to my personal journal through my viewfinder. A place where I leave the world behind and try to find the spirit of what I am seeing.
Feel free to look around at all the posts and pages. If you'd like to borrow a photo for your blog or website, be my guest. Please, be sure to link back here with a prominent photo credit. Thank you and I'm thrilled you dropped in!
Over 50 photographs by 20 local photographers (including myself) will be presented. An opening reception is being held on November 7th from 6pm to 8pm where many of the photographers will be on hand to mingle with. Food and snacks will be available and best of all the show and reception is FREE to the public.
The Westcott Community Center is located at 826 Euclid Avenue at the corner of Euclid and Westcott.
See you there! If you are from the greater Syracuse area and would like to join the Syracuse Photography Meetup Group, click the link! It’s also FREE!
An entry in the annual Halloween Window Painting Contest in Baldwinsville, New York
For over 30 years, Baldwinsville’s Optimist Club has sponsored the Annual Halloween Window Painting Contest. Elementary students from all over the school district of Baldwinsville get to paint the windows of local businesses throughout downtown. This year, the students had a perfect day to paint and I enjoyed viewing them when I walked around town last weekend.
I have fond memories of painting windows myself. Even split a prize one year with a fellow classmate. Good luck to all the painters this year!
I first came upon this project by Kevin Rivoli back in February of this year. I was looking for photographers who had attended a Syracuse University Women’s basketball game and came upon his name. Kevin is a freelance photographer in Auburn, New York, who frequently covers news and sporting events for the Associated Press in the upstate New York region. In searching around, I came upon a few articles about Kevin’s interest in showing people that Norman Rockwell, the famous illustrator for The Saturday Evening Post, was depicting America correctly in his paintings and drawings.
Kevin did not agree with the critics of Norman Rockwell who said what he painted did not exist in “real” America. Over Kevin’s career as a photographer, he has seen and photographed many scenes which strongly resemble some of Norman Rockwell’s work or captured the spirit of it. This disagreement cumulated into a new book released earlier this week called In Search of Norman Rockwell’s America. I would tell you more about it but I think Kevin does it best with this video introduction:
With Norman Rockwell’s paintings and Kevin’s photographs, there are narratives from collectors, celebrities, sports heros, politicians, citizens and family of Mr. Rockwell. By far the most interesting ones for me were from neighbors of Norman Rockwell who he used as models for many of his paintings. You’ll find mixed in quotes from Norman Rockwell giving us a little insight into how he felt about his work.
Right from the beginning, I always strived to capture everything I saw as completely as possible. — Norman Rockwell
I attended a public book signing for Kevin’s book about three weeks ago. Got to meet him and get a signed copy of his book before they went on sale to the public. Kevin is very talented and nice enough to help a stranger when I was looking for some information. This book was a labor of love for him and his wife and I will be showing it proudly in my home for many years to come.
Mountain trail displaying the autumn colors in upstate New York.
I can not recall such a beautiful Fall as this year’s has been. Lots of warm days, cools nights. Sky has the deep cobalt blue coloring and, when there are clouds, they are big and fluffy which add to the splendor. The weather has helped to bring out the most colorful leaves as the trees prepare for the long winter ahead. I’ve read other local photographers who were just in awe of the display found all over upstate New York from the Finger Lakes to the Adirondacks to the Catskills. The rest of New England has also been enjoying one of their most colorful autumns ever remembered
Autumn Leaf
Why do leaves turn color? The shorting day and cooler temperatures start the processes in the deciduous forests in the northern hemisphere this time of year.
During the growing season, most tree leaves are green because they’re full of chlorophyll. The high amount of chlorophyll obscures other leaf pigments, carotenoids (which produce yellow, orange and brown colors) and anthocyanins (which provide reds and purples).
Cooler weather causes chlorophyll production to slow and eventually stop, so the carotenoids and anthocyanins in the leaves become visible. Oaks, maples and dogwoods have anthocyanins and turn brilliant reds and oranges. Aspens, birch, populars and hickories use carotenoids and have the bright golden yellows and bronze. I’ve noticed the golden yellow this year more than most but this week the red and orange of the many maples around me took over.
Varying fall temperatures and precipitation amounts affect the intensity of colors. For more on the science of autumn changes, visit my college alta mater, SUNY-ESF E-Center.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t give you a couple of links on how best to capture all the wonderful colors during this season:
I’ve posted this little photo essay on a few photography forums today but thought I’d share it here, too. — Scott
Enjoyed a late breakfast at the Tamarack Inn in Lake George on my trip. Decorated as a rustic hunting lodge both inside and out (hey, any place that uses moose antlers wins me over). The ambiance is very woods-y. The food, hearty and filling with a nice touch of grease and fat.
