Author: Kathleen

Several months ago I decided to find out exactly what I could do with a point and shoot camera, in this case my Canon G16, as my primary camera.

I usually carry a SLR, currently the Canon 7D Mark II, with either the Canon 24mm-105mm or Canon 24mm – 70mm in my bag for everyday, and the Canon 100mm – 400mm for nature and wildlife. For the summer, I left it home and carried the G16. The experiment ended the beginning of September after three months.

The results: The Canon G16 worked beautifully for street photography, and a lot of travel photography. For me it did not work as well for nature photography, but my nature photography is usually of things that move (birds, etc.) not necessarily things that stand still (landscapes). Most of my blog photographs for the past few months were taken with the G16 and I was pleased with the quality.

I am used to working in RAW, so I set it for RAW. I suspect the same results could be had with large JPEG but I wanted to use the format with which I am familiar. I did miss shots I might have had with the SLR, but manged better shots in crowds or on the street, as everyone has a phone camera or point and shoot and they do not attract the notice that the SLR does. As I became more familiar with the camera, I learned to adjust the settings, shooting modes, etc. more accurately. I also learned to move and adjust me, getting closer or another angle to work with the camera and lens. Knowing your camera with its strengths and limitations is one of the most important photographic skills you can have. I loved it for travel. It worked well and since most of my travel this year involved cities and events rather than nature destinations this camera’s strengths worked for me.

In conclusion, my SLR goes with me for most of my work, but the G16 will be my workhorse for future travel photography.

 

Keeping with family tradition, we attended the 180^th Erie County Fair in Hamburg, NY with three generations of our family. We actually went twice, once with my sister and brother-in-law, their children, and their grandchildren, and once with my sister and brother-in-law only. The purpose of the second visit: see the exhibits we missed with the grandchildren along, and eat the food we didn’t necessarily want them to see us eating!

Growing up one town away, we always attended the Fair as a family at least one day during the twelve days it runs. As we became older, we also attended other days with our friends, concentrating on the Midway rides and games, the Fair food, and the evening concerts.

The Fair keeps true to its agricultural origins. The old barns, old even when I attended as a child, have been rebuilt to reflect modern agriculture and farming advances. 4H remains active here, the prize winning animals on display with ribbons decorating their stalls. This year I learned that goats have rectangular pupils, giving them 320 – 340 degrees of vision. As herbivores, they need all the help they can get to graze and watch out for predators, and this large field of vision aids with that. This knowledge led to me going from stall to stall, attempting to get a good photograph of an eye. Naturally, most goats looked away. Finally, one cooperated.

The displays in the Agriculture Building improve each year. My parents maintained a large vegetable garden in our ½ acre suburban-bordering-on-country yard, so they purposefully walked this building eyeing produce and comparing to their garden yield. Unfortunately, though I try, I must confess I did not inherit the green thumb. The artfully displayed tomatoes, nestled in dry corn, caught my eye this year.A few games of “I Got It” followed. At 50₵ a game, the ball toss attempting to get five in a row appeals to adults and children, and the price remains reasonable. Playing seated on a stool in a large open tent also provides a bit of rest and relaxation for the younger kids, and let’s face it, the older ones too. My mother used that game to get a rest while attending the Fair with her children and grandchildren. Now her grandchildren do the same with their children.

This Fair keeps up with the present while keeping a presence in the still relevant past. It is the longest continuous running county fair in the country for that reason.

On the second visit I helped my sister eat some Fried Dough, had my own helping of Buffalo Trio Pierogies, and topped it off with a Walk Away Sundae. Karl stayed with tradition and had Italian Sausage smothered in green peppers and onions. The Walk away Sundae is a square-topped cone containing a square of vanilla ice cream, dipped in chocolate and then in nuts. According to the vendor, they are one of the originals, and the Walk Away Sundae celebrates 90 years next year. That alone is worth a trip in 2020.

The absolute power of the water rushing along the Niagara River and over the various Falls inspires awe even after all these years. I forgot how incredible it feels to walk along the river path, seeing the water rush by through the breaks in the trees along the banks. Starting on Goat Island at Niagara Falls State Park, we walked the paths and bridges to visit the Three Sisters Islands, and then back to walk along the river path for a better look at Horseshoe Falls and to see Bridal Veil Falls and the American Falls.

