Cat Shooting 101.....

I knew this was going to be interesting and boy was I right! My friend Pete Kofira and I volunteered for something we had never done before: cat shooting. Now before you get visions of General Tso's chicken in your head, we were shooting with a camera.
We volunteered our photographic services down at Stray Haven in Waverly. Stray Haven is  a small, not-for-profit animal shelter organization serving all of Tioga County, NY and our neighboring counties. They receive no operational funding from the state or county level or other charitable agencies and rely totally on adoptions and some very generous donors to keep their doors open.
We thought we could help out by taking animal portraits for them. "How hard could that be, we said? Piece of cake, we said. Nothing to it, we said."
How could we have been so wrong?

Click to enlarge

Photographing cats is a very simple process. You put the cat on a table in front of a backdrop, give it some instruction so the cat knows what to do and the the cat proceeds to do whatever the Hell it wants to!
We were fortunate to have the help of a very capable volunteer named Linda otherwise we would have been in big trouble.
After about two hours of negotiations with the cats, they let us take pictures of a few of them. And we had a great time! What you see here is the result of some hard work and a lot of luck!
And now Pete can add 'Cat Wrangler' to his resume......

So if you can find the time or the money, Stray Haven can surely use your help! Donations of food and supplies are also greatly appreciated! And it's amazing how good you will feel after a visit with the animals at the shelter! To learn more about Stray Haven Animal Shelter, click the link or call (607) 565-2859. Or better yet, visit them at 194 Shepard Road Waverly NY 14892.

Turning The Page....

Thank God that 2014 is over!! I am hoping that this year is an improvement over last year! Since many of you have been asking, I am happy to report that I am all finished with surgery, chemo, and radiation. I am now trying to recover from the damage that the actual treatments did!
 And I want you all to know that I appreciate all of the kindness you have shown me during the last 9 months. It really helped!

But That's really not what this post is about. What I really want to talk about is my new D810. What a camera!! I am only scratching the surface with this camera but I can already see that it is a quantum leap over my D300. And I loved my D300! Below is a pic taken at the Syracuse Zoo. It was cropped at probably 200%, but look at how sharp and how much detail is still there, without noise!

Cold Comfort

This next pic is also along the same lines. It is a very heavy crop of a Spectacled Bear at the zoo, but it still retains excellent detail and sharpness.
 

You lookin' at me?

Now don't get me wrong, it's not a miracle camera. If you are lazy with your shot discipline and think you can get away with poor technique, you will be very disappointed. But this is a good thing, because it makes you work on and improve your technique. And I can use all the help I can get!
I think I'm going to like this camera...... More to come!

Merry Christmas To Me!!!!

Yeah, I know it's been a few months since my last post but you need to cut me some slack! I've been busy! We went on a 15 day Panama Canal cruise for our 30th Anniversary (I'll post some pics soon!), and a week ago I finally pulled the trigger on a new camera. No it's not the D400 that I have been waiting 3 years for, but the new Nikon D810.
I also know that for 3 years I have been saying that I didn't want a full frame camera, that I didn't want to sacrifice the "reach" of a DX size sensor. Or that I didn't want to be forced to buy new lenses for the FX sensor. But..... I got damn sick and tired of waiting for Nikon to put out another pro caliber DX camera! Or if they would ever do it.

 

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So I did my research and when Nikon put them on sale just before Christmas, I decided it was either now or never. And you know that God hates a coward. So I pushed the "order" button and the rest is history. Since the package arrived it has done nothing but rain and snow so pictures are a bit limited. (I did get a nice Macro of the lint in my navel though.) But I promise I will be getting out over the holidays and I will put the camera through it's paces. Plus the club has the January Zoo trip coming up so I should be able to get at least one keeper! And I will post them as I get them. That's all for now kids....

Rain and Shine at the Pow Wow...

It wasn't exactly the weather we were hoping for. A steady heavy drizzle isn't my first choice for taking pictures but that's what we were given on Saturday. So what did we do? We said the heck with it, let's come back tomorrow! Our small group of photo club members was rewarded on Sunday with brilliant sunshine, warm temperatures, and wonderful performances at the first annual Pow Wow held at the Portal Institute outside of Susquehanna, PA.

My main reason for coming to the Pow Wow was to see the Aztec Dancers. I had seen most of the dancers from the Northeast before, but I had never seen an Aztec dance before, so I was very much looking forward to it. And I was not disappointed!


Aztec Dancer

As a matter of fact, all the dancers were very good, with many dancers coming from the Lakota nation. But most of the Northeast nations were well represented at the Pow Wow. All of us from the photo club were very impressed and plan on coming back next year, as we found out they are going to make this an annual event.

For more information about the Pow Wow, visit the Portal Institute. And plan to come down and see what the Portal Institute has to offer. From the Binghamton area, it is a very pleasant drive through some beautiful country. I imagine once the leaves begin changing, the scenery will be spectacular!


Another Fast Weekend At The Thater....

