First snowfall of the year

Last year the first came in early October and a very mild and snow-less winter followed. I don't know how this winter will be, but I'm personally hoping for a very cold and snowy winter.

Today was the first official introduction to winter with the first snow! Right now the New York/New Jersey area is getting hit with a noreaster--and just a week after Hurricane Sandy ravaged over some of the same parts of NY/NJ.

Although the snow is beautiful falling from my window, it never sticks in the city and rather just becomes a slushy, inconvenient mess. I think I'll avoid going outside until I have class tomorrow morning...

Scenes from Sandy (and the aftermath)

All you need is gLove

Congratulations to Nationals' first baseman Adam LaRoche on his first career Gold Glove! LaRoche is only the second National to be honored with the ward since Ryan Zimmerman won the award (for his position at third base) in 2009.

The Gold Glove awards are awarded annually to Major League Baseball players in each league for each position for superior fielding performances. The awards are voted by managers and coaches in each league.

I can be a terribly inconsistent blogger at times...

But now I'm back! And not horribly sleep deprived from midterms and papers. Shocker. But now that I've come back to revive this stale blog, I've also brought photos from some of my latest escapades.

In early October my house had a photo based scavenger hunt with our sister house. Guess who was the designated photographer for her group?

I made homemade pumpkin bread on fall break. From scratch. Which is all together rewarding and fun when you have the time, energy, and can adapt the recipe so you don't give yourself a buzz from the sugar.

I got to experience postseason baseball for the first time EVER with my dad over fall break. The Nationals lost (badly) and our seats were almost as high as you could go in the stadium, but it was so much fun to be able to be a part of history. (It was the first time since 1933 a DC baseball team has made it to the postseason.)

And because the only notable thing that's really happened since I got to go to the game was midterms started, I leave you with a picture of a New York sunset, because that's much prettier to see than a photo of my business case studies or alcohol policy books.

Something about Brooklyn

I rarely go to Brooklyn, seeing as that I don't have much time or reason to. But, this weekend, my roommates and I ventured out of our normal routines and spent part of the afternoon seeing one of my roommates old stomping grounds (she went to Pratt before transferring), getting Chinese food, and enjoying the brownstones, weather & the greenery in general.

I wasn't too concerned about photos, just because I didn't worry about getting the perfect shot, but enjoying getting to experience something new.

Natitude takes on New York

Earlier this summer, one of my friends and I made a deal. I would lend/give him two books for a class and he would buy a baseball ticket for me. Fair to say, it's one of the most lucrative trades I've ever made. The other day we finally cashed in our parts of the deal and I got to see the Nationals sweep the New York Mets. And as always, it was good for a hometown girl see her team do well.

Here's just a few shots from where I was sitting.

Also, if you're so inclined, you can check out photos from the 11th anniversary of 9/11 in New York.

Ikea

I've slept outside on concrete for Saturday Night Live standing room tickets. I've ridden the Staten Island Ferry. I've woken up early to see a Broadway cast on Good Morning America. I've seen a movie being filmed. But what haven't I done? (Until this Sunday anyways.)

Carry furniture through midtown Manhattan. And trust me, it's not as fun as it sounds. But you probably could have guessed that.

Earlier this year my roommates and I decided to make an Ikea trip (to New Jersey) to get some furnishings for our very well lit apartment, but somewhat still drab living quarters.

We returned considerably poorer, (well I was only slightly poorer), sort of full on cheap Swedish food, and ready to wack a tourist out of the way with our new rolled up rug and mirror if it came to that. It sounds mean, but it's very much a survival of the fittest mentality here.

Here's some of our new findings/furnishings that'll be livening up our lives this year. Or so we hope.

I'm still getting the hang of doing interiors photography, but luckily this year my apartment has plenty of natural light opportunities. Also, these are unedited, frankly because I wanted to get them up before I forgot!

Note: Those are not my Doc Martens with the Union Jack on them.

Pass, shoot, score.

"When you pull on that jersey, you represent yourself and your teammates. And the name on the front is a hell of alot more important than the one on the back!" | Herb Brooks, Miracle

Across the country prospects, draft picks and invitees have been pouring into NHL practice facilities for Development Camp. This week the Washington Capitals held their development camp at their facility in Arlington, VA. I've been blessed enough to not only get to cover camp with my internship, but interview some prospects as well as shoot some hockey photos.

Newsflash of the century: ice rinks are cold and hockey photography is hard. But I've loved having this opportunity during my internship, anyways.

I had to shoot on higher settings than I would have preferred, but the photos didn't turn out horribly. (I think:).

Happy Birthday, America!

To the nation that has everything else, thanks for the baseball, burgers and apple pie.

And speaking of America, I will soon post a few pictures from my foray out of America. It included adventures with long exposures, and low lighting! Keep on the lookout for those. :)

Exposed.

As of late (or more like last semester), I've become more and more inclined to taking night photos. This comes mostly as a result of loving night photos and city lights as well as loving a challenge.

The challenge comes in keeping the camera still. I'm a believer that night photos should be taken with high exposure. It adds a different dimension and vibrancy to photos.

Exposure: .8 seconds.

Exposure: 1.6 seconds.

