Another walk in the woods

September 13, 2017 by Howard Dale Posted in Nature Leave a comment

We went for another walk in the woods yesterday, this time once around Pelton Pond (see picture above) and then down the Roaring Brook Trail for a while. All told it took about one hour 45 minutes. When I’ve been here in the past I’ve seen signs of beaver activity (e.g. gnawed trees), but now I see no evidence of beavers and their lodges are falling apart. I guess the beavers have relocated permanently. That’s a pity because I’ve never actually seen one.

It was a sunny day with temperatures in the mid 70s and it was a very pleasant walk. But as is often the case you mostly see the usual trees, boulders, stone walls etc. I’d been reading an article about taking pictures in the woods and one of the things it recommended was to keep a lookout for splashes of color, which is what I did.

And I found these two brightly colored fungi.

I loved the deep reds of the first one.

I found the second one on top of a hollowed out log. It doesn’t seem likely that it got there in the natural course of things and imagine someone must have placed it there (possibly to take a picture as I was doing). I wasn’t the one to put it there, but I was happy to take advantage of its placement.

Taken with a Sony RX-100 M3.

Schneider-Kreuznach Retina Xenon 50mm f1.9

September 12, 2017 by Howard Dale Posted in Flowers, Lenses, Nature, Schneider Retina Xenon 50mm f1.9, Things Leave a comment

I love the Schneider Xenon lens on my Retina IIc so when I came across this article My Favorite Lenses – Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon 50mm f1.9 DKL on the Lens Bubbles site it was something I started keep my eye open for. Eventually I found this one at a reasonable prize and picked up a DKL-Sony E mount adapter (so that I could use it on my Sony NEX 5n).

It’s a fairly low contrast lens, with the kind of color rendition I liked from my Retina IIc. It’s also a solid, well built and rather heavy piece of equipment and of course the adapter adds a fair bit to the size (in the picture the silver part is the lens, and the black part the adapter).

I must admit that I found it rather frustrating at first. I had some difficulty getting it to focus correctly. With these adapted vintage lenses I usually focus wide open and use focusing aids such as focus peaking and focus magnification. That didn’t seem to work with this one and I suspect that it’s because of its low contrast nature. Instead I had to stop the lens down, focus and then return to whatever aperture I needed.

It’s certainly a very sharp lens, even wide open.

One interesting feature is the red “ears”, which move as you change aperture to indicate depth of field.

Incipient blackberries.

Clematis

Planters in our garden.

One other post also featured this lens: Chimney in the Woods.

Stanley Kubrick, Photographer

September 12, 2017 by Howard Dale Posted in Black & White, Photographers, Photographs, Photography Leave a comment

Self Portrait with showgirl Rosemary Williams, 1948. Source: 17-Year-Old Stanley Kubrick’s Photos Of 1940s New York Prove That He Was Born Genius

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 masterpieces, they’re not bad for a 17 year old either.

Before Stanley Kubrick directed arguably some of the best movies ever made like “2001: Space Odyssey” or “The Shining,” he was a simple teenager in New York looking for a job. But even then, when the 17-year-old got his hands on a photo camera, he couldn’t hide the talent within.

Bored Panda has gathered a collection of his photos of New York from 1945 to 1950, when he was working in the Look magazine. During that time Stanley got many insights into what makes a photograph work: “I think aesthetically recording spontaneous action, rather than carefully posing a picture, is the most valid and expressive use of photography.”

He quickly made a name for himself by telling stories through photos, which eventually led him to moving pictures and his place in the filmmakers’ hall of fame.
Oh, and if you’re into street photography as well, let Stanley himself give you a tip: “Think up ideas for stories, go out and shoot them, and then send them into the magazines. I was lucky; I figured that out when I was young.”

Source: 17-Year-Old Stanley Kubrick’s Photos Of 1940s New York Prove That He Was Born Genius.

A walk around Teatown – Fishing at Vernay Lake

September 12, 2017 by Howard Dale Posted in Black & White, Landscapes, People Leave a comment

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. On the way back about two hours later I passed them again, still fishing.

Unfortunately, you’re not allowed to fish in Vernay lake, as the sign (see picture below) right next to where they were fishing indicates. Maybe they missed it (although it’s hard to see how they could have as it’s right next to the trail as it descends to the lake). As I passed a woman (presumably from the Teatown administration) came along and very politely shooed them off.

I guess they managed to get at least two hours fishing in, which is not too bad. It’s about 1 hour 45 minutes too much for me. I’m not a fan of fishing. My cousin was an avid fisherman and when I was a child he once took me to a fishing competition. After about three days (at least that’s how long it felt to me. It was probably only a couple of hours) it ended and I won a prize! I was the only person not to catch anything! Maybe it was that experience that put me off fishing.

Taken with a Sony RX-100 M3

A walk around Teatown – Shadow Lake

September 12, 2017 by Howard Dale Posted in Landscapes Leave a comment

We (Harley and I) went down to our old haunts the other day for a walk around Teatown Lake Reservation. First up was a hike around Teatown Lake. I’ve done this one many times before, mostly with our former dog, Jackson, and it’s a pleasant around 1 hour walk – pretty much flat and not at all strenuous.

After that I (Harley had no say in the decision) decided that we’d try out the Twin Lakes Trail, which I hadn’t done before. It’s three miles long and is supposed to take about 1.5 hours. Somehow it took us longer (possibly because Harley was stopping a lot to sniff, pee etc. Also perhaps because after already walking for one hour my aging legs were slowing down). In fact it took so long that I started to worry that we might not get back to the parking lot before it closed at 5:00 pm.

The two lakes are Vernay Lake (which you pass at the beginning of the hike and then return to at the end) and Shadow Lake (seen in the above photograph).