Assignment 4: November

Even though time is something Mankind created, each calendar month seems to have a certain feel to it.  It’s reflected in nature and the events placed in the calendar.

I live in the northern hemisphere and in an area which gets four distinct seasons.  November to me is a transition month between the colorful autumn and festivals of October and the winter and holidays of December.  The days grow shorter, darker and colder yet some days are bright and warm.  Nature has prepared with most trees now bare of leaves and a hard frost has stopped growth.  Here in the United States, people celebrate Thanksgiving with family and prepare to go shopping on Black Friday.

November is our final assignment for 2009.  Show me what November means to you.  You can create new photos or use something from your archives on this assignment.

November can be colorful like this sunset I photographed last year at Onondaga Lake Park near Syracuse, New York.

As in the other assignments, do not send me your photos. What I would like you to do is post them on your blog, flickr or other photo sharing site, personal website or any other place on the Internet where you can place a link to it here by making a comment to this blog entry. Then we can visit those sites and learn what we all think of the month of November.

Please, have your photos posted by Wednesday, November 18, 2009. Don’t have a place to post? Might be a good time to start up a blog or join a photo community like flickr or Exposure. As I did for Assignments 1, 2 and 3, I’ll put together a recap with my comments.

If you have any questions, leave me a comment and I will be happy to answer them. By the way, I would really appreciate it if you would help spread the word about this so we can get lots of people to participate. Thanks!

Assignment 3 Recap

I’d like to first thank everyone who participated in my latest photo assignment on the subject of water.  It’s always fun to see how people interpret these assignments.  As I did for my previous assignments, here’s my recap in order of appearance.

We first found out that water in Florida pools is “wetter” and ducks do take to it in this entry by sorrentolens.  Psst, he later clued me in for the reason it’s wetter is because of a chemical used to keep the pools clean.  Science can do some interesting things with water, too.

Next up was an amazing photograph showing a two-colored river from Laos brought  to us by Nye Noona.  Nature sure is full of surprising water tricks.

Jason presented us with a Montana waterfall using the nice long exposure techniques I found wasn’t so easy to do.  Sometimes getting to the waterfall isn’t all that easy either.

Gerry, realizing she lives near a lake, figured she had something for us.  She then proceeded to share some history about Torch Lake and it’s clarity.   Later, one the Torch Lake Irregulars named Katherine, added a photo of water in two states, liquid and gas, in a haunting photo of a lake at rest.

Sharing how a photo can emotionally affect us once the story behind it is revealed,  Valerie recounts how frozen water near a tragic airplane crash site close to her home looked like nature was weeping for the victims.

The Daily Click, on a trip to Galveston (uh, oh, now I got that song in my head!), shows us the power and beauty water brings to those living on the U. S. Gulf Coast.

Birgitte checked in from Denmark with a tale of how a body of water has affected her country’s history over the centuries in a stunning use of storytelling photography.  Birgitte’s sister, Tone, using her mobile phone camera joined in (literally) with this excellent self-portrait.

Carsten tuned “just a puddle” into a work of art.  To me, he showed the relationship between the Sun and water and how we need both to survive here on Earth.  Also, don’t miss his other water post which you can get to from the first link.

I chimed in with a ping from my post about how a little creek created a large gorge by cutting through hundreds of feet of rock via moving water.

The husband and wife tag team from Kansas, Anna and Preston Surface, brought us two very different water photos.  Anna showed us one of her lovely “water colored” versions of a quiet creek with fall colors on it’s banks in a nice use of natural framing.  Preston’s gave us a photo-journalistic view of how water is life and must be shared.

Mike Criss gave me a personal reminder of a temperate rain forest waterfall he shared with us from Alaska which took me back to a time I spent in Olympic National Park along with the feel and smells of an ecosystem most people don’t associate with North America.  Thanks, Mike!

A Half Hour A Day dived into the assignment with first an autumn view of Lake George then a first attempt at photographing a drop of water into a bowl of water.  This exercise turned into not a only a learning one but a therapeutic one, too.

Shrew showed how stopping water in action can be just as dramatic as using long shutter speeds.  Still think that is a cutout and not a real person.

Even after a long absence, this assignment was a great success.  You people are all very talented and creative.  I got one more assignment for this year which I’ll post in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, check out two other blogs which invite you to stretch your photographic muscles: Shrew wants you to show some perspective and Darwin is looking for Fall Photos but both need your submissions by October 31, 2009!  Read their posts carefully on how to join in.

Water: Gorge Cutter

Water moves, stands still, creates and destroys.

Enfield Creek has cut through hundreds of feet of bedrock over the last hundreds of years to create the "new" gorge in the upper region of the Robert H. Treman State Park near Ithaca, New York.

This is the glen the Enfield Creek in the Robert H. Treman State Park has created by eroding through hundreds of feet of bedrock. It has created a home for ferns, mosses, shrubs, wildflowers and trees which cling to the edges of the gorge. The creek is relentless as the force of gravity pushes the water ever downward, slowly trimming back millimeters of rock each year.

