And Now for Something Completely Different

I saw a post on Facebook today about a  man who bought a pair of Wolverine work boots and left them in his closet without wearing them for a year.  When he finally went to use them, the heel and part of the sole had detached from the upper boot.  It looked like it was attached with some kind of foam, rather than rubber to leather with some glue.  The manufacturer said they were more than a year old and wouldn't do anything to make it right for the customer.  I couldn't believe how cheaply the boots were made.  It made me think of my pair of Timberland work boots that are at least 30 years old.  I have used these for everything around here.  I wore them working on the roof, tearing off old shingles and I wear them on the ladder all the time that I am painting the house and I wore then when I built a brick patio and sidewalk.  They are well used but they have stood up well to all the work that they have been through.  These boots are the best, and I am shocked at how poorly the boots on the Facebook post were made.   So I decided to photograph my boots just for fun, and it was fun to look really closely at them and see all the details and all the of the wear over all the years I have used them.  Seeing all the wear and tear makes them kind of beautiful in a way.  Please be sure to click on this to see all the details.

 

Snow, Bench & Fog

Did someone around here mention not shooting any more snow?  Or was it no more ice?  I can't remember.  By tomorrow all of this will be gone, it has been raining all day and it is raining tonight.  These benches at the large field with two baseball diamonds look like a nice place to sit most of the year.  There is usually someone relaxing or reading or sitting with their dog.  But not these days.  I looked at the benches and they are soaking wet!  And there is water and ice where you would rest your feet.  So this might be worth a photograph, but definitely not a fun place to sit.

 

Back Working Again

I'm back at work again!  Well, not exactly.  I mean I did a self-assigned portrait tonight after the astronomy meeting.  A friend of mind, Steve, needed a portrait showing him with something astronomy related.  So I set him up in front of a giant painting of the moon on the wall in the plandetarium lobby, and then I asked hin to bring his automated telescope, which is seen on the table in the background.  I used two lights for the scene, one with an umbrella to the right, and another less powerful light way in the background on the left which put a highlight on the left side of his face, and on the brightest part of his automated telescope.  That second light from the left makes a world of difference in the sense of the photograph.  How'd I do?

 

The Collector

This is another case of following another walker down on the beach, from overhead.  I photographed this woman first, then the dog walker.  So there are two different photographs and I am trying to figure out which is best.  I think it is the one above.  I like that she is pretty much in silhouette, with no details visible.  I chose one where she is leaning a bit forward.

I took this one before the one above and we can see details in the woman and her clothing.  So I can't decide if seeing the way she is dressed matters.  She is apparently collecting "something" but she was asked by someone down on the beach what she was looking for with her little white net on the end of a stick, and she did not seem to give an answer. She does have a long white plastic bag on her front to put whatever she was looking for, into.  This second photograph has more detail, including her brightly decorated leggings, but I don't think this photograph is as effective as an interesting image.  What do you all think?  Would you choose the first photograph, or the second?  Thank you in advance for you choices.  Oh, please click on each image to see more detail before voting.  Thanks!

 

"How much snow did ya get?"

This is our little cement garden angel which I love seeing in the garden all year long.  I think it is about one foot tall, more or less.  We had gotten 3 inches of snow when I took this photograph, on January 24th..

After our first large snowfall which I think was 12 inches or so, I happened to notice that just her head was visible, but this must have been a week later.  So I walked out to the garden and did this photograph.  After the second snowfall where we got 12 to 14 inches of snow, on February 23 she completely disappeared!   So the snow has been melting for 7 days now, and today I could see just the very top of her head emerging from the snow!  So the answer is, "we got a lot of snow!" 

 

Moonrise

I went out to the garage to put some bottles in the recycling container and there was the nearly full moon rising behind the trees next door.  What a beautiful sight.  Funny, I usually have a sense of the current phase of the moon, but sometimes I lose track and then I am surprised, as I was to see this.  And that is always fun.  If the sky had been brighter, I would have been able to show some detail in the moon, instead of it being just a white circle.  But it's not a bad shot.

 

How I Take Photographs

I brought my camera with me today on my walk to the old power plant, and wasn't expecting much with all the ice gone.  I was up on the sidewalk about 10 feet above the beach which I could see because the tide was dead low.  I wasn't expecting much.  I did see a woman walking her dog and it didn't look interesting because I was looking down on her.  But I followed along as she walked and took pictures.  She was close to the bulkhead, but as we got closer to Tappan Beach she moved further away from me and closer to the water.  I kept shooting, just because that is what I do. So below is the first photograph I took and it is just not interesting. I took a total of 23 photographs, and this photograph, above, is the last one. And THIS is a real photograph, not just a snapshot!  Lucky me.  There is an old saying, attributed to Louis Pasteur: "Chance favors the prepared mind."  I believe in that and that belief has served me well my whole career.  So it may be luck, but it is also hard work.  So now you know a little bit more about how I work.