Black & White – Photography, Images and Cameras

A Spider Web I was sitting on my balcony one day watching the sun go down when I noticed something in the gaps between the railing that was reflecting the light. Looking more closely I noticed it was this spider web. Taken with a Sony RX10 IV>
Self Portait I like black and white photography. In many ways I see things in black and white. Maybe it’s because I grew up in a time before color photography became important. Most of the photographs and movies I saw when I was young were in black and white. Yes, I know that ...
Under the overpass I was going to eat at one of my favorite waterfront restaurants: 3 Westerley right on the river in Ossining, NY. If you’re driving, the usual (there is at least one other) path to follow would be do go down Main Street and then take the overpass which goes up pass the station, crosses over ...
Black and White or Color Trying a bit of street photography in New York City (Manhattan). I generally like to do my street photography in Black and White. But there’s something I like about the bright colors in this one that makes me want to leave it in color. What to you think? Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Sigma 18-50mm f2.8
Pondweed on a vernal pond Spotted along the Pocantico River in Briarcliff Manor, NY. Taken with a Panasonic Lumix GX85 and Lumix G Vario 14-140 f3.5-5.6
Doves Silhouette I was leaving my house the other day when I noticed these two doves in a tree near the end of my driveway. They were quite a long way away and I had a 45mm lens on my camera, so I knew I would have to crop quite a lot. Luckily the camera ...
Lodge Gates Once up a time the gates below stood at the entrance to a magnificent luxury hotel in Briarcliff Manor, NY. Built in 1902 It was called the Briarcliff Lodge (see above) and was destroyed in a fire in September 2003. Although the lodge had gone the stone pillars that held the gates remained, apparently ...
Another Cemetery in Mount Kisco According to Patrick Raftery: The entrance to the Saint Francis Cemetery, Mount Kisco is on the west side of Lexington Avenue opposite its intersection with Smith Avenue. The cemetery adjoins the northern border of Oakwood Cemetery. The cemetery has been active since 1908. The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi was found in 1868 to ...
Flowing Water In an earlier post (See: Grasses in a Pond) I wrote: “For some reason I went out the other day intending to take some pictures of water”. These are two more pictures from that session. Taken with a Panasonic Lumix GX85 and Lumix G Vario 14-140 f3.5-5.6
A Cemetery in Mount Kisco, NY A fellow resident of Briarcliff Manor recently gave me box and a suitcase full of old cameras (but that’s a story for a future post). I decided to take one out to see if it was working. But where to go? Anyone who reads these posts will know that I’m fascinated by ...
Kensico Dam – The Rising Above: The Rising as seen from the West Pavilion. According to The Official Website for Westchester County Government: Westchester County’s September 11th Memorial incorporates the names of all the Westchester residents who died, the communities in which they lived and a quote about them from their loved ones. These words are engraved along the outside of the ...
Grasses in a pond For some reason I went out the other day intending to take some pictures of water. As I walked around, I came across this pond. I’ve seen it before, and it seems to come and go. Sometimes (as with today) there’s quite a lot of water; and sometimes it appears to be ...
Film Camera 2024 -1: Polaroid SX-70 – Results Of course, after I got my hands the Polaroid SX-70 mentioned in the previous post I rushed out immediately, eager to try it out – right? Actually, that was not the case. I think that I acquired the camera and film in 2022. When I opened the film package today, I noticed that ...
Film Camera 2024 -1: Polaroid SX-70 Even when they were in their heyday, I wasn’t much into instant cameras. I guess I shouldn’t even say instant cameras because back then there was only one brand: Polaroid. However, I witnessed the death and resurrection of Polaroid and admired they way that a group of determined and dedicated individuals had brought ...
Scales I came across these two old scales in a coffee shop right next to where I used to work on 44th Street between second and third in New York City. It wasn’t then when I was still working. Taken with a Panasonic Lumix GX85 and Lumix G Vario 14-140 f3.5-5.6
Two Views of a Shiny Metal Sculpture This sculpture stands outside a building on East 44th Street, NY. So far, I haven’t been able to find out any other information. Taken with a Panasonic Lumix GX85 and Lumix G Vario 14-140 f3.5-5.6
A spider web Just something I noticed in the corner of a window in my house. Taken with a Sony A7IV and Venus Optics Laowa 85mm f5.6
The one I missed. Pleasantville, All Souls Cemetery Last month I did posts on three small cemeteries located in the same vicinity in Pleasantville, NY (See: Three Cemeteries in Pleasantville – Overview and Methodist Church; Three Cemeteries in Pleasantville – Palmer Family Plot; Three Cemeteries in Pleasantville – Banks Cemetery. At the time I didn’t realize that there was another cemetery in Pleasantville: All ...
White rectangle Taken in Manhattan. Somewhere in the ’50s on the East Side. I don’t remember exactly where. I first noticed this white sculpture. As I got closer, I noticed the guy the left who had apparently come outside for a smoke. Soon afterwards I saw his almost surreal reflection in the window to ...
Snowfall We didn’t have much snow last year. And this year has been pretty much the same…until today. These pictures were taken from my house (I didn’t want to go outside). Seems to be somewhere between 10 and 11 inches. Taken with an Panasonic Lumix GX85 and Lumix G Vario 45-150mm f4-5.6
Where did he go? This was taken on Third Avenue around 51st Street. I saw two elderly people approaching: a man using a walker and a woman. The woman stopped for some reason, (maybe to look in a store window?) and without her noticing the man continued on down Third Avenue. After a while she looked ...
Tree Stump with Roots Just looked interesting. Taken with an iPhone SE II
Outside the DMV My friend needed to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in Peekskill, NY so I decided to go along. While I was waiting for her I came across these rather surreal (and somewhat spooky) mannikins just outside. Apple iPhone SE II
Three Cemeteries in Pleasantville – Banks Cemetery According to Patrick Raftery: The development of rural cemeteries in southern and western Westchester County in the mid-19th century had not reached Pleasantville by the time of the Civil War, and the residents who did not belong to its Methodist church had little choice but to bury their loved oes in other municipalities such as Ossining, ...
Three Cemeteries in Pleasantville – Palmer Family Plot Again, according to Patrick Raftery: A second burial ground was founded in Pleasantville by the Palmer family, from whom the Pleasantville Methodist congregation acquired the land for their 1852 church. Writing for Scharf’s “History of Westchester County, New York” in 1886, the Reverent John A. Tod provided the following information regarding the Palmers of Pleasantville: The ...
Three Cemeteries in Pleasantville – Overview and Methodist Church Cemetery A while ago I was passing through Pleasantville, NY and I noticed three cemeteries all together along one stretch of road. According to Westchester County Historical Society’s, Patrick Raftery in his magnificent “The Cemeteries of Westchester County, Volumes I – III“: These three burial grounds are located near the intersection of Broadway and Church Street…The Pleasantville ...
Dream Street I was browsing YouTube videos when I came across a piece on this book: Dream Street. W. Eugene Smith’s Pittsburgh Project. It sounded interesting, and I didn’t have a book about Smith so I decided to get a copy. The book sleeve describes it as follows: In 1955, having just resigned from his high-profile but stormy ...
Once again, I survived ‘Snowmaggedon’ We had our first snowfall of 2024 last night. As usual all kinds of dire warnings were issued. We were told that 10 inches of snow was possible. This is what we got (taken in my garden). I doubt that it’s even 2 inches. Taken with an iPhone SE II.
A Spoon A friend invited me to spend New Year’s Eve with himself and his family (including a brother and his wife visiting from Boston, MA.). We had agreed that I would stay over so no-one would have to go out on the roads after midnight. I woke up early, before everyone else and went ...
Three Sticks (branches?) in a Pond This pond was once the outdoor pool of a grand resort hotel in Briarcliff Manor, NY – the village where I live. It was called the Briarcliff Lodge and it was built by Walter W. Law, the founder of Briarcliff Manor. To get a feel for what it must have been like to ...
The Century Homestead According to Mary Cheever in her wonderful book on Briarcliff Manor: The Changing Langscape: The “Century Homestead” as it is named in the Beer’s Atlas of 1867, on Chappaqua Road has been called the Reuben Whitson House. However, since there are no Whitsons on the Mt. Pleasant census rolls before 1830, it was probably another ...
A Walk through Ossining – A Launderette Thought there might be a picture, so in I went. Somehow the machines seemed to require a black and white treatment (see picture below). Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Sigma 18-50mm f2.8
Tree Lined Path I liked the overall symmetry, as well as the dappled light filtering through the trees. Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Fuji XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OSS II
In the woods again I went for a walk in the woods the other day and came across this wonderful, gnarly tree. I also liked the way it was framed by the trees on the left and the right. Taken with a Panasonic Lumx GX85 and Lumix G Vario 45-150mm f/4-5.6 ASPH. MEGA O.I.S.
Figures by a mill pond I came across these two women, engrossed in conversation by the mill pond at Philipsburg Manor. Judging by the Nikon camera (I can’t tell whether it’s a DSLR or mirrorless) at least one of them is a photographer. Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Sigma 18-50mm f2.8
Balloon Milkweed This is the unusual looking fruit of a shrub technically known as Gomphocarpus physocarpus. In addition to “Balloon Milkweed”, other common names include balloon wild cotton and hairy balls (I was so tempted to use this in the title). All parts of this plant are poisonous if ingested. Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Sigma 18-50mm ...
A Bee I seem to be going through a black and white phase at the moment. Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Sigma 18-50mm f2.8
Ansel Adams. Examples. The Making of 40 Photographs I bought this book a long time ago and loved it. Unfortunately, we had a seriously water leak in the house and this was one of the items that was destroyed during the flood. When this happened, I vowed to replace it quicky. And them promptly forgot. Recently, while looking for something else ...
Opus 40 – An Old Building I have no idea what this building is. Some kind of storage I imagine. I just liked the way it looked. Looks as if it’s lucky to still be standing. Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Sigma 18-50mm f2.8
Opus 40 – Quarrymen’s tools and artifacts I love old metal objects, the more rusty the better although these weren’t all that rusty. Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Sigma 18-50mm f2.8
Opus 40 – Smaller Sculptures Although the site it one large sculpture, there are none the less, a number of smaller sculptures scattered around the quarry. Here are a couple of them. I believe that there are quite a few more in the surrounding woods. Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Sigma 18-50mm f2.8
Opus 40 – A different perspective We had entered the site from the North West. However, as we were leaving and walking back to the car we had a completely different view. We were now looking West and could see the Catskill Mountains looming up behind the monolith. It was really spectacular! Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Sigma ...
Opus 40 – Daisies I was standing high up by the monolith and looked down into the quarry. I noticed this clump of daisies all by itself, surrounded by a mass of bare rock. It was too far away to take a decent picture, so I walked down to get a closer view. The bug on this flower, was ...
Opus 40 – Trees It’s not all unrelieved bare rocks though. Scattered around the sculpture are small clumps of trees. I suspect that they were not planted by Fite, but rather he built the sculptures around them. Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Sigma 18-50mm f2.8
Opus 40 – Details A closer look at some of the pools and meandering walls. Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Sigma 18-50mm f2.8
Opus 40 – Views of the central sculpture The site is not all that large (about 0.057 km²), and I think we may have missed part of it. It’s dominated by the monolith sculpture, called “Flame”. As you wander around you see it from a variety of different perspectives. Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Sigma 18-50mm f2.8
Opus 40 – Overview According to Wikipedia: “Opus 40 is a large environmental sculpture in Saugerties, New York, created by sculptor and quarryman Harvey Fite (1903—1976). It comprises a sprawling series of dry-stone ramps, pedestals and platforms covering 6.5 acres (2.6 ha) of a bluestone quarry. Fite, then a professor of sculpture and theater at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, ...
Kensico Cemetery – Purveyors of Monuments and Memorials I don’t think these businesses are part of the cemetery, but they certainly provide important support to those who have lost their loved ones. Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Sigma 18-50mm f2.8
Kensico Cemetery – The Administration Building Kensico Cemetery was founded in 1889 as a rural cemetery. Its proximity to the New York Central Railroad provided easy access for funeral parties coming from Manhattan. The administration building served as a private railroad station for the exclusive use of lot owners. Kensico remained a regular stop on the railroad until the early 1980’s ...
Kensico Cemetery – Gravestones Kensico Cemetery isn’t all large mausoleums and fancy statuary. There are also large number of plain gravestones, all looking pretty much the same. Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Sigma 18-50mm f2.8
Kensico Cemetery – Assorted Mausoleums Pictures I took of other mausoleums, for I’ve so far been able to find additional information. All taken with a Sony Nex 5N and Sigma 30mm f2.8 except for the photography of the obelisk, which was taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Sigma 18-50mm f2.8
Kensico Cemetery – Assorted Statuary Kensico Cemetery has many statues etc. Here are a few of them. Some taken with a Sony Nex 5N and Sigma 30mm f2.8, others with a Fuji X-E3 and Sigma 18-50mm f2.8
Kensico Cemetery – Aiken Mausoleum Bertha Marion Reese Aiken is interred here. Other than her date of birth (19 Feb 1863) and the date she died (2 Nov 1930) I’ve not so far been able to discover any additional information. She was married to Friend M. Aiken, who is also interred in this Mausoleum. Again, I’ve found little ...
Kensico Cemetery – Fitch Monument A Druid cross of Cape Ann made of granite marks the grave of Judge John Fitch. He was the first person to be buried in Kensico Cemetery. He was interred in 1890 and his monument was unveiled on November 12th of that year. Two hundred members of the Sons of the Revolution, along ...
Kensico Cemetery – Bell Mausoleum A wonderful example of the architectural influence of ancient Rome. The gravesite in the name of Bell is on a rise with dignified steps leading to the decorative door. The rounded shape of the mausoleum and the pediment above the entrance are clearly derived from Roman architecture. This is the largest mausoleum ...
Kensico Cemetery – Pinkney Mausoleum This is the only pyramid on the property. It’s distinctive shape easily identifies an Egyptian influence and reflects the fascination that people had at the turn of the last century with other cultures. According to “Find a Grave” at least fifteen Pinkneys are associated with the mausoleum. Take your pick. The earliest is ...
Kensico Cemetery – Mecca Temple At first I was somewhat confused as to what this impressive structure was. “Mecca Temple”, sphinx’s, lotus blossoms – not something you see a lot of in Westchester, NY. Eventually I figured it out. It was the “A.A.O.N” that gave it away. It stands for “Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic ...
Kensico Cemetery – Landon Tomb Another tomb with a touch of exoticism. The name on it is “Landon” and so far I haven’t been able to discover any additional information about it’s inhabitant. Doublas Keister’s Stories in Stone. New York. A Field Guide to New York City Area Cemeteries and their residents identifies this architectural style as ‘Egyptian ...
Kensico Cemetery – Raymond Plot The most prominent grave markers (i.e. the two directly in front of the cross) are for James Irving Raymond and his wife Grace Clark Adams. According to America’s Successful Men of Affairs: The city of New York, edited by Henry Hall, page 533. James Irving Raymond, head of the importing house of A.A. Vantine & Co., was ...
Kensico Cemetery – J. Gordon Edwards A rather “exotic” tomb! “This one-of-a-kind mausoleum is the resting place of prolific silent film director J.Gordon Edwards. Canadian-born Edwards was one of the most prominent movie directors in the silent film era. He began his career as a stage actor and director and then in 1914, he made his film debut as director of St. ...
Kensico Cemetery – William Lawrence Mausoleum Again according to Douglas Keister: William Van Duzer Lawrence was born on a farm outside Elmira, New York. His parents, Robert D. Lawrence and Catherine Van Duzer Lawrence, both came from prominent Dutch-American families. At age 19, William went to work in the family’s pharmaceutical business and quickly rose through the ranks. He amassed a considerable ...
Kensico Cemetery – Community Mausoleum The Community Mausoleum was built in 1924 to offer above-ground burials – presumably for those who didn’t want or couldn’t afford their own above-ground mausoleums. According to Rootsweb This mausoleum was erected in 1924 to replace the original Receiving Tomb. Architect Sidney Lovell styled the building after twelfth-century gothic churches of northern Europe. At the time of ...
Kensico Cemetery – Landscape There’s certainly a lot of space at Kensico Cemetery. Mineola Lake Taken with a Fujifilm X-E3 and Sigma 18-50 f2.8
Kensico Cemetery – Overview “Kensico Cemetery, located in Valhalla, Westchester County, New York was founded in 1889, when many New York City cemeteries were becoming full, and rural cemeteries were being created near the railroads that served the city. Initially 250 acres (1.0 km2), it was expanded to 600 acres (2.4 km2) in 1905 but reduced to 461 acres ...
Gran and Grandad A cousin in the UK recently sent me this picture. She’s into genealogy and has been building a family tree for us. She informed me that this is my grandmother (Mary Emily Poole) and grandfather (George Dale). As you’ve probably guessed it was taken on their Wedding Day. I knew my ...
A pair of giant skeletons During a recent walk I came across these gigantic skeletons.They’re truly huge, at least twice the height of a normal human being. I would not have been surprised if this was around Hallowe’en, but the picture was taken in May!! I guess they’re so big that it’s hard (maybe impossible) to take them down ...
In New York City – Empire State Building Walking back along 34th street we caught some views of The Empire State Building. What else is there to say about this iconic building? When I first arrived in NY in the 1970s it had just been surpassed as the world’s tallest building (a position it had held for almost 40years), by the World Trade ...
In New York City – The Skylight Diner By this time in my walk I had been walking around for nearly three hours and I was feeling tired and hungry. So I looked for something/somewhere to eat. I realized that coincidentally I had walked to the largest (I think) photographic store in New York: B&H Photo. It occurred to me that ...
In New York City – The Moynihan Train Hall I’ve always hated Pennsylvania Station, or at least the one under Madison Square Garden (which I also hate because it’s ugly and it caused the demolition of the beautiful old station, which preceded it). The old Pennsylvania Station was an architectural masterpiece and it was a tragedy when it was torn down in 1966 ...
In New York City – Stone Medallion I came across this rather intricate sculpture and stained glass window on the brown brick façade of what was once the Capuchin Monastery of St. John the Baptist. It was built in 1974 in the Brutalist style and was one of the buildings associated with the St. John The Baptist church on West 31st. NYC. ...
In New York City – Bird Statue Echoes of “The Maltese Falcon” anyone? Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Fuji XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OSS II
In New York City – Horace Greeley Statue According to Tulane University: “Horace Greeley, the son of a New England farmer and day laborer, was born in Amherst, New Hampshire in February 1811. The economic struggles of his family meant that Greeley received only irregular schooling, which ended when he was fourteen. He then apprenticed to a newspaper editor in Vermont, and found employment ...
In New York City – New York City Street Scene What more is there to say? Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Fuji XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OSS II
Trying out Infrared Photography – Second and Third Attempts I’d been reading extensively about infrared photography, and was now more comfortable – comfortable, but not yet good. I had a least figured out how to create a custom white balance using the Adobe DNG Profile Editor. So I went for a walk around my neighborhood. The weather was not really the best for ...
Trying out Infrared Photography – First Attempt For my first attempt at infrared photography I decided to go to one of my favorite haunts: Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and the Old Dutch Burying Grounds. I really hadn’t a clue what I was doing and expected the results to be a disaster. I was surprised that, after some post-processing I quite happy with the ...
Trying out Infrared Photography – Exploring the Options I’ve been somewhat interested in trying infrared photography for some time. However, in my reading about it, it seemed as if there were only three ways of getting into it. Buy an infrared filter and put in on one of my lenses. This is by far the least expensive option requiring just the purchase ...
Rocks I really liked the look of this rocky outcrop with its white-blossomed tree. To me it really cried out for a black and white treatment. Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Fuji XF 10-24mm f4
Larry Fink on Composition and Improvisation Last January I posted my thoughts on another of the books in the Aperture Photography Workshop Series (See: On Street Photography and the Poetic Image). I really liked that book and decided to get some more in the series. As of today I have all but one of them Unfortunately I didn’t like this book ...
Another black and white A while back I went mad over black and white conversions. This was partly because I seem to see in black and white and partly because at that time I didn’t really understand color photography that well. Sometimes the conversion was appropriate, other times it wasn’t. Since then after immersing myself in William ...
A Native American Chief I came across this statue of a Native American Chief in my friend’s garden and thought it might make a nice black and white photograph. Taken in mid April 2023 with an iPhone SE II.
A downed tree I liked the textures and gnarly roots and thought it would make an interesting black and white image. Taken in early April 2023 with a Sony R1 and fixed Sony 24-120 f2.8-4.8
The new croton dam If you don’t know about the origins and history of the New Croton Dam see here. I may have already posted some of these in individual posts, but I don’t think I’ve ever posted all of them together. It’s a very impressive piece of engineering, which looks particularly good when it’s rained a lot and the water ...
Still more postcards – this time by Ansel Adams I recently posted about Cornelia Cotton and her wonderful used book store/gallery in Croton-on-Hudson (See: Cornelia). While there I bought an Ansel Adams Yosemite National Park Postcard Folio Book. It consists of 25 postcards (23 photographs, a title page, and an introduction). I think there were supposed to be more. The title page mentions “Front ...
A Postcard A while ago a friend of mine gave me a set up cards, each one with a different example of his wildlife photography. I was impressed by this and for some time have wanted to try something similar myself. I came up with the idea of a collection of postcards, each one showing ...
Fine art photography I follow a number of landscape photographers on YouTube. I’ve noticed a trend in the way they are using the words “fine-art”. They usually use it to describe a particular type of image: Black and white. Minimalist composition: i.e. usually a single subject, often situated in water. Still water made smooth with a long exposure. Something like the above, ...
Dead tree with rock outcropping This was also taken quite close to my house. I liked the juxtaposition of the two trees, the one in the foreground very much alive and the other one probably dead (although you can never be sure until it’s time for the leaves to come out). I rather hope it is dead, because I ...
Another bridge This small bridge is quite close to the larger bridge in the previous post. I’ve taken pictures of this one too – but not many, and those in black and white. These are the first that I’ve taken in color. I really like this one. The larger bridge is impressive, but somewhat boring. ...
Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again My friend, Antonio, is an Art Director and and Graphic Artist who likes to create concept art (posters, CD covers etc.) by blending photographs and other graphic elements. He usually gets the photographs from friends and then builds the graphics around them himself. Lasts night I got a message from him which read: Howard think of story, ...
Peter Lindbergh on Fashion Photography I haven’t shown a lot of interest in Fashion photography. It’s not that I don’t appreciate it – I do, and I have a number of photobooks by/about well known Fashion photographers including Irving Penn, Helmut Newton, Annie Leibovitz and Edward Steichen. I’m also somewhat familiar with the work of others including Cecil Beaton, ...
An Urn This stone (or is it concrete?) urn stands on the wall of the former gatehouse (See: On my doorstep – Gatehouse to a grand estate) to a grand estate (See: A wealthy man). I find it interesting: the way its covered in vines. For much of the year (i.e. when the vines have leaves) I ...
I survived another “Snowmaggedon” We had another “significant” snow storm the other day. The meteorologists forecasted possibly 5-7 inches of snow. To see how much we actually got take a look at the picture below: nothing! Not even an inch. To be fair it did snow quite a lot, but what little stuck melted almost immediately afterwards. ...
Law Park on a misty, snowy morning I woke up the other day to a quite misty landscape. We don’t get much of this so it would have been nice to have gone to some woodland to take some pictures. Unfortunately, I had to get to the Historical Society where I do volunteer work so I wouldn’t be able to ...
First serious snowfall of the season We’re now into March and the Winter has been unusually mild. We had our first serious snow fall only yesterday. There seems to be about five inches. Taken with a Sony A7IV and Rokinon/Samyang AF 24-70 f2.8 FE
A short walk along Route 9 in Dobbs Ferry – Trees on a Golf Course I just liked the way it looked. Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Fuji XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OSS II
Another macro Another attempt at macro photography this time with a small (about one inch tall) sea shell. Taken with a A7IV and Venus Optics Laowa 85mm f1.8.
An Anniversary It’s now thirteen years since my younger daughter was married in the lovely Swiss village of Hermance. This picture was taken right outside the church looking towards the Town Hall in the backround. Taken with an Iphone 3GS which was ancient even then.
Some of my favorite pictures of 2022 – Black and White Queen Anne’s Lace. 25 January. Triple Arch Bridge, Rockefeller State Park. 17 February. Statuette in a friend’s house. August 16th. View from my bedroom. March 12. Spanish American War Memorial, Yonkers, NY. March 23. Tree across from my house. January 17. Feeding pigeons in Washington Square Park. June 3. Dandelion seeds. July 1, Chrysler Building by night. September 13. Skull light ...
Why I collect cameras and this blog’s 4,000th post First an unrelated comment: I started this blog over ten years ago, and this is the 4,000 post. I’m amazed I’ve been able to keep it up. Back to the topic I’ve never been a collector. Until I started collecting cameras I had never collected anything. But there’s something about cameras, particularly older cameras ...
Crumbling wall on Central Drive Central Drive is probably the most affluent part of Briarcliff Manor, so I was surprised when I came across this tumbledown wall while walking around one day. It seemed to me that it would make an interesting black and white picture. Taken with a Nikon D800 and Nikon AF Nikkor 28-80 f3.3-5.6
Some Oldies – New Delhi, India, 2006 Taken in June 2006 during a trip to India. Above: Taj Mahal (as if you needed to be told). Jama Masjid Mosque Figures under the arches (don’t recall where this was). The Red Fort. Humayun’s Tomb, New Delhi. Maybe not as spectacular as the Taj Mahal it has the great advantage of being in New Delhi and is, ...
A Toaster An old toaster belonging to a friend. Taken with a Sony A7IV and Samyang 45mm f1.8
Some new frames In the preceding post mentioned some problems I had with framed pictures at the Museum of Modern Art. I recently went with some friends to Ikea and came across some useful and inexpensive frames. So I bought two in different styles to see how they would look with my pictures in them. I’ll probably print some ...
Powerlines On the way home from my woodland walk I spotted these powerlines and thought they looked interesting enough for me to take a picture. Taken with a Sony A7IV and Rokinon AF 24-70 f2.8 FE
Lone Tree What more is there to say? Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Fuji XF 55-200mm f3.5-4.8 R LM OIS
Chrysler Building By Night I recently went into New York City (Manhattan) to meet a friend for drinks. My plan was to go in early, walk around and take some pictures. Unfortunately it was a rather hot and humid day and I really didn’t feel like walking around much so I decided to go somewhere indoors and ...
A figurine I came across this rather interesting figurine in my friend’s house the other day. I don’t know anything about it so I think I’ll contact him and then update this post when, hopefully he’s able to give me more information.
Film Camera 2022 – 2 – Minolta Maxxum 600si – Results I like this camera. It’s fairly light and feels solid. I suppose what I like most are all of the buttons and dials. There’s a button or a dial for practically everything you want to do: exposure compensation; flash compensation; drive mode; exposure mode; exposure area; autofocus area; autofocus mode; flash settings; ...
Black and White Flower So this is what you get if you put a lens designed for a crop sensor camera on a full frame camera. A mistake, but I quite like it. Luckily it was the first frame of a 36 exposure roll and I noticed my mistake quickly and was able to change the lens for something ...
Film Camera 2022 – 1 Moskva 5 – Results As mentioned in the preceding post I had used this camera before but the results were pretty much a disaster. So how did I do this time? I decided to walk down to nearby Sparta Cemetery to take the pictures. Generally speaking I was satisfied with the results. I only lost one frame, the ...
A place name discovered I’m interested in the origins of place names. For example near our former lake house is a road called “Pudding Street”. I’ve often wondered why it’s called that. After living there for 10 years I was never able to find out the origin of the name. Where I live there’s a street called Holbrook ...
In Manhattan. Some street photography In Manhattan. Some street photography. Phones galore! Above: Sneaky glance. Don’t tell the wife/girlfriend On the phone Cyclist. Again on the phone Woman on phone in front of a Black Lives Matter mural Union Square Park. More people on phones. Couldn’t resist this one. This guy is not only not browsing on his phone, he’s actually reading a – gasp…book, ...
UEFA Champions League Final The other day I went into New York City to meet and old friend and former colleague for lunch and to watch the UEFA Champions League Final between Liverpool and Real Madrid. Real Madrid won despite Liverpool dominating the game. For example Liverpool had nine shots on goal where Madrid, I believe only had one. ...
My first zine During COVID it was not possible to travel as much as I had been doing. I therefore confined myself to walks in the immediate vicinity of my house and started a series of photographs, which with my usual lack of inspiration I decided to call “Around the Neighborhood”. I defined this as meaning anywhere ...
Cat in a window Not my cat or my window. Just something seen while walking around. Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Fuji XF 55-200mm f3.5-4.8 R LM OIS
To the Rockefeller State Park Preserve and back. Part 2: Along the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail To the Rockefeller State Park Preserve and back. Part 2: Heading for home along the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail. For anyone who doesn’t know what the Old Croton Aqueduct is, it was built between 1837 and 1842 and was New York City’s first water supply system. It replaced the inadequate wells, springs, and ...
A Photographic Exercise During COVID it was not possible to travel as much as I had been doing. I therefore confined myself to walks in the immediate vicinity of my house and started a series of photographs, which with my usual lack of inspiration I decided to call “Around the Neighborhood”. I defined this as meaning anywhere ...
Roots and Rocks Taken during a dog walk while testing my newly acquired Sony FE 24mm f2.8 lens and getting familiar with the very different field of view that such a wide lens gives. Taken with a Sony A7IV and Sony FE 24mm f2.8 G.
Will Spring never come – More Snow More snow, but not a lot. The pictures (particularly the first) are a bit misleading. The snow didn’t stick to paved surfaces so the roads, and more importantly my driveway were clear. Still it was rainy, cold and snowy for the entire day and I didn’t really feel like going out so ...
Stone Bridges Stone bridges. We seem to have quite a lot of them. Mind you if you’ve ever had to dig a hole around here you’d know why – rocks everywhere! The first two were taken directly across from my house. I’ve taken many pictures of the first, but one day as I was walking around again ...
A snowy day in Briarcliff Manor It was a gorgeous sunny day yesterday with temperatures around 55F/13C. Then this morning I woke up to this….only about 2-3 inches, but annoying just the same. Taken with a Sony A7IV and Tamron Di III VXD A056SF 70-180mm f2.8.
Happy Birthday Eugene Today would have been the 165th birthday of possibly my favorite photographers: Jean-Eugène-Auguste Atget, born 12 February 1857. Above a photograph of Atget shortly before he died by Berenice Abbott, herself a famous photographer and champion of Atget’s work. Below: Atget’s photograph: “Au Tambour” taken in 1908.
A Walk around Tarrytown – Washington Irving High School The Washington Irving High School at 18 North Broadway in Tarrytown, New York was built c. 1897. In the 1920s, the new building was constructed for the school about a half mile south on Broadway, and the old school later become the Frank R. Pierson School. After the school closed, the building was derelict for ...
