Worcester Photography Center - Recently Updated Pages

Cook's Canyon

DonRicklin — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 10:57:18 CDT

A very nice small Mass Audubon place to visit, walk trails and take pictures. It is a quarter mile down South Street on the left from Barre center, Route 122 and 62. There is one nice wide grassy path that takes you down to the main attraction, the Gallaway Brook, a Reed filled pond and an old dam falls that tops a Cascade down Cook's Canyon.

There is also a second return path that is more woodsy (the Wildwood Trail) and a short side trail to the Main Trail that runs along a picturesque stretch of the Gallaway Brook with oxbow bends and old stone walls.

The Canyon itself is rather inaccessible. It is only viewable from one side and above. Warning, this is a dangerous drop off that is not protected as with someother such places.

A few images (photos by Don Ricklin)

More images at Cook's Canyon.
Enjoy

Barre

DonRicklin — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 10:42:18 CDT

Cook's Canyon, Mass Audubon

Massachusetts

DonRicklin — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 10:39:45 CDT

So many places - how do you choose?

As new members make more visits to our site, we hope they can provide insights to interesting places throughout the state. Information can get posted up here in this large space, or below as a new thread. And, to keep things interesting, we may want to organize things by making a set of sub-pages for each of the towns or areas of interest. Wiki not?

So, if you are inspired to add information about your town or some special place you know, click on the "Add page" link on the left. Follow the instructions. Don't worry. If you make a mistake, someone else will fix it. That's the Wiki way.

Barre
Worcester County
Newbury Port, Plum Island, Salisbury Beach
Princeton
Moore State Park
Rockport
Spencer
Paxton
Framingham
Cambridge
Jamaica Plain
Shelburne Falls
East Boston, Noodles Island
Down Town Boston.

Yes, so much to choose from!

More to come!

Photo Critiques/Comments

ALANKIDAWSKI — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:43:42 CDT

Raining during a snow storm

I was seeing with my eye and I saw this eye. Lend your eye and see
you can see what I saw.

Boston View
Does any on know where this is taken? Answer Boston Aquarium.

Web Thoughts Photography by Alan J. Kidawski
This photograph was taken while on a photographic retreat. This photograph is a deviation from my comfort zone. Although I do photograph nature I am a straight as I see it and record shapes and angles shooter. I wanted to take the a bit further and create something different. I also wanted to be in a retreat presence of mind, where I was projecting thoughts into the subject as I would meditate on a subject and try to see beyond the subject. I enjoyed the silvery lines that led to a red shape that drew me down to the bottom and I visually crawl up the web to be drawn back to the red and around and a round I go.

I hope you can make some comments on this.

And be as honest as you can I can handle it.

Casey - I saw this submission a few days ago and I wanted to wait a few days to collect my thoughts. First of all, I like it. But...there's something odd about it and I couldn't put my finger on it. I think I now know. It is almost architectural. I know you like architectural photography and for some reason, this image has that quality. First of all, the way the image is presented, I wasn't sure if it was upside-down or not. (The web segments seem to be going the wrong way.) then, there's a bit too much geometry (the architectural thing, I guess). Perhaps, all the other spider webs I've seen have had a more graceful feel to them. Nevertheless, I do like it, architecture and all.

Casey you photographed the same web.
Thanks

Casey - Hmmm...same web? Possibly. I went back and checked and I actually didn't photograph the web as much as the spiders, themselves. You had the better eye to have seen this composition in the first place. I missed it.

Photo by Casey Danek - my brother and I were walking around Nantuckett in the late afternoon. We kept away from the cobblestone streets; those have been photographer a lot an we weren't going to become famous making more photos of them. So, we looked for something different. My brother chose a small portion of this building to photograph and fixated on it. I backed away, leaving him room to work. That let me take in more of what was there and I liked the splash of colors I saw.

Comments welcome.

Hi Casey! Nice use of color here. Many different reds between the boat, the clothes and the flag. It keeps the eye in the center of the photo dancing between them all. I like the unique angle too. Cutting off the roof and the boats really keeps your attention focused in the middle... Let's see more work!!- Donna

Casey ... Donna said it all! Steve

I do enjoy looking into the photo I think the play of colors down the center look great.

