Gold coast sunrise

Gold coast sunrise, a photo by andiwolfe (traveling....) on Flickr.

Sunrise yesterday morning was really lovely. the beach was empty, except for just a couple of walkers. With the clouds, the sunrise was spectacular. I really love being able to walk in the ocean and along the beach this time of day. It's a good way to start the day.

Gold Coast of Australia

Gold Coast of Australia, a photo by andiwolfe (traveling....) on Flickr.

I'm at Turnfest 2012 this weekend, which is being held at Sea World on the Gold Coast of Australia. The hotel is not far from the beach, which means some sunrise walks along the ocean. this is a view of Surfers Paradise from the beach near Sea World. The water is lovely and warm.

Daffodils and bokeh

Daffodils and bokeh, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

I have several varieties of daffodils blooming in my garden in the spring. Here's a different view of two varieties, mostly featuring a nice bokeh in the background.

Daffodil

Daffodil , a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Another beautiful daffodil that is blooming in my garden right now.

Spring is here!

Spring is here!, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! My daffodils are in bloom, at least the early ones are. I still have a bunch that will bloom while I'm away to Turnfest in Australia. I'm sad to be missing those, but I'm sure I'll enjoy the symposium.

Woodpecker habitat

Woodpecker habitat, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Red-headed woodpeckers are amongst my favorite species in North America. This is pond 33 at Killdeer Plains Nature reserve. There were several woodpeckers in this area - easy to spot and to watch. I was more interested in doing some late afternoon landscape photos than in stalking the woodpeckers, so I don't have any photos of the critters, but the habitat is fascinating.

Sunset at Killdeer Plains

Sunset at Killdeer Plains, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Another photo from our time at Killdeer Plains last Sunday. Steve and I had a good time working the sunset and blue hour at pond 33.

Sunset at Killdeer Plains

Sunset at Killdeer Plains, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Sunday the weather got up into the mid-60's (fahrenheit, that is), which made for a nice afternoon/evening excursion to Killdeer Plains Nature Reserve. We were at pond 33 during sunset, so I had fun finding reflection shots for sunset and the blue hour.

Steve's self-portrait project

Steve, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Steve's photo of downtown Columbus, taken from the Broad street bridge, was used as the backdrop for a poster for COTA. Steve usually licenses his photos for creative common use, and a graphic artist for COTA picked it up for use in the poster. Steve decided to photograph himself in front of each of the bus stops where the poster is on display, so we've had some sessions downtown. It's been an interesting exercise.

Here's another photo from that day:





Steve wrote about his project and posted the photos on his blog: http://stephenawolfe.blogspot.com/2012/03/my-cota-poster-self-portrait-project.html

Spring is in the air part 2

Spring is in the air, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

More spring flowers on the Ohio State University campus.

Spring is in the air

Spring is in the air, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

So much for the non-existent winter this year. We're now into spring flowers, and the temperature is supposed to reach 65°F today. What happened to snow this year?

Oh well, it is what it is. I do enjoy the spring flowers that dot the OSU campus and my garden each year. These crocus were in full bloom yesterday around Mirror Lake at OSU.

Portland Head Lighthouse

Portland Head Lighthouse, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Another in my series of sunrise photos from Maine. I love the soft tones of this beautiful sunrise in August, 2011.

Knitting - it's an addiction

I've been knitting most of my life, but had put it aside for about 15 years. My daughter recently learned to knit and so I dug out all the old stuff - vintage (at least now they are, since they are from my childhood) knitting needles, old stashes of yarn, and patterns - mostly baby stuff.  Long story short, Meghan's new hobby inspired me to start knitting again. I made dish cloths, wash cloths, slippers and winter hats over the past couple of months, but then decided to learn how to knit socks. The local yarn store offered a class on Thursday nights for the past three weeks, and I was able to finish my first pair last night.

Ta-dah! - Self-striping yarn, which just happened to match perfectly on both socks. I bought 200g of this yarn, thinking I would get a pair of regular size socks and have enough left over for some sport socks. However, I weighed the left overs today and I have more than enough for another full-sized pair, so I will work another pair in this pattern soon.

This isn't as expensive an endeavor as wood turning or carving, but yarn prices have certainly gone up since I last purchased it. I guess that really relates to the quality of the yarn. These socks are superwash wool (a blend of wool and nylon). I could spend a fortune on nice yarn.....

The advantage of hand-knit socks is that I can make them to fit my misshapen feet. I have horrible bunions, which means that socks usually bunch up in the wrong spots and cause blisters on long hikes. I'll be working on some sturdy hiking socks this year...

State Street at sunset

State Street at sunset, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Downtown Columbus, Ohio - looking west on State Street. That's the Riffe Center in the middle of the photo.

Packaged sunshine

Packaged sunshine, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

I did some photography in the Biosci greenhouse on Monday. The oranges are getting their color. I used a wide-open aperture to reduce the depth of field. I like the effect.

Fern detail

Fern detail, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

A sight for sori..... old botanical joke, I know. This was an exercise for depth of field, a shallow one at that.

Orchids

Orchids, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Week 10's entry for my project 52 - Depth of Field - was shot in the OSU greenhouse during my lunch hour. This was shot at f 5.6, which narrows the depth of field, blurs the background, and adds a nice bokeh effect.

Columbus, Ohio

Columbus, Ohio, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Downtown just after sunset. The buildings around Capitol Square are always interesting at night. The marquee kept flashing this image of a woman and so I waited until the right moment to do the metaportrait.

Church doors

Church doors, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Downtown Columbus, Ohio - so many interesting things to explore. Why did it take us so long to do this?

Monochrome leaf study

leaf study, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Staghorn Fern at Franklin Park Conservatory. I used Silver Efex Pro 2 for this black and white conversion. What I was aiming to do was to include the whole range of tones from black to white, while mainting the softness of the fern frond.

Flamingo

Flamingo, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Another flamingo from the archives of 2009.

Agave leaf detail

Agave leaf detail, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Another trip to the archives of 2009. This is a macro of the spines of an Agave leaf. Photograph from Franklin Park Conservatory.