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

Community Photo Challenge - Landscape

This is my submission for the landscape challenge over at Community Photo Challenge.  It is a farm in Orange county New York shot in Infrared Black & White.  When you get out on the back roads there are some wonderful old farms to photograph.

Keep Makin' Art!
Carl

Looking Back...

I started reviewing images from Harriman State Park over the years.  This is from the first time I took my first digital SLR out on a hike along StonyBrook in 2006.  I may have to go back over the 20 plus times I have photographed there and see what else I shot and did not edit.  There may be more winners in there waiting...

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

Harriman State Park - The One That Almost Got Away.

I was going thru the raw captures from Sunday Morning's shoot with Mom at Stonybrook.  I just wanted to make sure I had not missed any images that were worth looking at when I stumbled on this little Gem.  I really love the orange color of the rocks in the shallow water and the green gold at the little waterfall.  It really packs a punch.  I am reminded again to wait a few days after initial editing and review my images with fresh eyes!  I am glad this one did not get away.

Keep Takin' Pictures!

Carl

Harriman State Park- Tiorati Brook

Saturday was a 'two-fer' I got back out into the park a second time and hike up along Tiorati brook.  I have enclosed color and black and white images to show the differences.  Which way do you prefer them?

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

Harriman State Park - Stonybrook

Today I went for a hike with my Mom in Harriman State Park along Stonybrook.  I intentionally started out a bit later than normal hoping to be able to capture some nice colored reflections in the stream.  I felt conditions were right for it.  We got there at just the right time.  Here are some of my shots.  Mom got some awesome shots too.  All in all a great morning out in the woods.

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

Peaceful Morning - Hudson Valley

Nothing new to say today.  Just sharing a favorite image.  I was driving by the spot at 6:30 this morning as was reminded that I need to get back there and shot it again.  It is a great spot for fog and reflections when the sun is coming up.

Keep Makin' Art!
Carl

Waterfalling Part Four - a Few Final Images and Impressions

I think I am done reviewing the photos from this past weekend.  I hope you enjoyed seeing them as much as I enjoyed getting out into the woods and photographing them!  This time of year every stream and trail has something for me to see and shoot.  I realized the other day that I had photographed in 6 locations in the span of 8 days!  That was so much fun.  I will be getting out again for a little while this weekend I hope.  I have other things I have to take care of as well but hope for a bit of time on Sunday.  Soon it will be time to turn inward to the studio and really focus on painting again.  So you may see some of these images again re-incarnated as watercolors!  I hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful season full of color before the snows of winter set in.

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

Waterfalling Part Three - the Black & Whites

 I picked three images from both Watkins Glen and Buttermilk Falls to do as black and whites with a nice warm tone.  I am at a loss for which I like better.  The color shots are quite nice, but I think there is something very special about how they look in B&W.


What do you think?  Color or B&W?


Keep Makin' Art!
Carl