Queen Anne’s Lace I liked the look of this. It was helpful that it had a nice uncluttered background, actually snow on a frozen pond. Initially I had no idea what it was until a friend told me that it looked like “a dead wild carrot”. Then another friend chimed in with “It looks like Queen ...
Cracks in the ice On a nearby pond. Taken with a Sony A7IV and Tamron Di III VXD A056SF 70-180mm f2.8.
Tracks in the Snow As is often the case I came across these in my neighborhood while walking the dog. I liked the curved lines and the very slight contrast between the white snow and the lighter tracks. I also found myself wondering what had made them. Taken with a Sony A7IV and Tamron Di III VXD A056SF ...
Heads in Manhattan Couldn’t resist. Taken with a Fuji X-E1 and Fuji XF 18mm f2 R
A walk to Ossining – Overview Before the cold, snow and ice arrived I went for a walk to nearby Ossining, NY. From the house I walked down Holbrook Road, past the brick wall, which surrounded the former Speyer estate, up Maurice Avenue with some nice old houses. Crossing Albany Post Road (route 9), I went down Broad Avenue and ...
That bridge again Another picture of the bridge across the road – this time taken with a higher resolution camera, in black and white and in snow. Taken with a Sony A7IV and Sony FE 28-75 f3.5-5.6 OSS.
2021 Favorites – Black and White Pocantico Falls, Rockefeller State Park Preserve, NY. Two Trees at Scarborough Station Park, Briarcliff Manor/Scarborough, NY. The Bar at P.J. Clarkes, Manhattan, New York City. Lonesome Pine, Rockefeller State Park Preserve, NY. Icicles, Briarcliff Manor, NY. Strange Creature at Times Square Station, Manhattan, NY. Pigeons bathing on Park Avenue and 51st Street, Manhattan, NY. Woman in Starbucks, Grand Central Terminal, Manhattan, NY. Fabulous ...
That’s the way you grind a lot of coffee Awesome machine at the Black Cow coffee shop in Croton-on-Hudson. According to their website: Michael and Peggy Grant opened the black cow on a wing and a prayer in 1995. they had two young children at the time, Peggy was working as a nurse and Michael as a contractor, and there were more than a few ...
Girl by a Fountain An oldie taken at Ridge Hill, an outdoor mall in Yonkers, NY, February 2014. Taken with a Sony RX100 M1
Atgetesque Eugène Atget is one of my photographic heroes: Working in and around Paris for some 35 years, in a career that bridged the 19th and 20th centuries, Eugène Atget created an encyclopedic, idiosyncratic lived portrait of that city on the cusp of the modern era. His career began around 1890, when he hung a shingle reading, ...
An Urn I’ve been waiting for about a year to take this picture. I first noticed it in Winter 2020 and was attracted to it’s shape and the way the tangled branches were growing around it. I kept meaning to take a a picture of it, but before I knew it Winter had passed, ...
Around the Neighborhood – Some black and whites These were taken around “The Club“, a relatively recently opened “seniors community” in Briarcliff Manor. “The Club” is situated on the site of the former Briarcliff Lodge, a once popular resort hotel once frequented by a number of celebrities. Unfortunately, after being abandoned for some time it burnt down around 2003. Taken with a ...
Me and my camera I recently made contact with a long lost niece (actually first cousin once removed but that’s too much of a mouthful). She’s been sending me old pictures that I’d never seen before. This is one that I particularly like. Yes that’s me. Look at the hair. And it’s taken my experience with cameras ...
Lunch in Manhattan Lunch with Shannon at P.J. Clarkes in Manhattan. “P. J. Clarke’s is a saloon, established 1884. It occupies a building located at 915 Third Avenue on the northeast corner of East 55th Street in Manhattan. It has a second location at 44 West 63rd Street on the southeast corner of Columbus Avenue…The bar was once ...
Goodbye my friend I was sad to learn recently that my friend, Paul Savior had passed away. I’ve posted pictures of him, his house and garden and even helped him do a photobook of old pictures for his children (See: Paul’s house; My friend Paul; One of Paul’s cats; and Paul and Family. A recent communication from the ...
Back in Manhattan Again Trying my hand at some black and white Street Photography in New York City. Above: Main Hall at Grand Central Terminal. Platforms 36 and 37 at Grand Central Terminal. Woman in Starbucks, Grand Central Terminal. Inside the Met Life Building. Leaving the Met Life Building. Taking a break for lunch. Signs. Outside the Post Office Building. Statue outside the Roger Smith Hotel. Mural. Old car ...
Encounter at Times Square After one of my recent trips into New York City I was returning to Grand Central via Times Square when I came across this strange creature. Sony RX100 III.
Gnarly tree roots I liked the textures and thought they would look good in black and white. Taken with a Sony A77II and Minolta 50mm f2.8 Macro lens
Leaping Deer I deliberately blurred this photograph to convey a sense of motion. Either that or I’m channeling my inner Daido Moriyama. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. The reality is of course, that I was trying to take a picture of a deer lying peacefully under a bush. It then took ...
Dead tree I’m fascinated by this dead tree by a nearby pond. It’s so white against everything that surrounds it. I’ve taken a number of pictures of it, and so far I think I’m most satisfied by this black and white rendering. Taken with an Olympus OM-D E-M10 and Lumix G Vario 45-150mm f4-5.6
Ruined stone buildings along the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail I came across these overgrown, ruined buildings while walking along the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail. The bars make them look something like a jail, but I don’t suppose they were. Bars can, of course be used to keep people out too. Maybe something valuable was once kept inside. Judging from their location ...
Alder Manor – An Overlook Heading West from the house you come to this columned structure overlooking the Hudson. It contains a number of fragments of classical looking stonework. I have no idea whether they are authentic or not. Taken with a Fuji X-E1 and Fuji XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OSS II
Alder Manor – A Fountain I really liked this fountain (not working at present) and its leering devil. Taken with a Fuji X-E1 and Fuji XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OSS II
Alder Manor – Statues and other assorted stonework A number of statues are scattered around the garden. I have no idea who/what they represent. Taken with a Fuji X-E1 and Fuji XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OSS II
Alder Manor – The Gardens The gardens contain a number of statues along with various bits and pieces of broken stonework. I found myself asking if it was broken because of age and the general dilapidation of the property or was it made to look that way to give the gardens the “romantic” look that was very popular at ...
Alder Manor – The Gazebo The gazebo is intact and has a tiled pool in front of it. A path from it leads down towards the Hudson River, beyond the balustrade seen in the first picture. Closer view of the gazebo. Here you can clearly see the tiled pool. View from the gazebo looking back towards the west facade. Taken with ...
Alder Manor – The House Carrère and Hastings were commissioned to design the house. As a lover of plants and gardens, he supervised the planning and planting of the landscapes around the house, and retained considerable influence over it. While the house has many similarities with the Frick Mansion in New York City, which the firm was designing and building ...
Alder Manor – Overview After success in the mining industry, the owner continued to be involved in mining as an investor on Wall Street, and made more money. In 1905 he began acquiring the 22 acres (8.9 ha) on which he built his mansion, intended to be a weekend residence. He lived in the house until his death in ...
Rockefeller State Park Preserve – Along the Douglas Hill Loop These large, often triangular blocks of granite are are often encountered around the trails. They’re Coping Stones and they line parts of the trails and serve as guardrails. Although they’re quite numerous you don’t find them on all of the trails. I’ve never been able to figure out any logic to their placement. Cut roughly and ...
On the Balcony – Reading Walker Evans I was sitting on the balcony last night reading American Photographs by Walker Evans, one of my top 5 photographic heroes. I came across a photograph captioned: “View over Ossining”. Briarcliff Manor, the village where I live is part of the town of Ossining. A quick Google search and I discovered that Evans ...
Film Camera 2021 -1 Canon EOS A2/Canon 5 – Results When I acquired the camera I noticed that it still had an apparently full roll of film in it so I decided to just go ahead and shoot it. Since I had no idea how long the film had been in the camera I didn’t have very high expectations. I wasn’t disappointed. ...
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Snow – Some black and white images Enclosed plot. I liked the ornate metalwork. Footsteps (not mine) among the gravestones. Memorial Bench. Stone walls. The Pocantico River as it runs through Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. First picture taken with a Sony A6000 and Canon 50mm f1.4 LTM. All others taken with an Olympus OM-D EM-10 and Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-42 f3.5-4.6 II.
Rockefeller State Park Preserve – Trees and Track Taken with an Olympus OM-D EM-10 and Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-42 f3.5-4.6 II
Old Grave in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery The face of the red sandstone grave marker may be slowly flaking away, but the memory of Catriena Ecker van Tassel will live forever. In Washington Irving’s short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, hapless schoolmaster Ichabod Crane is smitten by the comely 17 year old Katrina van Tassel, but he must compete with ...
Tree Roots and Rocks Seen while walking the dog at the Rockefeller State Park Preserve. Taken with an Olympus OM-D EM-10 and Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-42 f3.5-4.6 II
Rockwood Hall Revisited View of the Hudson River from near the ruins. I was chatting with a friend who once lived in Sleepy Hollow (or North Tarrytown as it was then). Somehow the conversation turned to some ruins, which she described as being next to an IBM facility and which had a some point burned down. Since ...
Standing stones These pointed upright stones are all over the Rockefeller State Park Preserve. They usually stand along the sides of the carriage trails. In the old days I suppose this was to stop the carriages from going over the edge. Taken with an Olympus OM-D EM-10 and Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-42 f3.5-4.6 ...
Helmsley Mausoleum Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Once they are buried, most people stay put. Such was not the case for Harry Helmsley, who was born in Bronx, New York. His formal schooling ended in high school, but he got into the real estate business at age 16 and eventually became a broker. With shrewd investing he built a ...
Pocantico River – Winter, 2021 I liked the contrast between the bright, white snow and the darkness of the flowing water and the way that the snow has softened the outlines of the rocks in the river. Taken with a Sony A6000 and Canon 50mm f1.4 LTM (I think).
Scarborough Station – Hudson View This is the view that greeted me every day as I arrived in the morning for my daily commute. Taken with an Olympus OM-D EM-10 and Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-42 f3.5-4.6 II
Scarborough Station – Trees Taken at our closest Metro North Station: Scarborough. From here I used to commute into New York City and back every day for about 23 years. Taken with an Olympus OM-D EM-10 and Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-42 f3.5-4.6 II
Icicles Icicles. I’m getting tired of this cold, snowy, icy weather. Taken with a Sony A6000 and Canon 50mm f1.4 LTM
More Snow It’s snowing again. Looks like 3-7 inches this time. Taken with an iPhone SE version II.
Around the Neighborhood – More Snow Laden Branches So far February 2021 has brought us a lot of snow, and I expect there will be more to come. Taken with a Sony A6000 and Canon 50mm f1.4 LTM.
Around the Neighborhood – Vines along a brick wall In an earlier post I mentioned the wall around the former Speyer property. Here’s the wall again, this time in the snow with vines crawling all over it. Taken with a Sony A6000 and Canon 50mm f1.4 LTM.
Around the Neighborhood – Branches laden with snow Taken on the road down to my friend’s house. Taken with a Sony A6000 and Canon 50mm f1.4 LTM.
Around the Neighborhood – Snow covered lantern My house stands on the site of an old mansion, which used to be enclosed by a brick wall. The wall still exists. Entrances have been made through the wall to the properties inside (including mine). I came across this snow and ice covered lantern on the wall next to the entrance of one ...
Around the Neighborhood – Footsteps in the Snow Along the driveways of a friend’s house. Taken with a Sony A6000 and Canon 50mm f1.4 LTM
Around the Neighborhood – Snowscape Looks like a cabin lost in the woods somewhere? Actually it’s an old shed standing outside my friend’s house in suburban Westchester County, NY. Taken with a Sony A6000 and Canon 50mm f1.4 LTM
First Major Snow of the Season It had been a fairly mild Winter until today when we had our first major snow storm of the season. Actually one of the heaviest snowfalls in quite a few years. Seems to be somewhere between one and two feet. Thankfully the power stayed on. Can’t get out until the driveway ...
Lonely Pine I came across this solitary tree while walking in the Rockefeller State Park Preserve. Taken with an Olympus OM-D EM-10 and Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-42 f3.5-4.6 II
A blob of ice I came across this blob of ice in a nearby stream. I like it’s smooth texture and shiny surface, especially in contrast to the darker surroundings. Taken with an Olympus OM-D EM-10 and Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-42 f3.5-4.6 II
Pocantico Falls Ba largest waterfall in the Preserve, this falls can go from mighty to meager depending on the season. It’s also quite striking in mid-Winter with its many ice formations.” When I took this picture we’d had a lot of rain and snow melt so it was quite “mighty”. Taken with an Olympus OM-D E-M10 and Panasonic Lumix ...
Tree bark at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery I found the textures and tones to be interesting. Taken with a Panasonic Lumix GF-1 and Lumix G Vario 45-150mm f4-5.6
Around the neighborhood – Trump National Golf Club Westchester The Trump National Golf Club is just a short walk from the House. Trump National Golf Club Westchester is a private golf club in Briarcliff Manor, New York. The 140-acre (57 ha) course has eighteen holes, with a 75,000-square-foot (7,000 m2) clubhouse. Founded in 1922 as Briarcliff Country Club, it later operated as Briar Hills Country ...
Around the neighborhood – Nelson Park – A Mysterious Object As I was leaving the park I noticed what looked like a brick largely covered by grass. I moved the grass out of the way to get a better look and this is what I found: A time capsule. It reads “Village of Ossining 1813-1988”. This would reflect the 175th Anniversary of ...
Around the neighborhood – Nelson Park – Memorials There are actually four memorials in the park. The first and most visually striking is the civil war memorial (seen above and in the next two pictures). To borrow from an earlier (26 January 2016) post of mine: The monument remembers soldiers of Ossining, New York, who died fighting in the Civil War. Those killed were men, ...
Around the neighborhood – Nelson Park – Cannons I’ve passed this park many times in the car, and each time spotted the cannon that was close to the road. I kept meaning to go back one and to take some pictures. This time I was on foot and had a camera with me. There are actually two cannons: one up by the road ...
2020 Favorites I think it’s fair to say that 2020 was not a good year. It started well enough with the final days of our trip to Switzerland (Geneva) and France (Paris) and then went downhill from there. In February I had some fairly serious surgery, which initially went well but later led to some complications, ...
A Tunnel The famous three arch bridge at the Rockefeller State Park spans the Pocantico River round about here where the Gory Brook Trail and the Pocantico River Trail intersect. A little farther along the river passes through this tunnel and under the Old Croton Aqueduct. Taken with a Panasonic Lumix GF1, Lumix G Vario 14-42 f3.5-4.6 II ...
Rushing Water We’ve had a lot of rain lately. That, combined with one foot plus of snow melting has meant that the local streams and rivers are high and flowing quickly. I tried to capture this sense of movement. Taken with a Panasonic Lumix GF1, Lumix G Vario 14-42 f3.5-4.6 II
Fading Flowers We recently received a bouquet of lovely flowers. After a while they were starting to fade so I decided to take a picture of them. The light was rather low and I had very little room in which to take the pictures so the focus is a little off and the picture is a bit ...
Staircase at the café du Soleil The Café du Soleil was my ‘local’ when we lived in Geneva, Switzerland. It was close to the office and I would often go there with colleagues for a “quick pint” after work. These stairs connect the main, downstairs area and a smaller upstairs room. After a few beers they can be a ...
Shapes The sun was streaming in through glass sliding doors when I noticed the shadows it was casting of objects on a glass topped coffee table. Taken with an Apple Iphone 5s.
2019 Favorites – Black and White As we come to the end of another year it’s time for me to go through my annual ritual of picking a few (actually 12) of my favorite pictures from 2018, starting with black and white. This year 9 of the 12 pictures are from film cameras.
Film Camera 2019/11 – Leica IIIf – Results I was in New York City and decided to wander around Tudor City and take some pictures. Overall it was a pleasant experience and I was happy with the results. Of course at first it was difficult to get used to the lack of an exposure meter and only manual focus, but after a while ...
At Grand Central Terminal Taken at Grand Central Terminal during a trip into New York City. One is clearly a police officer, and the other (the woman) also seems to be some kind of official judging by the device attached to her belt. Obviously something is happening, but I have no idea what. Taken with a Sony RX-100 ...
Film Camera 2019/10 – Moskva 5 – Results I struggled with this camera – not the fault of the camera, more my lack of familiarity with it and some basic mistakes I made. Loading was easy enough, but after that things started to go downhill. Admittedly I was rushing. I was leaving on vacation and wanted to finish a roll quickly before ...
Film Camera 2019/9 – Agfa Click I – Results Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY. I was pleasantly surprised with the results. It was a cloudy day and I think I took all of the pictures on the cloudy setting with the yellow filter. I thought that, if I got anything at all, it would be blurred, out of focus images with light leaks ...
Birds over the lake While walking he dog around the lake I passed a friend’s house. To my surprise hundreds of small, black birds were flying around. I have no idea what kind of birds they were, but there were certainly a lot of them. Taken with a Sony RX-100 M3.
Yet another squirrel This year we have a lot of squirrels at our lake house – possibly because thousands of acorns have fallen from our oak trees. This one came very close to the house. Taken with a Panasonic Lumix GF1 and Lumix G Vario 45-150mm f4.0-5.6
A walk along Route 6 – Abandoned house The title says it all. Taken with a Sony RX-100 M3.
A walk along Route 6 – Only for the dynamic? It took me a while to figure out that these parking spaces are right across from the “Dynamic Gymnasium“. I’d have preferred it if someone had decided to allocate reserved spaces to particularly dynamic staff. Taken with a Sony RX-100 M3.
A walk along Route 6 – Mohegan Volunteer Fire Association, Inc. A plaque to the left of the door reads: This site donated to The Mohegan Volunteer Fire Association through the generosity of Jessie C and Albert D Travis, January 24, 1927. A second plaque, just above the first reads: In memory of Sgt. Curtis Riker Darragh 31st Armored Division who gave his life for his country on ...
A walk along Route 6 – St. Mary’s Episcopal Church St. Mary’s Episcopal Church. Established 1867. With memorial for the boys of Mohegan Lake School who perished in “…the World War”. This is presumably World War I. At the time everyone thought that this would be “The War to End All Wars”. Little did they know that only a little over 20 years ...
A walk along Route 6 – Ansonia lodge Ansonia Lodge. One of the few remaining vestiges of early 1900s Mohegan Lake architecture. The house is formerly Mrs. Billings Seminary, a boarding house used at the turn of the century. Taken with a Sony RX-100 M3.
A walk along Route 6 – A digger Abandoned digger. At least it doesn’t seem to have moved in quite some time. These things always remind me of some kind of prehistoric animal. Taken with a Sony RX-100 M3.
A walk along Route 6 – Overview A while ago I took the dog for a walk along Route 6 in Mohegan Lake. At this point Route 6 is mostly strip malls and car dealerships. You’d wouldn’t think there’d be much to photograph, but you might be surprised. Above – Mohegan Lake. I’ve been through this area many times but had never actually ...
Contradictory Signs The divergent messages of the two signs caught my attention: The large sign proclaiming that the store is “Now Open” and the smaller sign on the door, which says that the store is “Closed”. It’s not only temporarily closed e.g. for lunch or something. The interior is completely bare suggesting that the store ...
Another one gone Back in April 2018 I posted about an old farm store that I came across in Poughkeepsie, NY (See: Lewis Country Farms). I also noted an article that said that it would be turned into luxury condominiums. Somehow, mistakenly as it turned out, assumed that somehow the old structures would be re-purposed. ...
Another angel Seen in Patterson Rural Cemetery, Patterson, NY. Taken with a Pentax ZX-L, SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm f3.5-4.5 and Tri-X 400.
A Violin Seen at a local flea market. Taken with a Pentax ZX-L, SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm f3.5-4.5 and Tri-X 400.
Patterson Community Church Formerly the Patterson Presbyterian Church, the church, the buildings (Grange and Fellowship Hall), and the cemetery have an amazing history dating back to the 1700’s. Revolutionary war heros, Sybil Ludington and her father Colonel Ludington are buried in the cemetery behind the church. Taken in Patterson, Rural Cemetery with a Pentax ZX-L, SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm ...
A tiny angel I’m not entirely sure why I like this. Maybe it’s because it seemed so small and fragile that I was somewhat surprised to see that it had survived Taken in Patterson, Rural Cemetery with a Pentax ZX-L, SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm f3.5-4.5 and Tri-X 400.
Sybil Ludington Statue, Carmel, NY The statue, erected in 1961, is by Anna Hyatt Huntington. Sybil Ludington was 16 years old on the night of April 26, 1777, when she rode 40 miles — more than twice the distance ridden by Paul Revere — from Danbury, Connecticut, to Carmel, New York, warning everyone that the British were planning to attack Danbury. Her ...
A corner of Gilead cemetery I liked the dappled light, and the old gravestones and in the background the old, weathered building with vines growing over it. Some of the earliest settlers of the region were buried here, when it was attached to a since-demolished Baptist meeting house built in the mid-18th century. Among those buried here later include Enoch Crosby, ...
Stange shaped objects Another shot from the Elephant’s Trunk Flea Market in New Milford, Ct. I’m not really sure what these objects are: maybe old windows without their glass? I liked the shapes of the curving metal and wooden surrounds. Taken with a Pentax ZX-L, SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm f3.5-4.5 and Tri-X 400.
Musical instruments on a table I came across these at the same flea market as in the previous post: the Elephant’s Trunk Flea Market in New Milford, Ct. Taken with a Pentax ZX-L, SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm f3.5-4.5 and Tri-X 400.
Warming Up These players were performing at the large Elephant’s Trunk Flea Market in New Milford, Ct. Taken with a Pentax ZX-L, SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm f3.5-4.5 and Tri-X 400.
Cigar Store Indian This wooden figure stands outside Smalley’s Inn in Carmel, NY. According to Wikipedia: The cigar store Indian or wooden Indian is an advertisement figure, in the likeness of a Native American, used to represent tobacconists. The figures are often three-dimensional wooden sculptures several feet tall – up to life-sized. They are still occasionally used for their original ...
Hard at work on the computer Most Saturday’s after walking the dog I sit at at local cafe and have a coffee. I often see this young woman and she’s always working hard on her computer. Taken with a Panasonic Lumix GF-1 and Lumix G Vario 45-150mm f4.0-5.6.
A pair of heron statues Our friend has a house, the rear of which overlooks a wetland area. On it’s edge stand these two heron statues. I first took this picture some time ago and in its first incarnation the statues were just a silhouette. I recently re-worked the picture to show more detail. I think it’s ...
Summer’s here That’s her name. Taken with a Sony RX-100 M3.
Water Trails I was taking some pictures of the fountain in the Plaza at Lincoln Center in New York City when I noticed these water trails. The fountain itself is quite fascinating. It goes through cycles: starting with one that is quite innocuous where the level is quite low, and progressively getting higher and higher. ...
An Escalator We went into New York City to see a production of what turned out to be an extremely good production of “Kiss Me Kate”. I was waiting for my wife in Grand Central Terminal – leaning on a railing at the top of an escalator. As I looked down it occurred to me to take ...
Concentration Our friend recently invited us to a July 4th barbeque. This hammock was hanging between two trees in the garden and at one point his daughter was lying in the hammock and decided to get up. I haven’t done well with hammocks in the past. I can’t get into them. On ...
She doesn’t seem impressed. From time to time I look back on older pictures to see if there’s anything that has potential that I might have missed when I took it. So I was browsing around in Lightroom when I came across this picture. I’d looked at it a few times before, but I guess not closely ...
Glamour Girl 6 Another one in this series of old pictures. See also Glamour Girl, Glamour Girl 2,Glamour Girl 3, Glamour Girl 4, and Glamour Girl 5.
Film Camera 2019/4 – Canon Sureshot Owl – Results So how did it go with the camera. In a word – disastrous! When I got the scans back I could barely see anything. Looking at the histogram everything was clustered into a small area in the middle, indicating that there was virtually no contrast at all (I think). I’ve used quite a number of ...
Snowy Lake Getting towards the end of the roll and I’m eager to get it off to the lab for processing. As often is the case I finish it off with a picture or two from around the house, this one of our garden and the then frozen and snow covered lake. This was taken just ...
Mosaic? I’m not really sure what you’d call this. The best thing I can come up with is “Mosaic”. Whatever it is it lies in front of a church in Briarcliff Manor, NY. Taken with an Olympus XA2 and Kodak T-Max 100.
Madonna and Child This statue stands outside the church of the Parish of St. Theresa and Our Lady of the Wayside in Briarcliff Manor, NY. We’ve lived in Briarcliff Manor for 20 years and one of our grandchildren was baptized there and I’ve always referred to the church as ‘St. Theresas’. I never knew that this ...
Around the Neighborhood – Along Central Drive, Briarcliff Manor, NY Our town, Briarcliff Manor is a fairly prosperous community, but among its many locations, Central Avenue is one of the wealthiest. I was taking the dog for a walk and since Central Avenue is only a few minutes away from where we live I decided to pass by and take a few pictures. Taken with ...
At the boathouse We recently went for lunch to The Boathouse, a small but pleasant restaurant on the Hudson River waterfront in Ossining, NY. It has some terrific views. In summer it has outdoor seating areas, but when we went it was still cold (you can see from the pictures that there was still snow and ...
Film Camera 2019/2-Olympus XA2 – Results I was pleasantly surprised by the results I got from this camera. I didn’t have too many problems with scale focusing although a few frames did come out too soft for my liking. I also lost a couple of frames to the overly sensitive shutter release. Otherwise the camera was easy to use, eminently ...
New Croton Dam One of the many photographs I’ve taken of the New Croton Dam, this one from March, 2011. Taken with a Sony Alpha 500 and AF 50mm f1.7 lens.
Impression: An African Sculpture Playing around a bit here. This African wood sculpture stands in our dining room. It seemed to me that it was depicting dancers so I decided to try out a slow shutter speed to see if I could get some sense of movement. I find the result rather interesting. Taken with a Canon EOS ...
Film Camera 2019/2-Olympus XA2 Soon after I started collecting cameras in 2011 I bought an Olympus XA. I also read that the XA2 was a decent camera so I acquired on of those too. In a box, with flash included I recall that I paid less than $10 (this was of course before the vintage film cameras ...
Around the Neighborhood – Deer in our meadow We often get deer in the meadow in front of our house. I have my cameras elsewhere and so I’m usually woefully unprepared for when they put in an appearance. I end up using an iphone where the deer are little more than specks. Then I have to resort to extreme crops to ...
Shiva Shadow Silhouette This statuette usually stands on a window sill in our sun room. We’d had a period of bad weather and I hadn’t been able to get out. I was a bit bored and started taking pictures in the house. My intent was to take a picture of the statuette against a plain background so ...
Granddad I recently connected with some cousins back in the UK that I haven’t been in touch with for about 40 years. One of them has a daughter who is doing some genealogical research in the family. She shared with me the above picture of my paternal grandfather, George Dale (hence my middle name, George). ...
Glamour Girl 5 Another one in this series of old pictures. See also Glamour Girl, Glamour Girl 2,Glamour Girl 3 and Glamour Girl 4.
Around the Neighborhood – Another dead tree Another dead tree on a neighboring property. This one’s a pretty big one and large branches have been falling off it for some time. It’s wise to avoid driving under it. Taken with a Minolta Hi-Matic 9.
Around the Neighborhood – Seen in a shop window Seen in a shop window in Briarcliff Manor, NY. Taken with a Minolta Hi-Matic 9.
Construction at Former General Motors site in Tarrytown According to Lohud: The vast parcel of land on the Hudson River that formerly housed the General Motors assembly plant has been off-limits to general public for more than a century. But that will change in a couple of years, after developers on Wednesday formally launched construction of the $1 billion mixed-use development, to be known as ...
Around the Neighborhood – Pool in Winter Another shot at Law Park in Briarcliff Manor. The pool is covered for the Winter. Hopefully it won’t be too long before the temperatures start to rise. I’m looking forward to Spring, and eventually to Summer when the pool will open again. Taken with a Minolta Hi-Matic 9.
Around the Neighborhood – Playground Slide New playground slide in Law Park in Briarcliff Manor. It’s new because the old equipment was destroyed or seriously damaged in a storm last year. Taken with a Minolta Hi-Matic 9.
Around the Neighborhood – Old Wooden Building Another old building seen from the road looking into a neighbor’s propery. Taken with a Minolta Hi-Matic 9.
Around the Neighborhood – Studebaker Land Cruiser Seen outside a nearby garage. Taken with a Minolta Hi-Matic 9.
Around the Neighborhood – Dead Tree and Old Shed This dead tree and the old shed stand just across from our friends’ house. Their house, their neighbor’s house, and our house too all stand on the former Speyer property: Waldheim. Taken with a Minolta Hi-Matic 9.
Around the Neighborhood – Wheelbarrow and Balls This wheelbarrow stands outside of a restaurant in Briarcliff Manor NY. Taken with a Minolta Hi-Matic 9.
Bridgeview Tavern, Sleepy Hollow, NY I’ve been having a weekly lunch with a friend for the past few weeks. On this occasion we went to the Bridgeview Tavern. It’s a pleasant establishment serving pub style food. The overall ambience is welcoming and the staff were very friendly. One entire side of the restaurant has a fantastic ...
Film Camera 2019/1 – Minolta Hi-Matic 9 – Results So the verdict is: Keep the camera, change the photographer. When I first got the results back from the lab I was very disappointed. I didn’t think any of pictures were any good. They were all underexposed. After adjusting the exposure in Lightroom they looked a lot better, but why the underexposure in the ...
Glamour Girl 4 Another one in this series of old pictures. See also Glamour Girl, Glamour Girl 2 and Glamour Girl 3.
A walk around Mount Kisco – Assorted Buildings Henry V. Kensing Memorial Library Mount Kisco Recreation Department Police Headquarters Barber Shop Taken with an Olympus Stylus Epic/Mju II and Kodak Tri-X 400.
A walk around Mount Kisco – Self portrait with church I’d been taking some pictures of the St. Francis African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and turned around to see if there were any photographic opportunities looking over/through the fence separating the road from the railroad tracks. I noticed this mirror… I like the “fisheye” effect. Taken with an Olympus Stylus Epic/Mju II and Kodak Tri-X 400.
A walk around Mount Kisco – Old agricultural equipment A small stream runs through Mount Kisco and crosses under West Main Street near the Native American Statue. I’ve no idea whether it has a name, but I’m guessing it’s a tributary of the Kisco River. On either side of the stream is an area of green space and it’s there that I ...
A walk around Mount Kisco – Veterans Memorial The center panel is commemorates those who served in World War II. On each side of this are two panels devoted to World War I veterans. The leftmost panel honors those who served in the Korean war, and the rightmost those who served in Vietnam. Taken with an Olympus Stylus Epic/Mju II and Kodak ...
