Foggy Day Photographs

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We don’t get much fog where I live. I live on top of a hill, so it’s quite possible that there may be fog down by the river. It’s also possible that I don’t get up early enough to catch the fog before it burns off.

However, we recently had a rather foggy day, so I picked up my camera and took a few shots. I think that the ancient lens that was attached to my camera was not a good choice for this type of picture. Still, c’est la vie.

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Taken with a Sony A7IV and an approx. 50-year-old Canon 300mm f5.6 lens.

An unfortunate accident

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My sunroom has a flat roof with a deck on top accessible from my bedroom. I like to sit there on warm evenings and watch the world go by. As flat roofs tend to do, it recently developed a leak. I contacted some people to fix it and the first question they asked was: did I want them to just fix the leak or replace the whole roof. I told them to replace the roof. They started last Tuesday.

Unfortunately, a couple of days later after they had taken up the old roof, one of them slipped and put his feet through the sunroom ceiling! Even more unfortunately I was directly underneath when it happened, and a chunk of sheetrock bounced off my head. Luckily, it was thin and very light. After the initial shock I took stock and no loss of consciousness; no blood; no bumps; not a trace of any pain. So, all’s well. He said he will fix the ceiling, which I would probably have had to do anyway.

He’s very thorough. He removed all the debris and fixed the ceiling. Even brought his wife to clean and vacuum everything afterwards. Now I just have to repaint the ceiling.

All’s well that ends well.

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Taken with an iPhone SE II.

Between the snowfalls: In New York City for “MJ”

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We’ve recently had a couple of 5″ plus snow falls. I had some visitors over Christmas and in between the two snow falls (actually the day of the second) we went into New York City to see “MJ The Musical“. In case you’re not familiar with it the “MJ” refers to Michael Jackson. It was very good (especially the Tony winning choreography) and we had a great time. We walked back to Grand Central and on the way, I took pictures of Radio City Music Hall and the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.

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Even though my friend would be driving, I don’t like being out on the roads when it’s snowing, so I rushed everyone to try to make it back home before the snow started. We failed and when we got back to the Ossining train station around 2-3 inches had already fallen.

Unfortunately, my friend had a craving for Thai food and the closest Thai restaurant to the train station/home was in Croton-on-Hudson: D Thai Kitchen (recently moved from Thornwood). In normal conditions it’s about 10 minutes’ drive away. Of course, these were not normal conditions, and it took much longer. However, we got home safely eventually.

How was the food? My friend seemed to like it. It appears that one of the reasons she wanted Thai was because there aren’t any Thai restaurants near where she lives. I love Thai food, and I’ve been to Thailand several times and perhaps I’m a bit more demanding. To me it was OK, but nothing special.

Taken with a Sony RX100 VII

A Tale of Two Simons

by Posted in Landscapes, Nature, People, Plants, Trees, Woodland Leave a comment
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I’d like to recommend a couple of wonderful photographers who have great YouTube Channels. They’re both nature photographers, but each with his own take on the genre.

The first is Simon Booth (Above). Although he does take wider nature views, he seems to be fond of more intimate landscapes: fungi, leaves, mosses, lichens, grasses and the like. Although I’ve taken such pictures occasionally in the past, Mr. Booth had inspired me to do more.

The second is Simon Baxter (Below). He specializes in woodland photography. I also do my share of woodland photography, and I find it very difficult! Woodlands are very “busy” and it’s hard to find an uncluttered background. How does Mr. Baxter do it? I suspect is a combination of a good eye combined with lots of patience and persistence, qualities that, unfortunately, I lack. Anyway, Kudos to him. I love his photographs. I doubt that you will find better examples of woodland photography on YouTube. Another reason to watch his channel is his dog, Meg. The title of his channel is “Simon Baxter and Meg” and she’s popular with his viewers (including me). He generally takes her with him on his photo walks. You can see her running around in the background having a great time. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a happier looking dog.

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