Week 50, Day 347, April 11, 2010, Stewart Park Willows

It was a beautiful day for the Skunk Cabbage Classic 1/2 marathon, and 10k in Ithaca, Ithaca New York.  Congratulations runners!  I took over 5500 photos of the runners, and I'm in the process of sorting through them.

As an added bonus one of the runners had a birthday today, and her husband had a surprise birthday party at Stewart Park.  She's had the dream since she was a little girl to have a new pair of socks everyday.  Her husband asked that we each bring a pair of socks, and had hoped for 50 pairs to commemorate her 50th birthday.  I think that the goal was reached.  When she opened the 15th pair of socks, she realized that her dream was coming true.  Happy Birthday Nancy.

While we were in Stewart Park, I noticed the wind swept willows.  The breeze blowing off of Cayuga lake was very strong.  The color of the willows in the spring is an interesting yellow, and is very beautiful.

There's also another special birthday today.  Kyle, my son, turns 23, and is enjoying his birthday in Hawaii.  Happy Birthday Kyle.

Lesson Learned:

• Sorting through 5500 photos takes a long time, and a long time to upload.
• I've been to Steward Park several times, and each time the willows have a different look.  I think it's important to continue to return to the same places throughout the year to look for changes for photo opportunities.

Photo details: Exposure time 1/100 sec, Aperture f/9.0, ISO 100, Focal Length 17 mm, Lens Canon EF 17-40mm, handheld, circular polarizer filter.  

Week 8 - Day 51, June 20, 2009 "Wedding"

What a day! I was asked by a friend to take photographs at his wedding. I'm both intrigued by the idea of photographing a wedding, as well as terrified. I have heard horror stories of people who have had a lot of problems photographing weddings. I agreed to take the photos when I learned that it was an informal wedding in a park.

The weather was rain most of the day. The wedding took place in a tent outside a pavilion in the park. The reception was inside that pavilion, and on the porch outside the pavilion. The wedding was incredible, and beautiful.

With all of these various areas, the lighting was a real challenge. Inside the pavilion there were florescent lights. Outside the pavilion there were cloud covered skies. In the tent there were no lights, so the contrast of light between the inside of the tent and the outside of the tent was large. I had to use a flash for most of the tent photos.

All in all I think the photos turned out well. I hope the couple enjoys them.

This is one of my favorite photos from the wedding.

Lessons Learned:

• Taking photos at a wedding calls for some very quick changes of camera settings. The landscapes that I have been photographing allow me a lot of time to make changes on the camera, try something, and take another photo. At a wedding, if the camera isn't set correctly the moment is lost. I think that's why so many photographers take a lot of time after the wedding to recreate parts of the ceremony to get the photos right.
• Using two cameras with two lenses helps. I borrowed my daughter's camera and had a wide angle lens on that camera, and my telephoto lens on my camera.

Photo details: Exposure time 1/1000, Aperture f/4.0, ISO 200, Focal Length 26 mm, 35 mm equivalent focal length 43mm, Lens Canon EF 17-40mm, hand held.