Simply Saradise: April 2009

Old Town Alexandria

Had a fantastic evening walking around town and grabbing a bite to eat in Old Town Alexandria with my husband this evening.

Obviously, I had my camera and took a few shots!

11 things you MUST do in Boston!!

All of these are just my opinion, of course... There are plenty of experts - but these are just based on my own experience!

Take in a game at Fenway Park. It was a perception altering experience... Almost spiritual :-)
Faneuil Hall Market Place
Cheers (the original ... but for the history, not the food!)
Boston Aquarium. Turtles and fish and sharks - oh my!
Freedom Trail
Boston Photowalk. Lots of history and great shots.
Kingfish Hall. My new favorite restaurant of all time.
You MUST order the New England Lobster Boil. (Appetizers - the calamari was excellent. Dessert - the chocolate tort was mind-blowing.) Be prepared to spend the big bucks, but it is absolutely phenomenal.
Tour Sam Adams Brewery. But call ahead! When we got there, it was a 3 hour wait. So we toured the reception area instead.
Boston Common - it's beautiful
Good Bar. A fantastic local bar - it kind of became OUR own personal Cheers.
183 State Street
Blue Man Group. Hilarious and great show :-)

just another day at the beach...

reflections

nope, no deep post or anything... just, literally, some reflections :-)

My husband and I got up early on Saturday (4/4/09) and took the metro into DC. It was a gorgeous, but freezing (due to wind) day. The cherry blossoms had already been in bloom for about a week, so they weren't as magnificent as they could have been - but they were still very beautiful!

my non-trip to DC

My sister, Kelsey, and I had a fantastic day planned out... We were going to buy a new digital camera for her (check), charge the battery (check), and head down to DC to enjoy and photograph the cherry blossoms (scratch).

We got to the metro but were pressed for time because she and my mom were leaving later on a four-day trip out of town. We quickly found out there were major delays and the train was incredibly late... We ran out of time. Bummed out, we left - but not before Kelsey noticed this beautiful tree, at the metro station. So, it wasn't a total waste of photographic opportunity!

And, as for the cherry blossoms - there is always tomorrow!

playing with paint.net

Some of these are the same photographs that I featured in my last post. All of them are from my walk around Lake Royal, but this batch I played around with paint.net! All I did was invert the colors to their opposites - and came up with these fun results!

This is a photograph of a Bleeding Heart flower. Originally bright pink!

Trees reflected in the lake

More trees reflected in the lake...

A blue heron ...

aaaaaaand - MORE trees reflected in the water!

Abstracts and Still Lifes Workshop

And speaking of inspiration - I just signed up to attend the Washington Photo Safari about abstracts and still lifes! I'm pretty excited, and now I have to wait a month....

Anyway. Here's the description of what I signed up for:

See that wrinkled red leaf on the sidewalk? It's a picture. See the cross-hatched shadows on the wall made by the fire escape railing? It's a picture. See the abstract reflections in that yellow motorcycle's gas tank? It's a picture. If you want to develop your eye for the weird and unusual close-up, come join us in the colorful Adams-Morgan entertainment neighborhood for a walking Safari that will sharpen your eyes for pictures you never knew were there!
Our co-instructor is creative amateur photographer and frequent Safarian Dennis Ettlin who will demonstrate his clever techniques for close-in photography.

So we'll see how it goes!