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A hodgepodge collection of subjects from the commonplace to the unusual...
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Before the performance the dancers treated us to their pre-show warm ups.
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Before the performance the dancers treated us to their pre-show warm ups.

candidsummerManhattanWashington Sq. ParkperformersWashington Square Dancers

  • For the past twelve days I been besieged by a cold from hell. By day seven it had gotten so bad I had to go see my doctor. Turns out I had a throat and eye infection, for which he gave me antibiotics. Today I had to go back for a follow up visit. After finishing there as well as another appointment several blocks away, I had time on my hands, and seeing as I had brought some of my camera equipment with me to hopefully get some nice shots of NY bay in the fog (nope not happening - it actually turned out to be TOO foggy), I decided rather than go right home, to head down to Washington Sq. Park. I figured the renovations that had had most of the park closed off, just had to be done by now after almost two years, and I wanted to get a look at what all that TLC did to the look of the grand old place. When I got there the park was filled with even more flowers, beautifully blooming, than I‘d ever seen there before.<br /> <br /> To celebrate the grand reopening of the park, the Washington Square Dancers were putting on a performance for everyone to enjoy. A mixture of young and old, pro and amateur, the dance group examines movement and dance and the how that flows within a widely diverse age and talent mix.<br /> The dancers were putting on a performance in 3 different area’s of the park at once. Liking the performance as well as the early summer flower show I searched out a spot where I could capture the crowd the performers and some flowers all in one shot.
  • Before the performance the dancers treated us to their pre-show warm ups.
  • DSC_7924 pre-show warmups
  • I had a great deal of fun photographing this diverse group of dancers this evening. If you'd like to see more shots of these ladies, then click on the key words below that says " washington square dancers". It will take you to my gallery of candid's where the rest of my shots of these girls reside.
  • music lovers
  • A bit more than 24 hrs till the leading edge of hurricane Irene is due to hit NYC, but there was still a multitude of people spending the last few hours of beautiful weather taking in the sunshine and fresh air before the deluge.
  • If your curious, yes she can definitely take you off the dribble, and has a good two hand jumper if you give her any room. Her defense this day on the other hand - well not as impressive. But Mello's not the worlds best defender either and look how much money we had to give him.....
  • When I first moved into my current neighborhood some 11 years ago, my neighbors had several children growing up who filled the air with the sounds of young laughter. But as the years went by they all grew up and went to college or got jobs, and the neighborhood got a bit too quiet for my tastes. So a few years ago when I saw new apartment construction coming in across the street, I hoped it would bring more families with young ones to fill our streets with sounds of laughter once again. Happily that's exactly what happened.<br /> <br /> Now personally I find the sound of children laughing and playing as therapeutic to our good health as is the sounds of the birds singing in the trees. Speaking of birds, a few months ago when I came home, I stopped at my mailbox and noticed Yalani pictured here, and her friends come running across the street and pick up a young bird that was sitting on the sidewalk near my cactus plant. Well since wild birds don't just let you walk up and pick them up I went into the house and brought out my camera to investigate this unusual event.
  • Turns out the girls discovered an injured bird in the lot of the Rectory two houses down from my place, and decided to try and nurse it back to health. Obviously the bird didn't seem to mind the TLC, and felt quite at home here on Yalani's shoulder.
  • He was just as content to perch on Annika's shoulder too. I wonder just what type of bird this young one happens to be? (Thanks for the I.D. Kris!! It is indeed a turtledove)
  • dsc_8635 sitting pretty
  • Even playing momma to a injured baby bird didn't mean letting the ice cream truck drive by the house without stopping, as Yalani proved she can take care of her youngin' and still enjoy the finer things in life at the same time.
  • Snug Harbor entrance in the fall
  • fall comes to Clove lakes
  • I've shipped off several of my old manual lenses to Focal Point Inc in Colorado to have fungus damage removed. My 55mm micro was one of the more seriously afflicted ones , and I sent it out this summer to be cleaned along with my 16-85mm nikkor that needed repairing after hitting the sidewalk with a thud (that one though was through no fault of my own). After capturing the scene in the previous shot I looked at the picture info as I was getting ready to slip my camera back in my bag, and noticed that the last group of shots taken with my 17-70mm zoom was at about 55mm. Well perfect I thought, here's an opportunity to see if my newly cleaned 55mm micro is back up to par with the other lenses in my arsenal, and I doubled back around and reached in the side pocket of my tripod bag to pull out my diminutive 20 year old closeup lens. The ability to slide the tiny once razor sharp macro optic into any small free space in one of my bags was a thing I sorely missed these last 3 years as all my other closeup lens options were all so big that finding a free spot to include them is quite often a big challenge if not an impossibility on many a trip. Now after 3 days of sitting in my bags unused and untouched, its' time to step up to the plate had come at last. So did Focal Point Inc rescue another of my old lenses from the scrap heap? Yep looks like it!
  • The last few cool nights did wonders for the fall colors in Staten Island so I squashed any temptation go see the opening of "Immortals" with my friends or refill my emptied food supplies with a much needed trip to the supermarket or do any other activities with some of my other friends. Instead I headed back out and capture some more fall shots. Several places I scouted out Monday and Tuesday looked promising if the colors were only better and I took some shots for future reference for when I would come back next fall if the autumn colors improved, but as I've said so many times before, life on planet earth is incredibly dynamic as opposed to static. You can never guaranty to find everything exactly the same the next day let alone the next year, and so when the potential rain and cloudy conditions that had originally been forecasted for the end of the week got replaced with mostly sunny and windy predictions I decided to hoof it back out to the Bronx, my old stomping grounds before moving to Staten Island 25 years ago and give a go at capturing a few scenes that I photographed Tuesday this time though I was bringing my tripod to do them proper justice if the colors were enticing enough - and they were.
  • Finishing my latest trek around the sprawling grounds here at the Bronx Botanical Gardens, deposited into my memory bank several places to visit in the future for potential scenic shots to add to my gallery here in Smugmug. The upgrade to the landscape since I moved to Staten Island 25 years ago have been stunningly dramatic, which would explain the $20 a pop it costs to visit now, as opposed to being free back when I was living with mom off White Plains road. <br /> <br /> As I came out from around the last tree lined path on my planned trip around the grounds and turned to head for the main gate off Southern Boulevard, I noticed that several of the quaint lamps (another attractive addition not present when I was living here some 20 odd years ago) had come on as the late afternoon sky darkened with the growing cloud cover, and again a new impromptu photo opportunity presented itself. With no time to setup my tripod and several nice potential groups of folks walking by here and there, I focused in on the closest lighted lantern and aimed my camera towards the road that leads you to "daffodil valley". <br /> <br /> I love the collar that Tokina put on the 12-24mm zoom I used for this shot, it lets you switch from auto focusing to manual in a split second without even taking your eye off of your viewfinder. Manually focusing on the lamp I then stopped the lens down and waited until a perfect looking couple walked up the road to complete this nice fall scene.
  • dsc_9933 Harlem mere in the fall
  • dsc_9924 Harlem mere in the fall
  • wedded bless in the fall
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