Fotolorea

Catchup

2011-01-19T10:22:00.001-05:00

It's been a long time. Here are some shots from the last 14 months.

Headed north! (an autumn road trip to Quebec City)

2009-11-27T21:48:00.000-05:00

A selection of photographs from my Autumn 2009 Road Trip to Quebec City (click the link for more images).

The Wedding of Bekah & Ryan

2009-09-10T06:24:00.003-04:00

A shot from a friend's wedding I shot over the weekend. See more here (although, keep in mind that I'm slowly adding pictures to the set, so you might want to keep checking back for more).

Miscellaneous

2009-09-05T05:23:00.002-04:00

Just a few stray shots from here and there. The first two are from our trip to Prague earlier this year. The last one is from just a couple of weeks ago.

Fourteen Years

2009-07-09T10:17:00.004-04:00

In honor of our 14th anniversary today (since we started dating), I figure I'll post this shot of Tina and me, taken in Ocean City. Photo by Tyler Jones.

Hey, and why not this one of Joe, Kenny and me, taken on that same day, 14 years ago today!

Ocean City for the 4th of July

2009-07-09T09:59:00.001-04:00

Some shots from the beach.

Bits & Pieces from Prague

2009-04-06T13:56:00.002-04:00

Signs, oddities, and other miscellany from my trip to Prague. See more here.

Prague - the rest.

2009-03-30T12:36:00.004-04:00

The second batch of the Prague Photos has been added to the pool.

Here's a few from the second batch:

A Taste of Prague

2009-03-26T08:55:00.003-04:00

I haven't had a chance to go through all of my photos yet, but here are a few selections from a trip I took to Prague last week. Click here to go to my Flickr page, where you can see more.

Water Tower

2009-01-27T12:50:00.001-05:00

At the Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, where we tailgated before the Polar Bear Plunge.

Polar Bear Plunge! 2009

2009-01-25T19:58:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, Tina and some of her friends participated in the annual Polar Bear Plunge, which had them getting into the Chesapeake Bay in sub-freezing temperatures. Nuts! I was there to take photos.

Metro-Spokes

2008-12-23T08:39:00.000-05:00

New York City; December 17, 2008.

Some warmth on a cold day…

2008-12-19T16:49:00.001-05:00

From the BWI Bike Trail:

Shots, both new and old.

2008-12-05T08:26:00.002-05:00

A shot from last year's trip to Ireland—the grounds of Blarney Castle:

A few shots of Tina from the late summer into autumn:

And finally, some shots of Tina from last weekend's trip to a Christmas tree farm in Jarrettsville:

Poladroidroid.

2008-11-25T13:00:00.005-05:00

Inspired by Poladroid, I decided to attempt my own method of creating that classic Polaroid look via Photoshop.

Irish Festival!

2008-11-10T09:45:00.002-05:00

Some shots from the Maryland Irish Festival at Timonium Fairgrounds this past weekend.

A boy and a girl.

2008-10-29T05:37:00.004-04:00

Tina and Me.

2008-10-24T02:07:00.001-04:00

Photo by Adam.

Wedding Day

2008-10-20T11:25:00.003-04:00

No, not mine. Here are a few of my favorite shots from Kenny and Jessica's wedding yesterday.

Strange attraction.

2008-07-05T09:49:00.001-04:00

I love seeing a beautiful girl with headphones.

Flying pigs.

2008-06-30T11:56:00.002-04:00

Flickr slideshow

2008-06-03T16:30:00.004-04:00

An attempt at embedding a slideshow of my flickr portfolio photos.

Fells Point Toyshop

2008-06-02T16:00:00.002-04:00

I took this photo on the day I graduated college, May 23, 2002.

Landing.

2008-05-28T19:20:00.001-04:00

Like father, like son. Another shot from the BWI Bike Trail.

From when I was liliputian…

2008-05-27T16:32:00.001-04:00

A shot from over the weekend (taken along the BWI Bike Trail).

Pillars.

2008-05-13T10:22:00.001-04:00

It's been a while since I've updated. Here's a shot of Christina from last week. We spent a few hours at Lillian Holt Park, just sitting around reading.

Coffee.

2008-03-28T16:17:00.001-04:00

A triptych from the breakroom.

That means don't step in it.

2008-03-24T21:09:00.001-04:00

London Underground; January 2003.

Augsburg red.

2008-03-22T15:48:00.002-04:00

In Germany, 2004.

"I hope it doesn't rain..."

