New York at Night

It was a hot night in New York City with the game time temperature at 90 degrees. In the first picture, Derek Jeter get a little help with his slide from Alex Rodriguez (#13). In the other photos I shot timer scenes (3 to 8 seconds each) on my way home as I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. The famous Empire State Building - decked out in purple and blue for the United Nations World Ocean Day. The still-under-construction Freedom Tower (L) in the footprint of the destroyed World Trade Center and traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Looking for Pictures in New York

You can always find a vast variety of photos in New York. On this night, I found many different subjects to my liking. The first picture is from an A train subway station in lower Manhattan. The colorful tile eye caught my eye.

In the second photo, I'm standing on the New York side of the Hudson River and shooting towards New Jersey. I don't know the name of the building but I like its red and blue top and the crescent moon is a nice addition.

The third photo is a look at the new Freedom Tower (also known as One Word Trade Center). The tower - on the left - still has about 60 more stories to be built. It's located where the destroyed twin towers of the World Trade Center once stood until September 11, 2001.

Here in picture four is another look at New Jersey from the New York side of the Hudson River. I wanted to use one of the many blue lights along the esplanade as an anchor for the image. And since that shade of blue is my favorite color it was perfect for me to use as an element in the composition.

I had dinner in one place this desert in another. Picture five is a chocolate mousse and a cup of coffee. And the confection tasted as good as it looks.

The famed 4th street basketball courts always have a spirited game going on and here - in the last photo - I isolated the two players as they did battle in the late afternoon sun.

A Visit to the Mount St. Helens Volcano

I returned to see the Mount St. Helens volcano after last visiting the area in the mid 1990's. The mountain peak was shrouded in clouds for most of the day, but suddenly the sun came out the clouds parted enough to see what's left of the top of the mountain. Most of it was blown off during the eruption of May 18, 1980.



The second photo shows Spirit Lake which amazingly still has thousands of trees clogging its north end. The light colored mass you see in the water are all logs. Those trees were blown into the lake during the eruption.







The third photo is what the mountain looks like from the theater at the Johnston Ridge Observatory which is about six miles from the volcano.







The fourth photo tells the story of the millions of board feet of lumber that were blown to bits during the 1980 eruption. 31 years later, some of those dead trees are still on the ground but new growth is evident in the areas surrounding the mass devastation.











The last photo before the video shows is what happens to a tree when a super-heated volcano blast hits it. The background use to be full of thousands of trees. But as you can see, it's still a pretty bare landscape close to the mountain.









Here's a short video of my helicopter flight to see the still active lava dome at Mount St. Helens. It's hard to see, but there was steam coming out of its top.

Back to Snoqualmie Falls

I continued my trip to Washington state with a return visit to Snoqualmie Falls - about 20 miles east of Seattle. I was last there in 1994. Then you could take a walk down near the bottom of the falls. But these days, it's only viewable from up top. And it's not a bad vantage point. As you can imagine, the site is magnet for families - young and old. And everybody had a camera of some kind. I hadn't noticed the fancy fingernail polish on the lady in the middle picture until I was looking at the shots on the computer.

Scenes From Seattle

It's my first visit to Seattle, Washington since 2004 and I got out and about as soon as I landed from New York. These are just some of the many photos I made in and around downtown Seattle. Water - coming from the sky - or out on Puget Sound are favorite subjects. And the Cascade Mountain range - still snow capped - was not to be missed. My space needle shot was invaded by a seagull. But it turned out to be a good shot. Good thing I wore my rain jacket equipped with a hoodie. And the turtleneck shirt came in handy as well. It rained three or four different times in a three hour period but the showers didn't stop us tourists from snapping pictures.

Finally a Nice Day in New York

It was an 80 degree day with no rain in New York (for a change) and the Yankees' Mariano Rivera became the first pitcher in Major League history to record 1,000 apperances for the same team. Mo is a lock to be a first ballot Hall of Famer. But he still has plenty of pitching to do over the next two or three seasons.

I put my camera on the Pinhole setting (available when you turn the select dial to SCENE or SCN on Panasonic cameras) and took some shots on the Brooklyn Bridge and in the park in downtown Brooklyn. That's where the rose image comes from. The lady in yellow brought her toe shoes for her ballet pose and from the Brooklyn Bridge, you can see the Manhattan Bridge off to the left as people and cyclists enjoyed themselves on the historic span.

Collision of Talent

Upon first glance, this looks bad. Three Yankee players coming together in the outfield. But this is not what it might seem. Instead, it's a celebration. With Brett Gardner (L) Chris Dickerson (M) and Curtis Granderson (obscured) jumping to cap off a Yankees' victory. In fact, most outfielders in the Majors (and at the college, high school and youth league levels as well) have taken to this kind of celebration at the end of victories.

Models, Models Everywhere

Every once in a while, I like to shoot models. And recently here in New York I had that chance. I signed up for The American Photo Magazine model series last year and the nationwide caravan came to NY last weekend. You had all day to shoot different professional models to build your portfolio. Big time pro studio lighting was set up for us - so all we had to do was press the shutter button over and over again. I like shooting tight - aiming at the cosmetics, jewelry and model head shot industry. And I also like to get creative with cropping. Break the rules and have fun with how you crop your photos. There's no wrong way to crop - just the way that appeals to your tastes ... that particular day.

Things To Do On A Motorcycle

This is a series of photos from my files. The event was staged in California a few years ago, but it's still amazing to watch this guys perform their acrobatics at anytime. As you can guess, not all of the riders made clean landings. However the crashes were quickly brushed off and the riders were soon at it again - after a few moments of reflection about what went wrong.

A Spring Day in Bryant Park

After another day of rain and cold, Thursday was much different. It was sunny and warm and those conditions led to plenty of activity in New York's midtown jewel called Bryant Park. And since it's spring, the ice skating rink there has been put away and the grass on the great lawn is nearly ready to be occupied by lunch time sun bathers. On this day - from the top - the twice weekly free yoga sessions are underway. The position in the first photo is called "happy baby." The second picture shows how life continues for the lady walking thru the frame while yoga is happening near her feet. The free table tennis and chess tables were thriving and the spring flowers are in full bloom.