Thater Race Recap....

I have no idea who won or lost, photographers are usually too busy getting the next shot to know who the winners were until you read about it in the news the next day. But I do know that I had a good time, met some very nice people, and I'm getting better at sports photography. (I think)  But I'll let you be the judge. I have posted a few in the events section of my gallery. Take a look and let me know what you think!
Click the image below to enlarge...

Now That I Have Your Attention.....

Two Rivers Photo Club went to Sycamore Hills Gardens  for a group photo trip today. Weather was perfect and the company was even better. What a beautiful place!! A perfect mix of hard and softscape, with plenty of photo ops for everyone. This is a place we need to get back to in the Fall, as the foliage up there will be incredible! Many thanks to Cindy Ruggieri for organizing and pulling this off!

Beachcomber....

It's been a month or so since we came back from Florida, and I'm ready to go back!! We had so much fun shooting the birds down there, and the weather was so nice..... I'm posting this picture of a shorebird because I personally like it, not because it is a technical masterpiece. To me it captures the essence and feel of the rhythm of the shore life. The ebb and flow of the waves, the antics of the birds who depend on the beach for their survival. I like the way the bird is bathed in morning light, while the waves in the background are the cool blue of early morning shadows.

Tech Info:  Nikon D300, 70-200 f2.8, ISO 1600 , 1/250th at f9 . (Click on the pic for a larger look.)

Old and New at Cornell Plantations

I had a chance to visit the Cornell Plantations at Cornell University earlier this week. The gardens there are gorgeous at this time of year, but I think I was about a week too early this year. And what flowers were blooming looked like the heavy frost had gotten to them. But what caught my eye was the stark contrast between the older Lewis building (below) and the new structure that was completed just last year. The Lewis building resembles an old English cottage with plenty of charm, while the new building (to me) looks totally out of place. The two buildings are right next to each other, but they are worlds apart! (click photos to enlarge)

I don't know what they were thinking, but probably someone with deep pockets had something to say about it. I'm hoping that I will eventually warm up to the place, but it just seems like such a cold austere building with no personality that it seems out of place. Maybe if I donated 20 mil or so, they would build one to my taste???

One Crappy Day.....

We're on our way home today! We left Fort Myers at 6:45 this morning, and we have been in airports all day. It's now almost 7 pm and we'll probably get stuck in Newark or Philly tonight. This is not the way to end a great vacation!   So i will end with a photo.... this is Bonita Beach looking south towards Naples. This is the view out our back door....

Indigestion.....

I was on the beach yesterday looking for some good compositions when I came upon this poor fellow. He let me get very close to him and I thought that he had injured himself somehow, because you can't normally get close to them without a fish in your hand! 

But as I watched him, he finally gave me a glimpse as to what his problem was. He began stretching his neck out and making a bit of a yakking sound and I could see just a glimpse of a fish in his gullet. He had swallowed a fish so big he couldn't get it all down his throat! It took him over half an hour to work it down his throat without choking himself!

Good Things Do Come In Small Packages!

The area we have been concentrating our photography on is called the Little Estero Pool. And it really is quite small, probably no more than 6 or 7 acres at the most. But what it lacks in size, it makes up for in sheer bird numbers! As the photo below shows, we never lacked for subjects at this place. We're going to try and get back here one more time before we have to head back home. More to come.... 

Road Trip

We decided to skip work on Wednesday and take a trip to Longwood Gardens, near Philadelphia. If you are a flower lover or a photographer, or both, this place should be on your bucket list! Over a thousand acres of beautiful gardens and architecture, Longwood is the former estate of the Dupont family. 

We couldn't have picked a better day temperature wise but the wind was blowing, making outdoor flower photography very challenging. Fortunately the garden also has a large conservatory with plenty of photo ops. This Orchid photo was taken inside and the reason I picked this flower was that I had never seen this many blooms so close together on an Orchid. And all the blooms were in good shape and all pointing in the same direction, so I knew I had to try and get a good pic! I call this image "six-pack" and I hope you like it.....