Tammster's Blog

New Orleans

2012-01-14T20:20:00.004-05:00

As a result of a very inconvenient shoulder surgery, I have not taken any non-iPhone pictures since mid-November. I'm very excited to announce that tomorrow will be the first PBC Photo Walker meetup that I will be joining since my surgery. While sitting here icing my shoulder I realized that I haven't posted on my blog in a very long time... somehow I forgot to post any of my New Orleans photos!

I went for a work related conference (just prior to my surgery) and Gregg went with me the weekend before. As expected, both the food and photo ops were amazing (and many times the amazing food WAS the photo op).

One of my favorite new photo related pastimes is instagram (feel free to follow me @tammster) and I found myself sharing many of my favorite NOLA pictures on instagram.

Another great subject is, of course, music. It was everywhere.

So many things to see. I spent a lot of time just walking around.

Jamaica - before & after photo editing

2011-08-30T22:24:00.001-04:00

As much as I love to have my camera in my hands while exploring somewhere, I equally enjoy the digital darkroom part of the process. I will usually do my best to get the best shot possible right from my camera but I find that I can always find something to add in Lightroom and/or Photoshop (and/or many plug-ins that I have).

The majority of my editing is basic corrections or enhancements... Exposure or slight color correction, cropping, sharpening,etc. I can always tell the difference after my edits but I do recognize that I'm more picky than the average person. The editing that really gets me excited is the really dramatic differences. I love to take an average (or even a bad) photo and make it look amazing, or at least somewhat cool.

Today I watched part of a class on the Kelby Training website and I decided to follow along with a really cropped version of an "ok" photo I took of the pool at Couples Tower Island. The tutorial used a Photoshop plug-in called Adobe Pixel Bender that is available for free in Adobe Labs. I was very interested because I have never even heard of this plug-in and it was quite fun to play with it. The goal is to make the photo look painterly, an affect that I don't use often (I really do prefer a natural look most of the time) but when I do I usually have fun with it.

So, here is the before & after:

Jamaica - Part 2

2011-08-25T11:39:00.001-04:00

I purchased my first SLR, the Canon xsi back at the end of December 2008. Since then, I've looked at the world in a completely different way. One thing I've noticed about myself during these last 3 years is that I look at the sky a LOT more than I used to. I wonder how I didn't notice the incredible colors and cloud variations more regularly before.

One thing I definitely notice (nearly every single day) is the sunset. The colors of everything outside changes for that very small period of time that starts right before sunset and ends about 1/2 hour after sunset. Of course, here in Florida, sunrise tends to be even better, especially when I am motivated enough to wake up at 5:30 and drive 1/2 hour to the beach.

Down in Jamaica, I was lucky enough to see both the sunrise & sunset more than once. Maybe it wasn't really luck, since I planned my evenings around that time. I also somehow managed to get myself up early enough to walk down to the beach with my camera & tripod and I ended up with some really pretty shots one morning.

During the week we were there, we had some really amazing sunsets. I feel like my pictures came out pretty good but they still don't really tell the story of the amazing wonder we saw. The timing did work out pretty well because we ended up going downstairs for dinner right before the sun went down.

Even the night shots were fun. At home, I don't take my camera out at night too often since the view from my house is usually pretty boring so night photography is still pretty exciting for me.

Jamaica - Part 1

2011-08-06T19:47:00.001-04:00

On July 11, 2006, Gregg and I got married at Couples Tower Island in Ocho Rios Jamaica.

During our week there we met many great couples and in the five years since then, we've stayed in touch with some of them. Our plan back then was to meet at the same resort every five years and I'm happy to say that three of the couples made it in July of 2011.

This time around was a lot different for me because instead of bringing my $250 point-and-shoot camera, I had my new Canon 60D and three of my favorite lenses: my 18-200 everyday lens, my 10-22 wide angle and my newest lens addition, the 50mm 1.4.

As usual, the wide angle shot was just perfect for the big landscape type shots. Specifically, I couldn't stop taking pictures of the resort and the island (Tower Island).

Clearly the resort is gorgeous, but what makes it so special are the people there... Both guests and staff. By the time we left after a week, I think it's safe to say we were pretty good friends with at least 12 couples (and Gregg knew everyone's name, where they live, what they do for a living and how many kids the have). Five years ago we met two of the three other couples in the picture below (from left to right, Kevin & Denise and Bryan & Alicia) and the other couple (Terry & Kurt) know Kevin & Denise from a different trip. The goal is that we're going to try to all meet up at the same resort every five years. Seems we'll pick up new Couples friends along the way to add to this plan.

