My new little friend

Last Saturday I made some baby photos for someone I work with. This little guy's name is Jayson, and he was such a pleasure to work with. The smiles never stopped.

I was never very good at baby photos. The Good Lord blessed me with patience, but most of my tiny subjects haven't found their's yet.

Commuter

I always like the way the word commuter sounded as a word. Its meaning, on the other hand didn't strike me one way or another. But, some people attach a negative meaning to the word.

I worked as a continuing eduction teacher at a large University for a number of years as a photography instructor. One year, the administration took the daylight studio from us to turn it into a Commuter Lounge. I never knew if non-commuters, students that live on campus, had their own lounge, or if they were allowed to use the Commuter Lounge.

Years went by and I never saw a student in the lounge. They moved the photography department from that building and put us in the fine arts building. So I don't know what ever became of the room.

I still wonder about the Commuter Lounge.

Today's image is a old sign that I'm guessing is for commuter parking. Here on Long Island commuter parking is usually associated with the train. There is no train or tracks where I found this sign. I was just as confused as the Commuter Lounge.

mid week

Seems like this week is lasting forever, not that I want it to go by quickly or anything. For the past few weeks I've been trying to deal with an employment issue my 15 year old son has and I've had some major events to photograph.

I was intrigued by this bunch of rusty screws when I came across it, enough to grab a tripod and make a HDR photo. But I'm not too impressed with it now.

Queen Ann's Lace

Ahh... a break in the heat, last night and tonight both are cool. The humidity is going to go back up tomorrow, or so the weatherman says. I'm thankful for the break, be it long or short.

I found this patch of Queen Ann's Lace next to the train tracks in Hampton Bays. I like photographing Queen Ann's Lace, it's photogenic in most of its stages of life.

This HDR photo was made with the Canon 5d mkII and processed with Photomatix Pro.

Cold Spring Harbor

One of the prettiest towns on Long Island is Cold Spring Harbor. It sits on the western border of Suffolk County and it is famous for Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Dr. James Watson, who is world renowned for his discovery of the structure of DNA lived and worked at that lab. Yours truly worked there for two summers as a summer camp counselor. I taught little tikes how to take and develop black and white photos.  Our lab was a janitor’s closet in a school. It was fun. Mostly, it was fun to here stories about Dr. Watson watering his flower garden in his underwear. I cannot say if this is true or not, I never witnessed it. I did spend a lot of time behind his house with the kids. But, I never say him.

Really we had very little interaction with the lab. We just used their property and the elementary school property for the summer camp.

Today’s photo is an HDR image from a shop window on Main Street, Cold Spring Harbor.

Just a side note, I now live some 70 miles from Cold Spring Harbor, but the body of water that I see from my window is named Cold Spring Pond. Both get their names from the springs that delivery water to the surface of the earth.

Cool.

Blue Chevy Pick-up

I came across this truck on my way back from making a baby portrait today. It was parked in the side of the road, for sale. It must have been there a while. There was a hornets nets in the cab, weeds were growing through the floor and the tires were flat.

Today was the hottest day so far this year. The heat really exhausts me.

This HDR image was made with the Canon 5d mkII.

Soon to be a Sunflower

This is a volunteer in the garden. The funny thing is that I planted Sunflowers in the flower bed. The two in the garden must have come from the compost. I made the photo last Saturday morning and used the Canon G10 in the macro mode. I processed in in Adobe Camera Raw. I pushed the recovery and black sliders all the way up to give it that intense look.

Lily

We were lucky this year that deer did not eat the tops off the Lily plants. I lost an Easter Lily to deer.

This one is next to the walk up to the house. The tops were eaten last year, but the plant came back. This is one of the photos I made Saturday morning around the garden.

I used the Canon G10 in macro mode and processed it with ACR.

Red Fish

Out on a job today I found this red fish behind a screen door. The light was perfect. It was the colors that drew me to it in the first place.

Montauk Lighthouse

I worked a wedding today and I'm pooped! The heat was unbearable and it really made me tired. I made some photographs around the yard today to post, but I'm too tired to process any of them.

This is a photograph I made Friday morning. It's another HDR photo. Here on Long Island this is a pretty classic photo; everyone makes a Montauk Lighthouse picture.

Totally Home Grown

Came across this vegetable stand on the way back from Montauk Point. Being a fan of the Homegrown String Band I had to turn around and make a photo. They should play there on the weekend when all the tourist traffic drives past.

This is an HDR photo. Processed in Photomatix Pro.

Studebaker

Men and cars. 

I'm fascinated with automobiles, especially old and odd ones. Parades usually bring out the best of them; that's where I found this Studebaker.

Personally, I put too much miles on my vehicles to drive anything fancy. My motto has always been practical in the auto department. My 2010 Ford Focus (what else is a photographer to drive) purchased in September has over 31,000 miles on it. I had a Plymouth Neon that had 300,000 miles on it. Hard to believe Consumer Reports said it was a car to stay away from.

The Studebaker photo was made using the Canon 5d mkII and processed in ACR.

A different kind of Bug

I haven't seen one of these in years. This is a 1977 Volkswagen Van. The paint job is new.

Made with the Canon 5d and processed with ACR.

