ku # 1106-09 ~ more autumnal splendor

Backlit leaves ~ county preserve / Peekskill, NY - NOT in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Bog ~ county preserve / Peekskill, NY - NOT in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Forest light ~ county preserve / Peekskill, NY - NOT in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Bog # 2 ~ county preserve / Peekskill, NY - NOT in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenThis past weekend I made an attempt to go to NYC in order to Occupy Wall St., albeit for a relatively short time. Needless to state, I had hoped to make some pictures as well. However, as it turned out, I fell 46 miles short (in Peekskill, NY) of my destination.

Peekskill was an intended stop along my route - my NYC friend with, whom I stay when in NYC, was visiting a mutual friend in Peekskill. The idea was to stop for a visit to meet our mutual friend's 3 month old twins and then continue on to NYC but, best-made-plans-of-mice-and-men wise, it didn't happen. Long story short, I ended up staying in Peekskill and, early Sunday morning, took a 2 hour walk through a city park/county preserve with my NYC friend and our mutual friend's dog in tow.

The unplanned Peekskill stay over was very enjoyable although I still want to Occupy Wall Street.

Update on Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 05:58PM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comment: John Linn asked: "... I assume you are taking advantage of ISO bracketing to capture the wide dynamic range in these images (especially the first)?"

my response: believe it or not, there was no exposure blending on any of these pictures.

ku # 1102-05 ~ autumn color bonanza

Birch tree ~ Peru, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Roadside Fall color ~ Peru, NY - in the Adirondack• click to embiggen
Roadside Fall color ~ Peru, NY - in the Adirondack• click to embiggen
Roadside Fall color ~ Peru, NY - in the Adirondack• click to embiggen

ku # 1101 ~ scraggy beauty

In the herb bed ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenIt should also come as no surprise that I am not a fan of flora pictures, Cliche Division. You know the ones - a single blossom or two pictured with a wide open aperture / small DOF on a overcast day (or with a crap load of light diffusers, scrims, and fill cards). Add a bug / insect and you've got a fine camera club competition winner.

No, those pictures are not for me. They tell us little we don't already know.

I'm much more attuned to nature's messy ways. Complexity and diversity of shapes, textures, and color which combine to create a boatload of busy visual energy. A Jackson Pollock kind of visual energy minus the "abstraction" because, after all, the medium of photography is intrinsically and inexorably linked to the real.

ku # 1096-1100 ~ in the rain

Apple tree and pumpkin in the rain ~ Au Sable Forks - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Pumpkin in the rain ~ Au Sable Forks - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Apples in the rain ~ Au Sable Forks - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Swing in the rain ~ Au Sable Forks - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Flood debris in the rain ~ Au Sable Forks - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenPreviously, I have mentioned how much I like to make pictures in the rain. There are number of reasons for this picturing MO prominent amongst them are the color saturation, the light, and the murky atmospheric quality of the air.

Early yesterday evening while I was out and about in a very fine rain a large pumpkin caught my eye. The light was rather unusual inasmuch as it had a very yellow/warm cast, unlike most rainy conditions wherein the light is rather gray. The pumpkin was a fair distance from the road and, to be honest, I didn't really notice the apple tree which was close by the pumpkin.

However, after parking the car along the road and venturing back to the pumpkin, I began to notice a number of picturing possibilities to include the apple tree and a swing hanging from another tree. As it turned out the location was ripe with picturing opportunities, including the flood debris around a tree which was on the other side of the road.

Is there anyone else out there who likes to picture in the rain?

PS - the house around which these pictures were made was damaged in our recent flood caused by Tropical Storm Irene. You might notice the mud (in the Pumpkin in the rain picture) left behind by the flood waters. The house was not occupied and it may have been damaged beyond repair or, as is the case with a number of houses, too expensive to repair. That would be a shame because the house is a beautiful old Greek Revival style one and half story farmhouse which the owner has been slowing rehabing over the past few years.

Update on Tuesday, October 4, 2011 at 02:14PM by gravitas et nugalis

• click to embiggenFYI, here's a picture of the above mentioned Greek Revival farmhouse. It is worth noting that the small guest house to the left of the main house used to (pre-Irene) face the road. Flood waters swept it off its foundation and deposited it askew.