Here is one of my images...I call it 14. Hee hee, Donna

Hi Donna .... I think this is as 3D as you can get. It looks like you could reach right out and touch the numbers. Steve

Oh hey, look, another picture to critique! Don't worry, my berries won't be offended. Crit away! - Tom S

Casey D: I like it. It's kind of static. Perhaps a different lens choice might have allowed a more dynamic placement. I'm refering to the reflection of the background berries. The berries and reflection are about the same size, and a the same level, as the glass.

Donna: I want a smoothie... The photo is a nice use of color. I might like to see the berries just a smidge brighter. But overall - very yummy.

This is a shot already in the gallery except this has been edited. The other is nearly straight from the camera. I can't decide on a crop for this and I'd love to hear opinions!-Tom W

Hi Tom,
I personally like the closer crop- the out of focus hand is less noticeable and the focus more on the face and purple. So the one on the left for me.~ Donna

Casey - how about taking a bit off the top? ...this leave the image a bit more in line with the divine proportion aspect ratio and eliminates the brightness in the upper right corner that can pull the eye too easily.

Hi Tom ... both are nice photographs. As Casey mentioned, a bit more cropping on the top would eliminate some of the bright area. As a result, I believe the viewers eyes will first be draw right to the subject's face instead of the bright area at the top of the photo. Thanks for sharing. Steve

Donna: I loved the color here and the paint texture. But I might have moved the line of vine up or down..what do you guys think?

Casey - I like the play between the red and blue in the image. The selective focus makes it tough to decide if the vine should have been higher or lower. Not being there and all...but what I notice is that I'm distracted by the brightness along the left edge. It's like the horizontal line pulls me there. I sat back, held up my hands to see what kind of cropping might work best (to try to answer the vine up or down question) and I noticed that if I held my hands at an angle, eliminating the bright (brownish) highlighted area, that the image became more interesting to me, perhaps because it's simpler and the red-blue theme becomes more prominent.

Alan Kidawski' Page

ALANKIDAWSKI — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:21:39 CDT

Sophie I saw Lincoln

Alan J. Kidawski
Framingham, MA
a.kidawski@rcn.com

High Peaks

Mission Garden

Eye to Eye

I have been for most of my life a light chaser. I enjoy what light does to objects. How it creates, shapes, defines, and intrigued me. Photography has been my creative avenue, my adventure, my passion, from the age of 10. I was a junior astronomer interested in stars (light) I was privilege to explore large photo plates of the stars. I started to take large format, 6 to 8 hr long exposure of light from the sky. have the plated developed and then see the beauty of of light. I was hooked. I am a LIGHT CHASER

Interests: Photography, Fishing, Exploring STUFF

Favorite movies: STAR WARS,
Favorite TV shows: Monk

My hero(es): Garry Winogram, Waker Evens, Eugene Smith, Robert Frank.

My superpower is:seeing out side the BOX

If I could live anywhere, it would be: Everywhere at once

My dream job(s): Retirement to Photograph my early dream, Photograph everything.

Reunion 55 setting the tone

Low Key High Key

Software

rcdanek — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 08:25:33 CDT

One is likely to find lots of neat software that helps day-to-day. Let's hear about it. There are three major operating systems to consider: Windows, Mac, and Linux. Some software is cross-platform, others tied to a particular operating system. Bear these in mind when making entries. Identify which is which.

Open Source or Platform Neutral

Platform Neutral means it'll run on a variety of platforms, maybe even all.

PTLens - plugin and external apps for Photoshop, Lightroom, Apeture. Neat stuff...things like perspetive control, barrel and fish eye correction, chromatic abberation. Not expensive!!!

WordLE - an online, web based word graphic generator. Enter text, hit random over and over until you see something you like. Then, do a screen capture or print to PDF. It's all explained on the site.

The sample on the right was done by entering something like...

Worcester Photography Center Worcester Photography Center Wiki Wiki Wiki Photographers Meetup

...and the site makes words that repeate larger in the design.

Audacity - a free, open source, cross-plaftormsound editing package that supports a variety of plug-ins.

GIMP - a fairly powerful, free image editing package that's open source and cross-platform.

