Spring 2016 Back Yard Garden Update

At Matthews Farm, 2016 will be the year that I defeat the squirrels and chipmunks. Each year my garden has grown bigger and bigger, and each year more critters come out to enjoy the harvests the night before I come out to pick the fruits of my labor.

This offseason I decided to build real cages around each raised bed, and my strawberry & carrot bed has a hinged top as well. The other bed cages will be organic, as in they will grow with the crops as needed. I plan to build trellis’s for the tomatoes, cucumbers & squash, and keeping those caged in will be an ongoing process.

Below are lots of pictures of the evolution of the garden, the planted crops, and some early seed bloomers (pole beans) that will grow in a bamboo teepee. I am also quite proud of the set of sawhorses that I built thanks to direction from familyhandyman.com.

I’m looking forward to a summer full of fruits and veggies from the back yard!

 

Garden coming out of the Fall

the first cage going in

First Raised Garden Cage

Right of Passage Sawhorses doing their thing

Strawberry Patch Cage with Top

Faithful Sidekick Cody

Nifty hinged top

tools of the trade

Finished Cage Top

Broccoli

Blueberries

Strawberries

Green Beans

Green Beans

Strawberry Patch

DIY Soaker Hose

Strawberry Ready to Eat

Vegetables and diy soaker hose

Blueberry Patch

Matthews Farm

Thanks,

Carson Matthews

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Pictures of the Chastain Park Playground

Yesterday we took the kids to check out the newly renovated Chastain Park Playground. You can read all about it at ChastainParkBlog.com. Here are a few of the pictures I got of the new playground, it’s truly one of a kind. More pictures are on my website www.CarsonMatthewsPhotography.com/ChastainPark

 

Thanks,
Carson Matthews

 

Rosemary Beach Florida Town Hall

Last night I went for a bike ride to capture some night shots of Rosemary Beach.  This is the Town Hall and US Post Office on the coastal side of 30A.  The stars were amazing and show up well in this picture.  The image was shot with a Nikon D800 and 14-24mm f/2.8, 100 ISO, 5 frames between 1.3 seconds and 20 seconds.  It was processed using Photomatix and Lightroom.

Enjoy,

Carson Matthews

Photomatix compared to SNS-HDR

Since I started shooting HDR photos I have been using SNS-HDR to process the images.  I gave Photomatix a shot but SNS had a more natural look that I was looking for in my real estate photography.  Today I decided to circle back to Photomatix and process some of the shots I have taken over the past year.  Here is an example of one that I took over spring break in Rosemary Beach Florida.  I like the way it processed in SNS and maintains a natural look, but this time in Photomatix I went for a more creative touch and boy did it come out.  Here is the SNS version http://carsonvision.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/rosemary-beach-grass-park.jpg.  Compared to the Photomatix version below.  What do you think?

 

Rosemary Beach Park at Walkover G

Each day the lawn is covered up with bicycles and kids playing ball.  These homes have a great view of the Gulf of Mexico, but the view of these homes isn’t too shabby.

Rosemary Beach Walking Path

One of the many walking paths meandering through Rosemary Beach.

Rosemary Beach HDR Sunset

An HDR sunset over Rosemary Beach in the Florida Panhandle.

Storm Approaching Rosemary Beach

This morning we were greeted on the beach by this massive storm system that tried to come onto land.  It slowly moved around us but never hit.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Circle

This week for the Shutterboo Weekly Photo Challenge the subject is ‘Circle.’  We are spending spring break in Rosemary Beach, Florida so I have been excited about finding a circle.  The whole time I’ve known in my head that I was ultimately going to get a shot of the sunset since we are on the west coast, and the sunsets over here are sick.  Two nights ago it was pretty overcast and as the clouds passed in front of the sun, the outline of the sun was perfect and clear, but it looked more like the moon.  Last night I started getting ready to run over to the beach for my shot, grabbed my camera off the ottoman on the front porch, and my nightmare began in very slow motion.  I picked it up by the body, but the strap was caught on the corner of the ottoman, and my camera slammed back down on the concrete porch.  My heart sank as I went to pick it up, only to see all of the glass cracked.

I have a UV filter over the lens and it was hard to determine if only it was broken, or if the lens was cracked as well.  I wasn’t able to get the UV filter off, and had to get the sunset shot, so I raced over to the beach with my 50mm knowing I wouldn’t get the shot I wanted, but could make due.

This morning I went over to the maintenance department and borrowed some pliers and was able to pry the filter off and happily found a beautiful unscathed piece of Nikon glass.

I’m going to use the sunset shot for my entry this week, but here are several others I got during the week including a shot of the circle filter.  Let’s hope for an easier time next week

 

Green Grass

Swimming at Chastain Pool

Last weekend we took our new GoPro out for a spin at Chastain Pool. We had a lot of fun trying it out and getting some underwater footage.

 

Carson Matthews

Thanksgiving Turkey Preparation Timelapse Video

Here is a iPhone 6 timelapse video of our Thanksgiving turkey preparation on Thanksgiving morning. After this it went into the Big Green Egg for several hours and came out perfect!

Timelapse Compilation of Sunrise and Weather

Here is a video compilation of time-lapse videos out of our front window. Our house faces East so we get great sunrises and a consistent look at clouds and storms moving through.

Sunset over the Chattahoochee River

Here is a picture of the sun tonight as it began setting over the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta. This shot was taken from the East Palisades Trail of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area looking west to Cobb Parkway as it crossed the Hooch.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8

70mm f/8.0 5 frames processed in Photomatix and Lightroom

Saturday Down South

Saturday Down South