Returning to Places Again

I read a blog by a fellow blogger / photographer that made me want to post a few photos on the same type of subject. I went to Chittenango Falls State Park quite a few times within the last couple of years and I took photos of two different points above the falls at two different times of the year. These photos are in an unedited state and straight from my camera. I saved them to a CD for editing at a later date, but I have not gotten around to it, I am just using them for topic.

Taken 10/02/07

Taken 01/19/08

The angles on this next set might be slightly different, but I was standing in the same place as I was the first time around. The only difference between the 2007 photos and the 2008 photos is the camera I used to take them with. I started off with a Kodak Easyshare C310 and graduated to a Kodak Easyshare ZD710.

Taken 09/14/07

Taken 01/19/08

I have always thought it was amazing how much the seasons can change the appearance of a place. I love this waterfall the best during the winter season. It is a very special place to me. I go here when I just want to get lost and take lots of pictures because the beauty of it for me is just the beginning.

Another Trip To The Zoo

I went to the Rosamond Gifford Zoo At Burnett Park for the second time yesterday to participate in the Winter At The Zoo Photography Contest. I was really disappointed because it was too cold out for the African Lions to be out. I really wanted to see them playing in the snow, but maybe I can get out there again before Winter ends, but the weather is warmer. I got a few shots while I was there, but not too many because most of the animals were in their indoor habitats and could not be viewed.

River Otters

Asian Elephant - Male - Born 1972 in Thailand

Mandrill

This shot of the Mandrill is a bit shaky. I forgot to bring my mono pod, but I am posting it because it was so sweet. The intensity these two Mandrill shared in the 10 minutes I stood there looking at them was amazing.

A New Experience

I got to do what to me was one of the most amazing experiences of my life to date, and I now see the beauty in a creature that I thought all it did was scrounge for food and take a crap on whatever it was near. The local seagull population.

I meet a professional photographer today at a local park here in Ithaca. I was watching him shoot, and he asked me if I wanted to help him. Of course I jumped at this opportunity. He talked with me like I was a person while he had me throw food into the air for seagulls to fly around above my head while he shot them flying.

I had one of the birds so close to me ... I could have reached out and touched it if I wanted to. I was a little frightened at first of one biting me, but that wore off fast. I think the temperature was no more than in the single digits today, and I won't lie ... I am still really cold. I was out there for like 45 minutes with him, and it only seems like 10 minutes. I had the time of my life.

I cannot remember doing anything more fun. I hope that one day I can do that for someone because this man has no idea just how much he made my day. He made me feel like a person with the same interest as he, and he talked to me like a person with feelings. He asked about me, they type of photography I loved the best to this point .... Which by the way is Nature Scenes & Waterfalls. I felt like a human being for the first time in a really long time. It was really nice.

He said he would post some of the finished work on one of his web sites. I cannot wait to see it. He gave me his business card to I had his web sites information. I hope I might run into him again someday, He seemed like a wonderful man ... and a certainly enjoyed spending that time with him and the seagulls.

Indoor Disaster?

I decided to try out some indoor photography tonight because I am tired of just going to work and coming home, and I think I am going to have to look up somethings to help me with this issue because I cannot seem to get the lighting right. It might have been the combination of the last of light I used and the candles I am not sure. Here are the photos I took using some editing software (Photoshop Elements 6).

This photo I tried not so use the flash because I wanted to see the detail in the candle as well as the light from the candle.

In this photo I tried to darken it some because it was really bright. I think I just have too many elements going at the same time. The dark background, The candle light, and not enough or too much back lighting.

I like the composition of this photo, but I do not like the way it came out. The original un-edited photo was really bright. I tried it minus the flash and it just came out really blurry. I might try this project again, but not without some serious studying on the topic first.

I like the composition of this photo as well, but I see that it is not as sharp as I would like, and that the candles blurred with the flash ... Just too much wrong.

Tail Light

Okay ... This one is more of a rant than anything else because when I saw it ... I was a bit upset because my car has been sitting in my driveway for a month and I have not driven it any where.

I went out on one of the many snowy mornings to clean the snow off from my car and start it up so the battery does not die while I wait for it to get warm enough for the hood release to us freeze so I can take my car to get fixed, and as I was cleaning off my car I saw this ...

