Sunday, July 27, 2008

Whitney Point Reservoir

I'm not known by my friends and family to be an early riser. I sleep in the morning when I can. I usually roll out of bed around 8 and get to work around 10. This Saturday was different. I had big plans for this weekend. I set my alarm for 5 and was out the house by 5:30.

Last week the weather was miserable for shooting photos. It was rainy. I'm not taking my camera out in the rain to get soaked and ruined. I can't afford to buy new cameras regularly. So, I opted to drive around and scout out a new location to shoot. I saw the wildlife sanctuary in my Jimapco Atlas of Central New York right off the northern tip of the Whitney Point Reservoir. It was absolutely beautiful down there. There is so much different scenery to view and photograph. There's a nice bridge, a swamp, a lake, a windy river, fields and wildlife. Here is the first of a set of photos I took this Saturday.

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I'm not 100% sure how I feel about self portraits. They're kind of convenient as the subject is usually 100% cooperative. I took this one for a specific reason, though. I wanted to point out my silly hat. It's just a camouflage John Deere hat my wife bought me. It's not special, but it serves a great purpose. Bugs. They don't seem to like getting under the brim of hats. I know this for a fact. Every time I take it off because my head is getting sweaty, the bugs bug me. This hat is very much an important part of my camera gear.

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If my pants look wet, it's because they were! I was walking through grass up to my waste and early in the morning, there's still dew on it. I was soaked! I was also getting down low and dirty. Whatever it took to get a decent shot.

Keep an eye out for more to come. I shot 350 photos while I was out. As I go through and pick out ones I like, I'll post them and blog about them.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the last pic BEST! ;)

Me :P

Anonymous said...

I like the photo with the sign post... it has a certain surreality about it... maybe it's just me.

Anonymous said...

The first photo of the tree is a little dark, I thought. Then and again, it might just be my computer screen.

John Brainard said...

Thank you, anonymous. During the last half of my trip, I started trying different perspectives and different subjects. I started seeing that the pictures I was taking were all the same picture, just with different subjects. They began to get mundane. I like the fun opportunities that a wide angle lens offers as it exaggerates some things.

The first photo, I'm a bit embarrassed about. I did a lousy job blending the two exposures. I didn't see it until after I posted it. It's too late now. There's little I can do about the tree, though. I guess there just wasn't any sun shining on it. It literally was that dull and flat. I didn't see it when I shot it though.

Thank you for your comments. I appreciate the honesty of what you like and don't like. It helps me to learn what's working and what I need to change.