Philip Seymour Hoffman

This is a statue of Philip Seymour Hoffman which is installed just outside the Dryden theater at the George Eastman Museum.  He was among the most admired actors of his generation. I am not sure when I first noticed this statue but it is a stunning sculpture that captures him so well.  He died in 2014.  What I remember him for was his performance as Truman Capote for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2005.  He was voted the greatest actor of the 21st century by the Independent.  He was born and grew up in Fairport, NY which is only 10 miles from here.  I enjoy seeing this statue every time I come to the George Eastman Museum because it is so lifelike.

 

I Look Funny

I went to the George Eastman Museum yesterday to see a huge photo exhibit titled: "American, born Hungary."   The exhibition explores the work of thirty-four Hungarian-born photographers who eventually made their way - and sometimes their fortunes - in the United States, starting around 1937.  Some left Hungary to pursue new professional opportunities, while others were escaping rising antisemitism, fascism, and political turmoil, especially after World War I.  There were so many astounding photographs on display with an wonderful sense of creativity, and new ways of seeing photographs.  One photographer constructed a metallic mirror that was distorted because it was not flat but bent in a gentle "S curve and when you looked into it, and stood higher or bent lower, your image in the mirror was really distorted.  Of course I needed to try and get a photograph, and here it is!  I look all distorted!

This is a photograph of the mirror displayed on the wall.  It is not really. obvious until you get close to it, maybe 2 feet away, that you first see the distortion.  It is so much fun to look into and see what you can do to yourself.  The photographer photographed some nude models who were reflected in his special mirror.

SNOW!

I wasn't really paying attention to the weather, so I was really surprised to wake this morning and see a couple of inches of snow on the ground!  I have ALWAYS made sure to put a snow brush in the car whenever we come up to Rochester for Thanksgiving!  Except I hadn't yet thought to put it in our new car!  Duh!  Fortunately, Vince had a spare brush, so I was able to clean off the car for my drive to Eastman House today.  More on that trip tomorrow.

This is a nice view of Vince and Jo Anne's neighborhood, with snow everywhere.  And I like that the sun is trying to peak through the clouds, making for a more interesting photo.

 

Thanksgiving Dinner 2025

This is our Thanksgiving dinner this year.  It was much smaller than normal.  Unfortunately Becky's dad and partner came down with the flu, and they couldn't come!  So this is at Chris' and Becky's home, and some years his brother Patrick and their two kids have come, and in addition some friends of Chris' as well.  But this year it was more intimate and a bit less busy, and we had a lovely dinner.  Kathy brought two pies and Jo Anne brought two dishes - her scalloped potatoes dish and my sister Joan's sweet potatoes and cranberry dish!  The food was amazing and the guests and stories and the catching up with everyone were just wonderful!  A perfect day!

 

The Ovid Farmhouse, Continued

It began to rain as it got darker yesterday and I was worried that by the time I got to my favorite abandoned farmhouse, and that it would be too dark to photograph.  Fortunately I was able to photograph by using my SONY camera and the sensitivity at 3200 ISO shooting at 1/60 second at f/4.  I was stunned at the changes in the house since I was last here.

Here is a matching photograph from yesterday, and below is a photograph from the same spot taken in 2009.  Some serious changes, right?

It is of course, sad for me to see this farmhouse deteriorate over the years.  I know that is the way of things, but there are so many nice architectural details, and I would have loved to have seen the house when it was brand new.  It must have been really beautiful.

 

Upstate

 

We drove up to Rochester today, leaving at 10 AM.  Most of the trip was with light traffic and overcast skies with no sign of rain.  The last two hours, however were after sunset and there were a number of moderate rain showers.  I forget how difficult it is to see the lines on the road at night, in moderate rain.  Man, I was really paying attention.  We love driving in upstate New York at this time of year, with what's left in the fields a beautiful golden color, and we love the old farmhouses along the way.

Venus de Milo on Sixth Avenue

It is so interesting to me how little of Manhattan I now know!  I stumbled across this sculpture of Venus de Milo on Sixth avenue at 53rd street when I was in the city to go to MoMA.  It has been installed here since 1990!  And I have never seen it before.  I tend to go to the same museums by the same routes and these days every time I use a different street, I make new discoveries!  This statue "The Headless Venus de Milo" was created by the artist Jim Dine.  I am guessing that it is about twice the nornal size of a person.  Venus is a Greek statue and is believed to depict Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty.  The original Venus is made of marble and is in the Louvre in Paris.  It was created about 100 years BC!  And then it was unearthed in a farmer's field in 1820.