Dragonflies

These little things were in the marsh at the Scully Estate, the place I made the deer photos last Thursday. This time I was well armed with bug spray. I sprayed myself from head to toe, clothing and all. Not one mosquito bothered me.

No deer on this visit, but on my hike I saw a lot of other nature. I concentrated of these dragonflies.

Made with the Canon 5d mkII. Both images were cropped substantially.

Doors

 

I just loved the weathered look to these old doors. They belong to the old signal building in Babylon Village. The building is in private hands right now, but the town wants to purchase and restore it. They want to put it on the Historic Registry.

Doors are another feature in our lives that we personalize to give a sense of our character. Maybe that’s the reason so many photographers are drawn to photograph them.

Made with the Canon 5d as an HDR photograph. Processed with Photomatix Pro.

Summer Rain

Black clouds

Moving high

Moving fast

It's raining now

A curtain of rain

Coming straight down

Now it stopped

The sun is shinning

We are not in control.

Hey mister, you coming?

The extreme heat these past few days and last winter being so snowy, it is obvious to me that no matter what people think, we are not in control. We all need to start thinking about our footprint on this delicate planet we call home.

You can call it another weather phenomena, a wether anomaly or whatever else you'd like, but if the Al Gore's of the world are right, once we know for sure, it will be too late.

Enough.

Today's photos were made in hell. Oh, sorry it only felt that way, low to mid nineties with high humidity, and zillions of mosquitoes. I was on a job to photograph a historic home on the south shore of Long Island. With the dry weather, we haven't had a mosquito problem. So I didn't plan of giving blood at the office. I couldn't focus or hold still long enough to make any good exposures because of the little buggers. I'm going back in armed next time!

Heatwave

 

I saw this on the way home this evening. The heat always seams to bring beautiful sunsets. Here on Long Island, as with most of the northeast, it's been dry and hot.

The extreme weather brings out the best and worst in people. Yesterday, a stranger pumping gas at a filling station told me to stay hydrated; drink plenty of water. Today, a complete stranger yelled at me because she didn't read her invitation and was in the wrong place. What I had to do with the whole thing I'll never know.

It's just the heat. Stay cool, stay hydrated and please only yell at those that need to be scolded.

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

Dog days

Isabel enjoying the life of a retired racer on the beaches of Southampton. Someone at the rescue agency told me that black greyhounds are smarter that brindles and that they stay out of the sun. Isabel may be my princess, but I'm not sure she's as smart as they say. She does like to stay out of the sun.

This photo is from yesterday after the parade. My wife and I were in the water and Isabel doesn't like to come in too deep. So, she waited under the umbrella until we came out.

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

The Parade and all that.

Our town held the 4^th of July Parade today. This way is doesn't interfere with Church. The parade route passes three of the bigger churches in the village. I wasn't too impressed with the parade this year. The whole family agreed that it was all about fire trucks more than anything else.

It was nice that the veterans were up front, but because the local high school fired the principal and assistant principal, no one made arrangements for the high school band to be in the parade. We had other marching bands, just not ours.

There was a larger than normal number of Boy Scouts this year. It the 100^th Anniversary of Scouting and the boys out-did themselves with floats. Usually they just march, this year they some boys marched and others road on elaborate floats that told the story of scouting.

Today's photo from the parade is of Carlin, a friend's son and his scouting buddy holding an American Flag in the parade. I remember having to march and hold the flags, I hated it. The boys seemed ok with it.

Red Racing Stripe

This photo was made in the spring of a Tulip in Hampton Bays. I didn't care for the photo, I wasn't close enough. I couldn't frame the flower without getting an automobile for the background. The only solution was for me to crop it very tight. Oh... to own a macro lens......

My wife and I spent the whole day at a Lacrosse tournament in Nassau County. First game was at nine the last started at six, include the fifty-five minute drive and it's the whole day. The team won two and lost two.

The biggest part of the day, Evan has always wanted to eat at White Castle. We don't have any by us, so he got his wish yesterday. I'' be sorry for a day or two.

Enjoy your 4^th of July weekend.

Tanner Park, Copiague

 

I had to cover a concert at Tanner Park this evening. What a great night for a concert on the bay. Strawberry Fields, a Beatles tribute band was there tonight. So were about 8000 people. The town build the band shell so boaters could here the show. I made this photo from the walking pier to the east of the band shell. This is another hand held HDR photo. Well sort of hand held, I used the dock rail to steady the camera for the three exposures. I didn't notice the person off to the right, but I'm glad they are there.

Made with the Canon 5d mkII and processed with Photomatix Pro and Photoshop.

First Presbyterian Church, Smithtown NY

I had some time to kill before a job this evening and the First Presbyterian Church on Main Street in Smithtown struck my fancy. If you remember, a while back I told you of my desire to photograph all the Churches and Houses of Worship along Montauk Highway, from Montauk to Queens. Well this Church is not along that route.

This is an HDR photo, the first hand held HDR I've done. I wasn't sure I could hand hold three exposures and keep them in register, but it worked.

It looks a little ominous, mainly because of the angle. The fact that there were no door knobs or handles on doors made me want to photograph it this way.

Made with the Canon 5d mkII and processed with Photomatix Pro and Photoshop.