A walk around Mount Kisco – Railway Station According to Wikipedia: The New York and Harlem Railroad laid tracks through Mount Kisco during the 1840s, installing a station in the community as far back as February 1847. The station was originally named “New Castle,” for one of the two towns that Mount Kisco was originally part of, the other being the Town of Bedford. ...
A walk around Mount Kisco – Church with an interesting name This is St. Francis African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. According to Church Angel: The African Methodist Episcopal Church has rejected the negative theological interpretations which rendered persons of African descent second class citizens. This church was founded on the strong belief that God is God all the time and for every body. The church was born in ...
A walk around Mount Kisco – A passing stranger I was initially attracted to the way the sign cast a shadow on the white wall, but as I was taking the picture this woman walked by…. Taken with an Olympus Stylus Epic/MjuII and Kodak Tri-X 400.
A walk around Mount Kisco – Shop Window Dummy with some interesting ‘balls’. Seen in a shop window almost directly opposite St. Francis of Assisi. Taken with an Olympus Stylus Epic/Mju II and Kodak Tri-X 400.
A walk around Mount Kisco – St. Francis of Assisi I was unable to discover much about the history of this church other than this short section in “History of Mount Kisco” by E Clarence Hyatt, 1893. Father McGean of Sing Sing was the first Catholic priest to conduct services in Mount Kisco. This was in 1861. The nearest Roman Catholic church was at Croton Falls. ...
A walk around Mount Kisco – Fire Fighters 9/11 Memorial According to Picture this on Granite: For this monument, Picture This On Granite (Note: Laser engraving specialists) was proud to help pay tribute and honor the Fire Fighters who risked their lives to save people caught in the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks. Our Graphic designer worked with the committee’s concept to further customize it in ...
A walk around Mount Kisco – Not the post office The large frieze towards the top of the building reads “United States Post Office”. But don’t be misled. If you look just below the right window in the door you’ll see a small sign, which reads “This is not the post office”. Of course it once was, but now it’s occupied by Singleton, Davis ...
A walk around Mount Kisco – A lovely old victorian According to Captivating Houses: About This 1877 Theodore Carpenter House In New York. The Theodore Carpenter House stands today as one of the finest examples of a Second Empire Victorian. Built in 1877 for a prominent Mt. Kisco merchant, the house served as a principal location for the filming of the E.L Doctorow classic novel “Ragtime.” Wonderfully ...
A walk around Mount Kisco – St. Marks Episcopal Church According to the church’s website: Saint Mark’s has provided a history of continuous Anglican worship dating back to 1761. In that year a mission church then called Saint George’s, was established on a plot of ground across the street from the current Friendly’s Restaurant on East Main Street, just south of the Northern Westchester Hospital complex. ...
A walk around Mount Kisco – Native American Statue One of the first things I came across was this interesting looking statue. According to the Village’s website: There is a statue named “Chief Kisco” in Mount Kisco. There never was a real person with that name. David F. Gorham gave the statue to Mount Kisco in 1907 as a decorative top to a water fountain. On ...
A walk around Mount Kisco – Overview My wife was having lunch in Mount Kisco with some friends. I’d been there a number of times, but had never really walked around. I decided to go along and try out my newly acquired Olympus Stylus Epic/Mju II. Above a view down West Main Street. According to the village’s website: Mount Kisco is ...
Waterfall at Tarrytown Lakes Park We used to take the dog for walks here. It’s a short, paved, relatively flat and easy walk alongside the reservoir. My wife is particularly fond of this type of walk. I tend to prefer longer, more remote, more rugged walks in the woods. When I was working she used to ...
A wooden chair See in a nearby shopping mall. Taken with a Sony RX-100 M3.
Glamour girl 3 Another one in this series of old pictures. See also Glamour Girl and Glamour Girl 2.
Something Growing I have no idea what this stuff is. It’s growing on a piece of plywood outside our house. I liked the textures. Taken with a Sony RX-100 M3.
Film Camera 2018/3 – Olympus Infinity Stylus Epic (Mju II) DLX – Results As mentioned in the earlier post (Film Camera 2018/3 – Olympus Infinity Stylus Epic (Mju II) DLX) I recently acquired a pretty much mint Olympus Stylus Epic. It seemed to be working perfectly, but I’m aware that this entire line of cameras can suffer from a strange circular light leak. So the purpose of ...
Glamour Girl 2 Another early attempt at glamour photography. I like this one more than the first (See Glamour Girl). What’s she wearing under the fur? I’m not telling. Taken about 40 years ago with either a Canon AE-1 or a Minolta Hi-Matic 7sii.
Clock at Grand Central Terminal This shot of the iconic clock at Grand Central Terminal was one of the first ever from my Panasonic LX-3. According to Wikipedia: The 18-sided main information booth — originally the “information bureau” — is in the center of the concourse. Its attendants provide train schedules and other information to the public; in 2015, they fielded more ...
Plane Trees along Lake Geneva Taken the day after our younger daughter’s wedding January, 2010 in Hermance, a very picturesque village on Lake Geneva/Lac Léman. We had all been up late celebrating so didn’t get up too early. It had snowed the night before and a short, bracing walk along the lake seemed to be in order. Taken with an ...
Chrysler Building An early (taken a couple of days after I bought it) picture taken with the Panasonic Lumix LX-3. Among its many impressive features the camera was known for its dynamic black and white mode. According to Wikipedia: The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco–style skyscraper located on the East Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York ...
Sleeping Beauty Our younger daughter, who lives some distance away, asked us to look for some of her old albums, find some pictures of her friend, scan them and send them to her. This we dutifully did. On going through the albums we inevitably came across a number of pictures we’d forgotten, but which seemed worth scanning. ...
Glamour Girl Another picture scanned from our old photo albums – this one a very rare, early and not terribly successful attempt at glamour photography.
Kent and Fishkill Baptist Church Taken a few years ago with snow still on the ground with an Olympus Stylus Epic.
Harley In the morning our dog will jump on the bed and try to lick my face. If successful he’ll lick for a while and then pull back at bit – as if to examine his work and to decide whether or not he’d got everything. Then if necessary he’ll go back and lick ...
2018 Favorites – Black and White As we come to the end of another year it’s time for me to go through my annual ritual of picking a few (actually 10) of my favorite pictures from 2018, starting with black and white.
Behind the Filipino Store We went to our favorite Filipino store/restaurant in Poughkeepsie to get food and other supplies the other day. The dog needed to relieve himself so I took him for a short walk behind the building. This is what we found. Just goes to show that the Hudson Valley isn’t all picturesque landscapes. Taken with a ...
Weeping Willow This one is something of an oldie, dating back to my re-discovery of film photography in 2011. It was taken at Philipsburg Manor in Sleepy Hollow, NY with a Zorki 4 rangefinder. I don’t recall what lens was used but it would have been either an Industar 61 52mm f2.8 or a 50mm f2 Jupiter ...
A blast from the past We recently went to a party at a neighbors. She has a lovely house: big, situated on a large property adjoining a lake. The basement in particular caught my attention. It has wood paneling, plaid carpets and a bar and doesn’t seem to have changed much since the 1950s. Taken with a Sony RX100-M3.
Roots and Vines I love the textures of roots and vines. These were growing on trees near our house. Taken with a Sony RX-100 M3.
Sloop Clearwater Seen here at dock in Beacon, NY. According to the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater website: In 1966, folk music legend and environmental activist Pete Seeger, in despair over the pollution of his beloved Hudson River, announced plans to “build a boat to save the river.” Seeger, along with many other concerned individuals, believed that a majestic replica ...
Film Camera 2018/3 – Nikon N6006 – Results I rather like this camera. It’s a little on the heavy side, but I like its solid feel. Judging from the results the matrix metering is accurate and I like that it will also meter with manual lenses (but unfortunately not in matrix mode). If found the controls to be simple, intuitive ...
A walk around brewster – Southeast Museum According to the Museum’s website: Established in 1963, the Southeast Museum offers exhibits on the history of the Town of Southeast, including the early American Circus, the Harlem Line Railroad, the Tilly Foster Mine, the Borden Milk Condensery, and the Croton Reservoir System. In addition, the museum presents various changing exhibits, drawing on its extensive collection of ...
A walk around brewster – Brewster Station According to I Ride the Harlem Line: Historically Brewster was always an important part of the Harlem Valley. The New York and Putnam Railroad (later, the Putnam Division) met with the Harlem at Brewster (Putnam Junction). There was once a turntable and roundhouse where steam engines could be serviced, but was removed when that technology became ...
A walk around brewster – First National Bank of Brewster According to Wikipedia: The First National Bank of Brewster building, later Southeast Town Hall, is located on Main Street (US 6) next to the train station in Brewster, New York, United States. It is a brick Queen Anne-style building constructed in 1886 currently used as offices for the Town of Southeast, of which Brewster is part. The ...
A walk around brewster – Brewster Iron Works The Brewster Iron Works opened about 74 years ago and has been serving the needs of the village ever since. For more information see an interesting article/interview on Southeast Patch. Taken with a Nikon N6006 and Nikon 50mm f1.8
A walk around brewster – Wells Park – A strange sign Must be a particularly large refrigerator. Taken with a Nikon N6006 and Nikon 50mm f1.8
A walk around brewster – Wells Park – Water feature Apparently Wells Park was renovated in 2016. According to the Putnam Daily Voice: Wells Park features more than 11 acres of green space. The Village of Brewster has a 25 year lease. Improvements include a renovated pavilion and restrooms, barbecue grills, picnic tables, playgrounds, a multi-purpose field with a stage at one end and tiered seating ...
A walk around brewster – Hallowe’en’s coming Hallowe’en’s coming and all of the scarecrows, pumpkins, ghosts etc. are out in all their glory. Taken with a Nikon N6006 and Nikon 50mm f1.8
A walk around brewster – Rocking chairs on a porch I’m fond of rocking chairs on a porch. A plate reads “Baridon House”, but so far I’ve been unable to discover whether or not this has any historical significance. Taken with a Nikon N6006 and Nikon 50mm f1.8.
A walk around brewster – Brewster Public Library According to the library’s website: Edith Diehl started the Brewster Public Library in 1896 with a collection of 500 books at a storefront on Park Street. The present Federal style building donated by Andrew Ferris opened in 1931. The collection now contains over 25,000 items including books, newspapers, magazines, videos, DVDs, books on tape and CD, ...
A walk around brewster – Loading the car Or maybe he’s unloading the car. It’s certainly full to the brim. Taken with a Nikon N6006 and Nikon 50mm f1.8.
A walk around brewster – Brewster Presbyterian Church According to the church’s website: The first church in what is now Putnam County, New York was gathered by the Rev. Elisha Kent, who came from Newtown, Connecticut Colony. The earliest known meeting of the “Church of Christ on Philipse’s Patent” occurred on September 11, 1743. In 1793 the congregation constructed its third meeting house, now ...
A walk around brewster – Overview The Village of Brewster is quite close to where I live, but although I’ve been various locations on the outskirts I’ve never been to the center. According to Wikipedia: The village of Brewster derives its name from that of the landowner, Walter Brewster, who invited the New York and Harlem Railroad to build a depot on his ...
Yorktown sewerage works Another shot from from our walk along the North County Trailway. Maybe not the most scenic part, but I was fascinated by the geometric shapes of the machinery and the way it was constantly turning and spraying water. Taken with a Sony RX-100 M3.
Roots, rocks and flowers Taken while walking the dog along the North County Trailway. I liked the rougher textures of the gnarled roots, and the rocks and the contrast with the more subtle white flowers. Taken with a Sony RX-100 M3.
Around Mahopac – Red Mills Baptist Church. An Angel Of course you frequently see statues of angels in cemeteries, but they’re not usually so daring. The grave marker bears the name ‘Diachenko’. Taken with a Tamron AF Aspherical LD 28-200mm f3.8-5.6
Around Mahopac – Red Mills Baptist Church. Ida E. Barrett Memorial According to Find a Grave this is a memorial to Ida E. Barrett who died December 11, 1879 Age 22 years, 4 months, 22 days: History of Putnam County NY Page 478 Isaac Barrett married Tamar, daughter of Abram Cronk, February 14th 1852. They were the parents of one daughter, who died December 11, 1879, at the ...
Around Mahopac – Red Mills Baptist Church What an interesting shape! This church also has a nice old cemetery. A medallion on the tower indicates that it was established in 1832. Other than that I’ve so far been unable to find anything about its history. Taken with a Tamron AF Aspherical LD 28-200mm f3.8-5.6
A View from Above. Man on a Phone. Taken in February 2014 at the Ridge Hill Mall in Yonkers, NY. I take most of my pictures at eye level; sometimes at a low angle; sometimes looking up – but rarely looking down. Taken with a Sony RX-100 M1.
Manhattan Grotesque I don’t remember exactly where this was. It’s in the same batch as a number of pictures taken at the Museum of Modern Art in New York so I’m guessing that it was somewhere in the vicinity i.e in the 50’s just west of Fifth Avenue. I know it was taken with a ...
New Portfolio – Black and White I’ve added a new portfolio: Black and White. It turned out to be more difficult than I thought. It seems that I have a lot of black and white pictures. They fall into a few distinct categories: Digital pictures originally in color, but converted to black and white, often using Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. Rarely ...
House Cricket For as long as I can remember we’ve had, from time to time, crickets make an appearance in our house. I believe they live in the crawl space and make occasional forays into the lower level of the house. They don’t bother me and I’m hesitant to get rid of them. The thing is ...
Happy Birthday Henri Today marks the 110th Anniversary of one of the greatest of all photographers (and a personal favorite of mine): Henri Cartier-Bresson. It also gives me the opportunity to highlight a publication I picked up a couple of months ago at the International Center of Photography: Henri Cartier-Bresson. Interviews and Conversations 1951-1998. It contains 12 interviews ...
Dragonfly on a wrought iron fence I was sitting on our dock fulfilling my responsibility to take pictures of our visitors when I saw this dragonfly (if that’s what it is) alight on the wrought iron fence. Taken with a Sony A77II and Tamron A18 AF 18-250mm f3.5-6.3.
Harley barks Our dog, Harley barking at something/someone he’d seen on the lake. He does this a lot. Taken with a Minolta STsi and Minolta AF Zoom 28-80 f3.5-5.6.
On the dock The white trellis once functioned as a gate, which opened onto some steps leading down and into the lake. Unfortunately last Winter a/some deer smashed the gate as they came up from/went down to the frozen lake. Something else that needs to be repaired or replaced! It seems like there’s always something. Taken with ...
Lakeview View of the lake from our garden (really getting desperate to finish the roll now). Taken with a Minolta STsi and Minolta AF Zoom 28-80 f3.5-5.6
Black and White Still Life I wanted to get the roll off to be developed and I thought I only had a frame or two left. It turned out that rather than being a 24 exposure roll I had inserted a 36 exposure roll. So I had to fill the remaining frames with some shots around our house. Above some ...
Old Barn, Rhinebeck, NY You’ve got to love old barns. At least I do. All that weathered wood with its wonderful textures. This one is right by the entrance to the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome. Taken with a Minolta STsi and Minolta AF Zoom 28-80 f3.5-5.6
Belvedere Mansion Our friends used to live right next to this mansion. They’ve told us that when they were there it was quite a ‘happening’ place, a popular spot for weddings and other events. It was even listed among one of the top five best wedding ceremony locations in the Hudson Valley (See Five of ...
Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Peter the Apostle, Rhinebeck As I was leaving Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome I noticed this lovely old stone church directly across the road. A plaque on the side of the building reads: The Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Peter the Apostle known for more than a century as The Stone Church. Within its walls stood the first church built in 1730 ...
Film Camera 2018/2 – Minolta STsi – Results The pictures were taken at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome. Above two of the three hangers, which, in addition to the main display area, contain the collection of vintage aircraft. The bulk of the collection shares a building with the gift shop. These are two of three other hangers. The first contains aircraft from the ...
Little Moreton Hall, the Dale Family and Francis Frith I’d always known that there was a connection between Little Moreton Hall and my family. For example I knew that my Grandfather had lived there as a tenant and that my father’s half brother had managed the property after it was handed over to the National Trust. I hadn’t realized the extent of the connection, ...
Industrial Scene 4 Taken in and around a commercial/industrial complex in Yorktown Heights, NY with a Sony RX-100 M3.
Industrial Scene 3 Taken in and around a commercial/industrial complex in Yorktown Heights, NY with a Sony RX-100 M3.
Industrial Scene 2 Taken in and around a commercial/industrial complex in Yorktown Heights, NY with a Sony RX-100 M3.
Industrial Scene 1 Taken in and around a commercial/industrial complex in Yorktown Heights, NY with a Sony RX-100 M3.
Cherub This small stone (or possibly concrete) cherub sits at the base of a large tree in our garden. We have a larger one down on the dock. Taken with a Pentax ME Super and SMC Pentax-M 50mm f1.7.
Terracotta head I really wanted to get this roll off to be processed. I only had a couple of frames left so as is often the case I decided to finish it off by taking a few pictures in our garden. Taken with a Pentax ME Super and SMC Pentax-M 50mm f1.7.
Salt and Pepper Shakers We were sitting outside “The Patio” in Briarcliff Manor waiting for our lunch arrive when I spotted these salt and pepper shakers on the glass topped table. So far I hadn’t tried anything close up with the ME Super so I decided to “give it a go”. Taken with a Pentax ME Super and SMC ...
Yorktown Heights, NY – The Yorktown Stage According to the Yorktown Stage website: Delighting audiences for 19 Seasons and funded solely by its own programs, Yorktown Stage mounts productions, featuring a wide variety of 1st rate, live, professional theatre, including hit Broadway musicals, revivals of the classics and Children’s Musicals. And now, Yorktown Stage Kids presents yearly productions featuring the future stars of theatre ...
Yorktown Heights, NY – An old railway station According to the Town of Yorktown website: The Putnam Railroad began business as the New York and Boston Railroad on May 21, 1869. Its goal was to link Westchester and Putnam counties with railroad lines serving upstate New York and New England into Canada. In the 1880s the railroad station was the center of town, surrounded ...
Yorktown Heights, NY – Reliable Oil Company Interesting industrial building on Veterans Road in Yorktown Heights, NY. Taken with a Pentax ME Super and SMC Pentax-M 50mm f1.7
Yorktown Heights, NY – A couple of artillery pieces I took most of the pictures with the Pentax ME Super while walking around Yorktown Heights, NY as I waited for my wife to finish with her dental appointment. Shortly after I left the car I came across, in quick succession an American Legion Post and a Veterans of Foreign Wars post. Outside each of ...
Film Camera 2018/1 – Pentax ME Super – Results Bicycle Shop, Yorktown NY. This post considers the results from using the Pentax ME Super mentioned in an earlier post (See:Film Camera 2018/1 – Pentax ME Super). My first reaction on getting the scans back from processing was one of surprise. I thought I had put in a roll of Tri-X and so it was a ...
Terrapin Restaurant, Rhinebeck, NY This restaurant in located right in the center of Rhinebeck, NY. It’s looks like a church, because once upon a time that’s what it was. According to the restaurant’s website: Our restaurant is housed in a historic, renovated church building, formerly the First Baptist church of Rhinebeck, constructed circa 1825. The building’s soaring cathedral ...
Headless Statue revisited Back in September, 2016 I posted a picture of this headless statue seen in a neighbors garden (See: Headless Statue). It seems that they’ve now found the head – or at least A head. I’m not entirely convinced that it’s the original. Taken with a Sony A77M2 with Tamron A18 AF 18-250mm F3.5-6.3.
In our garden – Hard at Work My wife hard at work in the garden. She does pretty much all of the gardening – my role being largely restricted to carrying anything heavy, pulling out particularly recalcitrant weeds, digging holes etc. Taken with a Sony Alpha 500 with Tamron A18 AF 18-250mm f3.5-6.3.
At the flea market A couple of weeks back we went to the Stormville Airport Antique Show and Flea Market. Although there were a lot of vendors I didn’t find much of interest: a few old cameras, but nothing special as well as being in bad shape and overpriced. My wife managed to find a few pieces ...
Harley on the prowl Our dog, Harley in our garden. Daffodils and lake in the background. Taken with a Sony Alpha 500 with Tamron A18 AF 18-250mm f3.5-6.3
Beware of the Dog He (she?) wasn’t very big, but he was very lively, very loud and rather aggressive. I took this picture because of the uncanny resemblance he bore to out late lamented dog Jackson, who was also small and at times quite aggressive too. Taken with a Sony RX-100 M3.
An Excursion to the Dutchess County Fair – A Portrait I thought at first that this figure was a mannequin i.e. part of the antique machinery display – that is until he spoke making it clear that he is a person, according to his nameplate one “Larry T”. I guess my eyesight must be worse than I thought. Taken with a Sony RX-100 M3.
An Excursion to the Dutchess County Fair – Antique Farm Machinery I love old machinery and the Dutchess County Fair had quite a lot, most I believe courtesy of Boice Antique Machines, featured in an article in the Daily Freeman News – At Dutchess County Fair, a new look at old machines: There’s a symphony of combustion engines in the Antique Engine and Machinery Show at the ...
An Excursion to the Dutchess County Fair – Airstream And then there was this gorgeous bright, shining, silvery Airstream. What in the UK we would call a caravan, but which I imagine here in the US is called a trailer. Unfortunately I neglected to check precisely what model of Airstream this is and the picture doesn’t show enough of it to hazard ...
’76 House – Exterior views Yesterday was my birthday and we went to the ’76 House in Tappan, NY. It’s a great place, all dark wood, thick beams, muskets on the wall etc. It reminded me a lot of many of the pubs I used to frequent back in the UK. The menu was certainly different featuring items such ...
Horse head statue As I wander around I often seen gateposts with statues on them. They’re usually either lions or eagles. I can’t ever recall seeing horse heads. As is usually they case (but not always as we have a case where three eagles are used near us) there were two of them, one on ...
Memento Mori As I was leaving what remains of Lewis Country Farms I spotted a shape on the ground. At first I thought it was the grill of some kind of vehicle, but as I got closer I realized what it was: a deer carcass. Taken with a Sony RX-100 M3.
Old Brick Building This is the third of three structures along Overlook Road/De Garmo Road in Poughkeepsie (See also An old mill? and Lewis Country Farms). In the first post I mentioned that there was a ‘Dutchess County Historic Site’ marker on the road outside. Of the three structures I’m guessing that the historic marker referred ...
Lewis Country Farms This is the second cluster of buildings mentioned in the preceding post (An old mill?) and very impressive it is too! It was also much easier to identify largely because its name is above the former entrance and there’s also a sign out by the road. It’s Lewis Country Farms. Age and Abandon describes ...
An old mill? We frequent a Filipino store/restaurant (Pinoy Asian Foods Chibugan) in Pougheepsie for supplies and the occasional lunch. Nearby there are some old buildings. We’ve passed them many times, but I’ve never stopped by for a closer look. This time while my wife did her shopping and had lunch I took the dog ...
Statue in our garden Around the time I took this the weather was bad and I wasn’t getting out much. So thinking of Josef Sudek I took a few pictures in the garden. Actually it’s not really a statue. It’s a fountain, but the water part of it has not worked for some time. I think it’s ...
A trip to Muscoot Farm – Blacksmith’s Shop Interesting implements and textures. Taken with a Sony Nex 5N and 16mm f2.8 (possibly with the wide angle attachment. I don’t remember and the camera doesn’t record the presence of the attachment).
A day in New York City – The Kneeling Fireman We’d just eaten a meal at Grand Central Terminal in New York City. My wife was going to do some shopping so I decided to go to a nearby Barnes and Noble to see what I could find. I was walking along 43rd Street when I came across this statue. I hadn’t seen it ...
A foggy day. Chilmark – Overview A bit over a week ago I woke up to thick fog. I don’t usually go out to take pictures in bad weather, but this time the fog looked rather interesting so I decided to see what I could get. Almost directly opposite our house is what remains of the V. Everit Macy property. When ...
Empire State Building Taken in the days when I was still working (October 2010). As I recall I was in an external meeting and we had broken for coffee. I was standing looking out of the window at this view and decided to take a picture. I liked the diagonal lines leading towards the Empire State Building ...
Shadows on Snow Shadows of overhead lighting falling on snow at a nearby restaurant. Taken with a Sony RX100 M3.
April Fools Day came a day late We woke up to about four inches of snow now this morning. Usually when it snows we just step out onto the patio and take a picture. What this means is that we keep taking pretty much the same picture over and over again. This time, however, I decided to go down ...
North Beach Yesterday I took the dog for a walk to North Beach, one of the five beaches around our lake. Taken with a Sony RX100 M3.
Nor’Easter 4: I’m so glad its Spring Yesterday was the first full day of Spring 2018 and it brought with it yet another Non’Easter – the fourth in three weeks. Despite predictions that we would get upwards of a foot and a half of snow the reality turned out to be somewhat different. I went out to measure the snow ...
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (Fishbed) According to Military Today: The most widely produced supersonic jet fighter of all time, the MiG-21 (Western designation: Fishbed) is an incredibly prolific aircraft. Dated but nimble, it has allowed skilled pilots in past decades to defeat more advanced aircraft. However, its days appear to be numbered as the majority of air forces switch to newer ...
Bara Gumbad I took this picture in New Delhi in 2006. The building where I was working is located in Lodhi Gardens and I went out for lunch with a colleague. We walked for about 5-10 minutes in the garden on our way to a restaurant and along the way passed this building. I had ...
A Figurine Judging from the plate on the base it’s by Giuseppe Armani (I don’t think he’s related to the more famous Giorgio Armani). According to the La Galerie site: From the moment young Giuseppe could pick up a pencil, he drew. He drew everything he saw. He drew everyone he knew. He drew all day long. ...
Las Vegas – Violinist A member of the string quartet, which performed at both the wedding ceremony and the reception. Maybe not the sharpest picture I’ve ever taken, but I still like it. Taken with a Sony RX-100 M3.
Sleepy Hollow Lighthouse According to the Visit Sleepy Hollow site: Sleepy Hollow Lighthouse (aka Tarrytown Lighthouse and Kingsland Point Lighthouse), 299 Palmer Avenue, Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591. 914-366-5109. This light was once a half-mile off shore, warning ships away from dangerous shoals on the east side of the Hudson River. Years of landfill by a now-demolished General Motors factory ...
Nor’Easter 2: Another Coastal Storm In the preceding post (see Deer in the Meadow) I mentioned a strong coastal storm that impacted our areas a week or so ago. Unfortunately, it was followed by another strong coastal storm (or ‘Nor’Easter’ as they are often referred to around here) only five days later. Strangely we didn’t have much (I’d estimate 6-7 inches) ...
Benches Seen while walking the dog in Law Park, Briarcliff Manor, NY. Taken with a Sony RX-100 M3.
Lady Liberty Taken during a July 4th cruise in 2007. Looking at it now I’m intrigued by the name of the boat: MI JO II. It reminds me a bit of one of my favorite compact cameras: The Olympus mju-ii/stylus epic, which wasn’t used to take this picture. Rather it was taken with a ...
Server – Whitby Castle I don’t take a lot of pictures of furniture, but this one caught my attention for some reason. It was taken inside Whitby Castle, originally the home of William P. Chapman and named after Whitby Abbey in England because it is said that some of the original stones from the Abbey are now encased in the ...
Under the bridge I took this picture in Norwalk, CT in March, 2015. I liked the diagonal lines and, even though it’s hard to see, the expression on the man’s face. Taken with a Kiev 4am and Helios 103 53mm f1.8.
Remains of a car in the woods If you head from the parking lot at Woodlands Legacy Field Park in Yorktown Heights in the direction of Granite Knolls you eventually pass across a bridge over the Taconic parkway. Continuing along the trail you soon come to these remains. The steering wheel is on the right side of the trail and ...
Urn and Column Taken during a visit to Staatsburgh State Historic Site in September, 2016. Although I didn’t do it consciously, looking at these pictures now I realize that I was, once again, trying to emulate the beautiful pictures of my photographic hero: Eugène Atget. Somehow, however, I can’t get it. His photographs are for the most ...
Server – Hudson House, Cold Spring, NY Taken in June 2002 (was it really almost 16 years ago!) during a pleasant lunch by the Hudson river at the Hudson House in Cold Spring with my friend Andres. If I’m not mistaken she’s taking away the remains of my Crème Brûlée. Taken with a Canon Powershot S10.
Memento Mori: Deer by the roadside One day while I was walking the dog around the Jefferson Valley Mall I came across this unfortunate deer by the side of the road. At first I was just going to take a picture of the carcass, but then vaguely defined thoughts to do with the way that technology was destroying our environment ...
Lamps – Ossining Station I liked the repeating patterns: the lamps and their brackets; the bricks; the beams. Also the straight lines and the curves. Taken with a Yashica FX2 and Yashica DSB 50mm f1.9.
Déjeuner sur l’herbe Actually this would be more accurately described as “dîner” rather than “déjeuner” as it was taken during an evening picnic on the grounds of Boscobel while waiting for a play to start. Constitution Marsh and the Hudson River can be seen in background – one of the most spectacular Hudson Valley views I’ve come ...
Aerial camera A Facebook friend posted the above picture along with the comment: ‘That “serious” feeling when you put down your smartphone and pick up a real camera…’ Although he’s a camera aficianado he didn’t mention what camera it was. After searching around on the internet for a while I found a number of instances ...
St. Philip’s Church in the Highlands Of all the churches in our area I think this one is my favorite, possibly because it reminds me of St. Mary’s Church in Sandbach, Cheshire, UK where I grew up. It’s located in Garrison, NY and I’ve posted about it before (see: St. Philip’s Church in the Highlands, Garrison). However, this is ...
New York Street Scene Taken with an Olympus XA.
In remembrance My niece laying flowers on her great-grandfather’s grave. Taken with a Sony RX-100 M1.
A couple of portraits A couple of pictures of my wife taken in 2009. I suppose the first one is technically better. In the second I’ve missed the focus. It should have been on the eyes, but instead it’s on the nose. Still in many ways I prefer it. To me it captures more ...
New England Air Museum – Overview I’ve always been fascinated by old aircraft so when my friend, Ken suggested a trip to the New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks, Connecticut I enthusiastically agreed. According to its website the Museum is: …committed to presenting the story of aviation, the human genius that made it possible and the profound effects that it has had ...
2017 Favorites – Black and White As we come to the end of another year it’s time for me to go through my annual ritual of picking a few (actually 10) of my favorite pictures from 2017, starting with black and white. Above – Tides by Emil Alzamora. Taken at Peekskill River Park. A runs through it – the Croton Gorge that ...
Harley, a portrait Although Winter has not yet officially started, it certainly feels as if it has. It’s been cold and a bit snowy of late (not too bad yet though) and I haven’t been venturing very far afield. Consequently, I’ve been reduced once again to taking pictures in, and around the house. This one ...
Doorways I like the way the two doorways, the standing man, and the figures in background make a diagonal that leads your eye through the picture. Also the way the two doorways frame the standing man. I also like the textures of the door step, stepping stones and gravel. Taken at the Hammond Museum and ...
