This AM I got to work early. My typical hour long commute lasted a mere 30 minutes and I arrived to work a full 30 minutes early. I decided to drive up to the Sudbury River Valley recreation lands, specifically to Heard Pond, which is literally out the back door from work and are part of the swamp I’ve been mucking about in during my breaks at the DayJob.

I got to watch the last of the sunrise over the pond and the fog lift and it was really really wonderful to watch. It reminded me of nights I’d spend at the family camp on Schoodick Lake in Cherryfield, ME and I’d watch the same process. It never gets old.

I need to remember to wear proper gear. After 2 minutes near the pond my chucks and jeans were soaked. Well worth it.

I took a few pictures, some of which capture the fog lifting, I’m still figuring out how best to capture that so I’ll be forced to travel back to the pond and try and figure out the best settings. (A small part of me wonders how the hell do I capture that fog in paint???)

The walk was worth it, wet shoes and all.

Beverly, MA sports an alley visible by train that I’ve nicknamed graffiti alley. We’ve got a couple of colleges in the area and it seems as if the city has given up on stopping kids from tagging the place. From a distance it looks as if most of the tags have been done by the local college kids and perhaps a few people from Boston, after all the area is an easy walk from the Beverly Depot stop. The tags change regularly and from week to week you might see something different. A few years back the tags were really quite nice, now they kinda suck, except for one.

What I found most interesting were the “add ons” that people had added, things like the smurf, face and lady bug you see below. These were humorous, if badly done.

I walked up into “Graffiti Alley” at dusk, with clear light with cars going by the unlocked entrance and a cop car with clear visibility of me snapping pictures. I didn’t try to hide myself, though I did make my camera visible. The city has provided trash barrels, which the kids chose not to use.

I noticed that the kids haven’t tagged this spot in ages, probably because of the cop, instead they’ve moved to the other side of the building, which people can see from the street, as well as the large red building close by.

I might head back to this location and see if there are any changes in a month or 2.

I spent Sasturday and Sunday outside shooting pictures like those you see below (and drawing.) I failed to make note of the allergy forecast (don't laugh, unless you  have allergies you don't get the importance of this.) So, I'm sleeping off allergy meds. meh.

Just to make it a little more visceral for you my face feels like someone smacked me with a baseball bat across the bridge of the nose, my eyes are watery and feel like I"ve got dust in them and my sinuses feel like someone stuffed a q-tip soaked in hot pepper pieces and scrubbed it around. I have taken much allergy meds. Om nom nom. Lesson learned, if the allergy forcast is "Danger Danger Will Robinson!" I will take my pre-emptive meds and not walk blythely about like it's nothing.

Also as an aside, I will be in a totally different location for the end of the week and blogging may not occur from Thursday to Sunday. Be aware.

I got up early this AM, partially because I woke at 5am and couldn't fall back to sleep and partially because I knew it was going to be a nice day and partially because I felt like going for a walk.

First I came upon this:

Then I noticed the sun glinting off this building:

I wandered past the bottega:

Then I saw this:

Then I wandered through here:

and I ended up here:

I wandered up the street and saw this cement donkey pulling a cart, and was reminded of my Grandmother, not because of the donkey but because she had one of these things in her garden:

I found this:

Outside of here:

Then I went to Atomic and got myself a nice iced chai, and it was good.

I've been getting up every morning this week 15 minutes early with the intention of going out with my camera to Cabot street to catch a few early AM empty street shots of a couple of buildings. Every AM this week I have woke to haze, fog and rain.  Plans thwarted! I do get in a good cup of coffee and then head to work. The sad part is that as I drive into the DayJob the skies part and I'm greated by some of the most epic and amazing sky scenes I've seen. I told a friend that the skies I saw on my way into work looked like an oil painting and damn it, I didn't have my camera and I was stuck in my car on I95. ARGH.

Today for lunch I took my camera out to the swamp and hoped to see the Great Blue Heron that snacks on frogs but he wasn't around so I got a few pictures of the swamp itself.

I did see a very striking cardinal and wished I was close enough for a decent picture of him.

I'm not used to carrying a camera with me, a journal and sketching tools, yes but the bulk of a camera is something new. Camera bags are… Ugly. I plan on adapting one of my bags to something a little less conspicuous. A camera is weighty, though I was shocked when I hefted my brother's girl friend's DSLR and found it weighed a LOT more than my little micro 4/3rds camera. It's lens alone weighs in at what my camera weighs.

Getting accustomed to carrying it everywhere is one thing, getting used to people looking at the camera with warriness, and on other occasions ignoring it entirely.

After using a point and shoot camera and adjusting minimal settings I'm not yet used to how I need to set things to get a decent shot. In some cases, like the night shot above, luck and taking 10 or so shots gets me one that works, mostly. Add to the mix the difference in macro and telephoto add ons and then filters, holy crap a whole new world has opened up to me.

A month ago if someone had said to me, put a polorizing filter on it and open it up half a stop, I'd have looked at them with a blank stare, now I'd kinda fidle with my camera and nod and pretend I totally get it when I only half get it.

The good thing with all this is I'm getting a ton of really really great reference photos for this winter, so you can hope to see some great acrylics on my blog. Also I'm art journaling about this whole process.

I’ve been a crappy blogger the last few weeks. I decided I wanted to slow down a bit over the last few weeks. I’ve been wandering about my city with my camera snapping some pictures. I should be back into art making mode this coming weekend as Jane and I find a place to do a little en plein air painting. Our last trip out was in 100+ degree heat and it left us both feeling like we were fighting the paint and thus our painting. Jane went back to her studio and worked on a little image and I delved further into my camera.

I was an artist who poo-poo’d on photography thinking it a gear head type of endeavor. This summer I decided to invest in a micro 4/3rds camera and really start to take more photos as starting points for my winter paintings. I’ve found myself really enjoying the basics of photography. In no way am I embracing the gear headedness of photography. Instead I’m focusing on getting the most out of my camera and taking pictures of places I really like around my city.

The point of this post is to push myself to really push the limits of myself and to try and capture some spots I know, and love with the lens, with no pressure to create art right now, but to look and see, frame an image and snap a picture.

So I leave you with a few shots.

Often times when I take a weekend trip I take all kinds of supplies, telling myself, “I’ll use this, this, and oh I should add that to my pack.” In the end I use little of what I brought. I’m taking a weekend trip pretty soon and while I pack my things I’m being a little more deliberate about what I pack. I’m packing my new gum tin watercolor set, along with one of my mini mint tin sets full of intense colors for a little added punch when absolutely needed.  I’m taking 1 regular brush (#6 round,) a couple of water brushes, a small assortment of drawing tools, my sketchbook, a watercolor sketchbook and a 40 ounce water bottle. To round this out I’m taking my fancy pants camera and my point and shoot.

Added to my travel bag will be my journal, laptop and my pogo printer.

In the past I strayed toward over packing art supplies. I’d leave my house with a pack full of acrylics, pastels, pencils, watercolors, and everything else; only to find that I was never able to find the time to use any of it. My choices were so overwhelming I’d not make any art.

In the end the most important thing is capturing those moments that are of interest. I suppose I should take what can capture things quickly and easily and forget the rest.