Photolearningism

GETTING GOING AGAIN After a few weeks of attending to family maters and (to be perfectly honest) my own mental health, I took to the cold this morning, thanks my wife's encouragement. To make the best of a small amount of time, I traveled about two blocks down the road to a pond I'd been before. It was actually the first place I'd ever visited to photograph, from well over a year ago.  DEJA VU It was just as cold as the first visit, with a breathtaking morning. I was still wearing the same hoodie with the same winter coat (with the same paperclip in the zipper to keep it going). I promise that the hoodie has been washed a couple of times since then. Maybe more. To shake things up, I didn't climb a tree this time. I felt like I had mastered that tactic from the last visit and should explore other options (such as not climbing trees that overhang precariously of a frozen pond). FEELING THE GROWTH I shot 21 pictures in the span of 10 minutes, waiting for the sun to ...

A TALE OF FRIENDS My name is Jon. If you can accept the premise that I'm a flower, then I congratulate you on your imaginative prowess. If not, perhaps you should consider what a flower would feel.  Today I feel alone and lost. I am a beauty, created for love, without eyes to witness my design and carry my memory. The question, "Do I matter?" is consuming; deafening even.  I feel as though even if I had means and the will to move, it would be of no consequence. The world would move about without notice that I could take in the good land. I fear I do not matter.  "You could try talking to me. My name is Way." "Way? Have you always been there? I was given the name Jon." "Yes, Jon. I was here long before you sought the far side, reaching for the road." "Mine is a fine view of the babbling creek, who tells such fine stories. You should hear her speak, Jon. Oh the joy!" "That is well and good, Way...

The Elusive Trail I've been alluding to the Dutchess Rail Trail again and again, hoping to dig into what it was. It's oddly a subject minimally documented, and almost avoided. A bit of research revealed that the trail is also referred to as the Hudson Valley Rail Trail (HVRT), with intentions of local government and groups to continually expand it's length in the years to come. A very brief history is provided on the HVRT web site, noting that at least part of the current trail was in fact, a railroad line for a time. It fell out of use in the 1970's, due to a fire on a the Poughkeepsie Bridge (Ref -  http://hudsonvalleyrailtrail.net/about.php ). As I like to do, I cross checked the information and came upon a Wikipedia article, corroborating this information, but also adding some interesting details, which I haven't been able to to locate elsewhere. Here's a quote (Ref -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_Valley_Rail_Trail ): "The Hudson Valley Rail ...

I missed my usual adventuring this past Saturday, as I had to be at work all day (8am to 9pm) on a time-sensitive, critical piece of our 18 month project. Sunday I felt out of my head, like none of my faculties could handle anything more interesting than feeding myself (Plus, my eyes kept forcing themselves closed, prompting me to sleep here and there). So today, my job is closed down for Presidents' Day and I took the opportunity to take just a few photos and keep active. My apologies for anyone who came expecting a post on Saturday! General safety counsel suggested minimizing exposure to the elements to fifteen minutes at a clip today, given the extreme cold temperatures with wind chill (-10 F for our area). Understanding this limitation and further noting that most things I normally like to explore are buried under three feet of total snow accumulation, I opted for another stroll around home. There was a lot of interesting contrast of stark objects with a clear, blu...

I went adventuring this morning with the intention of exploring some local attractions. One, was the Brinckerhoff house, belonging to Colonel John Brinckerhoff (1703 - 1785, Soldier in the Revolutionary War - Ref -  http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/2231878-the-patricians-colonel-john-brinckerhoff-1703---1785---revolutionary ). The link includes a modern picture of the home, which is still in good order and actually a residence (Hence, why I have no picture). I was fascinated to learn that George Washington was a frequent guest and close friend of John Brinckerhoff. Knowing that these men well trod upon the same ground which I traversed really connects me to them in a meaningful way. There's more history to uncover connected to this, which I believe stretches over into my present investigations. I'll be doing some other digging in the future. Not to be deterred by the inability to photograph today's initial pursuit, I took to a backup location off Lake Walton Roa...

