Dad's camera...

IMG026
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Another shot... if you wanna see them all from this first roll out of the classic camera... CLICK HERE!

Dad's Voigtlander...

IMG006
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

I picked up the first set of prints from Dad's 1951 Voigtlander Vito II... and I'm REALLY pleased with them... They did a crappy job of printing them tho - when I look at them on the computer the color is so much better than what they printed! I'm just so happy it still works... and that even after 20 years of not shooting any manual photos that I was able to figure it out! All in all a great success!! Unfortunately, the roll that was in the camera came back with just one picture - one that I had taken to finish up the roll... OH well.. you can't have everything...

So now.. I've got a another roll down at the CVS one hour photo.. this time out of my 1981 Minolta XG-1... yes.. my first 'real' camera... that I thought was broken for the last 7 years (or more)... it's been resurrected and I hope the photo's from it will be as good as I remember... I'll be picking them up this afternoon.. so I suppose you'll see!

Later...

It's a dirty job...

It's a dirty job...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

but some bee's gotta do it...

Black Fog

Black Fog
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Huzzah!

The fog rolls in at Quabbin Reservoir...

mystifing

mystifing
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

The rain was torrential yesterday evening. As we drove to sunset ridge we had to continually slow down cause we just couldn't see. It was coming down in sheets! Just as we got to the ridge the rain stopped and the sun began to set... it was awesome... After getting home I was reading the news and found out that this same line of storms had spawned 2 tornados out in Wendell yesterday afternoon!

Raging Waters...

Raging Waters...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

The Ware River was raging after all that rain yesterday! I got to the bridge and realized it was too dark and I needed the tripod to do a long exposure. I headed back to the truck to get it and realized that my husband had locked the doors and was no where to be found... So this was the result of a long exposure that was handheld... I LOVE IT... Go Large and take a good look!

Dad's 1951 Voigtlander

Dad's 1951 Voigtlander
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

I just dropped off a couple of rolls - can't wait to see the results although I don't have very high hopes.. it's been SO long since I went fully manual... and focusing by the numbers rather than the view... ummm.. NEVER...

Voigtlander Vito II

Voigtlander Vito II
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Dad's Vito II that he picked up in Germany while he was in the service in 1951... yes... photography, in this case, IS rocket science! ;)

You lookin at me?

You lookin at me?
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

We encountered this lady as we were out and about this weekend... she was NOT happy with me pointing my camera at her!

Sweet Yellow Sunshine

Sweet Yellow Sunshine
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Under a Blood Red Moon

Under a Blood Red Moon
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Moon rise was also spectacular last nite! The color is NOT faked in Photoshop.. this was the real deal!

Sunset Ridge

Sunset Ridge
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

The sunset was spectacular last nite!

300 years

300 years
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

of crusty goodness!

Todays battle will be delayed...

Todays battle will be delayed...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

While the soldiers wait for the signal to cross the street.

We stumbled upon Civil War Days on the Belchertown Common today... it was really cool!

Moon Drama

Moon Drama
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Pretty cool... no?

Captain Randy rides again...

Captain Randy rides again...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

In an attempt to impress Candy, Captain Randy wrangles himself a giant rubber ducky!

After burying Captain Randy in the sand

After burying Captain Randy in the sand
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

at the beach a giant wave came in and swamped both him and Candy, knocking her shoe off her foot... They laughed and laughed... oh.. new love... even shorts full of sand and a lung full of sea water is cause for celebration!

This is the latest in The Adventures of Captain Randy... if your not familiar with Randy's story might I suggest you check out his set on Flickr... Click here

Thanks to big Sis Anita for use of the lake and the pose... I just wish Candy was a little darker so I may have to reshoot this one...

Hampden Egg Farm

Hampden Egg Farm
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

I'm not one to do double takes over antique trucks.. but this one just blew me away... WOW!

Catastrophe narrowly averted...

So.. if you read along, you know that the Man-Jeff is off driving to Oklahoma with his girlfriend for a couple of weeks... They made it... but narrowly averted disaster just 30 miles outside their destination... They were SO very lucky... see..



