Red Coat and Rabbit Ears

Red Coat and Rabbit Ears by Kevin Murphy

This is just a simple, quick snapshot from a party we had recently, but I thought it captured a very representative moment of what life is like in my circle of friends. Melissa (she who wears the coat) is a fantastic ham for the camera, posing at a moment's notice with that knowing, innocent / evil mix of a smile she so often wears.

Chris, while not the focal point of what's happening in this particular scene, is very near to the foreground, participating and contributing and almost certainly did something to make us all laugh within a few seconds of the shutter closing.

Josh, off to the right of the scene is never one to miss an opportunity for a prank. While this still would have perhaps been an interesting photo, without his contribution it probably would have slipped through my filter and been left in the "Meh" pile as far as what I think others may be interested in seeing.

I also used this as an experiment to see how easily I could apply "selective color" to make the vibrant red coat stand out in the scene. It was a surprisingly easy process!

Civil War Meets Chinese Gunpowder

Civil War Meets Chinese Gunpowder by Kevin Murphy

This was the culmination of an entire day / evening of food, fun and blowing things up. Neal had this great idea kicking around in his head and so we decided to make it happen. It's always a lot of fun when you get an idea, plan it out, execute it and you actually end up with a nice product!

I've got a plethora of other photos from Independence Day, and I'll probably get around to posting them up somewhere soon (probably Flickr) but I figured I'd better get this one online somewhere before I wound up with several boots places firmly in my posterior. So here it is, enjoy!

The Last Kiss

The Last Kiss by Skorobeus on Zooomr

Sometimes I have to force myself to find motivation to shoot. I have to make myself look harder and concentrate to find the inspiration to capture a moment. This was one of those times. As I was eating the chocolates that sat out on the coffee table and their numbers dwindled down to one this subtle gesture occurred to me.

This one's for you...

Hanging On

Hanging On by Skorobeus on Zooomr

Decided to take the opportunity yesterday to shoot some of the very interesting icicles hanging from the eaves of my house.  An interesting effect happened when I opened the window on the East side of the house to take these shots though...  There's a radiator immediately below the window, and so the heat was, well, radiating out into the VERY cold afternoon air and actually causing the icicles to start melting faster.  It made for some neat shots as droplets ran down and, as is the case in this photo, would hang from the bottom of the icicle before dropping to an icy demise below.

A Fine Hydrant

A Fine Hydrant by Skorobeus on Zooomr

Not a whole lot to say about this hydrant, mainly just using it as a test to see how well this TypePad thing will work as an alternative to Pownce for photo-blogging.

I used a plugin for Aperture called Silver Efex Pro to create this image. I'm very much enjoying its featureset, not yet sure if I'll be throwing down the money to buy it.

Best Seats In The House!

Best Seats In The House! by Skorobeus on Zooomr

Went to the "Wheels & Warbirds" Air and Car show in Millville, NJ on Sunday with my dad and a friend of his. All in all, we had a good time, though the management of the event left much to be desired...

We showed up around 10:30am, and parked our car in the NJ Motorsports Park as directed by the signs. We walked around the classic cars for a few minutes, and made our way to the shuttle buses that we were told would carry us to the airport side of the complex (there was no way to walk there due to the race tracks) so that we could view the "static line" of airplanes. This was what I was primarily looking forward to, an opportunity to see the warbirds up close and personal.

As we approached the line for the buses, they began pulling up and people filed out of them. Unfortunately we were told at that point that the buses would not be returning to the airport, and that the static line was closed down as the airshow would be starting soon (It was scheduled to begin at 12 noon)... After much cursing and complaining, the line dispersed and we all found seats for the airshow.

The rest of the event was enjoyable, I got some great pictures of the birds in flight, despite trying to hand-hold a 70-200 L lens. I'd probably do it again, but show up much earlier!

Limited Edition Girl

Limited Edition Girl by Skorobeus on Zooomr

On Saturday we visited the nearby Orange County Choppers location. It's this amazingly huge building set in the middle of Newburgh, NY. The inside is about 50% shop / set and 50% showroom, where they have a large number of the "show bikes" on display as well as several that were built simply to be sold. A neat experience, I'll have to do it again and be better prepared photographically!