Isolation Photo Project, Day 43

The weather was excellent today. I had a bright sunny sky, and the air was not too cold and not too warm. I made my plan to get into Princeton with my camera. The Princeton University campus is closed so I thought "why not spend some time exploring the outside of Prospect House". The likelihood of being close to any people is minimal. I have visited Prospect House many time,s but it was always while walking through from one end of the campus to the other. I had never spent any time studying the building.

Around 11 AM, I grabbed my camera, my wallet and of course, the latest fashion accessory, a cloth mask, and I headed downtown. I parked on Nassau Street along the south side near the Firestone Library. I hopped out of the car and walked toward East Pyne Hall. I loved the way the magnolia tree looked with its fresh green leaves. I pulled my Fuji X-T2 to my face, turn on the camera and saw the dreaded "dead battery" symbol. 19+ years of digital photography and I still make this rookie mistake.

Fortunately, I had my iPhone 11 Pro. I made the best of it. I spend the next 45 minutes photographing East Pyne Hall. While walking around, I noticed a woman doing yoga atop one of the art pieces in the yard. She noticed that I had snapped a photo and politely asked for a copy. I spent fifteen trying to airdrop the photos to Loraine's, that's her name, iPhone but I think eight feet is too far for the feature to work. I emailed it to her. Lorraine is a personal trainer and yoga instructor.

Today is our wedding anniversary. 24 years. Our daughter offered to make us a cake. But Bhavna is fasting because the right number of days have passed since her father died last month. Under normal circumstances, we would have gone out somewhere nice for dinner. But not today. Today felt like just another day.

Monday 4 May, 2020 | Day 43 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro back camera 6mm f/2 | f/2.0 | ISO 20
Monday 4 May, 2020 | Day 43 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro back camera 6mm f/2 | f/2.0 | ISO 20
Monday 4 May, 2020 | Day 43 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro back camera 6mm f/2 | f/2.0 | ISO 20
Monday 4 May, 2020 | Day 43 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro back camera 4.25mm f/1.8 | f/1.8 | ISO 32
Monday 4 May, 2020 | Day 43 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro back camera 1.54mm f/2.4 | f/2.4 | ISO 40
Monday 4 May, 2020 | Day 43 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro back camera 1.54mm f/2.4 | f/2.4 | ISO 50
Monday 4 May, 2020 | Day 43 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro back camera 1.54mm f/2.4 | f/2.4 | ISO 20
Monday 4 May, 2020 | Day 43 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro back camera 6mm f/2 | f/2.0 | ISO 20
Monday 4 May, 2020 | Day 43 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro back camera 6mm f/2 | f/2.0 | ISO 20
Monday 4 May, 2020 | Day 43 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro back camera 6mm f/2 | f/2.0 | ISO 25
Monday 4 May, 2020 | Day 43 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro back camera 6mm f/2 | f/2.0 | ISO 25
Monday 4 May, 2020 | Day 43 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro back camera 6mm f/2 | f/2.0 | ISO 20
Monday 4 May, 2020 | Day 43 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro back camera 6mm f/2 | f/2.0 | ISO 25
Monday 4 May, 2020 | Day 43 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro back camera 6mm f/2 | f/2.0 | ISO 25
Monday 4 May, 2020 | Day 43 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro back camera 6mm f/2 | f/2.0 | ISO 20
Monday 4 May, 2020 | Day 43 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro back camera 6mm f/2 | f/2.0 | ISO 20
Monday 4 May, 2020 | Day 43 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro back camera 6mm f/2 | f/2.0 | ISO 20
Monday 4 May, 2020 | Day 43 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro back camera 4.25mm f/1.8 | f/1.8 | ISO 32
Monday 4 May, 2020 | Day 43 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro back camera 4.25mm f/1.8 | f/1.8 | ISO 32
Monday 4 May, 2020 | Day 43 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro back camera 6mm f/2 | f/2.0 | ISO 25
Monday 4 May, 2020 | Day 43 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro back camera 6mm f/2 | f/2.0 | ISO 20
Monday 4 May, 2020 | Day 43 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro back camera 6mm f/2 | f/2.0 | ISO 20
Monday 4 May, 2020 | Day 43 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro back camera 4.25mm f/1.8 | f/1.8 | ISO 32
Monday 4 May, 2020 | Day 43 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro back camera 6mm f/2 | f/2.0 | ISO 20
Submitted as part of the 100DaysToOffload project.

Changing Seasons March 2017

The Changing Seasons Monthly Photo Challenge is a blogging challenge by Cardinal Guzman. Each month I will post a photo that I think represents the month.

