I actually didn’t take this photo recently, but during the hot/humid summer months of Hades North Carolina.  It was while taking this photo in the blistering heat that led to, among other things, taking a hiatus from this series.  Really, does anyone know anything worse than the insane weather phenomenon that is the NC summer (friends from Louisiana – please put your hands down…and you from Florida, too)?

I saw this place, pulled into the driveway, grabbed my camera and tripod, stepped outside of my nicely air-conditioned car – and immediately regretted it.  The sun was intense and being inside an enclosed vine-covered porch just seemed suffocating instead cooling.  That afternoon, while sitting in a board meeting with my shirt still plastered to my back, I came to the conclusion that I should keep deodorant in the car not venture out in the heat on days which I have a board meeting.  Judging by the looks of those sitting next to me in the meeting, my colleagues wanted to take a shower just looking at me could not agree more.

But, they’ll have to forgive me – my car thermometer registered 103 degrees when I got back in.  However, I don’t trust that little car temp gauge and think it highly inaccurate.

It was at least 130 degrees out there.

Anyway, I decided to give this photo a sort of old timey
sepia tint.  It seemed to fit my burning irises the mood somehow.

Enjoy!
~Nathan

PS – the usual; 3 exposures at EV +/- 2, Photomatix blended, adjustments with Nik Color Effects Pro, some slight Photoshop dodging and burning, and lots and lots of wonderful Freon-cooled air-conditioned air.

As mentioned in a previous post, the RTP area is dotted with old farms that are being torn down and razed for further development.  In any given woods, you can usually find an old tobacco barn or remnants of farm buildings.  This wasn’t a tobacco barn, but a dilapidated tractor barn near the road.  The barn was plastered with no trespassing signs, which I pretended not to see duly noted before also noticing the construction/road workers on the property were standing around smoking hard at work and didn’t seem to care if I existed was there or not.  Except, of course, for the two workers at the edge of the barn who went into a frenzy of activity when they saw me walking towards them.  I imagine with my dress clothes and work badge dangling from my belt I looked like an inspector or something.

Which was fine by me – whatever helped me not be reported for trespassing get this picture before they tore the place down.

Enjoy!

~Nathan

PS – the nerd postscript – Canon 40D, 10-22mm, F8.0, Shutterspeed…umm…not very fast?, 3 exposures at +/- 2, merged in Photomatix and refined with both Lightroom and Nik Color Effects.  Is anyone still awake?

This was a done on a rainy day when, out of sheer boredom, I decided to do a quick photo shoot with my kids.  Wanting to try something a little different, I decided to punk out his hair.  I was trying to gel it up in a Mohawk, but since I was never a “punky” person, nor have I ever had any much experience or interest in the fine art of hair styling, nor have enough remaining hair follicles to practice on myself do I have a very patient 5 year old, this was the best I could do. I like this picture, though, and decided to go with a slight Sepia treatment.  People tell me it has a very James Dean look, but since I have to admit I have never seen a James Dean movie, I’ll take their word for it.

Hope you enjoy!

~Nathan

Now, I have been to New Orleans a few times and from what I can remember of it after a night on Bourbon Street have fallen in love with good Cajun cooking.  But, trying to find a bit of the bayou in North Carolina, at least in Triangle area, has proven fruitless.  So, I was a little skeptical when a co-worker recommended the place saying, “It’s as close to New Orleans as you can get without actually going there.”  Dang if he wasn’t right – it’s authentic and just plain good.  Plus, they serve gator bites.  I love gator for some reason.  It taste good with some decent sauce and its fun to eat an animal that could possibly eat me have something a little different every now and then.

I’ve only been to Papa Mojo’s for the lunch hour, but they have live music every Saturday and most Fridays.  The manager assures me the place gets pretty hopping on music nights, and I can only imagine.  Next time I have a free night hopefully in this millennium that’s where I’ll be.  All you have to do is look at the bar to know they could make some serious Bourbon Street cocktails. 

 Whether that’s a good thing or not depends on who I am asking…

 “Ya’ll come on in,” is the Papa Mojo motto, and if you are in the area I highly recommend you do so.

