Last week I did one of my favorite things, on the last day of my August vacation: I went on a long photo walk in the city of Buffalo. I spent a chunk of that walk in downtown Buffalo proper, and one shot I took that I particularly like is this one, of two men on a crane lift working on something on one of the buildings. I had to look up the building, actually: Convention Towers, on the south end of the Buffalo Convention Center. At the end of the street, dominating the background of the photo, is the edifice of Buffalo City Hall.
This is the jpg as it came right out of the camera; I have not yet done any editing on this photo. (Or any of the day’s photos…right now I’m behind on all my editing!) So, a better version of this will be forthcoming. For now, here it is! (And for the embiggenable version, go here.)
A much hoped-for phenomenon has come to pass: there is a little friend making a major change in his life, and he’s doing it in the milkweed outside our front door.
(OK, he hasn’t started his actual transition yet. But it’s coming!)
On a photographic note, there’s no way I could have captured this just a couple of years ago. Photography continues to excite and energize me.
According to the signs at the Botanical Gardens two Saturdays ago, those are the names of the persons who were getting married at a ceremony at the Gardens while we were there. Sure enough, as we arrived in one of the rooms bordering the courtyard, there was the wedding, just finishing up. How did I know they were just finishing up? Because we arrived in this room as “Ladies and gentlemen, I now present Mr. and Mrs. ____”, at which point the groom kissed the bride.
I, of course, armed with Miranda, saw a good opportunity for framing up a good shot.
A minute later I was at the other end of the room (the Orchids and Tropical Plants room), and our newlyweds did their recessional, which meant that they were walking toward me in the room, and when they reached the back of the courtyard, they paused for another kiss…which gave me another opportunity to frame them up:
Truth be told, I like the second one better than the first. They’re not partially obscured by their guests in their seats, and I was able to use the string lights inside to offer a bit of added symmetry.
I’ve noticed, as I practice photography, that I really like framing. I’m always on the lookout for good opportunities for framing, and the windows at the Botanical Gardens, with their old weathered glass and wood, offer up really nice opportunities for framing. I’m mildly amazed that Dave and Twiggy’s paid photographers weren’t inside getting good framed shots of their own. What were they thinking! Amateurs!
(I’m kidding there, by the way. I’m sure those photographers are professionals who know way more about wedding photography than I do.)
Anyway, congratulations to the happy couple, and thanks for providing a novice photographer a nice opportunity for practice!
Heavens, what a week it was! Bad? No, not at all. But very, very busy. Work gave me a quite proper arse-kicking this week, oh yes it did. I’ll recover in days to come, but for now, here’s a shot I quite like from our trip to Toronto in April. I love that city and this was our first trip there since my new dedication to photography in general and street photography in particular. This was taken on a Sunday evening at Sankofa Square, which is at the corner of Yonge and Dundas, just across from Eaton Centre. For this shot I slowed down my shutter speed to roughly 1/5 of a second, which is just about as slow a shutter as I can manage while shooting hand-held. The idea here is for some elements to be still and sharp, while elements that are in motion (people, cars) are slightly blurred.
I haven’t edited this photo yet, seeing as how I jut took it yesterday morning, and I’m a couple weeks behind on my photo edits. But I wanted to share this one now because I really love this vantage point. This was taken on Fuhrman Boulevard on Buffalo’s Outer Harbor, down by Wilkeson Pointe (which is supposed to be open this year and sure doesn’t look close to being open, but that’s another thing for another time). I love how the Skyway dominates, but as it falls away, the city rises beyond. Unfortunately this vantage point is slightly marred by the presence of a chain link fence (I’m just now realizing that I should have taken my lens hood off and got closer…but in all honesty, I actually rather like the effect the chain link gives. It lends a bit of perspective, a suggested framing, to the image.)
