SUNY Brockport Graduation

Hard earned | Click to view the photo larger

Author Christopher Stocking ( London Darkness: Infernal Inventions, A Collection of Short Stories, His Only Star,  London Darkness: War of the Devices, Black Powder Brigade ) and step-son of yours truly is now a college graduate from SUNY Brockport.  His grandmother Nancy, mother Roxanne, Father Jim Stocking, his Wife Casey, and a few other select guests were on hand participating in the festivities at the campus.

Chris and Casey are planning on taking a little vacation over the next few days in the north east (New Hampshire) area prior to moving on into the next phase of their lives.  Casey graduated from the same school last year and is currently employed in the Rochester area.  Christopher is hoping to land a job in the very near future.

With school now in the rear view mirror it is time to figure out what the next move will be for budding author Stocking | Click to view the photo larger

Discussing what artistic ideas he might have in the immediate future we thought that we might start by posting photo's of cats on the internet.  ( oh wait - that's already been done ...  ) | Click to view the photo larger

Yeah - it's a picture of a cat on the internet.  :)  Chris and Casey have a pair of these little guys at their apartment and this one was particularly inquisitive of me and my camera. | Click to view the photo larger

The Big Yellow Tree

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I've been noticing this tree for the last couple of weeks as I head north on route 46 out of Munnsville.  It has been yellow like this for sometime now and I've been tempted to shoot it but I just hadn't - until today.

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With all of the greens of the grass, fields, and even tree's finally starting to come into full bloom, and the brilliant blue sky and the light'ish wispy clouds as a backdrop this tree looked all the more commanding, and it's yellow color was particularly brilliant.  I was hoping to try and capture that, plus the vibrancy of the overall scene itself.  Initially I just pulled the car off to the side of the road and grabbed a frame or two but I *had* to actually get into and onto the field where this thing lives.  I look around and there is a house right across the road from it.  A singular house - no others around.  This has got to be the property owner... so I walk up the driveway and note that it appears that the back porch / door is the most oft used entrance to the place.  There is a person inside - it's a beautiful day out and people have the doors open letting in fresh air.  I knock as a nice woman answers and calls to her husband at the same time.  I inquirer re: are you the property owners of the field across the road.  They, almost in unison, note the camera in hand and laugh saying "Yes - go ahead - you can go over there and take some pictures.... "  They seemed to be a nice enough couple (older couple) - the gentleman even stepped outside with me and was telling me about some other cool stuff that might make for some good photo's and was pointing me in the general direction where some of these things are.  He looked off sort of longingly at one point and muttered ".... well used to be down that-away anyways ...  been a few years since I've been down there myself ...  "

I thanked them for their time and for letting me go onto the property to make some photo's.  I'll show them these on my tablet and get a print or two made up for them if they'd like.

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Rise & Shine

Sunrise at Upper Lisle / north end of the Whitney Point Reservoir.

Fuji X-T1, 14mm lens, 3 bracket HDR via photomatix pro / lightroom and photoshop

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( A few more a few hours later after watching F1 race, eating, etc .... :) )

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WNYOA 2014 Race Season Opener

04 May 2014
Mazourek Farms, Newfield NY

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In what is easily the most anticipated hare scrambles event of the year for Central Upstate NY off road racers, round 1 of the 2014 season got underway at Mazourek Farms which is located almost dead center between Ithaca and Horseheads off of route 13.  A typically huge turnout of racers of all ages and sizes showed up starting on Saturday afternoon when the gates opened up for camping.  A persistently wet and cool spring has refused to yield to more moderate temperatures and has resulted in muddy conditions for the last couple of MX races held in the area as well as season ending winter series races.  This weekend would prove to be no different - and would prove disastrous to at least one of the premier events of the day.

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The early races for the kids got off without issue and more or less on schedule (running slightly behind - but again - first race of the year ....  ) and the little ones toughed it out and had some good racing.  The usual army of parents were out in force to help provide extra horsepower and traction where it was needed in the wet and muddy conditions.  The way that the pee wee's and mini's were running at this venue actually allowed for me to wander between both courses ( the pee wee's always run on a smaller, shorter course - some of the little ones are as young as 4 years old!  For real...  :)  ) so I tried to shoot a little of both.  Obviously I couldn't catch the start's of both ... 

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The race that everyone chomps at the bit for, this year in particular, is the AA/Pro class Big Bikes race.  The field is stacked with local talent for this upcoming race season and a high number of fan favorites and contenders were in fact present.

A huge (as in massive - 300+ bikes) bottleneck in one section of the course at about 4 or 5 miles in from what was reported, ultimately resulted in this event being red flagged and called.  There was a LOT of controversy over this and much hand wringing and finger pointing . . .  very unfortunate and not the way everyone wanted to see the season get started.  Mother nature dealt everyone a tough blow in the days leading up to the event and even the night before with a torrential down pour . . . 

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The event promoter and organization quickly huddled and apparently did some quick course changes as the other premier event of the day gathered in the start field - the Big Quads.  A HUGE crowd of fans and spectators were lining the start area and down through the first two or three turns - 3 and 4 deep in places.  Some people had even climbed up into trees looking for a good vantage point - but was this race going to happen or was it going to be called?  Ultimately it did happen and fortunately was able to run it's allotted time.  There was a very serious crash injury to a racer who had to be airlifted to an upstate hospital in Rochester - the latest news is that he is conscious and talking, and his doctors expect a full (albeit lengthy) recovery.

Round #1 is in the books and Round #2 (Victory Mountain) is happening on May 18 in Richford.  Hopefully mother nature will start to cut us some slack with the rain and let conditions dry up some....

Photography enthusiasts:  Some of these were taken with my trusty Nikon D700 and some with the new kid on the block, the wonderfully surprising little Fuji X-T1.  Can you tell which is which?  The Fuji is in no way, shape, or form a contender to the Nikon for full on sports shooting - the Nikon will run circles around it BUT - as I learn it, and as I figure out how to work around what it does and does not do well, I continue to be amazed at just what a wonderful little thing it is...   my older D300 is seriously being considered for retirement.