Great Bend Selfie

Letchworth State Park

I started the summer with a few visits to New York’s state parks. My plan was to explore more as the summer progressed. As you probably can tell from my posts I did not succeed. Labor Day did afford me an opportunity for an adventure and I made the most of it. I left the house before 5am to make the 3 hour trip to Letchworth State Park. There is a reason this park was voted the best in the nation… it is gorgeous!

My first trip a few years ago (see posts here) was fantastic but this time I made sure to get to the park early enough to capture the morning sun. The morning was wonderful but as the sun traveled toward apogee I could feel the warm air rising from the canyon below.  Not to sound a little whiny but I wish I had picked a day that didn’t reach 90 degrees to make this trip. lol

I’ll be posting more images later but I wanted to get this selfie out first. I took the time to enjoy the park and not just run from one photo opportunity to the next. There are an almost unlimited supply of benches scattered throughout the park with amazing views of the canyon. No need to bring a camera. Just pick a bench, sit down and enjoy…

Great Bend Selfie Nikon D7100, Tokina 12-28mm f/4, 1/60s, 28mm, f/16, ISO 100

Great Bend Selfie
Nikon D7100, Tokina 12-28mm f/4, 1/60s, 28mm, f/16, ISO 100

Monorail Monday: Resort Monorail – Teal

Monorail Monday

On my last trip to Walt Disney World I discovered the joy of going to the parks lite. There were numerous times I just grabbed the camera, a single lens and headed out for adventure. No long lines to have my bag checked by security. No worrying if the backpack will fit in a locker along with the tripod and everything else I normally haul into a park. It was a game changer for me.

This image of the Monorail Teal leaving the Magic Kingdom station is a result of that lite mode of operation. I had the camera on its strap and as soon as I noticed the monorail leaving the station as I was walking up to the park entranced I started firing away. Normally the camera would still have been its backpack for the eventual search at bag check.

Resort Monorail - Teal Nikon D7100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/800s, 58mm, f/11, ISO 400

Resort Monorail – Teal
Nikon D7100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/800s, 58mm, f/11, ISO 400

Flying Gauntlet

Rayhill Memorial Trail

I have not walked the Rayhill Memorial Trail at all this year. Last night was looking like it was going to be a good sunset and I needed to get outside after a long week at work. I started at the opposite end of the trail than I normally do, figuring walking into the sunset would provide better image opportunities. It did, but boy did I have to walk through an onslaught of bugs! Those big patches of light specks in the image are the bugs!

Flying Gauntlet Nikon D7100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/100s, 70mm, f/8, ISO 200

Flying Gauntlet
Nikon D7100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/100s, 70mm, f/8, ISO 200

Painted Cottage

Painted Disney

It has been quite a while since I converted one of my images to look like a painting. I was working on this image of the cottage from the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride in Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom and thought it would look could if I applied the painted look. I do like how it turned out. I sometimes get caught up in presenting a photograph, I forget to let the creative side come out and play… 🙂

Painted Cottage Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

Painted Cottage
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

Wordless Wednesday: Standing Tall

Wordless Wednesday
Squared – SQ70

Standing Tall Nikon D7100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/1250s, 70mm, f/5.6, ISO 400

Standing Tall
Nikon D7100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/1250s, 70mm, f/5.6, ISO 400