Sunny Skies

The skies were blue and the wind was blowing today. There were no signs of Hurricane Earl. The real problem I see and all the news reports and prep work getting ready for the weather event and then nothing happens. 
What will people do next storm?

This Thistle photo was made with the Canon 5d mkII. I should have checked depth of field to include the whole flower head.

Earl, the Storm

 

As far as Hurricanes are concerned, Earl has been mild so far. The ocean waves are awesome, and it was worth getting wet to make a few photos. There were plenty of people watching the ocean take away the beach sand. Erosion will be the big problem after this storm passes.

My wife and I were married the day after hurricane Gloria in 1985. That was nerve racking, but it all worked out. Most our guests never forgot our wedding.

These photos were made with the Canon 5d mkII and processed with ACR. They were made just after 6 PM, two hours before the peak.

Beautiful eyes.

I saw this little gal eating ice cream and looking out the ferry window as we were pulling out of New London. I pointed the camera and she looked at me and I squeezed the shutter release.

Converted to gray scale in ACR and made with the Canon 5d.

The Cross Sound Leaves New London

I love making photos on the ferry. It reminds me of Walker Evans. I have a captive subject like Evans had in his subway series. He hid his camera, I don't.

This photo needed to be altered in photoshop, there was a guide line coming out of the first little lady's head. I tried a couple of different angles as a snapped photos, but none of them worked for me like this one.

Hey, isn't that way we have photoshop anyway? Well you can call it cheating, and even I would if it were a news photos. But, in the world of looking and seeing an making photos because you can, alteration to make a stronger image is fine by me.

This was made with the Canon 5d and processed into a grey scale image with photoshop. I used the clone tool to get rid of the guide line and cropped the image to make a better composition.

The End of August

Adam is back at school, we returned from Vermont last night. The drive is a bit easier, especially with one and a half hour ride on the Cross Sound Ferry. With my two sons up at college, summer for the most part is over.

I have a golf outing today and the heat is up again. The weather announcer said something about the low ninety's tomorrow. Hot!

I just finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the first book in the trilogy by Stieg Larsson. I understand why so many people are talking about the series. I liked it and plan to finish the other two.

Today's post is from Randolph Vermont. We stopped to get a bit to eat and I made this from the McDonald's parking lot. They had some nice original black and white photographs on their walls. A nice change from the usual out of the box stuff I usually see in chain stores. Very impressive.

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

After three days of rain

Many of the plants out in the wild are burnt and dry, like this one I came across in Westhampton. My lawn doesn't look much different, if what I have you can call a lawn. I needed to keep the garden watered, so I neglected the lawn. It looks like I sill lost a bush or two even with all my watering. 

We needed the rain, even if it was a bit late.

This photo was made with the Canon G10 and processed with ACR and photoshop. After converting it to grayscale, I changed it back to RGB and added yellow and red to get the warm tone.

Rusty old lock

On my walk this afternoon I kicked-up this rusty old padlock. I was looking for something I could turn into a grayscale image. This had the texture and the color to make an interesting subject. I picked it up and placed it on the fence post.

I used the Canon G10 and processed it with both ACR and photoshop.

Hydrangea #2

Hydrangea has to be one of my favorite bushes. I find their flowers photogenic at any point in their life. I came across this one on my walk Saturday.

Made with the Canon G10 and processed with ACR.

Cotton Candy Clouds

That's what Cel, my wife called the clouds today as they appeared to be wrapping themselves around the top of the Adirondack Mountains. Strands of white gray clouds moved freely against the dark rain clouds and up the purple mountains. 

God is incredible.

We made good time getting home tonight despite the rain. Not that we were trying to make a record or anything. It's just nice to get off the road and back home.

This is an HDR photograph made along Old Military Road, Lake Placid, New York. Old Military Road is the by-pass around the center of Lake Placid and the Olympic Training Center.

