he aint heavy, he’s my brother

Posted on by Tim McMurdo

I have a brother. To protect his identity, we will just call him Scott. Wednesday when his wife and I took our niece and nephew (we will just call them Nate and Sloan) to the zoo, we ran into his spitting image.

 

Papa Orangutang

 

It's not the long flowing red hair or the way this slothful orangutang lounges that reminds me of Scott. It's more the look in the poor animals face and his great big round belly that reminds me of Scott. I guess it is hard to swing when the hammock hits the ground every time you get in it. 

Just keeping it real…

oh, and don't hit me or I will tell mom.

 

 

ella!

Posted on by Tim McMurdo

Ella

 

The name is Ella and she is a corker to be sure. I am not even sure what a corker is, but if it means that she is a lady full of spunk and energy, then corker she is. She is a gorgeous pointer and unfortunately, my sister in law won't let her come home with me. 

My sister in law is a fantastic lady and normally I think very highly of her. However, on the issue of Ella, we are not seeing eye to eye. I hear that possession is nine tenths of the law so, she wins. I will miss little Ella. She fetches the ball so well and gives such nice kisses.

Alas Ella, tis not to be.

 

good morning from the pond

Posted on by Tim McMurdo

Goose on Pond

 

Good morning folks,

Today I will be making the transition from my brother’s home back to my parents. Along the way, there will be a trip to the zoo. I have a lot of pictures to share with you but for now, I will leave you with an image of my morning on my brother’s pond. Peaceful quiet, listening to the world slowly awaken.

Have a great day.

Tim

meet cujo

Posted on by Tim McMurdo

Cujo

 

For most of us, the name Cujo brings up images of a giant possessed dog with evil red eyes and dripping teeth. Not at my brother's house. At his home, Cujo is the name of the Canadian Goose that has taken up residence in his back yard. Cujo barely tolerates my brother and absolutely detests the sight of my sister in law. If she shows her face, Cujo chases her around. Poor Stephanie… she didn't ask for a Cujo in her life, nor does she deserve one.

feeling a photograph

Posted on by Tim McMurdo

This past weekend I participated in a photography challenge over at light stalking (if you are a photographer, you should check them out). The topic was texture… no other explanation, just texture. The subject got me to thinking about how I could make the viewer feel the the subject of the photograph just using his/her eyes. There are a lot of ways to make us feel the emotion in a photo. That is not what I was after. I wanted the viewer to know exactly what the object would feel like, by just looking at the image.

I am visiting my parent's home in Atlanta this week and they are collectors of antiques and have a wonderful yard filled with plants and stone walls and ponds, so finding a subject would be a process of narrowing down the great candidates that are available.

In the end, after trying out several shots, I settled on this image of my grandfather's whistle sitting on a stone path. I liked the way the texture of the stone path contrasted with the rusted chrome of the whistle.

 

Whistle on Stone

 

The image is certainly interesting with its shallow depth of field and the vibrant color of the rust. But can you feel the rust in your mind after seeing the image? I wanted to experiment a little further and to be honest, I thought that the color of the rust was just a little to close to the color of some of the stones and the similarity was a little too distracting for the image I wanted.

When I need to have my subject stand out from a busy background or one that has similar colors, I have a couple of options at my disposal. I could use a shallow depth of field or blurring the background in post processing to make the subject stand out. The DOF is already pretty shallow and about right for what I wanted, so I opted for another solution and switched to black and white, hoping that the resulting contrast between light and dark would make my subject pop and place the focus not so much on the whistle, but on the rust itself. The final result is the following B&W conversion.

 

Whistle on Stone B&W

 

I adjusted the color channels to filter out most of the blues in the image to create the final contrast. I think the result is successful. The texture of the whistle really seems to pop, giving a really grainy feel. What do you think? 

Tim

 

framed!

Posted on by Tim McMurdo

Framed!

 

I'm being framed I tell ya, FRAMED!

The last time we saw my parent's cat miss kitty, she was sitting on her throne, enjoying a nap in the sun. To show that she can also get on the ground and associate with us mere mortals, Miss kitty deigned to allow me to photograph her under the kitchen table where there also happened to be a nice warm spot of sunshine.

old wood

Posted on by Tim McMurdo

P4012467

Ok, I have some friends and family that are rolling over laughing right now. However, this post is about old wood. Specifically, some old wood I found at my parent's home, here in Atlanta. The weather has pitted the wood with deep holes & I like the way the light and shadow interact on the surface of the wood.

So, go ahead and laugh at the old wood, I think it looks great.

building walls

Posted on by Tim McMurdo

P4012436

 

One of the common features of my parents yards has aways been the rock walls that snake their way around the house and gardens, framing in the yard or bordering the drive. My father will spend years building them, using rocks gathered far and wide. When my parents move on to a new home, he starts the process all over again.

Many hours of the youth of my siblings and me was spent helping to gather the rocks. Usually the process consisted of my father driving like mad down back roads until he saw a good candidate. He would then slam on his brakes and all of the kids and grand kids piled out and wrangled the unsuspecting boulder into the van. I am sure that we startled many an onlooker over the years.

Once home, the rock would be added to a growing pile of similar stones until Dad had enough to continue building on the wall or until the project was finished. The result has always been the same. Gorgeous gardens and yards, all accessorized with their own custom built stone wall.

 

good morning

Posted on by Tim McMurdo

P4012421

Good morning everybody. Yesterday, I woke up at 5:30 and hit the road early. Drove from Ohio to Georgia and arrived around 3:30. Dad grilled steaks for dinner and after dinner, we all played 31, laughed and nibbled until around 9:30 when we decided we could not take it any longer and went to bed. By "we" I mean anybody above the age of 21. Josh and Katie probably stayed up longer.

When I woke up this morning at 7, the birds were singing and the light was just beginning to peek into the window. I took this photo and it looks as bleary as I felt. However, I slept like a rock and I am ready for what ever adventure the day has to offer. I don't think it is possible to have a bad night's sleep when you are in your parents home, even if it is not the house you grew up in.

Tim

travel day

Posted on by Tim McMurdo

Today I drove from Ohio to visit my family in Atlanta. The trip is usually fairly uneventful. However, today I drove through a snow storm as I crossed over the mountains between Kentucky and Tennessee. I am not sure of the name of these mountains. But, I am sure that if you were to look at them on a map, they would be called "White Knuckle Mtns." Yep, it says so on my map, right under the words, here there be monsters.

Tomorrow is supposed to be gorgeous. I will be sure to post some pictures for my snow bound friends up north.

Tim