Tomatoes!

This was pretty quick and colorful. As much as winter in Central New York is nice with beautiful snow, it has to be cloudy to get that snow. Bright red tomatoes in the dead of winter are a great pick me up.

One Dark Night

I nearly forgot to shoot a picture of something. It was just before midnight and I knew we were close to a full moon. I dashed outside and shot the moon with a hand-held camera. It only peeked out of the clouds a few times before the clouds thickened and it was lost in the inky darkness.
The next morning though, I was heading into work before it set.

That's when I saw it and it would complement last night's photo well. Like bookends of a story.

On Pointe

She was so excited to get her pointe shoes! She is very strong. Put the shoes on and stood right on pointe. Alas now she is taller than me while on pointe. This dining room floor is just big enough to shoot these images.

Fruit De Mer

The annual Christmas party at work was actually in January. December just didn't work. I had the Fruit De Mer, a heaping pile of linguine with clams, shrimp and scallops. We had dinner at Aqua Vino in Utica. As always the food was delicious.

Cold Swim

I got my bike ride in for January before the snow. I have two goals for the year. One, to bike 300 miles on the canal trail and to bike every month of the year. That might depend on the snowfall. If I can bike in February, then I will have biked during every month of the year.

This was the first duck I've seen on the old canal when I've been out on the bike. I've seen deer, snappers, skunks, cats, dogs, squirrels, pedestrians, a boy scout troop and the occasional biker. I saw the duck, and then it was another 45 minutes before I got back there with a camera. I was surprised to see the duck still there.

Fire in the Sky

 

The sunset was fantastic. I work in the middle of East Syracuse where it is flat. I went down towards the dead end of the road to shoot the sky through the trees and swamp. 

I've been looking at these ornaments, we actually have them as a table decoration. Less likely to fall to their demise. I set it up on a flashlight and placed the tree behind it. Handheld at 105mm f/4.5.

Shoot First Ask Questions Later

I wanted to get the shot early in the day and as the sun broke on the horizon, my ever ready talkative 5 year old said "Dad, the sun! Get a picture!" Who wants to brave the 11 degrees outside, not me, so I shot through the dining room window.

Snow!

Turns out I shot two pictures the whole day. One was too dark because I had late night settings instead of outdoor morning settings on the camera, the second shot was snap and go from the hip.

Somehow I think it worked.  We had about 6 inches of new lake effect fluff on the ground and on the tree!

New Year's on the wrong day?

Having the official holiday on a Monday, January 2 is really throwing me off. 

So you might think it's a day late, sorry, Happy New Year!

Garden Ruins

I headed outside yesterday afternoon because the sky turned a funny color, the rain was near. I though there might be something interesting to shoot. The sky was too overcast and the thick clouds were not interesting. Picked up a few lost toys and waited. Way in the back I stumbled upon this pile of bricks. Not visible in the summer do to garden plants, here it was on the first of the year, exposed instead of hidden away. 

We have a lot if bricks in the back yard, just a minute of digging will bring them up by the truck full. We live on the banks of Old Erie Canal so there is a lot of history there. There also was a house in the backyard and it is now buried back there. It used to be a store on the canal. Our house is brick and just a couple blocks away was a brick factory back in the canal heyday.