Kipona ArtFest – Harrisburg, PA – September 5-7, 2009

I will be at the at the Kipona ArtFest at Riverfront Park in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania this weekend. I will have several new flower photos with me this weekend. You can see my most recent flower photographs on my BeautifulFlowerPictures.com website.

I’m offering a special offer this weekend – available only at the Kipona ArtFest in Harrisburg. For each $50 of photography you purchase from me, take $10 off your total purchase. So you can take $ 10 off a purchase of $ 50 or more, $20 off a purchase of $ 100 or more, etc. This offer cannot be combined with any other special offers.

Show hours are Saturday September 5 10 AM – 7  PM, Sunday September 6 12 PM – 7 PM,  and Monday September 7 10 AM – 5 PM. My booth number is 43 this weekend.

Directions to Riverfront Park and additional information is available on the show website.

I hope to see you in Harrisburg this weekend.

Nightshade – Solanum dulcamara

One of the delicate wildflowers I photographed on our recent trip to Maine was Nightshade (solanum dulcamara). I found the nightshade growing on the rocky shore across from Acadia National Park’s Seawall Campground on route 102A near Bass Harbor.

It was a very harsh, rocky environment. And there was a plant with delicate purple and yellow flowers. Here are a few of my photos of the nightshade flowers.

Nightshade (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Photography Links – August 28, 2009

I found lots of interesting info on the web this week – hope you find it useful

Matt Suess has a review of Darkness – an iPhone app for photographers.

Jim Goldstein has 10 Great Audio Resources for Photo Videos

Photocritic has information on how to clean your DSLR sensor.

The NY Times has an article on Faked Photographs

Markus Jais has 11 Tips for Photographing Butterflies

Photofocus has Say No to Artifacting and The Biggest Lie in Both Still Photo and Video

Terry White has a review of the HyperDrive Colorspace UDMA Photo Backup

Dogster has 5 Tips to Improve Your Pet Photography

Yanik has a  Zoo Photography Tutorial

The LA Times has an article on Photoshopped Images.

PhotoAttorney has Quicklicks with Lessons to Be Learned

PhotoWalkPro has ideas on Having Some Online Fun with Your Photos

Digital Photography School has 10 Tips for Great Telephoto Photography

Black Star Rising has 8 Lessons My College Photography Instructor Never Taught Me

ThinkBigArt has 3 Steps to Social Media Success for Photographers and 5 Best Practices for Photography Websites

The Register has How the Anti-Copyright Lobby Makes Big Business Richer

Fulmer Falls, Delaware Water Gap

On the last couple of weekends, Bill and I have spent some time photographing the waterfalls in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. We stopped in the area as we heading to and returning from photographing in Maine’s Acadia National Park.

Located less than five hours from the Washington DC area, the Delaware Water Gap has some wonderful photographic opportunities – the river, several waterfalls, wildflowers,  and streams.

On Sunday morning, I photographed Fulmer Falls in the George W. Childs Recreation site. It was a very overcast morning, we were lucky to get some shooting in before the rain started to fall.It had rained the previous day, so there was plenty of water coming over the falls when we were there.

Fulmer Falls is a wonderful waterfall to photograph. Not only can you photograph the entire falls, but it is also very easy to photograph some of the details of the falls.

Here’s a wide angle view of the falls

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

The left side of the falls

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Detail of the water cascading down the left side of the falls

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Detail of the top of the falls

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

The right hand side of the falls

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Factory Falls and Deer Leap Falls are also located in the George W Childs Recreation site. I’ll be posting photos of them soon.

Smoky Mountain Violets

In the spring, wild violets seem to be everywhere in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. There are several varieties of violets that grow in the Smokies. I’ve managed to photograph a few of them.

First, some sweet white violets (viola blanda) growing along Porter’s Creek Trail.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Some Northern White Violets (Viola macloskeyi ssp pallens) growing along the Middle Prong Trail

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Some Wooly Blue Violets (Viola sororia) also found along the Middle Prong Trail.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Some Marsh Blue Violets (Viola cucullata) growing along Porter’s Creek Trail

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

And finally some yellow violets (not sure which variety) growing among the Trillium, phlox and other wildflowers along the Cove Hardwood Trail.

Trillium and Blue Phlox (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

I’m hoping to photograph a few more varieties of violets next spring.

Photography Links – August 21, 2009

Just a few links this week

Photofocus has Help – There’s Something Wrong with My Camera

Thomas Hawk has Think You Can Rip Someone’s Image from the Internet and Use It For Free?

Google has added a way to Specify Images License for your photos

Lighting Essentials has 20+ Non-Photographic Essentials for Location photography

PhotoAttorney has info on a Photographer who won $1000 in Small Claims Court for Unauthorized Use of a photo

Rising Star has 5 Reasons Photographers Should Sell Value not Price

Photo Business News & Forum has info on Ebay’s new Policy that Unreasonably Exploits Your Photos to Sell other Auctions

Even More Orchids

As promised, here are a few more photos of some of the unusual orchids I photographed earlier this year.

A Zygoneria Adelaide Meadows orchid

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

A Bakerara Flying High Pacific Paradise orchid

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

And a Maclellanara Pagan Lovesong Chocolate Thunder orchid

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

I’m still working my way through some of the sets of photos I took earlier this year – I’m sure there are more orchid photos among them. If I find more that I like, I’ll post them in the future.

Some Unusual Orchids

I was looking at some of the orchid photos I took earlier this year – and realized that I had a group of very unusual shaped flowers and hadn’t shared the photos on my blog. So here they are.

First a Beallara Tropical Splendor Golden Gate orchid

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Two different  Degarmoara Hani Star of Unicorn orchids

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hanknis

And a Masdevallia Copper Angel Highland Orchid

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

I just realized I’ve got too many photos for one blog post – so I’ll post the rest later in the week.

Jungle Gold Impatiens – impatiens auricoma

Last January I spent some time at the conservatory at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, Virginia. Bill and I headed over to the gardens on a cold morning – and had a great time photographing in the warmth. One of the flowers I photographed was the Jungle Gold Impatiens.

Jungle Gold Impatiens (impatiens auricoma) is a perennial native to tropical Africa. The flowers are amazing – both in the shape of the blossoms and the variety of colors.

Here’s the group of flowers all on one Jungle Gold Impatiens plant.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

One of the fascinating parts of the plant is the little jagged spikes along the edge of the leaves

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Take a look at the fine patterns on the inside of the flower – the red lines make a great contrast to the bright yellow of rest of the flower.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

And finally – the wonderful shades of orange on the back of the flower.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

The Jungle Gold Impatiens were a fun flower to photograph – especially on a cold winter day.

Photography Links – August 14, 2009

Here are some stories on the web we found interesting this week

WSJ has  the Best Fair-Use Controvery Ever

Photo Business News & Forum has Obama Image Copyright Infringement Issues

Guy Tal has  The Shoulders of Giants

Black Star Rising has Why I’ve Gone Back to Making Prints of Family Photos,  Five Tips for Selling Your Old Photography Gear on Ebay and  Don’t Fall for these Six Digital Photography Myths

Virtual Photography Studio has It’s Not About Looking, It’s About Seeing

Photofocus has Good Enough for Ansel? Good Enough for You

The Blog Herald has Copyright, Jurisdiction and You

PhotoAttorney has Copyright News and  Photography Not Allowed – 32

Digital Photography School has How to Photograph Abandoned Places

Paul Burwell has The Ethics of Digital Photo Manipulation