Fencepost Shadows I like the graphic nature of this picture. Taken with a Sony RX100 M3
A Walk to Doodletown – There’s still life in Doodletown One of the current inhabitants. Taken with a Sony RX100 M3.
A Walk to Doodletown – Reservoir As seen from around the second June cemetery. Apparently the reservoir was built around 1970. Taken with a Sony RX100 M3.
A Walk to Doodletown – June Cemetery Ironically the only thing that’s “alive” about Doodletown is its cemeteries. I say that they are “alive”, because former Doodletown inhabitants can still be interred here, should they so choose. I believe that there are two cemeteries (as well as the site of the first June cemetery), one of which is still active, but ...
A Walk to Doodletown – Doodletown Overview I’ve always found Doodletown to be a fascinating place. Even the name is, to me, charming. According to a site devoted to Doodletown (unfortunately I originally gave the wrong url, and now almost 6 years later I can no longer remember what it was): Doodletown has been lived in continuously since at least 4-10-1762, and possibly ...
A Walk to Doodletown – The 1776 Trail While digging in the garden one day I managed to do something to my right calf muscle that made it painful for me to walk. I was still able to take out the dog on the flat roads around the lake, but I didn’t want to risk taking him into nearby Fahnestock State Park ...
Helmsley Mausoleum, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery According to Waymarking.com: Harry and Leona Helmsley were two of America’s and wealthiest (sic) property owner. They made billions in real estate, owning many of the country’s most prestigious properties including the Empire State Building. Their lavish lifestyle and questionable business practices drew the attention of federal investigators which lead to charges of tax evasion. Harry ...
Croton Landing While my wife was occupied with an appointment in Croton-on-Hudson I decided to go down to the river and take the dog for a walk at Croton Landing. I like the way the gap in the breakwater mirrors the the gap between Croton Point (on the left) and Hook Mountain (I think – on the right). Taken ...
Farm Scene Taken at a nearby farm with a Sony NEX 5N and 18-55mm kit lens.
Catgirl Taken in Geneva, Switzerland in May 2017 with a Sony RX100 M3.
Urns I came across these three urns in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Tarrytown, NY. Taken with an Olympus OM2-n MD and 50mm f1.8 F-Zuiko auto-s. Film was Kodak TX-100.
Behind Walmart While my wife was shopping I took the dog for a walk around the Cortlandt Town Center and came across these trucks behind Walmart. I’m not entirely sure what I found appealing in this shot. Maybe it’s geometric shapes? Or maybe the way the trucks recede into the background? Whatever it is ...
A Walk Around Pleasantville – Daniel P. Hays Hose Company The ‘Daniel P. Hays’ in the title is descended from an eminent Pleasantville family. His forefathers came from Holland and one of them fought in the Revolutionary War. According to an article (dated April 22, 1990) by James Feron in the New York Times entitled A Family’s History in Letters, Ledgers and Deeds: While David ...
A Walk Around Pleasantville – House on Bedford Road One of a number of large and attractive houses along Bedford Road. Taken with a Sony RX100 M3.
A Walk Around Pleasantville – World War I memorial The inscription reads: 1917-1918. Erected by the citizens of Pleasantville. In memory of those who made the supreme sacrifice in the World War. John Angelicchio; Nathan Goldstein; Fancher Nicoll; William J. O’Reilly; Frank J. Rose; Edward W. Teller. And in commemoration of those who served. Taken with a Sony RX100 M3.
A Walk Around Pleasantville – Community Synagogue The synagogue’s website features a section on it’s history entitled Pleasantville Community Synagogue: A Sacred History. As recalled by Malcolm Netburn, Founding President: The roots of the Pleasantville Community Synagogue, as the name suggests, are firmly planted in community, in connection. It was founded in 1997 when a band of eclectic families scraped up enough money ...
A Walk Around Pleasantville – St. John’s Episcopal Church According to the History Section of the church’s website: St. John’s Church has been a part of the Pleasantville community since 1853 when it was established as a mission church of Grace Church in White Plains. The Reverend Robert W. Harris, Rector of Grace Church, was the Priest-in-Charge. Services were held in a schoolhouse in ...
A Walk Around Pleasantville – Presbyterian Church An interesting looking building. A single paragraph (on the ‘Who Are We?’ page of the church’s website) describes it’s history as follows: Pleasantville Presbyterian Church was organized by thirteen men and women on January 18, 1880. Services were held for a time in Sunset Hall, over John Thorn’s livery stable on Wheeler Avenue. The Cornerstone ...
A Walk Around Pleasantville – Holy Innocents Catholic Church According to a History section on the church’s website: In 1875, with the Catholic population growing in Pleasantville, Samuel Shapter, a New York distiller, donated the property at the corner of Bedford Road and Tompkins Avenue to be used for a church. His only stipulation: it had to be named “Church of the Holy Innocents.” One ...
A Walk Around Pleasantville – Jacob Burns Film Center Above – The original building. According to a History section on the center’s website: Back in 1998, Pleasantville resident Steve Apkon had a vision of a cultural arts and education center inspired by the power of film. Steve and Lisa Apkon purchased the village’s old Rome Theater and, along with Sabrina Coughlin, brought together a group of ...
A Walk Around Pleasantville – Farmers Market Pleasantville is the home of the PleasantVille Farmer’s Market. According to the About Us>Our Story section of the Farmer’s Market website: IT STARTED WITH A MISSION In 1998, the Village of Pleasantville commissioned a small, 4-stand farmers market in a tiny lot right in the middle of town, with a few simple goals: Encourage a healthy community ...
A Walk Around Pleasantville – Jean Jacques In an earlier post (See: A Walk Through Pleasantville – Overview) I mentioned that I’d been to Pleasantville many times. This is the reason why. It’s a wonderful Café/Pâtisserie very much in the French style. While the café food is great, to me it’s the Pâtisserie that the real star. According to the ...
A Walk Around Pleasantville – Overview I’ve been to Pleasantville many times, but apart from one short walk around the station (See: Chairs at Pleasantville Station) I’ve never taken the time to walk through it and see what I could find. My wife was at her dance class and I was thinking about somewhere different to go for a change ...
Leaping Goat Taken at Niese’s Maple Farm in our town, Putnam Valley. A 2016 review on Yelp reads: Niese’s Maple Farm is a gem in Putnam Valley. Making maple syrup from their tapped trees for generations, the Niece family is among the kindest and coolest people around. They have a huge respect for the environment ...
Muscoot Farm – Gate and Mansion According to Wikipedia: The land on which Muscoot Farm is situated was part of the 86,000 acres (350 km2) Van Cortlandt Manor chartered in 1697. After the death of Stephanus Van Cortlandt (Note: the first native born mayor of New York, or New Amsterdam as it was then known) in 1700 and his wife Gertrude in ...
Olympus OM2-n MD – Results It took me a while to get around to using my August film camera. I had a bunch of old, color film that I wanted to use up so when trying out new/old cameras I’ve tended to use this first, and then convert the scanned images to black and white. I’ve now used up ...
Street, Kathmandu, Nepal 1999 This was taken so long ago that I no longer remember anything about the circumstances under which it was taken. I suspect the camera was a Canon AE-1 and I don’t recall what lens was used.
Shells A collection of sea shells in a bowl in our living room. I’m not sure where they came from – most likely from the Philippines I imagine. Taken with a Sony Alpha A77II with Tamron A18 AF 18-250mm f3.5-6.3.
An Oasis in downtown White Plains, NY My wife was shopping in White Plains, NY and while waiting I took the dog for a short walk. I was surprised to across this small oasis in the middle of downtown White Plains, NY. It’s a complex of buildings related to the St. John the Evangelist Church. According to The Eastern State Journal. ...
A friend visits Not too long ago a friend of ours came to visit. We had a very pleasant lunch outside on the patio overlooking the lake. I don’t recall why we came indoors (maybe it was getting cold? Maybe it was starting to rain?), but indoors we certainly came, and had our dessert in the ...
Orchid Shadows As is my habit, I was sitting in our living room, looking out over the lake and sipping my coffee when I saw these shadows. The sun was moving behind the house, shining through one of our side windows and casting these shadows of some of my wife’s orchids. Taken with a Sony A77 II ...
Stillwater Pond – Wood piles It’s possible to walk to this pond from where I live, but I usually approach it from the other side, near the Fahnestock Park Offices on Route 301 (near Pelton Pond). According to the Historic Putnam Valley Website: About 1935 – A CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) camp was established in what is now Fahenstock Park; the men ...
Volcano on the sand I thought at first that these small volcano-like mounds were made by some kind of animal, maybe a worm. However, I’m beginning to think otherwise. I came across this article on Exploring the Sand on the Coastal Care site. It describes something very similar to what I found (there are even photographs and illustrations, ...
Rocks in a car park We’d been for a walk at the fairly recently opened (2016) Hollowbrook Trail, which turned out to be shorter than I’d anticipated. So we had to find somewhere else to meet our daily walk requirements. I chose to go to our town park: Leonard Wagner Memorial Park. It’s a fairly short walk in the woods ...
Stanley Kubrick, Photographer I’ve always been a fan of Stanley Kubrick’s films, particularly “Doctor Strangelove“. While I was aware that he was a still photographer before he turned to making movies, I had seen very few examples of his work. This article from Bored Panda presents about 70 of them. While for the most part they’re not ...
A walk around Teatown – Fishing at Vernay Lake As mentioned in the previous post (See: A walk around Teatown – Shadow Lake) you pass Vernay lake at the beginning of the Twin Lakes Loop trail and then return to it at the end. As I passed it on the way out I noticed these two people, presumably a father and daughter, fishing. ...
Geneva – Old Town, Statue in La Treille Even though it was some distance I’d decided to walk home and leaving the Old Town I passed through “La Treille” (the Arbor), a pleasant, leafy tree covered “promenade” (i.e. walking area) overlooking the Parc des Bastions. Walking through I came across this statue of Charles Pictet de Rochemont. Britannia.com describes him as follows: Charles Pictet ...
Geneva – Old Town, St. Pierre Cathedral According to Wikipedia: The St. Pierre Cathedral is a cathedral in Geneva, Switzerland, today belonging to the Reformed Protestant Church of Geneva. It is known as the adopted home church of John Calvin, one of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation. Inside the church is a wooden chair used by Calvin. It was begun under Arducius de ...
Geneva – Old Town, Jeremie Statue This statue of the Old Testament prophet, Jeremiah stands directly across from the St. Pierre Cathedral. It’s the creation of Auguste de Niederhäusern, better known as Rodo. According to Wikipedia: Auguste de Niederhäusern, better known as Rodo (2 April 1863 – 21 May 1913) was a sculptor and medalist active in Switzerland and France. Rodo ...
Geneva – Old Town, Fountain on Rue Jean Calvin I don’t know who built it, why it was built, or even when. I just know that from the first time I saw it (probably around 1990) I’ve always loved this fountain tucked away in a corner where Rue Jean Calvin intersects with Rue du Puits-Saint-Pierre.
Geneva – Old Town, Fondue at the Restaurant de l’Hotel de Ville I love cheese fondue! My preference is for the fondue at the Café du Soleil in Petit-Saconnex, near where I used to work (it was also a favorite after work watering hole for myself and my colleagues). Unfortunately, time was getting short during our visit and our daughter and her family were incredibly ...
Geneva – Old Town, Hotel-de-Ville Although I’ve passed by the entrance to the Hotel de Ville many times I’ve never been inside. As I went by this time I noticed the the entrance was open and went in for a look. I liked the cloister like vaulted archways. For more information see: Hotel de Ville (sorry too much to ...
Geneva – Old Town, Along the Rue de l’Hotel-de-Ville The Rue de l’Hotel-de-Ville leads you up into another part of the old town, where you find the Hotel-de-Ville (Town Hall), Les Armures (the old armory), and the St. Pierre Cathedral. Above the view from outside the Hotel-de-Ville looking back in the direction of the Place du Bourg de Four. Ornate door knocker. Another even more ...
Geneva – Old Town, Clementine Statue I first photographed this mesmerizing statue sometime in the mid 1990s with a film camera. I’ve even posted about it before (see Statue in the Old Town). The main difference between these two pictures and the earlier one is that in the latter the girl is holding a flower in her hand. Apparently ...
Geneva – Old Town, Place du Bourg-de-Four One of my favorite places in Geneva. I’ve spent many pleasant hours sitting here, including during this recent visit were I met up with an old friend for a few beers at “La Clemence” mentioned below. According to the Just Landed site: One thing has not changed a bit in the Place du Bourg-de-Four since Roman ...
Geneva – Old Town, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Geneva This building stands at the intersection of Rue de la Fontaine and Rue Verdaine. When I took the picture I didn’t know what it was. I just liked the way it looked: the old building with its two trees, ornate wrought iron gate and fence. When I got back home and examined ...
Geneva – Old Town, Place de la Madeleine If you head from the Place de Longemalle away from the lake, you cross the tram lines and find yourself in the Place de la Madeleine, the northern gateway into the old town. There’s an old church (the Temple de la Madeleine, one of the oldest in Geneva with some impressive modern stained glass) ...
Geneva – Place de Longemalle, Two statues As I walked around the Place de Longemalle I noticed a couple of statues that hadn’t been there the last time I’d visited. They stand outside the Opera Gallery and a sign indicates that they are the work of Andy Denzler. According to Wikipedia: Andy Denzler trained at the Kunstgewerbeschule and the F&F Schule ...
Geneva – Place de Longemalle, Hotel de Longemalle and Fountain I’ve always loved the Place de Longemalle. It’s conveniently situated between the lake and the old town, and just a few streets away from the much busier Place du Molard. It’s a nice place to just sit, have a coffee and watch the world go by. If you get tired of it ...
Four Women on Hallowe’en From time to time I look back on old photographs. Sometimes I see possibilities in them that I didn’t see before. Over time Lightroom has become more sophisticated and my Lightroom skills have improved. So occasionally I end up with a photograph, which I didn’t think much of at the time but ...
Lake Peekskill – Jetty and Floating Dock Another picture of North Beach, Lake Peekskill. Taken with a Sony RX100 M3.
In the wilds of darkest Patterson, NY Some family members have recently been on safari in Africa and we’ve been receiving lots of lovely pictures from them. Although I’ve been on safari myself a couple of times it doesn’t look as if I’ll repeat the experience any time soon. So when I saw this group of elephants on a mantle ...
Geneva – Parc des Bastions, Henri Dunant Monument Above: Protective Angel. According to the web site of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) (which he founded): The Red Cross came into being at the initiative of a man named Henry Dunant, who helped wounded soldiers at the battle of Solferino in 1859 and then lobbied political leaders to take more action to protect ...
Geneva – Parc des Bastions, Reformation Wall, Eight Bas Reliefs The remainder of the wall is taken up with numerous inscriptions and bas-reliefs, including the eight below (mostly translated from the original French). Above: Frederick William Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia creator of the Brandenburg Tolerance Edict giving equal rights to Lutherans and Calvinists and the Potsdam Edict giving safety of passage to Brandenburg-Prussia ...
Geneva – Parc des Bastions, Reformation Wall, Six Lesser Giants of the Reformation These statues presumably represent six lesser luminaries of the Reformation – their statues are a mere 3 meters tall as opposed to the 5m of the main group. They’re arranged into two groups, one to the left of the main group and one to the right. Each group consists of three statues. Left Group Frederick ...
Geneva – Parc des Bastions, Reformation Wall, Four Giants of the Reformation The main feature of the Parc des Bastions is, of course, the famous Reformation Wall (full name: International Monument to the Reformation). It’s sheer size makes it difficult to cover it in a single photograph. A few numbers: the wall is 100 meters long; the statues in the main group are 5 meters ...
Geneva – Parc des Bastions, Eagle Statue This eagle is one of two such statues standing on columns on either side of the Place Neuve entrance to the Parc des Bastions. According to the Geneva.info site: Bastions Parc is famous for the Reformation Wall proudly standing here, big chess boards at the entrance, great restaurant and big playground for a kids. Opposite the reformation ...
Geneva – Mont Salève, The view from the other side So far the views from the Salève, have always been looking looking vaguely West i.e. across Geneva and surrounding France. This one is taken looking East towards the French Alps. Since I lived in this area for eight years, I’ve been to the Alps many times and had hoped to go again this ...
Runner, Woodlands Legacy Field I’d taken the dog for a short walk in Granite Knolls Park in Yorktown, NY and was returning through Woodlands Legacy Park when I noticed this sports field. I initially thought to include the goals, the scoreboard, and the floodlights. But then this runner passed by…. Taken with a Sony RX100 M3
Taconic This was taken from the overpass between Woodlands Legacy Fields Park and Granite Knolls Park in the town of Yorktown, NY. I wanted to capture something of the hustle, bustle and motion of the Taconic State Parkway. Taken with a Sony RX100 M3.
Bonsai Seen in the outdoor seating area at Kobu Asian Bistro on the lake in Mahopac, NY. Taken with an Apple iPhone 5s.
Olympus Infinity Stylus – Results I enjoyed using this camera. There’s really not a lot to think about other than turning off the flash whenever you turn the camera on (unless you actually want to use the flash of course). It’s small and fits into the pocket easily and the sliding door offers quite a bit of protection. ...
Grand Central Terminal I wanted to capture some of the “hustle and bustle” of Grand Central Terminal and so used a slow shutter speed (1 second) to blur some of the motion. To stabilize the camera I rested it on one of the stone parapets near where the Apple Store is now located and used the self ...
Cracks This cracked surface appealed to me. At first you don’t really know what it is. It looks a bit like some kind of aerial photograph of a parched landscape, with the cracks representing a series of rivers or gullies. Or maybe I’m reading too much into this and it’s just a bunch ...
Geneva – Carouge, at the Café du Rondeau We’d been walking around for a while. I was hot, tired and my feet were hurting. So I decided to stop for a beer (or two). Luckily most Geneva cafés allow dogs. My chosen destination was the Café du Rondeau (Roundabout Café), which is located directly opposite the Reunification Statue. It was quite ...
Geneva – Route de Drize, Along the River Drize The trail past the graffiti turns into a pleasant walk along a rocky watercourse – presumably the River Drize. The path was largely flat and shaded by trees. Benches (as seen in the picture above) have been placed along the way in case you need to rest. According to the French version of Wikipedia ...
Geneva – Troinex, Stairs Since we’d brought the dog along with us I had to take him for walks. My first excursion took me to the municipality (town) of Troinex. Walking along the Route de Troinex I came across this interesting flight of steps descending from the main road. I didn’t go down so I have no ...
Geneva – Old Barn Our daughter lives in one of the villages near to the foot of Mont Saleve (visible in the background as it is from almost everywhere in Geneva. As mentioned in an earlier post (See: Geneva – Introduction) it’s actually in France i.e. the building is in Switzerland, the mountain is in France). The ...
Tarrytown Reservoir As I recall this was taken in the early days of my camera collecting (September, 2011 I think) with a Zorki 4 rangefinder camera and a 50mm f/2 Jupiter-8 Former Soviet Union lens – one of the earlier chrome models. I believe the film used was Kodak T-MAX 400, but I’m not entirely sure. ...
Buster This is our friend’s dog, Buster. He can look a little ferocious at times, but he’s actually quite sweet. He’s a French Bulldog (known in French as a “Bouledogue Français”). Quite rambunctious when he was younger, as he’s aged he’s become more mellow.
Garden Club Meeting My wife and I are members of our local garden club, which recently held a presentation on “Birds of the Hudson Valley”. Here two of the participants are watching the presentation. The garden club also has its own closed Facebook Group, but the club’s chairperson didn’t want this picture to be posted. I wonder ...
The England of My Childhood Ian Berry | The English. An elderly woman plays cricket with her family on the beach. Whitby, England. 1974. © Ian Berry | Magnum Photos Ian Berry’s 1978 book sees him return to his homeland after many years abroad to both document and rediscover the English way of life…After a decade of travelling and living in ...
Croton Point – Yew Trees In the previous post (See: Croton Point – Cabins) I referred to a piece by Sarah Gibbs Underhill (a descendant of the original owners of “Interwasser”, a mansion, which once stood on Croton Point) in which she said: “The four yew trees are still standing, and have grown to heights of 60 to 100 feet. ...
Croton Point – Cabins Near the southernmost tip of Croton Point, Teller’s Point are a number of wooden cabins. I couldn’t see inside, but I could see toilet facilities outside and from reading I’m led to believe that the cabins have electricity, water and at least in some cases have tv (although apparently ancient tv sets). The ...
Memories of the Dambusters A number of earlier posts related to the New Croton Dam and co-incidentally this post too deals with dams, specifically a raid during World War II (WWII) officially called Operation Chastise, but which to many of us is better known as just “The Dambusters” after the book by Paul Brickhill and the 1955 film. ...
A Hike. Part 2 I mentioned in the previous post that that there was something I really wanted to see along this hike. This was it. It’s called the King’s Chamber and it’s one of the largest of the many stone chambers in Putnam County. I’d been trying to find it ever since we moved up ...
First Baptist Church, Tarrytown, NY According to Wikipedia: The First Baptist Church of Tarrytown is located on South Broadway (U.S. Route 9) in Tarrytown, New York, United States. It is a stone building in the Victorian Gothic architectural style dating to the 1870s. In 1983 it and its rectory were listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Congregants first met in ...
99 White Plains Road, Tarrytown I’ve driven and walked past this building many times, but never really paid attention to it. Today my wife had a doctor’s appointment not far away and while waiting for her I took the dog for a walk. As I walked by I finally noticed the building and thought to myself that there ...
Fort Montgomery – Route 9W Bridge over Popolopen Creek It’s all very confusing. Doing my research for this series of posts on the area around Fort Montgomery I’ve discovered that both this bridge (where Route 9w crosses over Popolopen Creek) and the footbridge (See: Fort Montgomery – Footbridge over Popolopen Creek) are described as “The Popolopen Creek Bridge”. According to Wikipedia: During the American Revolution, ...
Fort Montgomery – Footbridge over Popolopen Creek. As mentioned in earlier posts the pontoon bridge that crossed Popolopen Creek during the Revolutionary war was eventually (and much much later) replaced by a permanent structure. According to Wikipedia: The red-blazed Popolopen Gorge Trail runs along the south side of the creek to a foot bridge just south of Popolopen Torne. Here, it joins the ...
Fort Montgomery – A view from the 9W bridge Route 9W passes across a bridge over Popolopen Creek just steps away from Fort Montgomery. This is the view from the bridge. Farthest away is the Bear Mountain bridge over the Hudson River. Next comes a railway bridge and finally the footbridge over the creek that replaced the pontoon bridge in use ...
Fort Montgomery – A view from Fort Clinton Once upon a time Fort Montgomery sat on the heights above the north side of Popolopen Creek. On the heights on the other side of the creek stood Fort Clinton. Almost nothing of Fort Clinton remains today, but it once stood where the Bear Mountain tolls now stand. This is taken from ...
Fort Montgomery – Large Boulders I came across these large, impressive boulders between the Barracks and the North Redoubt.
Fort Montgomery – Enlisted and Officers Barracks According to a nearby information board: The long foundation to the left (see picture above) was a barracks for enlisted men. The short foundation on the right (picture below) housed the fort’s senior officers and served as a commissary for storing food provisions. Items stored here were controlled and carefully guarded. Archaeology suggests ...
Fort Montgomery – The Redoubts There’s not much to see here nowadays, but this was once the site of the North Redbout. According to a nearby information board: Brigadier General George Clinton, the Governor of New York State, commanded Fort Montgomery during the battle of October 6, 1777. Aware the British were approaching, he ordered some of his men to take ...
Fort Montgomery – Barracks According to a nearby information board: You are looking at the foundation of a barracks built in the summer of 1776. This was probably a two-story building with a cellar under the northern half. Artifacts recovered from the site tell us a lot about the soldiers who lived here. In the 18th century, ...
Fort Montgomery – Powder Magazine According to a nearby information board: Fort Montgomery’s powder magazine provided secure, dry place in which to store the garrison’s gunpowder and ammunition. The magazine was located here because of the site’s good drainage and because of the protection afforded by the rock ridge between it and the river. The magazine was build early ...
Fort Montgomery – Guard House According to a nearby information board: When excavation of the Guard House was completed in 1969, the site was reburied to protect the feature. Therefore, little is visible today. The Guard House was divided into two rooms that reflected its dual uses. The southeastern room was where soldiers on guard duty were stationed. ...
Fort Montgomery – Soldier’s necessary According to a nearby information board: A “necessary” is a privy, or outhouse. In front of you is the vault of the only necessary known to have existed at Fort Montgomery. When it was finished in April 1776 it was described as “a large necessary, for soldiers”. It is hard to imagine that ...
Fort Montgomery – Regimental Gardens According to a nearby information board: The raised beds you see in front of you are a recreation of an 18th century garden. Research has shown that the soldiers at Fort Montgomery had gardens to supplement their food supply. Although we do not know precisely what the soldiers were growing we can speculate on ...
Fort Montgomery – Overview According to the Fort Montgomery State Historic Site: Fort Montgomery was the scene of a fierce Revolutionary War battle for control of the Hudson River. Visitors today can tour the remains of the 14-acre fortification, perched on a cliff overlooking the magnificent Hudson. On October 6, 1777, British, Loyalist and Hessian forces attacked Fort Montgomery and ...
Clouds over the Croton Reservoir Taken with a Sony RX-100 M3 from the top of the New Croton Dam looking North-East. In the distance Hemlock Brook Preserve, which the Westchester Land Trust describes as follows: This 14-acre preserve was donated by Walter P. Lewisohn in 1971 to The Nature Conservancy. In 2003 The Nature Conservancy transferred the preserve to Westchester Land ...
A Day in New York City – A pair of frogs This two frogs (along with three others and a few ducks) sit on the base of the Honey Bear Statue near Central Park zoo. Apparently water sprays from their mouths although when I was there the fountain was not functioning (possibly because of the season). Taken with a Sony RX-100 M3.
A Day in New York City – Honey Bear Statue This statue stands just outside the zoo in Central Park, New York City. According to the Central Park Conservancy web site: This whimsical bronze is in a niche that flanks the triple-archway that supports the Delacorte Musical Clock between the Central Park Zoo and the Children’s Zoo. The Dancing Goat is the bear’s counterpart on ...
A Day in New York City – Samuel Morse Statue Finally in New York City, we took a taxi from Grand Central Terminal to Central Park. The driver dropped us off near 72nd Street and Fifth Avenue. As we got out of the taxi I noticed a statue. Imagine my surprise to discover that it was of Samuel F.B. Morse, whose former ...
Hopewell Junction Depot I came across these old photographs of the Depot at Hopewell Junction. I could tell that they were old because Anthony Musso in his book Hidden Treasures of the Hudson Valley Vol. II mentions that the original depot originally had doors with rounded tops. Apparently it was hard to insulate properly so all ...
A treasured memory We recently received this picture from one of my wife’s relatives. The small child is my wife aged about 6 months, being held by her father. It’s was very low resolution scan, full of spots and other marks i.e. not a particularly good scan. I was able to eliminate many of the ...
A face in stone I can’t really articulate why I like this picture. Maybe it’s the expression on the face? Maybe it’s the strange carvings around the face? Maybe it’s the carvings in general? Perhaps the textures? Somehow I found it appealing – what can I say? Taken with a Canon EOS 650 and Canon EF ...
A twig in the snow Another shot taken in Law Park, Briarcliff Manor, NY. I liked the “minimalist” composition and the extreme contrast between the bright white of the snow and the stark blackness of the twig. It made me feel cold, which I imagine I was since there was quite a lot of snow on the ...
Rushes Taken in Law Park, Briarcliff Manor, NY while walking the dog. I liked the layers: the snow in the foreground, the first group of rushes (sharp), the icy snow covered pond, and then the second layer of rushes (blurred). Also the sets of diagonal lines that lead the eye through the picture. Taken ...
Seagull on a post In an earlier post (See: Ernst Ludwig 50mm f2.9 Peronar)I talked about the difficulties I’d had focusing this lens. I first tried it indoors in quite poor light that required me to use it at a wide aperture. The results were not good: a lot of missed focus. This picture was taken on the ...
Mohonk Mountain House We went for Easter Lunch at the Mohonk Mountain House. It’s about an hour’s drive from our Lake House – just outside New Paltz, itself a rather quaint university town. The meal was a huge buffet, quite pricey but they you’ve got to admit that the surroundings are quite special. I doubt there’s anything quite ...
Vernal Pond I came across this scene near Whortlekill Creek in Dutchess County, NY. I’d like to say that I was taken by tonal contrasts, the shiny water and the textures of the trees/grasses sticking out of the water. And that would be partly true. However, I mostly wanted to use the words ‘Whortlekill ...
Through the door of the slave house Dakar is situated on a peninsular and is the western most part of Africa. Consequently it’s a touch closer to The Americas than anywhere else in Africa. Perhaps this is why it was the main jumping off point for the slave trade. The slave trade was centered on Gorée Island, which is ...
A view over the bay In October, 2003 I found myself in Dakar, Senegal (See Dakar, Senegal 2003). I was staying in the Hotel N’Gor Diorama out by the airport and this is the view from my room – looking out over the N’gor bay. I liked the stark silhouettes and the multitudes of people in the water. ...
Croton Gorge – Things lost In an earlier post I mentioned that one of the great things about photography is that there’s always something new: e.g. a new viewpoint; different light; things you just missed. In this case what was new was that a couple of things that were previous there, have now gone. These pictures were taken with a ...
Croton Gorge – Old Stone Hearth I came across the stone structure near the house overlooking the Croton River. It’s right next to the solitary gravestone (see: Croton Gorge – Serendipity and Croton Gorge – Red Door). From the chimney like structure on top and the fireplace looking area at the bottom, I’d guess it’s some kind of hearth i.e. for ...
Croton Gorge – A river runs through it Taken from on top of the New Croton Dam, the Croton River flows from there for about four miles until it enters the Hudson near Van Cortlandt Manor According to Wikipedia the Croton River: …is a river in southern New York that begins where its eastern and western tributaries join downstream from the Croton Falls Reservoir. Shortly ...
Croton Gorge – Circular structure in the dam plaza This strange circular pit containing pipes stands in the dam plaza. It’s surrounded by an iron fence and you can see the falls in the background. I have no idea what it is, or what its use was. Perhaps it was some kind of long abandoned water feature, possibly a fountain of ...
Croton Gorge – The face of the New Croton Dam It really is very impressive. The dam is 297 feet high from bottom to top; 266 feet broad at its base. The dam’s foundation goes down 130 feet below the riverbed and contains 850,000 cubic yards of masonry. At the time of its opening (1906), it was the tallest dam in the world. This ...
Croton Gorge – The falls at the New Croton Dam A few shots of the Falls at the New Croton Dam (and yes there was an older dam that preceded it). Above, taken from on top of the dam looking down. The two below, taken from the base of the dam.
