Ominous Skies

....  as seen on route 26 just slightly north of Upper Lisle on my way home from work earlier today.

The trees that still have leaves on them are very vibrant in color these days, and the sky as I was driving in was bordering on being schizophrenic.  Most of the sky was quite ominous and threatening looking, yet off to the west where the sun was on its way down towards the evenings horizon, it was clearer and the sun was popping in and out of cover.  During the moments when the sun did pop out, it really popped and just lit up the sky with that late day glow which was being seriously enhanced by the contrast of the brightly lit trees against the dark and scary opposing sky.  It was kind of cool.  :)

Click the photo's to view them larger.

NV Pee Wee Football at Candor

The 11 & 12 yr old A's SCORE!!!

...  'er, scratch that - THEY WIN!!! 

Touchdown!!!!!  First score of the year for the A's | Click on the photo to view it larger

I could have gone out to Jasper for round 13 of the 2014 WNYOA Summer race series, or I could have "stayed home" and simply gone out to Candor to watch and shoot the mini Cardinals football games.  The races would have equated to 4+ hours of drive time round trip, a tank of gas, gate fee, chow, getting gear all dirty, etc ....    I opted to stay local and go to the football games.  :)

Honestly ...  I left the house a little on the late side and had figured that I might miss some of the C's game.  (back track)  I had read / heard via facebook that the field where the kids were going to be playing was sort of "hidden".  Ummmm -- yeah.  If you ain't a local you ain't gonna find this stealth field.  I did eventually discover it and got on scene shortly before the half.  Still being honest ...  Valley's little ones - they were asleep at helm.  Let's just say that they didn't play very well and the score reflected that.  :(  The 2nd game of the day was the B's (9 & 10 yr olds).  This was, actually in pure football speak, a "good game".  It was a snoozer from my point of view as a guy with a camera.  It was a defensive struggle as neither team scored in the 1st half.  Candor did put some points up on the board in the 2nd, and then they put some more up again and that game was pretty much done - the Tigers won it 13-0.  The game was actually better than the score reflects.

And then there was the A's game . . . !!!  These kids have had a tough season so far.  Coming into this game they hadn't won one yet.  They hadn't even scored yet.  Yeah ...  but plucky as they are, they keep coming back, and they keep trying!  Twice in the first half of play they got good offensive movement going and managed to get the ball down the the 10 yard line.  They were doing it - they could move the ball against this opponent.  Twice they got stopped short of the goal.  And twice the home team scored.  It was 12-0 going into the half.

Sometime late in the 3rd, or maybe it was even into the 4th ... it happened.  Valley #34, the Spoonhower kid got loose and burst into the end zone!!!!  TOUCHDOWN!!  SCORE!!!!!  The Valley side would have been happy to leave right then and there - that alone was a victory!  But hey - there was still plenty of time left in this game - and now that these kids had had a taste of scoring guess what....?  They wanted more ... !  The kids were pumped up now and boy did they stiffen up on D for the ensuing change of possession.  They shut Candor down - 1,2,3 - you're out - give us that ball back!  A couple of plays go by, some yards gained, need to get the 1st down and keep this possession alive - we're only down by 6 ....   Valley's QB steps back and he floats the ball up (pee wee's just can't rifle it -  they just can't - not physically able to ... lol! ) and one could almost hear the collective inhale and dead silence on the Valley side of the field.  A WIDE OPEN Kalpokas kid (#3) is there and CATCHES it and takes off!!!  The Valley side of the field is going berserk.  The other side is stunned.  Kalpokas runs it in and we got us a TIE game with 5 or so minutes left in regulation.

We got us a game now ... :)

The kids were jacked after the first score when they had to play D.  They were ultra jacked now - they knew that they HAD to get the ball back and they HAD to score one more time to secure this win.  Candor has a big weapon that wears #20.  Valley's D swarmed him, and the Tigers entire line in general like angry bees and again - 1,2,3 - you're out!  "Give us that ball back!!"  With less than a minute or so left on the clock Valley's A team marched the ball down the field and one of the kids was able to rumble it over the line to grab the lead.  They put an exclamation mark on it by converting on the extra point via the #42 of the Tompkins kid to take a now 19-12 lead.  There were 8 seconds left on the game clock.  The Cardinals shut down the last Tigers possession and erupted in triumphant joy at having not only scored for the first time this season, but coming from behind to take a wild win!

I'll have pics from all three games up at the galleries in a day or two ..  stand by!

NV Varsity Football - Cardinals Reign Supreme over Whitney Point

Big doin's in The Valley today!!  It's Homecoming weekend and around here, this is a big deal.  A really, really big deal - parades and everything - it's fun!  Valley's Varsity football team played host to Whitney Point's Eagles in a bird on bird smackdown in the birdcage.  This was no smackdown though - this was domination defined as the home team blew the visiting raptors away and kept them totally grounded.   Valley crushed WP 61-6.