Is water destroying, creating or just the architect of change?

Many smaller and a couple of larger waterfalls are Nature's tools of change in the three mile long gorge through the Robert H. Treman State Park near Ithaca, New York.

This is my submission for Assignment 3: Water. Hey, I knew I was going to photograph some waterfalls so what better an assignment to post, eh?

Assignment 3: Water

For those who may remember, at the beginning of the year I gave out a couple of fun assignments. My goal was to do one every month but life got in the way and I had to attend to other matters. Well, for this month and next, I am going to bring the assignments back. I hope you all jump back in and have some fun with them.

Water is the subject for Assignment 3. Water is unique in that it can be a solid, a liquid and a gas. Water moves, stands still, creates and destroys. Let your creative minds go here. Any photo featuring water as the main subject is allowed. However, I am a Disney fan so let’s keep it G-rated.

The water in Lake George is considered some of the cleanest in the world.

As in the first assignments, do not send me your photos. What I would like you to do is post them on your blog, flickr or other photo sharing site, personal website or any other place on the Internet where you can place a link to it here by making a comment to this blog entry. Then we can visit those sites and enjoy all the great water photography.

Please, have your photos posted by Wednesday, October 21, 2009. Don’t have a place to post? Might be a good time to start up a blog or join a photo community like flickr or Exposure. As I did for Assignments 1 and 2, I’ll put together a recap with my comments.

If you have any questions, leave me a comment and I will be happy to answer them. By the way, I would really appreciate it if you would help spread the word about this so we can get lots of people to participate. Thanks!

Storytelling: From Walt Disney World

I could not have picked a better place to look for Storytelling photo opportunities than at Walt Disney World. A place built from the legacy of Walt Disney. To review, a storytelling photograph has a beginning, middle and ending just like a movie.

Expedition Everest looms over Disney's Animal Kingdom.

The Discover River leads you into this photo as you follow it to the bridge and then on to Expedition Everest. Expedition Everest looks like a real mountain instead of a man-made structure housing a thrilling roller-coaster ride, doesn’t it?

Journey into Imagination Kodak Picture Spot

Over the years, the Kodak Picture Spots have become cliche but most are put in places that do tell a story. In this photo, the Picture Spot sign becomes part of the story leading into the Journey Into Imagination pavilion area featuring a waterfall which defies gravity.

Assignment 2: Storytelling

As you know, I check out the Pioneer Woman Photography blog from time to time. A little while back one of her photography contributors, Ivoryhut, posted an excellent article about how to create a photo that tells a story. After reading her article, I reviewed my photos to see if any of them were telling a story. Here’s one from last summer (thought snow weary folks would appreciate this) which tells the story of the South New Jersey shore.

Ocean City (New Jersey) Beach.

You see sand, sun, life guard boat & stand, umbrella, shorebird, surfer, blue sky and ocean surf…all of which tells the story of what it’s like to be on the New Jersey shore on a late summer afternoon.  What no people?  Ah, imagine yourself there.

The assignment is to go out and capture a story within ONE photograph starting right now until Sunday. March 1, 2009. You may post as many photos as you like but each should be unique. Not looking for a photo essay here. Read over Ivoryhut’s article and see how she put her storytelling photos together. I know you can do it, too. Here’s a hint, the use of maximum depth of field or hyperfocus will help a great deal in creating a storytelling photo.

As before, do not send me your photos. What I would like you to do is post them on your blog, flickr or other photo sharing site, personal website or any other place on the Internet where you can place a link to it here by making a comment to this blog entry. Then we can visit those sites, enjoy all the great photography and some wonderful storytelling, too. Please, have your photos posted by Thursday, March 5, 2009. Don’t have a place to post? Might be a good time to start up a blog or join a photo sharing community. As I did for Assignment 1, I’ll put together a recap with my comments.

If you have any questions, leave me a comment and I will be happy to answer them. By the way, I would really appreciate it if you would help spread the word about this so we can get lots of people to participate. Thanks!

Assignment 1: Recap

I want to congratulate all who participated in the Collective Shoot assignment I hosted last month. It was fun to see how people took the idea I proposed and ran with it. Some used one photo, some more than one and others did photo essays. I thank all who did the assignment and posting their links. The entry was my most visited ever and I know people got lots of clicks to their blogs from my blog’s logs.

Here are the links again with some commentary. Well, it was an assignment after all and someone, yours truly, needs to say a few words. I will stay true to my word as no grades will be given out. In the order the links were posted, let the recap begin!

Kristin Jones started things off with her entry about the Minnesota State Capitol building in St. Paul. The feisty architect of the building was quite the character.