Croton Gorge – A view from beneath the dam Here’s a view from the plaza at the foot of the dam. Once again you see the dual nature of the spillway – natural on the left; man made to the right. I’ve posted about the Croton Dam before. See: Croton Dam Croton Dam Revisited Croton Dam However, although I spoken of the dam, I don’t recall saying anything ...
Croton Gorge – A view from on top of the dam Taken from the top of the Croton Dam, looking down onto the spillway. You can clearly see its dual nature: part natural, part man made. On the left the water rushes through the natural part, and on the right it flows over the man made part. As an article on the Amusing Planet website ...
Minolta 70W Riva Zoom – Results Icy Roaring Brook I described my experience using my February film camera in February film camera – Minolta 70W Riva Zoom. I now have the results back so how did it come out? First I was right that the first six frames had been taken by the friend who have given me the camera. There ...
Snow over the lake From the bright sunlight and the vivid colors of the preceding post: Temple, Yangon, Myannmar we return to the gloom of Winter in NY State. Since this last snowfall we’ve had a few cold, windy, but essentially sunny days. Tomorrow will be in a similar vein. But then on Tuesday we have one of ...
Snow patterns on our patio Our last snow fall came after a period of abnormally warm weather so the ground was quite warm. This meant that initially the snow stuck mostly on the grassy/mossy areas rather than on the paved areas. From this arose these interesting snow patterns. As the snow continued I imagine the paved areas cooled down ...
Happy Traum at the Tompkins Corners Cultural Center I’d never heard of Happy Traum, but the events at the Tompkins Corners Cultural Center (TCCC) (see also: Tompkins Corners Cultural Center; Latino music festival at Tompkins Corners Cultural Center; David Amram Quintet at Tompkins Corners Cultural Center) are usually worth going do so when my wife mentioned that this was taking place we decided ...
What a difference a day makes Yesterday was a sunny, Spring-like day with temperatures near 60F. Some people were wearing T-shirts! And then today…. Taken from our patio around noon today (when it was still snowing) with a Sony Alpha 500 DSLR and Tamron A18 AF 18-250mm f3.5-6.3 LD Di II Macro IF Lens.
Vines on an old building Another old film picture taken around the time I started collecting cameras. This one was taken with a Fed 2 rangefinder camera and Industar-61 lens. It was taken at Pocantico Lake (see Old Waterworks at Pocantico Lake for a better sense of the surroundings. The picture is taken of the facade on the left ...
Tarrytown reservoir This was taken in the early days of my camera collecting. As I recall it was taken with a Zorki 4 rangefinder camera with a Industar 61 55mm f2.8 (not the L/D version) lens. I don’t recall what film was used other than that it wasn’t Kodak Professional BW400CN. I remember this ...
Mini snowman While walking the dog in Law Park in Briarcliff Manor I spotted this tiny (it couldn’t have been more than about six inches tall) snowman sitting on a wall. We’ve had temperatures in the high 50sF for the past few days so I imagine it has gone by now.
Falling snow Another view of our Japanese maple – this time as a snow storm was in progress. I was trying to capture the falling snow, with some success I think.
Snowscape Seen at the side of the road around our lake. I’m not entirely sure why I like it. Maybe it’s the undulating snow? Maybe it’s the way the ‘pools’ recede into the background? Maybe it’s the contrast between the light and the dark? Maybe it’s the way the light sparkles on ...
Cardiac beach When we first bought the lake house we were told that there were five beaches around the lake: children’s beach; spur beach; moon beach; north beach; and park beach. Needless to say in the almost five years we’ve been here I’ve been to all of them. However, I was walking the dog around the lake ...
Bear Mountain Inn 2 Another view of the Bear Mountain Inn. Talk about rustic! I liked the natural look of the stone contrasting with the more artificial, geometric lines of the windows, sills, and door. I also liked the the way the diagonal lines of the stairs cut through the otherwise horizontal/vertical nature of the composition.
Chess board I liked the contrasts between the blacks and the whites and the way that almost nothing except the foremost piece is in focus (and that only barely). The black pieces in the background seem to me to look almost a little threatening as if they’re waiting to pounce.
Stone birds on a curved wall Taken during a visit to Washington, D.C. in July, 2015 – in the plaza outside our hotel. I was fascinated by these small stone birds scattered around on walls, planters etc. throughout the plaza. I also liked the curve of this low, stone wall/bench.
Bear Mountain Inn I regularly monitor about 150 photography related feeds, one of which is Matthew Durr Photography. I’m accustomed to seeing his pictures of Japan so I was quite surprised to come across this one: Site Update 2016: Bear Mountain, Panoramas! in part because the Bear Mountain in question is a short drive (about ...
Ruins through a window Or at least through an opening that once was a window. Northgate, once the estate of Edward J. Cornish and his wife Selina now stands in ruins in the woods just north of Cold Spring, NY. Atlas Obscura provides the following information (in: Ruins of the Cornish Estate): Starting at one of the country’s most beautiful train terminals, ...
New Windsor Cantonment: Blacksmith’s tools Taken at New Windsor Cantonment in May, 2015. The Cantonment contains a working forge and part of the tour included a demonstration of how to make a nail using the tools and other equipment available during the Revolutionary War. A single guide took us around the site, explained the history of the camp, did the ...
New Windsor Cantonment: Chairs Taken inside the Temple of Virtue (or at least the 1960s reproduction of it that now exists) at New Windsor Cantonment, in May 2015. I’m not entirely sure why I like this. Maybe it’s the contrast between the light walls and the darker chairs. Or perhaps it’s the contrast between the smooth wood of ...
New York’s finest Taken on the occasion of the Pope’s visit to New York City in September, 2015, which we attended as did a lot of other people. They did a fantastic job of marshaling the teeming multitude up and down various avenues in Manhattan and into Central Park. Thankfully there were no incidents!
A statue Detail of a larger statue seen in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Sleepy Hollow, NY just about one year ago (1/29/2016).
Presidential inauguration No. Not the one taking place today. This one is much older (160 years to be precise): And, in 1857, the first known photograph of a Presidential Inauguration was captured. This image, seen above, was taken by John Wood, who worked for the Architect of the Capitol under Montgomery C. Meigs. According to a presentation ...
Richard Pousette-Dart Source: Richard Pousette-Dart | The Art of Photography I had never heard of Pousette-Dart until I came across the video below on Ted Forbes fascinating “Art of Photography” website (I’ve already posted about his site in The Art of Photography). He also has a fairly long article on Pousette-Dart on the same site. Pousette-Dart seems to be ...
Big Sky detail 2 Another take on the “Big Sky” statue – this time in black and white. I think I prefer this version to the color version posted earlier (see Big Sky detail). It’s somewhat more abstract and ambiguous – it’s not immediately obvious what it is.
Twins Interesting “twins” statue cum birdbath seen at Amawalk Hill Cemetery.
RIP Snowdon Lord Snowdon, the ex-husband of Princess Margaret died today aged 86.Snowdon, a filmmaker and photographer, married the princess in 1960 but they separated in 1978.The photographer, born Anthony Armstrong-Jones, died peacefully at his home, his photo agency revealed.Camera Press said in a short statement: “The Earl of Snowdon died peacefully at home on 13th January ...
Cross A simple white cross on a dark background (actually it was green): the door of a nearby church. I liked the minimal composition, which seems to give a sense of peace and tranquility.
Hair My wife in the late 1970s/early 1980s. I guess I must have been going through an ‘artsy’ phase at that time. Taken, I believe, with a Canon AE-1, which I bought second hand (and in lousy condition as I recall). I don’t think I ever had a prime lens for this camera. Instead I had ...
Broken windows This was taken almost a year ago (January 29, 2016) in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Sleepy Hollow, NY. I liked the varied tones and it’s almost abstract feel. Although I wasn’t conscious of it at the time, I was probably influenced by seeing similar (but much better) photographs by (I suspect) Minor White and/or ...
For fans of Downton Abbey This is what the real Downton Abbey i.e. Hiclere Castle in Hampshire, UK looked like in 1895. I particularly liked the interior shots. For example: Rare photographs of the ‘real’ Downton Abbey in Hampshire and its owners the fifth Earl of Carnarvon, and his wife Almina Herbert, from 1895, have been unearthed. Source: Incredible photographs show the ...
Reindeer? Taken during the News Year’s party we attended. The owner of the house was an avid hunter and there were hunt memorabilia everywhere including a huge Elk head above he mantel (for those who remember Fawlty Towers think Moose). I believe there was also a room upstairs with a number of animal heads on ...
Girl with a phone My wife’s friend invited us over to their house for New Year’s Eve. They have a large house and there were a lot of people there. One of them was this lovely little girl. At one point in the evening, in spite of the noise (and there was quite a lot of it) she ...
2016 Favorites – Black and White Light Patterns. Another year has whizzed by and it’s time to post some of my favorite pictures from 2016 – black and white first. Like last year I’m presenting my ten favorites – in no particular order. At this point last year I said: I’ve been trying to find a focus for my photography, which at the moment ...
The Front Page We went into the city on Christmas Eve to see “The Front Page” at the Broadhurst Theatre on 44th Street between 7th and 8th Ave. This production starred Nathan Lane (awards too numerous to mention) and other well known actors such as John Slattery (Mad Men, Iron Man 2, Ant Man); John Goodman (Roseanne, ...
Skier on the ice Our lake is now completely frozen. However, we’ve had a few ‘warmish’ days with temperatures well above freezing. Usually people don’t go onto the lake until we’ve had several days of below freezing temperatures. So I’d be a little concerned that the ice is not all that thick at the moment. My wife was ...
Ruined buildings near Garrison railroad station If you walk from the Garrison railroad station up the trail towards Glenclyffe and Arden Point you pass this small cluster of ruins. I couldn’t find much information about them other than a short mention on a couple of web sites saying that they were formerly a lock factory.
Abandoned shacks I’ve often noticed these ramshackle wooden shacks just off Route 301 between the Taconic State Parkway and Carmel, NY. I’ve also often thought that we should stop and take some pictures, but until now I haven’t done so. There are three of them and I don’t know what they are/were or why they’re ...
Eighteen Arhats: My personal favorite – Mahakappina Thera I thought I’d include one of the pictures at a larger size. This one is my personal favorite (which is a pity because it’s also the least sharp. Either I missed the focus or there’s a little camera shake. I’ll have to go back and try again, but probably not before next year as ...
Eighteen Arhats: Right Side The second (and final) grouping: statues from the right side of the walkway. 10. Culapanthaka Thera. Culapanthaka was skilled in liberation from mind. He was born a dull person, could not even recite one verse of the teaching He got rid of the impurities of lust and other defilements and attained arahantship after wiping ...
Eighteen Arhats: Left Side As mentioned in an earlier post (see: Eighteen Arhats: Overview) I took pictures of each of the eighteen statues beside the walkway to the Great Buddha hall at Chuang Yen monastery. Now I have eighteen pictures. How do I present them in this blog? Clearly one post with 18 pictures would be too much. ...
Eighteen Arhats: Overview We recently took our elder daughter to nearby Chuang Yen monastery. As we were walking up from the car park to the Great Buddha hall we were looking at the statues on both sides of the walkway. I had previously taken pictures of a couple of them and now it occurred to me ...
John Cohen at L. Parker Stephenson Photographs in New York John Cohen lives near us and often performs at the Tompkins Corners Cultural Center, which opened not too long ago in the Tompkins Corners Cultural Center (formerly the Tompkins Corners Baptist Church). Here’s a picture of him performing: The late 1950’s and early 60’s was the booming period of artistic freedom — and freedom will only ...
Amawalk Hill Cemetery – The big surprise In the overview post to this series of pictures on Amawalk Hill Cemetery I mentioned that I had a big surprise in store. As I was walking around I noticed what looked like a large glass display case. It seemed such a strange thing to come across beside the gravestones in the woods ...
Amawalk Hill Cemetery – Walled plot I came across this large plot with a heavy stone wall around it. Inside there were only a few graves. I wonder why?
Amawalk Hill Cemetery – Celtic cross and shamrocks One of the relatively few interesting gravestone designs in this cemetery with a celtic cross and shamrocks (I think). According to Memorials.com website: Celtic Cross- The circle around the crosspiece symbolizes eternity. Its’ origin can be traced to the Celtic cultures of the British Isles. There is a legend of how St. Patrick when ...
Amawalk Hill Cemetery – A rabbit or three Sorry, just couldn’t resist this one.
Amawalk Hill Cemetery – Small statues Cherub Many of the cemeteries around here have very plain gravestones and little in the way of large statuary. Perhaps this is because certain denominations frown on excessive ornamentation? I’m sure the cemeteries can control the types of gravestones, but I doubt that they can stop people from putting small, barely noticable, statues on ...
Amawalk Hill Cemetery – Tree and gravestone In the older part of the cemetery. I was fascinated by the way this tree has grown over the small gravestone.
Amawalk Hill Cemetery – Overview After our visit to the Yorktown Community Church Cemetery, we went on to another one: The Amawalk Hill Cemetery. I wasn’t expecting much as we pulled in. It looked like your typical, run of the mill cemetery. I was certainly in for a surprise. It’s also known as the Amawalk Friends Cemetery or ...
The Ansonia According to Wikipedia: The Ansonia is a building on the Upper West Side of New York City, located at 2109 Broadway, between West 73rd and West 74th Streets. It was originally built as a residential hotel by William Earle Dodge Stokes, the Phelps-Dodge copper heir and share holder in the Ansonia Clock Company, and it was ...
Abstract composition One of the things I like about this picture is that it’s not immediately obvious what it is. It’s actually a bunch of fallen leaves on a carp gate. What’s a carp gate you may well ask. Well, a few years ago the powers that be decided to stock our lake with ...
Buddha group We were invited to have Thanksgiving dinner at a friend’s house. I came across this interesting grouping of objects in his living room. It aroused in me a sense of peace and tranquility (as I’m sure he intended). It was rather dark in the living room and since there were others around I ...
Indian statuette We have three of these small statuettes on a small pyramid shaped shelving unit in our living room. Right next to it is a slightly taller mirror-fronted armoire on which I’m accustomed to leaving cameras so the cat can’t get at them (it’s a little bit too tall even for her, and in any ...
Lion clock on the former Central Savings Bank According to a post (The Solidity and Stature of NYC’s Central Savings Bank) on the Curbed, New York site: The Central Savings Bank (currently Apple Bank), located at 2100-2108 Broadway at West 73rd Street, was built between 1926 and 1928 by the architecture firm of York & Sawyer. The bank had been founded in 1859 and ...
159 West 72nd Street I think I was attracted to the half circular decoration to the right of the doorway. Farther down the wall to the right is a similar decoration, but this time a full circle.
My grandmother As I came downstairs this morning I passed this picture in a frame on a shelving unit. The picture had slipped and was now crooked in the frame. So I decided to take it out and straighten it. Then it occurred to me that I should probably scan it and post it ...
Subway station on 72nd Street and Amsterdam Avenue, New York City A different kind of New York City subway station. According to Wikipedia: The 72nd Street station opened on October 27, 1904, as part of the original subway, with trains running from Brooklyn Bridge to 145th Street. The original configuration of the station was inadequate by IRT standards. It had just one entrance (the control house on the ...
Verdi statue This statue stands in Verdi Park on West 72nd street and Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan. Our friend had driven us (myself, my wife, and our friend’s mother) into the city to see Spamilton. She had another stop to make and so dropped us off near the theatre. We had some time to ...
Community Church of Yorktown The Church’s website provides the following history: My friend George took me for a drive to a couple of Yorktown cemeteries, familiar to him, but unknown to me. The first is right next to this church. Our church history goes back to 1785 when the Yorktown Baptist Society, a branch of the Stamford Baptist Church, was ...
Happy Birthday, M. Daguerre Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre was born on 18 November 1787 in Cormeilles-en-Parisis, Val-d’Oise, France. Best known as one of the first pioneers of photography he was also an accomplished painter, businessman and advocate of the diorama. His positive daguerrotype process for a while dominated photography until ultimately supplanted by William Henry Fox Talbot‘s, negative calotype process.
Zounds! What can I say? Not something you see every day.
Whitby Castle My wife went to some kind of fund raising lunch here and I walked the dog while we waited for her to finish, and of course I took a few pictures of the ‘castle’. Of course this isn’t really a castle. I grew up in the United Kindgom and we know what castles ...
Staircase I’ve posted pictures of stairs/staircases before so I guess I must like them: Exterior staircase – Chambord Stone staircase Four staircases Boscobel – Interiors Stairs A walk to Rockwood Hall (stairs pictures along with others) Vanderbilt Mansion, Hyde Park, NY (staircase pictures along with others) Angkor (stairs picture along with others) I particularly liked the graceful curves here. I can see at least four ...
Glenclyffe 13 – Abandoned basketball court Looking at the facade of the old Fish mansion this now abandoned basketball court stands just off the right side. Looks like it hasn’t been used for some time
Glenclyffe 11 – Gazebo I was at a bit of a loss as to what to say about this gazebo, other than that it is a pleasant spot to break your walk, sit, and look out over the river. Luckily I came across this description on the Hudson Valley Pleasures website: We came across this magical place quite by surprise While on ...
Glenclyffe 9 – Buddha statue This statue stands in a corner by a doorway in the Garrison Institute (formerly the Monastery of Mary Immaculate). As this was once a Roman Catholic monastery you’d think that this statue might look a little out of place. However, ‘once’ is the operative word here. The building has not been a ...
Glenclyffe 7 – Empty planter This planter (if indeed that is what it is) stands in the grounds of Glenclyffe – just across the grassy area in front of the old Hamilton Fish mansion. It’s large, heavy and ornately decorated. If, indeed, it is a planter it’s presently empty.
Glenclyffe 5 – Tangle in the woods I was returning to the car from the historic overlook when, about half way to the former monastery, I came across this tangle. I don’t really know what it is – some kind of vine I imagine. I just liked the shape and the textures.
Glenclyffe 3 – An historic trail On my earlier walk into Glenclyffe (see Glenclyffe 1 – all that remains of the original mansion and Glenclyffe 2 – Monastery of Mary Immaculate) I walked up to the former monastery, continued on to the former Hamilton Fish house, and then kept going until I reached what was labelled on the map as ‘historic ...
Glenclyffe 1 – all that remains of the original mansion I had done part of this walk before. Starting from Garrison Metro North Station (on weekends the parking is free) I followed the first part of the trail and then turned right, passing over the railway lines to explore Arden Point.. I knew that a trail also carried on straight ahead, but it ...
Snapping turtle A couple of hundred yards from out house is a small dirt road called “Roaring Brook Lane”. It parallels a brook and goes over a small bridge to a dock by the lake. While walking the dog we decided (actually he decided – I merely followed) to go down to the dock. ...
Rock cairn Taken at one of the beaches on our lake. One of the interesting things about this cairn is that it wasn’t always there. In fact even though I visit this beach every few days while walking the dog I’ve never seen it before. At first I thought that maybe I’d missed it, ...
Philipstown Depot Theatre We recently went to the Philipstown Depot Theatre, which is housed in the former Garrison railway station. The i Ride the Harlem Line site describes the station as follows: If you’re looking for attractive views along the Hudson, Garrison might be the station for you. Garrison station is located along the waterfront, and from there are lovely ...
By the roadside 19: Self portrait with trash pile My ‘By the roadside pictures’ have all so far been ‘pretty pictures’ of flowers and the like. However, I also come across things, which aren’t all that pretty. It was bulk pickup day on our lake when during a walk I came across this rather large mirror. I couldn’t resist taking a ...
A pair of pigeons I have a very clear memory of taking this picture. We were in Copenhagen visiting our older daughter and her family. I’d gone with my grandson to his piano lesson. We’d been driven there, but were expected to make our own way home. I recall that we were taking the train ...
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and photography In the winter of 1920, readers of the popular British magazine the Strand found a curious headline on the cover of their Christmas issues. “FAIRIES PHOTOGRAPHED,” it said. “AN EPOCH-MAKING EVENT DESCRIBED BY A. CONAN DOYLE.” The Strand’s readership was well acquainted with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; most of his wildly popular Sherlock Holmes stories ...
Old vehicle in the woods In an earlier post (see: Down the Roaring Brook Trail) I mentioned coming across an old, abandoned vehicle in the woods. Here are some more pictures of that same vehicle, this time showing closer in detail.
A spider I just took this picture. My work area is down in the basement of our house. It’s only partially finished so we get a few bugs down there – especially spiders. Since I was a kid I’ve always liked spiders so it doesn’t particularly bother me when there are a few around. This ...
Beaver lodge on Pelton Pond Unfortunately the Beavers seem to have disappeared. I used to see signs of Beaver activity in the form of recently chewed/downed trees. However, I haven’t seen any such activity for over a year. Maybe they’ve upgraded and moved on to larger premises. According to Beavers, Wetlands and Wildlife beavers stay in the same ...
Enormous columns on Route 9 in Briarcliff Manor I’ve been living in Briarcliff Manor for about 18 years and noticed these two huge, fluted Ionic columns almost as soon as we arrived. However, until now I had never taken a picture of them. If you’re travelling north on Route 9 from Tarrytown, just before you reach the intersection with Scarborough road you’ll see ...
Fred Dill Wildlife Sanctuary 1: Overview While walking along the Putnam County Trailway a while ago I noticed a path going off into the woods. I followed it for a while, but at that time the trees were bare, snow was on the ground and the trails were icy so I didn’t go too far. This time I approached the ...
Fisherman on Pelton Pond This was the only person I saw during a recent three hour walk. I liked the smallness of the figure compared to the height of the trees and the large boulders.
Down the Roaring Brook Trail I’d wanted to do this walk for some time. It runs near our house and is the closest access point to Fahnestock State Park. I’ve often said to friends: “It’s possible to walk into Fahnestock State Park from our house – but I haven’t done it yet”. Well now I have. ...
Patriots park, Tarrytown, NY I’ve posted before about Patriot’s park (see:Patriots Park Tarrytown, NY). Wikipedia describes the park as follows: The park’s organizing feature is an oval walkway with entrances at the north, east and west, and short paths to a basketball court at the south and North Broadway to the southeast. The main entrance is at the west. ...
Grasses As the numerous commuters taking the Metro North Hudson Line pass the post office at Scarborough Station I imagine many of them don’t realize that the building that now houses the post office was once the railway station itself. Right outside the post office is a small flower bed, which at certain times of ...
Dog and fish Taken at the park next to Scarborough Station in March, 2011. I remember that I’d taken the train home (getting off at Scarborough) and decided to take a short walk by the Hudson river to unwind and to see if there was anything worth a photograph. Two men were fishing. They each ...
Monsters in the woods A while back I mentioned in one of these posts (see Stillwater Lake) that I had come across a sign in the woods that read “Do not pass this point after 3:30 pm”. I speculated that this might be because that was when the monsters were let out. I was back on that ...
Owen Jones Monument Revisited I’ve posted a picture of this monument before (see: Owen Jones Memorial, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery). In the earlier post the monument is seen in context: on a hill in the distance other grave markers around it. This is a much closer view.
Spider web I was walking towards Stillwater Pond in Fahnestock State Park when I spotted this spider web. It seemed to just float in the air with no apparent means of support, backlit by the sun. I liked the original color version, but the brights yellows and greens and greens in the background seemed to ...
Harley Davidson I came across this Harley in the parking lot of our health club. It’s usually quite crowded, but this Harley was way off at the far edge – all by itself. Obviously the owner wasn’t taking any chance of it being banged. I’ve never really wanted to have a motorcycle. I find ...
Treasure hunter I came across this man with a metal detector early one morning in 2011 on the Connecticut shore. Apart from myself I think he was the only person on the beach. I liked the primarily horizontal bands of tone: the darker tone in the foreground; then the lighter tone of the sand; the brighter tones ...
Wooden eagle statue A nearby plaque reads: “In memory of Benjamin F. DeFrancesco 1898-1993. As the flag flies freely, so do I.” I took this with a Sony NEX 5N and 16mm f2.8 lens and its matched ultra wide angle converter. I recall that I used this combination, but it’s hard to be sure as the metadata ...
Statue and bench Taken on the grounds of a nearby mansion. I liked the juxtaposition of the quite new looking bench and the obviously much older statue. The somewhat eroded statue made me think about the passage of time and the way they stand isolated in this bucolic setting aroused a feeling of loneliness (this statement ...
Garden club meeting In earlier posts I’ve mentioned that my wife and I belong to the local garden club. It’s been great to be a member as we’ve met many incredible people who also belong to the club. Every year the club organizes two major events: the Christmas Party; and the Garden Tour where members visit ...
Facade What I felt most when approaching this magnificent old mansion was a sense of awe. The front facade really was quite imposing in its size and solidity. You approach the house from below, which makes it look even more spectacular. I’ve since learned that it’s not quite as solid as it looks. In the ...
I’ve got my eye on you I was wandering around at a nearby working farm when this cow (I think it’s a cow) ambled over. I waited for a while in the hope that it would look up, which it eventually did. It’s a fairly rare picture for me in that 1) I don’t often take pictures of animals ...
Exterior staircase – Chambord Taken in 2002 with a Canon Powershot S10 compact 2.1 megapixel camera at Chambord Castle during a very pleasant vacation in the Loire Valley. Chambord is particularly famous for a “double helix” spiral staircase, but I believe that this isn’t it (the famous one is inside the castle while this one is outside). It’s ...
Shadows on a wall I’m fond of shadows, see: Tree Shadows on a Wall Early Morning Shadows at the Flea Market A Couple of Shadows Shadows on the Kitchen Floor I took this picture of shadows falling on a red wall (a converted garage I believe) of a house only a few doors down from ours. It was taken around 5:00 pm with ...
House in Fishkill, NY This house is at 19 Broad Street in Fishkill, NY. A sign on it indicates that it’s on the National Register of Historic Places, but I haven’t been able to discover any additional information on it. I took the picture in July, 2014. In trying to find out more about the house’s ...
Spooky child statue I came across this statue of a small girl in a neighbors garden. The more I looked at it the more it struck me as being a bit ‘spooky’. It’s something to do with the indistinct eyes. You can’t make them out all that well, but somehow they give the impression that ...
Stone staircase I liked the curving banister and steps; the repetition of the stone balusters; the contrast between the lighter foreground elements and the darker building in the background; and the stone textures.
Urban blight Returning from our trip to the Mills Mansion we decided to stop at our favorite Filipino store/restaurant. Actually I’m not sure that it’s our favorite, but it is the closest. It’s located in a small strip mall on the outskirts of Poughkeepsie, NY. While the area around it is generally pretty decent (there’s ...
A woman and a dog We came across this statue and my wife immediately wanted a picture (this isn’t that picture) of herself posing with our dog in front of it. The statue has not aged well: the dog still looks rather elegant, but both it and the woman have suffered greatly from erosion. The features of both ...
A balustrade I liked the curving lines, the repetition of the vertical elements and the contrasts between the dark and light areas.
Yashica TLR Of late I’ve developed an interest in Twin Lens Reflex (TLR) Cameras (above my own Yashica 12 – unfortunately not working because of a stuck shutter. I’ll get it fixed one of these days). A couple of days ago I was browsing around and I came across this very useful resource related the ...
Tree and Vine I like the contrast between the dark tree and the lighter vine, also the contrast between the rough bark of the tree and the smoother leaves.
Terraces Taken at the same time and in virtually the same place as an earlier post: Topiary and for pretty much the same reasons: “I was attracted to the symmetry and stillness of the scene. Reminds a bit of something by Eugene Atget (although not as good).”
Cable Barn – North Salem, NY A sign on this front facade identifies the building as “The Cable Barn” and a second sign (in black, lower down and to the left) provides the date 1869 and indicates that the building is an historical landmark. The Town of North Salem, NY website suggests that the building was/is used for “Storage of Town ...
Topiary I was attracted to the symmetry and stillness of the scene. Reminds a bit of something by Eugene Atget (although not as good).
Untermyer gardens revisited – stone lion Apart from the magnificent sphinxes this was the only piece of sculpture that I noticed. I was a bit surprised by this. I’d thought to find more.
Abstract This was taken through the window of a travelling north along the Hudson River. Some of the reasons I like it: 1. The diagonal lines 2. The darker areas at the top and bottom 3. The almost abstract look 4. The ambiguity. It’s not immediately apparent what it is I don’t like the lighter ...
Woman and child My wife and one of the grandchildren in our lake. I hope it conveys some of the love I feel for my family.
Old tractors My father grew up on a farm and although he never really wanted to be a farmer (if he had he would have stayed there) he retained an interest in “things agricultural” for the rest of his life. One manifestation of this was his inability to ignore any traction engine rally taking place in ...
Donkey and Foal In a recent post: Soul/Creativity on his Photos and Stuff blog, Andrew Molitor provides the following quote (which he attributes to Ansel Adams): The final image you achieve will, to quote Alfred Stieglitz, reveal what you saw and felt. If it were not for this element of felt, the term creative photography would have no meaning. For ...
Farm Building I like old buildings. They evoke in me a feeling of nostalgia for earlier times. So this one definitely caught my attention. As I looked more closely a sense of amusement started to take over. At first I didn’t see it, but after a while I noticed the rather incongruous ‘Humpty ...
Upcoming visit to Untermyer Park We just had some visitors so as we usually do we prepared a fairly extensive meal and afterwards took them to a nearby attraction: Chuang Yen Monastery. They’ve decided to reciprocate by inviting us later this month to a meal at their home in Hastings-on-Hudson followed by a visit to Untermyr Gardens in Yonkers, ...
Wooden pier Seen at Half Moon Bay in Croton-on-Hudson, NY. I liked the way this long, wooden pier zigzagged out into the Hudson. Also the textures of the wood. I find the branches to the top right of the picture distracting, but I couldn’t get this shot without including them and removing them in ...
Chef Statue Seen outside a restaurant in New York City. Reminds me a bit of Ted Cruz. Taken back October, 2012 when I had never heard of Ted Cruz. Same kind of almost supercilious sneer masquerading as a smile. Taken with a Sony Nex 5n and Canon 50mm f1.4 S.S.C FD – a very nice ...
Portrait of a woman 2 For time to time I go through boxes of negatives from long ago looking for candidates for scanning. I say negatives, but there are also a few (very few) slides – this is one of them. I no longer remember what camera it was (probably a Canon AE-1 or a Minolta 7sii rangefinder), ...
French Photography in the 19th Century Not much text in this post (other than the extremely detailed captions), but some interesting early photographs. France is one of the pioneers of photographic technology and advances — progressing it as art and as science. The works of French photographers Édouard Baldus, Gustave Le Gray, Henri Le Secq, and Charles Nègre helped the ...
Squirrel-proof birdfeeder – Ha!! Not a stunning picture. It was taken quickly and at a fairly long (250mm) focal length through one of our windows. At first I didn’t know what to do about this. There were two options depending on how the squirrel got there. If it jumped from the Japanese Maple behind then ...
The magician Our older daughter, her husband, and their three children came for a visit and we went with them to a sort of children’s party at one of our beaches. One of the highlights was a magician. I loved the expressions on the kids’ faces.
