A Random Dinosaur

 

On our way back from Connecticut, the traffic was bad after we crossed the Throg's Neck Bridge so we got off the Cross Island at Northern Boulevard where things were better.  There are a number of stoplights, and some slow spots in traffic.  We were stopped at a light and I noticed up ahead this mom and her two kids, who were both in dinosaur costumes.  The kids were having some difficulty with the costumes.  The mom turned to help the child who is hidden, while the child in the dinosaur we can see seemed to be struggling as well.  This was just an astounding find on the sidewalk!  We were going slow enough that I grabbed my "toy camera" and zoomed the lens out and as we slowly moved past, managed to grab three shots.  This is the best.  Please click on it so you can see the dinosaur better.

Happy Halloween!

This is our favorite Halloween house here in Sea Cliff. Most of the year it is a beautiful classical Victorian - look at the two Gothic arched windows on the left side of the second story!  The people who live there do such a great job of decorating.  I mean, they have skeletons and lights everywhere.  You need to click on this image to see all the creatures on the first floor porch!  Notice I got the full Moon in the photograph as well!  This is a strange Halloween for us - every year I show you the Jack-O-Lantern that I carve.  Well, we could not find a pumpkin!  We tried everywhere, and even looked when we were up in Connecticut, with no results.  So I guess without a Jack-O-lantern with a candle on the front porch, we are unlikely to get trick or treaters.  We'll see.

 

Railroad Electrical Towers

I have always been fascinated by these towers along the railroad tracks in Connecticut.  These towers are alongside the Connecticut turnpike bridge which crosses the Housatonic river between Milford and Stratford.  Down below the turnpike, there is a truss bridge for the railroad tracks.  These structures are so delicate looking and they are beautiful because of their delicate appearance. These are called truss tower or lattice tower construction and their advantage is greater strength at a much lower weight than a solid tower would weigh.  They also have much lower wind resistance.  I would love to know more about these towers.  I believe they may have been built in the 1940's but that's just a wild guess.  They might have been made of wood before this time, but I don't know for sure. 

 

The White Room

 

We had dinner in a restaurant for the first time in 19 months!  Covid, you know?  So we are in Connecticut visiting with our relatives, and when we come here we go to a great Italian restaurant that has been around forever, and they have the best food.  I have been looking forward to their linguini with red clam sauce!  It was delicious, as always!  On the way to the dining room where the family gathered, we went by this room and it stopped me in my tracks!  They call it their banquet room and it is used for all kind of events.  The white on white decor really was amazing!

The Harbor at Night

I was out with my new camera prowling around, looking at the Halloween decorations on other people's homes.  One of the homes was almost across the street from the park that overlooks the harbor.  So I walked into the park and saw this scene.  I liked the change of mood seeing this in darkness instead of during the day or at sunset.  But it was dark and I didn't have my tripod and was too lazy to go back to the car for it.  So I cranked up the "film speed" to ISO 6400 and pretended I was a tripod by standing at still as possible.  The exposure was .8 seconds at f/4 which is way too long an exposure for hand-holding the camera, but what the heck.  I shot about 6 frames and this one frame, the last, had no camera shake.  This new SONY camera is really sensitive, and the quality of the image is really good, even at ISO 6400.

 

"Welcome. Don't Be Afraid..."

"Welcome. Don't afraid.  Aa Haa Haa Haa"  That's what this skeleton says if you squeeze the button in its hand.  We bought this at Home Depot maybe four years ago, and it is still running strong.  We love squeezing the button every time we walk by and it makes us laugh!  It is our Halloween.  Well, along with the Jack-O-Lantern that I carve each year, of course.

 

A Women's Eight

"A Women's Eight."  What?  There are two ways to move a boat across the water.  A rower can possess one oar, a "sweep" to move the boat, or the rower can possess two oars, as in "sculling."  This is the basic difference between the two types of rowing.  The one difference that’s worth noting between the two types of rowing is the coxswain.  A coxswain is the person in the sweep boat who never possesses an oar, yet is the pace-setter, race strategist and steers the boat…hopefully straight!  So if you count the number of women in this boat, you will find that it is an eight.  All eights have coxswains, so they are not mentioned in this class of boat.  There is a lot of training going on in Hempstead Harbor, and on this day there were two eights and two fours, one each of men and women.  It is a beautiful thing to watch, and to photograph.  The coach is in the motorboat traveling behind and to the side and on a quiet day you can hear the coach calling out instructions to each of the boats.

More Plastering in the Bedroom

More scraping and plastering in the bedroom.  Why am I doing this?  Because I am bored? Because have nothing else to do?  Because I am retired?  No, not really.  I started plastering and painting the bedroom several months ago when it was really hot.  So after doing more than half the room I stopped to wait for cooler weather.  Cooler weather is now.  So I am back at work.  It won't take all that long, fortunately, because there is not all that much that needs repair.

