Stark

Bare branches at dusk, starkly silhouetted against a cold yet beautifully colored winter sky

I ventured out on one of the coldest days of the season to date with entirely different intentions, namely to capture a picture of the Big Duck in it's Holiday dress. I passed my turn-off and ended up turning around at a this dead-end street overlooking Flanders Bay. I was enchanted by the evening sky and picked this tree to provide a focal point. Goes to show you that you never know what to expect. The Big Duck pictures didn't come out at all, but this one's fast become one of my favorite landscape pictures of all of 2011!

New Beginnings

First sunrise on the first morning of brand spanking new 2012

After a rather intense 2011, which also kept me quite busy with work, I decided to stop posting here and on Flickr for a while. But if you know me at least a little, you will also know that I will never stop taking pictures no matter how busy I get. Part of my New Year;s resolution is to revive this photo blog and what better picture to choose than the first sunrise of the year. Taken at Montauk Lighthouse, the easternmost point of NY State. Montauk has long been one of my favorite places to get away from it all and so I came here to spend a peaceful New Year's Eve away from the crowds and the madness,, give 2011 a little kick on it's way out the door and welcome 2012. Cheers to you all!

Spring Springing Soon

Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park in Oyster Bay Cove

Fluffy clouds traveling along blue skies, a yellow sheen on the still-bare branchbes and grass turning green again all hint at the imminent arrival of spring. I cannot wait...!

Drab'n Dreary

Old, gray and lonesome vessel on a Brightwaters canal

I have decided that there's only one way to fight this horrible winter weather we've been having along with the unemployment blues and that is by "shooting back"! So I put on an extra warm pair of socks, grabbed my camera bag and headed out the door. I thought the sight of this gray boat on gray water under gray skies next to this bright red stop sign summed up the mood just perfectly. STOP with this weather already... This by the way is not done via "selective coloring" our world really looks this drab these days. Oh well - according to Phil the Groundhog, spring isn't too far away. Let's hope he's right!

All My Swans in a Row

Swans heading into the setting sun

Suffering from a bout of cabin fever after yet another snow storm moved through the area, I headed out for snow pictures in Gardiner County park as soon as the roads had been somewhat cleared. I arrived at the bay just around sunset and some remnants of dark storm clouds were still lingering in the western part of the sky. A lot of swans were hanging out along the eastern part of the beach, and as dusk started to fall, they suddenly began heading towards the shore. This group flew for a short stretch and my heart just stopped when they suddenly settled right on the darkest part of the water in a perfectly straight line. I had to run to catch up and wasn't looking where I was going, and ended up crashing through the frozen slush at the edge of the bay. But in my opinion, this shot was worth my cold wet feet ten times over :)

First Light

Fishermen walking into the first light of the day at Robert Moses Field 5

There are few things in life which I find as magical and enchanting as experiencing the sunrise at the ocean, no matter what time of the year. These days it feels quite fresh out here by the water, but the sun rises late enough that it is easy to catch. Photographers and Anglers are the only crazies you will find out here at this time of day.

Smoked

Lone cloud system moving past "Short Beach" by Smithtown, NY

Do you guys know the feeling? Sometimes there's just nothing to photograph. You haven't been anywhere interesting, the weather has been blah for days and the sky is white whenever you have some time to spare. That's how it's been for me lately, but today I was determined to capture something somehow with my camera. I went to an odd and out of the way place I found on Mapquest, just out of curiosity. It didn't look like much with the white sky and all. In the very far distance I spotted what I presumed to be a tiny cloud. After walking around for an hour and unsuccessfully trying to shoot gulls, I noticed that the "tiny" cloud started to obscure the sun and was actually quite the dynamic formation. I sat down in the sand and waited for it to move across the water. When it finally did, I took this shot. Not one of my best but I feel like it was at least worth the wait. What surprised me was how the light changed instantly the moment the clouds moved in front of the sun. It was bright afternoon light before and suddenly it looked like sunset an hour ahead of time.

Dusted

Wintry looking canal leading into the Great South Bay

Today was the first day that really felt like winter and it even snowed. Well, it was more of a dusting but by late morning about 1 1/2 inches had accumulated. In this photograph, taken in the afternoon, most of it had already melted away, but a wintry look prevailed. This is a "beef stew for dinner" kind of day!

Washed Up

Seashell fragment on foam-dotted sand

The sand was looking pretty in the tender evening light after the last wave receded and left this part of a broken shell behind

Floating

Floating Buganvilia blossom

I am back from a brief visit to California, where I took this photo of a Buganvilia blossom, floating above a reflection of the patio deck in my uncle's swimming pool. Love this shot!

Streaming

Sugar River Falls in Oneida County, Upstate NY

Waterfall shot at 1/8th of a second - I have got to remember that setting because it's perfect. Almost like a painting, yet it's a straight-out-of-the-camera shot. It looks cold but it wasn't. Even in the North Country and a mere 50 miles from the Canadian border, the thermometer boasted a daytime temperature of 66° today!

Grey and Sand

Rainy skies at Robert Moses Beach

As I have said before, I won't ever get tired of taking pix at the beach. I love the beach when it is stormy but warm like today. If you look closely, you can still see the life guard towers lying in the sand - for the first time in history, the beaches were open on Columbus Day weekend, with temperatures reaching 87 degrees this past Monday! Now it has somewhat cooled off but it was still warm enough to walk along the beach in a T-shirt today.

First Colors

Lake in Blydenburgh County Park

Okay, it's been a while but I am back. After 40 posts I had to take a break and work myself through the loads of pictures I've been dumping onto my pc from my memory cards each day. Of course I still took some photos in the meantime, and here's one of them, taken last Sunday October 7th. You don't really see a lot of fall foliage on Long Island yet but along some of the lakes the leaves have started to turn. Given the outrageously warm weather we've had it will be a while until the trees peak though.

Gloomy

A foggy day on the Great South Bay

The weather today was eerie - very warm but foggy and dark. I went for a drive along the bay and took this shot of metallic sky and water near Bellport, NY.

Reflection

Blue boat anchored at the Riviera Canal

Picture #17 and I have to admit that this is a lot harder than I thought. Nothing but pouring rain all day and today's lesson learned is that it is NOT that easy to do those "raindrops on my window"-shots as one might think. They have to be the right kind of drops, with the right kind of colored background, plus they are sappy. While walking my dog just before the sun set, I spotted this blue boat at the canal. Which is unusual, since most all of the boats here are white. I took my last chance and dug out my tele to get this shot. Did I mention I love the color blue ;) ?

Running Waters

Macro shot of my faucet

Naaa, I'm not too proud of this one, a cop-out because I didn't have the opportunity to shoot anything outdoors today. It's not sharp, although I tried for about an hour - my macro lens is a cheapy... It IS kind of cool though if you consider that it's a very close close-up of my running tap

Sunrise

Beautiful sunrise over the Great South Bay

Island Dreaming

Beautiful as well as deserted beach by Sailors Haven, Fire Island, NY

I just had to return to that beautiful spot I discovered beyond those stairs from my last post. You'd think you are in Florida, but this pic was actually taken in good old New York. It's not that easy to get there, that's why there are almost no people around, but it is absolutely worth it - this beach makes you feel like you've traveled far far away from home.