 

Seascape and Clouds

This is such a beautiful scene, isn't it?  It is at the bottom of Laurel Avenue, and each day I go for a walk, I stop here and look to the Northeast and see what this scene looks like and I am liable to take a photograph here even if there is nothing special going in terms of weather or sunlight or wind or clouds.  But on this day I think I hit the jackpot!  Late afternoon golden light lighting up the grasses, but the clincher were the clouds in the distance.  I think we had just had a frontal passage.  What's interesting is that under those clouds there is some evidence that some light showers were underneath them.  Best shot from here in a long time!  Please click on this to see it larger - it's a beauty!

 

Stargazing Outreach

Our astronomy club had an outreach event a couple of weeks ago and I am only now getting around to posting some photographs.  We were there to look at the moon, which was, unfortunately, a full moon.  The moon is more spectacular during the first quarter phase, when to the eye, is is half illuminated.  That's because when the sunlight rakes across the moon at a low angle, as in first quarter, all the jagged mountains and craters stand out in stark relief.  During full moon, the moon looks as smooth as a quarter.  it is still interesting though.

We did have a nice crowd as you can see here.  There were about 6 of us with telescopes which was good because we had a pretty large crowd.

So this is what a full moon looks like as seen through a telescope.  I have posted a larger than normal image so if you click on this you can see a lot more datail.

Here is a high school student looking through my home made telescope and she was transfixed by the view, which is always fun.  Some people look in the eyepiece and then after 5 seconds say "Oh, cool..." and then walk away.  Others act as if their eye is glued to the eyepiece.

Here the director of the planetarium was helping people observe through my telescope, so that I had more time to take photographs.  These are such rewarding evenings for us all.

 

"Berenice 29-39"

As part of the exhibition at MoMA called "New Photography 2025" there was this exhibit called "Berenice 29-39 by the artist and photographer Gabrielle Goliath, from Johannesburg, South Africa.  When I entered the gallery I went to the text on the wall, and after reading it, I walked over to the first print on the wall and I was stunned!  I was facing this powerful portrait of a woman that absolutely held me.  I can't even explain why, but it is the most powerful portrait I have seen in recent years!  Then I moved on to the next portrait, and it held me as well.  This is a cropped in version of the first portrait so you can see more detail.  Here is what the other portraits look like.  PLEASE click on these images to see them larger.

This exhibit by Gabrielle Goliath consists of eleven porgtraits of women of color.  Each subject stares resolutely at the viewer, and sits against a background that ranges from lilac and pewter to peach.  These women serve as surogates that collectively mark the absent presence of the artist's childhood friend, Berenice;  There is one portrait for each year unlived following her killing in 1991.  With this commemorative gesture, Goliath reasserts notions of tenderness and beauty in the face of structural and physical violence.  She has said, "This is life-work, not death-work". The series will continue.

Here is an overall view of all the portraits as they are displayed in this gallery.  I will be going back to MoMA to see this again!  It is that powerful!

 

"Celebrity Press Photography"

I went to MoMA last week because there were three photographic exhibits I wanted to see.  This was the first, called "Celebrity Press Photography."  These were photographs that came from movie fan magazines, like Photoplay, after the Museum of Modern Art bought their archives.  Many of these photographs went back to the 1920's and 1930's.  This is Anna Magnani, photographed by Yousuf Karsh.  Absolutely stunning portrait, don't you agree?

This is a spectacular lighting effect to have giant shadows behind the subjects.  I can't quite decide if it is a double exposure.  I can't imagine how you get those shadows so much larger than the subjects, given how close the two actors are to the background.  But this was a style back then and it is pretty dramatic! The actors are Ann Sothern Maurice Chevalier.

I love how funny this photograph looks. When a magazine wants to have just a small image of an actor, they "silhouette" the part they want, in the old days, by using white paint carefully applied around, in this case, the actor's head.  Then when they are preparing the page they will make the rest of the photo go away and the head will be on a plain white background.  This is Harold Lloyd who was very popular and began in silent films, and later on, talkies.

