Maple Leaf Leftovers

 

I went through my files tonight and found these Maple leaf photos that I never posted. Being the last day in November, I saw it was fit to post them now. They were all made the on November 2, the day I purchased the Canon 100-400 4.5/5.6L lens. They were all made with that lens also.

Sunday, I had the second opportunity to use this new lens in a sports setting. This was why I purchased the lens, to get more sports jobs. The lens works great, but I need more time behind the camera on the field with this baby.

The bottom image is my favorite.

 

Thoughts on the beach

we are individuals

each different
none pearls

Man's intrusion

This controversial item is called a beach groin, also spelled groyne. They are jetties built to prevent sand erosion. This one is made of wood, but some are stone others are corrugated steel. You can see the sand is higher on the right of the groin. As the tides move, the sand deposits on one or the other side of the groin, depending on which way the tide is moving.

The rich who live along the beach pay to have their own groins built or sue the government and Army Corps of Engineers for failing to protect their property. Once they win, they use taxpayer money to build them. The groins only move the effects of erosion to an unprotected beach.

The Indians believe the migration of the beach is cyclical. What is washed away from here today, will return tomorrow.

The colors and swirls made by the water and sand are beautiful. Especially on this overcast day. For me, the jetty brings another element to the seascape. We can't leave nature alone, we have to control. We have to overpower. It never works in nature, and we never learn.

 

Lazy Day

I photographed a clients Christmas card photo this morning. After that I, pretty much vegged out on the couch. Adam headed back to Vermont and tomorrow, Brian will also be heading back to school. It's good to have a lazy day every now and then.

Today's post was made on my walk yesterday. I'm always amazed at how vast the ocean is, and how small we are.

Made with the Canon G10 and processed with ACR.

Retail sprawl

It's funny what we as people will do sometimes. I think Black Friday is the best example of human nature at its worst. Yes, I fell for it once. We got up before dawn the Friday after Thanksgiving and waited until the store store opened, then waited on line just to buy a toy. Three hand-held video games actually. I think they were Game-Boys.

I remember the line. It went from the toy department, past sporting goods and home furnishings around the corner to the men's department. The store manager was smart, he walked down the line asking each customer how many video games they were purchasing. Two people past us were the last of the lucky ones.

Sleep deprived and fifteen dollars richer, and the toy Game Boys are in a box in the basement, have been for years.

That was the first and last time we did anything like that.

I'm sure the sleep is worth more than the savings, the sleep and the sanity.

Today's picture was made on my walk this morning. I converted it to grayscale and toned it sepia for Carmi's Thematic Photographic.

Happy Thanksgiving

 

 

I'm sitting watching football and waiting for our company. My family all live in Florida except my brother, who lives in South Carolina. So, I spend most holiday's on the phone.

I'm posting a photo I made Tuesday, but it is very much a Thanksgiving photo. These are two of the grandchildren of John T. Donohue, a former Suffolk County Legislator who passed away this past September 2008. Our current legislator, Jon Schneiderman dedicated the preserve in his honor this week so his whole family, together for Thanksgiving, could be there.

After the speeches and formal photos, the two children asked me to make a photo of them.

Happy and health Thanksgiving to all!

 

Thanksgiving Eve

 

 

Hopefully all the shopping is now done. If it's not here, I guess we'll just do without it. Thanksgiving is here this year and we are trying the Ina Garten recipes that you get when you hover over the Google doodle. Ina owned a food store a few towns over called the Barefoot Contessa. It's now closed and she has a TV show and a line of cookbooks. We're trying the Cranberry Fruit Conserve and the Herb & Apple Stuffing.

While at the fruit and vegetable stand I came across these gourds and pumpkins and made these two photos for today's post.

My thanksgiving

I am very thankful the blessed that both my sons are home, safe and healthy from school, even though it's only till Saturday. There's plenty of families that won't be together for the holiday, some that I know. Holidays are all about family and friends. It's very hard to be alone this time of the year.

I am thankful and blessed to put food on the table every night. And to be able to serve thanksgiving dinner to the in-laws and my sister-in-laws family. There are plenty of families that won't have a regular meal let alone a thanksgiving meal in their own home.

I am thankful for my health and the health of my three sons.

I am diabetic, yet I have the resources to be able to eat right and have insurance that covers my prescriptions. There are plenty of people that can't afford to see a doctor, or can't afford the medications they need. Some have made the choice to take care of their children first, at the cost of their own health.

In our early days, Cel and I didn't have insurance. We were able to make arrangements to pay the hospital monthly for the birth of Adam, our middle son. Some people are never afforded that kind of trust.

I am truly blessed and thankful for my occupation and avocation, photography. Photography has opened my eyes as much as it it helped me to open the eyes of others.

This is a link to a Town of Babylon Slide show I made of the students of a local elementary school. The students enlisted the help of the whole school district in filling the empty shelves of a food pantry located next to the school. Because of their generosity and hard work families having a hard time have someplace to go to get food. I am thankful for teachers who teach more than what the state requires, and make it fun and meaningful. I'm sure it's a lesson they will carry with them long past the rules of composition.

And, yes I thankful to you too. You stop by and read and comment on my scribble and photos. You make me feel part of a community, the blogging community. Thank you I hope you have a happy thanksgiving.

 

Don't block my sky.

I thought about a concept for a new photo series while I was driving a while back. The sky has been incredible and so has the light. But my mood was getting in the way of my creativity.

