Peace Bridge in Color
I ordered a bunch of new photography stuff this week. It included an RS-80N Remote Shutter Release, a 580EX-II Flash unit, and an Omni Bounce for the flash. I received the Remote Release and put it to work right away. This shot of the Peace Bridge is one example of an image created with the help of the shutter release.
This summer/spring they outfitted the Peace Bridge with this new LED lighting system and it is a wonderful addition. I had a great time Saturday night until almost midnight shooting off the Nowak Pier (Bird Island Pier as many know it).
June 29th thru July 5th, 2009
Way back at the original signing of the Declaration of Independence the Fourth of July was predicted by John Adams (actually he was, I believe, referring to July 2nd, at the time) to be the occasion for future celebrations and fireworks. It proved to be this year, again. At Fort Niagara, there was a wonderful 250th re-enactment of a battle for Ft Niagara that took place July 1759 during the French and Indian War.
...to see more photos of the Ft Niagara 1759 Battle click here
Seven Years War
June 22nd thru June 28th, 2009
You know how you drive or walk or ride by scene that catches your eye but you continue on without stopping. It could be it is not quite convenient or you are in a hurry or you second guess it and rationalize "it wasn't that good". Well, I think I'm going to try and stop more often.
This was a scene off the Col Patrick O'Rorke Bridge in Ontario Beach, Rochester, NY early on a Saturday morning.
June 8th thru June 14th, 2009
My task was to capture representative shots of the community, mostly architecture in neighborhoods. As driving down Lake Shore Drive along the Lake Ontario shore north of Rochester, NY I rounded a corner, started a decent down a slight grade and this walkway bridge over a wet area caught my attention. I believe it is the Ontario Lakewalk Trail and is a very beautiful suburban trail following the southern shore of Lake Ontario. The curves really seemed to fit the venue.
June 1st thru June 7th, 2009
The opportunity to photograph central city Rochester was presented to me this week so I jumped on my horse (in my car) and rode (drove) east on the Thruway about 70 miles to Rochester. I found it quite enjoyable. The Genesee River runs right through the heart of the city and the geological events of past years deposited an eighty foot falls and surrounding gorge right in center city. Folks from Rochester call it the "High Falls Historical Area". Anyway, Saturday night they held this laser light show on the walls of the gorge. The blue light on the falls is resultant of this light show. Check out my "Rochester Gallery" in PBase.
...to see photos of Rochester click here
ROCHESTER
May 25th thru May 31, 2009
I am going to be taking pictures of Rochester, NY for the next few weeks. This was taken this evening, Sunday, May 31. I'm looking forward to spending some time in Rochester.
May 18th thru May 24th, 2009
What a beautiful week in Buffalo, lots of spring sunshine. That soft sweet fragrance from the last of the Lilacs touches the air. Baseball games, bicycle events for charity and marathon runs seem to be in season, and tomorrow is Memorial Day remembrance. I'm going to take time to remember and be especially thankful tomorrow.
...to see photos of the baseball game click here
BISONS
...to see photos of the run click here
MARATHON
May 11th thru May 17th, 2009
Great week for photography, but no time to write. Elaine kicked me out of the house...yep, we're getting our hardwood floors refinished so furniture from half the house is piled in the rooms of the other half of the house. We have to move out for 3 nights 4 days. Then we get to do it all over again next week with the other half of the house. So this is it for this week and maybe next!
May 4th thru May 11th, 2009
I covered a run/walk event for buffalo.com (to see event photos click here
BOTANICAL
)and the venue was the Buffalo Botanical Gardens. This shot is from the south lawn of the facility looking north. It was an enjoyable assignment. That style of photography is a challenge for me as you need to accept the fact activities and action at such events just happen way too fast and require way too much candidness in the photography for the amature to really get consistantly good shots. However it is fun to practice and a good learning expereince for any photographer. If you want to realize how much you have yet to learn about your equipment, composition and use of light attend sporting events, concerts, weddings and etc. and attempt taking good photographs. Buffalo.com really is not so much concerned about the event as it is for getting photos of the attendees. You need to get those attendees to then visit their photographs on line at buffalo.com and then buy some of the stuff the advertizers are selling. You really need to know what you're doing. None of this setting it up on a tripod, pondering the best perspective and evaluating the compositon for what the best light might be. You need to be aware of that and know how you are going to handle it before you even start to shoot the event. Really fun. Check out some of the photos and let me know what you think...(to see event photos click here
BOTANICAL
It was a great monther's day today.
April 27th thru May 3rd, 2009
If you live in or around Buffalo and you have not walked out the Nowak Pier to it's end at the breakwall, you really need to do it. You get a whole different perspective of the city and you'll see interesting things on your walk. This view of the Peace Bridge as seen from the pier at 8:30 PM on a spring time night, is worth the walk, alone.
Life is good but I miss Charlie, Justine and their parents.
They did not accept our offer on the land and we did not respond to their counter offer.
Am reading Viktor Frankl Man's Search For Meaning. Everyone should read it. It should be required reading in high school.
April 20th thru April 26th, 2009
This week, Wednesday, it was "Bring Your Child To Work Day". This boy sat in the boss's chair and when asked to go to work, he picked up the telephone!
We have been house hunting for 2 years, finally decided the only way to get what we want is to build (we're more discerning now as we are older). This weekend we were looking for property and found a corn field on a hill for which they are asking way too much.
April 13th thru April 19th, 2009
What a great week we had with Erin, Charlie and Justine visiting from Portland, OR.. Thanks to Chris for sharing his family with us. One of our stops was at Old Fort Niagara where we visited the original French fort built in the mid 1700’s prior to the French and Indian War 1753-1760 (Seven Years War). We had quite a surprise as we were told there would be a musket firing on the hour and waiting for the demonstration to begin, who should come out in his British Red Coat uniform but an old friend of the family's. Allan is a retired history teacher and is now a docent and re-enactor at the fort. He gave us a great demonstration and we learned where colloquialisms such as "quit dragging your butt", "a flash in the pan", "a hot shot", "lock, stock and barrel" and others originated.
We also got to visit the Buffalo Zoo and the Buffalo Science Museum while the kids visited this week. It was a good week and Erin, Charlie and Justine are safely back in Portland.