Rainy trip to Potsdam

Yesterday was the first solid day of rain we had all summer, and even with the dry weather, many people complained that the summer was too hot. It was too hot to get much done and the dryness made a short growing season for my garden. I was able to jar 9 quarts of tomatoes and about 10 pints of Jalapeno Salsa. That's about the same as what I did last year, and there's sill some stuff on the vines.

So, today's the drive home. We hit a lot of traffic yesterday and it made the long ride tiresome. It's gray and cool with the forecast calling for more showers.

Today's post is part of a sign I found in East Quogue.

Back to semi-normal

My wife's cousin and her husband left for California today. After having house guests for a week, it will be nice to return to some semblance of normalcy. It was a great visit, and we all had a blast. Sadly, they missed a connecting flight and are spending the night in Philadelphia. Too bad, we could have had one more night of fun.

Tomorrow my wife and I leave to bring Brian up to Postdam for school, so really it will be Tuesday before things are normal again.

I made today's photo while waiting for shop to complete an oil change on my car. I don't know what kind of plant this is, but I really love them.

The sun sets over Cold Spring Pond

The craziness of the election season starts today for me, campaign photos, e-mails about campaign photos, phone calls about campaign photos...it's a living. I'm thankful to be working.

I took a bike ride yesterday evening and on the way back home stopped at the boat ramp and made this photo.

The scene reminds me of late September or October, not August. Those houses you see in the photo are on a man-made strip. That strip separates Cold Spring Pond from Peconic Bay. As the season ends, come evening, less and less of the houses on the strip have any lights on. Last night the strip looked dark. The vacationers are either gone, or green or sleeping early. I stood there enjoying the sunset, wondering if summer was ending early. 
If it was, someone forgot to tell the gnats.

The inn is full.

My wife's cousin and her husband are in from California for the week, this we were planning for. What we were not ready for were my son's girlfriend and his college room mate. Thankfully there's enough space for everyone to find a spot. There's no more room at the inn.

This first weekend has been loads of fun starting with my mother-in-law finding this yellow parakeet in the bird feeder. She had my father-in-law catch it and try to put it in a bird cage. It flew around their house for a few hours until the two of them netted the little bird and put it in the cage. Did I mention my mother-in-law getting bit a couple of times in the process?

Sunday we took the kayaks out on the pond. We had the whole pond almost all to ourselves due to the grey skies. My sister-in law, wife and their cousin went for a swim afterwards.

After dinner the parakeet flew in from the bedroom. Either the bird is smart about sliding birdcage doors or the bars are not close enough. I did manage to get the little fella back into the cage without any pecks or nips.

August Sunflower

I've needed a muse this past week and my sunflowers didn't let me down. I just didn't feel all that creative. This past week I turned 53 and worked a grueling golf outing on my birthday.

I also needed to get a slide show of the Wounded Warrior Project's Soldier Ride up and running for the Town of Babylon.

We have family flying in from California for a week and then the boys go back to collage. Time just goes way too fast.

I needed some time to stop and notice the sunflowers.

Voice of America

Voice of America was the mane of a radio show broadcast in the theater of war. It is the official external radio and television broadcasting service of the United States federal government. Today's photo is my tribute to VOA.

Red Fox

Last year at the Tuckahoe golf outing a White Tail Deer ran across the course. We see a lot of deer in our neighborhood and this outing was held close to where we live, so the deer was no surprise.

Yesterday, I photographed a golf outing 45 minutes west of here. I was totally unprepared for this little guy that ran across the golf course. I was driving around in a golf cart with only a 35 to 105.

I've always wanted to make a photo of a Red Fox. I have two more golf outings this August. I wonder what else I'll come across?

Hey 19

 

Here's another image for my numbers series. I don't remember too much about being 19. I do remember being able to buy alcohol legally at eighteen and maybe that's way I can't remember anything significant about 19.

The title comes from the Steely Dan song, one of my favorites.

Click on the 60 West photo in the sidebar  if you'd like to see all the numbers in the series.

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.