Haven’t been getting out much lately

by Posted in Landscapes, Thoughts Leave a comment
monasterywithbuddha-1

I wasn’t able to get out much to take pictures this July.

First, we had an unusually large volume of visitors. It started with a visit from our younger daughter, who was in NY on business. She wasn’t able to come out and visit, so we went into the city to have lunch with her at the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Terminal. Then two old friends came to stay over the weekend. They had both suffered losses in 2015: one the death of a husband, and the other a death of a child. It was great to have them with us. We took them to see a production of “As you like it” at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival at Boscobel. This was followed by a quick visit from one of our sons-in-law (the husband of our younger daughter). He frequently comes to NY on business so we see him quite a lot. After him our older daughter and her family (husband and three grandchildren) came to stay (from Amman, Jordan). The month ended with a visit from one of my wife’s former colleagues and a friend of hers. The weather was bad, but the rain managed to hold out long enough for us to visit nearby Chuang Yen Monastery (above), to sit down on the dock for a while, and to have dessert on the patio.

Second, the weather has (at least from my perspective) been terrible. It was very hot (high 90sF/low 100sF) and extremely humid for some time. This is my least favorite weather. Eventually it cooled down, but then turned stormy. We’ve just had a very wet weekend (6+ inches of rain). Even when there were breaks I didn’t feel like walking around taking pictures.

Third, somewhere along the line I developed a stiff neck (a little painful, but not excessively so); and a painful left foot (probably from being on my feet cleaning the house for 12 hours followed by four hours cooking the next day. Finally, I woke up this morning with a runny nose, sneezes, and a sore throat. My wife has had these symptoms for about a week so I guess I got it from her. Shouldn’t complain though. I can’t remember when I last had a cold.

The weather is supposed to improve tomorrow and remain good for most of the following week. If my cold doesn’t get significantly worse I hope to be able to get out with a camera. I’m looking forward to it.

Portrait of a woman 2

by Posted in Black & White, People Leave a comment
portraite-1

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), but it was certainly taken in the late 1970s early 1980s. The subject is, of course, my wife.

I like scanning slides. The quality seems to be so much better than scanning negatives, and many many times better than scanning prints.

Contrast

by Posted in Flowers, Nature Leave a comment
contrast-1

I thought about including this in the “By the roadside” series, but then it occurred to me that all of the pictures in that series were of flowers/plants growing wild by the side of the road. This is a actually a picture of someones garden.

I was taken by the mass of Rudbeckia (otherwise known as coneflower or black-eyed susan) surrounding the solitary Asiatic Lily .

French Photography in the 19th Century

by Posted in Black & White, Photographers, Photographs, Photography Leave a comment

Jean-Louis-Marie-Eugène Durieu (French, 1800 – 1874) and Possibly with Eugène Delacroix (French, 1798 – 1863), Draped Model, about 1854, French, Albumen silver print, 18.6 × 13 cm (7 5/16 × 5 1/8 in.), 35.1 × 27 cm (13 13/16 × 10 5/8 in.), 85.XM.351.9, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

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 development of paper photography.

Opening on August 30, here are some of the photographs set to highlight in the upcoming exhibition “Real/Ideal: Photography in France, 1847-1860” at the Getty Museum.

Source: French Photography in the 19th Century · Lomography

Juniper at dusk

by Posted in Landscapes, Nature Leave a comment
juniperatdusk-1

I made this picture around 7:00pm on July 26, 2016. The roads around the lake were mostly covered in shadow, but the odd beam of light shone through from time to time – in this case picking out this juniper.

I’m not fond of junipers. When we got our house in Briarcliff Manor we inherited a number of overgrown junipers. I believe that once they get beyond a certain point there’s no way back for an overgrown juniper. All you can do is cut them down. So that’s what I did and not only did I cut them down I also dug out the roots. And very hard work it was too.

Fast forward 18 years and we acquired out lake house and lo and behold we inherited another bunch of overgrown junipers. This time I cut them down, but I’m now older and I didn’t have the will (or I suspect the strength) to dig out the roots.

This one is in a neighbors garden and no matter what the merits of junipers are I loved the light and lovely colors in this shot.