A yellow-orange maple leaf, caught in a wire fence, is back-lit by autumn light. Upstate New York, In the vicinity of Town of Wallkill. Circa 1998.

Buy this photograph as a print or license for editorial and commercial use.

Today is the first day of Autumn. It’s  one of two days of the year when the amount of daylight and darkness are approximately equal (1). After today, darkness will occupy most  of our 24 hour day until after the first day of spring when daylight will once again fill the majority of our trip around our planets tilted axis.

Admittedly, I get a bit saddened at the thought of shortened days and longer nights but there are  other things that  happen during this time of year that  negate my depressing view. Because of our planets axial tilt and revolution around

Close  up of  the arm, hand and torch of the Statue Of Liberty as viewed from the underside. File Photo.

Click on the photograph of the underside detail of the arm, hand and torch of the Statue Of  Liberty to see more information and a larger version.

Earlier  this  month, the crown of  The Statue Of Liberty was re-opened to visitors after being closed  since  the 2001 attack on the  World Trade Center  [1] but the torch, which has  been closed since  an attack on the US during World War One will remain closed.

The event that closed public access to the right arm and torch of the  Statue of Liberty  is  mostly overlooked in history classes and at  the monument also. [2]

On July 30, 1916, an attack by German saboteurs blew up Europe-bound munitions at a Jersey City, N.J., dock.  The explosions were so strong that  they popped rivets in the raised arm of the monument across the New York Harbor. [2]

According to the librarian of  the  Statue  of Liberty National Monument, Barry Moreno,  “The Army immediately closed the torch down. With the war on in Europe and the sabotage of the Lehigh Valley Railroad munitions dock, the war seemed to be getting closer and closer. The Army was more interested in security.” [2]

Story Related Links:

[1] http://aphotographersblog.net/2009/07/02/statue-of-liberty-crown-to-reopen-to-visitors-on-july-4-2009/

[2] http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-5liberty.6939715jul04,0,1112955.story

A display of fireworks in daylight makes a vertical ascent outdoors in a backyard located in the suburb of Sewell, NJ.

Click on the photograph of Backyard Fireworks, Sewell NJ, July 2007.
to see more information and a larger version.

Background Information:

While attending a  party in the  NJ suburb of Sewell, NJ fireworks were bring ignited  in the backyard at around  5:00pm. The view of  the fireworks during  daytime, in an empty suburban backyard, struck me  as surreal. Although I did not think of this at  the time I created  the picture, as I look at the photograph now It reminds me of  the burning bush from the Biblical narrative.

Compositional Information:

I framed horizontally to include as much as the backyard as possible. I placed  the fireworks in the center, insuring their prominence , and set the shutter speed  at  1/30th second, the slowest shutter speed  I  could get away with while hand holding the camera. I  chose the slowest shutter speed that I could because I wanted  the backyard  to be sharp and  defined, but I wanted light trails that would be created by any fast moving sparks.

I spot metered off of  the edges of  the fireworks to include some of the  backyard area and the AV priority mode  of  the camera went to f-8. Considering that the scene was high contrast, metering off of the edges resulted in a compromise between the areas where  I wanted  to hold  detail.

Technical Information:

Subfile Type:Full-resolution Image

Image Width:3072

Image Height:2304

Bits Per Sample:8 8 8

Compression:Uncompressed

Photometric Interpretation:RGB

Image Description:7/22/2007-A display of fireworks makes a vertical ascent in a backyard located in the suburb of Sewell, NJ.

Make:SONY

Camera Model Name:DSC-V3

Strip Offsets:33958

Samples Per Pixel:3

Rows Per Strip:2304

Strip Byte Counts:21233664

X Resolution:300

Y Resolution:300

Planar Configuration:Chunky

Resolution Unit:inches

Software:Adobe Photoshop CS2 Macintosh

Modify Date:2009-06-25 17:15:34 GMT

Artist:Sam D’Amico

Copyright:(C) Sam D’Amico

Exposure Time:30

F Number:8.0

Exposure Program:Shutter speed priority AE

ISO:100

Exif Version:0221

Date/Time Original:2007-07-22 20:50:23 GMT

Create Date:2007-07-22 20:50:23 GMT

Shutter Speed Value:30

Aperture Value: 8.0

Max Aperture Value:2.8

Metering Mode:Spot

Light Source:Daylight

Flash:Off

Focal Length:7.0mm

File Source:Digital Camera

Scene Type:Directly photographed

Close up of the Staue of Liberty photographed from the side showing the book, crown and torch.

Click on the photograph of the Statue-Of-Liberty-Close-Up-Side-View to see more information and a larger version.

