civilized ku # 1139 ~ picturin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues (same as it ever was)

Bear Mt. picnic ~ Oktoberfest / Bear Mt. Park - NOT in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenWhile in Peekskill this past weekend, we all went over to Bear Mountain State Park to attend the ongoing Oktoberfest (every weekend in October). The day was gloriously warm and sunny so, unsurprisingly (close proximity to NYC and all), there was quite a crowd which resulted in traffic jams, overflowing parking lots, and long lines (with unbelievably slow service) for kielbasa and bratwurst. Fortunately, the beer lines were long but fast moving. They got that right, however, isn't that the point of an Oktoberfest?

Unlike in Bob Dylan's Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues, the only sign of a Bear Mountain Massacre on this day was that evidenced by the urine assault on the men's restroom floor - it was covered, wall to wall, with a fine sheen/layer of urine. Taking into account the quantity of beer consumed, I guess hitting a urinal with liquid flowing from a flexible instrument is a real challenge for some.

That said, I have linked to Dylan's performance of his Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues because, in the spirit of Occupy Wall Street, his lyrics are as topical today as they were back then* (same it ever was). The last verse is the kicker ...

Now, it don’t seem to me quite so funny
What some people are gonna do f’r money
There’s a bran’ new gimmick every day
Just t’ take somebody’s money away
I think we oughta take some o’ these people
And put ’em on a boat, send ’em up to Bear Mountain ...
For a picnic

*Dylan's song is based upon an actual event - a 1961 Father's Day boat cruise up the Hudson River to Bear Mountain gone awry due to counterfeit tickets and overcrowding - A Harlem social club had chartered the Hudson Belle, for a Father's Day cruise up the Hudson to Bear Mountain. As the picnickers were crowding the pier... rumors (later confirmed) spread that about a thousand counterfeit tickets had been sold around town and that those families with fake tickets would not be permitted aboard. The boat docked a couple of hours late and there was a mad scramble to get aboard and a good deal of panic and fighting on all three decks. The cruise was called off and about a dozen people were taken to a hospital for treatment of their injuries.

FYI John Linn, et al) - unlike yesterday's ku 1106-09 entry's pictures, this entry's picture was made with a 3 exposure (ISO bracketing) blend.

ku # 1110 ~ autumnal splendor - a variation

Backyard tree # 2 ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenIn the first autumnal splendor entry, civilized ku # 1136, I opined about my dislike of screaming colorist (hue&saturation to the max) pictures of nature's annual rite of Autumnal color. In doing so, I also expressed my like of small touches of fall color pictured against less spectacular colors.

Herein, is a variation on the scene from that earlier entry wherein the background is a field of green. Like the the first picture only more so, the field of green depicted therein is comprised and composed of quite few shades of green. I point this green variation out inasmuch as such a variation within a single picture is something I do not see very often.

IMO, that's because most sensors tend to overload the color green with too much yellow-biased color content which, admittedly, makes for very warm and pleasing (to most eyes and sensibilities) greens. However, at the same time, it also obfuscates the often subtle, and at times even the not-so-subtle, differences in nature's many splendored shades of green. In my experience, it takes careful attention in the RAW conversion and PS processing stages of digital picture "developing" to get it right.

Of course, if your objective is to get it wrong (with the intent of featuring homogenized "wow"-em greens), feel free to forget/ignore anything I've stated.

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

still life ~ analog hue&saturation tools

Analogue hue&saturation tools • click to embiggenAs an addendum to civilized ku # 1136 (autumnal splendor) wherein I took aim at edge-to-edge screaming-color cliche-ridden autumn foliage pictures, and, civilized ku # 1137 (scraggy beauty) wherein I took aim at the "rule" to simplify, I proffer this entry wherein I unequivocally state that I hope I never again see a picture of a single red/yellow (or red+yellow) leaf on wet rock in a stream.

Now I'm not saying that a single colorful leaf cannot come to roost on a wet rock in a stream but .... on the other hand, I'd be willing to bet at least a part of the farm on the idea that most such leaves have had a little human intervention in their nesting habits. Part of my suspicion rests upon the fact that virtually all pictured rock resting leaves are also rather perfect in appearance, exhibiting no evidence of the ravages of nature and the insect world which are most often inflicted upon them.

I am also not saying, if making such pictures is what shakes your booty, you should stop making them on my account. After all, we all have to start somewhere. My advice would be to keep on making leaf-on-a-rock pictures until you can't stand it anymore. It's easy to do, just keep doing the same thing over and over and over again (ad infinitum) until you come to the conclusion that there just might be another way to look at and picture autumn leaves.

As that guy who just died stated, "Think different."

civilized ku # 1138 ~ rarely seen Heinzosaurus Urbanus

Caged Heinzosaurus Urbanus ~ PPG Plaza - Pittsburgh, PA • click to embiggen

Update on Friday, October 7, 2011 at 01:16AM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comment: Markus Spring wrote/asked: "And this is not a brand name defacement, but the ultimate self-ironisation of the brand holder, I guess?"

my response: Markus - the world headquarters for Heinz is located in the building to the left of the Heinzosaurus Urbanus so I guess this is their way of saying, "Heinz is here".

Featured Comment: Mary Dennis wrote: "That is a bloody ugly piece of sculpture. And it's muzzled by a bottle cap?"

my response: Mary - that's so all the bloody ketchup won't spill out.

civilized ku # 1137 ~ check in, check out, check in, check out, check in ...

The Priory B&B - Northside - Pittsburgh, PA • click to embiggenThe scene of our Groundhog Day (the movie) adventure.

civilized # 1136 ~ autumnal splendor

Backyard tree ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenIt should come as no great surprise to those who have been around The Landscapist for any length of time that I am not a fan of the screaming colorist pictures of nature's annual rite of Autumnal color. I mean, as Mike Lang is fond of saying, "How much fried chicken can you eat?"

It's not that I do not appreciate nature's colorific Autumnal display - I do, but I like it in small doses wherein the seasonal color is contrasted with less spectacular color. Throw in a little bit of Fall detritus - fallen leaves, semi-bare branches, and the like - and I'm all over it, both picture making wise and just looking wise.