 

A 300mm Lens Down at the Harbor

The fun thing about going down to the harbor with my 300mm f/2.8 lens, is that I saw pictures everywhere!  That's always fun.  I spent a lot of time looking around waiting for the Moon to rise, and I brought along a longer telephoto lens than I usually bring with me.  So I loved this solitary bird sitting on a post, and with the 300mm lens I was able to reach out a long way to capture it.  I believe this is a member of the Heron family, but since it is not illuminated from the front, it was hard to identify.

 

Big Tree, Little Tree

                                

Here is a photo from Caumsett that I hadn't had a chance to post because there was this moonrise that I needed to photograph and post.  I love the shape of this old tree.  I have no idea what kind of tree it is - I should have grabbed a leaf to find out.  And I don't know what kind of tree the smaller one either.  But I love the contrast in size between the two trees, and that could be the subject of lots of stories and poems, but not here.  I just do the photographs!

Yet Another Moonrise...

Man, when I go after a subject, sometimes I beat it to death!   :-)  I kept watching the moon rise after the moon cleared the trees, and watched the sky change, and then I noticed the reflection of the moon on the water.  The water was relatively calm, so that's why we can see this nice long reflection.  As the daylight faded the color turned more blue with each passing minute, so I shot this just to see what it would look like and was pleased with how blue it had gotten.  I promise I will stop showing you any more moonrise photos.  This week!

The Moonrise, In Color

So this is the color version of my moonrise photograph, and I saved it for last.  After working on the photograph just a bit more, I think that this will be my favorite photograph in the end.  I do plan to do the photograph I spoke of yesterday, which is to come here again when the moon is rising over these trees, and when the sun is still shining on the scene.  That may not be for 4 or 5 months - I need to check the data in an astronomy application I have on my computer.  But I have to say that am thrilled with this photograph!

 

Moonrise, Yet Again

On September 20 I drove over to Port Washington, across the harbor from Sea Cliff and tried to do a shot of the moon rising over the line of Sycamore trees along Shore Road in Sea Cliff.  You can go back and look, but the shot was not very pretty because the moon rose over a parking lot at the beach!  So tonight I repeated the trip, knowing the moon would rise over the line of trees!  Only thing was, the sun set as the moon rose, and there was no light on the trees.  This is my shot with the infrared modified camera and it is kind of interesting, but not exactly what I wanted.  At least you can see the trees of you click on the image. So this shot is better, but not yet exactly what I want.  I will show you the color version tomorrow.  Stay tuned.

 

The Sky

It was after 5PM when I was finally finishing my hike at Caumsett, and as I got near the parking lot, I spotted some very subtle gray clouds to the west.  So I just had to photograph them, even though they were very subtle.  They were SO subtle, that I had to increase the contrast in Photoshop so they would sand out more than in the original image.  I hope I haven't overdone the adjustment.

 

Impressionism, Sort Of...

Impressionism, sort of.  That seems like an interesting title.  I thought this was an interesting scene, with bright red leaves in the background, and some orange leaves in the foreground.  Maybe this is more interesting that what I originally wanted to shoot.  I saw those bright red leaves, but could not get a clear shot because that tree was across the pond, and wherever I went, there were leaves in the way in the foreground.  So I gave up on that idea, and in this photograph, included the foreground leaves.  How does the saying go?  "If you can't beat them, then join them?"

 

Something About This Tree

I can't tell you why I like this scene, and why I photographed it.  I haven't a clue.  It's a tree in a field, surrounded by other trees.  It is surrounded as well by the wild grasses I showed you a photograph of yesterday.  I thought I liked it in color, which is how I shot this, but what is unusual for me, is that I thought the color was distracting for some reason.  But in black & white this is all about form.  I just got a feeling, and I can't even explain what that is.  I would be interested in what you think about this.

Wild Grasses

The open fields within Caumsett State Park are covered with natural grasses, in some cases three feet tall or higher.  I was walking through a field of these grasses toward a giant Beech tree because I wanted to see what was inside a kind of "igloo" made by the branches and leaves that come out from the trunk and curve down to the ground. The little seeds along the grasses were sparkling in the sun which got my attention.  Suddenly it occurred to me that I should take a close up of just one of these stalks!  Funny how the mind works that I could walk through these things for one hundred feet, before it hits me to photograph one of them.

 

The Barns of Caumsett

The first thing you see when arriving at Caumsett, is a group of magnificent barns and stables.  Look at this masterpiece!  Please click on this photograph to see the building in more detail.  The architectural detailing is just beautiful - notice the windows.  And then the beautiful silo - I have never seen a silo that was sheathed in shingles.  And then on top of the silo is a round room, with what looks like entrances for birds.  This estate was built in the early 1920's and the craftsmanship of the builders is evident everywhere.

