Autumn Swing

Its just about here... Pumpkins, spice, perfect apples, pie, and the falling of the color drained leaves. I will miss this past summer. My little girl is growing up and the pure innocence that we shared on the playgrounds will only fade. To me this photo is a reminder that everything changes. No matter how much we want to relive a specific day or time in our lives, it changes. For better or worse. Memories, snapshots, the sounds of giggling, and "Daddy, look at me" will always remain, but know that the future can be just as good.

Unknown Family Portrait

They are not unknown (I have their email), I just don't want to share their last names. This nice new family was vacationing in Surf City at the same time as us. I saw this dad taking photos of his lovely wife and daughter and knowing how difficult it is to have a nice family portrait I offered a couple shots that I could email them. How exciting it is to be on vacation with your newly formed family. Watching your tiny daughter marvel at the ocean for the first time is priceless. I am glad I was able to help this family from Iowa. I hope someday to bump into them again.

Letchworth Waterfall

8.2.2014

About a half second exposure. Just long enough to blur the water coming over the falls. The railroad bridge truss is visible directly above the falls. Letchworth State Park is considered the Grand Canyon of the East. An amazing place to hike, bike, or relax and have a picnic.

From Landscapes

Sunrise through the pier

Just after 6 am, This is an image I have been trying to capture for years. I had one day in Surf City NC to make this happen. The weeks before I Google mapped my location and used the aerial view to find a couple possible piers close enough to the motel we were staying at. I then used another online tool that shows me when and where the sun will rise based on my location and date. The evening before we visited the pier and I was able to figure out where I needed to be and how early I needed to get up to drive then walk to this spot. I was up at 5 am, and it was only a 8 minute drive. I wish I had a little more time to at least get some coffee. I only ended up throwing on a sweatshirt along with my Old Navy skull pajama pants. I was setup and ready to go by about 530 am at the location. I started by taking some long exposures of the water underneath the pier, then as it became brighter out, moving to my spot a few hundred yards away from the pier. This was maybe the 40th photo out of a hundred or so that morning. f6.3 1/200s 800ISO 119mm

From Landscapes

Red Bridge

At the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in NC, there is a Japanese-style arched bridge in the Culberson Asiatic Arboretum. It is a sight on its own. The bright red arched bridge amongst the lush green gardens is breath-taking. It reminds me of the Golden Gate Bridge in SF, CA.

From Landscapes

Public Market Cherries

Freshly rinsed cherries from the Rochester Public Market. I used my wife's vintage metal strainer to contrast the natural tones of the hardwood table and cherries. I used a shallow depth of field to really draw your attention to the cherries. Only soft natural window light was used to light this.

Capture the sun

After a long evening of scouting new locations, we stopped at Webster Park to watch the sunset. It was a beautiful sunset. I exposed for the sky to create the silhouette of my wife. I also tagged this shot in the weekly #RocTopShots contest on Instagram and it won with the most combined votes!

Sails

Heading out for a sunset walk on the pier. I noticed how the light was reflecting off the sculpture just right. I have to imagine that was going through the artists head when building this.

From Landscapes

The sunrise surfer

Sunrise was at 5:58 this day. I woke up around 5, then drove 10 minutes down the road from our motel to this awesome wooden fishing pier. I was the only person out on the beach until this lone surfer decided to join me. This was taken about 5 minutes before the sun peaked out from the horizon.

From Landscapes

Beach Closed

We get a lot of closed beach days here in Rochester NY. It makes for very empty beaches, but at least the view is still amazing. There is something about an empty lifeguard tower center frame that I really like. Off in the distance is the Harbor Town Belle.

From Landscapes

Inside the lighthouse looking up

I have been to the Outer Banks in NC twice. The first year (2012) the drive to climb a lighthouse was over two hours away and we would have had to take a ferry over to the island. This past trip (2013) we stayed much farther north, and had a 7 minute drive to this amazing structure. This photo is from the inside of the Currituck Beach Lighthouse.Construction was finished in 1875 and it is an amazing experience to walk up the 214 steps. Due to some hazy overcast conditions, the view from the top was not as cool as the view from the inside looking up.

Foggy morning

Early morning on the ocean is so incredibly different from day to day. The haze was so much on this particular day that it made for a erie scene. The random figure in the distance was made blurry due to a slow shutter speed. 10 minutes after this the sun peaked out from the ocean and the day began.

I wouldn't worry about that little guy

In case you didnt know where all the holes on the beach come from... These little crabs come out at night and scurry around the beach. This one I captured using my flash. Most likely blinding it for the next couple of minutes. This crab was about the size of a deck of cards. They dont really stay still long enough to compose a good shot.

Fog Over Bay

I took this in early 2014. It was a mild winter day and a fog had settled over the Irondequoit Bay. The bay was still iced over from a long winter and the boat docks were never removed. Normally you can see the bay bridge in the distance.

From Landscapes

Love What You Do!

I took a hike in Cobbs Hill Park and came across these two old ground level water towers. On the outside, 360 degrees around was graffiti. Not just some small tag, but amazing art. Grab a buddy and go explore this if you have the chance.

Love what you do! - Artist unknown

Graffiti on metal

I took a lot of photos from my stop at the graffiti covered water towers. I really like this one. It has a good mixture of texture and color. I may try and go back again soon to see what new art has been created.

sparks on snow

white and red