2008-03-18T20:15:00.001-04:00

Dublin, Ireland; April 2007.

"Hold still, I'm getting down..."

2008-03-17T19:11:00.001-04:00

Paris; October 2004.

Looks like blue, to me.

2008-03-14T21:38:00.001-04:00

French Quarter, New Orleans; July 2007.

...and another.

2008-02-26T18:50:00.001-05:00

The necklace.

2008-02-26T15:23:00.001-05:00

An experiment in photomanipulation.

On the road to Galway...

2008-02-22T11:37:00.001-05:00

A shot from last year's trip to Ireland.

For Her Decaf Sweetheart

2008-02-21T09:54:00.001-05:00

Caution: Contents Hot.

Eyelashes/Coffee.

2008-02-20T19:53:00.004-05:00

Tina getting ready earlier today and then shortly thereafter at Barnes & Nobles; White Marsh, Maryland.

Red Corvair.

2008-02-18T18:30:00.001-05:00

No headaches allowed.

2008-02-15T10:47:00.001-05:00

My Valentine

2008-02-14T09:01:00.003-05:00

As if you didn't know...

Cold.

2008-02-13T10:08:00.001-05:00

Seeing as I was "standing" (more like "dancing") on a sheet of wet ice as I took this shot, I'm surprised it didn't come out a lot blurrier!

This Week End.

2008-02-11T17:26:00.001-05:00

Here are a few shots I took over the weekend.

On film in 2003.

2008-02-08T20:45:00.001-05:00

Found a few shots that I had done on B&W film in 2003 with my Voigtlander Bessa R2.

Summertime

2008-02-05T18:09:00.001-05:00

No matter how much I love the winter, I can't say I don't miss driving with the windows down. Tina; July 9, 2006.

Straw.

2008-02-05T16:47:00.001-05:00

Tina at Silver Spring Mining Co., 2006.

After the dogs...

2008-01-31T21:19:00.001-05:00

A shot from my Canon Powershot G9.

Pictures of her, pictures of me.

2007-10-22T18:05:00.002-04:00

Three me.

2007-10-17T12:51:00.001-04:00

Coffee-Stained

2007-10-03T18:07:00.001-04:00

Here's my attempt at simulating the appearance of an old, stained photo.

A Night with The Wires

2007-09-23T17:03:00.001-04:00

Photos from The Wires' performance at Manhattan Grill on September 22, 2007.

Tonight

2007-09-22T20:26:00.001-04:00

Wedding Photography

2007-09-08T16:07:00.000-04:00

Here are some shots from Jenna Nolan/Butner's wedding.

French Quarter; New Orleans

2007-07-26T11:39:00.001-04:00

Just got back from a few days in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Here are some shots.

More Travis

2007-07-17T11:43:00.001-04:00

Travis @ 9:30 Club - Washington, DC

2007-07-17T02:43:00.001-04:00

Here's a few photos from tonight's Travis concert. I'll likely be posting more...

Tangled Typing.

2007-07-14T17:47:00.001-04:00

Experimentation in Lithographs

2007-07-14T13:01:00.001-04:00

Attempting to mimic the effects of lithography (specifically the work of photographer Anton Corbijn).
Two slightly different examples (although I should probably have used more brightly-lit shots if I REALLY wanted them to look like the work of Corbijn).

Clouds and Textures

2007-07-13T21:03:00.001-04:00

A shot of clouds taken this morning, and another experiment with overlayed textures (click here to see the original image).

More Zoo

2007-07-11T21:22:00.001-04:00

National Zoo; Washington, DC

2007-07-10T12:59:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, Christina and I went to the National Zoo in DC. I'm no nature photographer, but it was a ton of fun.

Recording with SBB; 2002

2007-07-05T21:04:00.001-04:00

Dave at his desk while recording the Sky Blue Baby album in 2002.

One of my favorite shots of John

2007-07-05T18:59:00.001-04:00

With his VW beetle in June, 2002.

Scott recording vocals; 2002

2007-07-05T18:56:00.001-04:00

A shot from the Sky Blue Baby days, here's Scott recording vocals for our album, You Will Crash Tonight, in the summer of 2002.

An Irish Reflection

2007-07-03T16:18:00.001-04:00

Here's a shot from our first day in Ireland. Taken in our hotel room, Bunratty Castle Hotel in Bunratty, Ireland.

Sao Paulo, Upside Down

2007-07-01T18:28:00.002-04:00

I never tire of photographing Christina.