Onions in a nest There was a sign next to this pot explaining what kind of onion this is. Unfortunately, I didn’t take a picture of the sign or otherwise note down the information. I have a vague memory of it saying that this particular type of onion is native to South Africa (I might not have ...
Plantpots I think it was the light that appealed to me here – sort of ‘dappled’ with interesting shadows cast on the pots. I also liked the arrangement of the pots – I’d never seen plant pots placed on top of each other in the is way (i.e. with the the bottom pot inverted ...
Horse and (dismounted) rider Taken at a nearby public garden. The horses (there were more than just this one) had just returned from a ride and were about to be groomed and fed. I can’t really articulate why I like this one.
Seating arrangement Interesting arrangement of objects seen in a nearby garden. I’m a sucker for rocking chairs.
For those Twin Lens Reflex (TLR) aficionados out there If you’re into Twin Lens Reflex (TLR) cameras you’ll love this site. It has a very simple name: TLR Cameras Website and it’s not all that attractively presented. It has a very ‘old style’ look to it, but it’s packed with information about TLRs of all kinds. The section on his collection ...
Ferocious looking bird statue I have no idea what bird this represents. The tail looks a little like a Turkey, but the head doesn’t and if it’s a turkey it’s the nastiest looking Turkey I’ve ever seen. In any case the head looks more like that of a bird of prey of some kind.
An interesting mailbox Not something you see every day! This interesting (and huge) mailbox stands outside the Suburban Carting Company in Briarcliff Manor, NY. Presumably not content with a generic mailbox they must have had one custom built to suit their needs. Perhaps they also get such a large volume of mail that they needed ...
Table by the lake side Lovely, slightly weathered wrought iron table overlooking our lake.
Frog golfers Seen in a neighbor’s driveway. Cute!
Bathroom pictures – a reflection This exercise was taken from the “Thinking Sideways” chapter of Freeman Patterson’s book: “Photography and the Art of Seeing. A Visual Perception Workshop for Film and Digital Photography“. It’s in a section entitled “Familiar Things”, which is described as follows: The next three exercises will help keep your spirit of discovery alive, make you more ...
Bathroom pictures 10: Legs Why did I take this picture? Well – “It seemed like a good idea at the time, yer honour”. Actually I was feeling a bit frustrated. I had nine pictures, but I couldn’t for the life of me see where another would come from (remember I needed ten pictures). I’d about resigned ...
Bathroom pictures 9: Shell The object in the first post in this series (Bathroom pictures 1: Offset spiral) is one of a number of shells my wife has placed in a small tray in the bathroom. In desperation (it is a very small bathroom after all!) I turn to another shell.
Bathroom pictures 8: Incense holder A different view of an everyday object: aerial view of an incense holder. Another picture that works better in color – mostly earth tones. The jar is quite colorful and the sticks are bright orange. The mat is a mixture of very light blues and yellows. I think it still works ...
Bathroom pictures 7: Through a glass darkly I think it was the patterns (the curved lines) that attracted me here.
Bathroom pictures 6: Gradient I liked the contrast between the lighter and darker bands and the way the bands get smaller towards the bottom. I also liked the textures of the lighter bands.
Bathroom pictures 5: Sparklies This is actually another view of the object in the preceding post: Bathroom pictures 4: Folds. However, where that picure was soft and ill-defined this one is sharper, with more hard edges and well defined shapes.
Bathroom pictures 4: Folds I’m not entirely sure what I liked about this one. Maybe it’s the dark and lighter shady and the somewhat shiny texture. And the fact that its rather soft and flowing.
Bathroom pictures 3: Self portrait The most difficult part of taking this picture was keeping the camera out of the frame! After that – trying to keep my expression from looking too demented (harder than you’d think. It took me a few attempts to get an expression that I was satisfied with).
Bathroom pictures 2: Vortex No prizes for guessing what this is. I actually preferred it in color, but since I’d decided to do the entire series in black and white…
Bathroom pictures 1: Offset spiral Another series! An earlier post mentioned a book I recently acquired: Photography and the art of seeing. In that post I said: I particularly liked the exercises he proposed, mostly in the “Thinking Sideways” section. I tend to get in a photographic rut where I take pretty much the same type of ...
Update: Church at the intersection of Route 9 and Route 301 I posted about this church September 2013 (Church at the intersection of Route 9 and Route 301). At the time I couldn’t find out any more information about it. Today I was browsing around in Cold Spring and leafed through this book: Around Cold Spring by Trudie A. Grace when I noticed a ...
Zeppelin painting company I loved the quirky sign on this building in Cold Spring, NY.
African statue It was standing on one of our shelves and caught my eye. A gift from our older daughter who lived in Africa for some time. I tried using the Carl Zeiss Jena 58mm f2 Biotar, but didn’t get the results I was looking for. Where I was taking the picture was rather dark ...
Empty (abandoned?) house on North State Road My wife was doing her exercise class yesterday and I decided to take Harley for a walk in the vicinity of Club Fit in Briarcliff Manor. While walking along North State Road towards Ryder Park I came across this empty house.
A comfortable spot for a nap Our dog, Harley found a comfortable spot for a nap: on my wifes’ legs as she was lying on the sofa reading the newspaper.
Sing Sing prison Seen from down by the Hudson Line railroad tracks in Ossining, NY. Looking at this picture closely you can see that what should be vertical lines are, in fact, wavy. It was a very hot day so I suppose that this effect is some kind of heat haze. According to Wikipedia: Sing Sing ...
Carved head Seen on one of the magnificent staircases at the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park, NY. I like the flowing lines and the textures of the two pillars. I have no idea who this depicts, nor do I know who created it and my attempts to find out have so far come to nothing.
Some more from Drewsclift Cemetery A few more from my recent visit to Drewsclift Cemetery. Small obelisk. I’ve seen the bush in bloom in other cemeteries and it’s really quite spectacular. Gravestones. Another large obelisk. I loved the patterns in the stone. Gravestone with plant.
My new workspace Our basement is divided into a finished area (our TV room) and an unfinished area. A few years ago I started to use a portion of he unfinished area (used for our washer/dryer and as storage) as my workspace. Since then we’ve gradually tidied it up and made it more comfortable. The latest change ...
African carved wooden sculpture This wooden sculpture sits on the wall of our TV room. It looks like a huge comb and I have no idea what it represents. I don’t even really know how we came to own it although I imagine it was given to us by our older daughter who spent a number of ...
Watkins Glen State Park Watkins Glen State Park taken in July, 2006 with a Canon Powershot S50. Quite remarkable rock formations. According to Wikipedia: Watkins Glen State Park is located outside the village of Watkins Glen, south of Seneca Lake in Schuyler County in New York’s Finger Lakes region. The park’s lower part is near the village, while ...
Clouds I was sitting on our dock – reading, drinking and generally watching he world go by when I noticed these interesting cloud formations.
Still life with lilacs One of the books I got for my birthday was “Sudek” by Sonja Bullaty. I’ve become something of a fan of Josef Sudek of late – ever since I saw some pictures he’d taken of St. Vitus’ Cathedral in Prague. Some of his pictures remind me a little of another one of my ...
Drewsclift Cemetery Entrance to the cemetery looking from inside. A small, pleasant cemetery in the town of Southeast. You approach the cemetery along a short trail (where I saw the Dryad’s Saddle fungus). It would have been a tranquil walk if not for the close proximity to a major highway (Route 684) and the ...
Can you really transform a bland picture into “fine art”??? In this video, Swiss photographer and YouTuber YuriFineart shows you how he took a bland snapshot and turned it into a “fine art” looking black and white image. Scroll down and hit play to see how he does it: Source: Petapixel – How to Transform a Bad Snapshot Into ‘Fine Art’ with Lightroom What an astonishing ...
Three owls Seen in a neighboring garden. Picture taken with a Sony Alpha 500 and Tamron 18-25mm f3.5-6.3 (IF) Macro.
Four chairs I was intrigued by these four chairs sitting outside a neighbor’s house: different sizes; different colors; different textures – against the backdrop of a nice stone wall.
Waiting for the bus on a hot sunny day You had to feel for this guy. It was a hot day today – about 81F and it had obviously taken its toll on him. Maybe he’d just come off work? Perhaps he’d had some sleepless nights? Who knows?
Fan Vaults I suppose I could say that I was aiming for a diffused, high key effect here, but it wouldn’t be true. In reality I was using a recently purchased Canon f1.4 lens in Leica Thread Mount on my Sony Nex 5N. I think it’s probably the first manual focus lens (with adapter) that ...
Metal garden obelisk/trellis I’m attracted to objects like this. Although it’s probably not all that old it gives the impression of having been there forever. The paint has started to come of and numerous spots of rust are starting to appear. Even the vines look a little bit unkempt as if this small structure has ...
Oriental stairs I think I like this because initially the eye is drawn to the lightest object in the picture i.e. the table in the bottom left corner. Then the strong diagonal of the stair rail leads up and to the left where just to the right, in the top right corner there’s a small oriental ...
Another wooden form As with the last one (see Wooden Form) I liked the curves and the textures of the wood. In that case the curves of the wood were mirrored by the shadow cast on the walls. In this case the curved form is literally “mirrored” by its own reflection.
Wooden form I liked the curves and the textures of the wood – and the shadow cast on the wall.
Revisiting some old pictures taken with a very simple camera NY Street Vendor. Back in 2012 I posted some pictures taken with a “plastic fantastic” Bell and Howell Camera (see Bell & Howell). I don’t know how long the film had been in that camera (probably years) and the scans were poor and low resolution (done in a local CVS). The colors were also way ...
The chair in the corner The original color version of this picture was all earth tones: browns, oranges etc. At first I was inclined to post it that way, but then I thought – what would it look like in black and white? The initial answer was – terrible!!! All of the colors converted into similar tones ...
Springwood – Fala Fala was FDR’s Scottish Terrier. Fala was devoted to him and FDR was devoted to Fala. One story in particular resonated in this election season of insults and attacks. It seems that FDR had been insulted by his Republican opponents (it seems not much has changed). In response he had these words to ...
Old farm equipment I came across this inside a stable dating back to 1886. I have no idea what it is.
Spooky child doll I came across this old doll sitting on a chair the other day. It seemed a little scary to me so I thought I’d try to enhance the “scariness”.
Two titans These two busts, one of Sir Winston Churchill and the other of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) stand facing each other on the grounds of the FDR house, Springwood in Hyde Park, NY. They’re by Oscar Nemon (born Neumann). At least the Churchill bust is by Nemon (I’m not entirely sure who was the sculptor for ...
Birthday boy Yesterday was my birthday and we went out to dinner and a fine performance of “Man of La Mancha” at the Westchester Broadway Theater. My wife had earlier asked me to scan this old picture so that she could post it on Facebook and of course I neglected to do it. So on our return ...
Revolving Door This is another one of those pictures that I like, but can’t explain precisely why. It’s something to do with the way you look through the door and see the figures behind. The door is a little out of focus and the figures behind are sharper so you tend to zero in on ...
Waterfall – Hawaii, 2006 Taken on the Big Island on News Years Eve, 2006 with a Canon Powershot S50. I don’t remember exactly where it was taken.
Old Carriage I was returning from a walk along the Old Croton Aqueduct when I spotted this old carriage on the grounds of the Clear View School (formerly the Scarborough Day School). Taken with a Sony Nex 5N and Sigma 30mm f2.8.
Statues, Copenhagen, Denmark 2011 Seen in a park in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2011. I believe that these two statues depict Marsyas and Athena. According to Wikipedia: In Greek mythology, the satyr Marsyas (/ˈmɑːrsiəs/; Greek: Μαρσύας) is a central figure in two stories involving death: in one, he picked up the double flute (aulos) that had been abandoned by ...
The Kiss Taken in a small park somewhere on the east side of Manhattan, around 47th-49th Street and 2nd Avenue with a Panasonic Lumix Zs7, an inexpensive compact camera with a very long zoom – very useful in this case. An invasion of privacy – maybe? But this was a public place so there’s always the possibility ...
Smalley Inn, Carmel, NY I took this picture shortly after we bought the lake house in 2012. I was exploring what was for me a new area and passed by Carmel. I was a bit hungry and the Smalley Inn looked like an interesting spot to grab a sandwich. While I was there I got talking ...
Boy and goat Taken in June 2013 with a Sony Nex 5N and its 18-55mm kit lens at Niese’s Maple Farm. Even though I made this photograph a while ago I still remember it well. The boy had been looking down and then he suddenly looked up, fortuitously right at the camera. At the same ...
A Chandelier It was the curves of the candle holders that caught my eye. That and the contrast between the darks of the chandelier and the lights of the walls behind.
Spiky Stem I think it was the contrast between the darkness of the stem and the lighter thorns (if that’s what they are) that caught my attention. And the way the thorns cast their shadows. I have no idea what plant this is.
Chapel of our Lady Restoration. Restored chapel in Cold Spring, NY Chapel Restoration Facade. According to the restoration website (which also has some interesting old pictures). Like most American stories, ours begins with immigration. Of the multitudes who came to our shores between 1820 and1860, a third were from Ireland. For those who gained employment at the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring, a chapel was established to ...
The busiest and best breakfast in New York Taken across the street from Grand Central Terminal with a Sony Nex 5N and 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 OSS kit lens outside what I believe is the Pershing Square Cafe. I think there’s something a little surrealistic about this picture with the disembodied head of the woman emerging from the chaos of the reflections. I’m not at ...
My wife and our visiting friend from Bangkok Our friend’s wife transferred to Bangkok, Thailand about a year ago and of course he went with her. But they retain a house here (presently rented) and return frequently to make sure everything is OK. He’s here at the moment and staying in our house in Briarcliff Manor (which is right next to ...
Interesting wrought iron grave marker I’ve been to a number of cemeteries and I don’t think I’ve ever come across a wrought iron grave marker. In case you can’t read the writing on the medallions the top one is nicely embossed and says: “Alois Beier x1895 +1970”. The bottom one seems to have just been painted on an ...
A crack in the concrete I recently posted (A couple of short videos) a video interview with David Bailey in which he said: I never understand when people say I don’t know what to photograph. Just look at a concrete wall with cracks in it and you can paint for eternity. I’m never at a loss to find out what to ...
Around the picnic shelter at Pelton Pond I’ve posted about Pelton Pond before. Old Equipment on Pelton Pond On Pelton Pond It’s quite close by and its a relatively short, easy walk for when I don’t feel like anything more strenuous. I took the dog for a walk there again the other day. These pictures were taken around the picnic shelter, which overlooks ...
Union Cemetery A nearby blue historical marker sign describes it as follows: Established 1863 Union Cemetery Two acres purchased, surveyed and dedicated for burials of early area families. Located just South of Foshay’s Corners on the old Dutchess Turnpike (now Route 301) on lands of Foshay and Halstead farms, incorportated May 28, 1868 as Union Cemetery Association. Ezekiel ...
His other car’s a Mercedes It was a gorgeous, sunny day the other day and I was walking the dog around the lake when my friend Paul pulled up in his Jaguar – with the top down. He looked rather ‘cool’ and I was completely at a loss for words. And yes – his other car IS a ...
Beacon Falls As it flows through Beacon, Fishkill Creek drops over a waterfall and then tumbles over a number of boulders past old buildings from another time. It also passes by one of our favorite restaurants: SWiFT at the Roundhouse at Beacon Falls. I’d neglected to bring a camera with me so these were taken ...
Fairy in the garden Taken in our garden at the lake house in June, 2013 with a Yashica FX-2. I’m little confused with this one. It’s certainly taken with a Yashica FX-2 (with 50mm Yashica DSB lens) and it’s with a number of other pictures with the June 2013 date, but doesn’t it look like snow on ...
Grand Central Terminal I went into New York City last night to have a drink with a friend and former colleague. We arranged to meet in “The Shakespeare”, and English pub-like place in the William hotel on 39th street between Park and Madison Ave. As I was walking back along Park Avenue I noticed the brightly ...
Matthew Vassar House This house once belonged to Matthew Vassar (April 29, 1792 – June 23, 1868. Born in the UK, Vassar was a prominent businessman and Brewer. He was also known for his philanthropy. He was the founder of the renowned Vassar College (founded 1861). A historic marker on the property reads: “Matthew Vassar. ...
African Street Scene Taken on Gorée Island, off Dakar, Senegal in October, 2003.
Marsh or Swamp? After I’d taken this picture I browsed around on the internet to find out what this body of wetland actually was. I couldn’t find a name for it, but in my search I discovered that there’s a difference between a marsh and a swamp, something I’d never given much thought to before. This particular stretch ...
Moore family plot According to the nearby sign: The Moore Family Descendants of Clement C. Moore, Author of a “A Visit from St. Nicholas“. The Moore family resided in Ossining from about 1839 until the early years of this century. They were descendants of Clement Clark Moore, the well-kown scholar and writer who lived from 1779 to 1863. The family resided in ...
Hoffmann family plot According to Wikipedia: John Thompson Hoffman (January 10, 1828 – March 24, 1888) was the 23rd Governor of New York (1869–72). He was also Recorder of New York City (1861–65) and the 78th Mayor of New York City (1866–68). Connections to the Tweed Ring ruined his political career, in spite of the absence of evidence to ...
McCord family plot The nearby sign reads: James McCord Revolutionary War veteran, original settler. James McCord. December 14, 1752 – September 5, 1833 was a private in Colonel Hammond‘s Militia along with his brother, Robert. Two younger brothers joined the British side, fought in Delancey’s Brigade and laster (sic – probably later) went into exile where they died. James is buried ...
Old cart Came across this during one of my walks. I love old pieces of equipment – actually old things in general. I post so many landscapes that you’t think I had a passion for landscape photography, but this isn’t actually the case. At one point, enamored of Ansel Adams I thought I might ...
A pleasant surprise The entrance to this trail (marked only with a horseshoe symbol) is a less than a 5 minute drive from our house in Putnam Valley. I’d been there before but for some reason (which I can’t recall) I hadn’t explored the trail very thoroughly. Today I was looking for a quick walk close ...
Warren’s Sugarhouse I posted a picture of Warren’s Sugar House once before. That one was a fairly close in view. This one is a broader view showing more context.
Wildflower Island I’ve been posting a lot of black and white pictures of late. This is largely because, with the warmer weather, I’ve been out walking a lot and this is when I most often take pictures. Unfortunately where I walk is, at this time of year, not very colorful so I tend to prefer ...
The boathouse I’ve often thought that this boathouse would make an interesting picture (at least to me) and in the past I’ve taken a number of pictures of it. None of them came out quite like I wanted them too. Still I kept trying. I’m much happier with this one.
George Borup RIP According to a sign next to the grave site: George Borup. Member of the Peary Expedition to the North Ploe (sic). George Brandreth Borup was born in Ossining on September, 2 1885. The son of Lieutenant Colonel Henry D. Borup and Mary Brandreth, he attended the local Holbrook Military Academy (formerly located almost opposite our ...
Collyer Mausoleum Interesting Egyptian looking mausoleum in Dale Cemetery. Their site describes it as follows: The Collyer Family played an important role in the ship-building industry during the 19th Century. Thomas Collyer was born in Sing Sing in 1818 and exhibited a fascination for boats from early childhood. He was employed at the age of fourteen by ...
Moth We went into NY city to have dinner with our son-in-law, Colin who was visiting from Geneva. The windows at Scarborough Station are right on the Hudson and as I we were waiting for the train I noticed a number of moths on them. As I started to take some pictures my wife ...
Dale Cemetery, Ossining, NY I don’t know how I missed this place for so long. I live quite close by and the cemetery even bears the same name as mine. We’ve often passed along Routh 134 in Ossining, NY and I’ve often seen a cemetery on the side of the road. Thinking it was the Dale ...
On the phone Seen during a walk in Ossining, New York.
Two graces Doorway of the Michael Kors show at 610 fifth avenue, NY in Rockefeller Center. This entry door between two shop windows belongs to the “Maison Française”, which celebrates the “Friendship of France and the United States. It features a gilded bas-relief by Alfred Janniot called : “Paris and New York Joining Hands ...
Pyramid Shaped Rock Went for a two hour walk yesterday along the Roaring Brook Trail in Fahnestock State Park – in the direction of Stillwater Lake. There’s not much to see at this time of year (bare trees, fallen leaves, rocks etc.), but I did come across this interesting pyramid shaped rock. I guess it must ...
Fungus From my research I believe this to a Mossy Maple Polypore (Oxyporus populinus), but I have some doubts as it doesn’t have the moss, which typically accompanies a fungus of this type. Oxyporus means “polypore with a sharp, acid taste”; populinus means ” inhabiting poplar (Populus) trees.”, which is odd since it’s mostly found near ...
Detail of a gravestone at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery A lyre. The instrument of Apollo, the lyre is a Greek symbol denoting heavenly accord, harmony, and music and song praising God. It could also be seen as a harp, which is a symbol of heavenly music, or hopes of heaven. Stringed instruments such as these are often associated with Divine music. Lyres on gravestones ...
Dead trees Dead trees in one of the un-named (or at least I couldn’t find the name) ponds in Fahnestock State Park.
Horse and Rider In an earlier post (Approaching Rockwood Hall) I mentioned that we (myself and our dog, Harley) had an encounter with a horse and rider. I don’t think he’d ever seen a horse before and he was very excited – so much so that I had to pull him back to stop him from running ...
Approaching Rockwood Hall I’ve posted before on Rockwood Hall, the former estate of William D Rockefeller in Tarrytown, NY: Goat Portrait Rockwood Hall Foundation and Trees Bridge to Nowhere. Rockwood Hall – Evening. A Walk to Rockwood Hall. Winding Path – Rockwood Hall. Rockwood Hall – July 6, 2011 – early evening The grounds were landscaped by Frederick Law Olmstead (known for Central Park and Prospect ...
Hans Christian Andersen Statue, Copenhagen, Denmark Hans Christian Andersen Statue in Rådhuspladsen (City Hall Square), Copenhagen, Denmark. Created by Henry Luckow Nielsen (1902-1992) in 1961. I haven’t been able to find much information about the sculptor. This was taken back in 2005. Our elder daughter and her family lived in Copenhagen for several years and we went to ...
Monument Park, Peekskill I first noticed this impressive monument some time ago, but didn’t have a chance to look at it closely at the time. I went back yesterday. It’s the Town of Cortlandt Civil War Memorial even though it’s located in Monument Park, Peekskill. It’s the most spectacular of the monuments there, but it’s not ...
Bird in a tree It was the coldest night of the season last night with temperatures going down to -5F/-20C. It was also windy so it felt more like -25F/-31C. I came down a little before 8:00am and the sun was just rising. This large bird of prey was sitting in one of our trees. ...
Woman gazing What was she gazing at? She was walking up a flight of stairs (I was at the top) and hanging from the ceiling was an Alexander Calder mobile: Lobster Trap and Fish Tail, 1939. The picture was taken at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Tall Figure III Taken August 2012 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. It’s certainly by Alberto Giacometti, but I’m not entirely sure what it’s called. I believe it’s Tall Figure III.
The lure of “likes” A while back I joined a Facebook group: The Hudson Valley in Pictures. One of the first pictures I posted got what seemed to me to be a very large number of “likes” (probably because the groups I usually belong too are much smaller than this one). This was pleasing. However, as ...
Ron When we bought our lake house a few years ago we decided to remodel the kitchen. This brought us into contact with a number of interesting contractors who actually did the work. Ron was one of them. He’s presently an electrician and he did pretty much all of the electrical work on the ...
Owen Jones Memorial, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery This spectacular memorial to Owen Jones is, with its gothic embellishments, to me one of the most striking in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. I’d been up at the top, nearer to the memorial, but close up I found it difficult to get a good angle on this rather large structure. I gave up and ...
Reaching Through The Shadow: 9/11 Memorial – Croton Landing I’ve posted about this memorial a couple of times before. It’s in Croton Landing Park, a favorite spot for walking he dog: Croton Landing Park 9/11 Memorial at Croton Landing revisited The memorial seems to have been evolving. When I first went it was essentially just a twisted girder from the ruins of the World Trade Center. ...
Alvin Langdon Coburn Great article on Alvin Langdon Coburn on The Online Photographer. It’s nice to see someone who doesn’t dismiss pictorialism out of hand. Alvin Langdon Coburn, if you don’t know the name, born 1882, was a pictorialist enfant terrible (nevertheless dominated by his strong-willed mother) who did his best work before the First World War—he gained ...
Andres Our friend, Andres was visiting from Geneva so we went into NY City to have lunch. We’ve known Andres for about 25 years, first meeting when we were both working in Geneva. We moved back Geneva and he moved back and forth between Geneva and NY a couple of times before we both ...
Pennsylvania Station around 1910 And they destroyed this to make way for the monstrosity that is the new Penn Station with Madison Square Garden on top of it! “Thirty-Second Street entrance, Pennsylvania Station, New York.” The original Penn Station in the final stages of construction, circa 1910. 8×10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company
Smokers Taken just four days after I retired in 2012 with a Sony Nex-5N and a 55-210 mm lens that was purchased using a gift certificate given to me by my staff as a retirement present. It was taken on 44th Street between 2nd and 3rd Ave in New York City and as I recall it was ...
Snowy lake During another walk this small bridge caught my attention. It’s just about visible from the road through a neighbors driveway. I’d probably walked by about every other day for the past 3 years or so, but I’d never noticed it. This time I did. After I’d taken the picture (when I was looking ...
People in windows I was walking the dog in Briarcliff Manor when I noticed the geometric pattern of the bright windows against the darkness outside. The people seen through the windows add a human dimension to an otherwise abstract pattern.
Light patterns While waiting for my wife to emerge from our local health club (she does dance/exercise classes there) I noticed these patterns being made by the light shining through a glass roof.
Scary sculpture on a building in Manhattan Taken in March, 2012 with a Panasonic Lumix ZS-7. This architectural feature is fairly high up on a building in Manhattan. For all its failings (smeary images, green cast, over-aggressive noise control – many of them fairly typical of small sensor compact cameras) the ZS-7 has one great advantage: its 25-300mm zoom range. ...
Skaters at Rockefeller Center This is another one of those pictures that I like without knowing exactly why. When I took it I remember that what impressed me was the movement of the skaters around the rink. Some were extremely graceful, others less so. I’ve never been on ice skates in my life and my occasional ...
Away in a manger Seen in a nearby church during a memorial service we attended January 4.
Graveyard for stone pillars. I noticed these four stone pillars in a garden not too far away from where I live. They each have a metal piece sticking out of the top and I found myself wondering what it’s purpose was. Maybe something had once upon a time been attached? But what? They were placed ...
Roaring Brook The lake into which this brook runs is called “Roaring Brook Lake”. The brook runs alongside “Roaring Brook Lane” so I guess this must be “Roaring Brook” – just before it runs into the lake, about two minutes walk from our house.
Walking the Dog For once it’s not me walking the dog, but me taking a picture of someone walking the dog. This was taken with a NEX-5n and 18-55mm kit lens. It was soon after I got the camera and I wasn’t all that familiar with it. It was early in the morning in November ...
Red Anthurium I was sitting at our breakfast table when this plant caught my eye. A friend of ours had given it to us as a Christmas present. It has green leaves, and red waxy flowers with a projecting bit in the middle that’s a lighter color of green. Although it’s quite colorful for ...
Triangular Forms This was taken right where Roaring Brook enters the lake. I was struck by the triangular shapes: the rock; the old tree stump; and the lake intruding into the scene. I also liked the textures of the rock and the stump in contrast to the comparative smoothness of the lake in the background.
Tree and Rock This tree is at the end of a neighbors driveway. I’ve walked past it many times and there is something that attracts me to it: maybe it’s the way the tree divides? maybe it’s the rough textures of the rocks and the tree bark? Somehow I’ve never been able to get a shot ...
A couple of interesting posts on black and white landscape photography Two posts on topics of interest to me: landscape photography and black & white photography recently caught my attention on Andrew Gibson’s blog: The Power of the Black & White Landscape How to Compose Black and White Landscapes. To me the second of the two articles is the more interesting. Where the first merely encourages people to ...
1000th post on this blog This is the 1000 post to this blog. The first post is dated 5 October 2011 and the 500th post is dated 28 December 2014. So it took me about three years to do the first 500 posts and a little over one year to do the second 500. Since my main ...
Frozen Stream Taken while walking the dog – or in this case just after walking the dog. We’d been for a walk and I noticed a few things I thought worthy of a picture. Unfortunately I didn’t have a camera. Luckily this stream is only a couple of minutes walk from where I live ...
An Organ In an earlier post I mentioned that an old friend of ours had passed away. His memorial service was yesterday and of course we went. I was sitting near this organ and decided that it would be worth a picture when the service was over. I liked the straight lines contrasting with ...
Bock, bock, bock, bock, bock, begowwwwk The rather strange title is supposed to be the sound that a chicken makes. I had no idea how to write that sound so I looked it up on the internet. I found a number of possibilities – none of which seemed to be particularly compelling. This one seemed to be the ...
2015 Favorites – Black and White Lightbeams. Another year has passed and it’s time to post some of my favorite pictures from 2015 – starting with some black and whites. Like last year I’m presenting my ten favorites – in no particular order. I’ve been trying to find a focus for my photography, which at the moment is all over the place. ...
Traffic Policeman, New York City Taken during a walkaround in New York City in February, 2012 on Fifth Avenue around 50th Street (near St. Patrick’s Cathedral). The camera was a Sony Nex 5N and I believe the lens was a Canon 50mm f1.4 in Leica Thread Mount.
Madonna and Child Statue Taken with a Panasonic Lumix LX-3 in March, 2011 at Mariandale Retreat and Conference Center, Ossining, NY. I came across a very small shrine in the grounds and in it was this lovely little statue.
Nets I was walking across one of the playing fields in Briarcliff Manor when I came across a small goal. I don’t know to what sport it relates (it’s too small for soccer; maybe lacrosse?). I was drawn to the patterns made by the nets; the contrast between the white netting and the darker ...
Fire In Law Park, Briarcliff Manor Some excitement in the Village of Briarcliff Manor. Apparently there was a fierce fire last Saturday at the pavilion overlooking the village pool in Law Park. The fire started around 9:00 pm, quickly engulfing the structure in flames. The Briarcliff Manor fire department is very close to the park so one would assume ...
Abraham Lincoln Statue, Union Square, NYC This was taken around 10:00 am and the light was already bright and contrasty. I thought I’d avoid the probably most common view of the statue i.e. from the front and take my picture from the side. The color didn’t add much value so I started to think in terms of black and ...
Figure on an Escalator Taken in February, 2012 before I got serious with this blog (there are only three posts prior to February 2012). Shot inside Grand Central Terminal. For some reason I really like this picture. In fact I like it so much that I have a print of it on my wall. I’m ...
Stonecrop Gardens – Conservatory According to a brochure Stonecrop Gardens on the Hudson River Valley Institute site: The Conservatory at Stonecrop has four wings. Each wing has the ability to maintain a unique environment with climate control systems. It was completed in 1997, and is used as a display house in the winter and spring. At that time of year, the display ...