 Cheers!
~Nathan

PS – All photos were taken with the same repetitious setup EF-S 10-22mm, f5.6, 100 ISO.  Shutter speed varied depending on which wall I was facing.  3 exposures at -2 and +2, Photomatix tonemapped and Topaz adjusted.  If you read this regularly, you can probably chant this in your sleep by now.

So here they are.  I’ve included some landscape, beach, and portrait shots.  You’re  welcome…

St. Lucia is an incredible place to visit – towering volcanic mountains, actual volcanoes, and pristine coves make it a paradise with a little bit for everyone.  The all inclusive drinks were nice, too.  More than nice, actually.  So was the bar that was in the pool – hard to beat that.  You sit on a submerged stool that keeps your lower half in the water and cool from the heat and humidity, and the steady stream of libations keeps you blissfully numb and unaware of that your top half is now bubbling and boiling at the skin because you forgot to apply sunscreen.  But that’s ok – the room came with an unlimited supply of Aloe Vera for stupid careless Western tourist like me.

Cheers!
~Nathan

PS – all the landscape shots were composed from a single RAW.  I really didn’t feel like lugging a tripod everywhere and just wanted to enjoy the moment with a minimum of equipment.  The portraits were both shot with a 100mm macro with some minor adjustments in Lightroom.

These photos were taken at a greenhouse nursery about a mile from where I work.  I have driven past the site many times and often admired the structures, but the place is closed most of the winter (something about no flowers to grow during the winter).  However, on this very dark day, I saw that the gates were actually open and immediately swung in to see if I could take a few photos.  There was only one person working there – an older gentleman who bore a striking (though older) resemblance to Tom Hanks – and I approached to ask if it would be alright if I snapped a few photos of his greenhouses.  He looked at me quizzically and said, “Well, there isn’t a whole lot growing right now.  There will be more in there in about 3-4 weeks.”  I explained that I was more interested in the structures from a photographic point of view and made the mistake of launching into a little diatribe about HDR photography, how the clouds would look great, and how I like the dark clouds in the pictures, etc.  When I looked back at the gentleman he was wearing one of those small, polite smiles that say you are either mentally unstable, or mentally challenged – I have not yet decided which –  but I know the best thing to do would be to simply oblige you and maybe you will go away. Though, his actual words were, “Yeah, sure. Go ahead.”

Whatever – it meant I could take the pictures.  And – in the style of Forrest Gump – ‘that’s all I’s got to say about that.’

 Cheers!
~Nathan

PS – for you young ‘uns that are scratching your heads over the Forrest Gump reference – it was that classic movie with Tom Hanks?…the one where he was the not-so-intelligent guy from Alabama?…went to Vietnam – met presidents?…you know…”life is like a box of chocolates” and all that?

…and if you are still staring vacantly at the screen, twirling your hair, and smacking your gum, just go away look at the pretty pictures and stop making me feel old.

PPS – all three were taken with the usual; EF-S 10-22mm, ISO 100, f8.0.  3 exposures each, Photomatix tonemapped with some Lightroom adjustments.  No Topaz software this time.

What does this photo have to do with The Lunch Break Series, if it occurred at the beach?  Well, it was taken at lunch time – though on a Sunday, and far from the confines of a typical Lunch Break Series entry.  Before you 3 readers all start chucking flaming torches and pitchforks at me for going outside my usual rules, let me explain:  My car has been in the shop all week for AC repairs, which means I have been carpooling to work, which means I have had no wheels of my own to get around town and take a picture, which means no local photos for this weeks entry, which means I have enjoyed seeing how many times I can fit “which means” into one sentence.

I tried to survive without the AC in my car, giving the high cost of fixing the darn thing, but it only took one day in the low-80s for my car to turn into an oven-baking sweat-box and for me to realize that not having AC in the coming North Carolina heat and humidity drenched summer was laughable simply not an option.  Thus, the car in the shop dilemma.

