Happy Holidays and Peace on Earth!

just a quick note to say Happy Holidays!  Wishing all my blogging friends a Wonderful 2012!

Next week I will be doing my yearly best of posts.  Oh the pressure!

Keep Makin' Art!
Carl

Big News!!!

Hi Everyone!

I am sorry for my prolonged spell of non-blogging.  There has been a lot going on in our lives this holiday season, but I wanted to report a bit of great news.  I was up for membership in the Piermont Flywheel Gallery.  After the portfolio review and vote this morning I am officially an artist member of the gallery!  Wendy was a huge help in assisting me to narrow down five years of photographs into a portfolio of fifteen pieces that gave some idea of who I am as an artist.  I will have a three week show coming up in the later half of 2012 and will have some of my images up on display in the gallery sometime after the new year.  I really like and admire the artists in PFG (Piermont Flywheel Gallery) and think this will be a great next step in my evolution as an artist.  Thanks to EVERYONE who has been supportive of my photography.

More to come on this after the New Year!

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

The holidays are starting to come into focus.......

My Christmas tree...
an abstract detail.


Keep Makin' Art!
Carl

Post Thanksgiving Ramble

We were away in upstate NY for Thanksgiving this year.  Spending time with Wendy's family and some of our dearest friends.  I have a little tradition when we are upstate for the holiday to get up early the following day and head to Mendon Ponds Park.  I walk the old orchard trail and then take my camera to birdsong trail.  The titmouse's (or is it titmice?) and the chickadees were fun this year and posed for me a little once I offered up some birdseed.  It was a great trip in many ways.  One of the things I am thankful for is being able to get out and hike with my camera.

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

An image from last year...

I have not had a camera in my hands in a few weeks.... The leaves have fallen and the tempo of life at work has increased.  I can not believe I have not posted in two weeks.  I have been on such a roll this year. It has felt weird not to post.  I am afraid it will be more of the same this week.  Hopefully this weekend I'll get out with the camera.  I leave you with this image from fall of 2010 and wish all of you celebrating a happy Thanksgiving!

Keep Makin' Art!
Carl

Community Photo Challenge - People in Landscapes

The November challenge over at community photo challenge is 'people in landscapes.'  My entry is from a late October morning in 2008 at Harriman State Park.  It was a wonderful peaceful morning.  This photos conveys that and I think it would not be the same without the fisherman in the boat.

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

A Departure From the Norm....

For those of you expecting flowers, waterfalls or lighthouses from me my apologies.... I planned to shoot nature today, but the leaves were gone, the park was crowded and I was not feelin' the love today.... That is until I saw these beauties sitting out in the sun at the local motorcycle shop... Chrome was just meant to be photographed in High Dynamic Range.

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

Re-Edited

Since I had a little time this morning I went back to the raw file of this image from my first Ithaca trip in June.  When I first edited the photos I had done a quick version of this one.  I have gone back and settled on a crop and worked on the tones of the image a little.  It looks like it will hold up to a 10x20 print.  I will have one done to see how it looks.  I am thinking this one will look great on canvas!

Kee Makin' Art!

Carl

Sunrise and Fog Above The Trees - Ithaca, NY

A whole week of no pictures.

I woke up this morning and realized I have not taken any photos all week.  I will have to do something about that this weekend.... but I am not sure yet what.  I will post what ever I find.

Have a great weekend everyone,
Carl

October Snow

After the late October snow yesterday the sky is clear and bright today.  I was able to frame up some leaves and berries in closeup with ice and snow on them and a nice warm fall background to set off the image nicely.  This is one of the guidelines I follow with my photography.  Take the opportunities that present themselves.  You should never force a photo the viewer can always tell when you do that.  Let nature show her wonder and capture it when she does.

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

Sunday Oct 23th Harriman State Park

This past Sunday I went for a hike and photo jaunt with my Mom in Harriman State Park.  We followed one of my favorite streams for a while.  It was nice to see so many people in the park and on the trails enjoying nature on that fine Sunday morning.  This park is a treasure and it never fails to recharge my batteries walking along its many paths and streams.  We are supposed to get some snow here tonight so i amy be able to get some snow photos with some fall color left.  It is these moments that make the most striking photos when you are able to show something unexpected.  I will be moving into the studio this weekend as well as I can not ignore the call of my watercolor paints and brushes much longer.  There are paintings from our Italy trip last year still screaming to be painted.  They waited patiently as I set a hectic pace with the camera running around New York and Cape Cod this year..... the paintings will not wait much longer.  It is important to follow your art when the muse calls you... If you ignore the muse it will simply call to another who will serve its means..... For now the muse has been in the streams, waterfalls and gorges of New York, but the studio now calls.  Maybe just one more hike.....

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

Home

Sitting at home enjoying a cup of coffee, editing photos and listening to folk tunes on my ITunes.  I love the peacefulness of mornings like this.  It looks like we will get snow tonight and have a chance for some photos that cross between the seasons tomorrow.  Today I will post fall pictures from Harriman State Park I took while on a hike with my Mom last week.

Keep Makin' Art!
Carl

Moodna Viaduct - Autumn

One of my favorite subjects!

Keep Makin' Art!
Carl

Unexpected...

On my way back from hiking and taking photos with Mom in Harriman State Park today I found a Car Show that was in the train station parking lot and just ending.  I got a few minutes with this beautiful old red Corvette.  Gleaming out in the sunshine it was begging for HDR to bring out the details and make the chrome shine!

Sometimes you don't shot what you plan on, but have to be open to what is available to you.

I will be working on the shots from Harriman tonight to see if there are any winners.... The trees are a bit bare after some wind and rain this week.

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

Sunday...

Heading back out to the woods with my Mom for some more hiking and photos at Harriman State Park.  Stay tuned.  I'll have something posted by Sunday night.

Keep Makin' Art!

Autumn Workshop with Nick Zungoli at Indian Brook Falls.

Well today was a great day!  I went another workshop with Nick Zungoli.  We picked up a location that on a foggy or snowy morning will be fun to shoot.  We ended up at one of my favorite spots... Indian Brook Falls.  The reflected color at around 10am was simply awesome!!  We all ended up with some killer photographs.

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

Minisceongo Creek | Trash

I am a pretty mild mannered guy, but when I find scenes like this on hiking trails it just makes me furious.  This trash was not just at the top of the trail, but down the slope all the way to the streams edge. It was like a dump truck backed up and dumped its contents right there.  I took what i could, but we'll need a work party to go back and clean this mess up....

OK.  My rant is over.  I got to the creek a little later in the morning and got some nice color to play with. I did have to use a 4x Neutral Density filter because it was too bright for slow exposures to blur the water, but it was nice to work in a different light than I am used to... More directional and strong than when i am out at 6 am.  I generally prefer the early morning, but I am pleased with the images I was able to capture.

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

Mom's photos from Stonybrook

I mentioned recently that my Mom (Pat) has been joining me on some of my hikes and bringing her camera.  The shots below are ones Mom tot and we edited together on my computer.  Great job Mom.  I am very proud of you for picking the camera back up.  You are taking some great shots.

You can see more of my moms photos on her blog Shared Musing.

Keep makin' Art!

Carl