The Tamarack Inn
Notice the light fixture.
The Woodsman’s Breakfast
Doesn’t everyone have a canoe decoration hanging from their celing?
Lake George, New York is a beautiful resort area to visit all year round but when the blue skies and tree colors of autumn come around, Lake George becomes spectacular. The weather could not have been more perfect as the days were Indian Summer warm and nights cool and crisp during my recent three day stay. The leaves on the trees becoming more colorful each day.
A Fort William Henry cannon overlooking the village of Lake George, NY
There’s a lot you can do at Lake George. The Village of Lake George has parks, a visitor center open daily, horse drawn carriage rides, shops, eateries and restaurants. An inexpensive trolley bus ($1 a ride, half for seniors and children) runs all day long to take you around once your feet get tired.
The Lake George Steamboat Company has many sailings from May thru October. You can go for a ride or enjoy many of their speciality cruise offerings. I did a Luncheon Cruise on their ship, the Lac du Saint Sacrement, which was top notch and an excellent value. A keyboardist, who doubles as the tour guide, and vocalist entertain the ship’s passengers as you see historical mansions and resorts where the rich and famous come to vacation from the rat race of eastern cities like New York.
History of Fort William Henry can be enjoyed by taking a tour which is as entertaining as it is educational. The tour guides dressed in authentic Mohawk Indian and British garments explain the history of the fort, how people lived there and demostrate, very loudly, the firing of a muskeet and cannon. There are plenty of interactive things to do for the kids and adults to try out. Kids can even dress up as a British soldier for a fun photo.
Besides being a recreation of the original Fort William Henry, it’s a museum with artifacts found over the last 50 years. Scenes of what life would have looked like back in the 1700’s are inside many of the fort’s walls showing how hard it was to survive in the wilderness. Don’t miss the archeology exhibit showing how archeologist uncovered the artifacts seen and used throughout the fort including what was found at the bottom of the well (think pennies, lots and lots of them).
The 100 mile view from the summit of Prospect Mountain overlooking Lake George, New York.
Taking the Prospect Mountain Veterans Memorial Highway is a real bargain at $7 per car load. There are three overlooks on the drive up the mountain giving you unique views of Lake George, the village of Lake George and the surrounding Adirondacks. The end of the highway comes out on a large parking area where you can choose to either walk the rest of the way to the summit or ride a shuttle bus. This allows people of all ages to enjoy the 100 mile views from there. Lots of picnic tables around the summit and parking area to use for a family outing while looking out over breathtaking scenery which include the Adirondack High Peaks to the north and the beautiful Lake George to the east.
My trip to Lake George gave me the opportunity to tryout a new lens. The Tokina 11-16mm, f/2.8 DX Ultra Wide Angle lens was used in all the photos above. Tokina makes this lens for Nikon and Canon digital SLRs. The build and glass quality are professional grade but at half the price of Nikon’s wide angle DX lens. Currently this lens is in short supply. Keep checking around, as when they do become available, they are quickly snapped up.
AXA Tower in Syracuse, New York, during a long zoomed exposure.
I have seen this technique done by others and finally got a good subject to try it on. The evening was cloudy and rainy and I needed long exposures so, during a few of them, I fully zoomed out the Nikon 18-200VR lens to 200mm. After tripping the shutter open, I slowly zoomed the lens back to 18mm causing lights to streak. Pretty cool, eh?
Un-zoomed AXA Tower
The AXA Towers, there’s two of them but the other doesn’t have the lighted pole. For most of my life, they were owned by Mutual of New York and referred to as the MONY buildings.
Besides giving the time and temperature, the lighted pole gave the forecast. The star color at the top of the pole would tell you the current conditions. The lights on the pole itself would show movement downward for a lowering barometer and upward for a rising one. No movement for steady. I’m not sure if AXA still does this.
A call to Mary Taylor, Vice President of Communications for The MONY Group confirmed that the following rhyme from The New Times Syracuse Guidebook: 1976 entitled “Weatherstar Rhyme” (how creative) accurately deciphers the meaning of the star’s color.
Green light…weather bright. Orange on high…overcast sky. Orange flashing…raindrops splashing. Flickering white…snow in sight.
A new photography exhibition is opening soon in Syracuse! The members of the online community, The Syracuse Photography Meetup Group, is presenting Viewpoints: a collaborative collection starting next Friday, November 7, and runs until December 5, 2008, at the Westcott Community Center in Syracuse, New York.