Today, I decided to return to the Hopewell Rec Center to begin the journey anew with a brand new camera (Nikon CoolPix L330)! I'll confess that it's not everything I'm after, but it's worlds better than shooting with my iPhone. It doesn't have quite the manual control I need, which I knew this going into the purchase, but it was the best upgrade I could afford with a gift card and savings. This is not to say that I'm unhappy with the camera, it's just something new to aspire to with future savings! I've enjoyed the quality of Nikon products as of late (I purchased a Nikon CoolPix S9500 for general family use) and have become a full convert from Canon (For clarity, I'm not being paid anything by Nikon to mention them). All that aside, it was a bright and beautiful 15 deg F morning. Being that I haven't had a good daytime opportunity to test shooting with my new camera, I wanted to return to familiar ground and begin to learn how to operate this ...

Taking a small departure from my usual routine, I went on this week's photography adventure on a Friday, being that I had the day off. I've been searching out historic sites within the Wappinger area and landed today in the Village of Wappinger, trying to locate the cotton-textile mill, originally constructed in 1819. After a little research, it seems that the original construction was destroyed by fire and quickly rebuilt in 1856 (Ref -  http://www.livingplaces.com/NY/Dutchess_County/Wappingers_Falls_Village/Wappingers_Falls_Historic_District.html ). I parked in a comfy two-hour parking slot and went adventuring, starting at Wappingers Creek Bridge (Originally constructed in 1852, but re-constructed and widened in 1884 - Ref -  http://bridgehunter.com/ny/dutchess/1006380/ ), which supplied a fantastic view of the gorge below, but didn't give me any clear hints as the exact whereabouts of the mill. I walked down Market Street for a bit, which proved fruitless, as ever...

I decided upon the Wappingers Falls Rural Cemetery ( https://www.facebook.com/WappingersFallsCemetery ) for today's photography adventure. I was scouting on Google maps, looking for a new location and happened first upon the Middlebush Cemetery ( Google Map ), but I was looking for larger ground to cover. In a list of historic attractions, provided by the Office of the Town Historian (Wappingers -  http://www.townofwappinger.us/pdf/Historic%20Sites.pdf ), next to pop on the list for me was the Wappingers Falls Rural Cemetery. It actually took some work to locate, as it isn't registered on Google Maps and doesn't appear to have an official web presence, other than a Facebook page I stumbled onto, which gave me enough clues to locate it by studying Google satellite telemetry. I took a slow drive through the Village of Wappingers and successfully found the entrance. My first challenge was navigating the space, as I'd never been there before and the road is mono-dire...

Yesterday, I took to an abandoned circuit of railroad tracks that pass through Wappingers \ Hopewell Junction. I only ventured about a mile into the tracks before becoming immersed. At parts, I found old gas cans, un-potted plants, and parts of discarded railroad ties. While hiking around and studying the layout of objects, I couldn't help but begin to see stories in my head of when the tracks were built. In doing some quick research, it appears that these tracks originally belonged to the Erie Lackawanna Railroad,  constructed between 1832 to1851 (Almost a 20 year project! - Ref -   http://www.american-rails.com/erie-lackawanna.html ), and was designed to run from Piermont, New York to Dunkirk, New York. According to the available notes, over a hundred years into operation, it seems that most of the routes belonging to Erie Lackawanna Railroad were abandoned in the 1970's (Ref -  http://www.hurricanescience.org/history/storms/1970s/agnes/ ). Hurricane Agnes (1972) w...

I've been exploring Wappingers Creek and surrounding areas. My first adventure to the Hopewell Rec Center a couple weeks ago was a bit different. My, how the tempature has plumeted since then. Today was a brisk 30 deg F when I started. This hobby certainly tests your resolve against frozen limbs! That aside, it was gorgeous and I landed some fine moments, which I look forward to reviewing in the years to come. Here is my flickr feed - hope you enjoy the explorations with me! https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/129003675@N04/ Quick video -  http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0BCvUMdqhIA&feature=youtu.be This is me warming up post outdooring~