The beautiful, sunny day with the occasional cloud and low (for us) temperatures in the high 70s with humidity about average contributed to the enjoyment of the walk. A big part of the overall experience is the excitement of getting close enough to get a full view of the Falls and feel the mist on face and arms, watching it dot sunglasses and camera lens. Nothing except being there can convey that feeling.

The closer we got to the main views of the Falls, the more crowds we encountered. Walking became an exercise in avoiding people and avoiding ruining their photographs in some parts. But, due to the large area, the crowds remained spread out and not at all overwhelming. Getting close enough for a really good look and photograph proved not at all difficult.

We grew up not too far from Niagara Falls. We took it for granted as children, learning about it as one of the natural wonders of the world but, in that accepting childhood way, figured everyone must have a natural wonder of the world close by. Karl and I visited the Falls while dating, doing all the usual tourist things including Maid of the Mist boat ride and Cave of the winds hikes. We left the area forty years ago, and just visited the Falls area again this summer.

The long absence, and our role now as photographers and travelers, led us to see this area with new eyes. It changed considerably from our childhood. Once everyone went to the Canadian side of the Falls, avoiding the American side. Now, Niagara Fall State Park provides the perfect view and venue to enjoy this natural wonder.

 

For several years we always hiked Reinstein Woods (https://reinsteinwoods.org/) when visiting family. For the past few years, weather (record heat one year, torrential rain another, a mix another year) during our visit put Reinstein Woods on the back burner. The perfect weather this visit prompted a quick visit, which turned into an entire morning of hiking, observing, and photographing.

Upon arrival, I noticed again the absolute beauty and peace of the place in spite of the suburbs and development which surround it. The 292 acre complex contains five interpretive trails of less than one mile each, and three other trails also under one mile, totaling 2.8 miles. They make picking your level of activity easy. The trails meander through forests and wetlands, and around ponds.

We started along the Lily Pond Loop, always my favorite. Purple/dark pink lily pads cover the pond. According to the history we heard, originally several different colors shared the pond, but eventually the purple took over. I heard and saw several Gray Catbirds, one of my favorite winter birds at home, enjoying their summer residence before heading back to us. The buck (photo last week) sat for a while watching us until slowly rising and casually wandering off. Several White-breasted Nuthatches played around the trees, a treat for me since the range of this bird does not extent to Florida. Painted Turtles basked on the logs, and frogs jumped into the water, often before we saw them. We did not see a beaver, but saw footprints and definite signs of building.

Before leaving we visited the Education Center. An education program was in progress, so we browsed the compact main room, full of information. The Friends of Reinstein Woods sell t-shirts and other items, all profits going to the center, so Karl and I both left with new t-shirts. I picked up a pamphlet on their volunteer program to peruse on the drive home. It is impressive! In addition to the usual positions of greeter, nature guide, special events, etc. they run several citizen science projects and train Research Stewards to work on them. During our hike, a man pointed out several monarch butterflies and told us where to find a caterpillar, so perhaps he worked on the Monarch Watch! We have little going on near us with citizen science anymore. If I lived in that area, I would be volunteering there frequently.

We just returned from a nearly two week trip to visit family so I don’t have a regular posting for this week. We hiked, visited a county fair, and visited Niagara Falls for the first time in a long time.

In my continuing experiment to determine what I can do with a non-SLR camera, I traveled with the Canon G16. The 7D with zoom lens was already packed when I realized I needed to do the ultimate test: a series of shoots with only the G16 without the 7D in my pack for back-up. So, I unpacked the 7D.

The shot above at a nature preserve was tricky. We ventured on a less popular trail, and our reward was this buck relaxing. He stayed for several minutes, quite a distance off the trail, so yes, the 7D was missed. I did get several shots however.

Next week posting will be back to normal.

We find the most interesting things when hiking. We hiked Big Shoals State Park in Hamilton Country, Florida for views of the Suwanee River, the limestone outcroppings, and the rapids. I posted photographs and wrote about those before, and on our last visit we discovered something different.

