Setting sun: backlighting

Our new house backs onto a beautiful (man-made) pond, which looks especially lovely as the sun is setting at night. 

Winter at Balls Bluff Park

Yesterday I posted photos on my family blog of us hiking in Balls Bluff Park. In addition to those photos, I took some artistic shots - first of the snow in the woods (this screamed out to be converted to B&W)

Geese

These photos were taken of geese at a lake in Crump Park, Richmond, VA on the day after Thanksgiving. All were shot using my 75-300mm telephoto lens; however, we were still pretty close to these geese!

Fall photos 2: Guest photographer!

In my previous post, I showed some of my favorite photos from touring through Leesburg this fall to capture the foliage. My daughter came with me and used my Canon point-and-shoot; she's getting pretty good and I really like some of her captures! It's fun for me to see what she pays attention to and wants to shoot.
Note that I did not make any changes to these photos - they are just as she shot them.

Fall in Leesburg

Exactly one month ago today I headed out locally in Leesburg to take some photos of the beautiful fall foliage before it disappeared.

In the pumpkin fields

About 3 weeks ago my sister and I took my kids to a farm in Ashland, Va for some fun fall activities. The farm included a tractor ride out to pumpkin fields, and the scenery was too beautiful too ignore.

Enchanted Forest

While in Wageningen, NL we stayed at the hotel pictured below - the Nol in't Bosch. The decorations inside were very pseudo-Victorian, but not where it mattered (e.g. bathrooms, which were quite modern). I didn't get many photos of the inside, but managed to get a couple of neat shots of the outside.

National Arboretum

In early September we went to the National Arboretum in Washington DC. For photos of the kids and a few other things we did/saw, click HERE. It's very lovely; we didn't walk around very much; many of these photos were taken from the tram ride around the Aboretum.

Sunset on the Sound

I just posted on my family blog some photos I took of the kids playing in the Albemarle Sound at sunset. I wanted to share my favorite sunset photos as well.

Outer Banks beach photos II

Last month we returned once again to the Outer Banks. Just before our trip I received my present to myself for having a good year at work - this lens, recommended by a friend. I hadn't really had a chance to play with it before the trip, so of course a couple of hours on the beach was a perfect opportunity to take some photos.

Blue moon

On August 31 there was a blue moon; for those who don't know (and I did not!), there are typically 3 full moons in 3 months (yes, we all know that, Abbe!). However, periodically there is a 4th full moon within that 3 month period, and that happened at the end of August this year. It won't happen again until 2015. I didn't want to miss the opportunity for some nighttime photography.

The little things

I know this is going to be incredibly cheesy, but sometimes I'm reminded to just slow down and let myself notice the beauty around me. Yesterday when I left work, I took the time to look up and saw the sun behind this cloud...and it was beautiful. So I thought I'd share with you my moment of awe at Nature's beauty.

Note: photo is untouched in any way, and was taken on my iPhone using Camera+

Outer Banks beach photos

While the vast majority of photos that I took while on vacation at the Outer Banks last month were of our children, I did manage to get a few nice ones of the scenery around us. Here are my favorites.

In the woods

On the first Saturday in June, I took the kids over to what we call the "dinosaur park" in Ashburn, VA. I think the real name is just Ashburn Park, but as all of the playground equipment is shaped like various dinosaurs, we like our name better. One of the coolest things about the park is that it's not just a playground - there's a very nice walking path that extends quite far through the woods, as we discovered that day!

Clouds

The weather here in VA (and I think around most of the East coast, if not the country as a whole) has been pretty all over the place this June - cold like March/April one day, burning hot the next. We've had some pretty big storms come through as well. One plus of this crazy weather is that the clouds have been absolutely breathtaking. What's even more impressive is that all of these photos except one were taken with my iPhone (Camera+ app). I guess that goes to show that you don't absolutely need a digital SLR to take a good photo - just a good eye and interesting subject!