Sorrentolens gave us a taste of Florida sunshine to some of us snowbound northerners with a great photo of the Strength Tower in Altamonte Springs, FL. Though it’s a nice photo, I have decided to include the link to the blog entry instead of the flickr photo page. Hope you don’t mind.

Next up is the husband and wife team from Kansas, Anna and Preston Surface. Preston introduced us to the historic Columbian Theater in Wamego, Kansas while Anna presented a beautiful building from American railroad’s golden era, Kansas Union Pacific Depot in Manhattan, Kansas.

Bringing back a television phenomena from the 1970’s, The Daily Click gave us a tour of Southfork Ranch made famous from the television show, Dallas. So, who did shoot J.R. Ewing?

Given the assignment a European flair, Carsten tells us about the Herlev Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark. A very impressive and interesting structure.

Fellow Danish blogger, Birgitte, presented the new concert house, Koncerthuset, which is also found in Copenhagen. What can I say, more interesting architecture from our Scandinavian friends.

Over in Holland, Chris Breebaart showed us the promise of spring with colorful rows and rows of tulip bulbs. Beats the hectares of snow around upstate New York!

KD presented a roadside hot dog joint and a monument to fallen soldiers in the same town. Is America great or what?

I have never been to Mobile, Alabama but after reading Music Maven’s Challenge of MO-Beel, I feel like I have. Besides anyone who calls me a photo guru is okay in my book!

Karen (Morningjoy) brought us a most unusual roadside fruit stand found near Everglades National Park called Robert Is Here.  The name alone calls for more exploration.

If I was to give extra credit, I would have to give it to the good citizens of Torch Lake, Michigan. Gerry Sell made a call to arms and was rewarded with some stunning photos.

I chimed in by coupling some personal history with a local clock tower landmark at Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, New York, a place I could never forget.

Doreen3boys told us about how a camp and a lake has affected her family and her town in the past and present. I’m very happy you have your lakes back!

Last and a little late, Shrew checked in with an innovative story of not just a physical landmark but a human one. For people who love their morning coffee, Shrew may have found their patron saint.

I don’t know about all of you but I learned a lot about places, people and things from all over the United States and the world. I want to thank everyone for making such great photos and wonderful articles to go with them. I enjoyed how each of you interpreted the assignment in your own way. I hope it helped to stretch your photographic muscles a bit.

I’ll be back with another assignment later this month.

Collective Shoot: Crouse Hospital’s Clock Tower

Crouse Hospital's clock tower as seen from the Syracuse University campus, Syracuse, New York.

It’s not often we get a blue sky around Syracuse during the month of January so, when I was walking back from a recent Syracuse University Men’s basketball game, I just had to take some photos of the landmarks you can see from the SU hill which overlooks most of the city of Syracuse, New York.

When looking for a suitable landmark for my submission to the Collective Shoot assignment I presented on this blog, I smiled when I came upon the clock tower of the Crouse part of the Crouse-Irving Hospital complex.  My personal history with this hospital includes the birth of both my daughters, a sister who was a nurse for years and a close friend who worked in the offices of the hospital.  The hospital itself has quite the history (click for more information). Not only can you see the clock tower from the university but, if you look east from Interstate Route 81 when traveling through Syracuse, you can’t miss  this distinctive tower amongst the other hospital and medical buidings which surround it.

During December, the clock tower is lighted with the Lights of Love which is a fund raiser each year for a selected medical charity group.  This 20 plus year tradition has been very successful and has raised thousands of dollars for medical research and patient care for the hospital.

Assignment 1: Collective Shoot

Back on January 1st, I said I’ll like to try some interactive activities this year. This month has gone by fast and I didn’t want to start off the year by forgetting what I had said.

I decided to call these activities assignments. Now, don’t worry. You will not be graded or anything like that. This is for fun and to learn about photography and each other. Sound good so far? Okay, let’s get started…

One of my favorite photography communities is NikonCafe.com. Each week a member of the forum hosts a Collective Shoot based on a theme of their choosing. The object is to then go out and photograph something to post in a set time frame and not to use old photos. The time frame is usually about a week and includes a weekend.

The theme for our Collective Shoot is to photograph a Local Area Landmark in your hometown and tell us about it. Landmarks can be buildings, geographical formations, natural areas, or historic places. The landmark does not have to be world famous but known to your community. The time of this shoot runs from now until midnight (your local time) next Wednesday, January 28, 2009.

Here’s the fun part. First, do not send me your photos. What I would like you to do is post them on your blog, flickr or other photo sharing site, personal website or any other place on the Internet where you can place a link to it here by making a comment to this blog entry. Then we can visit these sites and enjoy all the great photography and learn about some interesting places, too. Please, have your photos posted by Friday, January 30, 2009. Don’t have a place to post? Might be a good time to start up a blog or join a photo sharing community.

If you have any questions, leave me a comment and I will be happy to answer them. By the way, I would really appreciate it if you would help spread the word about this so we can get lots of people to participate. Thanks!