Poor Blue Jay

I went for my bike ride today and as I was climbing a hill slowly, I happened to see this Blue Jay lying by the side of the road.  I thought "what a beautiful bird" and kept riding.  Then I stopped and went back to where the bird was lying.  I decided to photograph it because I have not been this close to a Blue Jay before.  I am amazed at what beautiful coloring this Jay has.  I am guessing it was hit by a car because the bird had no injuries that I could see. 

This is a cropped image so you can see more detail in the different kinds of feathers covering the Jay. There is so much incredible detail in the Jay's covering!  Be sure to click on the picture to enlarge it and see more detail.

 

Please Put Some Clothes on this Mannequin!

I had 15 seconds to make this picture!  I was sitting at a red light when I noticed this strange mannequin in an antique shop window.   I grabbed my toy camera and got off two shots before the light changed and the car behind me honked!  What got my attention was what a strange mannequin this was.  I can't figure out what kind of clothes this mannequin would be modeling?  I wonder if this is for clothes for a much older woman?  In any case, I would feel better if this particular mannequin had some clothes on!

 

Pond Scum

This time of year this pond us oftentimes covered with this green "pond scum."  I was taken by the pattern of the different green things growing on the surface, and the shapes they make as whatever grows on the water is moved around by the wind.  I like the differing colors and the patterns.

So I also did a close up photographs to show what the surface looks like and discovered that the green was made up of tiny bits of green stuff.  I wondered what that could be, so I did a Google search.  Some of the searches came up with long green stringy stuff that looked like long green human hair, and that wasn't what I saw.  Further searching came up with the fact that there was probably algae, AND two other things:  Duckweed and Watermeal.  The photographs showed what looked exactly like what you see in the photograph above!

 

Sing to the Stars

                                        

I went to a concert the other night that was very different.  It was called "Sing to the Stars, Ave Maris Stella: Hail Star of the Sea"  And this is how it was described:  "Come celebrate the divine feminine, the night sky, the earth, and the sea. Under the stars and by Long Island Sound, we will sing together and listen to Chora, a new women's choir, sing medieval, contemporary, and new music. You can look at the sky through telescopes or with your naked eyes.."  I was there with a telescope, but unfortunately it was a cloudy night.  But the concert was really interesting.  It began with a musician using bronze, bowl shaped bells, called "Standing Bells"  which originated in China. They can be struck with a soft mallet or may also be played by rotating a suede covered mallet around the outside rim to produce a sustained musical note.  These are called "Singing Bowls."  They make such beautiful and calming notes.

                   

Here is the choral group singing medieval works which was just lovely.

                                        

In another part of the evening there was music with a violin and guitar together.  I told you it was a different kind of concert!

                      

The small choral group played in a Congregational church, and the lights were quite dim.  Most of the illumination was from perhaps 50 candles in glasses placed on the altar.  My camera makes the scene look brighter, but in actuality it was very warm light and very dim and a wonderful to hear this music in what felt like mostly darkness.  A great evening and it was a shame that I couldn't show the stars to those attending.

More Space at the Javits Center

Back in 2021 the Javits Center added on a whole new section in an expansion project that has added 1.2 million square feet of event space. There is a new exhibit hall, 200,000 square feet of new meeting space, and beautiful views from a new rooftop pavilion.  So this was the first time I have seen it and it is impressive.  The view from this area on the upper floor was spectacular!

Look at the size of these escalators!  I think they are three stories tall.  That's because the exhibit halls are two stories high.  The number of events going on when I was at Javits was amazing.  A huge art show was in the largest part of Javits Center, and then the Photo Expo in the new section, and a bunch of smaller events in between.

 

Gutting the Place

A month ago I went to the nearby famous coffee place to buy some coffee beans.  The door was locked!  There was a sign that the store was undergoing renovations.  OK, no big deal, I'll come back in a week.  How long can it take to put a couple of coats of paint on the walls?  Well the place has been closed for weeks now and I wondered what they were up to.  The other night I saw a bright light through the front window so I parked my car and grabbed a camera with a wide angle lens, and went to the window.  The entire store had been gutted!  Down to the bare walls!  And the ceiling has been torn out.  I guess that means they can change all the electric and heat.  Then the question is, how much different is the store REALLY going to look when they are done?  I can't wait to see!

 

The Scrum of Photographers

 

Some more photographs from the "Bild Expo."  What are all these photographers looking at and photographing?  This is at one of the camera manufacturer's booth where some of their cameras were on display and could be used to shoot photographs.  Notice the thin wires on the table - you can't take the cameras with you!  But look at the intensity of the concentration and all the different  positions the photographers are in. What are they shooting?

They are photographing this very beautiful model, wearing such an interesting top.  It looks like leaves of a plant or something.  And then the designers of the booth included mirrors in the background to make the photographs more interesting.

Here is another group of photographers in the next booth over - a different camera manufacturer.  It is so interesting to see all the different styles of shooting.  Look how only one photographer, at the left, has the camera up to her eye!  That is my way of shooting, but many younger photographers prefer to back away and just look at the illuminated screen on the back of the camera.  So what is this group photographing?

They were photographing this ballerina.  This dancer was working hard!  She was on point the whole time and had these cloth wings with wooden sticks in the leading edge of her wings so her movements resulted in really beautiful poses.

A different view of the ballerina at work.  The wings are just beautiful!