Photo Diversion

One of the things that kept me busy while offline for 5 weeks was my camera. I bought a Canon SX20, and spent some time taking pictures. It's 12mp, so I can see that I'll be re-shooting a lot of my 6mp pictures. It also takes HD video. I tried that for the first time last night. The birds at the beginning of my St. Patrick's Day video were 1/4 mile away. (The camera has a 20x zoom.) I recorded them in 640x480. Of course, when I switched to HD they split, so I had to edit that clip into the rest of the HD clips.

My son and I took a trip to Letchworth State Park in February, and a got a couple of nice photos of the falls surrounded by ice. Winter pictures can be tricky, trying to get an acceptable exposure with a lot of snow. Of course, I spent some time at Niagara Falls. However, those happened to be some pretty gray days. The Falls can provide some fantastic pictures in the winter, with the correct lighting. Those photos will have to wait until next year. I also spent a few evenings shooting sunsets at the Buffalo lighthouse and some classic cars at an auto show.

I also added a couple of new subjects this year - night shots of the Buffalo skyline and the Peace Bridge. Buffalo doesn't offer a lot of opportunities for night photos, since there are less than a handful of illuminated buildings. I probably could compensate for that by walking through the theater and entertainment districts at night. Buffalo has a reputation for fine example of architecture, so there are opportunities during the day. Part of that reputation is based on the fact that the city has buildings by the three major early modern American architects, Louis Sullivan, H. H. Richardson and Frank Lloyd Wright.

The Peace Bridge spans the Niagara River, 1/2 mile below Lake Erie, joining Buffalo, New York and Fort Erie Ontario. It has a rather disconcerting appearance, when viewed as a whole, with arched supports over the course of the river and a truss structure over the parallel Black Rock Canal. It's height over the canal is 100 feet. In the late 1990's, the Bridge Authority announced a plan to build a twin span, to relieve congestion at the border crossing. Public uproar over the plan to mimic the lines of the original bridge, led to public hearings that resulted in the choice of a cable stayed signature bridge. Here it is, 2010, and the bridge may be started in another year. It's rumored that mag-lev cars and jet packs will be in common use before the bridge is completed.

Meanwhile, in the past year or so, a computerized lighting system was added to the existing bridge, offering some spectacular displays. Colored lights change nightly, and different colored themes accompany holidays and special occasions. It's a common sight to see different light patterns racing and dancing along the structure, with great photo and video opportunities. Sometimes, the timing can be tricky when a two second exposure is needed and the colors are flashing or fading every five seconds.

I'm including some of the bridge photos that I took last night, as well as one from two weeks ago that provided a great editing opportunity. I'm trying to develop an eye for that (graphic editing) as I take my photos. I wish it were as easy as seeing a scene in black and white, something I did moderately well when I was into photography in the late Seventies. (Maybe if I think of it in the same way as visualizing the sequence of video clips while I'm shooting them.)

I'm also including some photos of buildings at night, with digital editing done afterward.

Peace Bridge
March 17 a

March 17 b

March 17 c

March 17 d

March 6

Buffalo City Hall

Electric Tower

Buffalo City Hall on St. Patrick's Day (McKinley Monument in the foreground)

Liberty Building