2014 Favorites – Color

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The previous post highlighted my favorite black and white pictures from 2014. This one deals with my favorite color pictures (again in no particular order). I’ve often said that I don’t naturally relate to color photography and this is still true. However, I looked back over my favorite color pictures from 2013 and I feel that this year’s batch is much better. Maybe I’m improving.

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We are members of our local garden club and my wife had volunteered to help plant some flowers at the park near the entrance to the lake. A small group of garden club members were ably assisted by a number of girl guides. Here they are seen working as a reflection in a stream running out of the lake. I liked the impressionistic look.

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Peekskill Sunset. I was coming home from a trip down to New York City and my train was pulling into Peekskill Station. The sun was going down and this magnificent sunset was starting to appear. I took this picture from the train, which luckily stayed long enough in the station.

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The red dress. While exploring an old abandoned pumping station near to Pocantico Lake I came across this red dress hanging on a line. It seemed so out of place next to the rusting machinery and crumbling masonry and the bright red stood out against the dull colors of the remainder of the building. The thought that someone might actually be living in this building makes me feel sad too.

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Red Shed. The shed is in our garden and one day I was walking by and I noticed the dark shadow cast by the light clothes pins. The contrast of the (almost) white and the (almost) black against the bright red appealed to me.

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Taken at Motorcyclepedia in New Windsor NY. I liked small splashes of bright color set against the shiny, but almost monochromatic metal.

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Agatha – a visiting friend. I just liked this picture with its subdued colors and her animated expression and movements. This might have worked in black and white too, but I didn’t have any ‘people’ pictures in color so here it is.

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Jordan Pond in Fahnestock State Park in Putnam County, NY. Something ‘painterly’ about this picture that I liked.

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Candles at Chuang Yen Monastery. Just loved the colors.

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View from the Cliffs at Little Stony Point. Rocks, gnarly tree and the magnificent Hudson River in the background.

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Flowers in a restaurant window. This is a very simple picture, but I really like it. We were eating in our local Japanese restaurant. They’d just renovated and I noticed that they had painted their window with colorful flowers. So I took a picture, and I really like it.

2014 Favorites – Black and White

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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 of them were taken in, or around, a mall.

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I was walking on the upper level of the Westchester’s Ridge Hill Mall when I noticed the patterns made by the falling water from the fountains. Then I noticed the small girl standing at the side. At first she was looking into the fountain (and I have a picture of that). Then she turned and looked away. Somehow I liked this one better.

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I’d just bought my Sony RX100 and sitting in the mall (I don’t remember which one) taking a break and trying to figure out how it worked when I noticed this guy sitting across from me. I guess he was so worn out from shopping that he just had to take a nap. So this is the first picture I took with the new camera.

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This is the tunnel beneath the railway tracks in Cold Spring, NY. It was extremely dark and I didn’t expect this shot to turn out well. I was surprised when it did.

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I was walking the dog at Danbury Mall when I noticed this small plane coming in to land at Danbury Airport. I quickly took a picture of it. I’m not usually good with fast moving objects and quickly changing situations, but this one came out well. I got the plane and the woman looking into the distance.

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Horses (or are they donkeys or mules? – I’m not quite sure) in the snow. Taken along Peekskill Hollow Road. The inclement weather didn’t seem to bother them much. I liked the darker animals against the white snow and for once the snow isn’t completely blown out.

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Detail of a sculpture in a playground at the Westchester’s Ridge Hill Mall. I loved the quirky figures and the smoothness of the metal structure.

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Dutchess County Gothic. Taken at the Gomez Mill House. What caught my attention were the textures of the stone wall, floor and the wood of the implements.

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Taken at Graymoor, home of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. I was about to take a picture of this slightly incongruous Michelangelo clone statue perched on a rocky outcrop with a cross next to it when this gentleman came up to do his daily observances. Too good to miss.

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Staircase in the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park, NY. I was taken by the repeating patterns receding into the distance. Yes it’s been done before – but not by me.

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Alice statue in Central Park – with young people. I wasn’t sure whether or not to include this. There’s something about the exposure that I don’t like. But with her arms spread Alice looks as if she is blessing the assembled multitude so I decided to go with in.

Old Pontiac

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I bumped into (not literally) this wonderful classic Pontiac in a parking lot. Couldn’t resist taking some pictures. The owner was right by it so I asked his permission first. As the owner was pulling out I noticed that there was a model name on the side, but I wasn’t able to read it. So I don’t really know what model pontiac this is. After a fair bit of browsing on the internet the closest that I can find is the 1950 Pontiac Streamliner. Whatever it is it’s a beautiful old car. Seemed to be running well too – although I noticed that the owner was very careful when pulling out onto a hilly, busy road.

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Hood ornament.

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Rear Trunk detail.

Croton Dam Revisited

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I’ve posted pictures of the Croton Dam before but the earlier pictures were in black and white and taken from a different position so I thought I’d post this one too. I also happen to prefer this one to the others.

I decided to take Harley for a walk along the Old Croton Aqueduct trail in Croton Gorge so we parked by the dam. I’ve mentioned in earlier posts that I suspect that Harley is a town dog and isn’t too familiar with the countryside. He’s fascinated by water, particularly the small waterfalls along the streams that run into our lake. So I was curious to see how he would react to a much larger one. Although excited by the sound of the water he was at first somewhat timid. After a while his curiosity got the better of him and he slowly walked right up to the edge and peered over. After standing there for a while peering at the falls he lost interest and wandered off.

Before Ansel Adams there was Carleton Watkins

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“Yosemite Valley from Inspiration Point, 1865-1866” by Carleton Watkins. Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, lent by Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries. Via Shutterbug, December 26, 2014

Carleton Watkins was perhaps America’s greatest 19th century landscape photographer yet today he’s largely unknown. His breathtaking landscapes of the Yosemite Valley were instrumental in preserving the valley for future generations and paving the way for both the National Parks system and the environmental movement. Currently, 36 of his stunning mammoth albumen prints are on display at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in the exhibition “Carleton Watkins: Yosemite” through February 1, 2015.

via The Tragic Life and Luminous Legacy of Landscape Photography Pioneer Carleton Watkins | Shutterbug.

What a great tale! Such amazing photographs and such a sad story! I find it hard to get up on a cold morning and Watkins travels 20 hours in a wagon with a camera, which used 22 x 18-inch glass negatives. As the article states:

With gigantic camera in hand Watkins set off for Yosemite Valley in a wagon drawn by more than a dozen mules. Loaded with the mammoth camera, a stereoscopic daguerreotype camera, several wooden tripods, crates of large glass plates, and dozens of jars of flammable chemicals; the wagon weighed nearly a ton. Camping tents, food stuffs and other supplies were in a second wagon driven by his friend Trenor Park, the owner of the Mariposa gold mine, who had helped to pay for the trip.

I’d like to see this exhibition. I think I’ll go into NY City to take in this and the Salgado exhibition at the International Center of Photography.