In The Eye of The Beholder

Some people love HDR photography.  HDR simply stands for High Dynamic Range and is the process of combining several different photographs at different exposures to create an image that better represents what the human eye actually sees.

All of the photos in this post were created using HDR techniques.  Now, I am very new to this type of processing, and the true masters of this type of photography would likely cringe if they ever stumbled upon these, but I think they are pretty cool none the less.

Like using textures, or any other post processing technique, the sky's the limit with HDR and you can create images like the one above that almost have a dreamlike quality to them...

To the more "realistic" side of the HDR spectrum.

Some photographers hate HDR images, and feel like they aren't attractive or even realistic, but there is some evidence that Ansel Adams used this very technique (of combining several images) to create some of his masterpieces, so I'm just fine with HDR.  Granted Ansel Adams had to do it all by hand, and today's technology makes it much easier, and I'm thankful for that.

I don't create HDR images very often, but the Cathedral Notre Dame in Strasbourg, France was the perfect place to try my hand at creating a few HDR images.  I hope to continue to create HDR images and improve my skills, because they really do make for some amazing photos. 

So what is your take on HDR...love it, hate it, somewhere in between?!  

For more on HDR photography you can visit Stuck in Customs, a wonderful site full of info on using HDR, and his images always impress!

One Last Look

I hope those of you who celebrated Thanksgiving got your fill of turkey and pumpkin pie!  We had a wonderful day filled with family and too much food, but it was good to all be together again!  Even the dogs had a great time visiting with so many people!

I know many of your have already begun decorating your homes for Christmas, and some of you probably braved those crazy Black Friday sales...but I did neither of those things.

On Friday I stayed in sweat pants and a sweat shirt all day, and took the dogs out to play and watched a movie with Mr. Tide and my daughter.  Our son went out to dinner with friends and is camping out at the cabin with no electricity and only a small wood stove...brrr!

It was so nice to just have a day to hang out and do nothing, so even though I was tempted, I left all of the bins of Christmas decor in the garage.  And I even left all of my pumpkins and turkey stuff up.

I was completely unplugged for the past few days and it was truly wonderful!  Now I'm trying to get caught up on emails and work stuff...3 stories due in just 2 weeks, so I'm back online.

I've really been enjoying seeing everyone's beautiful photos on their blogs of all of their Christmas decor and clever crafty ideas...so inspiring!

So I think today I will attempt to put away my fall decor and break out a little Christmas cheer!

The other day I had to drive an hour from home to pick up fresh greens for my garden club.  The greens hadn't been delivered by the time I got there, so I decided to kill a little time by driving to a particularly beautiful church up that way called St. Ignatius Church at Chapel Point in Port Tobacco, Maryland.

It is a gorgeous old historic Catholic church founded in 1641, and it sits atop a hill overlooking the Port Tobacco and Potomac Rivers.  The whole area of Port Tobacco is full of interesting history, it was once a wealthy colonial port town which rivaled Williamsburg, Virginia in it's importance to the colonies.

There is also a gorgeous old manor house which is attached to the church and was built in 1741.  Known as St. Thomas Manor it was occupied by Union troops during the Civil War.  And just down the road near Port Tobacco proper is where John Wilkes Booth was hidden before crossing over into Virginia after assassinating President Lincoln.

I've never been inside either the church or the manor house, but I find the whole property to be simply breathtaking and have been here before to take pictures!

Today, parishioners still worship at this church the way they have for hundreds of years, I'm sure that those who helped build and found it would be happy about that.

With southern Maryland being a land of large tobacco plantations years ago, there were once slaves on this property as well.  Their accommodations were far more meager, and this little white house would have been their home while living and working at Chapel Point.

In the bottom left corner of the photo above you can see a reddish metal cellar door.  The doors are a 20th century addition and are now locked, but underneath and just inside the wall of the building are the remnants of an old tunnel that led all the way down to the water's edge.  Some say it was used to hide priests from the British, others believe that it was used to smuggle goods and escaped Confederate soldiers to or from Virginia during the Civil War.  And some believe it was part of the Underground Railroad.  

Whatever its use, this place is an important part of Maryland's history and a beautiful place to take one last look at autumn.  I'm now ready to join the rest of you and break out my candy canes and cookie making supplies.

I have savored fall this year in a way I never have before, and I wasn't quite ready to let it go until today.  I think we all do that a little more as we get older.  Where we once couldn't wait for the school year to end or for Christmas Day to arrive, now I just like holding on and taking one last look.  So goodbye sweet autumn and hello Christmas!

What have you needed to take one last look at lately?