Thanks Old Timer

I was inspired and took theese last night at a cementery just outside the Salem Witch Museum. this is the place where all the people were wrongly accused/killed were immortalized. They are not actually buried here---no one knows exactly where they were all placed.It's a pretty eerie feeling place. Something about being surrounded by that many tombstones of people that were simply killed by ignorance. The wind was howling and it was really dreary and getting dark--- FREAKY...here's more info

http://www.salemwitchmuseum.com/learn.html

anyway here's a few---my first attempts at going manual the settings are in the new gallery... all suggestions for improvement most welcome...i think overall they had the same dreary feel I got while I was there

[my first attempts at going manual the settings are in the new gallery... all suggestions for improvement most welcome...i think overall they had the same dreary feel I got while I was there[/QUOTE]


That is really kind of freaky Natalie. Last Saturday morning while I was taking my images in the cemetery was the first time I had ventured into manuel with the D70. What is really strange, for me anyway, is that untill 2 years ago when I got the N80 I had never shoot any thing but manuel. I really enjoyed getting in the M setting, I felt more in control than I have for sometime. Yeah M and spot metering that's the ticket.

Love your photos, there is just something about a grave yard that has attracted me since I was in my teens and started poking around old cemeteries looking for long lost relatives.

at the cementery...pretty menacing fence. and I thought it there was a bit of irony that the word innocent should be cracked...

I used to go to them for peace/quiet when I was younger. I was always fascinated by the look of cementaries...so strange that people would leave live flowers to die in a place filled with death. and that the flowers and plants were generally so grossly out of place with their colors with the tones of grays and greens. Almost like intruders.

that is weird about the going manual thing...it's the best place--- all kinds of grey to meter off of ;)

These are all good, but the first two are killer. For some reason the second one actually gave me chills (no exaggeration). I love the gravestone out of focus and it looks to me like you did just dandy using manual.

Danielle

Heh. Yeah, someone trying to send a message there?

Again - very nice Nat.

Danielle

I think cemetaries tend to freak most people out because it's a grim reminder of a reality that pertains to us all in that we all, one day, must without a doubt give up this earthly life. This and the fact that most people haven't any idea what eternity holds in store for them also tends to add to the fear equation.

Because I'm a Christian, however, my beliefs have led me to fear neither death nor the grave, simply because I have the expectation from Christ of being delivered from the grave by the resurrection of my body. So I kind of have a different perspective of graveyards than most.

By the way Nat, I really like the angle at which you took these shots. I've been trying to get a good shot of the Veteran's cemetary in L.A. but just can't seem to get the right angle. Your pictures will inspire me to try again.

Ray

Great pics Nat.... they all set a fantastically dark tone. My personal favorites are "Mary Parker" and "Innocent". There's a simplicity about Mary Parker that is haunting to me. It's appropriately dark, just the words are present, and the dead twig is perfect.

Thanks for sharing!
-Stew

Great job Nat. I love the last one. My 2nd favorite is the first image....Parker. I too like cemetaries. They don't frighten me, but I like the mystical feeling that comes with walking around the graves. When I lived in Germantown, the sisters had their own cemetary, and I used to go there to pray sometimes - very peaceful. :)

Liz

Quote:

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Originally Posted by natatbeach

at the cementery...pretty menacing fence. and I thought it there was a bit of irony that the word innocent should be cracked...

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...i get freaked because I've watched too many horror movies and too many thrillers.... and was involved into very twisted stuff in my youth/in college.

So although I'm covered... I still have an overactive imagination :D

And it didn't help that people kept "showing up" walking around and they were for lack of a better word questionable characters.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mig

These are all good, but the first two are killer.

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no pun intended??? :D Thanks glad you liked

the twigs were actually dead roses(peach colored) that had ben left at several markers...kinda eerie

Here's the innocent in BW.... I think I like it both ways...

Thanks Liz... :)

That's exactly my problem - I was reading Stephen King pre-junior high, love scary movies, etc. Now I can't walk down a road in the dark. I love the idea of camping, but there's psycho-killers/demons/ghosts in them there woods.

Danielle

This is one I'd have printed and set up somwhere. I dig it...