Photos of the week – February 24

The February 24th installment of Photos of the Week is only a few weeks late. Things have been staying busy here with not only my ‘day job’ but also home renovations and, perhaps most excitedly, my photography and design business! Tomorrow I will walking around downtown Rochester taking pictures of the St. Patrick’s Day parade and associated festivities. This is the first time in three years that I’ll be here as the last two years I was in Washington, D.C. and Savannah, GA. I’m excited enough that I even designed a business card just for the occasion. If you take part wherever you are, be safe and don’t overdo it (too much).

32/365 – Tomasz
February 24th. Exactly two months since two West Webster firefighters were murdered and two others were shot when they responded to a vehicle and house fire on Christmas Eve morning. This is a photo of the sticker on my firehouse locker honoring FF Tomasz Kaczowka, who was just 19 years old.

33/365 – Cappy 757
A Boeing 757 flown by Capital Cargo International Airlines takes off from ROC on February 25th. This shot was tough to capture given how dark it was but thanks to a great camera (and a timely flash by a nav light) you can see the plane amidst a slight panning effect.

34/365 – Helmet
More experimentation with the in-camera HDR. I have to admit I think it creates a great effect on some photos but its use by everyone with a camera lately turns me off a bit. In order to expand my horizons as a photographer though, I have been ‘cheating’ and playing around with the in-camera settings just to see what I end up with.

35/365 – The Deuce
A 30-second exposure of Rescue 2, a 2009 E-One Typhoon fire engine in service with the Greater Rochester International Airport Fire Department.

36/365 – Feeding Time
I had lunch with my brother on day 36 and since I was in the area, I thought I would check out the old Russell Station Power Plant and adjacent Slater Creek Fishing Access site to try to get my picture of the day. While I did get several of the plant that I felt were upload worthy, this picture of a swan searching for a snack while a bunch of Canada Geese pecked at the grass in the background was the ‘winner’.

37/365 – Flashing
Playing around with my new flash unit. Having never used an adjustable hot shoe flash before, I wanted to see how it would bounce off the side of a fire truck and reflect on bunker gear (anyone who has shot a fire scene before knows how difficult using flash can be with all the reflective material around). These photos were taken with the light in four different positions (L to R – straight on diffused, upper left, lower middle, and lower right) and you can see the different effect each position has. Not a bad introduction for me, now the sky is the limit! I also added the ‘wood’ frame in Photoshop.

38/365 – PFFFT!
Every once in a while when you’re sorting photos, you realize you’ve captured a moment in the heat of the action that you could not have planned. Every photographer possesses this skill (pure unadulterated luck!). I was simply taking some pictures of the girls playing on the patio and managed to catch Pepper taunting Bella a bit. Many of the photos my sweet puppies look absolutely vicious in, but this is too cute to not choose as my photo for day #38. This was a difficult day to properly expose two black dogs as the sun was shining harshly onto a  fresh coating of snow through a thin layer of clouds. Many of the shots were either over or underexposed a touch and required a bit more editing than I typically like to do. (Note: If you don’t see the awesomeness of this shot, look for a tongue)