Bridal Veil Falls

Posted on February 24, 2011 by Scott Thomas Photography
Bridal Veil Falls is the smallest of the three waterfalls that make up Niagara Falls in New York State.Bridal Veil Falls, originally uploaded to flickr by Scott Thomas Photography.

Bridal Veil Falls is the smallest of the three waterfalls that make up Niagara Falls. It is located on the American side (in New York State). Luna Island (on the left) separates it from the American Falls and Goat Island (on the right) separates it from the Horseshoe Falls (in Ontario, Canada). The bridge above the falls gives you a sense of the size of these “small” falls.

Bridal Veil Falls is similar in appearance to the American Falls, starting with a vertical fall of 78 feet (24 m), followed by the water violently descending the talus boulders to the Maid of the Mist Pool 103 feet (31 m) below. (from Wikipedia).

I took this photo on a sub-zero morning in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada back in December of 2007 just before I started this blog.  I had to be careful getting down Clifton Hill as everything was ice covered from the water mist of Horseshoe Falls.  Had to break the ice to find secure footings for the tripod I was using in Queen Victoria Park across from the American Falls.  The exposure was for only 2 seconds but it still created a veil of water flowing over the drop. Very fitting for the name of these falls. I used my trusty Nikon D70 camera and Nikon 18-200VR DX lens to photograph this powerful and beautiful scene.

I found out this week I can create WordPress.com posts from my SmugMug.com account.  This opens up my entire online catalog of photos for Thursdays.  Stay tuned!

Posted in Nature, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Follow Me Up and Down

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Scott Thomas Photography

Canad Geese flying over Webster Pond near Syracuse, New York.

Amy of the Flandrumhill blog wrote a Valentine’s Day post about the Nature of Love. In the post she referenced song lyrics by John Denver. For some reason, I immediately thought of one of my favorite songs by John Denver called Follow Me and added the lyrics to the song in a comment to Amy’s post.

The song stuck with me and I knew I was going to have to blog about it. Then I remembered this photo I took from Webster’s Pond last Fall and it all came together using Picnik.com.

Posted in Nature | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

View 165: Winter Sleigh Ride

Posted on February 21, 2011 by Scott Thomas Photography

A day after a taste of Spring with temperatures over 50 degrees Farnheit, I attended the Valentine’s in the Forest event at Highland Forest near Fabius, New York in near blizzard conditions last Saturday night. Perfect time for a horse drawn sleigh ride, right?

Three draft horses pull a sleigh at the Valentine's in the Forest event held at the Skyline Lodge in Highland Forest, Fabius, New York.

Three draft horses pull a sleigh at the Valentine's in the Forest event held at the Skyline Lodge in Highland Forest, Fabius, New York. Nikon D700/Tokina 11-16mm, 1/3s, f/2.8, ISO 6400, EV +0.3, 16mm focal length.

I thank my long underwear for making a very cold trip around Highland Forest very comfortable.  The three draft horses gave us a very smooth ride through a dark forest lighted by two small lights on the sleigh.  The wind and chiming of the horse’s harness the only sound.

The sleigh ride was the highlight of a wonderful evening featuring a Prime Rib dinner after appetizers, butternut squash soup and with chocolate eclair cake for dessert.

Food featured at the Valentine's in the Forest event in the Skyline Lodge's Kenyon Hollow Room at Highland Forest, Fabius, New York. From upper left: Appetizers, butternut squash soup, chocolate eclair cake and prime rib.

Food featured at the Valentine’s in the Forest event,  from upper left, appetizers, butternut squash soup, chocolate eclair cake and prime rib.

Returning from the winter cold and enjoyment of the sleigh ride, people relax in the Skyline Lodge’s Kenyon Hollow Room, the site of the Valentine’s in the Forest.  A single guitar player entertained as people talked, danced and drank hot beverages the rest of the evening.  Only thing missing was a nice fire in the room’s fireplace which was out of commission due to the weather.

People enjoying entertainment and each other's company at the Valentine's in the Forest event in the Skyline Lodge's Kenyon Hollow Room at Highland Forest, Fabius, New York.

People enjoying entertainment and each other's company at the Valentine's in the Forest event in the Skyline Lodge's Kenyon Hollow Room at Highland Forest, Fabius, New York. Nikon D700/Tokina 11-16mm, 1/25s, f/2.8, ISO 6400, EV +1.0, 16mm focal length.

Crazy weather continues today.  Bright and sunny with a Winter Storm Warning for tomorrow morning.  I may need a horse drawn sleigh to get to work!

Posted in Weekly View | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

My Trouble with Twitter

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Scott Thomas Photography

A mural outside the entrance to Spaceship Earth depicting Mankind's advancements in communications.Twitter is wonderful. The amount of information which flows through Twitter every hour is astounding. I monitor Twitter most of the day and see all these great comments, photos and links.  I just do not have time to read them all.

I learned very quickly about how to Favorite a tweet.  This lets me go back to the tweets when I have time.  Sounds like a plan, doesn’t it?  As I look at my Favorites link right now I have 828 Favorites. A daunting number and hence my trouble with Twitter.

Many of my Favorite tweets are photography related so, for this week’s Photography blog, I am going to share a few.  Do not worry, it will only be five of them.

Those who follow my @sthomasphotos Twitter account know I re-tweet out a lot from Scott Bourne, who publishes the Photofocus blog I have linked under Photography blogs in the sidebar.  Scott just gets it when it comes to photography and when he tweeted out this: Photograph what matters to you – http://bit.ly/fUV6ko. I knew it was an instant Favorite.  Follow the link and I think you will agree.

Craft & Vision is the eBook publishing website for David duChemin.  Besides tweeting out the latest photography ebook or sale, Craft & Vision tweets out information and links about the state of photography today.  Most of those tweets make me stop and take notice, like this one: Are You an Artist or Just Another Photographer? http://bit.ly/bEKfms

Not all the tweets I mark as a Favorite are on photography.  Some have very important lessons to teach from other’s misfortunes. Many of you know IvoryHut (Erika) suffered a huge loss when her family’s home was destroyed by a fire last year.  A few weeks later, she tweeted out this article: Fire is a powerful teacher. http://ow.ly/2VegJ. I suggest you read this and take stock of your life.

I follow several accounts which are Twitter aggregators.  They grab tweets from hundreds of accounts.  Here’s an example: 32 Great Examples of Long Exposure http://ht.ly/2hda2. One of the ways to become better at photography is to look at good photographs and such tweets show some of best photos about a type of photography.

I am a sucker for a good “How to” article and dslrTips tweets out a slew of them like this: How to Shoot Silhouettes: http://bit.ly/bt4KKK.

If you have a Twitter account, I urge you to follow the accounts I have linked to today.  My version of a Follow Friday (#FF). There, now I am down to 823 Favorites!

Posted in Photography | Tagged , , , , , | 19 Comments

Hendricks Chapel

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Scott Thomas Photography
Hendricks Chapel, originally uploaded to flickr by Scott Thomas Photography.

Hendricks Chapel on the Syracuse University campus in Syracuse, New York.  This photo was taken in 2009 as I was walking to the Carrier Dome for a Syracuse University basketball game on a cold and windy winter’s day.  I had recently gotten the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 DX Wide Angle Zoom Lens and Hendricks Chapel made for a nice subject.

This photo is available for download for use in electronic and print media or as an art print via IthacaStock.com. Thank you for your interest. To browse my catalog of upstate New York photos, click here to visit my IthacaStock.com contributor page.

Posted in Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments