View 97: Enchanted Pumpkins

Major League Baseball's 2009 World Series teams depicted in pumpkins at the Enchanted Beaver Lake event in the Beaver Lake Nature Center near Baldwinsville, New York.

Attended the Enchanted Beaver Lake annual event and walked past some 500 lighted pumpkins carved with traditional Halloween favorites like Jack-O-Lanterns, witches, ghouls and ghosts to sports teams and movie characters.  The trails were dark with only the lighted pumpkins available which added to the enjoyment of the event.  The hot cider and fresh donuts helped, too!

The night was cold so Beaver Lake had a special campfire going to keep people warmed up.

I used the same technique I use for photographing Christmas lights which I wrote about on my Disney photo blog to photograph these pumpkins.

The largest pumpkin had a place of honor overlooking the festivities. He seemed a bit of a joker type to me.

View 96: New York Waterfalls in HDR

New York Waterfalls in HDR Photo Essay.

I did warn you about seeing more HDR images here.  My recent Waterfall Safari gave me an opportunity to create some HDR images I decided to share with you as a Photo Essay.  Click here or the title image above to see it.  I hope you like it.

View 95: Falling Water

Water falls 215 feet over the Taughannock Falls near Ithaca, New York.

Taughannock Falls, with a plunge of 215 feet, is 33 feet higher than Niagara Falls and it the highest waterfall in the northeastern United States. Water falls with such force, the plunge pool is more than 30 feet deep. Taughannock Falls State Park is a beautiful, well-maintained park with easy access to the falls along a nearly level 3/4 mile trail to a viewing area. There is a Falls Overlook situated 400 feet above the gorge floor people can drive to so anyone can enjoy seeing this natural wonder.

Falls Overlook view of the Taughannock Falls.

Just a note to say this is NOT my submission to my Assignment 3: Water. I will post it tomorrow.

View 94: Johnny Appleseed

Johnny Appleseed at the LaFayette Apple Festival in LaFayette, New York.

When it comes to fall festivals in my area, the biggest is the LaFayette Apple Festival. In two days, 50,000 people attend the festival to enjoy all kinds of apple goodies, carnival rides, craft tents and entertainment. All of this happens under the watchful eye of Johnny Appleseed. Whose legend of planting apple trees makes him a very suitable mascot for the popular festival.

View 93: St. Lawrence River Panorama

View from 150 feet above the St. Lawrence River from the US span of the 1000 Islands Bridge in New York state. Click photo to see larger version.

I mentioned I recently attended a workshop on Landscape photography. Besides learning how to do HDR (High Dynamic Range) images, I learned how to create panoramas from multiple photographs by stitching them together via software. Now, that sounds easy but there’s lots to keep in mind when photographing panoramas which I wrote about on my Disney blog (click here).

I did everything you were supposed to do for this panoramic of the St. Lawrence River from the 1000 Islands Bridge except use a tripod. Oh, I had one with me but there is not a lot of room on the bridge’s walkway and the bridge moves so a tripod would not have been of much use. I did pretty good hand holding as the software didn’t have much trouble stitching the photos together with very little cropping needed. You’ll probably be seeing more panoramic images in the future around here. They are fun to do and give a new prospective to my photography.

View 92: Autumn

A red Sugar Maple leaf on the Bog trail of Beaver Lake Nature Center, Baldwinsville, New York.

Now that the Autumnal Equinox has passed, I went out looking for signs of autumn at the Beaver Lake Nature Center near my hometown of Baldwinsville, New York. I headed to the Bog Trail because I knew I’d find the first signs there as trees and shrubs on a bog are very stressed. Stressed because the bog environment is very acidic as nature proceeds to transform the stagnate wetland to terra firma using Sphagnum mosses as her main architect.

Another sign of autumn is the flocks of migrating Canadian Geese using Beaver Lake as a stop off on their way to points south for the winter months.

Canadian Geese flying over Beaver Lake near Baldwinsville, New York.

View 91: Castle at Dusk Redo

For the first time in a long time I was not able to get out and take some photos last week. So, instead, I looked back in the archives and came upon one of my favorites from Walt Disney World. Surprised? I took this back in 2007 when I was still learning how to use the Nikon D70. I was riding the Tomorrowland Transportation Authority, or WEDway Peoplemover to any old timer Disney park goers out there, when I took this.

To see a before and after of this photo, visit the Picture This! article I did recently called Back to the Future where I explain how I created this image from the original.  Oh, this version is different from the after version in the article.  Can you tell me how?

Castle at Dusk. Cinderella Castle taken from the Tomorrowland Transportation Authority in the Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida.

View 90: Pouting

The life of a three year old can be trying. Though she was smiling a few minutes later.

View 89: Pizze Frittes!

The Villa food stand at the New York State Fair is the home of the Pizze Fritte.

Since 1960, The Villa has been selling Pizze Frittes at the New York State Fair. In fact, Pizze Frittes are the ONLY thing they sell. Every night you can see people lined up 20, 30 or more deep to get some Pizze Frittes. So, what is a Pizze Fritte? Well, it’s fried dough…sort of. It’s a sugary snack…again, sort of. Here, this how The Villa explains it:

Here's the secret to the success of the Pizze Fritte.

Pizze Frittes are so popular they make them as fast as they sell which means they are always nice and hot and D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S! Just ask my nephew.

My nephew enjoying a 2-foot PIzze Fritte at the New York State Fair in Syracuse, New York.

View 88: Wedding by the Lake

Had the pleasure of photographing the wedding of Kelly and Jeff at Bayshore Grove near Oswego, New York, over the weekend. The location is ideal for a late afternoon to evening wedding especially if the weather cooperates as is did beautifully for them.

Newly married Jeff and Kelly make a happy foreground to a beautiful Lake Ontario sunset at Bayshore Grove, Oswego, New York.