Ansel Adams’ Pictures of an American Concentration Camp During WWII More than 30 pictures in this article. Ansel Adams is best known for his breathtaking landscape photos, but he photographed much more than nature during his decades-long career. In 1943, already Source: Ansel Adams’ Pictures of an American Concentration Camp During WWII Bearing in mind Donald Trump‘s recent comments regarding Muslims I wonder how close we are to ...
Urban Decay In the previous post (A Couple of Buildings on Main Mall Row, Poughkeepsie, NY) I mentioned that there were a lot of lovely buildings in Poughkeepsie. While that’s certainly true there are also a lot of boarded up shop fronts and abandoned houses. This seems to be typical of many of the larger ...
Tree Shadows on a Wall My wife had ordered something from Sears and had to pick it up. While she was inside I took the dog for a short walk around the parking lot. It was around 4:00 pm on a very bright sunny day. The sun was low and the light was very contrasty. As ...
Thai Woodcarver Taken somewhere outside of Bangkok, Thailand sometime in the early 2000s. I don’t remember what camera I used or what film. I do remember being quite impressed by his abilities and his concentration. Even with lots of people (including myself) milling around him, making noise, shooting off flashes etc. he remained entirely focused ...
Photobook completed I have a number of ongoing projects few of which I’ve actually completed. In this case, however, I managed to finish one – probably because it had a very definite end point. Back in May 2015 our friend Paul expressed a wish to do something with his old negatives. Specifically he wanted ...
At Home – Briarcliff Manor Yesterday was Black Friday and my wife wanted to go shopping. Since the demise of our old Toyota about a year ago we now have only one car and I didn’t feel much like going to the mall so I stayed at home in Briarcliff Manor. To keep myself occupied I walked around ...
Stone Building in Fahnestock State Park Numerous quaint stone buildings are scattered around Fahnestock State Park. I believe they were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The Friends of Fahnestock and Hudson Highlands State Parks (FOFHH) site has a section on the history of the park, which states: Work on park improvements at Fahnestock began almost immediately ...
A Floating Market Scan of a negative probably taken in the early 2000s at a floating market outside of Bangkok, Thailand. The floating markets hark back to a time when water transport played a more significant role in everyday life than is now the case. Most of the markets are now tourist traps. I believe this ...
Grafitti on a Notice Board The title says it all.
Frog in a Window Taken towards the end of the day and shot through a dirty window and a screen. The autofocus was really hunting and couldn’t find focus. I switched to manual focus. Unfortunately I was so fixated on the frog that I didn’t notice that I didn’t have enough depth of field to get ...
Always look back During my recent walk in the woods I went down to Stillwater Lake then turned around and retraced my steps back to where I’d left the car. If I hadn’t walked back down the trail I wouldn’t have noticed this incredible fallen tree branch – I just hadn’t seen it on my way down. It ...
Perfect and Unrehearsed Interesting take on Cartier-Bresson’s “The Decisive Moment” with, as always from Lens, lot’s of great pictures. I’ve always been a bit confused by exactly what was meant by the “decisive moment”. This article helps a lot in clarifying things. The definition that I’ve heard most goes something along the lines of “the single short moment ...
Stairs I came across these stairs somewhere on the east side of Manhattan. I liked their curved lines and the arch that separates the two staircases. Also the vertical lines of the railings and the contrast between the light tones of the stairs and the deep blacks of railings. The shiny balls on ...
Self Portrait In A Damaged Mirror This was taken inside a toilet at Law Memorial Park, Briarcliff Manor, NY. As I was leaving I noticed this mirror. It was made of very shiny metal rather than glass and it had obviously been vandalized extensively. I also noticed that my reflection in the mirror was distorted because of the ...
New York Central Locomotive The museum’s web site provides the following information: As built, this was an E-7 diesel-electric demonstrator unit which was labeled “The Train of Tomorrow”, a four-car domed streamliner. This train made two visits to Connecticut – once in November 1948 and again in April 1949. In 1964, it was converted to an E-8 by the Union ...
China as it once was – photographs by Thomas Child Photographs of Peking, now known as Beijing, made by Thomas Child in the 1870s and 1880s are to go on show in London’s Chinatown as part of Asian Art in London season.More than 30 original photographs from the Stephan Loewentheil Historical Photography of China Collection, the largest holding of historical photographs of China in private ...
Chairs and Tables in Bryant Park Taken in Bryant Park (behind the Public Library on 5th Avenue and 42nd Street, New York City) in May, 2012. I liked the contrasts and the shadows.
Recumbent Lion Our neighbor (two houses away) has stone gate posts at the end of the driveway and on top of each of the gate posts lies one of these lions. I was walking home as the sun was going down and picking out the lion on the left gate post.
On the Khlong Scan of a negative taken many years ago outside of Bangkok, Thailand. According to Wikipedia: A khlong (also commonly spelled klong; Thai: คลอง (Pronunciation)) is the general name for a canal on the central plain of Thailand. These canals are spawned by the Chao Phraya, the Tha Chin, the Mae Klong Rivers, and their tributaries. ...
Withered Blossom On a shrub next to the road in one of our neighbor’s gardens. I wanted to see how well I could isolate the blossom from the background. It also seemed to me to be reflection of the transition from summer to fall, which saddened me a little.
Twig on a Rock I liked the texture of the rock and the diagonal lines of the cracks. Also the contrast with the black, essentially vertical twig.
Pall Bearers I thought long and hard about posting this picture. A while back I posted about a niece of ours who had passed away (RIP Eve Borja). This was taken at the funeral and shows the pall bearers waiting to take the coffin. The problem was that part of me felt that posting ...
Leaning on a Lamp Post… I’m leaning on a lamp, maybe you think, I look a tramp, Or you may think I’m hanging ’round to steal a motor-car. But no I’m not a crook, And if you think, that’s what I look, I’ll tell you why I’m here, And what my motives are. I’m leaning on a lamp-post at the corner of the street, In ...
Reading in the Park This was taken during one of my periodic walks around New York City. I came across this woman reading in a small park (I don’t remember which park it was nor do I remember exactly where it was) somewhere on the east side of Manhattan. I do recall that she was completely immersed ...
Father and Daughter This is my friend Gustavo with his eldest daughter. It was taken in June, 2012 with a Sony NEX 5N and its 18-55mm kit lens. We’d been to an antique car show at Maryknoll in Ossining, NY and after the show we went for a walk around inside the rather spectacular oriental style ...
A Watcher Judging by the time stamp on the picture I was passing through Grand Central on my way to work. What caught my attention first was the bright sunlight streaming through the windows at the east end of the terminal. Then I started to pay more attention to the people busily rushing around inside ...
Beach Scene with Clouds Taken while on vacation in the Turks and Caicos Islands, Spring 2011 with a Panasonic Lumix ZS-3. I liked the original color version too.
Fujifilm HS-10 – Finally Got Rid of it! Back in May of 2013 I did a post: “Forgotten but not gone. Fujifilm Finepix HS10” about my relationship with my poor lamented Fujifilm HS10. Well it’s now very definitely gone. I just boxed it up and sent it to my brother-in-law in California. He had a need for a digital camera ...
Photography: An Eightfold Path Toward Self-Discovery Interesting article by Andy Ilachinski at The Luminous Landscape. True photography, as a creative medium meant to express (and only rarely just to impress) requires a lifetime of dedication, practice and patience. In an age of ready access to all kinds of photo gear, from low end to high, and near instant self-gratification with “Wow, another ...
Seagull Landing We went to Danbury Fair Mall yesterday. My wife dropped me off at Barnes and Noble (see At the Bookstore) and after I’d spent a while there I walked back to the mall to wait for her. As I was walking back across the parking lot I came across a group (flock??) of ...
Vines on a barred window Seen at an old, abandoned ruin of a building (the Beltzhoover Teahouse) by a pond in Irvington, NY. More pictures of the teahouse can be found here.
The Bird and Bottle Inn, Garrison, NY According to “Historic Houses of the Hudson Valley” by Harold Donaldson Eberlein and Cortlandt Van Dyke Hubbard: Lying just to the east of the Albany Post Road, at Indian Brook between Garrison-on-Hudson and Cold Spring, the Bird and Bottle began life about 1761 – perhaps a few years earlier – as Warren’s Tavern. When the ...
Geese on the Wing In the previous post (Why It Does Not Have to be In Focus: Modern Photography Explained) I mentioned that I find it hard to to break rules and explore boundaries. So I thought I’d try something a little different. This started out as fairly low resolution scan of a film photograph taken with ...
Hector Falls Another one from our trip to Seneca Lake in Upstate New York. This is Hector Falls, also on Seneca Lake – Just north of Watkins Glen. The figures on the left are three of my nieces and the person on the right is the husband of the one on the right. He’s ...
Pier on Seneca Lake Taken back in July, 2006 with an old Canon Powershot S50 during a visit with my mother-in-law, brother-in-law and his family. They live in Rochester, NY and took us to the Finger Lakes Region where this was taken. The pier is on one of the lakes: Seneca Lake. Known as the Lake ...
Drooping Roses I usually take pictures of flowers because a) they’re convenient – we have lots of them in the garden thanks to my wife’s never ending ministrations; b) my wife likes me taking pictures of her flowers; c) I like the bright colors – they cheer me up. However, because of the above I’ve been ...
Stone Doves Taken with a Sony NEX 5n and Meyer Optik Görlitz 30mm Lydith f3.5 outside the Hyatt Regency Tysons Corner Center in Virginia – one of the numerous stone birds scattered around the plaza
Norwalk Visitors Dock Another one of my occasional forays into film. Taken in Norwalk, Connecticut – December 2011 with a Arsenal Kiev 4am (A Soviet Union copy of a pre-war Zeiss-Ikon Contax II) with a Arsenal Helios 53mm f1.8 lens. Soviet lenses tend to be a copy of something (usually a Zeiss lens), but I haven’t ...
Inside the Mall I was sitting the Danbury Fair Mall reading, sipping coffee and generally whiling away time until my wife finished her shopping when I thought: “Might as well take a picture…”
A Faucet Seen in a coffee shop in Briarcliff Manor, NY. I liked the smoothness of the porcelain and the shiny metal fixtures. Also the curves of the sink and the faucets as well as the delicate pattern on the tiles.
Facade – Putnam Valley Sheriff’s Office This building is on Oregon Corners in Putnam Valley, NY. It’s opposite a small shopping area. I guess that what first caught my attention was the large shield (it’s actually quite colorful). There are two plaques on the front. One says: June 2001. This building is hereby dedicated to Honorable Vincent ...
Emi brings out the watermelon In an earlier post I mentioned that we had been invited to a get together at an apartment on Central Park West. This is the owner of the apartment bringing watermelon to some of the younger guests. I loved the way the children were jumping around. The one on the left seems ...
A Walk in the Fountains at the Palais des Nations, Geneva Taken in Geneva, Switzerland, August 2010 with a Panasonic Lumix ZS-3. This fountain is on the plaza in front of the Palais des Nations, the European HQ of the United Nations. It was a hot day so I knew that eventually someone would run through the water and sure enough someone did. ...
A View from Central Park West We were recently invited to meet up with our friends Guy and Summer in NY City. They were staying with a friend in an apartment on Central Park West. This is the view of Central Park from the apartment balcony.
Logs Seen at a neighboring house while walking around the lake. I was attracted to the shapes and the textures.
Moonrise Roaring Brook Lake My wife and I were returning down the Taconic State Parkway from a shopping expedition to the Danbury Fair Mall when I noticed what seemed to me to be an exceptionally large moon over our lake. I rushed home, got out my camera and tripod and rushed out to take the picture. The ...
A Statue on top of Grand Central Terminal Hercules looks up at Mercury in this statue by Jules-Félix Coutan called Glory of Commerce. The third statue (Minerva) is not visibly in this picture. According to The Secrets of Grand Central, Part 2 on the Untapped Cities website: The statue “Transportation”, alternatively “The Glory of Commerce” adorns the front of Grand Central facing south. On ...
Early Morning Shadows at the Flea Market Taken early (around 8:00 am) in the morning of October 9, 2011 at the Elephant’s Trunk County Flea Market in New Milford, CT. It was a clear morning, the sun was low and produced long, raking shadows. Taken with a Panasonic Lumix LX-3.
Disused Building at Oregon Corners This building is on the corner of Hollow Brook Road and Oscawana Lake Road in Putnam Valley, NY. It’s one of a number of businesses that have closed in Oregon Corners since the recent economic crisis. The whole area now looks a little sad. To the best of my knowledge it’s still ...
Man on a Boat Back in October, 2011 we went with some friends on a boat ride on the Hudson. This is one of the other passengers. He was wearing a straw hat and soon as I saw him I was taken by the magnificent beard and the expressive wrinkles around his eyes. This was taken ...
Boat Slip #18 Taken outside one of our favorite restaurants: Il Laghetto (formerly The Terrace Club) on Lake Mahopac.
Building Detail – Manhattan, 2012 Somewhat fuzzy! Somewhat noisy! But I still like it – maybe because it somewhat resembles photographs taken by my idol: Eugene Atget. Seen while walking around in Manhattan (New York City). I’d go back and try to get a sharper shot, but unfortunately I can’t remember where this was. Maybe I’ll bump ...
Stairway Detail I liked the curved columns (don’t know what the correct word is) and the way that they are layered to give the impression of two rows, one behind the other. The delicate but intricate carving also appealed to me. Taken in the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park, NY.
Old Stove I came across this rusted old stove sitting outside an apparently abandoned waterworks on Pocantico Lake. I’ve posted about this location before in Old Waterworks at Pocantico Lake.
Wire Cat I took this picture back in 2011 while testing a beat up old Yashica FX-2 I’d picked up at a Goodwill store. The lens was a Yashica DSB 50mm f1.9. In addition to testing the camera I also put the lens on my NEX 5N. This is one of the results.
Chess Pieces This one proved to be more difficult that I’d thought. I liked the shapes of the chess pieces and the contrast between the blacks and the whites. I wanted to arrange the composition so that there was a strong diagonal line. What could be simpler? Well…I hadn’t accounted for the fact ...
View from a Hotel Window View of the plaza from our hotel window. I usually take pictures at ground level so this higher view is a bit different for me. I liked the concentric circles made by the benches and the paving stones and the way that they’re broken by the gap in the benches; the family; and ...
Madonna and Child Statue Another one from our trip to Washington, D.C./Virginia. My wife and her family wanted to go to Church. I, however, had to stay outside with the dog as we couldn’t take him in and it was far to hot (approaching 100F) to leave him in the car. I’d thought to take him ...
Pirate Ship Playground Another highlight of the plaza outside our hotel was a metal frame pirate ship for children to climb on – very popular.
Hanging Balls The next few posts contain pictures taken during a recent trip to Washington, D.C. (actually to nearby Tysons Corner and Falls Church). My father-in-law passed away in 1978 and is buried in Falls Church, Virginia. My wife and some of her brothers (and in one case his family) decided to go to visit ...
Anyone need a hand? Part of a statue seen in a nearby park.
A Couple of Shadows A couple of interesting shadow patterns I bumped into while looking for other things.
Peekskill Riverwalk Park – Abraham Lincoln in Peekskill I didn’t even know that there was an Abraham Lincoln museum in Peekskill until I bumped into it while wandering around. It’s not far from the metro north station (between S. Water Street and the train tracks) and at first I didn’t even notice it and walked right by. Trying to find something ...
Peekskill Riverwalk Park – The Peekskill Brewery I went to the riverfront in Peekskill to take some pictures the other day. My wife needed the car so she dropped me in Cold Spring and I took the train down. It was a very hot day and when I got there the sun was still very high and the light wasn’t ...
Big Sur California These were taken on 29 December 2003 with a Canon Powershot S50. They were taken during a period where I’d soured on photography and so perhaps wasn’t taking as much care as I might otherwise have. Unfortunately I didn’t know enough about the benefits of RAW in those days so these are JPGs – ...
Ducks Our friend has some wonderful garden art. I’ve already posted about his herons, his wicker deer, his stone frog, and his swan. Here are some ducks.
Bell Pull I spotted this in a nearby church. I hadn’t seen one of these for a while. In fact I thought they’d disappeared entirely and that when you heard the sound of church bells (which you don’t hear as much in Putnam Valley, NY as you did in Sandbach, UK where I grew up) ...
Cellphones Galore This was taken in the Sculpture Garden at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. So many beautiful things to look at yet many of the people were just sitting there attending to their cellphones. Although I’m a compulsive internet user myself, I find the way these devices intrude into every ...
Swan and Jade Plant Another garden ornament in our friend’s garden. I liked the contrast between the light colored swan and the dark jade plant. Also the elegant lines of the swan (I suppose swans are pretty much by definition elegant. At least I’ve never seen one that wasn’t). The contrast between the rough ...
Harley by the lake I was sitting on our dock with our dog Harley when suddenly he jumped up and ran off. I spotted him on the grass behind a flower bed trying to get through the trees along the side of our property. There’s also a fence so I didn’t think he’d succeed. I was ...
Church Interior with Flag I was walking around an old, deconsecrated church when I came across a room at the rear. Opposite the room was a door to the outside. It was a bright, sunny day and the sunlight was streaming into the room.
Shrub Oak United Methodist Church According to Commentary: The History of Shrub Oak, by Lawrence Constant: After the Revolution, by 1789, there was built in the village a Methodist Church – one of the first in the county – upon land owned by Pierre Van Cortlandt, Jr., whose father, Pierre, Sr., had been a Congressman, Lieutenant-Governor of New York, president of ...
Here’s where we live No, not in the large house in the photograph – that’s long gone. As far as I can determine our house is approximately where the star is. Vestiges of some of the structures still remain, one of them as a wall on the edge of our property. We were told (don’t know if ...
Curiosity This was taken at my brother-in-law’s house in Rochester, NY – yes, the home of Kodak. On the left is another brother-in-law, and on the right one of my nieces’ daughters. Between them, and apparently fascinated by either me or what I was doing (i.e. taking pictures) is another daughter. I’m surprised ...
Heron Statues I’m not even sure that these are herons – I’m not really that good on birds. My instinctive reaction was to think that they were cranes, but then I started to rethink. They’re in a friend’s garden. His house is situated right next to and slightly above a wetlands area. ...
Monarchs of the Glen These wicker deer are in a friend’s garden. I’d photographed them before, but had never been able to get the right angle – largely because I took the pictures from the street while walking the dog. I didn’t want to disturb our friend. Today, however, we were over for drinks, snacks and ...
Weathered Wood This magnificent piece of wood is holding up a glass table top in one of our friend’s garden. I was sitting sipping a vodka and tonic when I noticed it. At first he jokingly said that he’d pulled it our of our lake, but finally admitted that he’d bought it. It certainly ...
Daphne Sculpture by Renée Sintenis. According to Wikipedia: Daphne (/ˈdæfniː/; Greek: Δάφνη, meaning “laurel”) is a minor figure in Greek mythology known as a naiad—a type of female nymph associated with fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of freshwater. There are several versions of the myth, but the general narrative is that because of her beauty, ...
Falling Water Water falling over the dam at Teatown Reservation. Taken with a Panasonic Lumix LX-3 in June, 2011. I’ve seen so many long exposure running water shots that I’m disinclined to follow that route. I preferred to freeze the motion of the water with a faster exposure (here 1/2000 second).
Neighborhood Dogs This dog lives about five minutes from where I do. There are actually three of them – the others can be seen in the background. He’s the brave one though. Whenever I pass with our dog, Harley they all charge down, yapping like crazy. However, they won’t go past a certain ...
Underware Vendor This was taken with a Pansonic Lumix LX-3 at a flea market in Connecticut in October, 2011. It was early (around 8:00 a.m.) in the morning and the sun was low and very bright. The light was extremely contrasty. At first I’d thought it would make a good color photo (the garments ...
Paul and Family I’ve recently started a small project with my friend, Paul. He’s an actor and former Soap Opera Star (General Hospital, Love of Life, The Edge of Night, and Days of our Lives). He also appeared in a number of other TV shows including Kojak, Police Woman, Good Times, The Blue Night etc. He ...
Rusting Farm Equipment in the Snow I’ve always been fascinate by old, rusting equipment. I found this piece at the Van Wyck Homestead in Fishkill, NY. I have no idea what it is or what it does/did, but I like the way it looks.
‘The Photographer’ : A Documentary about Edward Weston, Photography and the Photographic process Interesting (26 minute) documentary on Edward Weston. It’s actually quite low on specifics regarding Weston himself, focusing more on photography generally and the photographic process than on the photographer himself. There’s even a short section highlighting some of the giants of photography (e.g. Daguerre, David Octavius Hill, Matthew Brady, Julia Margaret Cameron, Alfred Stieglitz ...
New Windsor Cantonment: Weathered Planks I liked the textures of these weathered planks on the exterior of an old cabin.
Three Chairs I’m not entirely sure why I like this one. Maybe it’s the simplicity – there’s nothing much to complicate the picture? Or maybe its the contrast between the rather smooth chairs and the more textured stone? Maybe it’s the lines of the wires in the chairs? Whatever it is I do ...
Root I was out walking with some friends when one of them, knowing of my interest in photography, brought me this interesting looking root. It was essentially all browns so I thought it would look quite ‘muddy’ in color and that a black and white conversion would be in order. I like the contrasts ...
New Windsor Cantonment: The Mountainville Hut All of the huts at the New Windsor Cantonment are reconstructions, but this one was built from original materials, which were removed and used for a building on a nearby farm. Later they were donated by the farm owners to make this hut. There were once over 600 such huts, with upwards of ...
Winding Path In a nearby park.
The Pietrarubbia Group A large-scale work by Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro. According to the MuseumPublicity website: Pomodoro has described The Pietrarubbia Group as “a vision of an archaic settlement.” With its visual references to ancient burial traditions and hieroglyphics, the work commemorates the history and crumbling beauty of the nearly abandoned village for which it is named. The Pietrarubbia ...
Northgate Revisited Front Facade. I’ve posted about Northgate before in Former Stern/Cornish Mansion: Northgate , a ruined mansion just north of Cold Spring, NY. Although the ruin was essentially unchanged other things were different: Different time of year (May rather than December); Different Season (Spring rather than Winter) and perhaps most importantly a different camera/lens combination. ...
Wigwam I came across this during a walk at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation. It’s an large park (larger than the Rockefeller Preserve and Teatown reservation I believe). It’s very well maintained with lots of trails. There’s also a trailside museum that didn’t look too impressive. I enjoyed the walk, but I don’t ...
My Mother’s Birthday today Today is my mother’s Birthday. She would have been 89 had she not been carried away about 20 years ago by Emphysema caused by a lifetime of heavy smoking. She’s seen here with my father on their wedding day in August 1950. I wasn’t born until 1952 and so clearly could not ...
New Windsor Cantonment: Chess Pieces Old Chess Pieces – part of a set on display at the Temple of Virtue, New Windsor Cantonment.
Two heads are better than one Quirky bench seen in a nearby park.
Something’s afoot at Storm King Art Center Detail of “Three Legged Buddha” (see below) by Zhang Huan, one of the most striking (among many) installations at Storm King Art Center.
Reflections in a torn curtain – two versions The window is in a sugar house in a nearby park. I was attracted by the textures and contrasts e.g. white curtain/black interior as well as the way the trees are reflected in the glass and are seen through the tear in the curtain. One version is somewhat broader than the other. I like ...
Old Tree I’ve been taking pictures of this tree for ages. It’s on the site of a long-gone mansion so I’m sure it’s something exotic. I like the way the branches curl around. It’s almost as if it’s some kind of animal – maybe like the Ents in “Lord of the Rings”. The ...
Snapping Turtle As we were walking up to the Washington Irving house Sunnyside during our recent visit we came across this snapping turtle in the grass next to the road and not far from a small stream.
Goat Portrait We had visitors from the UK: old friends from university days who I hadn’t seen for over 20 years. The had said that they liked to walk so I took them on a selection of walks in the Hudson Valley. On one of the walks we went down the Old Croton Aqueduct trail ...
Rockwood Hall Foundation and Trees I seem to be coming to Rockwood Hall quite a lot and have already posted at least five times (I can think of a couple more but I can’t easily find them because the word ‘Rockwood’ doesn’t appear): Bridge to Nowhere. Rockwood Hall – Evening. A Walk to Rockwood Hall. Winding Path – Rockwood Hall. Rockwood Hall – July 6, ...
Warren’s Sugar House This picture was taken with a Panasonic Lumix ZS7 at Teatown Lake Reservation, one of my favorite places to walk. I liked the rustic look, the wood textures and the dappled light. It works better in black and white than in the original color. Teatown Lake Reservation by Lincoln Diamant describes the ...
Gilead Presbyterian Church, Carmel, NY According to its website Gilead Presbyterian Church: … was first known as the West Church of Christ in Philips Patent, with Elisha Kent as Pastor. Its first house of worship was Historic Plaquea log structure that was built in 1743 in the area now known as Tilly Foster. From 1755 to 1834, Gilead worshipped in a ...
Shadows on the Kitchen Floor We were going out and I was waiting for my wife to finish getting ready. As I stood in the kitchen I noticed the late (around 4:00 pm) afternoon light streaming through the french doors in the kitchen and casting the shadows of the lattice and of a plant onto the wood floor. ...
Bridge to Nowhere I’d often noticed this strange structure while walking around at the site of the former Rockwood Hall. For some reason I seem to have spotted it in Summer when it is largely obscured by leaves so I couldn’t find a good place to take a picture. This time the leaves were off the ...
Kikuyu Statues I bought these during during my first visit to Kenya (don’t remember exactly when that was). There are two of them: A female figure and a male figure with a staff. I vaguely remember that when I bought them they were labelled as being Kikuyu. They sit in the window in our ...
Another Picture of My Wife A couple of months ago I posted a picture of my wife scanned from some old slides I came across. Here’s another one from the same period i.e. around the early 1980s
Two Statues in New York City Taken at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, New York City with an Olympus Stylus Epic (also known as the μ-II: a 35mm point and shoot camera from the late 1990s. Back to film: Olympus Stylus Epic And Finally found something at the thrift store
A Row of Trees I liked the way that the trees receded into the distance and the textures of the bark and the seed pods (if that’s what they are) on the ground.
Old Brandreth Pill Factory Revisited I’m glad I took some pictures about a year ago (March 30 2014) of this magnificent old factory building in Ossining, NY as it’s now mostly gone. It’s the old Brandreth Pill Factory and it had been placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. I just now read that the entire ...
Reed Memorial Library The Reed Memorial Library stands at the intersection of Route 6 and Route 52 in Carmel, NY. According to Wikipedia: It is the oldest library building in Putnam County,and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. It was built in 1914 by Arietta Crane Reed as a tribute to her late husband, ...
Byrdcliffe Art Colony, Woodstock, NY Some time ago our family bought my wife a spa treatment at a place in Woodstock, NY and on a gorgeous sunny day we went there. I had a couple of hours to kill while she was undergoing her treatment and I’d noticed some signs pointing to “Brydcliffe Arts Colony” so I decided to check ...
Small Ruin by the Putnam Trailway in Carmel, NY This ruined building is by the side of the Putnam Trailway just outside Carmel going in the direction of Mahopac. I have no idea what it once was, or why it is where it is. Apart from my liking for ruins I also liked the way it’s reflected in the vernal pond in front ...
Mount Carmel Baptist Church This lovely old church in Carmel,NY has not one, but two old cemeteries associated with it. Despite this I had great difficulty finding any information related to it on the Internet. Eventually I came across: History of Putnam County, New York : with biographical sketches of its prominent men by Pelletreau, William S. ...
Statue in the Old Town From a scanned print and taken in the Old Town, Geneva, Switzerland sometime in the early to mid 1990s. It was most likely taken with a Canon AE-1.
Touching photographs of Horace Warner’s ‘Spitalfields Nippers’ Wikipedia describes Spitalfields in the late 19th century as follows: By the later 19th century inner Spitalfields had eclipsed rival claimants to the dubious distinction of being the worst criminal rookery of London with common lodging-houses in the Flower and Dean Street area being a focus for the activities of robbers and prostitutes. The latter street ...
Grand Central Terminal Or is it? If you give the picture more than a cursory glance you notice immediately that something’s off e.g. the vehicles are much too big in relation to the building. It’s actually a replica used in a model train exhibition held in Grand Central Terminal in 2013.
Memento Mori: Bird Wing Solitary bird wing. I looked around but couldn’t find a trace of the rest of the bird. Taken by animals I imagine.
Taconic State Parkway around Yorktown Heights This stretch of the Taconic State Parkway has often caught my interest- it’s something about the way in which it curves around through the trees. But for various reasons (It was inconvenient; I didn’t have a camera ready to hand; I just forgot) I’ve never taken a picture of it. This time my ...
First Day of Spring, 2015 Japanese Maple in the Snow. True to form this Winter decided that we couldn’t just continue with the nice warmer weather and hit us with a snow storm on the first day of Spring. It was supposed to be around six inches, but turned out to be less – about 2-3 inches in my ...
Croton Harmon Station Croton Harmon Station through a window. After my visit to New Hamburg in November 2012 I took the train back to Scarborough and had to change trains in Croton Harmon station. While waiting I took these pictures with my Sony NEX 5N and the rather eccentric RainbowImaging 35MM F1.7 TV Lens. For more information ...
Reading in the Park As I recall this was taken in a “pocket” park somewhere on Second Avenue in New York City with a Sony NEX 5N and Sigma E 30mm (45mm equivalent) f2.8. I tend to shy away from pictures of people I don’t know (and even people I DO know for that matter). However, at ...
Bird in Flight I was walking around in the neighborhood when I came across this bird feeder in someone’s garden. A cloud of small birds surrounded it with two or three of them at any time taking turns to come and feed. Unfortunately it was some distance away and I didn’t have a long enough lens ...
Trees at Little Stony Point I’ve been to Little Stony Point several times. It’s quite close, rather picturesque (Beaches, Hudson River views, Cliffs with spectacular views; A small cave) and it’s an easy walk with the dog. It’s also close to Cold Spring so after the walk I can go for a coffee, a bite to eat or ...
Statues on West Facade of the Supreme Court (Appellate Division) Building, New York City According to Wikipedia: The limestone Beaux-Arts courthouse, in the style of an 18th-century English country house, was designed by James Brown Lord and built in 1896−1899. It is considered to be an “outstanding” example of the City Beautiful movement. Some 25 percent of the cost was spent on sculpture, a huge sum at the time. At ...
Cabin on the frozen lake I’ve often walked by the small blue cabin by the side of the lake and wondered what it was? Who did it belong to? It sits right next to the lake on a small piece of land with just the cabin, a couple of playground sets, a boat dock, and a rack for canoes. ...
A young me As I continued my scanning project I came across this old photo. It’s in pretty bad shape: creased, torn, stained etc. Once I’d scanned it I improved the appearance somewhat, but didn’t spend a lot of time on it (you can easily see some bits I missed up in the hair). Yes, that’s me! ...
