The Happy Flower

 

Just a quick photo of the Sunflower growing in the garden. I really think Sunflowers are the happy flower! Today is the last day of July, tomorrow I have a golf outing to work; one of two for the year. I used to work four or five a year.

Just want to keep happy and look at the happy flower.

 

Dog Days

 

 

It's not even August yet and we've had some scorcher days. We had a stretch of days that were in the high 90's and one day 100 or better depending on where you were on Long Island. Our high humidity makes it more uncomfortable.

Isabel took full advantage of the cool leather sofa one of those days. She knows she's not allow on the sofa, but how could you resist a face like that.

Stay cool friends, and keep hydrated.

 

Queen Anne's Lace

This has always been one of my favorite wild flowers. Not only are Deucus carota visually attractive but they are a beneficial weed. Beneficial weed seems like an oxymoron, especially to an amateur gardener like me.

Queen Anne's Lace as it is known in North America, attracts lady bugs and other omnivorous insects. It is in the same family of plant as carrot, parsnip and dill. And is similar to poison hemlock, which was used to kill Socrates.

I often thought about cultivating a wildflower garden.

Funny Face

 

 

While driving through the village Friday, I passed this life size statue of a butler holding a tray. I had to stop for a photo. I tried playing with it in photoshop, but decided to leave it like it is.

 

Yellow Surfboard

 

I took a walk along the beach this morning, before the big crowds arrived. This was the closed section of the ocean beach, so no lifeguards or swimmers. There were a couple of sunbathers, but careful framing cropped them out.

The ocean was flat and there was little wind. It was beautiful.

Prints are available at my Etsy Shop.

Backlit leaves

Many years ago I worked in a ma-pa camera store called Cam-Ra Fair. Fred and Greta were the ma & pa, and they were great people to work for. At the time, we lived in an apartment and I didn't have a darkroom. Fred let me build a Black and White lab in the back of the store. It was win win, we offered custom black and white printing services and I got to have a darkroom again.

One day a young lady came in and wanted me to print an 8 X10 of backlit Maple leaves from her 35mm negative. 

It was a beautiful photo and I must have exposed dozens of frames trying to emulate that photo. I never came close.

I made this photo last Saturday while waiting for Evan to finish work. It's a color file and I wasn't happy with it. Today, I had the bright idea to change it to grayscale and play around with the tones a bit.

Much better. It's not Maple leaves, but it comes close to what I remember of that impressive photo.

Make mine red...

actually, Merlot is my beverage, Merlot and sangria. I have yet to try and make sangria at home even though I've collected a couple of recipes. To be honest, it seems time consuming and an awful lot of work for something that's not gonna last too long.

This was from the same photo outing the May 4 post was from. I never got around to finishing it. As with the others, this is HDR.

Bridgehampton

 

 

This weekend we took a ride to ArtHamptons, the largest collection of art for sale under one tent. It was hard to believe it was a tent, it was very big. Every genre and every medium was represented with a special emphasis on photography. Saturday and Sunday both included a tour “How to Invest and Collect Fine Art Photography.” There were a few items my wife and I loved and some that were very inspiring.

Today's post was made along the trek to Sayre Park. I needed to return after we were home to photograph it with the 400mm lens. Prints available at my etsy shop.

 

Pura Vida

I came across this old fishing vessel abandoned along the Shinnecock Cannel. When I looked up the translation of Pura Vida I found it was Costa Rican for Pure Life, though it is used to say “Full of life” or “this is living.” Which made me think of something one of the baymen I photographed said to me. We were out on a beautiful summer morning; he was collection crab pots on the Great South Bay and I was photographing him. He looked at the blue sky and said, “it just doesn't get better than this.”

I'm sure this vessel has some stories to tell.

Just relaxing in the shade

My mother-in-law and Isabel watching the swimmers this past 4th, as they relax in the shade. Isabel will sometimes venture into the water, but not often. She looks like she could use a tall drink!

Blue 91

I came across this doorway on a walk around Babylon Village. There were two doors in this ally, both the same, number 91 and 93. I liked the shadows in this one.

I can't believe it's July already!