We met Kevin & Denise a few days before our actual wedding. Since we didn't bring anyone else with us on our wedding trip we needed witnesses to sign or marriage license. Kevin & Denise were nice to agree to do this for us so we didn't have to ask staff to be our witnesses.

It was very exciting to find out that our new friends, Debbie & Jeff, got engaged at Couples pretty much right before we met them. I'm pretty sure I haven't seen a more excited bride-to-be. :) I was more than happy to take some engagement pictures for them.

Bryan & Alicia got married right before they went to Jamaica 5 years ago & so they were fellow honeymooners. This year, we were all celebrating our 5th anniversary. Their present to each other was an escape from their two young children... both born after we met them. Their first child can be considered a Jamaican. ;)

This was Terry, my favorite bartender this trip. Of course, they're all really friendly (and make great tropical drinks) but on my first day there, I told Terry what I was in the mood for and he made me a really great drink that he called Terry's Ting. I'm sure I drank at least 30 of those over the course of the week. Ting is a Jamaican lightly carbonated citrus drink that goes REALLY well with Vodka, lime juice and a little seltzer water. Really well. It's super light and extremely refreshing on a hot day. This picture was taken on our last night there, as he was making me one last Terry's Ting.

It's fair to say that everyone we encountered at the resort was very nice and accommodating and it's easy to see why couples go back year after year (I think Terry & Kurt said they were there 7 times in the last 4 years!).

This guy was definitely a curiosity. He had this big surfboard and would come floating over early in the morning & he'd pretty much hang out all day near the beach selling his shells. I tried to get a good picture of him all week and finally I got the nerve to ask him to pose for me.

My plan was to post just one blog on our trip to Jamaica but just now I decided to split it up. So... stay tuned.

St. Augustine

2011-06-01T20:55:00.002-04:00

Five members of the PBC Photo Walkers (plus one friend visiting from Germany) traveled about 3 1/2 hours north to St. Augustine for Memorial Day weekend.

I expected it to be an exhausting yet productive weekend and I wasn't disappointed. We arrived on Friday night and after parking in a REALLY tiny spot, we checked into this fun "hostel" called the Pirate Haus Inn.

What a fun place! The staff were really fun and this place was RIGHT in the center of town. Most rooms can fit up to 6 people (a queen & two twin bunk beds) but our room only had 3 of us and it was really perfect. We got up super early in the morning to take pictures of sunset and when we got back to the room (to retrieve Dina who slept in) our host was making really cool pancakes.

(note - The picture was edited a little strangely on my iPhone)

I'm not going to list every place we went because I've already recorded my entire trip on Foursquare via two iphone apps, Foursquare and Instagram. I started using Foursquare for the first time this past weekend, instead of Yelp, and I started using Instagram about a month ago (I'm "Tammster" on Instagram). I have been told this is very nerdy but I find it's a fun way to kind of keep a diary of my travels in town and out of town. Please feel free to follow me.

As I said, we really did a great job touring the city so my plan is to split this up into multiple posts... unless I totally forget the remaining posts like I've done before. In this post I'll share my pictures of the St. Augustine Intracoastal Waterway. We stayed literally one block away so we had many opportunities to take pictures here and we made specific trips for sunrise and sunset. We also took a spur-of-the-moment scenic sunset cruise aboard the Victory III, and I was very excited about my sunset shots.

(Edited with my new favorite iPhone photo editing app, 100 Cameras in 1)

(This picture came out very boring so I decided to add a texture and play with the tones)

McCarthy's Wildlife Sanctuary

2011-04-17T09:36:00.001-04:00

The PBC Photo Walkers met at McCarthy's Wildlife Sanctuary in Loxahatchee, FL for our April meetup.

This year, McCarthy's Wildlife Sanctuary has treated hundreds of native animals that were sick or injured. Everything from foxes to bobcats, Sandhill Cranes to pelicans, hawks, owls, and many others have received veterinarian care by our staff and then were released back into the wild. In addition, they rescue exotic animals that were abandoned by individuals that didn't know what they were getting themselves into.

Our group learned a lot from the extremely informative tour of McCarthy's Wildlife Sanctuary and we will certainly recommend a visit to others.