Karl found the sign for the Old Godwin Bridge and set up the shot above of the bridge pilings through the trees. The sign below tells the history of the bridge. The pilings lasted all this time, in spite of over a century of further floods and high water. Several places we camp and visit contain sites of former towns, bridges, and industry, now all gone. I wish more places kept local histories to make these places more alive. Then again, they lived their lives never thinking that one day their town or industry would be gone, just a sign in a park remaining to mark the place.

Karl and I judge photography contests fairly regularly, sometimes together and sometimes individually.  I recently joined a panel of two other local photographers to judge a photography contest for Explore Tarpon Springs, part of the launch of a new tourism initiative. Last week we attended the introduction of the new video, and the exhibition and prize awards for the winners of the contest.

If you have not been to Tarpon Springs, I highly recommend you make time the next time you are in the area. We are fortunate to live about a 20 minute drive away, so visit often for meals, to see special exhibits, for photography (of course), shopping, and to take one of the many boat rides available. Everyone who visits us wants to spend at least a day there, every time they visit.

The cup above shows part of their new logo. I will update this post when I get the URL for the website.

 

Contrary to popular belief, or at least the belief of those who do not live in central Florida, we do not hide inside all summer sitting in front of air conditioning.

I don’t recommend hiking, biking, or sitting out in the blazing afternoon sun with 90+ degree temperatures and comparable humidity unless of course you love that. You find us out and about mornings, evenings, and during the day under a canopy or roof. We sat out on a deck, very comfortable with shade and a light breeze, at a local restaurant having lunch recently. Plenty of boats went by, and we and our fellow diners enjoyed a nice, leisurely meal watching the boats, water, and of course wildlife.

This White Ibis posed atop this sign briefly, before realizing that it meant only on the boardwalk. He then jumped down, walked over and up the steps to the dining deck, and walked around the wait staff and diners hoping for a handout. Thank goodness none were forthcoming, people food does not agree with wildlife. We sat near a nature preserve where plenty of his native food could be found, but who could blame him for trying?

We hiked the end of May, and the hike leader showed us this beautiful air plant just off the trail. This is the Cardinal Air plant, one of the larger air plants once common in Florida. The Mexican bromeliad weevil, introduced accidentally to Florida in about 1989, spread to central Florida by 200?. The larva of this weevil feed on the interior of the larger air plants, including this species, killing them. This is the first Cardinal Air plant I have seen in years. Prior to the weevil we saw them all the time. Due to the weevil, the Cardinal air plant is now endangered.

The bright red flower bracts are the most common, but yellow and green are also found in Florida. It flowers all year, particularly from spring to early summer.

These can be challenging to photograph. Often they contain a lot of dead leaf or pine needles, and because of their habit lighting can be iffy. This one contained a couple of very small dead branches, and of course a small insect on one leaf (just visible in the upper right). I used my Canon 24 – 70 mm lens at 70mm and cropped the original photo to get the second photograph.

 

 

We visited the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum on the Mall first. The last time our co-travelers visited this museum it contained such a large crowd they left after a short time. We arrived early (all Smithsonian  museums open at 10 a.m.) and found others already waiting.

I took several photos in the museum, but due to the crowds the angles and views I pictured rarely happened. I took the usual tourist type shots, (I will not bore you by posting them) and after a few hours when the crowds became such that enjoyment left, we also left.

Photography aside, we loved the museum. I particularly liked the Pioneers of Flight exhibit, and spent a lot of time there before making my way around the rest of the museum.

Arriving early gave me time to contemplate the Ad Astra sculpture. I photographed it several times, finally deciding to concentrate on what I call the star bursts. Shortly afterwards the light changed, and as I gazed around so did my perspective.

The contrast of both color and form between my initial shot and the reflection in glass struck me so I photographed that also. Finding a unique angle or view of something so often photographed is one of the fun challenges of tourist travel.

In the American History Museum we admired the sculpture of George Washington, and I did take a standard shot. Moving on, I turned to find my companions and realized from that angle, George had a burst of light over his head.

I waited until several people moved to take the photograph. I want to visit Washington again. There is so much to see, and so much of it free admission. I could spend the day at the National Gallery of Art, and that is rarely crowded!