028.365 (Kevin and Stacey Get Married)

Sarah and I were privileged to be the official paparazzi photographers for Kevin and Stacey’s wedding. Here’s one of the happy couple. Stayed tuned for lots more photos! (Sarah and I made over 2800 exposures…)

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Kevin and Stacey had a chocolate fountain at their wedding rehearsal dinner. You can see a reflection of Kevin anxiously awaiting the first sample.

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We had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner at my cousins’, Kurt and Brenna. This is their son, Kieran. He has such a great smile!

Yuengling Trip: 6

Another Picture of the Creamery...

Yuengling Trip: 5

And finally, an old school sign they had up in their cave

Yuengling Trip: 4

This was a moving can line in process, I froze it using a fast shutter speed and the flash.

Yuengling Trip: 3

Across the street from the Brewery is the abandoned Yuengling Creamery, which started during Prohibition to help the brewery survive. The Creamery was famous for its Ice Cream among other things. They eventually closed the creamery in 1985, and are trying to raise funds to turn it into a museum.

Yuengling Trip: 2

The sign outside the brewery, I actually took this one first before the mural, but hey what are ya gonna do.

Yuengling Trip

Last Week my buddy Tom and I took a road trip to Pottsville, Pennsylvannia to visit America's Oldest Brewery. Yuengling to be exact, established in 1829 as the Eagle Brewery. This is a mural in the brewhouse.

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My muse for today was one of the cameras my parents purchased for me last spring. It’s a Kodak No. 2A Folding Autographic Brownie.

365:329 - Spinning

Eric got our 45rpm record player back today from the guy who fixed it, so we're listening to singles this evening.

365:328 - Box of Cranes

Part of my work at the Broome County Public Library is in the youth services department, specifically with the teens. I haven't had much luck getting them interested in coming out to any programs, so I thought I'd try something that didn't require a lot of resources and that I could do fairly simply.

Do you know the Japanese legend that says that if you fold 1,000 paper cranes, you get a wish? My thought was that if the youth of the community worked together to fold 1,000 cranes, it would be a symbol of hope for our community, as are many communities in our country.

So I put it out there. I sent emails to a few of my professional contacts that work with youth, did a press release, and put up flyers in the library. I wasn't sure what to expect, since the response to the other programs had been so...lackluster.

The high school librarian from Chenango Forks asked me to come and fold cranes with her library club, so I did that, and we had 14 cranes. A week later, she emailed me to see if she could drop off the 100 cranes her kids had made during the week! One of the TV news stations came to do a piece on it (thankfully, the interviewer was very kind to me and made me sound halfway intelligent), and the newspaper sent a photographer. Then the high school librarian from Vestal asked if she could do it with her students, too, and this past Monday, she brought me two boxes overflowing with cranes!

I've had people from about 3 years old up to middle-aged adults helping me fold cranes at the library. They've been from all races and walks of life. I've been able to talk to people about all kinds of things, from school subjects to what they wish for the community. Staff members have been folding cranes, too, a few each day. I've heard so many comments, from library staff and from patrons, about how great the cranes look and the color that they add to the library. I haven't felt this much positive energy about anything since I started working at the library.

We are now up over 630 cranes. I am sure that we will reach 1,000 cranes, and I'm hopeful that we can get there before Christmas.

I am blown away.



photo cropped using Picnik

365:327 - Mango

I'm toying with the idea of doing another 365 project with magnetic poetry included in all of the pictures. What are your thoughts?

365:326 - Lego Pirate

Eric asked his mom to send him some of the Legos that he and his brother played with when they were kids. They had all kinds of sets, from pirates to astronauts to knights in shining [plastic] armor. I can only imagine what sorts of adventures these guys have been on...

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I love Honest Tea.

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I played around with my camera after leading a focus group on communications in the new United Methodist conference forming in New York State. I find it kind of funny that the only thing in sharp focus is the line I wrote down—“please make a decision”.

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I’ve been looking through the photography books I bought the other night. I really like those by Tom Ang. In one, he introduces different lighting techniques by giving examples. The photo he had of leaves being lit by a beam of sunlight piqued my curiosity, so I attempted the technique by placing a houseplant near a window and playing around with the blinds. It was a bit more challenging than I expected.

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Bull’s eye (aka “photograph the first thing you see when you’re in a rush and don’t want to miss a day in your year-long project!”)

365:325 - Birds on a Wire

When I went to get in my car this morning to go to work, there were scads of these pigeons on the electric wire across the street, so I pulled out my camera. There's just something about birds on a wire that catches my eye--I think it might have to do with an album cover I saw one time, but I'm not sure.

cropped using Picnik

365:324 - Mary Janes

I have five pairs of Mary Janes. That's about half of the shoes I own. I would get more if it seemed reasonable.

I got this effect in the picture by zooming during a long exposure. This is fun to play around with--I think this is the best it's turned out for me yet!

cropped slightly using Picnik

365:323 - Eric's Hands

When I'm a super-famous photographer (ha!) and they publish a book of my work, there will be an entire chapter dedicated to shots of my sweet, patient husband.

edited with Picnik

365:322 - Light

I don't take good pictures when I'm grouchy and tired.

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Just a few of the books I purchased this evening at the Penguin Warehouse Sale.

