Featured Item: Pandigital 7″ Digital Photo Frame

Posted on January 19, 2010 by Scott Thomas Photography

Click Here for more information on the Pandigital 7" Digital Photo FramePandigital 7″ Digital Photo Frame
With interchangeable charcoal and white faceplates, the Pandigital PanImage 7″ Digital Photo Frame brings high-style to your home or office decor. The bright and sharp 7″ LCD screen showcases all of your digital photos and video with amazing color and clarity. Optional Wi-Fi and Bluetooth adapters allow you to transfer photos, video, and music wirelessly. With 1GB of internal memory, this Pandigital frame can store thousands of compressed image files.

Price: $ 64.95 + Free Shipping (USA Only)

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View 108: Hockey!

Posted on January 18, 2010 by Scott Thomas Photography
Baldwinsville Bee's goalie Mark Miller (1) and defenceman Jeff Abbott (29) stop West Genesee Wildcat Zach Lewis (33) scoring attempt in 2nd period action during a CNY Division I ice hockey game on Friday, January 15, 2010. West Genesee went on to post a shutout, 4-0.

Baldwinsville Bee's goalie Mark Miller (1) and defenceman Jeff Abbott (29) stop West Genesee Wildcat Zach Lewis (33) scoring attempt in 2nd period action during a CNY Division I ice hockey game on Friday, January 15, 2010. West Genesee went on to post a shutout, 4-0.

It felt good to be back in the local ice rink photographing a high school hockey game last Friday night.  The game featured the New York state number one ranked West Genesee Wildcats being hosted by the Baldwinsville Bees.  With the Bees trailing the Wildcats by one game in the Central New York High School Hockey League (CNYHSHL) Division I standings, both teams knew it was a big game.  The bleachers were packed with family, students and fans from both teams creating an electric atmosphere.  The Baldwinsville High School Band was in attendance and entertained the crowd before and during the game adding to the sounds of skating, sticks slapping pucks and bodies being hit into the ice rink boards.

I wish I could say it was a good game.  West Genesee kept the puck in the Baldwinsville end for most of the game and ended up winning 4 to 0.  The Bees will need to improve quite a bit if they expect to meet the Wildcats again in the playoffs come March.

Click Here for More Photos from the West Genesee/Baldwinsville Ice Hockey Game

With around six minutes to go in the game there was a lot of action in front of the Baldwinsville net and West Genesee scored.  In the melee, the starting goaltender for Baldwinsville, Mark Miller, was injured.  The backup goalie, Chris Johns, came out to finish the game. It is not often you see a goalie mask at this level as nice as Chris’ with it’s angry bee and Baldwinsville color scheme.

Baldwinsville netminder Chris Johns' goalie safety equipment features a mask with an angry bee, the Baldwinsville High School mascot.

Baldwinsville netminder Chris Johns' goalie safety equipment features a mask with an angry bee, the Baldwinsville High School mascot.

I’ll be covering more Baldwinsville hockey games over the next few weeks so look for lots of exciting hockey photos being featured here.

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Goals for 2010

Posted on January 15, 2010 by Scott Thomas Photography

Here I am entering into my third year of photoblogging.  Amazing how much this blog has grown in all that time.  Last year I outlined what I would be doing for 2009.  For the most part, I did what I said.  Though personal matters did have an affect on the number of photo assignments.  I would have done this on January 1st this year too except for that little side trip to North Dakota kind of delayed things a bit around here. 🙂

These are my photographic goals for Two Thousand and Ten (or do you call it Twenty-Ten?).  I took inspiration for doing this from a recent post I read at the Digital Photography School website called 30 Photographic Goals for 2010.  Now, I do know myself and having 30 goals would be too overwhelming.  However, I did write down the following:

1. Purchase a Nikon Full Frame Digital SLR Camera in 2010.  This is the right way to state a goal.  It is clear and has a deadline.  As they say, goals are dreams with a deadline.  This was something I wanted to do last year but things like car transmissions, brakes, refrigerator and the like kept needing monetary investments.  I kept the Nikon camera model out of this because of the rumors about Nikon coming out with a new full frame body sometime in the next six months.  Just want to keep my options open. 😉

Help me reach my goal! Click Here to Shop at B&H Photo! Thank You!

2. Six (6) Photo Assignments.  Having done four of these last year, I now know how much time I need to devote to an assignment.  This year I will post a new photo assignment every two months starting next week.  Look for the others to be in March, May, July, September and November.  I have been very pleased with the participation and the quality of the photos and postings you all have done in the past and look forward to seeing more this year.

Creative Nature and Outdoor Photography is the photography book I will be reading for the month of January. Click the image for more Information.

Creative Nature and Outdoor Photography is the photography book I will be reading for the month of January. Click the image for more Information.

3. Read a photography book a month. Most photography books are a cross between a college text book, a table top photograph book and a good technical mystery novel.  I find them fun, informative and inspirational.  Each month I will share with you the book I am reading and will post a review after I am done.  Maybe you’ll even read along or, if you’ve read it, give your opinion so others can determine if they would like to read it.

