I figured I would keep my rules fairly loose and I would blog about each walk and pick a photo of the week (POTW). My only real rule was that I had to leave my house, and all of the photos needed to be taken in 2010. I struggled with both of these goals at times. I'm not always the easiest person to get out away from my computer and house. In a lot of ways I'm a bit of a home body, but I do enjoy getting out some and taking pictures of anything that catches my eye. Some of my photowalks took every bit of energy that I had to complete. It normally got a lot easier once I got out there. Some times it was brutally cold or terribly hot and humid. Some weeks I was too busy to get out so I would end up behind, sometimes it took me a while to post-process the files and get them online and blogged. Early on I decided that I wouldn't give up on this project but I wasn't going to stress myself over it either. I mean, it's supposed to be fun and enjoyable, not stress inducing. If I wanted my photography to be stressful I would work for the news or something. I wanted my photowalks to make me get out and explore areas that I had never been before, or even see the places I was familiar with in a different light. I think this project managed that goal quite well. There were some places that I would visit over and over (Killen's Pond and Cape Henlopen?) but I enjoyed myself each time so who cares. There were a lot of places that I went specifically for a photowalk (Maryland Ren Fest, Primehook NWR). I even started going on google maps to find areas that I may be able to explore. My other goal was to improve my photography. I think that I accomplished this in many ways. Do I know everything now, not even close! I still have tons more to learn and share. However, I did learn a lot and I think it shows in my photography. That's not to say that I don't still create some bad images, that 's okay with me though. I have learned a lot about my camera (Olympus e-620) this year, some of it's limitations and some of it's features. Overall I am very happy with my camera. I decided not to do another 52 photowalks this year as it takes up a good chunk of time. I will continue to work on other projects and continue to post on here and flickr about them. Below are the photos from my 52 photowalks that I would say are my favorites. Click on any of them to make them larger and if you have a favorite from yours or mine feel free to share it in the comments. I hope to work on some post regarding post-processing this year. My program of choice it gimp, I'm a bit of an open-source guy. I run linux so all of my software needs to be able to run under linux or wine, because I won't run a virtual machine just for a photo app.
I recently picked up Gimp 2.6 for Photographers, I haven't had a chance to read it yet but I will post my review and thoughts when I do. I am in the middle of reading another book right now and this one shipped earlier than I expected.
An early shot in the year utilizing the golden sun to highlight the nature center.
Once again using the golden sun, who new I would be burying my grandfather in this cemetery later this year.
I'm sure I could do better, I've learned some since this shot was taken but I had fun and was with my family when I took this. You can see my step-son in the background gaming.
This was cool because I took it from the floor above. This is a large chess set the pieces stand about 2' tall.
I like this shot, I wish I would have noticed that the lines in the brick weren't straight. I try to watch the details more now, but I don't always catch everything.
I really like the processing that I did here, the tones came out really nice.
Me and my wife enjoying a stroll on the beach, which is tough to do when you are trying to get a shot without having it look like you are in the shadow.
So much color...
I enjoyed a short conversation with these guys about their baseball game. It's nice to get out and meet people during these photowalks.
My cameras articulated LCD worked really well here. I stood on the pier and held my camera out, making sure to wrap the strap around my arm just in case.
The colors being reflected were pretty cool, but I gave it a bit of a boost using my pop art filter on my Olympus e-620.
I'd like to work on more shots like this. I've been researching some locations that could be short weekend trips to get more shots like this, maybe even some panoramas!
I always loved Pete's Dragon as a kid. I wish Pete were lit a bit better but what can you do.
These were the only fireworks I saw this year, I didn't have a tripod and there were tons of people moving about and getting in the way. I thought they came out pretty good considering.
The crab was dead when I got there so it made it rather easy to compose this shot.
Sadly, this crab must have been close to dying as he wasn't moving at the speed these normally do. I shot this using a Canon a620 point and shoot camera. Not bad huh? It looks pretty nice blown up to 8x10 as well.
I enjoy a good silhouette from time to time.
Trying to be artistic with my flower shots. I like the dof on this one.
I did a fair amount of gimping on this shot but I think it turned out really well considering. There was a lot of junk in the foreground that I couldn't shoot around so I cleaned it up.
I really love the simplicity here.
I enjoyed quite a bit of time in a 50' square area shooting these and I think they turned out nice.
Can't go wrong with butterflies right? I think I'm going to have some of my butterfly shots printed up soon.
I always enjoy shooting little mushrooms, I can't stand to eat them but they are very cool to photograph.
My beautiful pregnant wife, she popped shortly after that.
I really like the texture in this image.
Just playing around with light and gimp.
Having fun with the kids!
I was very impressed with the simplicity in this image, I will be printing this soon to hang somewhere in my house.
I'm not big into portraits but this was a favor for a friend. Now that I've seen how well I can do I will be playing more with shooting portraits.
The Ren fest was a lot of fun for me and my daughter, I will be heading back sometime this year with the whole family. Lots of photo ops here.
Sometimes you just stumble upon things to shoot.
These shots were taken while meeting up with a fellow flickr buddy. We had a fun day and plan to meet up again soon.
The lighting here was so perfect. This is called mirror lake for obvious reasons.
A little post-processing fun, this was for my daughter. Her mother (my ex) wanted to get some pictures of them, I volunteered to do them and we all had fun.
Playing with some more HDR. This can be very time consuming, but I've gotten better at it.
Simple shots like this always get me.
The same cemetery where I buried my grandfather earlier in the year. What a windy day!
I was trying to get reflections of the street lights in the rain soaked roads, it worked pretty well.
I didn't do many panos this year, of course I never do. I wold like to work on the and get a bit better at it.
I'm always open to constructive criticism and comments.
DM|ZE Check out my flickr
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