stina's post

If you ever have the chance to see the "Rolling Thunder" you should definitely check it out. Hundreds and hundreds of bikes ride on Memorial Day to honor veterans. I'm not sure what their official site is, but if you google them you can get more info. They came through town today while I was at the gallery so I got a few good shots as they were passing through.


There's so many bikes!

And I'm jealous of some of the really sweet rides that I spotted in the group.


Yup, I'm a biker too (for adventure and gas savings…and the occasional head turn) so here's the view of the passing group with my ride in the foreground. I'm thinking of starting a local biker chic gang…any takers?

Engagement shoots are such a great way to get to know a couple. If this shoot was an indicator of how well the wedding day will go, then I'm in luck! I met up with Vickie and Neil this week at the UVM green which it turned out was appropriate since Neil just finished getting his BA in computer science. Congrats Neil! Vickie also was a UVM grad. Both are multi-talented, but we had fun bringing out their Ultimate skills with some action frisbee shots.

Jason's parents Dick and Barbara are up for a visit this weekend which is great since I haven't gotten to do much visiting lately. We had a great lunch from Park Cafe and then were treated to a little parade that made its way down Main Street. The "Moving Wall," which is the Vietnam War Memorial replica, is in town so the parade was part of that ceremony. But since it went right in front of the gallery we brought out a couple of sweet armchairs for some great viewing seats. Needless to say, the marching veterans got a kick out of it!

My new friend Katrina visited yesterday because she was in need of some mentoring for a photography project she's doing for school. She's really enthusiastic about her plans to take some nice flower photographs and then donate her cheery artwork to a public space. Even though it was drizzly, we headed up to Taylor Park to find some cool shots and I got a couple of her in action. Hopefully the few tips I had will be useful in her project! Next she's visiting a teacher to learn photoshop techniques and then has a big presentation to prepare for.

Here's a couple of her at work and a few shots I took.

I picked up some quick shots at the Maple Fest Sunday afternoon while taking a brief break from the gallery. What a busy weekend! As usual the festival provided a lot of "colorful" opportunities, but I was in a good mood so I only shot the nice ones…Yay for the weather we had!

…that it's MOTORCYCLE SEASON. Yay!

I have to say that one of my all-time favorite sounds in the world is the peepers in spring. To me that is the sound of the world awakened at last after struggling to keep my toes toasty the whole damn winter. I love sitting out at night (preferably by a fire pit) and just soaking in that sound. And yesterday marked their Northeast arrival.

I stopped on the way home last night to take this pic of the osprey pair that has a new roost atop an electric pole platform in the swamp in Fairfield. I'm thinking it will make a good addition to my power-line series. And as I shot from the side of the road, I was serenaded by the peepers.

Most of the year I grumble a little about where I live. It's far out and isolated and a long enough (and twisty) drive that it can get tedious. But once spring hits I'm a little happier about our location because of the sounds and smells. On the drive last night I caught the ospreys at sunset, the beaver in the creek, and a heron gliding over the house.

So glad spring is here!

I just got a new lens and after trying it out last night, I am in love. I've been reading on the OSP forum about a lot of people using "primes" which I found out meant fixed focal length (no zoom). They are typically cheaper and you can get them with apertures that go down to 1.2. I had always thought that I was missing something in not being able to acheive that sweet shallow depth of field even in a lens that stops at 2.8, but holy cow what a difference it makes! I got just a standar 50mm 1.4 that I plan to use for portraits and weddings. I think I'm going to be using flash a LOT less now (which I don't like the look of anyway) and loving my pictures more. The ones above I shot last night during a reception at the gallery and I'm really stoked!

I almost forgot to mention that I have a new website! Well, same site, stinaplant.com, but I've upgraded to a flash site so I'm hoping this is an improvement. If anyone notices any kinks, feel free to let me know!

Literally, the air is sweet this time of year as all the sugar shacks spring into action to churn out some maple syrup. I've been working on a series of sugarhouses shot at night for a few years now and above is one of my most recent additions. Someday, I'll pull them all together!