Tree Roots

by Posted in Nature Leave a comment
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Roaring Brook Lane is a couple of minutes away from the house. A dirt track goes down the left side of a stream (Roaring Brook?), over a small wooden bridge and ends up at a wooden dock. The Boy Scouts have done a great job renovating the path, building a new bridge and adding a seating area with picnic table. I usually just walk down to the dock and back and have never explored the right side of the stream so I decided to take a look. There are lots of interesting tree roots. They roots were in shade and were pretty much monochromatic so I thought black and white would work well. I love the shapes and the textures.

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Hubbard Lodge

by Posted in Flowers, Landscapes, Places Leave a comment
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Going north on Route 9 from Peekskill towards Fishkill you pass the intersection with Route 301. A little further there’s a sign to “Hubbard Lodge”. I’ve often seen it and the other day decided to see what was there. Drive a short distance down the road and you come to a chalet style building. It was locked when I was there so I have no idea what’s inside. Behind the building is a fenced off area (which you can enter, but no dogs allowed) with a patio, picnic tables, a gazebo and lots of paths between flower beds. Bees and butterflies fly around all over the place. The garden looks a bit overgrown to me – but maybe it’s meant to be like that. A nice place to come and sit for a while.

Go on a little further and you come to some trails.

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Patio

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Gazebo

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Wooden bench

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Flowers with bees

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Echinacea (if I’m not mistaken – and I easily could be)

Look at that Bokeh

by Posted in Flowers, Photography Leave a comment
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I completely missed the focus here, but I thought I’d include the picture because of the crazy, swirly bokeh – and from a 28mm lens too (Sears 28mm f2.8 in M42 mount. I have no idea who actually made it). The funny thing is that I’d recently seen a picture with similar bokeh and found it interesting. It was taken with a Helios 44-2. The Helios 44 seems to come in several version and I’ve been reading about them so as to make an educated decision as to which one to get. Imagine my surprise when my Sears lens ($7.99 with a nice case from Goodwill) managed to produce this. I might still get the Helios though.

A Few More Flowers

by Posted in Flowers, Nature Leave a comment
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I’ve not been getting out much lately, my major activities being cooking, watching the World Cup and walking the dog. Often the only picture worthy opportunities are flowers – so here are a few more.

I like the one above because the flower (I’ve no idea what it is) seems to float with no visible means of support.

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Flower pictures are often taken from the same angle i.e. from above, looking down on the flower. Here I tried a different angle – getting lower and looking up at the flower. It’s partially successful. I like the angle, but would have liked it to have had a bit more depth of field.

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This is the same flower as the one above. It seems to produce two flowers at the same time: the larger white petals and the denser clusters of small yellow blossoms. I liked the contrast.

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Some kind of daisy?

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Don’t know what this is.