Photographs and thoughts on photography and camera collecting
In spring it’s full of large frogs, which produce large numbers of tadpoles which in turn attract water birds such as cormorants, egrets and herons like the green heron below (taken at the Law Park Pond, but not during the current walk)
Taken with a Sony RX100 III
Until recently this was a dirt track. It was covered in rocks, roots and if it rained it became rather muddy. The North County Trailway, which runs along the path of the New York and Putnam Railroad (the “Old Put”) passes close by and this short trail effectively connects the Trailway with the Village.
Taken with a Sony RX100 III
This was taken in Ossining, NY right by the Sing Sing Correctional Facility (See: Going Up the River).
As you can see the Correctional Facility has some great views of the Hudson River. I’m frankly amazed that the facility has lasted as long as it has. I would have thought that it would have been relocated long ago to somewhere less scenic so that upscale, and very expensive condominiums (condominia?) could be built it its place.
Taken with a Sony RX10 III
As it passes by the library building where I volunteer at the Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough Historical Society.
The Pocantico River is a nine-mile-long (14 km) tributary of the Hudson River in western central Westchester County, New York, United States. It rises from Echo Lake, in the town of New Castle south of the hamlet of Millwood and flows generally southwest past Briarcliff Manor to its outlet at Sleepy Hollow. Portions of the towns of Mount Pleasant and Ossining are within its 16-square-mile (41 km2) watershed.
Writer Washington Irving, who lived in the area for most of his life, was inspired by the undeveloped area above the river’s mouth to write his classic “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. Later in the 19th century much of the land was purchased by the Rockefeller family as part of their Kykuit estate; today much of that land has become Rockefeller State Park Preserve. A former reservoir used by the city of New Rochelle has likewise been converted into county-run Pocantico Lake Park. While the river runs predominantly through those parks and suburban land, it is still one of the most polluted tributaries of the Hudson. (Wikipedia)
As you can see it’s hardly a roaring torrent at this part of its course. Not even what you’d call a river in fact? It does get a bit more interesting in other parts e.g. see picture below of the so-called Pocantico Falls in Rockefeller State Park Preserve. (picture taken with an Olympus OM-D EM-10 and Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-42 f3.5-4.6 II in January, 2021
Taken with a Sony DSC-H50
I took a walk up the river the other day. People who read my posts will know that I live near the Hudson River, so what’s so special about going for a walk up the river. Those who don’t live around here may not know that “up the river” has a particular meaning around here.
It’s come to refer to being sent to prison, as in “They sent him up the river for five years”. This phrase originally referred to Sing-Sing Prison, on the Hudson River about 30 miles north of New York City. So used from about 1890 on, it was broadened to apply to any prison by the early 1900s.
Sing Sing (now called the Sing Sing Correctional Facility) is not too far from where I live so on this occasion, I was going to walk to Sing Sing to take some pictures. I’ve lived in this area for around 25 years and I’ve never gotten around to taking pictures of the facility.
It was a bright sunny day and somehow the color pictures didn’t look ominous enough, so I tried to make them look a bit more menacing.
Taken with a Sony RX10 III