Dustin McCollum Photography: February 2011

Rockin' Chair

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Rockin' Chair, originally uploaded by dustinmccollum.

This one's from Christmas break. She's already changed so much since then. Her hair looked nice in this picture even though it hadn't been cut yet. Not sure how that happened since this was the end of the day, and it's usually a wreck then.

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Legal Barrier

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Metal Fence, originally uploaded by dustinmccollum.

Outside a law firm in downtown Roanoke.

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Star in the Fog

Friday, February 25, 2011

Star in the Fog, originally uploaded by dustinmccollum.

Another fog photo from yesterday. I have so many shots of this thing, I tried to find new angles. I think I found one with this.

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Twins

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Twins, originally uploaded by dustinmccollum.

Took a quick trip up the mountain this afternoon before dinner. I wanted to get some photos of the trees in the fog. It was almost too foggy for my autofocus. It struggled a bit at times.

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Rachel Eyes

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Rachel 2/17/11, originally uploaded by dustinmccollum.

It's been a while since a posted a picture of Rachel. We had a little time outside the other day since the weather was nice. I love her eyes in this shot.

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Bicycle Dude

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

City Biker, originally uploaded by dustinmccollum.

This guy was really bookin' it when he passed me the other day. Panning and a slower shutter speed made the background streak too, giving the photo more of a sense of motion.

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Light Up

Monday, February 21, 2011

Light Up, originally uploaded by dustinmccollum.

Something a little different from yesterday's afternoon photo excursion in downtown Roanoke.

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City Buildings

Sunday, February 20, 2011

City Buildings, originally uploaded by dustinmccollum.

I shot this from the top of one of the parking garages downtown. I hadn't been walking around downtown Roanoke in a long time. It was nice to get out and not really know what you were going to take pictures of.

I decided to only take one lens with me, my 50mm 1.8. There were several times when I wish I had my wide zoom, but having only one focal length forces you to get creative sometimes. I think I might do this again sometime with just a telephoto lens and see what happens.

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Radio Tower

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Radio Tower, originally uploaded by dustinmccollum.

This is at Mill Mountain. I only got one keeper from this trip because some homeless guy kept following me and talking to me, so I left. I think I will go back and try some more sometime soon now that it is a little warmer and you can feel your fingers while you are outside at night. It would be interesting to see if I could get some long star trails here too. I don't know if that would be possible here though because of all the street lights.

Everyone (including me) seems to only take pictures of the city or the star while up on the mountain. So I wanted to try something different. This was the result.

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Tree shots

Thursday, February 17, 2011

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Blue Heron?

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Came across this really cool bird on one of the boardwalk paths at Swan Lake. He (or she, I don't know) was very calm. I was able to get about 20 feet away before he moved. I wanted to get some of him in flight too, but when he flew off he went towards the sun so all I got was a silhouette.

I couldn't decide if I liked the color or black and white version, so I posted both. I like the background separation that the black and white gives, but I also like the colors of the feathers on the bird.

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Stale Bread and a Picnic Saturday

Sunday, February 13, 2011

We went to visit my parents for the weekend. Before we leave, we try to clean up a little so the house is not a wreck when we get back. While cleaning, Lori was getting ready to throw out some old bread and asked me if there was anywhere we could take Rachel on Saturday to feed some ducks or something since we knew the weather was supposed to be nice. I remembered Swan Lake in Sumter, SC (about 45 minutes from my parent's house). So we decided to go there for the day.

The weather turned out to be really nice. We were excited to spend the day outside, and especially for Rachel since this winter has left us confined to the indoors. We get there, get unpacked, get to the gate, and see this sign.

Well that stinks. So we can't feed the birds now. Last time I went we fed them like crazy. We figured they either got really overweight or just became too aggressive towards people. So here we are with stale bread that we can't feed the birds. Oh well, we still walked around and had a great time. I spent a lot of the time taking pictures and my parents enjoyed spending the time with Rachel.

This swan may have been resting on some eggs. She (I assume "she") stayed like this as we walked by. Didn't seem to be bothered by anything. I did try to keep a little space though. You never know when one of these birds is going to go psycho on you.

Taking in the landscapes. Got several more I will share later.

There were several different kinds of swans and other birds there. There was even a really cool Blue Heron I got some cool shots of. I'll share those later as well.

This little guy needs a thought bubble.

I end this post with a bit of irony. We packed a picnic lunch to eat while we were there. We lug everything out of the back of the car, and trek on over to the picnic benches. We get things set up, and it is then that my mom realizes we didn't pack the bread for the sandwiches. Poop! Off to McDonald's.

.....more to come

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Tree in a Field

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Shot this from a country road in the mountains of Montgomery County, VA.

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New River

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Somewhere near Radford, VA. Probably couldn't get back to this spot if I wanted to. It involved many random turns. GPS on the phone helped me find my way out. Yet another nice thing about smart phones.

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Dirt Road

Monday, February 7, 2011

Took this just driving around. Car's a little dirty now.

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Boardwalk

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On the road...

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Took my kids from school to district band this weekend. Took a few pictures while I was out at lunch one day. These were taken in Christiansburg, VA. It was cloudy and cold pretty much the whole time we were there.

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January Sunrise

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

This was the sunrise Sunday in Virginia Beach. There were more clouds this time so the sunrise was a little more colorful than when I went last year (link).

I would have loved to have done some long exposures with the waves coming in, but I got to the beach too late for that. I didn't realize how bright it would be even before the sun came up. Guess I've been too used to the mountains.

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