Wandering slowly every step calculated, every scene I see, I process beauty I am in awe of nature. Sitting, staring, imagining history and looking toward the future. The gorge is gorgeous, created over thousands of years. In the future it will grow and become more beautiful. The falls will still fall, the river sill still flow.
Each day we should try to slow, to see, to experience life. The memories made on this hike will last a lifetime. In life I will not remember the purchases whether of need or vanity.
Time is short and meant to be capitalized upon. Yesterday was a hike through Watkins Glen. A photo walk for a few waterfalls, a hike to build some strength. It turned into an experience that will be hard to forget. Thunder and storm soaked through the clothing. No time to wait for the rain to subside.
Splish, splash it was no time to explore, to enjoy, to experience life from the top to the bottom and beyond.
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Photoblog April 3 and 4: Diapers and Waterfalls on bikes a normal day on the road
April 3, 2015: “Love, Hate and Waterfalls”
You can tell I am riding a bike. Beauty is surrounding me,
people whizzing by me some slowing others having no regard for my life getting
so close I feel lucky that I wasn’t impaled.
Today I just smiled and waved stopped at a waterfall and thought what a
wonderful world.
I call this Mister in the
Gray Truck
Hey Mister in the gray truck.
I am extremely glad I could have such a positive impact on your day. You drove
by me. You took the time to role down your window. You took the time to scream
an obscenity at me. You took the time to flip me the bird multiple times over
the next 1/2 mile. I waved, I gave you a thumbs up I am not angry. I just want
to understand.
Mister in the gray truck I am happy to
have made your day. I was just riding my bike. I was doing nothing wrong. I was
riding in a straight line. Riding with traffic. Riding exactly how the law
dictates. You treat me like I'm nothing like I attacked you. I ride thousands
of miles a year. I do not nothing but obey the laws. I stop at the stop signs.
I use my hand signals. I watch for vehicles.
I believe you used to ride a
bike when you were a child. Do you remember? Do you remember when the wind
would blow through your hair, when you would ride down to the corner store? Do
you remember how free you felt at that moment? Now you are grown. Now you have
forgotten what it is to be a child. Now you let the negatives of life control
you, instill anger in you. Anger for what? You were not delayed all you did was
share the road pull safely a few feet a way from me. Did slowing down prolong
your trip 5 seconds? When you get home do you let your son ride a bike? I bet
you have forgotten how to enjoy life.
I have one piece of advice
ride a bike, you just may enjoy it and not hold such anger in your heart when
driving.
April 4, 2015: “Diapers on Bikes”
Tis the season where I will be commuting and living off of
my bike, hopefully. I started my errands
y turning a 2 mile ride into a 10 mile ride.
My first errand of the season was to buy diapers so I went to Rite Aid
thinking it’s far enough away to give me a few miles. Little did I realize carrying diapers on a
bike is hard. I had 7 miles to go and
because I always bring my own bags and do not take plastic bags, I was forced
to carry them.
400 yards with idiots in traffic carrying diapers like a
football. The bad thing about most
stores is they are on a road which is well traveled. This is no exception, you would think a 4
lane road would have a shoulder or a bike lane.
This is a very common road for bicycles and serious cyclists alike. In fact I hate heading north through those
couple hundred yards because no matter how far I come into the lane I can still
feel the pull of a vehicle way to close to me as they pass on by. I held my own this time like always, holding
the diapers close veering off onto the shoulder as soon as I got out of the
business area.
My idea was for a superhero pose with the diapers while
riding my bike but all I could get was this.
Not too shabby especially with the trees aligning both sides. The road was busier than expected and the
sunlight kept hiding behind the clouds.
I am Diaper Dude bringing you diapers one mile at a time haha.
Photoblog Randomness: March 16, 17, 22, 23, 25 Almost caughty caught up. Nothing to see here, actually there is...
March 16, 2015: “It’s out of Focus”
One thing I see that bothers me and gives photography a bad
name is when I see a photographer post out of focus images or have the wrong
focus in the photo. These 2 images are
to present the differences in focus.
There is a 2 foot difference in the image but the focus shows something
different. I wanted to highlight the
diploma, the first image has the words in focus, the second is focused on the
random bottles in the front of the pic.
These pictures are poor quality but show how the same image can show you
something different. A lot of what I see
out of focus is people and it kills me, focused on something in the back or
foreground not the actual item. In auto
mode it typically doesn’t focus on what you want. To get the photo is to develop your skills,
understand the settings and how to portray the image you are going for.
If you are photographer quality will always win over
quantity. Always so put the focus on
your subject, put the focus on yourself relax and create the art you want. Don’t just throw it against the wall and hope
what is seen is what was created.
