More Fair People

People enjoying the New York State Fair in Syracuse, New York.

People enjoying the New York State Fair in Syracuse, New York.

Here are some people enjoying the 2011 New York State Fair.  From left: The girl with the drum was getting a free lesson at the Pan African Village, the brightly colored fellow is the Gatekeeper of an entertainment troop called Dragon Knights who was very curious about my camera and the young woman holding the baby chick in the 4-H building is my daughter.  I have photos of one or both of my daughters holding baby chicks going back years.  A real tradition for us.

All photos were taken with a Nikon D700 camera, Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S FX VR lens and Nikon SB-600 Speedlight.

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Pixelmania Tombstone

In 50 days (not that anyone is counting), I will be flying down to Walt Disney World to meet up with old and new friends from the Magic In Pixels for Pixelmania 2011!  In anticipation of this year’s event, Tim Devine, the head photographer of TMIP, created the Pixelmania Haunted Tombstone personalized gift.  In which, you give him your Haunted Mansion-like funny epitaph and $40US and you get your own custom tombstone like mine.

Pixelmania Haunted Tombstone personalized gift.

Scott's Pixelmania Haunted Tombstone personalized gift. Nikon D700/50mm, 30s, f/11, ISO 200, EV 0, Tripod & LED Light.

Even if you can not make it to Orlando, you can still purchase your own tombstone or other Pixelmania merchandise like t-shirts, sweatshirts and/or the official Pixelmania 2011 mounted print by Aaron Johnson from What The Duck.com.

What funny and witty epitaph would you use for your tombstone?

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View 192: New York State Fair Remembers 9/11

The 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the Twin Towers, is the subject of this year's sand sculpture in the Center of Progress building at The Great New York State Fair in Syracuse, New York.

The 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the Twin Towers, is the subject of this year's sand sculpture in the Center of Progress building at The Great New York State Fair in Syracuse, New York. Nikon D700/28-300VR, 1/60s, f/5.6, ISO 3200, EV +0.3, 70mm focal length.

Soon, the United States will be remembering the events of 10 years ago. On that unforgettable day, terrorists hijacked commercial airplanes and turned them into cruise missiles. Flying them into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D. C..  A fourth airliner crashed in rural Pennsylvania as passengers rebelled knowing what had happened to the Twin Towers.

This year, the New York State Fair pays tribute to the victims and heros of 9/11 from the sand sculpture in the Center of Progress building, a memorial in front of the Horticulture building with part of a steel beam from one of the World Trade Center towers and hosting the touring exhibit, New York Remembers, containing artifacts, informational graphics and photographs which tell the story of September 11, 2001.

A family remembering and learning about the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 in the New York Remembers exhibit at The Great New York State Fair in Syracuse, New York.

A family remembering and learning about the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 in the New York Remembers exhibit at The Great New York State Fair in Syracuse, New York. Nikon D700/28-300VR, 1/60s, f/3.5, ISO 2000, EV +0.3, 28mm focal length.

A broken steel beam from one of the towers of the World Trade Center is the centerpiece of the 9/11 Memorial on the New York State Fairgrounds.  Along with the informational plaques, there are keepsakes and photographs donated from victim’s families to help bring the memories of 9/11 and their lives to those who view the memorial.

People standing before the 9/11 Memorial in front of the Horticulture building at The Great New York State Fair in Syracuse, New York.

People standing before the 9/11 Memorial in front of the Horticulture building at The Great New York State Fair in Syracuse, New York. Nikon D700/28-300VR, 1/160s, f/6.3, ISO 200, EV +0.3, 48mm focal length.

Last month, my hometown of Baldwinsville, New York, got a reminder of how the world changed on 9/11.  We gave a hero’s welcome to Marine Corporal Kyle Schneider when his body was returned from Afghanistan after losing his life in combat.

The brick of Baldwinsville resident, Kyle R. Schneider, at the Veterans Memorial in front of the Horticulture building at The Great New York State Fair in Syracuse, New York.

The brick of Baldwinsville resident, Kyle R. Schneider, at the Veterans Memorial in front of the Horticulture building at The Great New York State Fair in Syracuse, New York. Nikon D700/28-300VR, 1/125s, f/5.6, ISO 200, EV +0.3, 32mm focal length.

It has been almost ten years since 9/11 and our families,  friends, neighbors, our children, our grand-children and generations to come have inherited a brave new world.

I have put together a gallery of photos called CNY Remembers 9/11 of more images of the sand sculpture, exhibits and memorials found in and around central New York.

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Creating a Collage in Aperture 3

In the past I have used Picnik.com to create collages.  It is a process were I must first export photos from Aperture 3 to a JPEG file and then upload them into Picnik.com. Picnik.com has preset collage templates which you have some control over.  I wanted to do something different yesterday for the New York State Fair collage I posted.

In looking for a better way to create that collage, I found a youTube video by Photographer Pete Thorne (see below) explaining how to use Aperture 3 and its book function to create multiple photo images.  It took me less than five minutes after viewing the video to create the collage from yesterday. All done inside of Aperture 3. I had a lot of control over the size and placement of each photo.  Something not available in Picnik.com.  I could add text in hundreds of stylized fonts and place it over, above or next to photos or use an export plug-in to create bordering effects.  I will be continuing to explore this tool.

This is not an ad for Aperture 3 but you might want to look at the features of the photo editing software you use.  You might be surprised at what it can do.  I know I was.

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Back to the New York State Fair

It's New York State Fair Time Again!

It’s that time of the year again in Syracuse when hundreds of thousands of people will converge on the New York State Fairgrounds for the 2011 edition of The Great New York State Fair over the next 12 days.  Here is my annual recap of past blog posts featuring the Fair.

Why You Should Know About Concert Photography

Barrel Racing at the Fair

View 140: Record Fair Day

View 35: Warp Speed

View 36: Fair People

Sara Evans in Concert

Views from the Fair

View 89: Pizze Frittes!

Thundering Hooves

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