I had a chance to photograph the Chris Thater races again this last weekend with my friends Mary Lou and Dave. For thirty years the event has been held at Rec Park on the west side, but this year the organizers moved it to downtown. For those that don't know, Chris Thater was a young man who was hit and killed by a drunk driver. The race is named in his honor and is run by the Broome County Stop DWI program. And this is not just some local race. This is part of the national USA Cycling program and pro riders from all over the world compete here every year.

 

Saturday started out promising, but quickly went downhill. A light drizzle set in and it didn't let up until early evening. Which made for poor photo ops and even trickier racing on slick pavement as evidenced by several crashes on Saturday.

Thankfully, Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day. And the racers did not disappoint. The races were all very fast and competitive. If you ever think that you might like to try your hand at this type of shooting, by all means come down and give it a try. It's free and there are so many spots to shoot from that you are not going to bother anyone. You'll be surprised at how much fun it is! And how difficult it is.

Recharging The Batteries....

I think I may need to explain the rather odd title to this post. It seems like around this time every year, my internal photography battery starts running a little low. The snow is basically gone, the landscape is a rather ugly shade of gray and brown, and the weather is less than pleasant. So I usually look forward to the Two Rivers Photography Club Teach-In to get my photographic juices flowing again and I surely wasn't disappointed this year!!

The speaker for this year's seminar was Mr. Mark Bowie. Mark is a well known landscape photographer from Massachusetts. But the interesting thing about Mark's photography is that he is addicted to showing us what the world looks like at night. Long after the sun goes down, a different landscape emerges and Mark is a master of capturing the natural beauty of the night.

Rollins Pond State Campground - Photo courtesy of Mark Bowie - All rights reserved

Rollins Pond State Campground - Photo courtesy of Mark Bowie - All rights reserved

Mark is a very easygoing, genuinely nice person. And he is a very good speaker and teacher! And of course the day went by way too fast. The Teach-In was a success and it seemed like everyone enjoyed themselves and they got their batteries recharged too!!! Thanks Mark!
Mark also conducts workshops and photo tours, both by himself and in conjunction with the Adirondack Photography Institute. If you are interested you can contact him at markbowie.com

Trying something new.....

It's late Winter, nothing much going on photographically (unlike my friend Ron who is down in Naples Fl shooting like crazy), and I need something to get the juices flowing again. So I tried to stretch my horizons a little with some different techniques.

This first pic is from Assateague Island in Virginia. I tried to make it look like an old, faded, worn print by adding a texture and a slight color tint to it. Let me know what you think.....

Click photo to enlarge...

Better Days Behind Me.....

The next pic is one you may have seen before, but I changed the look a little bit. I cropped it to make it look like a pano and desaturated and softened it to give the print a dreamy, surreal feel. Drop me a line and let me know if you like it. Click photo to enlarge...

Hero.....

Barkin' at the Moon....

Two Rivers Photography Club, which I am a part of recently went on a field trip to the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, NY. The trip was prompted by the Winter photo contest that the zoo was running. Considering the threat of poor weather we said the heck with it and went anyway. We were pleasantly surprised by sunny skies and seasonable temperatures, and the animals were very cooperative.

Everyone that went enjoyed themselves, and many thanks go out to Bill Bay for running the trip. I think we should do it again next year!!

Back in the Saddle....

Happy New Year everyone!!! Yeah, I know  I've been slacking off in the blog posts..... but hey, I've been busy!!! I recently had the chance to shoot the Stop-DWI Holiday Classic basketball tournament in Binghamton. It's a 3 day high school boys tournament that draws some of the best players on the east coast. And the purpose of the tourney is to drive the point home to the kids that drinking and driving could be the worst decision they could ever make.

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The level of play was top notch in both national and regional brackets with Christ the King (NYC), Maine-Endwell & Norwich taking top honors in their respective divisions. Congratulations gentlemen on a tourney well played! See you next year!

Teach-In Speaker Announced....

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Two Rivers Photography Club has announced that the speaker for the 2014 Teach-In will be Mark Bowie. Mark is an outdoor photographer and an instructor at the Adirondack Photography Institute.
Mark will be spending most of the seminar teaching us about night photography in all it's shapes and forms.
He'll cover photographing the stars, moon, planets, meteors, the Northern Lights and other celestial phenomena, as well as earth-bound subjects at night: mountains, forests, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, the ocean, cities and villages.
Details have not yet been posted on the TRPC website, but I can tell you the seminar will be on Saturday, March 22nd at Binghamton University. I will post more details as I get them.

One Of My Favorites....

This is a print from last year, but it still rates as one of my favorites because we had so much fun while we were there. This was taken when we spent a week in Virginia at Assateague Island. This shot is actually taken from where we stayed on Marsh Island, looking back toward the mainland. Assateague and Chincoteague are working fishing communities, so if you like seafood you will definitely enjoy your stay here! But the big draw here is the National Seashore and Wildlife Refuge. Miles of beach with numerous shorebirds and of course, the wild ponies of Assateague Island. We were lucky enough to take a kayak trip so we could get an up close look at the horses and get some decent pictures. The only downside to the island is the mosquito population! If you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, they would literally drive you back into your vehicle! We learned when we were biking the island that there were certain places you just didn't stop unless you wanted to be the main course for the mosquitos!