Just 5 hours after I reminded them to be careful driving at night because of deer on the highway... they hit one! SCARY!!! Luckily, other than some body damage, a mis-aligned headlight, and a broken directional, the car seems to be running fine with no damage to the frame... *sigh... Their just lucky it didn't end up IN the car with them... As if I'm not nervous enough about him driving all that way.. now I've got extra worries about them driving back! That is it.. I AM LOCKING HIM IN THE CELLAR TILL HE'S 65! Go ahead.. call DSS on me... I dont' CARE!

Later...

OH.. their gone.. their ALL gone!

The world's newest weapon of Mass Destruction... the Weed Whacker... when placed in the hands of little brother it just wipes out everything in site... now granted.. most (ok all) of my flowers are surrounded by weeds... but geez... in one hour-long foray around my yard with a portable chain saw he managed to wipe out: my Mums... my newly planted and about to flower Ranunculus... and today I discovered that all my lovely Morning Glories that climb up the lattice work around the side porch are all just wilted severed vines... DAMN! Their gone.. their all gone! The guy is more dangerous than Saddam I tell you! Ed's weapon of Mass Destruction not only exists but he used it very well... OH... Their GONE! Bummer...

Mass Pike Fireworks

Mass Pike Fireworks
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

A little fun with long exposures.. Not too bad considering this was a 15 second hand held exposure!

This one is a little different than what I normally shoot... The new little camera does all kinds of cool 'in-camera' tricks that I'm just now starting to play with... I went without the ability to do long exposures for like 20 years.. my old film SLR had a shutter override that I could use to hold the shutter open for as long as I liked... the digitals I've owned had NO capabilities for this at all... this one will at least let me do a 15 second exposure..

Make your own

Make your own
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Crazy Daisy! or is that the Daisy making me crazy?

I probably should have put this together INSIDE the house... it's all in fun till the wind blows!

Geo Orange

Geo Orange
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Yeah... gettin' ALOT of work done today... my mind seems to have left the building for the 4th of July long weekend already...

Insanity Rules

Insanity Rules
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Crazy Daisies! Woohoo!

"non-photography day" - planned for 17 July

I came across this article today online... seems this woman Photographer wants to start a non-photography day, claiming that she wanted people to "put your camera down and appreciate the moment you are in".

"Experience life in an unmediated fashion, without anything in front of your eyes. Live in the moment," she added.

Yeah... like I'm gonna leave my camera home.. you know that's just asking for it... you'll be strolling along and out of the shadows will pop Big Foot, pointing at the giant UFO in the sky, which is perfectly placed in between double rainbows, as the sun peaks thru the perfectly placed storm clouds, perfectly illuminating not only Big Foot but the giant Panda behind him that's doing the hokey pokey with a 6 foot Canadian Goose! Pfftt... leave the camera home... what was she thinking? People are dumb.

Later...

Larry like fries

Larry like fries
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

with his Snack Wrap...

Yes.. I bring my camera and my toys with me to McDonald's... don't you? Luckily my new camera is much smaller than my old one (plus I'm down to one camera in the bag rather than 2) which.. WOOHOO... gives me much more room for toys.. toys... TOYS... I've learned my lesson.. we were at McD's last week and there was this absolutely perfect little old lady across the street, sweeping her driveway... and I mean SWEEPING.. no grain of sand went unnoticed by her... her outfit was a perfect combination of black & white and the huge mop of grey hair on the top of her head was arranged in an ode to Albert Einstein kind of way... she would have made an awesome portrait... and where was my camera? In the truck out in the parking lot... SHEESH... never again if I can help it...

Have a nice day!

Have a nice day!
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

OH so much fun with Photoshop!

Bee

Bee
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

me.

Meet Tilda...

Meet Tilda...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

The Funky Chicken...

OH.. but you flatter me!

I got the nicest compliment today... Big Sis called and congratulated me on my front page foray on Masslive (which is over now btw... news is so fleeting)thanks sis... I am pretty tickled about it... OH.. but that wasn't the compliment... as the conversation progressed Sister Dearest made the comment below:

"You know.. I clicked on the picture of the Masslive thingy in your blog and it took me to another website... Those weren't your pictures... They were beautiful..."

Now.. I believe the choking sound that issued from somewhere down in my very soul is still echoing on a cell tower somewhere between here central Mass... I didn't know what to say first...

