June 30, 2010, Future Prince

What a week it has been. One Birthday Party, two Anniversaries, one child Graduating, and three Graduations parties.  It's been so much fun, and I haven't had much time to look through the photos and blog.

We hosted a Graduation Party for my son at my Aunt and Uncle's pond.  Graduations Parties at the pond are a must.  They are highly attended, and people stay around for a long time.  There was lots of laughter and playing.  We had a great time, and are very proud of our son.

In this photo my young cousin is holding a future prince.  I do think she ended up kissing the frog at one point, and freaking a lot of the women guests by asking if they wanted to hold the frog.

Lessons Learned:

• At family gathers it's more fun not being the photographer.  I just took a few photos, but spent most of the time talking with friends and family.  (and helping with the food.)

Photo details: Exposure time 1/200 sec, Aperture f/4.0, ISO 100, Focal Length 40 mm, Lens Canon EF 17-40mm, hand held.

June 25, 2010. 27 Years Later

It was a great day. All of my children and their significant others are home for the weekend for my youngest son's Graduation.  It also happens to be Judy and my 27th Anniversary.  Wow, time really does fly.

After a trip to the Chapter House we stopped at the local Wegmans grocery store to pick up some dinner to take to Stewart Park to watch the Sun set.

As we stood on the edge of Cayuga Lake I noticed Judy's toes on the rock, and thought of Becky Jo's bowl with the toes.  I thought it would make a cool photo.

Don't forget to visit Monochrome Weekend.

June 20, 2010 Father's Day

Photo details: Exposure time 1/25 sec, Aperture f/16.0 ISO 100, Focal Length 90 mm, Lens Canon 70-200mm f2.8L USM, tripod.

Happy Father's Day! 

My Aunt and Uncle have an incredible place near their home. It's a pond with a lean-to.  You might say, "What's so special about a pond and a lean-to?" What makes it so special is the hospitality that they each have. Each of my children have requested that this be the place that they celebrate their graduations.  My Uncle just smiles, and says of course.  Next weekend we will celebrate my youngest son's graduation from High School at "The Pond."


When one of my Grandfathers was still alive, this was his favorite place to be on Fathers day. He'd be there surrounded by his children, and his grandchildren with the biggest smile on his face.  For several years we have carried on the tradition, and today was no exception.  Somehow I felt like my Grandfather was still their enjoying his children, his grand children, and now his great grand children.

I took a little time out to try and take a few photographs.  The first photo I noticed a lot of wild flowers growing in the hay field.  I crawled along and put my tripod at a very low angle.

The second photo is another attempt at photographing Barn Swallows.  These birds are so fast, and they swoop quickly.  In this photo the swallow is returning to flight after hitting the top of the pond.

Photo details: Exposure time 1/2500 sec, Aperture f/3.5, ISO 100, Focal Length 78 mm, Lens Canon 70-200mm f2.8L USM, tripod.

June 17, 2010, Experimenting with Depth of Field

This is a work in progress. I had lunch today at "The Plum Tree",a local Japanese Restaurant.  I noticed the reflection of the building in one of the
bowls.

I liked the clarity of the building, and the blurred image of the bowls.  I tried a varity of f-stops for different amounts of blurr on the bowl.  I haven't quite balanced it yet, but I think this technique has potential for interesting photos.

Which image do you like the best of the three?

These images where submitted to James' Weekend Reflections.  Check out the great work of James and others.

June 13, 2010

I had to head to Ithaca for a new hard drive.  My 1 terabyte drive, and my 750 gigabyte drive are both full of photos.  It's time to move up to a 2 terabyte drive.

I've mentioned in the past that I sometimes have a place in mind where I want to come back and take photographs.  This particular area is one that I have looked at since I was a child.  Near this area there is a group of Willow Trees around a pond in the middle of a field.  As a child I used to tell my parents that the pond was the puddle that the Weeping Willows made. 

Today as I passed this area the fog was just right.  I stopped and took some photographs.  The Willows were to far away to get the type of photo that I wanted, but I thought this one worked well.

Photo details: Exposure time 1/320 sec, Aperture f/5.0, ISO 100, Focal Length 70 mm, Lens Canon EF 17-40mm, hand held.

June 12, 2010 Cornell Unviersity Alumni Weekend

It's Alumni Weekend at Cornell University.  Every year thousands of alumni return to Cornell to meet up with old friends, see the University, and enjoy the Ithaca Summer Weather.

Several groups on campus set up boths in Barton Hall on the indoor track.  This year the Cornell Outdoor Education program set up wires far above the track where alumni could check out their mountain climbing skills.

This photo is a silhouette of an Alumni as he traverses the wire. There is frosted glass in the background with the Cornell name, and a map of the world. 

May 6, 2010 Ithaca Festival

This past weekend Judy and I went to the Ithaca Festival.  What a great place to listen to some great music.  The weather was horrible on Sunday, so the crowds were not very large.  The musicians still played, and I think everybody who was there had a great time.  The photos below are from the Go Cats, and Hank's Garage.  This was the debut for Hank's Garage, and they were incredible.

Lessons Learned:

• The musicians were playing under a pavilion without lights.  In the past when I have tried to take photos with these conditions, it has been horrible. The light outside the pavilion was very bright, and the people would come out very dark.  This time I didn't worry about the light outside the pavilion.  I just concentrated on getting the exposure on the people correct.  It turned out very well.  The people look like they are in a studio.  I like the effect.