Peony Planets

Late in the day I went out to the side garden to look at the Peonies which I could see had flowers.  At least I thought they were flowers.  I am not sure what you call these - are they actually buds?  I was surprised when I saw these magenta balls up close - the first thing that came to me was that they looked like planets in orbit because they were so perfectly round.  The trick was to move around until the buds were in an interesting arrangement.

You Gotta' Be Quick...

I came out of the grocery store after buying stuff for dinner and saw these trees lit by the setting sun, against the beautiful clouds.  A cold front had just passed through and we had showers and beautiful thunder gray skies.  I was carrying two bags of groceries with me,  so I held them both in one hand,  and grabbed the toy camera on my belt with the other hand. It takes about 4 seconds for the camera to open and be ready to shoot, and by that time, some of the light had gone off the trees.  Rats!  I took the photograph anyway.  Then I came home and did a little work in photoshop to darken the sky just a bit, and to lighten the trees.  So the effect is the same, but I wish I had come out of the store about 30 seconds earlier.

Vacation Souvenirs

I drove out to the Vanderbilt Museum this morning for a meeting.  It was strange for me to be there in daylight - usually it is dark out.  So I spent some time looking around after the meeting was over.  The Vanderbilt Museum was the summer home of William K. Vanderbilt, II,  He was born into wealth, and loved the oceans and the natural world. In his sea-going global travels, he collected fish and other marine life, birds, invertebrates and cultural artifacts for the personal museum he built on this estate.  I was unable to find out where these six columns came from but they are the first thing you see after driving through the front gate.  I love how weathered they are in appearance.

The Architect

So here's an interesting window display, particularly for Sea Cliff.  These mannequins have been in this window for years now.  I am not sure why I decided to stop and photograph them, but on this day it finally occurred to me that the scene would make a picture. And you know me, I am always looking for pictures.  What seems strange to me, is that these are in the window of an architect's office.  I guess that's why the hard hats.  Can you find the photographer? 

How'd That Project Turn Out?

I walked through town the other day, and since I wasn't driving, I had plenty of time to look around.  Actually it is rare that I even drive down Sea Cliff Avenue.  I was so pleased to see what has become of the two side-by-side buildings that were being refurbished.  The bottom photo was taken in June of 2012, and the buildings have come a long way since then.  Both of these buildings are a beautiful addition to the architecture of the town.

Memorial Day, 2014

                           

 

       

When I set out to photograph the Memorial Day parade I hope to end up with a memorable photograph when I am done.  The first thing I look for is an "overall" shot that shows the parade in its surroundings - one that would give a sense of Sea Cliff.  Then I start looking for "medium" shots that zero in on smaller parts of the scene.  Then I look for the close-up in hopes that it will be more dramatic.  The way it works, of course, is that I am looking for all of these things all at the same time!  So I only did an "OK" job today.  I have some nice things, but nothing as strong as I might hope for.  The photograph with the Green Beret saluting is kind of an exercise in composition, where I have him looking out of the frame, for something different.  The last photograph is interesting - it is a grandfather, who served in the Coast Guard in WWII, with his grandson who is on active duty in the Marine Corps.  I think maybe the best picture is the group of Girl Scouts, because we can spend time enjoying their faces and see how much fun they are having.

After and Before...

This is a story of a pond reborn.  This is Scudder's Pond not far from our house, and over the years it has become silted up, because of some strange drainage design.  The water runoff from one of the big streets that runs down toward the water, empties into this pond!  That's stupid!  The rainwater that runs down the hill to the pond, washes dripped oil and gasoline residue and sand into this pond where a lot of wildlife lives.  So they have spent a couple of million dollars to dredge the pond, and to remove all the Phragmites surrounding it.  I didn't realize that Phragmities are an invasive plant, but apparently they are not natural in this place.  So all the vegetation will be replaced with native plants, and they are adding a "swirl separator" to take out the sand - but not the residues from the street.  Go figure.  I took the "after" picture with a normal camera, and it is taken from the same place where I took the black & white "before" picture with an infrared camera a year or so ago.  The area of the pond is almost twice the size as it was before the dredging.