Glads

Gladiolas which I photographed at my sisters house a week ago.

Mugshot

This bird afforded me many shots (most of which I have yet to edit).

World On A Tilt

At the angle I shot this photo it makes everything appear crooked, but its not. Deceiving. The bird and beaver are hanging out on the island and both got along well. This was photographed at Brick Pond in Owego, NY.

Vertigo

Whenever I get close to the edge of a high place anymore I experience vertigo. I never used to. I used to climb some of the local cliffs with others, and no ropes, and never broke any bones. But now when I’m near the edge I’m useless. Someone obviously doesn’t have the same problem that I have.

Hot Pink

A close up of one of the cliff dwelling flowers from Upper Treman State Park.

Face Value

These flowers were growing on the face of a cliff in Upper Treman State Park.

Washed

Well, I wanted to get my son in this photo, so I got a washed out cliff in the process. The falls is the big falls, and if its raging you do not want to be in this gorge. You most likely wont make it out on two feet.

Lower Big

This is the next to last falls in the run in Lick Brook Gorge. It is pretty good sized, and when we have flooding it is quite impressive. The gorge itself is quite hidden, and requires a bit of hiking to get into. It is dangerous if you are not careful there, it contains a lot of loose shale cliffs. But it is an impressive gorge. In the winter at the big falls the Cornell ice climbers climb the frozen waterfall. It is the second highest waterfall on the eastern seaboard, second only to Taughannock Falls. My son is standing in front of the small falls for perspective.

Snaky

I didn’t do a lot of photoshopping on this photo, I simply took a bad shot. I was facing the sun but wanted to shoot it while I was there, because on the way back out I may have forgotten to.

Blocks

After editing this photo, I used a texture on it using Blocks.

Edited Upper Treman Mill Falls

I edited this version of the photo to show the difference between editing and not editing.

Upper Treman, Mill Falls

This is an unedited photo of the falls near the old mill in Upper Treman Park in Enfield, NY. Really beautiful area with many dozens of runs of falls throughout the many offshoots of streams.

Taughannock Falls

Taughannock Falls is located North of Ithaca, NY, and is the highest waterfall on the Eastern seaboard of the United States. I think its supposed to be like 213′ tall. This was taken from the falls overlook using a film camera.

The Tornado Day

It was lightening non-stop, there was a tornado which touched down thirty miles away, and we were cat-fishing the entire time. At the end of the day (even though the lightening did not end) I was rewarded with the most colorful sky I have seen in person.

Closer

They got closer as I was shooting. Wasn’t sure if there was going to be an altercation or not.

Rat and Bird

Caught these two interacting on an island and thought it would make some good shooting. I was right, took about twenty photos, and the lighting was pretty good.

A Much Better Photo

This is a much better photo of this falls. The lighting was about right, because it was an overcast day.

Top Portion

This is the top portion of one of the runs.

Lucifer Falls

Upper Treman State Park has a nice variety of waterfalls and can be a day trip for anyone who likes to walk. There are easy paths and tougher paths, either of them are beautiful.

Sunglasses

I used my polarized sunglasses to shoot this photo. Gave it a real sepia coloring over the natural color.

Backdrop

I photographed this flower against a backdrop of waterfall. Tough to focus on the little flower with the water moving in the background.

The Escape Fawn

The fawn saw me, and in one leap was into the weeds and gone.

Water Fawn

This fawn was walking alone in a stream when I was driving down the road. So I stopped down the road aways and hopped out to take a shot. It didn’t see me…or so I thought. The next photo proves otherwise.

Rack

Story; I was driving down a road I had travelled many times before and noticed a tree in the middle of a field which had never been there before. This tree was so far away that most would not have noticed it. But I had been on that particular road since I was 5 years old and knew every field, every tree, every aspect of the scenery. So I turned around down the road and pulled up across the road from the field.
It was raining out and I needed to keep my camera dry, so I put the camera to my eye and zoomed all the way in. Then I shot some photos.
It was a huge buck, an old one, his muzzle was grey and the beams on his rack had to go almost 2 1/2″ thick. I have 24 times zoom on my Nikon, about 430 mm, and I was zoomed max on optical zoom, shooting through the rain with no tripod. This was what I got. And even then I had to crop closer on my computer to really show what I had seen.
Anyone else would have drove by that day, but I am always looking for THE shot.

No, It’s Not Pot

This is a photo of a Japanese Maple. Yes, it resembles pot.

Stark

Nothing great about this shot. Just shape that caught my eye.

Street Thugs

These guys hanging out in a group remind me of street thugs waiting for a little old lady to come by so they can snatch her purse.