This is an extreme example of the cropping out of a head from the main photograph.  This is Aldo Ray and Katherine Hepburn from the movie "Pat and Mike."  It was so interesting to see examples like this all throughout the exhibit.

And here is an absolutely beautiful portrait, of Jean Harlow, photographed in the style of the era.  There were so many "straight" photographs of famous people in the exhibit and they were fascinating because of the style of the lighting and posing of the time. As a photographer, it was a joy to see this relatively small exhibit!

 

Fisherman at Sunset

Another walk along the harbor today.  What's funny is that this is the fourth walk in five days, and I am thinking "what could I possibly get today that I didn't get the other two days.  The answer is "everything!  One walk was high winds, one was rainy, one was sunny and high winds.  But it turns out, today was perfect because it was mainly sunny with some clouds to the west, but with no winds I got wonderful reflections on the water and that made all the difference!  It is so unusual to see a fisherman out on the sand bars when the tide is out.  But he was in the perfect spot for a photograph.  Lucky me!

 

Tourists Enjoying Times Square

I decided to walk the 20 blocks from Penn Station to the Museum of Modern Art, just for the exercise.  As I walked through Times Square there were tourists everywhere.  There were also buildings absolutely covered with monster sized digital screens.  In the old days, it was billboards.  I was trying to get a good photograph showing the street with all the screens.  So I was standing looking at the scene and I saw a young couple both photographing Time Square.  I wasn't fast enough to get them shooting, but when they were done, they were right in front of me!  So when they were looking at their phones, I just zoomed in on them just a bit and shot two frames quickly.  This was the best.  I live the excitement they showed as they looked at their photographs.

Bikes at the Beach

As I got to the bottom of Laurel Avenue on my walk the other day, I saw these two bikes on their kick stands at the entrance to the beach.  I lifted my camera and then noticed the two girls in the distance down on the beach.  But they were behind the bikes.  So I clicked and waited as they ran to the left in the photo and as I kept shooting they ended up here.  Whew!  Lucky me, the perfect spot.  I like the feeling of the bikes there and a sense of people relaxing in the late afternoon.

 

The Old Timer

This old timer looks a bit long in the tooth, doesn't he?  Poor guy, sitting out on the porch all day and all night, by himself.  It is so interesting that I am so taken by Jack-O-Lanterns.  They just seem so human to me, and I am the one that makes them human, so after one is created, I pay attention to how they are doing.  And this is silly, but I feel sad when they deteriorate like this.  So he will probably be on his way to the compost heap tomorrow.  But he served us well,  and proved that an small electric light bulb was much better than burning a giant candle as it's source of illumination.  I will miss not having him on the porch.

 

Train Time

Everytime I stop at Jamaica to change trains, I walk around with my camera looking for a photograph.  The wind was howling the other day, coming from the north, and so I walked over to the glassed in waiting room and stood on the south side, out of the wind.  Then I noticed people inside looking out and I thought I would try and get a photograph.  The secret is, you must NEVER look at the person you want to photograph - it is a dead giveaway.  So I was facing down the platform acting as if I was shooting a photograph in that direction, but then I would lower the camera as if I was looking down the platform with my eyes, meanwhile I turned the camera 90 degrees to the left, guessing at the compotition.  I took maybe 4 or 5 images, not sure what was in them.  This was the best image.  What is confusing is that the window which the people are behind, is reflecting a train in the station on the next track, making this a bit confusing.  But I think I got something here.

 

A Strange Landscape

I took the train to the city yesterday.  I had to change trains at Jamaica station and you do that by climbing up a set of stairs, and then walking along an overhead ramp to the stairs down to the other tracks.  This is what you see walking along the ramp. These are the roofs over the platforms below.  I have seen this scene before but never really stopped to look carefully.  But I had time so I stopped and shot this.  What attracted me was what a strange looking landscape this is!  It looks like some futuristic landscape in some world of the future I am not interested in living in!  Be sure and click on this to see it larger.

 

Dr. James Dewey Watson 1928 – 2025.

 Dr. James Watson was an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist. In 1953, he and Francis Crick co-authored an academic paper in Nature proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule. In 1962, Watson, Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material".  After his death, The New York Times called Watson one of the most important scientists of the 20th century. The BBC noted that Watson's works "opened the door" to help explain how DNA replicates and carries genetic information while also "setting the stage for rapid advances in molecular biology". I was lucky enough to photograph him on three occasions during my time working at Newsday and this is one of my portraits of him.  On the wall behind him is his Nobel Prize certificate.

