Virginia Breeze

Yesterday Beth and I were on the beach when i said something about “walking forever until we lose all the weight”. And so we walked for about two hours and today my back is killing me. I can’t stand up straight. Beth is fine thanks for asking she says.

So today I decided to walk on the boardwalk because when you walk on the beach it is often like walking on the side of a hill. And you spine and pelvis don’t understand the joy of walking near the water when one foot is constantly having to go further to keep you upright.

Beth started out on her favorite path along the beach and I decided to walk the boardwalk and take photos of colorful umbrellas. Eventually I ended up under the pier where there is shade on 13th Street. And so I called Beth to see where she if she maybe would come along at some point.

But she was already down by 27th Street (we started out on 3rd Street). And she said she planned to turn around at some point and head back (good news) so I decided to wait for her under the pier.

So I was minding my own business taking photos of the pier when these two European beauties descended upon me and asked If I would take their photos. Well of course I would! My wife was at least ten blocks away. And there were a couple of homeless guys parked further back towards the pier under the restaurant. I was sure they wanted me to do it!

So I took their photos with their camera and then as part of the deal I took their photos with my camera. And suddenly a whole new world of photography opened up before my near sighted eyes.

Eventually Beth showed up and we walked down the beach together to our chairs on 3rd Street. And I decided to just take photos! Of people! Half naked people!

Primarily I was looking for colors. Sharp and vibrant beach colors. That was the theme of the day. I tried to be considerate of people and be unobtrusive at the same time. And I wasn’t looking for great looking bods either. A few of them might have gotten in the way but that’s the way it goes.

Colors. Art. Photography. Here it is.

[Show as slideshow]

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It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter because you can invent things. But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the extraordinary

David Bailey

English Photographer

I don’t know how true this quotation really is but it is a nice thought anyway. Taking photos is a wonderful way to spend free time for sure. And then many of us are fortunate enough to be able to share whatever we have done with others on the internet.

Very nice. My blog says that this is my 1000th post. That’s not really a real number because of various factors. Reading stats about blogging is a lot like reading tea leaves.

So I would just acknowledge it in passing. Also we have experienced 100,000 views and just ran by the one year of blogging mark a few days ago. So all of those things are out of the way now and we can get back to taking and editing photos, writing and listening to music.

I used to worry about not having enough to do after arriving in senior citizen land. What a joke! I have never been this busy between all of the stuff noted above and other activities with family and friends. My brain is like an old lawn mower engine that you have to kick to start. But at least it’s not sitting in the shed gathering dust and rotting away.

Getting older can be fun. And I just managed to get one of the major themes of this blog in the “1000th post”. Maybe you can teach an old dog some new tricks. . .

Dylan Thomas

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This past weekend we were at Virginia Beach and I psyched myself up for going out after dark and taking some photos on the boardwalk. This is something I had not done before and I was nervous about it. I was especially nervous about taking photos of people who were walking around.

So I attached the camera to the tripod and we went strolling down the boardwalk with the tripod slung over my shoulder like a shovel.

We reached the pier without any problem and I started taking photos of the amusement park and the stores on the pier. None of them turned out very good except perhaps for one that I will post here. Perhaps my general nervousness interfered with my ability to focus on good subjects.

But I also have problems finding the correct camera settings at night. Still it’s better to go out and try to do something. Live and learn. Or die by the sword. Whichever seems applicable.

Later we went back home and Beth pointed out to me a gorgeous moon out on the balcony. It was truly a beautiful sight. And I must have taken two hundred photos of it.

None of them came out well. None of them begin to give you a picture of how lovely the moon and the clouds around it were on last Saturday night in Virginia Beach.

Here is one of those photos. Such a disappointment.

First the good. Now the bad.

Here is another photo that can be visually enhanced with the lightbox effect. But this is not my main concern here. For some reason I have become interested in the clouds from last weekend’s graduation ceremony. We had massive clouds and massive amounts of people together. And this is a new subject for me. I find it interesting as a subject for a photo. BUT i am having trouble with the light balance between the people and the clouds! Also I want to describe the clouds in much greater detail.

The overall effect should be of the predominance of nature even in a ceremony of this sort when we are outdoors and up in the mountains of Virginia.

I have been reading a very interesting blog called My Camera World recently. He writes about these sorts of subjects and many others of interest to those of us who enjoy photography.

Hopefully I can work this out. It’s not a difficult problem. But I have been trying to work with code and lightboxes. Now we are going to another area of interest. Here are two reasons why I enjoy this sort of thing.

Blogging is always challenging.

And it encourages us to grow in different ways.