New York - Central Park

2011-02-20T12:57:00.003-05:00

I grew up in New York. I vaguely remember cold, snow, ice & windchill. I realize that it's been a long time since I've actually experienced it, but the reality of it literally took my breath away. It was cold enough that weekend in January that even the New Yorkers were complaining. The windchill was generally in the low digits all day long and none of my outerwear could protect my eyes from the stinging cold.

As soon as we arrived and checked into our hotel, we planned to go directly to the Museum of Natural History. That was our plan... but as soon as we walked up to the corner of 8th Ave and 59th St, I just had to walk through Central Park. Three hours later, we were still there. I felt like a little kid in a toy store. Everything was SO pretty and so different than what I see in South Florida. For a brief time I sort of forgot about the cold.

New York - from the "Top of the Rock"

2011-02-17T18:13:00.011-05:00

We visited (very cold) New York a few weeks ago. It has been many years since I've visited the state where I grew up, and even longer since I saw snow (at least twenty years!). We suffered the sub-freezing temperatures and in exchange, I got some amazing shots.

Before we went to Rockefeller Center, I read somewhere that tripods and monopods were not allowed. Once the sun starts going down it makes it harder to get a clear shot without a tripod. After doing a little research, I saw someone post that you can bring one of those Gorillapods up there and put in on the railing. So after searching through some of the camera stores I finally found one that didn't cost a fortune. Sadly, I was not able to visit either of the famous photography stores, B&H Photo or Adorama, as BOTH of these stores are closed on Saturdays! I was so looking forward to it... oh well. Anyway, the little tiny flexible tripod worked GREAT and I'm sure I'll find plenty of opportunities to use it now.

We went to the Top of the Rock for sunset. It cost quite a bit but it was worth it. I insisted on going up far in advance of the expected sunset time so I could secure the perfect location. I did get the perfect location, but I swear the sun never took so long to set. The 4 degree windchill factor was quite intense up there.

Thanks for sticking with me Gregg!

Las Vegas - The Palazzo / Venetian Hotels

2011-02-17T17:58:00.003-05:00

The Palazzo in Las Vegas is clearly one of the most beautiful hotels there, both inside and out. I stayed there during a conference and Gregg met me out there on Friday night. As with many places in Vegas, I found a lot of enjoyment in simply walking around. The Palazzo is the newer add-on to the Venetian and they actually are connected with many stores and the extremely cool Venice style canals in between.

The outside of both hotels is just incredibly beautiful.

Umbrella fountains at the Las Vegas Wynn

2010-11-25T14:06:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago I went to Las Vegas for the AICPA National Healthcare Industry Conference. In addition to learning a LOT, I also somehow found time to take a few pictures. :o) Actually, I went up on Wednesday and Gregg met me there Friday after the conference was over so I had plenty of time to

I will likely post a bigger blog entry with more of my Vegas pictures sometime soon (they're not all processed yet) but for now, I wanted to share these really cool umbrellas. We were staying at the Palazzo but decided to check out the Wynn for a drink and snacks. What a beautiful hotel... lots to see (and eat, and drink) but I was really entranced with these hanging umbrella lights.

Pittsburgh

2010-11-19T13:11:00.018-05:00

A few weeks ago, the managers and partners of Alpern Rosenthal met for our annual retreat at the Sheraton Station Square in Pittsburgh. It was a very successful trip filled with great presentations by our managers, very beneficial networking opportunities with our Pittsburgh "family", and, of course... photo opportunities.

This is the 3rd year that I have made this trip to Pittsburgh but the first time I set aside time to really see the city. My main goal was to take pictures of downtown Pittsburgh and I was not disappointed, as the view from our hotel was absolutely incredible.

Our hotel was located in Station Square, which was a really hip place in Pittsburgh (at least I thought it was, although what do I know... I still use the term "hip"). In fact, it was pretty crazy on Saturday October 30th since the Halloween celebrations were going pretty strong all night long (including in our hotel). Sadly, I left my camera in my room while we were out drinking that night.

We also went on a short ferry ride and saw the city from some new angles.

I also braved the FREEZING wind for some sunrise shots. Boy did I get luck on this morning.

As usual, I found a few opportunities for people shots. When I took the shot of the guy on the motorcycle, I'm pretty sure he didn't yet see me. However, he looked over at me and caught me when I snapped the second picture. The one he posed for was not nearly as interesting looking as this one.

