Cloudy Day, Sunny Day

It was exactly one day after yesterday's cloudy skies photograph that I awoke to blue sky and sunshine!  It was such a wonderful relief after nearly a week of overcast skies.  So I did my walk as I had each day, looking for photographs.  And all I could think of was how beautiful the blue skies were, so this is a picture of blue skies.  Of course you need more than just sky in a photo.  I thought I would include a group of some of the buildings in the condominium complex.  They are really nicely designed and pretty to look at, and well made as well.  We had two days of sunshine like this, and then, on the day we drove home, it was overcast and raining the whole way...

 

The Beauty of Gray

Before we took this trip to Rochester and stayed for a week - nearly a whole week of overcast skies - I had forgotten how in fall, the skies can be overcast for a long periods of time here. So when I went for my walk each day I had overcast skies to photograph.  The interesting thing about the overcast skies are the beautiful tones of gray that they display.  So the trick is to find some foreground that adds interest to the photograph, because the clouds alone are usually not enough.  It helps that there is this wetland at the condo that is reflecting the sky, and it was perfect for the composition.

 

Energies in the Land

This may seem like a strange photograph to you.  I found this along my walk at the condo.  It is very subtle in its color and in its contrast.  But the wetland grasses are bent in such a way that it seems like a wave.  I see subtle things like this in the landscape.  Because back in 1989 I went to the Maine Photographic Workshop and studied with a famous photographer who does some of the most subtle and beautiful black and white landscapes I have ever seen.  Studying with him for a week changed the way I see the landscape.  Let me tell you what he wrote in his first book of photographs: "I am more drawn to that land where certain energies are closer to the surface...  Such places correspond to emotional currents within me."

 

The Tree Has Eyes

On my walks around the condo and the neighborhood a couple of streets over, I kept walking by this tree with a couple of squirrel's nests in it.  My first thought was that it looked like the tree had eyes.  OK, so it's not the world's greatest photograph, but something different from what I would have shot here at home.  At least you know I am looking everywhere for photographs.  I also love this time of year, with the tree branches stripped of their leaves - it allows us to see the incredibly delicate structure of trees.

 

Upstate Farm

This appears to be a large modern farm in Ovid, NY.  We pass these grain silos every time we drive up to Rochester.  I don't think I have ever photographed them carefully before and I certainly didn't do that here, because we had been driving all day, it was getting dark and I was anxious to finish the trip.  At this point, we were about an hour and a half away from Rochester.  The interesting thing is that abandoned farmhouse that I have photographed for 20 years or so, is just down the street from here.  Mainly this is a photograph about the sky, but without the silos it would not be a very interesting photograph.  We love taking the smaller two-lane roads after we leave Binghamton, because we both love the landscapes along the route so much.

 

Mystery in the Woods

When I was in Rochester I tried to get out for a walk each day.  Mostly about 2 1/2 miles in a residential neighborhood.  In the middle of the walk, looking at a map, I walked to a dead end street just to walk as far as I could.  The street ended at a woods, with a path, so of course I had to go exploring.  As I entered the woods, I could see this triangular shape in the distance.  It was interesting just because it is unusual in the woods to see triangular shapes.  So I had some fun trying to find the best view of this structure.  It's not a mystery at all, as far as I am concerned - the title is false advertising!   When I was a kid, there was a woods and pond down the street, and my friend Larry and I were always thinking about building a fort in the woods, or building a boat to row out onto the pond.  Fortunately for us, we did neither!

Doll Making

Jo Anne was thrilled to hear about Kathy's doll-making.  So we brought Kathy's sewing machine along with us.  So the two of them spent days making dolls and then making clothes for the dolls.  They were having so much fun together.  Kathy has been working alone on her dolls at home, so it was a lot of fun for her to have a friend to work with and to show some of what she has learned.  Two pals hanging out - what's better than that?