Mac Only

Cocothumbx and Cocoview - are a couple neat, free apps for the Mac. Cocothumb, in particular, is a nice way of generating small images with shadows quickly. (Note - sometimes cocothumx chokes on many large files.)
GraphicConverter - not free, but pretty powerful. It has a nice way of utilizing multiple monitors where you can see closeup detail of an image quickly.
LiveQuartz - free with lots of filters for making adjustments.

Windows Only

FastStone - wicked cool app that lets you manage/edit images. We use it at 7HCC when going through digital images during competition. Highly recommended.

Irfanview - image browers with some very nice batch editing features.

Linux

Linux distros usually come with lots of nice packages, so you usually don't need to go looking for anything.

Casey's Page

rcdanek — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:09:47 CDT

About Me

Professional photographer, like to take longs walks, enjoy road and off-road bicyling, used to hike the White Mountains a lot but my knees gave out. I love the Red Sox and Patriots and Celtix. (I'm not a big hockey fan...sorry.) In my former life, I was an engineer for DEC, Compaq, HP. So, my skill set includes technical things like computers and the Internet.

My Work

I do weddings and portraits. I have a small studio in my home. I've done some commercial work and would love to more of it. I'm also a videographer (is that a real word?). I mostly do projects for local cable access stations. Check out my pages...

I am quite adept at figuring out computer problems/solutions. I have been a Windows-guy for a long time (when there wasn't much else to do)...then I discovered Linux...and later, when I could afford it, Macs. Now, when you see the "I'm a Mac; I'm a PC" commercials, I definately identify with one of those guys!!!

[I wonder which one that would be?] (Comment by DonRicklin)

A Recent Assignment

I was asked to photograph a jazz group at their recording session in Amherst. The lighting was tricky and I had to mostly work with a tripod.

Comments From My Friends

HI Casey, Nice shot, I like the composition between all the music guys. The lines from the trumpet and the lines radiating from the walls highlight each person. Nice job.

~ Scotty

Major Willard Moore State Park

rcdanek — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:16:01 CDT

Click the collage for a Zoomify version!

Click here to view a slideshow that others can contribute to. Read NOTE below.

June 28, 2008 - a good number of us came to the park to enjoy the photographic opportunities. The weather started off kind of cloudy and one might have been put off by the threat of drab, colorless photographs. But, at 10:00 AM or so, a misty fog formed and this is usually a good thing on a "clousy" day. The backgrounds become muted but the foregrounds stand out. Also, with modern photo software, any image can be boosted with a touch of this and a dab of that...just tweak your Photoshop settings a bit...

NOTE: although the image above links to a single Zoomify version, the comments below it link to a slide show on our WPC site. You are invited to send Casey some of your images to be included in the slide show. Or, if you prefer, just add them to this page...or do both. The more the merrier.

It was fun and thanks to the organizers for making it happen!!!

-- Casey

Here are some links to other images copied from our Meetup site...

http://panospin.smugm...- Carlton SooHoo

Moore State Park- Don Ricklin (C&S images are labeled so at end of the gallery.)

Alex's Meetup Flickr Set- Alex from Worcester

Elm Park, Worcester

DonRicklin — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 21:51:53 CDT

There are year round things to shoot at Elm Park. A series of ponds, a couple of Bridges where they intesect and various birds and plants, to name a few.(Photos by Don Ricklin)

Currently there is an event for the Summer called Art in the Park with sculptures by various Massachusets artist. Here is a sampling of the Sculptures (Photos by Don Ricklin).

More at Art in the Park.

Random Notes and Shared Items

rcdanek — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:38:25 CDT

Here is a completely random shoot I had taken at one of Scott's workshops. It's a photo of Lou Jones -amazing photographer in Boston- shooting... I like action shoots of photographers, look at the noses crushed againts the cameras, the squinting eye, the crouch in the stance... It's a GWC thing...
http://fotojones.com/
This is indoors.

Here is another random shoot. It's of Jeff Haynes - a very talented photographer from Norwood - check out the tripod action and that crouch, a true pro in action here too...

Click here for Jeff's web pages.

Paxton

rcdanek — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:32:31 CDT

Paxton is a small town just to the North West of Worcester. It is the home ofAnna Maria College. Another highlight there is Major Willard Moore State Park, a delightful location with cascading waterfalls and an old saw mill building.

