Rain, snow wind and suunshine

 

We had it all today, wind, rain, snow and sunshine, just in that order. I did make a few photos today, but I wanted to post this one from my trip last week into the city.

Made with the Canon 5d and processed and converted to greyscale with ACR.

What was that you said?

The last few days have been gray and windy, typical autumn. The sun peeks out from the clouds every now and then, and today's photo was made just as those clouds passed over.

I used the Canon G10 for this particular photo in the macro setting and processed it using ACR.

Sometimes my wife lets me rent a video for us. Yes, we still us Blockbuster. We don't rent enough movies to use Netflix or some other similar service. I once rented a flic on itunes, but had difficultly connecting the Mac to the TV.

Anyway, we both wanted to see Slumdog Millionaire and I had every intention of getting it, but I came home with Hotel Rwanda. My memory is not what it used to be! We were not disappointed, it was riveting, but a sad commentary on human brutality and remarkable bravery.

Autumn Collage

I'm still having a blast with autumn. For me Spring and fall are the two seasons that offer the most opportunity for me, photographically.

This was made on a walk though East Quogue. I love the colors and tones.

Made with the Canon G10 and processed with ACR.

Calverton Tracks

I've been trying to use the new 100-400 a lot so I can be totally familiar with it. Unfortunately I've only had the opportunity to use it on still subjects. I really need to get out to a sports event to give it a true workout. It's a difficult lens to handle with out a tripod or a monopod.

Today's post is a HDR photo made with the Canon 5d mkII and processed with Photomatix Pro and Photoshop.

I love Autumn!

My new lens

If you have followed this blog you know I've moaned for a macro lens forever. Tuesday, I ventured into the city and didn't purchase the macro lens of my dreams, but a long telephoto zoom.

None of the services I offer or the clients I service require me to have that macro lens, but I do have the need for the 100-400 zoom.

Today's post was made on the steps of the post office in Manhattan. People sit and enjoy their lunch, the sun or the pigeons. Actually, on this day, there were almost as many pigeons as people.

This was made with the Canon 5d and the Canon 100-400 at the 400mm setting. It's taking me a little while to get the hang of this big lens. It's a single action, push pull zoom. My 70-200 has two rings, one for focus and one for zooming. I know that sports photography will not be easy without a monopod, it's a hard lens to hold.

On a different topic, I just finished The Stones Cry Out, by Hikaru Okuizumi, a beautifully written 138 page novel. It was the winner of Japan's most prestigious literary award, The Akutagawa Prize. There are some beautiful thoughts in the story.

New York Vote

I took a train ride into the city yesterday morning to trade-in my 4X5 film camera towards a 100-400 zoom lens. What a great trip! I've never been to the B&H Photo superstore. As a collage student I shopped at their 14^th Street store was was big, but nothing like the superstore. It reminded me of Wily Wonka's chocolate factory with the lights and conveyor belts and all.

On my was to the store, I came across this fellow with a message for his fellow New Yorkers.

Made with the Canon 5d and processed with ACR and Photoshop.

The Mid-term election

I dread this election like a student dreads the tests with the same name. As a nation we are probably more fragile than ever before. Our enemies know this, we should too.

Americans are out of work in large numbers while we have a man here running for Congress that support tax brakes for companies that outsource work. He made millions of dollars in the business of sending jobs to India and other countries and now he wants to be a Congressman. Why?

Why does someone who can spend three million dollars of his own money on a campaign for a congressional seat want to earn $174,000 a year plus benefits?

I can't see him wanting to make life any different for people that want to work but can only take a customer service job or a job on an assembly line. My brother worked as a customer service rep in the financial services field until his job was outsourced. He's not lazy, he wants to work, but the opportunities are drying up. I doubt that a person who takes jobs from Americans has any altruistic characteristics.

Power?

The power to protect the billions he made, and the power to protect his right to send more jobs to Singapore or India or wherever, that's how I see it. Selfishness.

It's a two part problem.

First, we can't afford to keep sending jobs, any jobs abroad. Second, we must support education, including programs that re-train Americans for hi-tech opportunities.

I can only hope that today, if nothing more we learn something.

I hope the people in my Congressional district look beyond what is rotten with government and see that it's all about people, nothing else. God mad man, not boundaries or classes. We are brothers and sisters not by choice but by His Creation.

Weesuck Creek

There's a creek in East Quogue on the west end of Shinnecock called Weesuck Creek. If I were this creek, I'd change my name.

This is the first time I uses the G10 to make a HDR image. I steadied the camera on a dock piling and made my three exposures. I used Photomatix Pro and Photoshop to process the results.

Halloween

I understand that Halloween was a pagan holiday and many Christians don't allow their children to take part in the festivities that take place. To me, Halloween, as well as Christian holiday's have become overly commercialized. The meaning of Halloween has become character costumes and candy, not devil worship. I doubt many kids know what trick or treat even mean. I wasn't prepared to do any tricks when I was young. If someone said no when I said trick or treat, I, would have just moved on. Today, I think the pagan beliefs are even further removed.

So tonight, when the announcer for the New England Minnesota football game wished me, the viewer, a Happy Halloween, I said thanks and likewise.