March 17, 2015: “The Club”
Every Tuesday is Port Photo Club night. Shooting outside in
lowlight, I had a ton of trouble getting any type of focus. The club is a place to hone our skills and
make great strides and great errors. I
really wanted this shot to be amazing and it works to a degree. The lack of crispness bothers me as well the
way the light comes in. A great pose but
working with just the streetlights is always tough and this was no
exception. Shooting people I always want
to use an external light source unless it outside on a sunny day. In those cases I would want to block out
light. Whether you are using a phone or
dslr the most important thing to understand and control is light. That will create the image. Tough light sucks but can always be altered
to create what you wish to make.
March 22, 2015:
“Creep”
I didn’t feel like doing a full setup and wanted originally
to do the hoodie thing. I tried to
control the light from one source but had to use to which brightened the
background. Sometimes I just want to
creep and hide into the darkness.
March 23, 2015: “Alive in Death”
Last summer a dragonfly flew into my car and ending up
getting stuck inside and dying. I
noticed him quite a while ago and he had been my car companion for months. Dragonflys are neat little creatures with
bugeyes, wide willowy wings and that nifty tail. I’ve shot a few out in the wild which is
super hard to get a good focus on the little guys.
This little guy who had been riding in the back was fun to
pose and light to get an image that shows the detail. I shot a flash through a tube to project
through his body with a black background.
I shot a few shots at different angles to see which one would come out
as the most interesting. Sadly I was
disappointed to see that all of the detail I was hoping for in the face was
just a cloudy eye. Overall I truly
enjoyed the beautifulness of this guys nature and how he preserves. In his death he is alive and bringing
mindfulness to me. Understanding that
things we may walk past everyday are the things that truly contribute to
life. In the big picture the small
things matter and make the world go round.
March 25, 2015: “Deer”
BOOM, POW, BAM! The deer ran into my car. Damage done, I am ok. As we encroach on nature, nature lives on our
turf. There is nothing we can do when nature
has nowhere to grow but in our society. It
is a sad commentary that greed fuels growth which leads to destruction. Instead of rebuilding in an empty building,
the woods next door are torn down.
Instead of leaving the forests be the real estate companies buy them for
development. Destroying the homes and
habitat of wild animals. We complain
about there being so many out in the open.
I wonder why they are where they are when we destroy their homes
daily.
April 5, 2015: “Hopeless”
April 5, 2015: “Hopeless”
Feelings are strange thing we can go from happy to hopeless
in matter of seconds, from sad to jubilant.
There are millions of microemotions that can be seen across us all. I woke up today Easter a holiday went to
work, worked, went grocery shopping and came home. I ran gamut of emotions today to where I sit
content and balanced. Most of the day
did not go that way.
Most of the day I was stressed, I was angry, I had
feelinglings (fyi it was a typo but I kind of like the extra lings) of hopelessness. It all stemmed from where I am in life and
how I have failed myself in my career endeavors. Wasted my education never got that job I
wanted which I am not even sure what it is.
Stuck, simply stuck in a state of hopelessness working today. No family celebrations just catering to
corporate greed. Local and non essential
businesses shutdown, they enjoy their holidays and still respect values that
are people based not profit based. That
is why I feel hopeless, for my self failures and for humanity which is
increasingly controlled by business, increasingly dependent on business to
survive.
I’m a hopeless wanderer stuck, if I didn’t feel
responsibility I would never look back pack my bags and bike across this
country and the planet earth taking in all that is great. I’m hopeless wandering on a path for
enlightenment for understanding trying to figure out why money matters so
much. Shouldn’t we just have hope to
survive and only covet our basic needs.
I’m hopeless in so many ways.
Friday, April 3, 2015
Photoblog: The bike blog and photos
March 18, 2015: “Book Club”
What is your favorite store?
Mine is the bookstore, in this day and age the survivor is Barnes and
Noble. I frequent the store sometimes
buying bunches of books and magazines, sometimes whimsically walking through
indecisive.
I found the ultimate bargain book, “Einstein and the Mindful Art of Cycling”. This is possibly the worlds most perfect book it combines genius, cycling and mindfulness. Everything practice everyday. It warmed my heart so much I did a book photo shoot. Words are weapons for good and evil, we need to read to create understanding and not follow blindly. My happy place provides me with knowledge, hope and happiness. Go enjoy and join the book club create a new world you can get away into or learn and grow.