Pastore's Boys; 2002

2007-06-29T20:15:00.001-04:00

Boys in Pastore's of Rosedale, Baltimore County; September, 2002.

Fake Photobooth

2007-06-25T11:03:00.001-04:00

A week or so ago, I was thinking about those old photobooths that you can find in tourist areas. I always thought they were neat and wished I could have one in my house. So I figured I'd make an attempt at mimicking those old photostrips.
I used my little point-and-shoot Canon A520 digital camera, put it on a tripod and set it to take 4 shots using the timer, which I edited together using Photoshop. Here's what I ended up with on my first try.

Tina, Before Noon

2007-06-24T21:53:00.001-04:00

Took this shot this morning. I've always been inspired by Veronique Vial's book, Women Before 10 a.m.. I really like how natural people look in the morning, before they've shaken the glow of their dreams.

Google Widget

2007-06-24T21:44:00.001-04:00

I'm testing a Google Widget I just downloaded which allows me to post from Dashboard (Mac users know what this is) rather than going to the blogger website. Seems pretty neat, although I'm still getting used to it so I've posted and deleted several times now.

Anyway, here are some shots of Adam and Ryan from last Spring.

Cockles and mussels and photos from Ireland...

2007-04-28T16:08:00.000-04:00

Here's a bunch of photos from my trip to Ireland.

Portraits of a girl

2007-01-27T12:27:00.001-05:00

A few shots taken in a Federal Hill pub (I forgot the name) on the same day we went to the BMA.

Snow at the BMA

2007-01-26T20:34:00.002-05:00

Self Portrait

2007-01-05T21:36:00.000-05:00

Just a self portrait that I liked and wanted to post.

Experiments in Texture

2006-12-17T19:04:00.000-05:00

I've been experimenting with some new techniques involving overlaying textures. Here's an example.

NYC in 2006

2006-12-13T18:21:00.000-05:00

Shots from yesterday's trip to Manhattan.

NYC in 2002

2006-12-08T11:40:00.000-05:00

I've been going through some older photographs, and I've discovered a few that I like more now than I did when I first shot them. They are all from a trip to New York City back in 2002.

Summershots

2006-12-07T21:09:00.000-05:00

A few images from the summertime.

The Enchanted Forest

2006-06-26T10:17:00.000-04:00

&tOn August 15, 1955 in Ellicott City, Maryland, the second-ever American theme park opened, just four weeks after the first-ever American theme park, Disneyland, was opened to the public. "The Enchanted Forest" wasn't (and would never be) as large-scale as something like Disneyland, but the idea behind it was that there were no mechanical rides... just a place for children (and adults) to use their imagination. The park featured fairy tales come to life: the gingerbread house from Hansel & Gretel; Mother Goose; Cinderella's Castle; Alice's rabbit hole.

Fifty-one years later, The Enchanted Forest is more forest than ever, having been closed since 1988 (with the exception of one unsuccessful season in 1994). On June 24, John and I paid a visit to the wonderland of our youth.

I've got a picture of a photograph...

2006-06-20T11:50:00.000-04:00

It's been a few weeks since my last update, and I've been busy. Shooting, learning some new photoshop techniques, etc. Now I'm finally ready to post some shots! Enjoy.

My Photographic History

2006-05-24T19:03:00.000-04:00

I'm relatively new to photography. I took a basic photography course in college back in early 2000. On our first day, we were given Polaroid cameras to go out and play with. I had so much fun that I immediately went out and bought a Polaroid of my own, and then proceeded to shoot about 3 rolls (about 30 photos) with it over the subsequent weeks. I haven't bought Polaroid film since, and the camera has been in a closet somewhere, unused for about 6 years now.

Nevertheless, I liked the idea of photography. I'd shoot class assignments on TMAX film with my Nikon FM10 (and the abysmal 35-70mm f/3.5-4.8 kit lens that came with it), and I was always very excited to see my photos. Except I was always disappointed in the darkroom. I could not seem to get a decent print, even if the photo was correctly exposed. I ended up getting a C in that class, and didn't take many pictures for the next year or so.

Fast forward to late August 2001, when I took another college photography course, "Advanced Photography," which I was determined to do well in. My interest in photography had returned (I guess 15 months was long enough for me to forget the issues and frustrations I had with printing).

But the same thing happened. Except this time, I don't know if it was the passion or the determination, but I still LOVED photography. I didn't LOVE the darkroom, but I thoroughly enjoyed taking pictures, and I thought that maybe I would do better working in a "digital darkroom." So, for Christmas I asked for an Olympus E-10. In the weeks preceding December 25th, I must have looked at that camera on dpreview.com every day, reading and re-reading the reviews.

