Fotos

I am going to change my "Friday Fotos" posts to just Fotos.  I don't want to be rushed or constricted to publishing on Fridays (and I have had trouble getting photos out on Friday the last couple of weeks).  So, here on Sunday I am posting Fotos.

Before I get to fotos that I took yesterday, I would like to share a web page with photos from World War II.  My cousin Bob sent me a link to a story about one of the most famous and somewhat controversial photos of all time, the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima.  This web page starts with an article about the photographer Joe Rosenthal, the controversy, and then the photos of the flag raising, other Iwo Jima photos, and other WWII photos.  Here is the link to these photos: Joe Rosenthal and Iwo Jima.  After the photos by and about Joe Rosenthal are two links to more WWII photos:  Photos from World War II: The Anniversary of D-Day on the Normandy Beaches, and Photos from World War II: The Pacific and Adjacent Theaters.  Allow yourself plenty of time to view the photos on these sites.  The WWII photos from the Pacific Theater of Operations have special significance to me as my father participated in several of the battles that occurred there.  Thanks Bob for the link!

I don't know if I should be putting my photos on the same post as above, but some of you may be skipping the WWII photos or skipping my photos.  Yesterday, I joined several people from the Plymouth Digital Photographers club to take pictures of Two Bridges Sunrise on the Canal.  Twice a year, spring and fall, the sun rises at such an angle that it appears beneath the Bourne Bridge and the Railroad Bridge on the Cape Cod Canal.  So, hardy souls willing to be at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy at about 5:45 AM get an opportunity to capture dramatic pictures.  That is the theory anyway.  Yesterday's weather did not cooperate, as shortly after my arrival it started misting and then it began to drizzle.   I did not get any pictures of the sun rising beneath the bridges, but I did get a couple of good pictures after which I went to downtown Plymouth and took a few more.  Here are the better fotos.

5:15 AM - Bourne Bridge is barely discernible below RR Bridge

5:30 AM - A little brighter I like the light reflecting off the canal

5:40 AM - Last photo before the mist and drizzle moved in

Mass Maritime Academy building

 5:50 AM - Where is the sun?

I was up and about before the birds at Jenny Mill Pond (near downtown Plymouth)

Jenny Mill

Town Brook

Weather fit for a duck

Friday Fotos - Plymouth Center, Scusset Beach, and Cape Cod Canal

I had an appointment in downtown Plymouth on Tuesday morning.  The weather was sunny and warm for a day in January, so I brought my camera along.  I thought I wouldn't be out for long, but I was enjoying myself so much that I kept extending day.  I started shooting some pictures down by the fishing pier, moved on to the Jenney Grist Mill, wound my way down the shore road to Scusset Beach, and ended my 3 hour photo journey at the northern end of the Cape Cod Canal.  Here are some of the pictures that I took.

Foul weather must have driven this boat to the roof of a building on the fishing pier

Plymouth received a dusting of snow overnight

Capt. John's fleet settled in for the winter

There were two swans sleeping in this morning on the pond at Jenney Grist Mill

Comfy or cold?  I like the reflections of the swans and trees in the water

Bridge over the pond

Cape Cod Canal Harbor Patrol

Objects on the beach

Nobody swimming today

A Coast Guard helicopter was practicing maneuvers over the canal, you can barely see it in the picture, but the water below is reeling from the down draft of the rotors

Warning horn, you don't want to be near it when it blasts

Coast Guard saw me taking pictures and decided to fly right overhead to give me a nice photo op, thanks you to the unknown pilot

Support beams for the Sagamore Bridge, reminds me a bit of the Statue of Liberty's crown

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sagamore Bridge from an unusual angle

Sitting in the parking lot next to the canal, I couldn't help but notice all the windmills that have gone up in recent years.  There are two new windmills visible right across the Sagamore Bridge and then two more down by the Bourne Bridge.  (Four more have gone up in Kingston next to Route 3 seemingly overnight.)  Looking east across the canal, it was interesting to notice the old-style wooden windmill of the Christmas Tree Shop with two new modern windmills about 1 mile away.  The sun was right over the windmills, so I could not get a good picture of the old and new.  Guess I will have to return another day.

Do You See 3 or More? Friday Fotos

As you know, I joined the Plymouth Digital Photographers (PDP) club last winter. While there are many group "Meetups", the club also puts out monthly challenges that you can do on your own.  One of the December challenges was "3 or more."  Here is the PDP description of the challenge and 3 photos (not more) that I published on the PDP website.

"This month's challenge: 3 or More. A good way to learn in photography is to give yourself assignments. This month you are challenged to take an image that has 3 or more of something. You are limited only by your imagination! Try a repeating theme from different perspectives. Pay attention to your backgrounds. Look for ordinary subjects in extraordinary light- there's beauty to be found around us every day. This is a great exercise to train your photographic eye to really observe the world around you. Take any approach that you like with this challenge, and post processing is fine. Look around with this in mind and see what groupings, patterns or repetitions you can find. Be imaginative and creative, look at everyday subjects with new eyes. You may use photos already in your archives."

These are the three photos I submitted.  Two are old photos and the last was taken for this assignment. I like my first photo, the second is so-so, but I really like the third photo.  I took several photos of this grass from many angles on a very windy day.  I like this one the best as the grass is crisp, the mill is visible in the background, and the color of the dried grass is very similar to the color of the mill in the background.  I don't know if this type of grass was intentionally planted here, but it reminds me of wheat sheaves which is appropriate for a mill.  There is a lamp pole between the grass and the mill.  I tried several times to find a good photo angle where the pole wasn't in the picture.  I still liked the results from this angle best.  I could have used software to remove the pole, but because it is in the background, I let it stay.

Rainy Day on Block Island (June 2007)

Fruit of Our Labor - 3 and More (September 2006)

Jenney Grist Mill (December 2011)