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I discovered this Moroccan tea pot at a yard sale a few years. The Moroccan-style tea cups were a find in the gift shop at the Corning Museum of Glass.

365:321 - Disheveled Bedroom

I brought home a book from the library with work by photographer David Hockney. His technique was to take multiple shots of a scene and piece them together into a collage that would show the whole scene. I thought I'd give it a try.

As you can see, my technique leaves a lot to be desired.

collage created using Picnik

365:320 - Night Sky

Eric and I went to camp to see if we could catch any of the Leonid meteor shower. The sky was clear when we first arrived, but the clouds soon started rolling in. I took some long-exposure shots, and it seems like maybe the camera caught what our eyes couldn't see...?

365:319 - Favorite

For a photo class that a few of us took, one of the topics was to take a picture of a favorite thing. This ring isn't necessarily my favorite, but the man who wears it is.

We weren't supposed to use any sort of post-processing, so I took the chance to figure out how to make my camera shoot in monochrome.

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I enjoy playing Yahtzee.

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Photo scavenger list is now complete. Tried recreating a waterfall on my kitchen counter. Probably will use the photo from Day 4 for the moving water category, but still think this one is kind of neat.

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I haven’t completed my photograph scavenger hunt yet, so I worked on the “interior” shot this evening. This was my grandparents’ mantle clock. Thought the interior of the clock would make an interesting subject. Only one item left on my list…

365:318 - Stacey

Stacey's single, but not for long! This was taken at her bachelorette party on Saturday night. (I love the mischievous look in her eyes!)

edited with Picnik

365:317 - Up-Close Eric

edited using Picnik

365:316 - Tattered

This is a piece of the trim that tore off my favorite blanket. I'm not sure why it's my favorite blanket, really. It's the only blanket that I kept when I moved out of my parents' house. It's an ugly blanket - flowered and aquamarine with hints of lavender - and it's not even the right size for our bed. I think I like it because it's heavy and warm, and it reminds me of home.

exposure increased and Polaroid effect added using Picnik

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I had a brief, but disastrous affair with the Red Trail at Salt Springs State Park this afternoon (slid a few feet on my shoulder.) Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see the falls, much less photograph them. Fortunately, the doctor at the walk-in thinks my sprained and/or partially separated shoulder should heal in a few days. I guess I’ll become more proficient with my tripod this week…

Holga-ish effect done using Picnik.

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“Apple” is another item on the photo scavenger list. Even though it’s getting late in the season, there are still a few apples on (and near) the tress on the West Shore here at Sky Lake.

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I took some more photos of the sunset this evening, but decided I wanted to capture something else for today’s official photo. I received this cast iron star for Christmas a few years ago from family in Idaho. It fits right in with the western décor of my bathroom.

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Sky Lake at sunset today reminded me why it’s my favorite place.

365:315 - Shower

spots removed and contrast adjusted using Picnik

365:314 - Myself

I was going to take a picture of Eric, but he was busy, and I got antsy, so I took one of myself instead.

changed to black and white using Picnik

365:313 - Washcloth

edited with Picnik

011.365 (Remembrance Day)

Lest we forget...

My grandfather, William Penlington Williams, was born 1 July 1897 in Gaerwen, Wales. He served in the British Royal Army during the Great War. Other than a short convalescence in England (gunshot wound), he spent almost the entirety of the war serving on the front lines in France. He firmly believed that lasting peace would only come through education.

I decided to honor this Remembrance Day by visiting his grave in Vestal, New York, USA. The portrait in the photo is of my grandfather in his uniform in 1915.

Edited in Picasa.

010.365

I’m taking a photography class through the Roberson Photo Club and our sole assignment is to complete a photo scavenger hunt. One of the items on the list is “three”. I decided to break out my menorah and recreate the second night of Chanukah. I was expecting just a single reflection in the window, but the double-paned glass provided a different result.

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I intended to take a photo of the new Chinese restaurant that opened in Windsor today. Unfortunately, I didn’t like any of the ones I took, but I did like this one of the Presbyterian Church across the street on the Village Green.

365:312 - Driving into the Sunset

On Interstate 88, on our way home from Cooperstown.

Every once in a while, I get inspired by all of the things we're driving by. It's handy to have a husband who likes to drive 'cause it lets me take as many pictures as I want and the angle keeps changing and I don't have to stop the car.

365:311 - Cooperstown Door

We went to the farmers' market in Cooperstown, and as we walked back to where we parked our car, I noticed this door in the alley. I enjoy the color of the building, and I don't know how well you can see the color of the berries, but I really liked how the colors went together.

365:310 - Faces of Baseball

We went to the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, and there was a room dedicated to baseball-inspired art. As I walked around this statue of a baseball player, I noticed how his face seemed to frame the Warhol painting on the wall opposite. I just like the way that they fit together.

365:309 - Whispering

used the "Holga" effect in Picnik

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This is the United Methodist Church in Greene, New York. It’s the church in which I was raised.

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After my meeting in Saratoga Springs finished, I tried racing the setting sun to the Adirondacks. Unfortunately, it beat me. Though there was still enough light to take a few shots of Lake George.

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I’m in Saratoga Springs, New York today and tomorrow for a meeting. I ended up getting a hotel room all to myself. I decided to work on a self-portrait (one of the items on the photo scavenger hunt for the class I’m taking.) Not sure if this will be the final submission, but I had fun taking it.