Stow, NY
Another Lensball moment from my early morning excursion to Stow, NY while visiting my Mom. I definitely need to go looking for more lighthouses…
Morocco Pavilion, World Showcase
Epcot, Walt Disney World
During my Summer trip to Walt Disney World it rained a lot. Not the normal, twenty minute, afternoon Florida rain, it rained! Not every day was a wash out, but my first day at Epcot saw torrential rains starting at 3:30pm lasting through the night. Although I enjoyed my visit with a friend that night, we were soaked! It also did not allow for any night exploring with the camera.
The next morning I changed my plans and went back to Epcot. I was determined to explore that park with my newly acquired wide-angle lens. After the fireworks, I got down to business. While most guests were heading toward the exits, I was making my way to all the pavilions on my list. Morocco was near the top. The details you can find in this pavilion are amazing.
My first image had to be of Koutoubia minaret. I have tried in recent years to get an acceptable image but this time I had a few extra degrees of view with the wide-angle lens. I wanted to stay on landscape mode and capture more of the pavilion rather than portrait mode with only the minaret. I believe it works better in this orientation to create a better sense of location.
The lighting and colors of this area are beautiful, but it is the details I wanted to capture. I processed this one as a B&W HDR image to allow those details to shine through. Explore this image. Look at the patterns cast by the lights, the details of the stone work and the intricacy of the tiles. I ate lunch at the table near the base of the minaret so I could soak in all the details on display.
Bellamy Harbor Park
Saturday morning was another opportunity for a sunrise picture before the craziness of yard sale weekend was to begin. I jumped down to my ‘go to’ place in Rome about an hour before sunrise. I told myself I would explore more of Bellamy Harbor Park this morning rather than setup in my normal spot and capture one or two images.
I started with the safe image, the wide angle view of the harbor (actually, the spot along the barge canal where the Mohawk River enters) from the West bank near the flow control gates. There was an unusual calm on the water which really helped with the long exposure images. There was also a low fog across the water that I wanted to capture.
I walked along the trail heading East toward the Mill St. bridge. I didn’t really have a plan, but I knew an image would present itself. There is a section along the canal where you can get closer to the water. This allowed me to setup low and use the wooden boat bumpers to lead the eye toward the bridge. The low perspective also highlighted the fog on the surface of the water. I knew I had my morning image.
I walked further along the trail but the sun was approaching the horizon and the color was draining from the sky. It was time to head back and setup for the yard sale. At least the start of the day was fruitful… traffic past the yard sale would determine if the rest of the day was productive.

Low Bridge
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, M. Zuiko 9-18mm f/4-5.6, {1.6, 3.2 & 5s bracket}, 18mm, f/11, ISO 100
Upper Falls, Letchworth State Park
I traveled back home this past weekend to help my mom. Originally it was the weekend I was to meet my daughter at my Mom’s before her last semester at school became too busy. We combined the too agendas.
She came up from West Virginia University and I drove out from Rome. I was able to help my Mom on Friday and then the three of us spent the weekend together. I was also able to get a few images around my hometown.
Late Saturday I decided I would take off early in the morning to catch the sunrise at Letchworth State Park. By early, I mean I left at 3:30am. It is almost a to hour drive to the Castile entrance and I wanted to be able to capture the blue hour with sunrise occurring at 6:30am.
Without a cloud in the sky the actual sunrise was a little boring (clouds add needed drama). I captured a few good images but still need to process them. I managed to stop at the three main falls along the Genesee river although the trail to the foot bridge near Lower Falls was closed. I really liked this image of Upper Falls…