Exposure: 2.5 seconds.

Exposure: 5 seconds.

See what I mean? With 5 second exposure (compared to .8 of a second), the lights pop so much more and it has such a city feel to it. You can really experience the 'New York-ness' with the last photo. (New York-ness may not be a word, but oh well.) 

With .8 it's a bit dark although you can still see the lights. However, it's also the easiest to photograph. A person can train themselves to keep the camera still for .8 of a second. For 2-5 seconds, not so much.

The third photo with the 2.5 exposure looks the most 'normal' or 'typical' that'd you see of a city black and white photo perhaps, but the lights don't jump out as much. Also, because it's night and black and white, the sky feels much darker. Perhaps that'd be better as a dark Gotham advertisement. 

In the meantime, I'm working on getting the last one as a future apartment print.

Orchids

I photographed my grandmother's orchids this past weekend while I was playing with my camera before a family function.

Photographing flowers (and anything in general, I suppose) is harder than it looks. A lot of times to get the color, composition, metering & clean/crisp look requires a lot of skill and a very well trained eye. Not everyone can be a photographer, even for flowers.

Good thing practice is continuous and I have a shutter clicking happy finger, right?

Sophomore finale

As my second full year of college is rapidly drawing to a close, I'm getting a chance to look back and reflect over the semester. One of the highlights of my semester was being the baseball photographer for my College team. Last Saturday was their season finale, which they played in the home of the Staten Island Yankees (the Class A Short Season Affiliate for the New York Yankees).

I know the guys loved the opportunity to play in a Minor League Baseball stadium and I loved having the opportunity to photograph it. Hopefully there'll be more chances in the future. Here's a few of my favorites from the game. (I had a tripod, place to photograph and everything! No, it's nothing to really get excited about, but normally where the team plays I have to shoot through a fence, so hence my excitement at the legitimacy of the Richmond Bank County Ballpark. :D)

The night is young

Some photos don't need captions.

A lot changes in a year | Baseball photography

This past Saturday, I had the privilege to photograph my College baseball team's doubleheader. As I was saving my photos and meandering through some of my old ones, I found baseball photos I'd taken approximately a year a go. Just from looking through the photos, I'm so grateful for what I've learned since then and sort of peered through my fingers (since by now I've covered my eyes) because of how photographed those photos.

They aren't necessarily bad, I just could have done a lot more to make them better. To show you what I mean, to this day I haven't been able to duplicate the fourth photo, which is one of my all time favorites. The only thing that would have made it better (in my mind) is some technical changes.

One of the best things about photography is the never ending cycle of learning about it and making photos better. That's why as much as some of my old photos make me cringe, I love seeing the growing process.

Here's a couple examples. (The first four are from 4/27/2011, the second four are from 4/21/2012.)

ISO: 100 | 1/250 exposure | f/10

ISO: 100 | 1/250 exposure | f/10

ISO: 100 | 1/250 exposure | f/9

ISO: 100 | 1/200 exposure | f/8

You've got the music in you | One dance left | This world is gonna pull through | Don't give up | You've got a reason to live | Can't forget, we only get what we give

It's a beautiful night to look at the sky

Truth be told, I'm going to miss my school.

Of slow shutters, low apertures and city lights

18-55 mm | f/3.5 | 1.6 exposure time | ISO: 800

I cheated and put the camera plant stand by the fountain. But hey, I don't have a tripod. Gotta work with what I have. :)

I love night shots like this. I'm a little wary about seeing the aperture too low since it's incredibly hard keeping the camera still otherwise (yes, even if it's sitting on a planter). But, once I do get a tripod, I can't wait to experiment with natural night lighting and shots!

The evolution of a team & a photographer

I'm finally, FINALLY getting around to writing/finishing/posting this blog post. It's been a very long week, even though classes were cancelled for Interregnum this week. Anyhow, here goes...

During the fall semester of my freshman year, one of my new friends and I were lamenting the fact that the college our class had just infiltrated (for better or worse) didn't have a baseball team. He, like me was (and still is) an avid sports fan. The fact that the College didn't have a baseball team greatly distressed us, so after some time, he began to poll the interest the students had in forming a men's baseball team. By the spring semester, the baseball team was reborn. Almost. There weren't enough players to form a full team, but it was a start.

Now where do I come in?

Olive Garden shenanigans

The other night my roommates and I along with some friends went out to Olive Garden, which, to you may not be a big deal. And in reality, it's not, but we had just really been looking forward and hyping ourselves up for it (bread sticks and salad is a big deal). It turned out to be a lot of fun, filled with pretty tame college kids having fun. (Which may be surprising or not to you.)

This is one of the photos I took during the night, which I really like even though I just used the 18-55. (I didn't take the 50mm since I didn't know what I would be photographing and might not have the room to zoom with my feet.)

I cheated a bit since the camera is (pretty obviously) resting on the table and I just pressed the shutter, but I really like the lighting and the color. The reflection of the lights and glasses on the table is also a feature of the photo that pops out, which I also like.

P.S. This wasn't my exciting photo events from the weekend, by the way. That's still to come. I swear I'm not trying to keep you on a hook...I just have to finish the post!