I was thinking "wtf" that was not like that when I parked it. I think the snow pow hit it, or that crazy freaking neighbor of mine. Because it is an older car ... I do not keep full coverage on it .. So now before I can get it inspected in March I have to come up with the money to replace the darn lens because someone did not tell me they hit my car. I guess it goes to show me that not everyone in the world is honest.

I know it could have been worse, but it is still annoying.

Meet Bigfoot

This is Bigfoot ... A.K.A Dog as my father calls him. He is one of the cutest dogs I have seen in a while. I am more of a cat person ... as most of you might already know, but this dog holds a special place in my heart. I love his attitude and his nature. He just loves to be loved on. This photo of him wast taken while playing with my husband on the floor at my fathers house.

This is him giving me those sweet and innocent eyes ... he tends to give when he wants attention.

Finally ... We have one that my wonderful husband took while I was getting licked to death by Bigfoot. I usually will not post a photo of myself for any reason, but this one is not too bad!

Stuck In Syracuse

I went to visit one of my best friends in Syracuse Sunday and an Ice Storm blew threw sometime while I was there. We heard that planes that the local airport could not take off it was so slippery, So we looked out the window and sure enough ... The roads were a sheet of ice. I decided I was not going to head home until the morning because I did not want to have a second visit with Black Ice this winter. I got lucky the first time around ... I did not want to tempt fate.

She has this awesome house that she rents and because her place rocks and mine sucks ... I decided to take some photos while I was there. I seemed to love this wall piece she had hanging from her wall, and I took two photographs of it a black and white shot and a color shot.

I got this new photography book (The Digital Photography Book - By Scott Kelby), and I wanted to try out some of the things it had to make your shots look more like the professionals. Check them out below. I found this book to be pretty easy to understand ... for all I have read of it so far. It covers a lot of stuff, and I cannot wait to get out and try them out.

Those were all that I have processed at this point from my visit. I have a few more keepers to process, but I want to try some other sharpening techniques to them first and I will be posting them.

Brothers

Today will be my first blog of the new year ... and It is going to have nothing to do with photography because I think I am one of the saddest creatures on the planet today. I started the day on a good note, but my brother called me to finish the fight he started with me the day before because I hung up on him the day before.

I wish I could find a way to make him understand I am not like him ... I do not want to try to have a discussion with someone that is always calling me names or just flat out being an a-hole. I cannot handle his methods of discussion, and it bothers me that I cannot find a way to communicate with him that does not end up in a match that leaves me suffering from a serious anxiety attack.

We come from a very broken home. Our father was not the nicest person in the world, and our mother ... just was not there. She wanted to be I think, but she choose to live vs dying (Which was the choice my father offered). I am not sure if the 20 years that we did not see each other and were not involved in each others lives changed us, but it saved my life. I ended up in a foster home because of some very serious things, and he ended up with one of his aunts.

Anyways ... I called him to ask if he knew anyone that sold used auto parts because I needed I new tail light cover because while my car has been sitting in my driveway broken down ... some jerk hit it and broken the light cover and did not bother to say anything. I do not want to pay $150.00 dollars for one because the car is a 1992 and has quite a few miles on it.

This ended up in a big fight, and resulted in me telling him he was an a-hole and I hung up the phone on him. I guess I added fuel to his fire because he called back today. I guess I should have left my phone off.

I really hate fighting with anyone ... most of all family. I am a very sensitive soul, and I cannot take the things that some people call jokes too well. I used to be able to a long time ago, but I am a different person now. I tried to explain this to him as calmly as possible, and all he said was "I am the way I am and if you do not like it .. I really don't give a F, so you are going to have to learn to deal with it ... or not talk to me again." Well ... I can see what the out come of this is going to be. I am not going to talk to him again more than likely ... because he is not worth having a heart attack over.

Well ... I bet that was hard to even want to read. I just needed some where to go with this because I have no support system on this one, and I cannot leave it sitting inside because it has had me sick all day now, and I need to get out of the rut it set me into. Thanks for reading ... If you have any advise that might help save this relationship ... Please ... I am willing to listen and try it out! I just do not know what else to do. Telling him how I felt just made him madder.