This little kid was adorable. I caught him looking out the window of the cable car (after doing research I just learned these are actually called funiculars) as it took us up the incline to Mount Washington. Then he saw me and gave me a great look.

This is the view from the top of the Monongahela Incline. There was a lot to see up there... the views were really incredible. Here's Diane looking out at the city and some other shots taken from the observation platforms. We also found a really pretty church up there that I just had to take pictures of. I was very happy to see some fall colors still around. I am from upstate NY originally but it has truly been over 20 years since I've seen fall colors.

Here is a view from the bottom of the incline looking up.

After coming back down the incline, we walked over the Smithfield Street Bridge and walked around the city a little bit. Our goal was to find the Heinz 57 Center, where the Alpern Rosenthal offices are located. Directly across the street is this gorgeous church, the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh. It's really amazing that this is right in the middle of the city... with a tiny graveyard and everything.

During my trip, I noticed that I really enjoyed taking close up shots of buildings or group of buildings.

Before I left, I was determined to get one good picture of the trains that were everywhere... all of the time. In fact, the first morning I woke up there I dreamed that a spaceship was landing on the roof. Then I realized it was just a train.

This one didn't come out so great in the original shot but I cropped it and added some nice textures and colors and I really like the result.

The Main Street Cruise at Abacoa

2010-09-27T21:07:00.006-04:00

The September monthly meetup for the PBC Photo Walkers was at Abacoa in Jupiter. One of our members recommended this location as a great photo opportunity for our group. Since this event is held on the first Saturday of every month, planning it was quite simple.

I think we had about 20 photographers show up but I was told later that some came a little late and didn't hook up with the group. Many of us had never attended this car show and we were really pleasantly surprised at the festive atmosphere and huge assortment of classic cars and trucks.

I came home that night all excited to show my pictures to Gregg, since he loves a good car show but couldn't make this trip. I soon realized that he was more interested in seeing photos of entire cars, instead of the little pieces and parts of cars that I had fun shooting.

I only ended up with a few decent pictures of entire cars (actually not even the whole car).

What I have learned is that someone who enjoys looking at old cars (and not necessarily artsy photography) may prefer many of the images created by some of the other photographers who attended this event. At the time of this posting our meetup group's September album showcased 148 photos from the car show and as usual, I'm extremely impressed with the talent in our group.

As a photographer, I try to look for the fun and interesting shots. While taking pictures at my first car show with my first SLR last year, I realized that reflections in cars can be super cool. I give my friend Jack 100% of the credit on finding the reflections in the second picture below. I completely copied him.

Of course... it's always fun to take pictures of our friends taking pictures (especially when I can also take advantage of the previously mentioned reflection in an amazingly clean car). Below is Art, Jack & Dina.

Also, my "photographer's eye" has learned to constantly be on the look out for other interesting shots, like the guy watching the festivities from his balcony and the group playing poker.

I really love our photography group! We always have a great time getting together and every month I'm amazed all over again at the talented friends I have made.

Lion Country Safari

2010-09-22T13:17:00.010-04:00

I really enjoy having a photo blog. I started this at the beginning of the year and it's original purpose was to post a "photo-a-week" from a different location in Palm Beach County all year. After about 20 weeks I realized I was in big trouble... not because I couldn't find 52 different photo ops in Palm Beach but because I couldn't always travel around the county every week. Also, I didn't just post one picture, I posted a series of shots from a location and added a nice story to go along with it. Suddenly, Sunday would come and go and I was getting somewhat stressed out that I couldn't think of my blog theme for the week. Since it was becoming an additional source of stress (who needs that?), I finally made the decision to revise my blog's purpose and just post pictures whenever I feel inspired.

These photos were taken less than 10 minutes from my house at Lion Country Safari in West Palm Beach, FL. I went a handful of times as a child (I have VERY fond memories of Grandpa taking us) but I didn't go as an adult until about a year ago, after I bought my SLR camera. After the first time, I realized that it was pretty crazy for me not to buy annual passes since it's so close to where I live.

This past weekend my goal was to take pictures close to home for the latest DPC challenge, "high key" (just Google it if you don't know what that is). The weather was nice so I drove south and hung out at Lion Country Safari for about an hour and 1/2. My goal was to shoot zebra in the safari section and giraffes in the feeding area and then go home.

The zebra was easy, although I did have to keep my eye out for the safari police because they frown on visitors opening their car windows.

