In my home, Christmas does not start until the day after Thanksgiving (just ask my daughters).  Well, last week the annual Lights on the Lake holiday display at Onondaga Lake Park in Liverpool, New York, had their walk through nights before starting the auto drives every night until just after New Years. The walk thrus allow tripods for photographers who can use long exposures to photograph the lights.  I altered my “rule” for this year. 🙂

I decided to have a little fun this time and zoomed my lens during those exposures.  Here are the results.

Gingerbread family at Lights on the Lake holiday display in Onondaga Lake Park near Liverpool, New York.
Nikon D700/28-300VR, 4s, f/16, ISO 200, EV 0, variable focal length, tripod.

Jump right out at you, don’t they?  Anyone for a gingerbread cookie?

Christmas stocking display at Lights on the Lake at Onondaga Lake Park in Liverpool, New York
Nikon D700/28-300VR, 10s, f/11, ISO 200, EV 0, variable focal length, tripod.

As a kid, I dreamed of a Christmas stockings being this big.

Getting off the Christmas theme and with the home town of L. Frank Baum, the author of the Wizard of Oz, a few miles away in Chittenango, New York, we find the rainbow tunnel to the Land of Oz.

The Rainbow Tunnel to the Land of Oz at the Lights on the Lake holiday display in Onondaga Lake Park in Liverpool, New York.
Nikon D700/28-300VR, 10s, f/16, ISO 200, EV 0, variable focal length, tripod.

Do you remember the story behind the yellow submarine with the heart in its center?

Yellow submarine at the Lights on the Lake in Onondaga Lake Park near Liverpool, New York.
Nikon D700/28-300VR, 8s, f/8, ISO 200, EV 0, variable focal length, tripod.

In case you don’t remember: Back in the 1950′s, 60′s and early 70′s, cars were allowed to park along the Onondaga Lake Parkway.  Parents would tell their kids when asked about all the parked cars there on Friday and Saturday nights that people were watching the submarine races.    Cars can no longer park along the lake but this display is in homage to some colorful local history.

If you have a zoom lens and a tripod, this is a fun technique to try.