The Great Outdoors | FstopDown Photography

About Fstopdown Photography

Hi. I'm Joe, the caretaker of this piece of cyberspace. I've been called a jack of all trades. A lover of the unique. An eccentric for loving how everything tastes saltier after a day at the ocean. My passion is storytelling and with every shutter click I add one more word to my picturesque novel. Every photo shoot is one more chapter. Come along for the journey and claim your spot in some of the greatest stories ever told.

Archive for the ‘The Great Outdoors’ Category

This Is War Peacock!

May 24, 2010

Besides being a lover of quotes from hysterical movies (check the title), I happen to be an even bigger lover of nature. Mostly. Okay, I’m not a huge fan of nature as a whole, but I do love me some birds, bugs and..uhh…something else that starts with a “B” and deals with nature.

My fascination with the wild started almost the same time my love for photography did. I remember quite clearly that the Nintendo game The Legend of Zelda II – The Adventure of Link, sparked my desire to “explore” the woods behind my house. I remember collecting little clumps of dirt that would explode in a cloud of brown dust upon striking a tree. Then there was the endless forked sticks that looked like swords that I would wield against the evil minions known as “Thick Stalk Weeds” and “Pricker Bush of Doom”. I had an entertaining childhood to say the least.

Once I grew a little older and I was a bit more mobile I started to roller skate. Lucky for me, The Farmington Canal Trail was built shortly afterward and I would strap on my skates and do laps up and down day after day. One of my trips brought me to the Cheshire/Hamden town border and I spent the afternoon hanging out around Brooksvale Park. It’s a small park that has a working farm and a little pond on the property. It’s a great spot for just hanging out or getting some needed inspiration for artistic endeavors. It’s also the place where i first stumbled upon a real life peacock. I was a happy camper that day.

Brooksvale Park yielded me Picture #2 on the top 10 favorite picture list!

Tags: Brooksvale Park, Brooksvale Park Hamden Connecticut, Brooksvale Park Photography, Connecticut Digested, Connecticut Wildlife, Connecticut Wildlife Photography
Posted in The Great Outdoors, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Everyone Has Their Something

May 24, 2010

As the title suggests, everyone has something that is special all to themselves. Something they either are or do that makes everything in their life just a little bit better.

I’m lucky enough to have a multitude of things that if given the opportunity, I could spend the remainder of my days consumed in a never ending “life high”.

Out of the myriad of activities, the beach holds the top spot. If you know where to go, it has everything. Warmth. Waves. Wildlife. Good food. Good views. People watching. Stellar sunrises and romantic sunsets. It encapsulates the way I strive to lead my life. A quiet power surrounded by majestic beauty and the feeling of complete relaxation. It’s a tall order, but someone has to do it.

I’ve tried to avoid bringing my camera to the beach all too often as it wrecks havoc on the sensitive inner parts of my precision capture device, but realistically, I hardly leave it at home when I make the trek down to the shore.

Later this year I plan on making my first West Coast trip to put to rest the idea that there is an East vs West contest as to who has the more enjoyable beaches, but for now enjoy a few shots from Milford Beach in Milford, CT.

This photo session brought out Number 7 on my top ten photos list!

Tags: Connecticut Birding, Connecticut Birding Photography, Connecticut Digested, Connecticut Waterfowl, Connecticut Wildlife, Connecticut Wildlife Photography, Milford Beach, Milford Beach Photography, Milford Connecticut Photography
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Slowy I Turn. Step By Step.

May 24, 2010

I’ve never been a very good landscape photographer. I’d like to, really I would. It’s quite possible that I’ve never really been presented with a stunning enough backdrop to take a decent photo, or perhaps it’s my desire to always get a little closer and a little tighter with my shots that keeps me from seeing things properly on the wide end of my lens lineup. Whatever the case may be, there are times when you have to leave your comfort zone a bit and take on the challenge. It doesn’t hurt when you have Niagara Falls as your inspiration.

I took a trip into the Great White North a few months before they instituted the policy that you have to show a passport, license, social security number, birth certificate, high school diploma, your baseball card collection, and triplicate copies of your web browsing history to cross between the U.S. and Canada. I won’t get political, but I enjoyed the ability to walk across a bridge between two countries for about $3 and a little bit of sweat.

Although the trip provided with some photo opportunities outside of the falls, I focused on finally getting some landscapes I could blow up and mount on my almost barren house walls.

I was not disappointed with the end results.

I happened to find a way to mix both the wide angle shots with my own closeup style to create some excellent portrayals of the falls both during the day time and when they throw the lights on at night.

It was a fun trip, a profitable one with some good play at the poker tables at Casino Niagara, and a chance to finally mount my first photo on the wall in my pad.

Who would have thought Canada would have given me Picture #4 on my favorite shot list?