From Christmas until mid-March, I brought the camera with me everywhere. It was the fun of photography without the frustrations of wet prints. But I soon realized I wanted more. The Canon D30 caught my eye, so I sold my 3-month-old Olympus and bought a used D30 at the end of March, 2002.

Now THIS was a camera. Not to take away from the E-10, which was a great camera if you don't mind dealing with the non-interchangeable lens; I just liked the D30 better. I shot with it until mid-January of 2003.

At that point, it had been about 15 months since I had used film. And apparently, I had again forgotten about my darkroom problems. I was about to spend a week in London, my first time out of the country, and I wasn't sure I wanted to bring the D30 along with me. I had been reading about rangefinders; in particular, I liked the Voigtlander Bessa R2, which many reviewers had compared to a Leica. Sixty-three hours before I was to leave for London, I put my D30 up on eBay.

By the next morning, the camera had sold. In the next 24 hours I managed to collect payment from the buyer, place an order for the Bessa, ship the D30, and greet the FedEx man at my front door at 9:45am, just three hours before departing for London.

Just like the cameras before it, I loved the Bessa. Shooting with this camera was more fun than any I had shot with before. I liked it so much, I had the idea that I'd buy TMAX 400 in bulk, process it myself, and maybe even build my own darkroom.

Of course, printing was once again an issue. My negatives came out fine, from what I could tell, but my prints were just disappointing. I was using the school's darkroom; despite getting an enlarger for free from a friend of my dad's, I didn't really have the resources to build my own darkroom. I continued shooting with the Bessa, but I used film that I could drop off and have processed anywhere. I thought maybe getting a negative scanner would be a good idea, but I didn't end up getting one. Little by little, I stopped shooting.

May 2005. I hadn't really shot much over the previous year, but I really wanted to get back into photography. I wanted to go digital again. But I certainly didn't have $1000+ to drop on a DSLR.

I settled for a Canon A520, a small point-and-shoot digital camera that takes great pictures, and a great camera for carrying around with you everywhere without feeling like you're carrying anything at all. But I couldn't get the control I wanted out of this camera, and I knew it. Nevertheless, it was the only digital camera I had, and I've been happy with the snapshots I've gotten out of it over the last year.

Occasionally I still use my Bessa, but it's a rare occurance. Often, I don't even shoot a full roll of film—just a few shots, here and there.

Yesterday evening, UPS delivered my Canon 350D. And I can't wait to use it.

Fotolorea

2006-05-21T20:18:00.000-04:00

Ok, first post. Sort of.

This is my second attempt at creating a photoblog. I can name several factors at why the first attempt failed:

1) Laziness. My original idea had me posting a new photo every day, with each photo being from a different consecutive day. I guess I could also say I was being overly-ambitious.
2) Lack of a good digital camera. And by "good" I mean something like a DSLR, not the point-and-shoot Canon A520 that I've had for the past year (which is a fine camera for simple snapshots of parties and the goings-on of life, but lacks the control that I feel is necessary to create decent images).*
3) Forgetfulness. On my first blog attempt, there were often months between posts. Basically, I would post, and then forget that blogger even existed. Then I'd have to think back over several months, trying to sum up what had happened in my life in that time. Not cool.

Okay, so maybe that's not "several" factors, but a few nonetheless.

So here goes: Today I placed my order for a new DSLR, a Canon EOS 350D aka Digital Rebel XT (black body), along with two lenses--a 50mm 1.8 and a 24mm 2.8. It wasn't my first choice--I'd rather have a 30D, or a 20D even--but I wanted to spend my money on lenses that I can continue using, rather than a camera body that will be near-obsolete in a few years.

In an attempt to keep from being overly-ambitious (again), I'll simply say that I'll be posting pictures here as often as I can. I'll see how it goes at first, and eventually--HOPEFULLY--develop some sort of regular schedule.

Rock'n'Roll, (Point'n'Shoot?),
~J.

*And for those of you thinking, "who says you need a DIGITAL camera to have a photoblog?" ... well, I again point to my good friend Laziness, who has helped keep me from developing my film and scanning my negatives (or even scanning my prints). I've tried film, I've tried digital, and I even went back to film. But I feel more comfortable in the digital darkroom than in a "real" darkroom (not to mention my lack of skills in the wet print department).