Around the Neighborhood – Pocantico Park

November 20, 2021 by Howard Dale Posted in Around the Neighborhood, Landscapes, Woodland Leave a comment

Pocantico park is the largest park in Briarcliff Manor. This 70.9-acre site was acquired in 1948 and added to in 1963, 1964 and 1967. The park abuts the Pocantico River and is home to a large number of animals found in the region including the white tail deer. Some hiking trails are marked.

I’ve lived in Briarcliff Manor for 23 years and I can’t believe that I didn’t know that this park existed. It’s about an hours walk from my house. It’s a decent enough park to take the dog for a hour, hour and a half walk. When I went it had a few interesting fungi, and a couple of interesting rock foundations, but other than that there’s nothing particularly interesting to see.

Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Fuji XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OSS II

Around the Neighborhood – Ají Limo

November 1, 2021 by Howard Dale Posted in Around the Neighborhood, Food and Drink, People Leave a comment

With friends and family at Aji Limo, an excellent Peruvian restaurant in Ossining, NY which describes itself as follows:

Ají Limo is a tribute to the most traditional Peruvian cuisine,that of our houses, markets, carts, picanterías, huariques and cevicherías. But also a meeting of ways to fill with the Spanish,Italian, African, Chinese and Japanese influences that have been enriching and coexisting with Peruvian cuisine over the centuries. Welcome to our place, welcome to Peru!

Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Fuji XF 35mm f1.4 R

A Mantis

October 25, 2021 by Howard Dale Posted in Around the Neighborhood, Wildlife & Animals Leave a comment

I was sitting outside on the balcony reading and enjoying the sunny day when I felt something fairly heavy fall onto my shoulder. Thinking it was a twig or something that had fallen from a nearby tree I got up to see what it was. I was surprised to find a large (3-4 inch long) praying mantis standing on my shoulder. As I stood up it jumped/flew off and landed on the arm of my chair. I quickly grabbed the nearest camera and took a few shots before it flew off the balcony and landed on a bush underneath. Thinking I might want to get some closer shots I picked up another camera with a macro lens and followed it down. It hung around for a while letting me take pictures. I even managed to see it catch and eat something (unfortunately it was deep inside the bush at the time and I couldn’t get the camera in without disturbing it). Fascinating creature. The way the head follows you as you move around is a little disturbing. Eventually it advanced towards me waving its large forelegs so I decided to leave it alone and beat a hasty retreat.

First taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Fuji XF 55-200mm f3.5-4.8 R LM OIS. Remainder with a Sony A77II and Minolta 50mm f2.8 Macro lens

And now for something completely different – At least for me.

October 25, 2021 by Howard Dale Posted in Abstracts, Around the Neighborhood, Landscapes, Woodland Leave a comment

Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) is a technique where you deliberately move the camera during exposure. I’ve tried it a couple of times in the past and didn’t much like the results. During one of my recent woodland walks I decided to try it again. I quite like some of these.