YES.. those are MY pictures...
or..
HEY... are you saying those couldn't be MY pictures because THEY were beautiful...

SHEESH... Family... gotta love 'em... it's the law...

Now.. just so there aren't any OTHER oh so complimentary misunderstandings... when you click on my pictures here in the blog.. they take you to my picture hosting website on Flickr... Which you can also get to by clicking on any of the pics in the scrolling thing at the top... or by clicking here!

I am BayRoadPhoto on the Flickr site... Yes... you will see very many 'new' photo's that don't appear on the blog... I only select the best or the weirdest stuff to blog here...

Now... as we return to our regularly scheduled program (ok.. not so regularly lately, works been a bear!) Remember this...

Even tho you mess up and think the photo's aren't mine... I'm still thrilled that you think they are beautiful... probably even more so... at least I know you don't love them just because I took them... it really is a very nice compliment... and I'm NEVER GONNA LET YOU FORGET IT - YA JERK!!! :)

Later...

Pigeon Deterrent

Pigeon Deterrent
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Everyone is welcome here in the house of the Lord.. except YOU - you filthy pigeon!

Pull up a stool...

Pull up a stool...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

at the Miss Flo...

Front Page of Masslive.com

Front Page of Masslive.com
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Woohoo.. I got front page (in a rotation of several photo's) of Masslive.com - HAD to take a screenshot... Oh... the web is just so fleeting... front page today.. archives tomorrow...

The Quabbin

The Quabbin
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

A cloudy day and a color overlay... Possibly one of the best shots I've ever taken from the Enfield lookout... and I've taken tons.. hasn't everyone... but this one... I made a special trip up there because I knew the sky would be OH so dramatic... almost like a real photographer... planning my shots! Go figure!

The Colors are Rioting!

The Colors are Rioting!
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Pony on the Cob

Pony on the Cob
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Next to the pink frogs, Kathy's next favorite food is "pony on the cob"... Yum!

I hope they aren't posionous!

I hope they aren't posionous!
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Ok.. so a picture of Purina with some fresh Tiger Lilies might not have been the best idea!

Kayaking - Fall 2000

Kayaking - Fall 2000
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Digging thru some old pics - this was taken with my very first digital camera a 1.3 megapixel Olympus Camedia D-360L - really low-res compared to today, but I still love this pic! OH.. and so did a group of Dentists - it appears on their website.

I don't have the alzhiemers...

Well.. unless I have an advanced case of it... I found Purina wandering around my desk again this morning gnawing on a pen amidst the leftover litter of more cigarette butts... yup.. she escaped again and the same hatch was open... now I KNOW I closed it... and triple checked that it was closed... I think we're dealing with a design flaw here... the hatch on the pod has a pinch-type closure... where you pinch the plastic latch together to get the door open... seems those powerful jaws on the freakin' little rodent are strong enuf to pinch it together and then push up... I think I have a fix tho.. I took one of my plastic army men and jammed his foot into the latch so she shouldn't be able to escape again... but I suppose we'll see...

Later....

Everyones goin' somewhere...

Except for me that is...

Mr. 9 2 Bay has been in Nebraska for the last couple of days and heads home today...

The Man-Jeff is off to Oklahoma (or is it Kansas?) at the end of the month for 2 weeks to visit his girlfriends Mother...

Even Purina, the freakin' hamster, took herself a stroll around my desk last nite.

I found her this morning trying to chew her way back INTO her cage, she's quite the escape artist that one.. oh ok.. when your the only one home and the top hatch of the cage gets left open I don't suppose there's too many other things to blame on her escape... Luckily I have her trained (yeah right).. she see's me and immediately climbs into the hamster ball that's attached to the cage, I can then remove the ball, with her in it, and place it in my lightbox... she climbs out, gets a treat, and gets her picture taken... then the ball goes back in the lightbox, she climbs on board, and the ball gets put back on the cage.. it works beautifully... she gets a treat and a change of scenery and I get my pictures without risking a couple of missing digits... So when I found her smooshed up against the backside of her cage this morning trying to get back in, all I had to do was take her hamster ball, offer her the open end of it, and she climbed back in... Lovely!