( Click on the photo's to view them larger )

This Newark Valley team has really turned into a well rounded squad with multiple players stepping up and contributing to the effort on both offense and defense.  Admittedly I was a little concerned after the 1st game loss to Tioga that Valley looked a little overly dependant on team captain and QB, Vinnie Darpino.  Vinnie is an exceptional player and has demonstrative leadership ability, but one man does not make a team.  This team, right now, appears to be gelling and is in fact a solid looking, cohesive *team*.  Todays win moves the team on to a 3-1 record on the season now - and all three wins have been huge.  The team goes on the road next week to a local perennial powerhouse in Section IV football - Chenango Forks.

I got quite a number of photo's from the day that will be going up to the galleries over the next couple of days - but in the meantime I thought I would just get these out chop chop.

*****  Go Valley!!! *****

NV Pee Wee Football vs Apalachin

Tough day in Cardinal-ville ... 

Well ....  the visiting Raiders did just that.  They raided the birdcage and went back home with 3 W's on the day.  Tough one for the home team crowd.  The little ones (C's - 7 & 8 yr olds) played their opponents pretty tough in the 1st half but kind of ran out of steam in the 2nd.  The B's ...  :(  they kinda-sorta ...  well - no good way to put it - they got killed.  The 11&12 yr old A's - God bless 'em. They are seriously under manned with only 13 or 14 players in total on the entire team so you know what that means - these kids are playing, almost non-stop, both offense AND defense.  The visiting Raiders by contrast are HUGE both in physical size, and in numbers - they must have had easily 30+ players on their side of the field.  They are also the #1 ranked team in the state at present for the age division.

Anyway -- congrats are in order to the visiting Apalachin Raiders.  I have to score some dinner for myself but figured I'd get this out real quick with a couple of grabs from each of the three games.  All of the keepers will be going up to the galleries over the next day or so.  Click on any of the images to view them larger.

Iron Kettle Farm, Candor NY

( from my facebook post )

Out and about earlier today we happened upon the Iron Kettle Farm which is a local landmark in this part of the state, especially with families (kids) for the annual Fall / Halloween decorative theme thing that they do every year.

Walking around I found myself inside of a barn that has TONS of old (like really old) tools and farming equipment. They have stuff hanging off of rafters, on the walls, on the tops of built in storage sheds. etc ...

The shot I included here I posted because I'm kinda happy with how it worked out. ( Switch to camera speak for a second ) I have no idea how I've managed to use a camera to this point in time without a rear screen that can be pulled out and tilted away from the body. The little Fuji has one and man is that thing useful. ( Back to the old farm equipment picture ... ) I'm not a naturally tall guy and this stuff was up on top of a roof. Using the tilt screen I "made myself taller" and framed it up as best as I could, and held as steady as I could as the ambient light in there was iffy.

(photo types) Handheld (as high as I could reach above my head) 1/25th at iso 1600, f/5.6. I'd though about stopping it down to 8 or more for better DOF / focus cheat but shutter speed would have really fallen off ... yeah I could have jacked the iso but ...

Anyway ... ! lol! I think it worked out pretty good considering. 

( Actually - all of the photo's taken in the barn were handheld and 1/30th or so was about the fastest shutter speed I was able to use for the given iso ...  )  I wouldn't mind going back there with a tripod and shooting it proper ...  it's pretty neat.

Click on the photo's to view them larger.

Red Robin Diner Johnson City, N.Y.

My wife, mother-in-law and I found ourselves in Johnson City earlier today ...  wife was getting treated for an issue at the hospital.  Mother-in-law and I decided that we needed to find some chow ...  she doesn't know the area.  Now I've lived in and around the greater Binghamton area on and off for over 40 years.  In all that time the Red Robin diner has always existed (as far as I know) on Main St. in J.C. but I'd never been there so that is where we decided to go.

Cashing out after lunch at the Red Robin in J.C.  Photo types - this is actually a composited / HDR.  While waiting on the cashier to get change, I just set the fuji on the counter top, flipped the display screen up so I could see & compose and then started twiddling the shutter speed while watching the various elements in the scene come and go in and out of exposure.  I took about 4 or 5 shots and then blended them using a combination of photomatix and photoshop.  Final cleanup and export out of lightroom. --- Click the photo to view it larger

It is a neat, interesting, throwback kind of a place.  I had my little fuji with me ...  grabbed a few random candid shots, most with the camera just sitting on the table and/or counter top and using the excellent live view mode (display on the back of it) to compose and meter with.  I'd like to speak with the owner of the joint about getting some time to shoot the place - that might be kind of neat.

Every booth and/or table had its own little (functional) jukebox - this was the one at our booth.  ---  Click the photo to view it larger

"...  so whats on this menu?"  ---  Click the photo to view it larger

 The kitten in the window - well - thats exactly what it was.  ;)  We had parked the car a half block or so away and were walking to the diner.  We were crossing the street when I happened to notice this little kitten pop into a window so I ran back across the street and <click> shot him/her.  Yeah -- thats me in the reflection too at the top of the frame.;)

Meow .....  ---  Click the photo to view it larger