And in case you wondered wha the Nobel Prize looks like, here it is, cropped from the photograph up above.  Of course you receive a gold medal as well.

Optics Demonstration

Tonight we had a talk and slideshow about optics for astronomy.  After the talk, Tony, the presenter, got out a small set of lasers and then placed different types of lenses in front of them so everyone could see how each of the three lasers were "bent" as they went through each of the different lenses.  It was a great illustration about how different lenses used in astronomy worked.

 

The Colors of Fall

These are the brightest colors I have seen this year!  And guess where I found them.  Just two houses down the street, in the driveway!  There was a blazing red tree on the property but there was no way I could get a good shot of it several days ago.  But today!  I was walking down the street looking and looking and here was the photograph right under my feet.  These leaves are from a Japanese maple tree.  Of course my beautiful Japanese maple is very similar but those leaves are more on the yellow part of the spectrum.  I am thrilled with this shot.  Finally some real Fall color

 

A New View of the Point

I know you have seen this scene dozens of times.  I never tire of looking for something new each time I pass by.  But walking in the rain the other day, I saw somthing completely different, for the first time!  The water was very calm and for the first time I saw that reflections of the trunks and tops of four trees.  Usually when I frame this photograph, I only include two of the trees.  I had never noticed this before, probably because the water was so calm.  And with the rain clouds above the tree tops, I think I have a really nice photograph here.

 

Minimalism

Since bike riding weather at this time of year has fewer good days, I have begun substituting my 2.7 mile walk along the harbor down to where the old power plant was.  It was warm with a light rain falling.  Wonderful atmospheric weather and the rain was light enough that I brought my umbrella but didn't need it.  On the way back along the harbor I saw this scene of sands point in the distance, and the calm water on my side and as I was wondering if it would make any kind of photograph, this Double-crested cormorant swam into the frame and I realized that would complete the photograph.  But a minimalist photograph, as in "there's not much in this photo" but I still think it is interesting so I am posting it.  You are no doubt  impressed with my knowledge of birds, in recognizing this Double-crested cormorant, right?  Don't be impressed.  I cropped the original photo really close to the bird and then dropped it on Google Images, and I become an expert in bird recognition.  In my defense, I did realize that this was a familiar silhouette, and the bird was low in the water, so I knew it was not a Mallard, but that's all.  Please click on this to see it larger.

Signs of Fall

There are only a few signs of color in the trees around here, so far.  Most trees are still on the green side, except for a brilliant red Japanese maple I passed on someone's lawn today.  This morning there was some rain and then the air was moist and warm at 61 degrees and it was so nice to be outside with my cameras.  I do love to look at and photograph plants and flowers as they deteriorate.  I found these giant Hostas in the small back yard corner garden and I spent some time trying to get the best composition.  I am astounded at the size of these leaves and their transition from deep green to bright yellow and brown.  I guess Fall is here.

 

Seeing The Tree in a Different Way

I was walking up the driveway at some point today and I looked at the Japanese Maple, and suddenly I saw it in a different way!  There was soft light coming from the west illuminating the tree, so essentially it was from over my shoulder.  I think of this tree as an amazing and beautiful tree, but as a delicate tree with branches spreading everywhere.  But there is nothing delicate looking when we are looking at the trunk close to the ground. What I saw today was an extremely strong, muscular trunk going off in different directions.  There was nothing delicate at all in this view of the tree.  It was a revelation to me to see it this way!  This first photograph was done with my infrared modified camera which is why anything green looks white..

I photographed this with my regular color camera, because this is the way that I first saw it.  But after seeing the infrared camera version, I decided to convert this image to black and white to see how different it would look than in color.

So this is the black and white version - the same image from above, with all the color removed.  Do you have a favorite?  I would love to know!

 

Clouds at Sunset

I drive east from my street to get to the grocery store.  When I parked my car at the store I was facing west and couldn't believe my eyes.  These spectacular clouds were in the sky to the west and the sun had just set.  So I got out of my car and took a camera out of the trunk and started walking around the parking lot to find the best view.  This one was not bad!  Not sure what kind of clouds these are but I might guess Alto Cumulus.  But I will send a copy of this to my friend George and he will know.  As I walked to the store, I saw a woman who had gotten out of her car, and she had her phone up to her eyes and was photographing them as well.  Meanwhile a number of others were walking to and from their cars and never seemed to notice.  I spoke to the woman with the phone and congratulated her for both noticing and then photographing this spectacular scene.