In addition, Featured Comment: John Linn wrote: "Is there are reason why you prefer the term "picturing" over "photographing"? I guess both work, but the second term is used by most."

my response: the reason I use "picturing" over "photographing" is precisely because, as you stated, the second term is used by most.

ku # 1095 ~ a midnight run

Blue Mountain Lake ~ in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenOur recent trip to Pittsburgh began with a foggy in-the-dead-of-night drive through the Adirondack PARK. Mid way through the PARK, I came upon the above scene at Blue Mountain Lake where the pre-dawn morning light was just peeking through the fog and mist.

The beauty and mystery of the scene was tempered by the fact that approximately 30 miles previously, while driving on a 25 mile stretch of extremely dark, totally traffic free, surrounded by wilderness forest 2-lane road, we came upon a very eerie sight - a nasty single car accident.

It was made eerie by the fact that I could see the a trooper's flashing lights from a fair distance away - a somewhat strange sight in the vast darkness of the remote and isolated scene - leading me to think I was coming upon a routine traffic stop for speeding or some such infraction. It wasn't until I was right upon the accident that it became apparent this was nothing "routine".

The car was on the roadway resting on its partially crushed roof. All of glass was blown out, glass all over the road, and the trunk lid and hood wide open (that would be the boot and bonnet for the British in the audience). The front, rear and driver side of the car were quite damaged - it appeared to have rolled more than once. There did not appear to be anyone in the car or on the road. Whether someone (or more) was thrown from the vehicle and into the woods was not obvious.

It also appeared a state trooper had just arrived on the scene - he was sitting in his vehicle - although it's possible that an ambulance had come and gone and he was waiting for tow truck and cleanup crew to arrive.

In any event, it was all a bit unsettling and the scene stuck with me for quite a while on that AM.

ku # 1090-94 ~ down by the river

Blue barrel / tangle ~ Au Sable River / Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Blue barrel ~ Au Sable River - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Swept away trees ~ Au Sable River - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Detritus/junk in a tree ~ Au Sable River - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Broken tree/detritus ~ Au Sable River - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenAre you tired of flood/aftermath pictures yet?

I hope not because I'll most likely be making more of the same. It is impossible to walk or drive in any direction without encountering evidence of the Irene. Some roads and bridges are still closed and, despite the town's best efforts, there are still piles of ruined furniture, carpets, appliances, and assorted other stuff much in view. The National Guard, prisoner work details, various fire departments, town work crews, volunteers, and NYS DOT (Dept of Transportation) are all working long and diligently to do cleanup and repair in the aftermath of Irene. They'll be at it for quite a while.

And, credit were credit is due - FEMA has been at our house for an inspection and has determined that we are to be awarded nearly $6K for our repair work. All that within the course of 5 days after we were declared to be eligible and a total of 10 days after the event. FEMA must have learned their lesson after Katrina - they responded very quickly to Irene.

civilized ku # 1083-89 ~ variations on a sundown

Late sun on the golf course ~ Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Sundown in the notch # 1 • click to embiggen
Sundown in the notch # 2 • click to embiggen
Sundown in the notch # 3 • click to embiggen
Sundown in the notch # 4 • click to embiggen
Sundown in the notch # 5 • click to embiggen
Sundown in the notch # 6 • click to embiggenAfter 2 days of rain, yesterday dawned blue sky, fluffy clouds, and sunny. Those conditions continued until (and beyond) 3PM when I decided it was best to get out of town - the wife and company were cleaning out the basement and garage, creating a very dangerous I-might-have-to-do-some-grunt-work situation.

Upon my arrival at the first tee in Lake Placid, the sun was still shining bright and all was right with the weather world. By my arrival at the third tee, dark ominous clouds had moved in and light rain began to fall. The light rain continued until I arrived at the 18th tee although I did have to seek shelter once when the rain was coming down very hard for about 20 minutes.

After the round was over and I was loading up the car, the sun appeared and bathed the golf course in warm late-day light. I stopped what I was doing and made some pictures. On my drive home, the sun, as it was setting, and clouds played a game of hide and seek. I stopped for about 10 minutes and made more pictures - seen here in sequential as-I-made-them order.

Good thing I got out of town when the getting was good.

civilized ku # 1080-82 ~ cloud-a-rific

From the 15 yard line ~ Au Sable Valley HS / Clintonville, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
From the track ~ Au Sable Valley HS / Clintonville, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
From the clubhoude deck ~ North Country GC - Rouses Point, NY • click to embiggenTwo of the past three days have been, to my eye and sensibilities, visually dominated by some interesting clouds. Not spectacular, but, in relation to the environments in which I found myself, interesting.