18 March

This morning going into work...   she was thinking about crossing the road.  We sat a looked at one another for a moment or two.  Yup - she was thinking about it . . .   her little friend in the background though was like "...  uhhhh....  I don't know - we should turn back.... "

They turned back.  :)  This was near Morrisville, N.Y.

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I saw this on my way home.  I like blue.  I really.like.blue.  And the sun.  I've always been a self proclaimed sun god worshipper.  Hot good, cold bad.  It's just that simple.  :)  This one was up on the ridge just above and slightly north of Munnsville, N.Y. dropping down onto route 46.

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Fuji X-T1

Yeah ...  I got one.  :)  I was, and am, so intrigued with all of the old school style analog, manual controls on this thing - plus it has leapt to the top of the heap in the photo crowd for it's class of camera (mirrorless) as a top contender - I had to get my paws on one.

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It's different than my Nikon's.  Quite a bit different.  Singularly the thing that I find myself having the toughest time adjusting to is, actually, the size of the thing.  It's so damned small... !!  I'm so used to my big ole Nikon's which just "fall" into my hands and fit them like a glove.  I can get to every control, every button, every dial, etc on either of the Nikon's without even having to look at them - I just know where they are and what each one does.  This one ... no so much just yet.  ( I keep over reaching and missing actually....  ) I'm trying to be being patient and learning how to remap / reassign buttons and controls to get more comfortable with it.

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The little thing produces some seriously cool images though - even jpg's straight out of camera.  Like these. These are literally SOOC to use the photo geek acronym.  Straight Out Of Camera.  They were shot as jpg's (as opposed to raw) and then just pulled off of the memory card into lightroom (no post processing done on the import).  I looked 'em over and didn't even crop 'em - just exported 'em slapping my little watermark on them.

Bam.  It's a neat little camera - much to learn.  Can't wait for the warmer spring weather to arrive....

Days are getting longer . . .

. . . now if only the temperature would start to move thermometers in an upward direction.

5:30 pm - this is on the Maine side of Newark Valley-Maine Rd.  ( aka Rock Rd )
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Photo for Feb 26 '14

I went exploring back roads again on my way home tonight.  I was successful in that for a while I really and truly didn't quite know where I was, or frankly, how I managed to get there.  This was one such road / scene I encountered.  I quite honestly have no idea where it is - and for that matter - if I could find it again.  I'm thinking I probably could - and likely will.  I will head back out this way come spring time.  I saw some really cool looking old barns and stuff - must explorer further.

Anyway - todays picture.  :)

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Click here to view it the full size that I exported it at (3600px on the long edge)

Brrrrr!!

It was C O L D this morning.  Like - stupid cold.  It was kind of "pretty" though - every tree and bush for as far as one could see had a very solid layer of thick and bright "frost" on it.

These are just a couple of quick grabs from my drive into work this morning.

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Snow days

....  really?

So I'm headed into work this morning and from about Georgetown on up to Vernon the drive got to be really interesting at times.  ( whiteouts, snow blowing across the road off of open fields, and just the fact that it was snowing like all hell...  )

I'm hearing on the radio that this school district in on a 2 hour delay, some other one is closed, another one on a one hour delay, etc ....   I look at the clock on the dashboard and note the time.  Knowing where I am, and about how long it will likely take me to get to where I would like to be ....  I stop and slap on my little 35mm fixed focal length lens (still waiting on my 24-70 to come back in from repair).  This 35mm will give me an approximate view of roughly 50mm on my old D300 so that should be pretty good for what I have in mind.

I've gotten to "know" these Amish kids that I see nearly every morning when I take this particular route into work.  I wave to them, they always smile and wave back.  I figure they must be headed off to school.  There are usually 3 or 4 of them in the little buggy that they drive and they come through nearly like clockwork at this particular junction of my drive.  I have never taken any photo's of them - the Amish aren't really keen on that - but I had to make an exception for this morning.  Hopefully they won't hold it against me for having done so.

So while all of us "English" are whining about the bad conditions, snowy roads, epic cold and the schools all canceling and or running on delay ...   consider that these kids, in an open buggy no less, head off every morning to where ever it is that I see them going weather be damned.