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here and there

Scenic shots taken everywhere, from sunup to sundown
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DSC_8630 fall scenes from the Botanical Gardens
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DSC_8630 fall scenes from the Botanical Gardens

Bronx Botanical GardensscenicfallBronxNYCSpicebush trail

  • DSC_8268 Rhode Island home
  • All through the afternoon Ricia and I came across these wonderful looking stone walls, fencing off peoples property. Seeing them brought back memories of when I went to school in New England as a teenager. And I remember coming across one like that once, and found it interesting as well back then. But I can't remember if it was perfectly even on all sides like all of these were, which is it's signature feature.<br /> <br /> How they could get a fence to be so flat on top and the sides when all the stones are of such a variety of different sizes and shapes is a marvel. I snapped shots of several that we saw today. But as we drove down this particular street this wall took the cake. It was more than twice the length of what you see here in this photo, and Reesh could tell that I really was enamored with this one which was the grandest example of all the ones we'd seen. So she parked around the corner and let me get out to photograph it.<br /> <br /> When I got to a suitably photogenic spot I snapped the shutter on my camera, then walked back to Reesh's SUV, which was some walk as long as this wall was. What a fantastic looking way to fence off your property, very New England like.
  • Longfield house
  • Longfield house
  • This porch, totally taken back by mother nature is huge. It actually wraps around this whole side of the house. Wow what great garden parties you could have had there back in the day.
  • Now Ricia took me through many a town to show me the flavor of Rhode island, for my future trips, of which I hope I have several. The towns are so small we were in a new one before I realized we'd left the previous one. So after a while a few times I forgot which town we were in. That was the case here, as she took me past some lovely sea side homes.<br /> <br /> This one she liked very much, and I too found it quite unusual. What great views of the sea they must get when they go up on that circular balcony. Reesh drove me all around the house. Unfortunately the best view of the home from an artistic standpoint would have been from the driveway. But unlike the DeWolf home I photographed in Bristol, this one was certainly not abandoned, so that shot was out. So when Reesh got to a view of the house that I thought held the next most artistic potential I got out, and walked up to the property. <br /> <br /> Walking around for a minute I found this spot to be the best looking shot overall, taking in the wild nature of the surrounding vegetation, nice fall colors, and nice view of the unusual architecture. Soon we were back on the road headed for the historic town of Newport.
  • DSC_8415 sundown in Rhode Island
  • As the sun started to disappear in the sky Reesh drove up to a spot she said had beautiful views of the sea. I'm still not sure where we were exactly, but she definitely was right about the view. <br /> <br /> The twilight sky was overcast, so the colors were muted and the lighting rather flat. But I could still see the potential for some absolutely great sunset shots under better conditions. <br /> <br /> So I walked around and took some shots both to commemorate the trip and to give me a starting point to plan from for future shots composition wise.<br /> <br /> After taking shots of the bay that were mostly too dull for my tastes to include in my scenic gallery on this trip, I walked back up the rocky landscape then over the road to the other side which held a Marina and spots many locales found to be good for fishing.<br /> <br /> Facing east this spot had even less color than the bay on the other side which at least faced the setting sun. However on this particular evening, at this particular moment, it was the more photogenic spot composition wise, and indeed I took a few pictures I felt were good enough to add to my gallery.
  • Twilight colors
  • After I took several shots of that boat in the marina that's pictured in the previous photo's I turned around and looked up at the western sky behind me. One thing landscape photographers are familiar with is how a dull looking sky can change into a colorful one in a matter of moments as the sun starts to sink below the horizon, and now the grey flat sky had been replaced with a beautiful pastel one. Visually the western bay was totally blocked off from my view by the marina and the road and parking lot between me and the cliff side, so I had no way to see from this spot what it looked like, but it was obvious this change in lighting would have a dramatic effect on it.<br /> <br /> Now this lighting does not typically last all that long, and on top of that changes, not by the minute, but the second. As such, I had no time to tell Ricia where I was going.<br /> Up to this point while we were not side by side taking pictures, I had at least for the most part stayed within eyesight of her, and I know she saw me walk down the long ramp to the marina to take pictures. Plopping my bag of polarizing filters into her hands first as the lighting was too flat to need them.<br /> <br /> I wasn't concerned leaving her to herself so abruptly, because I knew she was going to have a good time yakking it up with some of the local fisherman. The list of things I like about Ricia run the length of your arm, and her ability to get total strangers to stop and converse with her at the drop of a hat would serve me well here, as now I could put all my attention on capturing the fast changing colors assuming I could get back over to the cliff side some 200 yards away in time.<br /> <br /> Jumping into a quick gallop I raced back up the ramp then out the marina, across the parking lot, the down the rocky cliff side to the waters edge, where I had taken my dull flat pictures 20 minutes before. And as I guessed the change was significant. <br /> <br /> While the colors were still a bit muted, the grey sky and colorful sunset combined to turn the scene into a pastel view that was quite pleasing. For the first time on the trip I felt a scene let me stretch my artistic wings, which brought a smile to my face.
  • A half hour or so before when the sky was dull and flat, I took some shots of Ricia standing by the cliff side overlooking this bay. There was a cormorant floating around near the shore. Now I spotted it still in the same general spot with the sunset colors far more vibrant this time. A few moments later I saw it get up and flap its' wings I knew it was about to take off, and I waited for it to pick up speed, and as it broke the surface I started snapping my shutter.
  • After getting several shots overlooking the bay, I again turned my head around to check out what the sky behind me looked like. Now the eastern sky too was filled with colors. And once again like a madman I raced back up the rocky cliff side over the parking lot and down to the marina. <br /> <br /> When I got there the colors greatly improved the scenes I was looking at just a little while earlier. I stopped here to get wider view of the marina than I took the first time, and was quite pleased with the results.
  • I had taken several shots of this boat earlier when the lighting was pretty dull. Now the colors were wonderful and I really wanted to get back down to the waters edge to shoot it again. But unfortunately for me the fisherman put up a chain with a 'private propertry' sign on it, so my access was blocked.<br /> <br /> By this time Ricia had found me again, and I told her how I wanted to photograph that boat now that the lighting was good but couldn't. Ricia possesses a more aggressive personality than me by nature, so unlike me wouldn't let the opportunity go so easily and kept prodding me to go down there anyway until I finally relented.<br /> <br /> As lighting this time of day changes literally by the second, by the time she convinced me to move the chain and go down there anyway, most of the rich lighting had gone, but enough of it remained to still be a far superior shot to any of the other ones I had taken just 10 minutes earlier. So without her this best shot of the boat would not have happened. Which is fitting for without her this trip to Rhode Island wouldn't have happened. Good friend, good company, good person to share times like this with.
  • Sunset splendor
  • DSC_8491 fall scenes from the Botanical Gardens
  • DSC_8549 fall scenes from the Botanical Gardens
  • DSC_8630 fall scenes from the Botanical Gardens
  • DSC_8666 fall scenes from the Botanical Gardens
  • DSC_8671 fall scenes from the Botanical Gardens
  • DSC_8687 fall scenes from the Botanical Gardens
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