notable of which is matzah, depicted here, the unleavened bread eaten during Passover. Although I am by no means a religious person, this holiday has always been a particularly meaningful one for me as it is filled with significant traditions and memorable family moments.

Memorial Hall, Vertical Panorama

Memorial Hall, Vertical Panorama [96/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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Memorial Hall at Harvard University is a bit of a recurring theme in my 366 project, having appeared on Day 5, Day 27, Day 37, and Day 38. I work nearby, and I love the High Victorian Gothic architecture, so it is always tempting to shoot. I have been trying to find new ways to see this building every time I photograph it, though, to keep it from getting repetitive and uninteresting. Today I decided to try a vertical panorama. This is three vertical shots stiched together in Photoshop CS5 to make a very tall image. I think it came out pretty nicely.

Bare Trees

Bare Trees [95/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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Not feeling very inspired today - tried several different shots that I just wasn't happy with. I was struggling for something to photograph I was thinking about how the trees are not going to be bare much longer and decided to take a few quick shots. The silhouettes of the bare trees against the sky often strike me, and this one seemed particularly tangled.

My Reward for a Long Day at Work

My Reward for a Long Day at Work [94/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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I had a very long day at work today; I didn't get home until after 9 pm. I heard there is this thing on Flickr called Tipsy Tuesday, though, so I decided my reward should be a nice cocktail with my late dinner. The choice tonight was a classic margarita: 3 parts tequila, 2 parts triple sec, and 1 part lime. HTT!

Resting Sweeps

Resting Sweeps [93/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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The weather was gorgeous as I was leaving work, so I decided to walk down to the Charles River for my 366 picture today. The shells were out in force on a beautiful sunny evening. I took a number of pictures, but this one of rowers resting as they approach the boathouse is my favorite.

Night of the Cherry Blossom

Night of the Cherry Blossom [92/366], a photo by timsackton on Flickr.

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The cherry trees near my house have made several appearances in my 366 project so far, most recently on Day 86. I wanted to do something a little different today, so I went out to shoot them after dark. The trees take on a very different feel in the nighttime. A color version (of a similar tree) is in comments.

I fiddled with this shot a fair bit to get the feeling I was looking for. First I converted to black and white using the "yellow filter" preset in Lightroom, and then I pushed the contrast and clarity a fair bit and added a exposure gradient filter to boost the tree trunk a bit. So I guess that means Happy Sliders Sunday, and happy first day of month four for my fellow 366ers.