I dropped off Victoria at school so that she could bring her science fair presentation board to school without risking damage on the bus. After doing so, despite the cold and the bad light, I committed myself to going to Green Lakes for another walk. This time, I would park near the camping registration and take what Christine tells me is the yellow trail to the campgrounds. It was cold, but not freezing, and the air was mostly still as I began my walk. Large flakes of snow were falling, and I didn’t want to get me gear wet, so I hung my camera cross shoulder under my jacket with a 25mm prime, stuffed my macro lens in my front pocket, and started off. The snow was pretty and I thought that it might be nice to photograph on the tree branches, so I selected some tree branches at the […]
It occurs to me that my photography hobby has morphed into something that I never intended. In 2016, I wanted a distraction. I wanted (needed?) to move my attention from all the things that were ugly in the world – all the stuff that was feeding my nihilism and misanthropy – and to get back to appreciating the beauty and potential in this world. I felt compelled to get away from the computer, leave the house, and enjoy what the world has to offer. Since then, I have captured or collected more and more images, and now – unless there is a chance to capture an image that is better than one that I’ve captured before – the camera has become as much an excuse to stay at home as a reason to go out. The world immediately outside my door is too familiar. Too damp. Too dark. Too windy. […]
The club competition for the month had a theme and I almost EVER shoot architecture. Frankly, it doesn’t interest me. Even still, I wanted to a least try to capture a couple images that I could capture in an effort to participate, so I capitalized first day in more than one week without heavy clouds or snow and I drove to the Syracuse University campus to see what I could capture after a night of fresh snow. As I drove in at 0500, I could see that the clouds were very sparse, so the sky was going to be of little to know help and any light that would hit a building directly would have to clear the surrounding buildings, so (if I were going to be out long enough) the shadows would be too harsh and the reflections off the snow too bright. It was all the same to […]
I was feeling much more confident traveling to the ADK this weekend than I was traveling to Letchworth only 2 weeks earlier. I knew what to pack and had some more clothing that would help me sleep better in the cold: a wool base layer shirt, long johns, a wool beanie cap, and wool liner gloves. I had acquired a small collapsible kettle and a warming lid for my food when I cook it on the stove. I figured that I had everything that I needed and I was right. I had decided to stay in Tupper Lake to try to photograph more scenes than the high peaks to the east would afford me. I could walk short hikes to find lakes and ponds that I had never seen or explored. I could hike up small mountains to enjoy nice views. Don’t mistake me, the high peaks offer higher and […]
For the last 3 years I have been saying that I was going to. I have spent over $1,000 on equipment that I haven’t used. I’ve accrued sufficient paid time off and lost it … twice. But this weekend, I packed up my cameras, filled my car with outdoor gear and I traveled to Letchworth State Park for my first-ever solo photography excursion. Letchworth was a very pragmatic choice. First, it is beautiful. It is only 2.5 hours away, so I could get back forth quickly and not spend too much time in the car for what would ultimately only be a 36-hour trip. There are 2 Walmarts within 20 minutes of the park, so I could easily find any essential items that I had failed to pack. Lastly, the park is heavily trafficked on foot so I wouldn’t get lost while I learned how to use my GPS app […]
These are the days that led me to acquire the IR camera body. I was home alone with the family in NJ. The local sun was high and (mostly) bright, and my typical camera probably wouldn’t have been able to capture much in the way of striking imagery without a more-than-serious amount of time spent with Photoshop. Thanks to my possession of an IR body, I get to choose to bring something different with me. I decided to take a walk at Green Lakes and with sun in the afternoon sky, chose to walk the western shore of the lakes. At the northern end of the lake, the clouds and sun were kind to me, as were all the people who were out enjoying the beautiful day. Later, at Round Lake, with greater protection and less/no human activity, the reflections were increasingly noticeable and dramatic. But just because I have […]
This one took little time to conceive, but took some time before getting the right conditions and even more patience when the conditions arrived. To their credit the kids were awesome and spend much longer than they expected (or I advertised) to make this image. Once we figured out the right set-up and positioning, the rest image quickly fell into place and it required a little crushing of the shadows only, coupled with a boost in skin-tones via Color to Grey (my new favorite process in GIMP) to bring life to the arms and hands.
I considered a long exposure with an old-school alarm clock with the bells ringing and jiggling about, but I don’t own such a clock. I considered making an image of magician rings that will lock together, but I don’t those either. I even thought about pressing a door-bell button, but I didn’t think that I could make the image as appealing photographically as I could with my wedding band. A typical rings wouldn’t so, but I figured that the engraving inside my own ring would add significant interest to the image if I could photograph it well enough. Initially, I was going to use natural window light, but the corners of room and ceiling fans were reflecting inside the ring when photographed from underneath, which I saw as the only option (capturing the image from above is too easy and obvious). So I pulled out the speedlights, but the umbrella […]
I decided I was going to put myself out there and try to meet more people with common interests. I would try to be less introverted. I would make an effort to engage more. So I joined the camera club in the winter. So I have participated in meetings. So I signed up for a photo walk on the south side of Syracuse that was organized by The Stand, a community newspaper that holds the photo walk every year; they use the photos that are obtained for a spread in the paper and are somehow involved in a photo competition as well. There were 4-5 different photo walks this year. I purposefully chose the south side walk because I expected more photo club members to attend that particular walk; it was being led by a member, Jeff Perkins. As a pessimist/nihilist, I did not attend the event thinking that any […]