For this month's Changing Seasons Monthly Photo Challenge I wanted to try something different. In the last two posts for the challenge, I did not set a focus. I would take photos during the month, of various random subjects and usually on the weekend. The result was that at the end of the month, I did not have a coherent set of images to represent the month. I want to try something different. Starting with March, I intend to add a weekly entry of events that transpired over the week. I may or may not have a photograph to include for that week. However, I hope that I can capture my feelings about the month as it unfolds. I don't want to get to the end of the month and try to recall what my thoughts and feeling were weeks prior. I also intend to focus on a specific subject.

I think for a challenge entitled, Changing Seasons Monthly Photo Challenge, I really should be shooting a series of images. I want to show a change. There is a stream nearby, the Rock Brook, which I have photographed a few times in the past during different times of the year. I think it will be interesting to observe how the Rock Brook and the surrounding landscape, changes throughout the year. However, I also started a personal photography project for 2017. I am photographing some of the lighthouses of New Jersey. I may use imaged from that project for the Changing Seasons Monthly Photo Challenge.

March 4th

brook, water, trees, winter, rocks

I have lived in Skillman, Montgomery Township for almost sixteen years. That's the longest I have lived in any one place and almost as long as the amount of time I lived in the British West Indies. I love my township. There are many parks and streams and the rolling hills remind of the rolling hills of St. Vincent1. One of my favourite spots in the section of the Rock Brook, along Hollow Road, just north of Camp Meeting. There is a small patch of dirt on the northbound side of the road just large enough to park a vehicle.

Rock Brook,brook, water, trees, winter, rocks[exif id="25391"]

The Rock Brook is just below, after walking a short distance through the trees. As the name suggests, this brook is mostly filled with rock. This section of Montgomery Township, a small area at the foot of the Sourland Mountain Range, is unique in geology, history. The Rock Brook is prone to flooding and heavy stormwater flow and is part of lands preserved by the Montgomery Friends of Open Space.

brook, water, trees, winter, rocks

I visited the Rock Brook today. It was cold outside, about -4ºC (~ 25ºF), and windy. I wore several layers and my photography gloves, but I still felt cold.

March 11th

It snowed yesterday. I am not sure for how long or how much snow. The office building where I work had very few windows and my office is located near an interior wall. I didn't see the effect of the snowstorm until the end of the day. I would guess that the area had about three inches of snow on the ground. The parking lot had no snow, but the cars were all covered with powder.

brook, water, trees, winter, rocks

Saturday morning, after breakfast, I decided to revisit Rock Brook. Looking outside my window, I could see that the grass was still covered with snow and I hoped that I might get some unique images of the brook. I drove over to the spot on Hollow Road and parked just above the Rock Brook.

As I grabbed my camera, I looked down through the leafless trees to the water. There was just enough snow on the rocks, and some parts of the brook were frozen over. The sun poked through the tree line providing both shadow and light across the water. I walked through the trees, mentally planning my shots. The frozen snow crunched under my boots. It was cold, and there was a slight breeze.

brook, water, trees, winter, rocks

I did my best to capture and frame the images from the same spot as the previous week. However, it was hard for me to remember the exact places and the snow cover made it even more challenging. You can see that the framing was not quite the same.

I tried to move quickly; setting up my tripod, getting the exposure readings from the camera, calculating the shutter speed for the ND filter, attaching the ND filter, and shooting three images.

It was about -6ºC outside. I wore three layers of clothing, and although my feet were comfortable, operating the camera meant exposing the area of the glove covering my thumb and pointer finger. I tried to minimise the exposure to the cold and stayed out as long as my fingers could handle things. That was about thirty minutes.

brook, water, snow, ice, trees, winter, rocks

I liked all the images I captured, so here's the gallery.

Rock Brook, brook, water, snow, ice, trees, winter, rocks[exif id="25405"]

Rock Brook, brook, water, snow, ice, trees, winter, rocks[exif id="25407"]

March 19th

I didn't go to the Rock Brook today. This weekend I completed a group photography workshop where I was challenged by being forced into a photographic box -- time limits and focal length limits. By the end of the workshop, my approach to photography was transformed. While walking around completing the challenges that our instructor had assigned the group, I started thinking about my approach to the Changing Seasons Challenge.

Firestone Library, Princeton University
[exif id="26283"]

What if I didn’t return to the Rock Brook? What if I slowed down, spent some time thinking about I wanted to say with my images, and focused on the story I wanted to tell about March?

Besides the Tuesday Photo Challenge, I am participating in a monthly photo challenge called Changing Seasons. It was almost the end of March, and I wanted to capture some photos that portrayed Princeton University in March. There are a few iconic — aka, heavily photographed — images of the university. The Firestone Library is one of them. So is East Pyne, Nassau Hall, and the Princeton University Chapel.

Why black and white? It was a sunny day, but I wanted to convey a sense of "historic". Honestly, I don’t think I accomplished telling the story about Princeton University. Something is lacking. What do you think?

Holder Hall, Princeton University. I posted a dramatic version of this image in an earlier post.
[exif id="26281"]

  1. There are significant differences. St. Vincent's mountainous area is the ridge of a dormant volcano, La Soufriere, and the vegetation is tropical. ?