Hot Pink

Now this is hot pink!

The Shape of Things

This is one of my favorite bird captures. The branch seems to be telling the bird “come here” because it looks like a hand beckoning the bird forth. The leaves have nice color against the sky, and the bird seems calm enough. I like the overall effect of the shapes within the photo.

Flight

This isn’t the greatest nor most original photo, but I love the aerodynamic look. The shape of the bird is so cool. Man, I wish I could fly!

You Talkin’ To Me?

This one decided there was something interesting to focus on in the other direction. Made for a nice shot though.

The Observant One

Little bird was checking things out and hanging out on a branch, waiting for the photographer to leave.

Heavy Cloud Cover

This was photographed the same day that I was shooting photos at the plant nursery. I love the textures in the sky on this shot.

On The Wire

A balancing act done well. This red-winged blackbird was taking a break on top of a fence. It was a long shot and without a tripod, hard to focus on the bird and get the fence fairly clear as well. This was the best of two shots before the bird flew off.

Curious Robin

This robin let me take a succession of photos, and looked almost curious as I snapped this one.

Flowers At The Plant Nursery

Tried to get as many colors in as tight a shot as possible. I think I did well.

Selective Focus

Took this photo when I had my Canon Digital Rebel and a bag full of lenses and filters. Had a lot of fun with that camera, and hope to own another digital SLR someday.
I love the colors in this one.

Peek a Boo

One day the babies got into the trash, Sam had been dead for awhile by that time. The babies had come down during the day and found a bag of garbage on the porch (which was fair game) and decided to explore. I got quite a few shots and a few videos of their antics.

Sam and Pups

This was Samantha and some of her babies. They had grown much since they first came down to visit.

Blind Sam

This is a photo of Samantha. She was blind, and came to out back yard every night to eat from a compost pile. She kept getting fatter, and was not afraid of us at all. She came to know our voices.
One day Sam came down and was skinnier, a week later she had a line of baby raccoons behind her. They followed her down and ate. They were not afraid of us as well, and Sam trusted us to approach because we had been kind to her.
One day the babies came but Sam did not. We fear that the coyotes had got her because of her blindness. So we began to feed the babies until they were large enough to get their own food and survive. They would come down on a nightly basis and eat, and I would shoot photos or videos of them. Eventually they got too large to approach and would hiss at me. So I respected their space. She was a very smart raccoon.

Water Ghosts

The way the light hit the water, blue sky overhead, created water ghosts.

Hang Out For Lunch

Lunch was hanging from a clothesline for some enterprising spider. Must have quite an appetite.

Weary Tree

A weary tree along the shore of Dryden Lake in Dryden, NY.

End of the Tunnel

There is life at the end of the tunnel.

Broken and Shadow

Saw this hanging around and thought I should have a photo of it.

Can you spot the Leopard?

Just a little zoo like humor. The creature was not impressed by the crowd. I only managed to get it to look at me twice. the rest of the time it looked away from the imbecilic humans.

Extreme Extreme Close Up

This heron would not budge. The closer I got to it the slower I walked. I wanted to catch it taking flight so I could get a good wingspan photo. It stayed right there as I snapped photo after photo.

Bored In Captivity

Poor cat looks bored. I can’t imagine seeing so many yokels looking at me for a full day – let alone for a lifetime. I would want to escape or die.

Reality

This photo is a more realistic view of the zoo. The cage, some cages are easier to shoot photos through. This photo looks good with the cage to break up the owls color and tie into the black background.

At The Zoo

I shot this photograph at the Ross Park Zoo in Binghamton, NY. The Ross Park Zoo is the 5th oldest zoo in the United States. Upon entering the zoo a visitor can see that it used to be much more, and that it could again some day. If all our money wasn’t spent on meaningless wars (to satisfy the egos of greedy politicians and to placate corporations) zoo’s like this would still be in their glory. Its important to understand that the more we take away from our culture and away from the children who need places like zoos to learn and grow – the more we cut our own throats as a society. The money WE spend on wars should be put to better use, like education and places like zoos. But WE don’t rebel, WE don’t take government back, and WE allow institutions of education to falter so the rich can be richer.
When I saw this owl, I thought how much it must wish to be back in the wild. I thought that about all the animals. Then I thought a little deeper. No, the animals are probably glad to be in the zoo. Its safer there away from mankind’s stupidity. I almost wish there was a zoo to keep sane people away from the dumbed down masses that push for these wars and allow their government to tranquilize them with the thought that they are doing us any good by being overseas killing in the name of the almighty dollar. That’s right, killing in the name of GOD, because thats what the almighty dollar represents, GOD!