The giraffes are incredibly fun to take pictures of. They are SO extremely sweet and friendly and they will let you very close to take pictures. I have a ton of different shots of the 4 or 5 giraffes that they allow in this feeding area but I chose this one because I loved the way it looked like he (I think it was a he) was just leaning on the post. In fact, I think he had an itch and was just scratching.

So, I ended up submitting the giraffe (at the time of this writing it wasn't doing as well as I hoped... not sure I nailed the high key affect but I really love the shot anyway) and I have a few more shots in my Lion Country Safari Flickr set.

My yard

2010-05-31T13:30:00.001-04:00

The goal of my blog is to force myself to get out and about with my camera while appreciating all this county has to offer. Often, the beauty of South Florida can be found literally right in our own backyards.

Many of the pictures that I will share in this blog entry were taken the first few weeks after I bought my Canon xsi. It was late December and I decided that I needed a theme for my 2009 calendar. I still didn't really know what I was doing with this much more complicated camera and I needed to play with it to learn it. It was actually a challenge to find twelve pictures that I really liked for my calendar but I was really proud of my results.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

(and my photo of the week on DPC)

Jupiter Inlet

2010-05-31T10:42:00.002-04:00

This past week, the 3rd Annual Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk was announced. Last year, over 32,000 people in over 900 locations around the globe participated all on one day (in July of 2009) and it was definitely a record breaking event. This year, the walks will be held on July 24th and I have registered to lead my very own walk! The reason I'm so excited is that the two walks I did last year (one in Jupiter and one in West Palm Beach) was the inspiration for the PBC Photo Walkers photography group. I must admit I didn't jump right into organizing this group... but I was one of many people who had a ton of fun last year and said "We really should do this more often". During the following month a few new friends from the walk convinced me to do something about it. I'm pretty sure we only had about 4 walkers at our first meetup in August of 2009; now our group has about 180 members!

Since I'm feeling so nostalgic about last year's walk, I decided to post pictures from the Jupiter walk. Our leader Kim chose Jupiter Inlet as the walk location.

View Jupiter Inlet in a larger map

This was the first time I ever took pictures with a group of other people and it really was amazing to see so many people getting together for this.

The really cool part was that even though we were all in the same location, we really captured a huge variety of images. The day started before sunrise...

As usual, some of the fun images are the ones of other photographers:

Our group found a lot of interesting subjects:

My favorite picture from this walk was one of the first shots I took this day. It seems kind of odd that I got up extra early to take pictures of the beautiful colorful sunrise, and then I went and converted the shot to black and white. However, I just love this shot and it is my photo of the week on DPC:

Jonathan Dickinson State Park

2010-05-25T22:08:00.001-04:00

I must admit that lately I have become concerned that I will soon struggle to come up with another 32 blogs featuring locations in Palm Beach County. I also admit that I considered quitting. I am two weeks behind and suddenly this blog seemed like a chore instead of a fun project. My husband Gregg talked me through it, encouraging me to continue if it's what I wanted to do. It really is... I just want to enjoy doing it. I was sitting here trying to think of a place I've been lately that I can feature. Of course I can always post more pictures from somewhere I've already posted but I really want to be original for a few weeks. I was looking through my pictures on Flicker and came across a picture from Jonathan Dickinson State Park. How could I have forgotten about this amazing place?!?

Tammster's Blog

New Orleans

Jamaica - before & after photo editing

Jamaica - Part 2

Jamaica - Part 1

St. Augustine

McCarthy's Wildlife Sanctuary

New York - Central Park

New York - from the "Top of the Rock"

Las Vegas - The Palazzo / Venetian Hotels

Umbrella fountains at the Las Vegas Wynn

Pittsburgh

The Main Street Cruise at Abacoa

Lion Country Safari

My yard

Jupiter Inlet

Jonathan Dickinson State Park

Palm Beach (Part 2)

Sundy House

Flagler Museum (Part 2)

Flagler Museum (Part 1)

Bostons on the Beach

Grassy Waters Preserve

Green Cay Wetlands

Wakodahatchee Wetlands

Busch Wildlife Sanctuary

Blowing Rocks Preserve

West Palm Beach GreenMarket

Blue Heron bridge

Belle Glade

Singer Island

Peanut Island

Palm Beach (Part 1)

The South Florida Fair

The zoos of Palm Beach County

SWA Greenway Trail System