The Changing Seasons Monthly Photo Challenge is a blogging challenge by Cardinal Guzman. Each month I will post at least one photography that I think represents the month. Sometimes I’ll post a set of images.

Arcanum Level 5 Preparation

I captured 40 images, of which only 14 were presentable (from my perspective). For the Level 5 assignment, I submitted the ten to the Arcanum Cohort to review. I captured elements of the Kingston Village Historic District, Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park, and the middle section of Princeton University.

I was sick of complaining about the shitty weather. I may hate winter with the core of my very being, but as my wife said yesterday, "It is what it is." To level up in the Arcanum, I needed ten new images.

So I cleared out my driveway and headed off "somewhere." I planned to visit every place I usually visit in the spring and summer and see what it looked like in the winter. It sucked. I don't often do black and white. I don't think in black and white. I love the colour — lots of it.

I spent two and a half hours walking around my "neighbourhood." These locations are all near my home. It takes about 10 minutes to drive from one place to the other. Tripod, Nikon D5100, and Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens. I had my iPhone streaming Spotify music to my Harmon Kardon Bluetooth headset. Trance music helps my creative process. Check out Armin Van Buren and Paul Oakenfold.

I captured 40 images, of which only 14 were presentable (from my perspective). For the Level 5 assignment, I submitted the ten to the Arcanum Cohort to review. I captured elements of the Kingston Village Historic District, Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park, and the middle section of Princeton University.

The Mill was built in the 1800s. After combining the images in Photomatix, I cropped the result and added a perspective correction. I then pulled the image into Nik's Viveza and adjusted the saturation on the red parts of the house.

The Kingston Millhose | Saturday 24 January, 2015 | Nikon D5100 | 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 | f/8.0 | ISO 100

The Millstone River between Kingston and Rocky Hill along River Road divides the KKingston Village Historic District in Princeton Township (Mercer County) from the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park and Historic District.Kingston Greenways

Saturday 24 January, 2015 | Nikon D5100 | 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 | f/8.0 | ISO 100

With white and grey everywhere, why not leverage it? Three images HDR (Photomatix). I pulled the HDR into Nik's Silver EFX Pro and applied one of the presets for the final result.

Footbridge over Delaware and Raritan Canal | Saturday 24 January, 2015 | Nikon D5100 | 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 | f/8.0 | ISO 100
Footbridge over Delaware and Raritan Canal | Saturday 24 January, 2015 | Nikon D5100 | 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 | f/8.0 | ISO 100

I drove from Plainsboro back through Kingston and down to Faculty Road near Princeton University. I had not walked this trail before, and I thought perhaps I would find something interesting. I was disappointed. I'm sure it's a beautiful spring, summer, and fall trail. Single image pulled into Nik's Color EFX Pro.

The Leaf | Saturday 24 January, 2015 | Nikon D5100 | 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 | f/8.0 | ISO 100

I drove from Faculty Road and parked on William St. on the northwestern end of the Princeton University campus. Why not get some architectural images? I have lived in the area for fourteen years. Nothing changes. Even the new buildings are built to match the architecture and feel of the old buildings. Unless you see it being made, it's hard to tell what is new and what is old. This is a three-image HDR (Photomatix). I pulled the result into Nik's Silver EFX Pro and adjusted the perspective in Adobe Lightroom.

Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs | Saturday 24 January, 2015 | Nikon D5100 | 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 | f/8.0 | ISO 100

The image HDR, treated in Nik's Silver EFX Pro, then cropped to focus on the door itself. Many of the older Princeton University campus buildings have these doors, seemingly placed randomly on the perimeter. I have no idea where they lead.

Door along Streicker Walk | Saturday 24 January, 2015 | Nikon D5100 | 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 | f/8.0 | ISO 100

I walked up Streicker Walk to McCosh Walk toward McCosh Hall. Three images HDR, Silver EFX Pro, cropping.? There was a metal post near the doorway just as you entered the arch. I spent some time with Photoshop's content aware-fill and clone stamp tool to remove the post. I think I did a decent job there.

Archway at McCosh Hall at the end of McCosh Walk | Saturday 24 January, 2015 | Nikon D5100 | 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 | f/8.0 | ISO 100

Three images HDR (Photomatix) pulled into Nik's Silver EFX Pro. Lot of cropping and straightening. This is an image taken from inside the courtyard of East Pyne Hall facing toward the church.

Three image HDR (Photomatix) pulled into Nik's Silver EFX Pro. Lots of cropping and straigtening.8BIM

It took me over two hours to complete my "walk" about. I returned to Washington Road and stopped for a "quick" photo. I photographed this door in the summer. The stone is usually covered with ivy.

Door on the side of the Firestone Library | Saturday 24 January, 2015 | Nikon D5100 | 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 | f/5.3 | ISO 100