 Now back to more inane babbling the photo since the glowering and angry mutterings have finally died down.  This was taken at lunch time, I promise you that, and is of the walkway from the parking lot to the beach that crosses over the sand dunes.  The day was slightly overcast, windy, and a bit chilly – but it still ended up being a great day at the beach.  My eldest, being a 5 year old, went straight into the water, getting himself soaking wet and making us realize how ill-prepared we were, not even having brought a towel (honestly – we didn’t expect him to actually go in the water once he felt how cold it was).  But no matter – he was content as anything.

 Below are a couple of additional pics to make up for breaking the rules.  It’s my first attempt at HDRing people, which is always a bit tricky.

Enjoy!

~Nathan

 PS – all photos were taken with the EF-S 10-22 wide angle.  All photos were also a single exposure, tonemapped in Photomatix.

I am not sure exactly what that machine is on the last picture, but I think it was some sort of hand powered corn-shucker.  I forget exactly what made me think this – it could actually be some sort of chicken-feather-plucker for all I know.

Anyways, the photo of the shucker/plucker and the second photo of the porch were both featured photos on www.hdrspotting.com.  I’m still coveting trying for that elusive editor’s pick, but I think I have to actually have some talent some work to do before I am up even able to think about competing at that level.

Enjoy!
~Nathan

 PS – all were 3 exposures with a Canon 40D at ISO 100, EF-S 10-22mm, Photomatix tonemapped, and with some Topaz Adjust.

I shot this last Friday in a cemetery that was next to the little red schoolhouse from a previous post.  Yes, it was a bit creepy crawling around a cemetery in that kind of weather, and no I don’t typically crawl around cemeteries on dark and stormy days, but I had thought this memorial might make an interesting photo subject. 

The problem was I came down with some sort of viral sinus infection the next day that just won’t quit.  Isn’t there some sort of rhyme about stepping on a grave and getting sick??  I don’t recall stepping on anyone’s grave, but still…I was in a cemetery.

Anyways, to get away from my medicated babbling back on point, I processed this after ingesting some Mucinex D, Nyquil, a couple dozen Halls cough drops, and some pretty amber pill that the doctor prescribed.  Through this murky medical haze, this image came about.  I could re-process it more appropriately, but nah – I’m feeling rather lazy lethargic lately.

Cheers!
~Nathan

PS – ISO 100, EF-S 10-22, f8.0, 1/50^th, 3 exposures, Photomatix tonemapped, Topaz Adjust (I think), Nyquil, Mucinex D, Benzo-something prescribed by doctor, generic Robitussin, and a partridge in a pear tree.

While I enjoyed the photos, this site was nerve-wracking and definitely not my favorite place to visit.  For those that don’t know, I am a deaf individual who was born with a hearing loss and didn’t hear much of anything until I received a cochlear implant at age 19 a decadefew years ago.  Though I can hear well enough to talk on the phone, enjoy music, etc. with my cochlear implants, it is still not “normal” hearing per se and has its limits.

The point of all this is to say that one thing I have learned with my deafness is that deaf people and train tracks do not mix well. 

Trains are loud, but I may or may not hear them coming depending on the level of noise in the place.  And this was a very active switching yard with those big diesels coming and going, making me constantly craning my neck to see what was coming behind me. So, standing still and gazing through a view finder in a fixed direction was idiotic to the nth degree probably not the smartest thing a deaf guy can do.  On top of that, there was a large neon green sign on the side of the small station that said, “We follow and observe ALL regulations – OUR LIVES DEPEND ON IT.”

I’m pretty sure regulations said nothing about the deaf dude with a camera scrambling around the train tracks.  Fortunately, the only people around seemed the train drivers who paid absolutely no attention to me.

I will now await the angry phone call from my mother.  Luckily for me, these cochlear implants do come with an off button.

Enjoy!
~Nathan

PS – I have a Facebook page now.  If you would like to follow, just click here and “Like” the page.  Thanks!

PSS – Nerd postscript – 3 exposures at +2 and -2, Photomatix tonemapped with Topaz Adjust.  I am aware there is some haloing around the train, but whatever I did to get rid of the halo just seemed to make it worse.  Anyone have any suggestions on the best way to get rid of halos?

PSS…S? – Mom, can I just pre-emptively say ‘relax – I won’t do it again’?