Providence Street

Providence Street, originally uploaded by bostonaday.

E and I spent the weekend in Providence, RI. We went to see Waterfire, but only one of us actually made it. E got the stomach virus that I had earlier in the week and had to head back to the hotel. I finished dinner with our friends and snuck in a few shots of the festivities before I went back to the hotel to comfort E.

Providence is a lovely town and we really enjoyed ourselves, and Waterfire is a very cool happening. Hard to describe, but the atmosphere and mood really make it an event.

Here are a couple pictures that give a sense:

Brothers sleeping

Brothers sleeping, originally uploaded by bostonaday.

This is not a fine art pic by any stretch, but I had to post to share some great news.

When AOL finally got around to handing out bonuses, E and I decided that each of us should get a little bit to spend on our hobbies. I took this opportunity to jump to the next level of photography equipment. It took some wheeling and dealing and plenty of help (more on that later), but I finally pulled together enough pieces to start taking pictures.

So now I have a NIkon D80, an entry level 70-300mm telezoom, and a dedicated TTL flash (never had one of these before and the difference is amazing). And I just ordered my first "professional grade" lens.

And there's no way that I could have done it without some amazing support. I've mentioned in previous posts how thankful I am to Judith for jumpstarting me back into photography, and I couldn't have made this next step without the help she gave me getting started.

And then this week my wife completely surprised me with a gift. She gave me the money to buy that first "professional grade" lens. It was so unexpected and generous that we both broke down and wept for a bit. But since then she's been rolling her eyes and giggling at me because I'm running around like a kid at Christmas time.

So here's a picture taken with all the new toys (so far). I don't get the new lens for a few days, so you can expect some more test pictures then.

Thanks again to everyone!

Chapstick is important

Chapstick is important, originally uploaded by bostonaday.

Chapstick is very, very important to Alison. I probably have a dozen pictures of Alison is various stages of applying chapstick to herself and others, but this one is my favorite.

Alluveal Fan Falls

Alluveal Fan Falls, originally uploaded by bostonaday.

Even though I got here about an hour later than I had planned (I got slightly turned around in the park and missed first light on the falls) I'm still very pleased with how this picture turned out. When I got there it was actually pretty bright out, but the falls were in full shade and a neutral density filter later we were in business.

Originally I had composed this to show some treeline and sky, but the falls kept misting up the lens and it was really evident up in the top part of the photo. So I cropped it down to to focus on the falls.

Well worth the 4:45am wake up call.

Sunset Hilltop

Sunset Hilltop, originally uploaded by bostonaday.

This was taken from the back deck of the house that E's folks rented for the family reunion/vacation. I started out focusing on a few silhouetted trees, but I wound up liking the panorama a bit better.

Sleeping Kitties

Sleeping Kitties, originally uploaded by bostonaday.

I couldn't decide between the color version and the b/w version, so I've posted them both.

What you see is probably the sixth or seventh incredibly, painfully sweet napping positions the boys found this afternoon. At some point you just have to pick up the camera and take a picture.