 

A Day in Nature

I spent most of the day today out in nature, which was wonderful.  I was at Caumsett State Park on the north shore of Long Island.  It once was the Marshall Field III Estate - he of the Chicago department store fame.  He bought 1700 acres in 1920 and build some beautiful homes - the main mansion and a "summer cottage" and an "winter cottage."  Substitute "Mansion" for the words "cottage."  I spent years doing stories about turning the property into a New York State Park, and I was allowed to do fashion shoots there before the park was open.  But I haven't been back in perhaps 20 years.  So I think this may be the best photograph from the day, but that doesn't matter because I will show you a pile of less-than-great photographs in the coming days.  For some reason there was not much fall color in other places, but there was a fair amount on the shore of this pond, fortunately.  And Canada geese to finish off the photograph.

 

Photographer at Work

Kathy and I made a field trip today, to Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay.  I have photographed in this State Historic Park for years, both for the paper and for myself.  I have photographed the gardens and the mansion and the landscaping.  It is a wonderful place to visit with so many different garden attractions and paths to walk and vistas.  So we spent a lot of time in a couple of gardens (stay tuned) and then walked around a bit.  I stumbled across this photographer who was working with this couple doing portraits of them.  I think they might be engagement portraits.  It was fun to watch him work, from a long way off, using my friend's borrowed zoom lens!  I think he is showing the woman how he wants her to place her leg for one of the photographs.  Something I am quite familiar with!

 

All About Garden Rakes

I was talking to a friend of mine about all the work I was doing on the lawn for the past few weeks, planting grass.  I was explaining how I used my gas cultivator to churn up the soil and then rake it and plant new grass seed.  I sent them some photos to show what I was doing (I will be showing all of you in tomorrow's post...)  They responded that in the photo you could see two rakes in the grass, and they were surprised that I needed more than one rake.  So I decided to put the two rakes up against the garage doors and take a photo of them.  When I was done, I thought that it was an interesting photograph by itself.  I love the design of the photo.  I think it is interesting beyond just the visual information about both implements.

 

The Creeping Vines

I have photographed this scene a number of times, trying to get the photograph that best feels like what I see, and what I am trying to express.  The scene is our neighbor's fence and a tree that is completely overgrown in vines that are coming over the top of the tree.  It looks like an invasion - a wave of vines that are taking over the world.  I have photographed in in color, in black & white, and in infrared.  I think this black & white version feels closest to the power of nature taking over the land.

 

The Fix

If you recall, this is a photograph of the washout at the bottom of the mile-long hill.  I am posting this so you are reminded of what happened in the terrible rainstorm.

So this is the fix they have been working on for the last month.  First they filled a large majority of the giant hole with gravel.  Then they covered that with sand.  For some reason, they have left this hole in this corner, where the utility pole is.  That pole is really leaning a lot, but it is getting support from a cable anchored in the ground.

Here is a view from the end of the original sidewalk toward the repaired area.

So the rushing waters from the flood washed out all the soil from behind the steel bulkhead in the distance, and in the foreground, it destroyed part of the concrete wall.  I wondered if they were going to have to replace the wall, but apparently not.  They have used wire bags of rocks to fill in the destroyed wall and behind the wall, and then dumped rocks in front of  the wire bags.  I wonder if all this will work.

 

Washout!

Back on September 2, I posted photographs of the washout of the sidewalk and some land at the bottom of the mile long road that led down to the old powerplant.  Well, I heard from other people that there had been a terrible washout across town on the cliff above the beach,  It had apparently washed out a whole garden behind a house.  I hadn't thought to go over there to see what happened.  But I did go over there the other day and saw this!  A large part of the hill was washed out, and you can see that it is very close to the house on the top of the hill.  There were cement stairs, and they are gone as well, and apparently a number of trees were washed down the hill as well!   I took a photograph of the stairs I had climbed to take some photographs, and they are only a short distance away from the home.  I wanted you to see the heights involved.  What is not obvious is that the hill behind the house was much steeper than these stairs.  I cannot imagine what it will take to save this hill and this house.  I am guessing concrete walls will have to be installed, starting at the bottom of the hill,  and then moving up the hill, there will need to be several more walls as well.  What a nightmare!

 

Blue & Green

This is another photograph with the borrowed 70-200mm SONY zoom lens.  It was taken as part of my walk along the boardwalk down at the bottom of the cliff.  Something about the pastel blue and the green ivy caught my eye.  The trick was to try and make an interesting composition of the wall.  there was probably a 20 foot section of vines and wall.  I think I got something decent here.  There is something peaceful about these colors, I think.  It is also interesting, that the blue wall goes from full color to areas where the paint has worn off and that variation in color adds a lot more interest.