March 20, 2015: “Gone MacGuyver”
Bike, bike, bike all day long, everyday. I heard a noise clink, clang, cluck could I
figure out what it was, it sounded like it was coming from below near my
crank. I continued for miles until I got
home. It wasn’t until I searched to
diagnose the problem that I realized what it was. My pump holder plastic had cracked and come
off its holder. For those miles I was
riding the pump was hitting the top chain ring and was pretty chewed up. There was nothing wrong with the pump at
all. I tried a few things to fix the
holder but soon realized fixing cheap plastic was a lost cause.
Boom MacGuyver mode kicked in, first I tried paperclips then
glue and then I settled upon a cord holder elastic mini strap. It holds the pump attached to my bottle
holder. I rode 30 miles no problem with
it the bike. I’m glad it worked well and
I didn’t have to come up with an alternative means of a holder.
March 26, 2015: “Shelved”
It is snowing again, a few inches here. My bike is inside my gear lays askew. Nothing to do but to wait it out. I look at the forecast seeing no end in sight. I want to ride and get ahead in the
game. The wind still howls, the snow
still blows. I thought I had a chance to
move forward instead I’m stuck looking for a break. Looking for someday. Today I am shelved.
Photoblog: "Memories and Places" I an track, I spent a lot of time here these places made me who I am.
March 24, 2015: “Star Trails”
One of my favorite things to do in photography is sit
outside watching the time pass by connecting with nature. To me one of the best times to do that is
when it is dark, most people think oh its dark there is nothing to see. WRONG!
That is when the beauty truly comes out look at the stars, the moon,
listen to the sounds it is something to be seen. This time of year I find hard to sit outside
since the temperatures are cold on this night in the teens with a mild wind.
I did sit outside take in the sights and the stars. I wanted to do a light trails photo which is
something I had never done before. I
set up tested my exposure and shutter time.
Things looked good so I set up and took 68 total 30 second photos. Most of the star trail photography is
completed in post processing to bring out the trails. I used a program to stack all of the photos
and create the circular motion. I was
very happy with my first attempt. What I
need to work on is simply figuring out how to make my camera automatically keep
shooting rather than having to repress the shutter button every 10 shots. The
shutter button has a 10 second lag which creates the small gaps in the trails
which appear almost like clockwork.
Expect plenty more of this style in the future.
March 30, 2015: “Memory Lane”
Walking around town familiar breeds memories. These are streets I roamed as kid, aimlessly
wandering to nowhere, to somewhere and growing up. My springs were spent at the track running in
circles and flying through the air. The
track I ran on was gravel, there have been upgrades to the rubberized track
since then. I walked up and down the
track, checked out the records board. I
saw a few familiar names from my heyday and few older still standing. Seeing those names bought back a flood of
memories and what could have beens.
That senior year being undefeated, hitting the school record
in practice. A quarter of the way
through the season prom happened and I hurdles something and boom, there goes
my ankle. It was horrible, a memory that
I wish I didn’t have. I was a captain, I
was depended on to win every meet and get the maximum points in the pole vault
and had a really great chance to be league champ and qualify for states. None of the hard work ever paid off. I blew out my ankle and couldn’t recover in
time for sectionals to attempt to qualify for states.
I just remember how I would show up and the coaches didn’t
care, saw I was done and thought whatever and gave up on me. I was killing it early in the freezing season
qualifying for sectionals on 40 degree day with 20 mph winds. The one coach who never gave up was there my
first few years was Mr. Villlela, he cared and had a way of teaching where he
understood each individual and took the time to talk to you an understand
you. He led the team the way leaders are
supposed to lead. Winning wasn’t his top
priority, developing us kids into productive humans was his number one goal and
his vehicle happened to be track and field.
Walking down memory lane I walked through a field onto a track into memories
of failed dreams.
March 31, 2015:
“Coldwave…still”
It I still freezing and it is the end of March. Will we ever see warm weather? As much as I complain about it, I do enjoy
the crispness while I am out shooting.
Today I venture to Olcott about 2 hours after sunset to see what I could
get. My favorite things to shoot long
evening exposures. Today it was on the
Lake, I had specific shots in my mind but there was too much light pollution to
get what I had hoped for. I took a
literal walk in the park found some interesting scenes. After walking and scoping sights in darkness
I decided I would head down the hill to the pier. There was one fairly accessible, not the
easiest thing to do going down a hill with a camera and a flashlight. I setup for about 15 minutes until I got the
composition right. Amazing and beautiful
in the darkness of night.
Photoblogs for March 19, 27, 28, 1, 2: Who Are You? What Do You See? Are You Judging Me?
March 19, 2015: “Serious Tea”
Who Are You? A local pottery artist creates handmade
pottery. I looked at this cup and it hit
me in the hard. Who Are You? I reflected and asked myself, it is these
little things that help me figure out who I am, where I am and who I want to
be. Such simplicity that holds my tea but
through the cloud of tea brings a bit of clarity. Seriously this is serious tea. Who are you?
