Robert Krasker's photostream

A weekend trip to Newport, Rhode Island, marked my first real opportunity for landscape photography since I became a father 4 months ago. While I wouldn't trade parenthood for anything, it was nice to fleetingly return to old habits.

Christ casts an ambiguous glance at a mansion atop the cliffs of Newport, RI.
The house seemed the stuff of gothic novels, and the statue seemed an ideal third element to balance the sky and building.

Everywhere in DC seems to be in bloom. but it was in the least colorful part of Audobon Nature Sanctuary at Woodend that I found the most compelling image of the day in the contrast between the bare branches and white blossoms. Lamentably, I couldn't find a way to declutter the composition in the field, though I did try to convey a sense of comparative emphasis through saturation and contrast adjustments in post.

I loved the contours of the stump and branches, but couldn't find a way to separate them from the background during the shoot. Some burning and conversion to black and white reduced the color somewhat, and some edge blur reinforced the emphasis even more. Better yet, the somewhat unnatural effect of the edge blur evoked something previously unrealized in stump and branches that had originally caught my eye.

The National Mall appears comparatively uncrowded in the final weekend before the Cherry Blossom Festival begins.