A Tiny Taste of Fall & Lots ‘O Bees
A little nip in the air is all I need to don the sweater and corduroy pants and head out to capture the early stirrings of my favorite and most photographic season the Fall. With Saturday’s temperatures in the high fifties I hopped aboard the Metro North for a quick trip to the Bronx Botanical Gardens for the Japanese Fall Flowers exhibit.
My photo recipe for flower shots is to use my nifty Canon 50mm 1.4 lens. I love this lens because it is light weight, fast, sharp and gives you the best bokeh you’ve ever seen, IMHO and great for indoor shooting without flash. In post processing I add a soft, glowing blur to all my flower shots, giving a dreamy-fairy-garden look to them. Since, I don’t use a macro lens for these shots the backgrounds are full of color from surrounding flowers, shrubs and leaves all beautifully blended and blurred.
To kick off this first of the fall photo shoots I walked through the Ross Conifer Arboretum taking shots of the green and brown crusty pine cones and golden brown mossy acorns. We mostly think of a pine tree or any tree for that matter with a vertical standing trunk. I found a few that grew horizontal from the forest floor resembling a giant hand laying palm upwards with the limbs curled like hoary arthritic fingers. Another tree caught my attention because its trunk resembled a Picasso painting with one large eye to the far right, a big bulbous nose to the left and a wide pair of lips stretched to the right. It was wild to say the least and one of my favorite shots from this series.
My next stop was at the Nancy Bryan Luce Herb Garden, filled with fragrant and colorful flowers and leaves. I then wandered into the Jane Watson Irwin Perennial Garden, full of brilliant gold, orange, and purple flowers growing in profusion and full of big fat bees bumbling from flower to flower. Really, I have never seen so many busy bees in one place in my life. In addition there were incredible plants with huge green leaves with multi-colored veins that when viewed with the sun behind them looked like stained glass. There were bees sitting on these plants also; they must have been taking a break from the rigors of pollinating.
After that I walked into the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory to view the fall flower exhibit (no bees). There was only one room designated for these flowers but it was beautifully packed with delicate little flowers of bright red and orange, tall straight and stiff bamboo and many other delicate but hardy flowering bushes and shrubs. Outside, the conservatory is the lotus pond with white and red lotus flowers sitting atop green lily pads with white and gold koi fish swimming lazily around the plants. Before I moved onto another outdoor garden I had to go back into the conservatory to take shots of the incredible ferns and mosses that grow there in the atrium of the building and that just blow my mind with the variety, texture and size of these tropical wonders.
Last but not least was the Seasonal Walk and Home Gardening Center just packed with beautiful crape-myrtles, hydrangea, dahlias, butterflybush and hibiscus (I got that from the brochure I was smart enough to put in my back pack so I could at least give you some names of the plants I took photos of) and of course more bees.
The few hours I spent there, the gardens I visited named after people with very long names, and the many bees I became acquainted with were only a tiny part of this 250 acre “garden” and I look forward to returning when the foliage season is in a full riot of color to wander through its 50 acres of forest having a ball photographing this National Historic Landmark.
Enjoy the photos below and on my website.
Stay in focus,
Cate
Remembrance, Reluctance & Respect
As many of you know today is the 10th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City that killed thousands of innocent lives and changed the history and the culture of America better know as 9/11. Back in July on a bright sunny day I went down to the construction site of the new WTC towers to photograph the new buildings as they were being built and wrote about it in my blog entitled Rising From the Ashes.
Today, was somber and grey and I had planned to go back to that site to document the 10th anniversary memorial services and capture the emotions of the day on the faces of the visitors and to pay homage to all who died on that tragic day. But alas the police would not let anyone near the new WTC and 9/11 memorial who carried a backpack and of course I was carrying a back pack. Plain and simple, there was no argument.
Not to be deterred I decided to stay on Broadway and Fulton Street for a little while and photograph the crowds around St. Paul’s Chapel. Across from St. Paul’s there was a group of conspiracy theorists protesting peacefully but with emotion waving banners and billboards and small American flags. The front of St. Paul’s was festooned in white ribbons know as Remembrance Ribbons. You could go into the chapel grab a ribbon and write any heart-felt feelings about the day or the name of a lost loved one on this ribbon and tie it to the wrought iron gate surrounding St. Paul’s. Some people attached flags, flowers or a photo to their ribbons. A small parade of Fire Fighters marched along Broadway carrying bright red flags their faces solemn in homage to their fallen comrades.
My next stop was Battery Park to photograph the beautiful Flags of Honor (civilians) and of Heroes (firefighters and police) which seem to have sprouted all over the lawns from one end of the park to the other. Each flag resembling the American flag contain the names of everyone who died ten years ago on September 11th 2001. The park was filled with a profound peace and humble quiet as people walked between the rows of flags reaching out to pull a flag closer to better read the names printed on them.
Remembrance- we will never forget. Reluctance - we must learn to let go and move on. Respect – the memory of those we lost and continue to live with courage and freedom.
Peace.
Cate
Great North River Tugboat Race
Happy Labor Day everyone and I hope you enjoyed your long weekend with friends and family.
Yesterday was the 19th annual running of the Great North River Tugboat Race & Competition on the Hudson River. I boarded the Circle Line “spectator” boat at Pier 84 at 9:00am with a jolly crowd of mostly native New Yorkers to sail up the Hudson River or the Great North River as the nautical folk call it. We sailed along side the tugboats with a terrific vantage point to photograph the boats as they raced by. So, by now you are probably snickering knowing that tugboats are not known for their speed and yes it was like watching snails race but despite appearances they are quite powerful, after all they do move huge ships and haul tremendous amounts of cargo up and down that harbor 24/7 . There were ten boats; The K-Sea or Ross Sea. The Maurania III, The Pegasus, the three Miller tugs: The Susan Miller, The Freddie K. Miller and The Catherine C. Miller, The Sea Wolf, The Growler, The Quantico Creek and last but not least The Bronx. Before the race the tugboats paraded against a back drop of the majestic retired WWII aircraft carrier now museum the Intrepid, the enormous cruise ship the Norwegian Gem and towering commercial and residential buildings that loom over this riverside community.
During the race I looked to the south and saw what looked like a ghost ship floating through a white translucent mist. It was the Fireboat Three Forty Three, named after the number of firefighters who died in the September 11th attacks on the WTC, proudly sailing up the river with all hoses firing long graceful plumes of water that spread into curtains of white water. I almost fell over the side of the boat trying to get shots with over a hundred other excited people shoulder to shoulder with me watching this spectacular water display.
In addition to the race there were two competitions: the nose-to-nose pushing contest exercising the formidable power that tug boats are known for and a line throwing contest; a test of agility and coordination. After the race all of the tugboats including our Circle Line tied up at pier 84 where I disembarked and then walked along the pier where the tugboats were now resting and I had a chance to photograph them close up and personal. I noticed that in addition to the numerous old rubber tires that surround a typical tug boat an apron of thinly sliced tires surrounds the bow of the boat like black rubber balene. The boats had a hoary rough and grungy look to them that gave the impression that these were no party boats but hard working denizens of the harbor. Each tug and its crew of friends and family were getting ready for an afternoon of celebration with picnic tables and chairs set up on the stern and people hopping from on boat to another to talk with fellow boat captains and crew.
A wonderful, fun and exciting river adventure and a great way to celebrate the Labor Day weekend. Enjoy the photos below and you can view the entire gallery of images by clicking here.
Ahoy Mateys!
Cate
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