A friend of mine took this pic over the summer when he went to europe

Yup, Cambridge, right across the river. It's not a park, it's the MIT football field - the building is Simmons Hall, dormitory.

Thanks for the compliments!

Once it warms up a bit I'm going to try to get some shots of the Boston Skyline at night from a vantage point I recently discovered.

Analyst, your photo is absolutely gorgeous. I love the colors so much.

God, I want a DSLR so bad. I love to shoot macros, but it takes a lot of bad shots to get one good shot with my little cybershot.

But when I do get one it's worth it :-)

Wow, that colleseum one is ridic, look at the clouds, it reminds me of Gladiator. I also like the cement raod into the ocean in the OP, and the jets by-tor got, you can see the tail smoke out of the jet

PJ,

Thanks for your contributions to this thread. The photos you provided as examples are slick and really illustrate what you were saying.

Anyways, I realized recently that I have taken very few pictures of my life for the last six years. For some reason I just never really thought about it. I regretted this a lot so I went out and got a digital camera last week.

Since then I have been taking pictures of everything and can't get enough of it. I find the entire process fascinating and it makes a great hobby. I've taken a few pictures I like, but nothing that would be considered 'good' by general standards.

I'd really like to learn more, does anyone else have any photography tips/advice they want to share?

Look out, that deer is going to charge!


Oh brother, I ain't ever leaving Montana:

Would anyone be into a weekly photo challenge where you either take a new photo, or post a previous photo you took, on the theme?

In terms of getting better, I received an excellent book as a present and read it for technical tips, but mostly: carry your camera everywhere and don't be afraid to shoot.

I have travelled a fair bit this year, allowing me to flex my macro muscle and use my work camera (a sweet sweet D70s) a little bit. Some of my favorites:

These are from Hawaii:









This was just a poignant moment. Two girls had been walking down Sunset beach on the North Shore, their dog trailing. As they ran off into the surf, he sat and waited for them.

These are from Thailand:







Just a few random shots:






RIP, "Smokey"

From my trip to Australia:

1st place - Analyst, by a wide margin.

2nd place - By-tor for the beach shot.

3rd place - Octopi, third pic in her post.

Here's some pics that I took with my friend's daughter and a little spinny glow thing. The cool thing is she did all the effects in Picassa. She was able to do some creative stuff and create a web page w/o being knowing anything about computers or photography. I highly recommend picassa as a photo organizer and simple editor.

http://www.synergizethis.com/Shelby/














Nice how she made me look like Hannibal Lecter here. This pic gives me the willies.

These are some pics I took in Morocco last May.


Merzuga, on the edge of the Sahara:


Sunrise the next morning:


Camel ride back:


Waterfall in Ouzoud:


Essaouira, We'll man the ramparts:


Birds at the beach in Essaouira:


Sunset:

Hey Suzz, sorry I missed you in LA a couple weeks ago.

I love these threads - though a photographer I'm not. I did snap this one of my youngest swimming in a pool at night. Turned sideways, it almost has an angelic (bias ) painting type look.

Wow, that is a really sweet pic. Sorry I missed you too. I've had a brutal cold for 3 weeks that kind of had an intermission in the middle.

OK, pretty dull on the surface I guess, and a view you see every day Suzz. But my previous 40 years of beach experience had been limited to either resort/high-rise settings or sprawling mansions. The utter absence of unique, discern-able properties was stunning for me. It's as if it were one huge, single, haphazardly constructed structure shared by all.



(larger image here...maybe giving you a better sense)

Yeah, not new to you LA guys, but very memorable for me

Hancock Building in Chicago -- playing with B&W, intentional sun flare, and archictecture-enhancing angles:






Wow, I just found one I don't even remember taking. But this is a girl named Ana.

Some very good photos. I was interested in Photography when younger and took a college class and a private class on Photography. This was mostly black and white and we learned to developed film and photos etc and had concept and composition lessons. I still have many slides and B&W stuff in boxes. The sildes I wish to preserve somehow. Anyway I will add a few photos that I took recently with my new digital wonder camera. My Nikon 35mm FE2 is on a shelf.


Bell Tower, Xi'an China.





Sunset, Oregon Coast







Abstract






-Zeno

I like that last one. It reminds me of something out of Time Bandits or Mad Max.

I'm kind of a photo buff. I even installed a darkroom in a closet. It's not light tight so I just wait until dark and turn out the lights to work. The closet is ~26" wide. On the other side of the wall behind the enlarger is the sink area outside my bathroom. Luckily, that wall had an outlet so I pulled power into the DR from there. I lay my trays out from L>R, top to bottom: Dev, stop, fix, wash. I have fun with it.

elus,

The Coliseum picture is HDR, correct?

Just thought this looked cool because the ear makes it look like a unicorn a bit:

Dusk in Barcelona:


Dusk in Barcelona 2:


Ride out of Barcelona:



I don't know why I like this picture so much but I do. Outside my house with the "Aged Newspaper" effect, the orignal is cool too:


Waterfall in Ithaca, NY


I love this shot due to the action of my friend in contrast to the sign:


My favorite sign ever:

Seriously: photo mission thread once a month a la the ICOOT cook offs?

i have nothing to offer this thread besides a very heartfelt thanks to all who have posted in it.

I have no idea how to take photos. I am going to try Private Joker's suggestion about the 9 boxes and see what happens.




My back yard.




Serrano Ham wrapped Gulf Shrimp at Blacksalt, a restaurant in D.C.




NPR headquarters in D.C.




Some bacon that I made.




A bayou shot out in Acadiana, 50 miles west of New Orleans

I'm at work, so I'll post some better ones later. Here's a few for now:

My daughter born last week:












(edited out last photo/ wasn't appearing correctly)