All in all, a wonderful week and we would certainly go back again. I would like to see the annual pony swim between Assateague and Chincoteague!

Photo Expo & 9/11 Memorial....

Last Saturday we took a club trip to the NYC Photo Expo and we squeezed in a side trip to the 9/11 memorial.  

The photo expo wasn't much different than last year, except that it was about 25% smaller. And it seemed that the attendance was down this year also. To be honest, once you've gone for a few years in a row, there isn't a hell of a lot that is different. But if you have never been, it's a trip you need to make. The sheer amount of photo gear will put your brain into shock. And if you're looking for anything photographic, this is where you'll find it. 

After a few hours at the show, we grabbed a cab and headed down to the 9/11 memorial. Click on the photos to enlarge.

You really have to see this area to understand the magnitude of what happened here. And to appreciate the beauty and simplicity of the memorial. It was insanely busy the day we went, but you could still find your own little piece of solitude among all the people. 

And to see the new building rising beside the reflecting pools gives you a sense of how strong and resilient New Yorkers are. 

This is a view from the Battery Park area, where we headed next. 

This is a view from Battery Park. None of us had ever been here before, but we decided we would definitely come back! It's a beautiful park located on the southern tip of Manhattan, just a few blocks from the 9/11 memorial.

All in all we had a great time! The show was good, the memorial was something to see, but the company of good friends is what really made it a great day! 

Double Trouble....

My friend Bob Merritt has been nice enough to let me wander about on his land, and the other day I came across these twins.  They are this year's deer, about 4-5 months old. Technically they are fawns, although the spots faded out a month or so ago.

But these two were so very curious about me, even though I was out in the middle of a field. I had hunkered down trying to make myself as small as possible so they wouldn't just turn tail and run. But after their initial fear subsided a little, they actually began walking toward me! They just couldn't figure out what I was, and their curiosity was getting the best of them.  They got to within about 40 yards of me before they decided they had seen enough, which was a good thing because I had been holding the camera up the whole time and my arms were getting very shaky! It wasn't until I got back home and uploaded the images that I noticed the little bumps on their heads and realized that they were twin bucks.

It's days like this that keep you coming back for more....
Click on the image to enlarge

Sorry Nikon, you'll have to do better than the D5300...

You'll have to do better than the D5300 or the D610 to get my money!! 

The action and sports photographers have been waiting for 5 years now for you to up date the D300! I realize that you went through some tough times with the Tsunami and the Thailand floods, but since then you have updated your whole product line except for the high end DX camera. I have a considerable sum of money tied up in Nikon equipment and lenses, but if you can't (or won't) upgrade the high end DX series, then the Pentax K-5 could end up getting my money! 

On a brighter note, Photo Expo is this coming weekend!! See you all in NYC!!!

Last Shuttle Flight....

I came across this video on the internet today. It has nothing to do with photography per se; however the sheer imagery of the Endeavour that day is a sight to see and remember. Remember it for the imagination and hard work it took just to get the first shuttle in the air. Remember it for the incredible engineering required to accomplish such a lofty goal. And also remember the heavy cost that such a dangerous feat takes on the humans who dare to push the boundaries of space exploration. My hat is off to all of the men and women who were a part of this wonderful space program.

Wet Weekend....

Mel and I spent the last four days at Letchworth State Park along with friends and fellow club members Mary Lou & Jack. We set this trip up last March hoping to get more club members involved but as it turned out we were the only four to actually make the trip. 

Letchworth Park at this time of the year is a photographer's dream, and we were certainly not disappointed! Gorgeous waterfalls and brilliant foliage made for some beautiful compositions. Thursday and Friday morning were beautiful but as the weekend progressed the weather really turned against us. Thankfully we were in a nice warm cabin instead of a tent, and we made the best of the weekend. A winery excursion gave us a respite from the weather and on Sunday morning on the way home we made a side trip to Stony Brook State Park in Dansville, which turned out to be a very pretty little park. We'll file that away for next Fall!

All in all, we had a great time and we would like to do it again, but next time with less rain!! Below are a few images from the weekend. Click on the images to enlarge.

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Lazy Day....

Mel and I just spent a very enjoyable and relaxing day with our friends Mary Lou and Jack at their place up on Lake Ontario. Salmon fishing season is in full swing and the town of Pulaski was overflowing with fishermen!
We basically spent the day relaxing and enjoying a fish fry hosted by their next-door neighbors Kathi and Harry who are also friends of ours. Great fish fry you two!!  We took a few sunset pictures and we also sharpened our night photography skills in preparation for our trip to Letchworth Park next weekend. Thank you all for your hospitality and friendship, especially Mary Lou and Jack!! Click to enlarge image