The article that follows was posted on the Picture This! Disney Photoblog this morning.  I wanted to show it all to you and point you to Shrew’s Daily Shutters Challenge post on the subject of Perspective.   Perspective is an important concept for us photographers as we search for our views of the world around us.

Perspective is defined as ” to look through”. For photographers, it means to look at something differently. To find new perspectives. At Walt Disney World, where people take millions of photographs each year, finding new perspectives can seem a daunting task. I look at it as finding “my” perspective and sometimes a little help can open up whole new ways of looking at things.

The photo below of Minnie Mouse’s statuette was pointed out to me by another photographer. I have seen similar photos on flickr, too. But, I had never seen it at dusk with an orange castle softly focused in the background which turned out to be “my” perspective on this subject.

Minnie Mouse admiring Cinderella Castle.

I warned you about seeing more panoramics. Here’s one from Taughannock Falls State Park. This is a vertical panoramic where I kept my camera in the vertical (ie., portrait) orientation while taking the 5 images. I did this hand-held as I found out my tripod’s ball head isn’t very good for doing panoramics. Doing it this way, I sort of missed the bottom of the waterfall. I still like it, yet, I want to go back someday to redo it. As before, to see a bigger version, click on the photo.

Panorama of Taughannock Falls near Ithaca, New York. Click for larger image.

]]> http://stphoto.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/taughannock-falls-panorama/feed/ 9 Scott Thomas Photography Panorama of Taughannock Falls near Ithaca, New York. http://stphoto.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/view-97-enchanted-pumpkins/ http://stphoto.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/view-97-enchanted-pumpkins/#comments Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:00:03 +0000 Scott Thomas Photography http://stphoto.wordpress.com/?p=1252 ]]>

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.

Click Here to See the 2010 Views Infinitum Calendar!

In these days of iPhones, Blackberries, Internet portals and computerized reminder services, I still find a wall calendar a very welcome, colorful and useful tool for my office and home.  If you feel the same or know of someone who does, check out the 2010 Views Infinitum Wall Calendar.

I have selected 12 of my best photos from the blog from a variety of subjects you see here weekly.  You can preview the entire calender by clicking on the ad to the left or the link above. The calendar is  printed on durable 100lb. paper stock and measures 11 x 17 inches when hung on a wall or bulletin board.  The price is only $19.99 (US currency) plus Shipping.

If you have any questions, leave me a comment and I’ll get right back to you.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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!

I photographed the Apple Run events at the LaFayette Apple Festival last Sunday. Along with the 5K and 15K Road Races was the One Mile Fun Run for children aged 12 years old and younger. I knew the start of the Fun Run would be dynamic and full of energy. Remember, when photographing children, get down to their level no matter how much one’s knees complain about it.

If you are looking for photos from the Apple Run events, I posted a gallery of all the photographs I took for purchase here:

LaFayette Apple Run

The start of the One Mile Fun Run at the LaFayette Apple Festival on Sunday, October 11, 2009.

It also helped that I used the Nikon SB-600 Speedlight to balance out the bright overcast sky and freeze the action.