I know I’m a bit  late on this  story, but  at least I made it before the actual opening. Better late than never. From a press  release issued  by  the National Park Service on May 8, 2009

May 9, 2008. The National Aquarium. Inner Harbor area of Baltimore, Maryland. Animal Planet Australia: Wild Extremes! exhibit.

Click on the photograph of the Australian Freshwater  Crocodile to see more information and a larger version. Background Information:

What If I told you that I photographed this Australian Freshwater  Crocodile while I was in the Outback of Australia.

If I told you that I was in the Outback of Australia, I’d be  lying; I was at the National Aquarium located in the Inner Harbor area of Baltimore, Maryland.

Fortunately for me, since I’m as much a wildlife photographer as I am a neurosurgeon, we can get some interesting wildlife photographs at some not so wild places.

This Australian Freshwater  Crocodile was on display during the Animal Planet Australia: Wild Extremes! exhibit.

While researching this reptile I learned  that it is also called Johnston’s crocodile, Australian freshwater crocodile, “Freshie”, Fish crocodile, Johnston’s river crocodile and Crocodylus johnstoni. [1]

“The Australian freshwater crocodile is a relatively small crocodilian which rarely exceeds 2.5 to 3 m in the wild and takes many years (at least 30) to reach this size. Females general reach a maximum size of 2.0 to 2.1 metres. The shape of the snout is unusually narrow and tapering, lined with numerous sharp teeth (unlike the blunter teeth found in larger C. porosus). The body colour is light brown with darker bands on the body and tail – these tend to be broken up near the neck. Some individuals possess distinct bands or speckling on the snout. Body scales are relatively large, with wide, closely-knit armoured plates on the back. Rounded, pebbly scales cover the flanks and outsides of the legs.” [1]

Compositional Information:

The reflections of the reeds and crocodile were almost mirror like in the still water of the display.

Shooting in manual mode I spot metered off of a brighter area of the crocodile  and overexposed by approximately two stops.

Composing horizontally I wanted to split the frame (horizontally) down the middle with the reflecting line of  the crocodile and reeds. I think  I succeeded  with the reeds, not so much with the crocodile.

My exposure was f-4 at 1/30. I pressed the lens against the glass of the display to steady the camera and remove any possible reflections from the glass itself.

I assumed  that the light in the display was approximately 5200 K to simulate sunlight so I set my white balance to cloudy to warm the photograph.

In Lightroom, since I capture using Raw files, I reset whit balance to cloudy and saved as a tif file in Photoshop.

December 19, 2008. 1400 block of Girard Street NW. An apartment building in the Columbia Heights section of Washington DC viewed through a rain covered window.

Click on the photograph for more image information.

My decision to post the above photograph was  prompted by  the weather this morning. While working one day  I looked out the window and decided to photograph what I saw  as a gloomy day. Using my perception of “gloomy” to drive 

Kutztown Folk Festival. Hex Sign And Pedestrian At The Midway. (Click on the photograph to see more images from the Kutztown Folk Festival)

WILKUM !

The 2009 Kutztown Folk Festival (1) marks the event’s 60th year anniversary (2).

The primarily agricultural festival celebrates Pennsylvania Dutch Culture and runs this year from June 27 – July 5, 9am – 6pm.

If  you would like to, learn more  about this festival and see more  pictures, please click on the photograph above.

Related Links:

(1) http://www.kutztownfestival.com/

(2) http://www.kutztownfestival.com/blogfest/?p=10

Related Photography  Classes and  Workshops:

• Effective Color Photography
• Elements Of Photographic Composition
• Intermediate Photography
• Introduction To Photography-Starts Monthly
• Metering And Exposure
• Personal Photographic Expression
• Photographing People
• Photojournalism
• Using Exposure Creatively

]]> http://samdamico.com/rights-managed-stock-photography/kutztown-folk-festival-celebrates-60th-year/feed/ 0 http://samdamico.com/rights-managed-stock-photography/about-the-photograph-a-nightmare-in-gardiner/ http://samdamico.com/rights-managed-stock-photography/about-the-photograph-a-nightmare-in-gardiner/#comments Wed, 18 Feb 2009 21:52:34 +0000 samdamico http://aphotographersblog.net/?p=652

   August 1, 2007. Elk heads on the walls of a motel in Gardiner, Montana.  

During  a conversation about  composition in a  recent Introduction To Photography Workshop, a  participant mentioned that she saw  this photograph on my website  and she found  it frightening.  As I  mentioned  during our class, I was happy to learn that she “connected” with the  emotional reaction that I felt when