An elusive statue It’s elusive not because it’s hard to find, but because I find it hard to get a decent picture of it. I’ve loved this statue ever since I started frequenting the nearby cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, NY. That’s almost 17 years now. On a number of occasions I’ve tried to take pictures ...
Faucet in the snow Although the weather has improved significantly we still have 2-3 feet of the snow on the ground around here so when I saw this faucet just barely sticking out above the snow it seemed worthy of a photograph. It seemed so incongruous to see something I associate so much with Summer peeping from the ...
Garrison Landing View of the US Military Academy at West Point from Garrison Landing. According to Wikipedia: The Garrison Landing Historic District, also known as Garrison’s Landing, is a small commercial and residential area located between what is now the Metro-North Hudson Line and the Hudson River in Garrison, New York, United States. Its buildings were mostly erected in ...
Contrasts My memory tells me that these two pictures were taken on the same day, but the metadata associated with them seems contradict this – making them two days apart. The picture above was taken from the front door of our house in Briarcliff Manor. The second one (below) was taken from a friend’s ...
People and Dogs on the Lake in a Snowstorm We had about six/seven inches of snow yesterday and were sitting in the living room reading when we noticed movement on the lake. Four people were walking their dogs on the lake. The falling snow did not seem to bother them very much and the dogs seemed to be loving it. By ...
Wooden Head with Owl I was walking back from the Parker Bale Post 1597 to the FOE Ossining Aerie 1545 where I had left my car when I noticed these two wooden sculptures apparently carved from trees by the side of the road. I almost missed them. I’m not so wild about the owl but the head ...
Artillery Piece in the Snow I came across this in front of an American Legion post in Ossining the other day. I didn’t know what it was so I sent the picture to my friend Ken who’s a former artillery officer with the Australian Army. This is what he came back with: It’s a US 75mm Pack Howitzer…the guns ...
Architectural Detail I liked the smoothness of the metal and the somewhat abstract composition.
Snow Covered Swimming Pool Our local park has a kind of pavilion (somewhere with tables where you hold events, eat your food etc.) overlooking the town pool. I was in the pavilion looking down on the now frozen and snow-covered pool when I saw this structure – presumably a frame to attach a diving board to. It ...
Views from Ossining Library Ossining and Route 9 looking North. I’ve lived in Briarcliff Manor, which is part of the town of Ossining, for about 17 years and have never once been to the Ossining library. I’d agreed to meet someone there and after we had met I decided to go inside and take a look around. Briarcliff ...
Briarcliff Manor, NY – Benches in the Snow in Law Park The title says it all. Unfortunately more snow, but even though I’m finding winter tiresome there is something quite magical about recently fallen snow. It washes out all the colors and makes the scenes essentially monochromatic. I love black and white imagery and with these winter scenes it’s almost unnecessary to convert ...
Chairs in snow This picture of some metal chairs and a table in our garden was taken by my wife with her iPhone 5s. I did a little editing and converted to black and white.
National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen These were taken in May 2011 with a Panasonic LX3. I also took some pictures at the museum and I’d forgotten about them until recently. What I remember most about the visit was the the kids and the teachers had moved to another room and I ran to catch up. Unfortunately I ...
Tire Tracks Another picture taken while walking the dog. I liked the textured tracks; the way that they curve away into the distance and thought that a low angle would work well.
Mailbox in the Snow Another ‘dog walk’ picture. We’d walked around the lake and I’d noticed the mailbox and the footprints in the snow receding towards the building in the background so I took a picture of it. I guess I was a bit tired after the walk an didn’t look at the resulting image. When ...
Panda Face My wife had gone to her dance class and I was walking the dog around the parking lot when I noticed this snowy truck wheel. Somehow I saw a panda face in the pattern of the wheel nuts on the snow. I didn’t have a camera with my and so had to resort ...
Snow Around the Lake Taken while walking the dog around the lake (about a 90 minute walk). Inevitably there was snow everywhere. Two bridges. In a small park near to the entrance to the lake. My wife posted this one to facebook and one of her friends commented: ” …it looks like it’s taken from the ...
Ice Crystals Leaving the house one day I noticed these ice crystals on one of the windows in our garage. Makes a nice abstract composition.
Snowy Bench We’ve been getting a lot of snow of late. Averaging around three snow falls every week, the snow on the ground has now accumulated to about two feet or so. So it’s hard to take pictures outside without getting snow. It’s getting a bit tiresome. Here’s some snow on one of ...
Gawsworth Old Hall Some old pictures of a picturesque old building near where I grew up in the United Kingdom: Gawsworth Old Hall. Like many old buildings in the UK it’s reputed to be haunted. According to the Haunted Mansions Around the World site: Gawsworth Hall is a half-timbred, sixteenth century manor house situated in Macclesfield, Cheshire. ...
Icy Streambed While walking the dog I came across this frozen stream bed. I’d walked along this trail in the past and had tried to get pictures of the stream when it was flowing. Somehow the light shining through the trees (which usually had leaves when I was trying to take the picture) was too ...
Detail of Chrysler Building This was taken in August, 2010 with a Panasonic Lumix ZS-3. I’d had a good experience with the Panasonic LX-3, but I felt I needed something with a longer zoom. At the time I didn’t really understand the difference that a larger sensors makes and the 12x zoom looked appealing. It was ...
A Man (And His Dog) Ice Fishing on our frozen lake I was sitting in our living room reading when I noticed some movement on the frozen lake. It was a man pulling a small sledge – and his dog walking along behind. After a while I noticed that he would move to one part of the lake and stay there for a while, ...
The View from My Office Taken from my office in New York City in February 2010. I’d just acquired my then new Panasonic LX-3, the camera which I credit with re-awakening my interest in photography. I couldn’t wait to try it out so finding the geometric patterns on the building opposite interesting I just pointed it through the ...
Porch with Vacuum Cleaner Taken during a walk in Ossining, New York. The vacuum cleaner looked somewhat incongruous sitting out on the porch. This is a black and white conversion of a color shot that I rather liked. In color the vacuum cleaner is a bright green color, which in some ways makes it stand out ...
Sebastiao Salgado: Genesis. We were down in New York City to see “On the Town”. After the performance we went around the block to the International Center of Photography to see the Sebastiao Salgado “Genesis” exhibition. The photographs are stunning: the light is unbelievable and the tonality of the black an white pictures amazing. Seeing something as ...
Icy Hudson Taken at Scarborough Station while waiting for the train into New York City to see ‘On the Town’. It was certainly very cold and except for a channel in the middle the Hudson was frozen. We couldn’t get to the button quickly enough. I hadn’t brought a camera so I had to use my ...
2014 Favorites – Black and White Another year has passed so I thought I’d do a post of some of my favorite pictures – starting with black and white. Last year I did a favorite from each month. This time I’ve decided to just do my ten favorite pictures from 2014. I was surprised to see that four ...
Cows Cows and fence. I must confess that one of my reasons for taking our new dog, Harley for a walk around Stone Barns was that I wanted to introduce him to the cows. Before we got him Harley was a stray and I suspect that he was a town dog. He’s fascinated by the ...
Stone Barns According to Wikipedia: Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture is a non-profit farm and educational center with a partner restaurant, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, located in Pocantico Hills, New York. The Center was created on 80 acres (320,000 m2) formerly belonging to the Rockefeller estate in Pocantico Hills by David Rockefeller and his daughter, ...
Grace Episcopal Church in Hastings-on-Hudson We recently went to this lovely church for the first time – to attend a memorial service for our friend Bob Mawson, who passed away on November 22. Building adjoining the church – Probably the Parish Hall I imagine? The church has an interesting history as described on its website (which provides additional historical information): Grace Episcopal Church, ...
RIP Bob Mawson Our friend Robert Mawson passed away on November 22. RIP Bob we’ll miss you. The text below is liberally paraphrased from his obituary. Born in County Durham in the northeast of England in August 1943 he became a boy soldier in the British Army to escape work in the coalmine. He was stationed in Menden, Germany ...
And the band played on Pictures from two bands playing at a farm where we went to get pumpkins about a year ago. The first and third are “Nashville Drive” (at least according to the sign). The second and fourth are from another band – I didn’t get the name.
Icy Stream Not too far from our house Roaring Brook runs into Roaring Brook Lake. These were taken on Roaring Brook not far from where it enters the lake. Sometimes the brook is quite dry, but we’d recently had snow and the snow melt caused the brook to be fairly full.
Downed Tree with Reflections I just liked the way that the tree was reflected in the lake. It didn’t work out quite the way I wanted. I guess my eye filtered out the somewhat distracting background (which the camera didn’t and couldn’t because of the type of camera and lens I had) and isolated the tree more. ...
Swans On the Lake at Teatown.
Kabayan Oriental Grocery This former store sits abandoned by the side of Route 9. It’s a bit “off the beaten track” and seemed to me to be an odd location for an oriental grocery. Possibly this is the reason it failed. The word “Kabayan” caught my eye. My wife is originally from the Philippines ...
Boardwalks, Teatown Reservation Bergmann Boardwalk. Teatown Lake Reservation has a number of trails. One of my favorites is the Lakeside Trail, a pleasant 45 minutes to one hour (depending on how quickly you walk) stroll around the lake. Along the way you come across a variety of boardwalks – from the short ones designed to cross small ...
Tioronda School, Beacon, NY When I turned around to take a look at the Craig House (designed as it turned out by the same architect as this building) I turned down a street heading towards Fishkill Creek. Part of the way down I came across this abandoned building. I thought at first that it was a church, ...
Birds on a Wire Taken with a Panasonic Lumix ZS7 at Scarborough Station, NY. I recall that I was on my way to work, had just parked the car and was walking to the station when I saw these birds on the wires.
Railway Tracks, Scarborough Station Lines, patterns, textures and shadows. Panasonic Lumix, ZS3
Barbershop in Ossining, NY
Mexico 2007 Turtles Taken during vacation in Cancun, Mexico sometime in March 2007. Statues: Isla Mujeres Metal Madonna Chichen Itza Boy on a Hammock Tulum
Statue on the Water Taken on the grounds of our hotel (the Arial Sands – closed since 2008, but supposedly slated for a major redevelopment) during vacation in Bermuda in 2005.
Saratoga Battle Site I’m something of a US Revolutionary War buff. I’ve had a particular interest in the battle of Saratoga, partly because it provides numerous examples of why the British could never have won this war (e.g. difficult communications; long supply lines; ready access by the US to militias etc.) but also because it was to ...
Amman, Jordan and around about 35 years ago Amman One of my projects is to scan older negatives and/or prints. I have a box full of them and although this project is going slowly I, from time to time, browse through them and pick a few to scan – in this case pictures taken during my very first field trip for the UN ...
A Few Urban Landscapes Trying out the dynamic black and white mode on my old Pansonic Lumix LX3, which has been sitting on a shelf since April 2013.
The Wonderful Black and white photography of Fred Lyon 32 Stunning Photos Of San Francisco In The 40s And 50s via Buzzfeed. Photographer Fred Lyon, a San Francisco native, is now 90 years old. I also came across an interesting two part interview with Fred Lyon on Petapixel: Part 1; Part 2. I particularly liked the part of the interview where he talks about 10 of his ...
Hermance Switzerland Hermance Town Hall – directly across from the church – where the civil ceremony took place. My younger daughter was married January 9, 2010 in the picturesque lake town of Hermance right on the border between France and Switzerland and not far from Geneva. The festivities were spread over two days – with the civil ceremony ...
Mummy at the Depot We’d been for a walk at the Old West Point Foundry Preserve and on the way back home I stopped for refreshments at The Depot in Cold Spring. It was in full Hallowe’en garb. As I was leaving I spotted this life-size (if that’s the right word) mummy with a small skeleton on the ...
Taking a break? A group of people sitting outside on a nice sunny day soaking up the rays and enjoying a great Hudson River view. I liked the lines of curves of the walls, part of the remains of Rockwood Hall. Were they walkers like myself or perhaps employees of the retirement home in background on ...
Pipes Minimalist kind of composition. Nice shapes and textures. Taken with an Olympus Stylus Epic film camera.
Power Lines On California Hill. I liked the receding towers and the curves and diagonals of the cables. Taken with an Olympus Stylus Epic film camera.
Kitchen Scenes These are the result of sitting around in our kitchen while playing with my new toy: A Konica 50mm f1.7 AR. I’d earlier obtained two other Konica lenses: a 135mm and a 28mm. I’d been very impressed by the 135mm (I haven’t tried the 28mm yet) and I’d heard good things about the 50mm. ...
Some Putnam County Churches Browsing through my pictures I noticed that I have quite a few of our local churches. So here are some of them: St. Philip’s Church in the Highlands, Garrison, New York Presbyterian Church, Patterson, NY. Former Tompkins Corners United Methodist Church – presently vacant and for sale. Reconstructed Red Mills Baptist Church, Carmel, NY Christ Episcopal Church, Patterson, NY.
Bannerman’s Castle Bannerman’s castle – now in ruins – on Pollepel Island in the middle of the Hudson River, just north of Cold Spring. Looks impressive, but was never more than a very fancy military surplus warehouse (although a smaller structure was used as a residence). It’s quite hard to get close enough to take a ...
A couple of statues from the USS Maine Monument near Columbus Circle When I took these pictures I didn’t know that this was the USS Maine Monument – I just liked the pigeons. According to Wikipedia: The USS Maine National Monument is an outdoor monument, located in Central Park in Manhattan, New York. It was cast on September 1, 1912 and dedicated on May 30, 1913. In 1913, a USS ...
Fountain in New York City I liked the backlighting on the drops of water flying through the air.
Woodpeckers at work At least I’m assuming that it’s woodpeckers because I can’t imagine what else could create such interesting patterns. I suppose it could be some kind of bug.
A couple of interiors from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC European Sculpture and Decorative Arts. More pictures from my recent trip into the city. This time interiors of the Metropolitan Museum of Arat. I’m not sure exactly what this gallery is. Looks like something Greek or Roman.
Chinese Garden Entrance to the Chinese Garden. I was wandering through a maze of rooms at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC trying to find the Garry Winogrand Exhibition when I came across this fascinating Chinese Garden. Detail near the entrance. The Chinese Garden.
Breached dam on John Allen Pond We’d tried the Three Lakes Trail before and given up about half way through. I thought I’d try the second half. We walked down Sunken Mine Road past where we’d crossed it before and continued until the Three Lakes Trail turned off to the right at the southern end of John Allen Pond ...
Impressive fungus I recently came across this eye-catching fungus. It’s huge. Easily the size of a soccer ball!
Graymoor. The home of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement Altar of the Atonement. “…surmounted by a 16-foot-high crucifixion scene. Flanking the altar are Stations of the Cross leading down to the St. Anthony Shrine”. Driving north on Route 9, just before the turnoff for Route 403 you’ll see the entrance to Graymoor on the right. Also known as “The Holy Mountain” it’s ...
Four Staircases Found in the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park, NY.
Hudson River Shoreline Rocks Found objects on a sandy beach along the Hudson River. Bigger rocks. Tree. Dead Tree Trunk.
Wiccopee Trail Woods/farm road trail This trail is very close to our house and connects into the Fahnestock trail system. It’s possible to walk to it, but you’d have to get across the Taconic Parkway. It’s doable, particularly during those times when the Taconic is not very busy. Today we went around rush hour so ...
Disused Railway Track Offshoot of the Metro North tracks near Beacon. I don’t know where it goes/went, but judging from the growth it doesn’t get used much.
No Dogs Allowed Occasionally, but not often, you’ll see a dog in a bar. The owners must like dogs and have decided to risk the consequences of breaking the public health laws by allowing an animal in. You don’t often see a dog behind the bar though. Maybe this little guy was serving – actually ...
A short walk around Fishkill The White House Restaurant/Bar (mostly Bar nowadays by the look of it) in Fishkill. I’d been meaning to take a look around Fishkill for some time, but somehow hadn’t gotten around to it. We have two daughters, one son-in-law, and five grandchildren staying with us at the moment. They wanted to go to Splashdown ...
Self Portrait This was taken with a Panasonic Lumix LX3 on the train home from Grand Central Terminal to Scarborough. As I recall I’d had a few beers and I was playing with the camera – partly to get more familiar with it. More importantly perhaps I was trying to keep myself occupied so that ...
Jaguar Seen in Geneva, Switzerland some time in August, 2010. I believe it’s either an XK-120 or an XK-150, but I’m not sure which. Actually, as I’m looking at it I’m becoming more and more convinced that it’s an XK-120, largely because the 120 had a two piece windshield while the XK-150 a curved ...
Wide angle in the city Taken with a Sony NEX 5N, 16mm lens and ultra-wide converter. Small park/plaza adjacent to the UNICEF building on East 44th Street (between 1st and 2nd) in New York City.
Pile of Wood on Hudson Came across this on the Hudson River waterfront in Cold Spring.
Winding Path – Rockwood Hall The old William Rockefeller estate, Rockwood Hall is long gone. Only the foundations and a lot of spectacular trees remain. With its impressive views of the Hudson it’s a great place for walking the dog. This winding path near the foundation ruins caught my eye. Taken with a Sony NEX 5N and an ...
Waiting for the Train Taken June, 2012 around 10:00 pm at Grand Central while waiting for a Hudson Line Train. She’s certainly thinking very intently about something – I wonder what it was? One of my fairly rare ‘people’ pictures.
Cooper Cooper (I know that’s his name because it’s on his name tag in the first picture) came out to greet us during another dog walk. As is common with this kind he was very curious. We have a cat (Gypsy) at home, but she’s very docile and refuses to fight with out dog, ...
Sigma AF 30mm f/2.8 EX DN for Sony e-mount (NEX) East 42nd Street I’ve had this lens for a long time and I’ve posted quite a few pictures taken with it. But I can’t recall that I’ve ever said anything about it. I like it a lot. It’s small and light and provides autofocus, but not unfortunately image stabilization. The autofocus is maybe a ...
Garrison’s Little Red Chapel This building is in Garrison, NY – on Route 9d. It seems that it was built in 1862 and was Garrison’s original Episcopal church (St. James Chapel). Later a stone church was built and the building was moved to its current location. Subsequently it became an antiques store and, if the sign is anything ...
Old Roller I was walking the dog around the playing fields when I came across this old roller in the undergrowth. I usually move my glasses up to the top of my head when I’m taking pictures and this time one of the overhanging branches must have knocked them off and I couldn’t find them. ...
More from around the lake Waterlogged canoe Some more from one of my walks around the lake. Trees and Rock Garden Canoes at Moon Beach Tree and Ivy The Watcher
Grand Central 2010-2011 Lexington Avenue Entrance These are some of the earliest photos taken with my Panasonic Lumix LX3 – mostly from 2010 but a couple from 2011. Still Life Phones Steps detail Waiting for the Train
Sylvan Glen I first went here in May 2010. It’s a fascinating place with huge blocks of stone; stone walls, metal cables strewn around all over; rusting pieces of machinery etc. I wasn’t happy with the pictures I got with my then carry around camera: a Pansonic Lumix ZS3. So I thought I’d go ...
Secret Garden Well not really that secret. The garden belongs to one of our fellow Garden Club members. The main entrance is up on the road and the property runs down hill to the dock and the lake. However, there’s another entrance. Follow a small path down to the lake and just off ...
Light Patterns I was standing in the kitchen late one afternoon. The door to the garage was open and low sunlight was streaming in and projecting patterns on the corridor walls. It looked interesting so I grabbed a camera before the light could go away.
Abandoned House on Route 6N I’ve often seen this house on Route 6n right next to one of my favorite restaurants: ‘Holy Smoke‘ (one of the best BBQ places around here it also has a fine selection of craft beers). Yesterday I decided to stop by and take a closer look. At first glace I thought it was just ...
USS Intrepid Flight deck with Manhattan in the background. According to Wikipedia: USS Intrepid (CV/CVA/CVS-11), also known as The Fighting “I”, is one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. She is the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name. Commissioned in August 1943, Intrepid participated in several campaigns ...
Some black and whites from the Gomez Mill House A door in the wall. An earlier post described our recent visit to the Gomez Mill House. Here are a few black and whites from the same trip Old machinery. I’m not sure what this is – maybe a printing press? Old cabinet. It was in the same area as the machinery above so I ...
Dogs The house where these dogs reside is about a five minute walk from where I live. The dogs are often off-leash in the garden. They run around the garden and when they see me with our dog Jackson they start barking and they run towards us. However, they never go past a ...
Small Ruin at Sunny Ridge Preserve Just to show that my interest in ruins goes back a while these pictures were taken with my Panasonic Lumix LX3 in November 2010 while walking in the Sunny Ridge Preserve in New Castle, Westchester. They’re just off the trail and I have no idea what they once were. Perhaps a farm house?
Germaine This is Germaine Chandelier at the February meeting of our Garden club which co-incided with Germaine’s 92nd birthday. Germaine is a fascinating person as can been seen from this extract from the Alsace-New York Newsletter, Spring 2007 celebrating Germaine’s induction as ‘Chevalier dans l’Ordre du Merite’: Germain Schneider-Chandelier was born on the 22nd of February 1922, at ...
My Top 20 Photos on Flickr 1. Sybil Ludington statue, Carmel NY From time to time I post images to Flickr. They’re not necessarily representative of my pictures. I have around 18,000 images in Lightroom and only 532 in Flickr. What criteria do I use to determine what to post: none really. It’s all whim. Some days I feel like posting to ...
Storm King Arts Center, New Windsor, NY The Storm King Arts Center proclaims: Widely celebrated as one of the world’s leading sculpture parks, Storm King Art Center has welcomed visitors from across the globe for fifty years. It is located only one hour north of New York City, in the lower Hudson Valley, where its pristine 500-acre landscape of fields, hills, and woodlands ...
Tompkins Corners Cemetery (a.k.a. Carmel Valley Burial Ground and Peekskill Hollow Cemetery) Putnam Valley, NY A large cemetery (about 4 acres) with over 200 gravestones. There are some interesting old gravestones in the old section and some novel statuary in the new part. The Putnam Graveyards site has this to say about this cemetery: The cemetery was incorporated May 4, 1853 as Carmel Valley Burial Ground Association (now defunct). A meeting was ...
Waterfall and bridge on Peekskill Hollow Creek On the corner of Peekskill Hollow Road and Bryant Pond Road. Another one I’d driven past many times and never noticed.
Post Family Plot The Post Family Plot is a tiny (less than on quarter of an acre) graveyard adjacent to Putnam Valley Volunteer Fire Department station on Peekskill Hollow Road. There are only five graves, all but one bearing the name “Post” (the other one has the name “Nichols”). The earliest (1835) is that of Amanda ...
Ruined stone building on the corner of Pudding Street and Richardsville Road As Pudding Street is one of the major roads going to my house I had driven by this corner on numerous occasions. I’d never noticed these ruins. This time I did. Seems to be just an old stone building and not one of the mysterious stone chambers of Putnam County. Picturesque nonetheless.
Beltzhoover Teahouse on Halsey Pond A plaque at the site reads: Beltzhoover Teahouse on Halsey Pond. Largest remaining structure of “Rochroanne”, the 200 acre Belzhoover Estate built in 1905. Melchior Belzhoover was “President” of Irvington from 1904 to 1916. The Halsey family owned a portion of the property from 1927-1976. The pond area became Village land in 1980. From 1994 to ...
Rundle’s Mill Drive along Peekskill Hollow Road and turn onto Mill Street (by the Putnam Valley Museum). Before you get to Route 6 You’ll pass a small, red building on your left – on the corner of Mill Pond Road. It looks like a shed and it’s easy to miss, but it’s well worth stopping for ...
Greenwich Point Park – Old Greenwich, Connecticut Tide pool. These are some of the first shots taken with my then new Sony Nex 5N. They were taken early on a November morning in 2011. The light was gorgeous. Unfortunately, I can only rarely make myself get up early enough to benefit from this kind of light. I usually shoot ...
Dogs When I set up the menus for this blog I included a category called ‘Animals’. This seemed like a good idea at the time but looking back on it a see that I’ve actually posted very little related to animals. Browsing through my past pictures on a snowy day I discovered that I did have ...
Messing around at home Little Angels I haven’t been able to get out much for the past few days. I threw my back out shoveling snow; then we had friends over and I spent most of the day cooking. Our water conditioner started to leak (just a tiny amount of water thankfully). It’s ancient and I have ...
Red Mills Park, Mahopac NY Red MIlls Historic Park is a small but interesting former site of two mills: a grist mill and a ‘carding mill’. I’d never heard of one of these, but Wikipedia describes carding as: “… a mechanical process that disentangles, cleans and intermixes fibers to produce a continuous web or sliver suitable for subsequent processing This ...
Cape Cod? No – Ossining, NY Marina We had an impromptu lunch with some friends at “The Boathouse” by the Shattemuc Marina in Ossining. The food was good and the company better. The restaurant is situated right next to the Hudson River. Looking at the marina from the restaurant you could almost think that you were in New England somewhere. Boat in the ...
Sparta Cemetery Ossining NY As the sign says: “1764 – Ossining’s oldest cemetery”. It’s located between Route 9 and Revolutionary Road, close to where they intersect. The Ossining Daily Voice has a short but interesting article about Sparta cemetery. One of the most fascinating inhabitants of Sparta Cemetery is The Leatherman. Wikipedia states: The Leatherman (ca. 1839–1889) was a particular vagabond, famous ...
Westchester’s Ridge Hill Mall We had lunch with some friends last Saturday and they mentioned Westchester’s Ridge Hill Mall in Yonkers, NY. We’d never been there so the following day off we went. It’s quite interesting. Most Malls are enclosed areas with lots of shops. They present a nice, protected area, but at times become a little claustrophobic. The Ridge ...
Ice I’m actually getting a bit sick of snow and ice, as well as taking pictures of it. As I write this we’ve just had about a foot of snow. The snow appears to have stopped but now we’re getting sleet and freezing rain. There’s so much snow and ice around, however that it’s difficult ...
Scarborough Park 12:30 to Poughkeepsie? Right next to Scarborough Station on Metro North’s Hudson Line is a small park: Scarborough Park. The Village of Briarcliff Manor website says: Plan a picnic supper at this park! Incredible sunsets, and the sights and sounds of the majestic Hudson River, await you at this six-acre, 97 year-old park. Bring your fishing poles ...
Patriots Park Tarrytown, NY This is one of the first pictures I took with my Panasonic LX3 back in 2010 – in Patriots Park in Tarrytown, NY. I was fascinated by the stone structures built to channel the water (apparently called Andre brook) through the park. I liked the textures of the stone and the curving lines of the ...
2013 Favourites – Black and White January – Divya reading It’s the end of the year so I thought I’d look back on some of the pictures I’ve taken. Many of them we black and white. Here are my favorites, month by month. February – Croton Point under snow March – Ceiling Fan at Holy Smoke BBQ restaurant April – Cracked wash basin ...
First Snow of 2013 We just had our first snow of 2013. This was the kind of snow I like. It stuck to trees and grass, but didn’t stick to hard surfaces. Less than 1/2 inch total. It looks nice but doesn’t inconvenience me much. I certainly won’t have to shovel. I imagine ...
Sony Alpha 500 Ken In an earlier post I noted that my first digital SLR was a Konica Minolta Maxxum 5d. I bought this camera because: a) I’d had a good experience with a minolta camera in the past. My first serious camera was a Minolta Hi-Matic 7sii. By that time I’d had film SLRs, but when I went to ...
Minolta X-700: black and white More pictures from the Minolta X-700 this time in black and white. The subject is the same: Old Saint Peter’s Church, Van Cortlandtville, NY.
Gilead Cemetery Carmel, NY A plaque on one of the entrance pillars reads: “Gilead Cemetery. Placed on the New York State Register of Historic Places October 14, 1988 and on the National Register of Historic Places December 1, 1988. This bronze plaque is dedicated by the town of Carmel and the Historical Society, October 14, 1998”. Ken Warnecke of ...
Home and Around A few pictures taken while walking the dog around the lake. I liked the textures here: the stone wall, the weathered fence, the rock, the ‘gravelly’ soil and the smoother plant leaves. Lakeview with dock and gazebo. This one looks better at a larger size. Please click on the image. Someone had stuck this plastic bird ...
Santa Monica 2003 Incoming Waves. I was reading some articles about Garry Winogrand. One of them mentioned that he never developed film right after shooting it. He would wait for some time (maybe even a couple of years) so that the memory of taking the photo would have faded. Supposedly this allowed him to be more objective in judging ...
A tale of two ceiling fans Here the fan is a secondary player. I was lying on the sofa in our living room reading and I happened to look up. I was struck by the pattern of light cast by a table lamp onto the ceiling. The fan just adds a bit of visual variety to the image. Again a chance image. ...
Baxter Cemetery abandoned in the woods The old abandonned Baxter cemetery. 48 graves, the earliest dating to 1820. It’s less than 10 minutes walk from the house – in the woods between Lake Shore Road and the Taconic Parkway. It’s not so easy to find. At first there’s a bit of a path, but eventually you end ...
Around the lake – some black and whites As is often the case I took these while walking the dog one day. I didn’t have too many winter pictures so I thought I’d take a few before all of the snow and ice disappeared. The first one is of ‘Children’s Beach’, one of several beaches around the lake. In summer ...
In and around Carmel, NY Wikipedia has this to say about Carmel: Carmel is a town in Putnam County, New York, USA. As of the 2010 census, the town had a population of 34,305. The town of Carmel is on the south border of Putnam County. There are no incorporated villages in the town, although the hamlets of Carmel and Mahopac each ...
Mannequins Seen while walking around in Manhttan. Along Lexigton Avenue if I remember correctly. Generally liked the figures in the windows alongside the reflections in the glass. Closer view of one of the figures Uncovered female mannequin inside juxtaposed against covered up male outside. Reclining figure vs. standing figure. With reflections.
Croton Landing Park The OssiningCrotononHudsonPatch website describes the Croton Landing Park as follows: Croton Landing lies just past the yacht club on the Hudson River, and is home to a short walking trail, waterfront and a natural riverfront habitat full of native plants and animals. Educational material and environmentally-themed art also can be found. Large, flat paths are good ...
At the Brasserie Le Bouchon This was taken at the Brasserie le Bouchon in Cold Spring NY. We’ve been going there for some time and I like it a lot. It has a nice French ambience – reminds me of when we were living in France. I’d taken refuge from the ongoing work on the kitchen and ...
Assorted Black and White An assortment of pictures. The only thing that they have in common is that they are all black and white. Some were taken with digital cameras and converted to black and white. Some were taken with vintage film cameras. A new gallery: Assorted Black and White
Bell & Howell I was cleaning out a closet when I came across a small, plastic camera with the name “Bell and Howell” on the front. I have no idea where it came from (I certainly wouldn’t have bought it), but I suspect it’s the kind of thing that is given away with a magzine subscription. I was ...
A few black and white’s A new gallery: Black and White 2012-02-02 12:27 AM

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