Ask yourself this and look deep, it may lead to change, lead you to a
more productive place where you find balance.
That is who I hope to become.
March 27, 2015: “Whats Morality”
I walk by where I grew up the first few years in my life
inside a church along the canal in Lockport, NY. You learn things based in two thousand year
old book. Millions of people around the
world base their lives on these teachings.
By these teachings I mean only the ones they agree with because we all
know the old testament really doesn’t count.
I’ve been told I’m going to hell by literal interpreting of
not believing. More so recently there
are two stories in the news. Duck
Dynastys Pastor Phil decrying athiests and the Indiana passage of the religious
freedom to discriminate act.
I am an atheist, I believe in a thing called science and
fact. Phil Robertson was speaking to a
conservative group and said the following:
“I’ll make a bet with you,”
Robertson said. “Two guys break into an atheist’s home. He has a little atheist
wife and two little atheist daughters. Two guys break into his home and tie him
up in a chair and gag him. And then they take his two daughters in front of him
and rape both of them and then shoot them and they take his wife and then
decapitate her head off in front of him. And then they can look at him and say,
‘Isn’t it great that I don’t have to worry about being judged? Isn’t it great
that there’s nothing wrong with this? There’s no right or wrong, now is it
dude?’”
Robertson kept
going: “Then you take a sharp knife and take his manhood and hold it in front
of him and say, ‘Wouldn’t it be something if this [sic] was something wrong
with this? But you’re the one who says there is no God, there’s no right,
there’s no wrong, so we’re just having fun. We’re sick in the head, have a nice
day.’”
“If it happened
to them,” Robertson continued, “they probably would say, ‘something about this
just ain’t right.”
Morality is not a
question of having god. I am a moral
person, I get my morality and values from my families and friends. Spewing hate filled speech is horrible. I have a question for you all: If the bible teaches you to love your enemy,
go into the world with love why is distorted to attack your enemies and preach
hatred.
It is not just
christianity but every religion trying to convert someone, somewhere. Can’t we just let it be and teach human
kindness and treat each other how we wish to be treated. Discrimination is the name of the game for
Phil and Indiana. Morals and values are
not and will never be owned by religion as long as religion keeps killing,
keeps discriminating, keeps spewing hate.
Please someone
tell me how horrible of a person I am and that I have no morals or values
because I am an atheist. The best part
is you know me and understand that I am warm, caring and a good person.
March 28, 2015: “Follow Your Arrow”
Kacey Musgraves came to the Town Ballroom in Buffalo, NY for
a show. I haven’t seen her ever in what
I would call a headlining show. I have
seen her a few times before. Today I was
blown away by everything she did. It is
rare for a such a young artist to truly know who they are and hold true to
every piece of it. Will she ever be a
superstar, I don’t think so. She has a
distinct style that is more folk/Americana than country. She performs to tell a story and make sure
her lyrics are heard.
She is progressive in her song choice while practicing what
she preaches. On stage she commands the
room, engages the audience and doesn’t hold back. She speaks with the tongue of a sailor while
her songs elegantly expose the truth.
She played for almost 2 full hours with all of her original music and a
few covers along the way. She put her
stamp on the show by telling the crowd to shut up and stop shouting ignorant
things. She follows her arrow to beat of
her own drum and will have quite a successful career even if the crowd didn’t
know enough to learn her music before they showed up.
April 1, 2015: “What You See is Not Always What You Get”
What do you see? |
What is this? Look
closely and if you can’t tell you are not seeing the whole picture. The whole picture shows that winter is still
here, that is fading slowly. Look
closely and question everything in life because reading only the cover will
never give you the full the story.
Did you see snow? |
April 2, 2015: “That’s So Queer”
Queer, queer, queer, that’s so queer. A common word thrown around tonight at Andrea
Gibson’s spoken word performance in Buffalo, NY. An excellent performance full of emotion and
stories. I went into the event knowing that
Andrea is gay and an activist for the cause.
One thing I never realized was how beautiful words could be. I was surprised to hear the word queer thrown
around so casually. I guess I don’t
spend enough time around the gay community to realize that they use that word
amongst themselves. I always thought of
it as a straight white man as hate speech.
Which I guess it would be if I used it or someone else did to
antagonize.
In Indiana and Arkansas they passed or are trying to pass a
bill to discriminate against the LGBT community. As of this writing Indiana’s Senate has
approved an amendment to make discrimination illegal with specific language to
include gender identity.
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