More information is available at the official Moore State Park page. The park is accissibleany time of the year!

-- Don RIcklin

Check out our own page about this delightful park. Look for it in the navigation panel orclick here.

And, if you'd like to see how we celebrated this neat place with a Click'n'Shoot event in 2008, check it out here.

Moore State Park

rcdanek — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:06:13 CDT

There are many more images of the park at Moore State Park. It is a place to shoot at any anytime of the year. High points are when the Rhododrens and Mountain Laurel are in bloom. When the river is in space or Ice is on the falls.

There are trails with interesting sights as well.

For some more info see Moore State Park - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Worcester County

DonRicklin — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 12:43:23 CDT

Elm Park, Worcester

Mount Desert Island

DonRicklin — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:57:14 CDT

Which includes Bar Harbor and Acadia NP, and many other fine places.

Here's the Margaret Todd, waiting in the rising sunlight, for another day's duty taking visitors on an authentic windjammer cruise. This part of Maine is fantastic and well worth a visit. (Photo by Casey)

More images from the Island (by Don Ricklin):

At left is the The Margaret Todd,again, at its wharf in Bar Harbor. Leona and I have taken the Harbor tour they offer. It is excellent and you even get to 'help sail the ship'! They do a sunset run, too.

The next image is a picturesque alley in downtown Bar Harbor. There are plenty of great places to eat here, along with all the great shooting all over the Island.

The last shot is Bar Harbor from the top Mount Desert, Acadia NP. Lots of trails and a view all around. Birds and flowers galore.

More images at Mount Desert Island.

Maine

DonRicklin — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:11:54 CDT

Monhegan Island
Mount Desert Island, which includes Bar Harbor and Arcadia NP.

Jeff @ Visions by Baker Photography

Jeff@VBB — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 04:28:17 CDT

The Worcester Photography Center is a great place to share the love of our art and is a supporting family of friends that grows together at all levels of photography. Come join the fun!

Multi award winning and nationally certified professional photographer... Visions by Baker Photography is Jeffery A. Baker Sr. Only 3 percent of all photographers in the United States have reached this certified status. "When excellence matters and good enough, isn't." I am your family photographer specializing in portraiture and all of the life events we share. .

Biography: My Grandfather gave me my first camera when I was 10 years old. Professional training teaches how to use a camera, but his guiding eye helped me learn to see. Photography gives me balance between the logical and the creative, the left brain and the right brain. My Grandfather's guiding eye, together with today's photographic tools, provide the combination that allows me to focus on my art, my vision, of people around me.

Monhegan Island

rcdanek — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 17:12:40 CDT

Off the coast somewhere between Portland and Camden. You can get to it via ferry from Port Clyde. It's a delightful island with a hotel and some B&B's. It's been an artist community for a number of years and is kind of quirky. For example, you're asked to carry out your own waste. You'll see why if you go there; there isn't much in the way of infrastructure. Yes, they have electricity, but there are only a couple cars on the island (not many roads). It's got lots of great trails and you're surrounded by ocean. So, for a photographer (and, of course, an artist), it's terrific.

The woman here is on the East side of the island. She's sitting atop a 100 foot cliff and getting a nice view of the side of it for her artwork. The artists are one and the same in the panorama as well as the closer photo. The lighthouse is at the peak of the island.

Do a Google Search for Monhegan Island Maine for more information.

Sandy's Page

wings1 — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:39:39 CDT

I am interested in Nature Photography and would like to learn more about it. I got a digital camera a few months ago and am enjoying trying it out. for more images visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/wings01/

Member Pages

ALANKIDAWSKI — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 21:03:38 CDT

Members can create their own subpages and put anything they want on them. They can also have images and and ask for critiques. Casey's Page is just an example to get the juices flowing. (HINT: If you add a page of your own using "Add a new page", you can also add a link to it as in the examples in the list that follows.)

Matthew Olmsted - Wreckless Goofball's Page

Training

rcdanek — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:17:54 CDT

If you're a new Photoshop user, or even a not-so-new one, you should check out You Suck At Photoshop. This is a series of tutorials that mix really useful technical information with humor. You can catch this at YouTube.com. Google it.