Now I just have to clean up the mess she left on my desk... OH.. and maybe get her some nicotine gum... seems Purina has developed a taste for cigarette butts... Which begs the question, "Why do we always get the retarded pets?" Or... better yet... "Do we get normal pets and they just eventually become retarded after hanging out with us for awhile?" *sigh

Later...

Morning Aerobics

Morning Aerobics
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

The orange kitty never did like to do her crunches..

The Moon also sets...

The Moon also sets...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Taken at 4am June 14, 2006. Not too bad for my first attempt at long exposures with this camera and being half asleep to boot! My recent camera's haven't been capable of long exposures so this is really the first time I've done this since I was shooting a film slr back in the early 80's! I think I'm gonna have to do this more often!

I'll make my own playmate!

I'll make my own playmate!
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

aka "Me and my Shadow!"

Pick up the Sunday Paper...

Yup... got another photo that will be published this Sunday in the Springfield "Sunday Republican". Woohoo! It's this one:

Wet Rhodes:



Awesome stuff!

Later...

Self Portrait... DOH!

Self Portrait... DOH!
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Apparently if your old fat and slow the key is to use the 10 second delay on the self-timer!

Pork

Pork
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

It's what's for dinner.

Got any extra crap lying around?

Got any extra crap lying around?
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

He'll be right over to pump you out!

The first BLUE sky in WEEKS!

The first BLUE sky in WEEKS!
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Woohoo.. FINALLY... I haven't been able to go out and shoot for weeks now.. well I could.. but that crappy steel grey sky just does nothing for the pictures... I can only hope this lasts!

Fly Me to the Moon...

Fly Me to the Moon...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

I'm sure it's not raining there.. even this little fly seems to be sick of it.. I just about assaulted him with my lens and he didn't budge an inch!

You'll never hold me, Coppers!

You'll never hold me, Coppers!
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Purina does this at least once a day... from throughout the house you can hear her back there, gnawing on the wire parts of the cage... my only consolation is perhaps it'll dull down those little razor-like teeth of hers... I swear she's in there yelling "Gimme the Finger!!"...

Wanna get married?

Ok.. so admittedly I'm a bit bored these days... Did I happen to mention that I do weird things when I'm bored?? Ok.. how about this.. You wanna get married? No.. not to me.. I've been married for over 22 years already... but I can marry you.. you know.. to whoever you would like... That's right.. you can now refer to me as "REVEREND Laura"! Yup... I'm an official Minister of the Universal Life Church! Which means I can marry you, absolve you of your sins, and officiate at your funeral! (Preferably not all on the same day, thanks!) Cool huh? So.. who's up for being my first happily married nuptuated couple?? Just shoot me a note and I'll be there!

Later...

Thousands of Dollars...

Thousands of Dollars...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

towards a degree in Engineering for the kid... and this is what I get for my money... Yeah.. ok.. it's worth it!

Pigberry

Pigberry
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

more fun with new backgrounds

All-Natural Strawberry Milk

All-Natural Strawberry Milk
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

yummy!

I picked up all kinds of delicious new background papers this weekend so expect lots of color coordinated goodness around here!

Who knew turtles have whiskers?

Who knew turtles have whiskers?
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

You know.. most wives get flowers from their husbands... mine brings me a turtle! And I couldn't have been happier - not even with 4 dozen roses - diamonds... now that's another story!

Wet Rhodes

Wet Rhodes
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Playing about in photoshop - blew out the brightest purple and loved what was left!

Happy June..

Well.. at least I got a little bit of an update going on here.. It's really been bugging me that the top "Slide" doohickey was showing the same pics over and over... so I went in and took down a new code snippet so now the pics are up-to-date... I'm not sure if it will auto-update now (not that it was doing that before) but I'll try and remember to update the code if I see that they are getting way out of date again... I do still need to change up the "Maple Sugar" pic on the right - although I've yet to decide what I wanna put over there...

The Tip Jar (AHEM... to everyone except Sandra who has been more than generous!) is still there, but I removed that calendar thingy that was also giving me guilt about not keeping up to date so that's gone...

Trying to keep it fresh in here... and maybe one of these days I'll actually be able to get unchained from this stupid desk and have something worth blogging about... sheesh...

later...