Today's post I found on a walk I took a while ago. Made with my trusty Canon G10 and processed with ACR. The colorful autumn leaves are all turning brown.

Hope you had a Happy Halloween.

One Way

I came across this One Way sign in my travels the other morning. It beckoned to be memorialized.

This photo is a HDR photo made with the

Canon 5d mkII. Processed with Photomatix Pro.

Calverton Cornfield.

Coming home from a job yesterday I passed the corn fields and had to turn around and stop. There's something about a cornfield in October.

This photo is an HDR composite converted to gray scale.

I used ACR, Photoshop and Photomatix pro.

orange maple leaf

 

On a short walk yesterday I came across autumn happening in full blast. Long Island is at the beginning of peak. I love autumn.

Made with the Canon G10 and processed with ACR.

daises

I played around with a still life of daises. I started with a HDR composite added a layer for diffusion and another for the corner burns...

The second image is the HDR composite and a texture layer made by Kim Klassen, and a layer of yellow. I love what she does with her textures. She has a great site, and some excellent images. If you love creative photography, check it out.

Comming and going

My wife and I went to Vermont to visit Adam on Sunday. I was a little nervous because of the high winds we had Friday and Saturday, but the Captain said the conditions were calm. My wife gets sea sick easily, and calm was a relative term on Sunday. It was a good thing she took some Dramamine because I'd call the conditions rolling. We made it over fine. I was even feeling a bit queezy.

The colors were beautiful on the way up. Connecticut's leaves looked pretty much like Long Island; colorful, but still a lot of greens. As we entered Massachusetts, the colors intensified and the reds and oranges were explosive. By the time we got to Northfield, just south of Montpelier the mountains were all done. There were a few yellows left and some brown, but most green firs and gray branches.

Still it's always beautiful.

It was parents weekend at the school, but we just came up for Sunday. We take him food shopping and out for a restaurant meal. And of course, bring up winter clothing and take home anything he doesn't need any longer. He has classes on Monday morning, so it was just for the day. We had a great visit.

On the way back to the ferry, we decided to drop in on an old friend that we have been very concerned about. She hasn't been returning our phone calls. And her husband doesn't work.

We tried all sorts of ways of getting in touch with her. Our visit was a last resort. Thankfully, she is ok, just overworked with three jobs and a husband as lazy as an August day.

We don't know what we can do to help her but pray for her.

Today's photos were made At Orient Point NY on Sunday morning, and New London Connecticut Monday evening. The sunrise is an HDR photo, I was able to steady the camera on a ledge. The sunset was made at a very slow shutter speed, 1/6 of a second, I couldn't make the minimum three exposures for a HDR photo.It was also cropped so the horizon would be straight. Both were made with the Canon 5d mkII.

Thanks for putting up with my long windedness!

Charlotte

The morning sky was filled with gray storm clouds, rolling in an anticipated evening storm. I wasn't happy with the photos I made for the County yesterday at the Maritime Museum, mostly because of the sky, today's sky was perfect.

The photo of the port side was made yesterday, the bow was made today. There's not much sky in the bow photo, but enough.

Both photos are HDR images made with the Canon 5d mkII and processed with Photomatix Pro and Photoshop.

I finished the Stieg Larsson Millennium Trilogy. All were definitely thrillers, but I liked The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo best. Larsson is an engaging writer and develops his characters as if he is writing a biography. So the books start slow, but build to the point where I couldn't put them down.

I'm starting Hemmingway's To Have and Have Not,  today.

Never confuse movement with action.

Ernest Hemingway

Sailboat at the Maritime Museum

For me, one of the gems of Suffolk County is the Maritime Museum in Sayville. It houses a visual history of Long Islands rich maritime history right on the water. This sailboat, with its beautiful wood details, is on of the displays still in the water. How beautiful it looked, and how much work it must be to keep it looking beautiful. The place is small, but packed with great stuff.

This is a HDR photograph made with the Canon 5d mkII and processed with Photomatix Pro and Photoshop.

Autumn Reds

On my bike ride today, I saw a lot of reds, the ivory, sumac, and hydrangea caught my eye today.

It was a beautiful fall day today after a night of crazy rain.

I used the Canon G10 and ACR for all three images.

Autumn Yellows

 

I was interrupted from my yard work and had to snap a few photos. The shinny Greenbrier leaves are slowly turning yellow. The wild grape leaves are further into their slow decline. As they change, they remind me of a Jackson Pollock interpretation of Autumn. Or God's interpretation of Jackson Pollock.

The late day sun added some depth and contrast to both.

I used the Canon G10 and processed both with ACR and photoshop. The Greenbrier leaf is cropped.

No such thing...

Yesterday, I covered a peace rally in a community that lost a sixteen year old boy in a street shooting. It's sad, very sad every time I need to cover these things. I only imagine that as the income gap between the richest Americans and poorest widens more, communities like these will get worst.

I saw this sign across the street from the rally and had to photograph it. I guess when my father taught me there was no such thing as a free lunch, he didn't know about about the Mercy Inn.

Made with the Canon 5d mkII and processed with Adobe Camera Raw.

Green Water

I loved the way the branches are reflected under the floating leaves.

Made with the Canon 5d mkII and processed with ACR.