Constitution Marsh

September 13, 2013 by Howard Dale Posted in Places Tagged gallery Leave a comment

Constitution Marsh with West Point in the background

When we went to the big band concert at Boscobel I picked up a copy of “Hudson Valley & Catskills” at the gift shop. The book described Constitution Marsh as follows:

A National Audobon Society haven for nature lovers who enjoy birding along the river and spotting rare wildflowers in spring. There is a boardwalk to make viewing easier and a self guided nature tour.

I decided to take a look. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I couldn’t take the dog. No dogs allowed on Constitution Marsh.

Causeway

One of the exhibits on the poetry trail. In case you can’t read the poem it says:

Falcons

I am thankful for falcons
straining in the air
calling others when they see their prey
Their feathers feel like the seeds of milkweed.

I am thankful for the trees that grow food
like the sweetest apple
and trunks like the great columns of history.

I am grateful for the blowing wind like the calling shadows.

I am grateful for the lake that looks like paper being folded like an accordion.

Ben, 3rd grade

Bee on a bullrush

Another view of the causeway

Scanning Project Continued – Another Wedding

September 11, 2013 by Howard Dale Posted in People Tagged gallery Leave a comment

This time it’s my parent’s wedding: 5 August 1950 (I think). I wasn’t born yet so clearly I didn’t take the pictures. Unfortunately I don’t know who did and the tattered and fading wedding album gives no clues. I recall that I loved to look at this album when I was a child (although I had difficulty understanding why I wasn’t in any of the pictures). I liked the feel of the pictures, and the “crinkly” plasticky cover. Like many other things it disappeared into a box during one of our moves and has only now re-emerged.

Maid/Matron of Honour: Aunt Cath and Aunt Violet.

Aunt Beatrice reaching out to her son, my cousin Tony. Uncle Albert in the background. One of my grandmothers and a “Grandma Hudson” (my great grand mother) to the right.

Wedding party. Aunt Cath (my father’s half sister); Dad, Mum, Aunt Violet (my mother’s sister); and Uncle Arnold (my mother’s oldest brother.

The broader wedding group. Most of whom I recall, but some of whom are a complete mystery to me.

Mum and Dad outside St. Mary’s Church, Sandbach.

From left to right: my grandmother (on my father’s side) and her third husband (I don’t remember his name); Aunt Cath; Mum & Dad; Aunt Violet; Uncle Albert; Grandma Hudson; my grandfather on my mother’s side.

Mum and my grandfather (her father)

Mum and dad cutting the cake at the reception

Why do I like black and white?

September 11, 2013 by Howard Dale Posted in Thoughts Tagged gallery Leave a comment

Church of St. Trophime, Arles

A lot of pictures on this site are black and white. My niece recently commented on some black and white family pictures: “Black and white ones are so cool!” In response my wife replied: “They do have an interesting quality but I prefer colored ones. H (that’s me) loves b/w photos”. So why so many black and whites?

First it’s not that I have anything against color. I’ve seen many exceptional color photographs. It’s just that I’m not very good with color. It seems to be so simple. Everything around us is in color so we should be taking color pictures. Right? I think that the problem is that while all around us is color, much of it is mundane. To me a good color photograph is one where color plays a major role. The color makes the picture rather than just being there. I’m not very good with color theory so I don’t understand well enough, which colors when combined together will achieve the maximum effect. I thought maybe reading up on color theory might help so I bought this book. I could barely understand much of it. We recently had a water leak in our house and this book was destroyed. I won’t miss it. I’ll keep trying though. Maybe over time I’ll get better. From time to time I get a decent color pictures – more by luck than judgement though.

Second, and linked to the first, I tend to see tones rather than colors. Take a color photograph. Convert it to black and white. I’ve read that if it doesn’t lose much then it wasn’t a very good color photograph to begin with. An example:

In the above pictures the black white conversion doesn’t really work. The color contributes too much to the image. Take it away and the picture doesn’t work as well. Or maybe I just didn’t do a very good black and white conversion….On the other hand I have from time to time “rescued” a mediocre/poor color photo by converting it to black and white.

It’s often said that light is the most important element in creating a good photograph. I think this is true, and it’s particularly true of color photographs, perhaps even more than for black and white. it’s also often said that the best light is early in the morning or early in the evening. I’m usually too lazy to get up in the mornings and I’m usually too busy early in the evening. So I tend to miss the really good light and don’t tend to get good color pictures.

I’m of an age (61) where “classy” photography was always in black and white. Many of the great photographers photographed in black and white. I was also influenced by movies in black and white (even though I suppose most of them were already in color at that time). My earliest experience of movies was of being taken to see “Batman” serials. They were in black and white. Later I would watch old movies late at night. They too were in black and white. So I suppose black and white kind of went into my psyche.

If I like black and white so much why don’t I just shoot black and white film? I’ve never developed my own film so I would have to get it processed somewhere and and such places are getting harder and harder to find and more and more expensive. Although I enjoy occasional film photography I also like the convenience of digital and the control I can get in digital processing. Maybe if I could get into developing my own film I’d shoot more and more black and white film. One day…

My wife got it right when she said “H loves b/w photos”.

Big Band Show at Boscobel

September 9, 2013 by Howard Dale Posted in Places Tagged gallery Leave a comment

The Mansion (taken in 2011)

One gorgeous Sunday evening we went to to a big band concert at Boscobel. For those who don’t know it Boscobel is a Federal style mansion just outside Cold Spring. The house used to be in the Bronx. It was about to be demolished when preservationists took over and moved the entire house, piece by piece, up to its present location. It has one of the best views of the Hudson that I know. In summer they hold a Shakespeare festival under a large tent.

The audience came early and had a picnic in front of the mansion. The band was decent and the singers were quite good. Unfortunately some of the instrumental soloists were not quite up to requirements. A fun time was had by all.

Lake and Fountain

Me in front of the view (taken by Eirah)

The band gets ready

Drummer

Dancers

Singer

Oregon Corners Part 2: The Church of the North American Martyrs

September 6, 2013 by Howard Dale Posted in Places Tagged gallery Leave a comment

Facade

An earlier post covered the Spruce Hill Inn at Oregon Corners. Just north of the Spruce Hill Inn on Oscawana Lake Road is one of the more interesting churches I’ve seen: The Church of the North American Martyrs. It’s a Catholic church but looks like a native american Long House. It’s made of wood and has face masks and plaques on the outside – all in a native american style. An article from the New York Times provides more information including this:

The martyrs, the most famous of whom was St. Isaac Jogues, had the misfortune to focus their ministry on the Hurons just when that tribe had become marked for destruction by the Mohawks and other powerful tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy. The Jesuits, called black robes by the Mohawks, who thought they were evil magicians, were canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1930. A grotto next to the church honors Kateri Tekakwitha, a Christian convert who died in 1680 and is known as the Lily of the Mohawks. She was beatified in 1980 by Pope John Paul II.