Monthly Archives: October 2013

Ups and Downs of the Fall

Posted by Mike on

I traveled to Binghamton on Sunday to visit with my daughter and pick up a dresser from my mother-in-law. The day started out cold and rainy but by the time I was 30 minutes from the house it had done a 180. I stopped at a few of the state parks on the way back home to capture the autumn colors. This is from Pratt’s Falls State Park just south of Jamesville, NY and east of LaFayette, NY on route 20. I still need to process the images of the waterfall with the autumn colors in bold display but I really liked this one of the teeter-totter.

Ups and Downs of the Fall Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/5s, 17mm, f/16, ISO 100

Ups and Downs of the Fall
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/5s, 17mm, f/16, ISO 100

Worldwide Photowalk 2013

Posted by Mike on

I broke away from my normal tendency and signed up to participate in this year’s Worldwide Photowalk. I believe this was the sixth year Scott Kelby has held his photowalk and I was lucky enough to find a walk close to home. I would normally shy away from something like this but since I will be going to Disney in a few weeks to participate in a Photographer’s event there I thought this would be a good warm up for me (normally I don’t play well with others… 🙂 ).

I had such a good time! I met really great people. We had a fun time walking around Clinton, NY and I even managed to capture a few images. This was more an architectural detail style of walk and I tried to expand my vision but I found myself falling back on my normal type of images. I still need to learn to see more broadly.

The best part of the day was after lunch we sat around a few computers and viewed what everyone captured. I was amazed at the images everyone found. I walked right next to these people but didn’t ‘see’ what they saw. I’m looking but not seeing. Will work on that in Disney too!

Here are a few of images I did see…

Leaf Top Reflection Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/40s, 35mm, f/8, ISO 800

Leaf Top Reflection
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/40s, 35mm, f/8, ISO 800

Simple Colors Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/100s, 70mm, f/5.6, ISO 800

Simple Colors
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/100s, 70mm, f/5.6, ISO 800

More Colors Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/60s, 38mm, f/5.6, ISO 800

More Colors
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/60s, 38mm, f/5.6, ISO 800

One Among the Fallen Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/200s, 70mm, f/5.6, ISO 800

One Among the Fallen
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/200s, 70mm, f/5.6, ISO 800

Time to Say Goodbye Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/100s, 70mm, f/5.6, ISO 800

Time to Say Goodbye
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/100s, 70mm, f/5.6, ISO 800

Go on, Take a Load Off Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/125s, 35mm, f/5.6, ISO 800

Go on, Take a Load Off
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/125s, 35mm, f/5.6, ISO 800

Top Down Nikon D5100, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8, 1/80s, f/5.6, ISO 800

Top Down
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8, 1/80s, f/5.6, ISO 800

Suspended Nikon D5100, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8, 1/80s, f/5.6, ISO 800

Suspended
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8, 1/80s, f/5.6, ISO 800

Floating Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/200s, 70mm, f/5.6, ISO 800

Floating
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/200s, 70mm, f/5.6, ISO 800

Taughannock Falls

Posted by Mike on

On Saturday I wandered off on another early morning adventure. I made my way to Taughannock Falls State Park on the lower west side of Cayuga Lake. This park has been on my list of must see state parks and I was happy to finally make my way there. I parked the car at the lake end of the park which nestled between route 96 and Cayuga lake along the Taughannock Creek. The 3/4 mile gorge trail takes you right to the signature waterfall. It was a happy coincidence that I didn’t make it to this park until autumn. The colors in the gorge are incredible and only enhanced my images.

The Lower Falls are visible from route 89 along the lake and were a great way to start my exploration. There were numerous locations for different views of the small cascade and true to my water fascination I used them all. There was a way to get down onto the creek bed but I wasn’t positive how frowned upon that would be so I stayed on the path.

The Lower Falls Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/8s, 22mm, f/16, ISO 100

The Lower Falls
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/8s, 22mm, f/16, ISO 100

Crisscross Cascade Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1s, 35mm, f/22, ISO 100

Crisscross Cascade
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1s, 35mm, f/22, ISO 100

Many Falls Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1s, 62mm, f/22, ISO 100

Many Falls
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1s, 62mm, f/22, ISO 100

The end of the gorge trail did not disappoint. The 215′ Taughannock Falls was impressive, especially since you can get so close to it. The difficulty in capturing this waterfall, at least in the early morning, was the angle of the sunlight and the amount of shadows. I ended up using a two exposure blend to balance the light.

Taughannock Falls Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1 & 1/4s blend), 21mm, f/18, ISO 100

Taughannock Falls
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1 & 1/4s blend), 21mm, f/18, ISO 100

Not to distract from the beauty of the waterfalls but I truly enjoyed to creek which created the gorge. It took me about 1.5 hours to walk the 3/4 mile trail because there were so many opportunities for me to capture my beloved water images. I’ll have more on those later…