Author Archives: setiawanphoto

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About setiawanphoto

Photographer. Traveler. Foodie.

Fall at Meadowlark Gardens

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Few days ago I mentioned about the Raptor Photo Shoot that was a part of the Photographers’ Field Day at the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens. This was my second Photographers’ Field Day at Meadowlark; I went to the same event last year. This year’s event was held a bit earlier in October (last year it was the last weekend of October). As such, the fall foliage was not quite at its peak yet (it didn’t help that this year it seems to be a bit warmer than last year). In comparison, last year’s event was held on a great day for taking photograph. The foliage colors were close to peak, it was sunny but with some clouds in the sky that helped soften the light a bit. I got several good shots, and not long ago I received message on flickr from a company that wanted to use one of my Meadowlark Gardens photos for the cover of a phone book for Vienna/Oakton, VA, area. After they reviewed the whole set, they selected the photo below, and this was my first ever paid photograph for commercial usage.

Fall at Meadowlark Gardens

Kentuck Knob

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In the Laurel Highlands, not far from Fallingwater, there is another home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright that architecture enthusiasts should check out. Kentuck Knob in Chalk Hill, PA, was designed by Mr. Wright as a home for another area family. Unlike Fallingwater which was designed to be a vacation home for a wealthy family, Kentuck Knob is smaller in size and was designed to be a residence for a small family. I think the house felt more intimate and cozy inside. Like Fallingwater, it is another good example of organic architecture, where the building was designed to exist in harmony with the nature surround it. One part of Kentuck Knob was built into a hill side, so if you view the home from one perspective (as seen in the photo below), it looked like the home is integrated into the surrounding nature. If you plan to come to the area to visit Fallingwater, you should also make time to visit Kentuck Knob. It is definitely worth visiting.

Kentuck Knob

Fallingwater

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In the next few days, I’ll be posting blog entries highlighting some photo sets in my flickr collection taken in autumn.

Given that it’s fall time now, I thought it’s appropriate to start with a set of photos taken in the fall several years ago at a place called Fallingwater. Fallingwater is a famous architecture masterpiece in Mill Run, PA. It’s a home on top of a waterfall designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. This place is among my favorite places to visit — not only because it’s very scenic around there, but also because the home has many interesting features that highlight Mr. Wright’s forward thinking in the world or architecture. This particular photo set was taken during a visit in late October 2006. It was a little after the peak foliage time for the year, and I went during the weekday to avoid the weekend crowd typically encountered during the high season. The result is a set of photos of the home without too many visitors in it, so the house itself really shines as the subject. Since I posted the photos on flickr, somehow the photos in this set were among the most popular photos in the photostream. The photo below has the distinction to be the most viewed photo to date in my flickr collection.

Fallingwater, Mill Run, PA

Raptor Photo Shoot

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As part of the Fall 2011 Photographers’ Field Day at the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Vienna, VA, I participated in the Raptor Photo Shoot. The birds were the ones that had been injured or cannot be released safely into the wild, so they’re now under the care of The Raptor Conservancy of Virginia and serve as ambassadors for education programs. Since the organization is funded solely through private donations, one way they raise funds is through photo shoots like this one where photographers can come and take close up photos of these magnificent birds that otherwise are difficult to find and photograph.

Red-tailed hawk

In the beginning..

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This morning I went to the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, VA, for the annual Photographers’ Field Day. I decided to attend a class on using social networking to promote photography works, and one of the suggestions was to use blog as a way to share one’s unique perspective. So, here it is — let’s see if this will work…

The photo below was taken at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA. It was one of those ‘magical moments’ I experienced when observing the nature at sunrise time. For the layout theme I used, I needed a photo that could be cropped to certain dimension, and this one fit pretty well. Also, it captures the essence what this blog is about – photography and travel (and the sunrise symbolizes the ‘beginning’). (Note: This photo was used as the header image for this blog for quite some time. Now I’ve added some other photos that would rotate randomly)

Sunrise at Grand Canyon