Black and White Wednesday

Earlier today while tending to dinner on the bbq (steak and onions), I took some photos. We have these Adirondack chairs and I thought they might look good in BW. I knew it was BW Wednesday, and since I have not posted for BW Wed in awhile, this seemed like a good chance.





Check out other great photos submitted at Black and White Wednesday!

Dutchess County Fair 2010

I am late posting these, but better late then never! These are photos from the Dutchess County Fair which was in August. I did not give these much editing time, so they are just SOOC. I sometimes get really good shots SOOC, but other times I edit...colors, contrast, etc. My next post will probably contain more fall shots, and more of my sky shot previews. I have been cleaning up some recent sky photos from a photo shoot about a month ago. The air was perfect! Look at my previous post, last photo of the Mother House at Mt. St. Mary College.








Anyone care to guess what, or who, these are in the photo below? And has anyone seen this kind of art before? I never have until seeing this at the fair.



This was a sand castle display. When I was growing up in Long Island, I was always making sand castles, at Fire Island, Jones Beach, Point Lookout and Long Beach. I really miss the sand and ocean.









If the rain holds off, I want to stop on Tuesday morning at the pond on my road. There has been a Great Blue Heron standing in the pond, posing for a photo! Hopefully I won't scare him off.

Autumn upon us...

Well, it's that time of year again, at least here in the Northeast, anyway. Fall is making it's way in. We don't have full color yet, but in about 10 days, the colors will be brilliant.

We took a walk yesterday, the air was crisp, a slight breeze, and I shot a few photos to get ready for the autumnal equinox on Thursday.
















See how blue the sky is? This is the way I see it, so my camera should show it as I see it. Not always the case, for me, when I first started using digital. I always got film to show what I saw. Having learned the controls on the D80 lets me capture what I see, and I can always enhance in Gimp or PSE. The following shot was taken at Mt. St. Mary College in Newburgh. The conditions were perfect. (Note: editing is not always desired, nor something we should just 'do'. I try to bring out more details, and sometimes shoot in RAW, which holds a lot more details in higher bit rate (16-bit vs 8-bit). None of these photos are raw, but I alternate.

Apple picking 2010

We went apple picking today at a local farm. There are several farms around here in Dutchess County, New York. One of them, the biggest, charges to park, or admission. Then you pay for the bag, like $10 or $15. The bag can get heavy as you are picking. A lot of people come to this farm...as far as NYC, Jersey, Conn. But the small farm we went to has apple trees, cider, donuts, the usual fare, but there is no admission fee. and a lot less people! Anyway, I'll be making apple breads and cakes. One of the recipes I found at OFA (Old Farmers Almanac). The cake is fantastic, and lasts 2 days tops at my house. I bring one to work for the ladies in the front office. I'm so nice I wanna cry!

Note: please excuse the lower quality photos than the photos many of you expect of me and my Nikon. These photos were taken with an iPhone since my son was using my D80 today at a concert. :-(

Macro Friday

Laura at Blogging from Bolivia has been running a Macro Friday. I have submitted a few shots but have been inactive. I thought I would get back into the swing. Here is my shot for the week.


This was taken at the Dutchess County Fair, where I won second place for a nature photo, and Amy won first place for flowers. I will be uploading some photos over the weekend, so take a look. Thanks

Beach Party 2010 Long Island

I know, I know. I have been neglecting my posting duty, and I am sorry. With the colder weather coming, I'll be able to spend more time posting. This past weekend we went to my cousins anual beach party in Long Island, which by the way is where I grew up (south shore, Nassau County). I am now considered an upstate New York person, but will always have room for my Long Island roots. Here are a couple of shots from the gathering.



Amy's fiance throwing a frisbee...



My niece and sister-in-law

A cousin's daughter, who is desperately trying to have fun despite just losing her father in an accident

Picking up my niece who is riding the train coming into station from Jamaica Queens

Flower near the beach house

My great nephew Jake. Look at that smile! His mother has taken over 10000 photos of her boys.





My cousins son.



My other great nephew Josh.


Loading up the slide with sand! Oh joy. Actually we did the same thing when I was a kid. This shot is like a birds eye view from atop the slide. I was waiting for my turn!


Almost ready with some new photos including my famous sky shots! Look for them very soon!