The sky was beautiful again today, so I pulled off the highway and parked.

The highway sign looked statuesque with the view of the wide angle lens.

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

9:17 Speonk

After traveling the rail all day, Adam is home for the week. One son down, one to go. Brian is sharing a ride down to Westchester, from there we'll play it by ear.

Well, this is the 9:17 to Speonk, pulling in for her last stop.

I made this image with the Canon G10 and I used a trash can to steady the camera. I used ACR to process it.

Candid

Fellow blogger Carmi at Writteninc.blogspot.com has candids as the celebrated theme this week at Thematic Photographic. I've been working on a new business brochure and while going through the archives I came across this wedding candid from August of 2006. All these years I've have this image in the back of my mind as one of my favorite wedding candids. I was waiting for the bride and groom

and looked over there they were. I raised my camera and made this image.

Candids are a lot more fun for me than posed photos.

Tonight, Adam comes in from Vermont. He's been texting us all along the Amtrack route. Last year the train was delayed because of snow. It was a miserably long trip for him. We follow the status on the web and he arrived at Penn Station in Manhattan a few minutes early.

Tuesday night Brian comes home from Postdam. Family... what its all about.

Today's photo was made with the Canon 20d and processed with Photoshop.

The Greenbrier Patch

 

 

I drove to Heckscher State Park this morning hoping to find some grazing White Tail Deer.

Here on Long Island, this park is known as the “Home of the White Tail Deer.” No luck. So I walked into the Greenbrier patch and made today's photo.

I googled Greenbrier, and found many species. The scientific name for this one is Smilax rotundfolia better known as roundleaf greenbrier.

I just love the isolation in this scene. It was worth the effort in fighting the greenbrier.

I used the Canon 5d mkII and processed it with ACR.

 

My auto repair shop

 

This photo is one of the photos sitting on my desktop waiting to be posted. It's a photo of Hampton Tire and Brake in East Quogue. It's the shop I bring the car to for everything. It's great to find a repair shop that you can trust. Bill is a true neighborhood business.

Sometimes, I wait for a oil change and take a walk around the village with my camera. This photo was made on my last visit. I was drawn to the broken neon tires sign and the sky.

Made with the Canon G10 and processed with ACR.

 

Raspberries and Blue berries

 

They looked too good just to eat. That's one of the problems of being a photographer. Five hour drives to Washington take seven because I have to take the scenic route...and I have to constantly stop to get the photos I want. Or having to photograph the fresh fruit before eating it.

I guess it could be worse.

I made this photo this morning with the Canon 5dmkII and processed it with ACR. I had the raspberries and blue berries, they were delicious.

 

Cross Sound Deli

 

 

There's a couple of images on my desktop that I've wanted to post for the longest time, this is one of them. I made this photo on our last trip to visit Adam in Vermont. The Cross Sound Deli is next to the parking lot for the Cross Sound Ferry in Orient, NY.

I'm a sucker for warm lights against a dark sky. This was six thirty or so as we waited for the seven o'clock ferry over to Connecticut, the sun is just breaking on the horizon. Can you smell the coffee?

I used a telephone pole to steady the camera. This was made with the Canon 5d mkII and processed with ACR.

 

59

Every now and then I find an interesting number for my 0-100 series. This was a phone number on the window of a vacant store in Hampton Bays. Tis the season for store windows.

Made with the Canon G10 and processed with ACR.

Autumn on the Peconic River

 

Today's post was made Thursday, late in the day. It's a HDR photo made with the Canon 5dmkII and processed with Photomatix Pro and Photoshop. The river was almost still Thursday and the foliage along the bank was beautifully lit by the warm light of the late afternoon sun.

 

Omaha Beach and other true stories.

I covered three veterans’ events yesterday. The first was for me, the most powerful emotionally. It was in a gated community of seniors, they had seven World War two veterans living there. Pictured here is Joseph Russo who served as a medic. He had a large collection of photos in the box to his right, and a large, framed newspaper photo of the ship he shipped out on. I think the photo he was most proud of was the framed composite of his family he points to on the table.

Sitting next to Mr. Russo is Albert Firocella who shared an incredible story of the night of June 6, 1944, Normandy. How the sky was ablaze like 1000 forth of July’s. I can’t imagine the feeling a young man of eighteen or twenty years old felt huddled in a landing craft, waiting to land on a foreign soil for the first time in his life.

The both enjoyed telling their stories to whoever would listen.

Veterans Day

It has become a tradition here in many communities to fly Fields of Honor for our soldiers that gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country in the current wars. Each flag has a gold ribbon with the personal information of the soldier and is flown for the week before Veterans Day.

All those American Flags make for a stunning sight, and a beautiful photograph. It's not pleasant to think about why they fly or how many are there. I only hope the meaning and remembrance isn't lost among the beauty.

One should never let their feelings about war mar what our armed forces do for us.

Without them the world would be a much worse place to live, and for this we must thank them and honor those that have given their life for our freedom and safety.

Around the yard

I used the Canon 100-400 last night in a work situation for the first time. I was at the semi-finals for Girls High School Lacrosse. It was fantastic. I wanted to post these two I made in the yard with the same lens. I'm sill amazed.

Stones on the waters edge

Even the smallest stone in a riverbed

has the entire history of the universe

inscribed upon it.

Hikaru Okuizumi

 

This is the opening line to The Stones Cry Out, by Hikaru Okuizumi, a very good read.

The photo was made today along the Peconic Bay.

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.