 

"You Lookin' At?"

When I was testing the borrowed lens the other day, I climbed these amazing stairs that are 80 feet tall, that go up and down part of the cliff in Sea Cliff.  After taking some photographs of the harbor from up on the road, I started back down the stairs.  And as I looked down to make sure I didn't take any missteps, I saw this!  Wow!  How cool is this!  A face on the stairs!  And the title?  when I was working I went to a high school in Queens, and kids were sitting around on the stairs out front.  One student passed another and the first one said "You lookin' At?"  And I thought that was funny, that he didn't say "What are you lookin' at?"  I loved the short version, the "street" version, and I use it all the time just for fun.

 

Gray on Gray

This was Dunkin' Donuts at the beach day, and even though I no longer post a picture from here every Tuesday as I used to do, I do bring a camera in case I see something interesting.  Today I noticed the beautiful luminous gray of the overcast clouds, and saw them reflected in the water.  So what I did today that I haven't done before, is that I walked down to the waterline, which meant more of the water was in the lower half of the photograph, reflecting the gray sky.  That's why this is titled "Gray on Gray."  What's interesting is that I have never done this exact view before, showing so much water in the foreground.  But it works today, so here it is.  The beautiful grays of these clouds is just magical to me, with their subtle shades.

 

A Solitary Walk

I wanted to try using a 70-200mm zoom lens for my Sony a7 that my friend lent me, so I decided to drive down to the Sea Cliff beach, which is at the base of the cliff.  I was walking around and photographing different things and then decided to walk back up the hill so I got a better view looking down on the harbor.  As I was walking down the legendary stairs on the cliff, I saw this woman walking alone, and started following her with the camera as she walked along.  So this is the best shot, with her spaced in the middle of the two lamp posts.  I would like you to thing I was a great photographer and got this in one shot, but the truth is, I took 7 photographs as I tracked her walking.  This image is the second from the last.  At least I got it.  You might think the title refers to the woman walking alone.  But it occurred to me that I, too, was a solitary walker - with my camera.

 

Ten Thousand Miles!

So two days ago my cycling odometer, shown on the left, read 9,991 miles.  I ride 10 miles a day, which meant that riding today moved the odometer to more than 10,000 miles!  Wow, that's a lot of miles! These miles were all ridden on my bright red Specialized bike that I bought myself as a retirement gift.  So before you think I am some hotshot cyclist, know that it took me 13 years to do this.  So, no, I am not a "cycling god!"  But in my defense, in the wintertime I ride a Trek bike and those miles are recorded on a different cyclometer.  The bright background colors are two of my cycling jerseys, by the way.  Wow - I just checked the cyclometer on the Trek, which I bought in 2005 when I started cycling again, and I am stunned - the distance on that bike is 9,987 miles!  Wow!  So we are looking at just shy of 20,000 miles since 2005.  Maybe I AM a cycling god...   :-)

 

Andromeda by Another Photographer

So I have never done this before.  I am posting a photograph of the Andromeda Galaxy taken by a really first rate astrophotographer from Israel named David (Deddy) Dayag. He took this photograph from the Israeli desert (the Negev) with some really impressive photographic equipment.  It is an absolutely magnificent image!  It takes a tremendous amount of knowledge and skill in order to produce such a beautiful image.  I wanted everyone to see what an astounding and beautiful thing Andromeda is, overhead in our night skies.  I also wanted you to see how lame my first image of Andromeda is.  I have never met this photographer, but I found his photograph on Wikipedia. 

I think this is the correct Creative Commons link required: (David (Deddy) Dayag, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

 

A Night of Observing

                            

I finally decided to take the time to drive for an hour and a half out to Custer Institute to do some observing through my telescope, and to try some astrophotography with my new Sony a7 camera.  The forecast was for clear skies, but not great "transparency." which means it will be clear but there will be perhaps some haze or smoke that will not result in the darkest skies possible.  I took a chance, and conditions were worse than forecast - there were scattered clouds everywhere.  So observing and photography were not great, but, it was better to be out under the stars than sitting around watching TV!  This is the Andromeda galaxy and it is pretty much a twin to our galaxy, the Milky Way galaxy.  The Andromeda Galaxy  is barred spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light-years from Earth.  The Andromeda Galaxy has a diameter of about 220,000 light years, and the number of stars contained in the Galaxy is estimated at one trillion.  The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are expected to collide in around 4-5 billion years, merging to form a giant elliptical galaxy or a large lenticular galaxy.  It is a beautiful thing to behold through a telescope under dark skies, or you can google it and see what a magnificent object it is when photographed in color.  You will be stunned at how beautiful it is, and my first feeble attempt is hardly worth looking at.