 

Such Pretty Leaves

It was 61 today so I went for my bike ride late this afternoon.  I do 10 miles up and down the hills of Sea Cliff.  On the way back up my street to home I flashed by these beautiful red leaves growing in the ivy alongside the street.  I passed them then stopped, turned around and went back..  I got off my bike and used my iPhone to photograph them.  They were striking in their contrast to the dark green ivy.  After I finished photographing them, I reached into the ivy and pulled some of these out of the ground to take home.  I gave them to Kathy to put in a vase on the dining room table.  They look beauriful there!  Before you have a heart attack, I know that this is poison ivy.  I was just kidding about bringing them home.  Just wanted to see who recognized how stupid I would have to be to do this!  But here's the thing - we have had poison ivy in our ivy and I don't remember it turning red in the fall.  So...  Maybe this is not poison ivy.  "Leaves of three, let them be."  So is it?

 

"WHAT IS THAT IN THE SKY?

Our club had an outreach event tonight at a nearby high school.  We set up our telescopes to show adults and children the full moon and the planet Saturn.  I was setting up my telescope to show a woman and her two children the full moon.  I heard someone say "What is that?"  "Look at that thing in the sky!  What is that?"  So I turned and saw something I had never seen before!  Then a friend said "It's a rocket that was launched from Europe this afternoon."  It was an unbelievable sight!  I had been taking some photographs of people observing with my SONY a7 camera but I had put it back in the car. "Oh well, no camera, no photo..."  Then I noticed that the woman who was waiting to look through my scope was shooting photographs of it with her phone!  So I am a complete dolt!  I immediately grabbed my phone and started shooting!  Here is my shot.  Don has posted that it is an Ariane 6 rocket launched by the European Space Agency this afternoon The Ariane 6 rocket lifted off from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, today at approximately 4:03 PM.  What an unbelievable sight this was!  Apparently the rocket was venting unused fuel.

 

A Food Question

I need some help from any of you who are cooks and foodies, please.  Growing up in Connecticut in the 1950's and 1960's, our mom cooked spaghetti for dinner fairly often.  It was the thicker, the "normal" variety.  Somewhere along the line, perhaps in only the last 10 years, I came to really love "thin spaghetti."  I have the sense that thin spaghetti is a relatively new variety.  I don't think the thin stuff was around when I was a kid.  The other day we were out of the thin stuff and had to eat the regular, and I was really disappointed.  Can't believe that I didn't enjoy the thick stuff as much.  Does anyone have any idea when thin spaghetti arrived in the consciousness of American family cooks?  Thanks for any information.  The thin spaghetti is on the left and the regular on the right, if you are curious.

 

Driver Safety Class

Most of our day was taken up with a Driver Safety Class that we take every three years.  It runs fromn 9 AM to 4 PM with time out for lunch.  But it was almost six hours of sitting!  I never sit for 6 hours at a time!  I would get up and walk around the room when there were short bathroom breaks in the morning and afternoon.  I cannot sit that long!  Lots of interesting safety information.  They have made changes in the course to consider newer cars like our Camry and all the automation and safety stuff built in, which was good.  But much of it was reviews of laws and so on, and not much of that was new information.  But were troopers and paid attention.  The good part is a 10% reduction in basic auto insurance.  Not sure what that means, but at least there is SOME reduction!  So we are good for three years now and can relax.

 

The Object, The Colors

I did my first bike ride in a couple of weeks today.  With all the work on painting parts of the house, I never had time to go for a ride late in the afternoon after finishing painting.  It was nice to be out!  Blue sky, sunshine, and not much traffic.  I have a few places where I stop along my 10 mile ride.  I make note of the times at my checkpoints to see how I am doing.  When I stopped at this fire hydrant today, I saw the brilliant red and yellow colors on it, with a blue sky in the background.  I was already stopped, so I got out my iPhone because I don't carry a camera with me on my rides.  So I think this photograph is mainly about the object - the fire hydrant - but it may in fact be more about color.  Something about the brilliant colors brightened my day, actually, in addition to my ride.  On second thought, I have changed my mind and this photograph is ALL about the color!