For January, I will be reading Creative Nature & Outdoor Photography by Brenda Tharp.  This book came highly recommended by other photo blogs I read.  Ms. Tharp’s work was highlighted in an article in the latest Outdoor Photographer magazine (January, 2010).

4. Take monthly photo walks/adventures. I had gotten away from photo walking by the end of last year.  Miss getting out and about.  Adventures will be close to home this year with a couple of travel vacations which need to be planned.

5. Follow a regular photo blog-posting schedule.  I need a schedule. Without one, I would soon fall way behind.  Every Monday is the weekly photo or view.  I got away from the schedule I gave myself last year when it came to other days.  This year, I want to add a post for Wednesday which will be the day I announce photo assignments and recaps.  Wednesdays will also be used for expanding on the Monday View, an archived photo or additional photo subjects.  Friday will now be a post on the subject of Photography.  I do this for the Disney photo blog I contribute to, Picture This!, and you will see some cross posting of subjects between here and there. Tips, reviews, general opinions, spotlights of blogs I like and maybe a guest blogger or two.  Anyone interested in writing up something?  Maybe you don’t have a blog or just a flickr account and want to expand on something but never had a place to do so.  Here’s your chance.  Just ask.  I would be happy to reciprocate on your blog or website.  It is a great way to increase traffic to our blogs, too.  I do reserve the right to post on any other day, too. 😀

6. Build a  website. I do have my SmugMug site but want to explore how to customize it for better presentation of the public photos that are for sale.

7. Promote my work in an online Gallery.  SmugMug might work for this but I know there are others out there.  Cafepress is fine for calendars and such but I am looking for quality prints with options for frames. Do you have any suggestions?

8. Take a workshop. I really enjoyed the one day workshop I did last fall.  That was just an indoor lecture.  I hope to find something local to me where I get out in the field with an instructor(s) and a small group of fellow photographers to expand on the workshop experience.

Should be interesting to see what happens during 2010 and I will return to this post early next year to see how I did.

Here is something from my post from January 1st, 2009 that won’t change:

I will continue to add relevant links to my postings to encourage further research for those so inclined. It is something I like to do when visiting blogs and websites.

I will continue to visit other blogs and flickr photostreams and leave comments I hope are encouraging and helpful to the blog authors and photographers.

I do not mind people using my photos on their blogs or websites. All I ask is for you to give credit and a link back to this blog. If you want to use any of my photos for commercial purposes, please, contact me.

Here’s to 2010!  May it be better than last year.  Let us all hope so.

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A Day with the American Bison

Posted on January 13, 2010 by Scott Thomas Photography

I got really excited when I came upon my first American Bison or Buffalo in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. It was around the next bend from the elk herd I talked about earlier this week.  He was down in a ravine all by himself. If there where others with him, they kept out of view.  Leaving the warmth of the car, I walked across the road to take some photographs and observe.

This is when I first saw how the bison find their food in deep snow.  He lifted his head to the right and, using his head as a plow, he moved it to the left while burying it into the snow.  This exposed a wide swath of grass which he proceeded to munch on for several minutes before moving a bit forward and repeating the snow removal process.  I watched him do this for awhile but the sub-zero temperatures won out and I returned to the car to continue my quest and warm my feet.  Though I had found a buffalo, I wanted to see more.

Now I knew what to look for in the snow.  When a bison herd stops to graze, they clear off large areas.  I could see many places where herds had been in the fields, hills and valleys I was passing. Yet, no animals.  I was getting a bit discouraged as I was coming to the end of the park road which had turned from pavement to gravel.

Part of the herd of Bison I photographed in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.

Part of the herd of Bison I photographed in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.

I was listening to the tires going over the mix of snow and stones when I came upon a herd of some twenty American Bison who has the duplicity scientific name of Bison bison.  I slowly came to a stop and opened the passenger side window as they were off the right hand side of the road (while we Americans drive on the left side of our vehicles).  Using my longest and heaviest lens, the Nikon 80-400 VR, I started photographing from the drivers seat.  As they were about 100 yards (91 meters) away from me I was using the full 400mm setting on my 1.5x cropped Nikon D70 which amounts to 600mm on a full frame camera body.  I began with earnest to photograph the herd and its individuals.  This proved very uncomfortable as I kept stretching over to the passenger side over the car’s center console.  I didn’t want to get out and make noise moving either.   The herd of bison were very busy feeding themselves and I did not want to disturb such an important process.  They had a long winter ahead of them and would need all the nourishment they could get.

After a time, I figured they were not going anywhere and drove up and over the next hill out of their sight.  I turned around and returned.  Parking on the far left of the road in the opposite direction, I settled in to comfortably photograph the herd from the drivers seat for the next two hours.

The largest of the males, this bull American Bison stayed at the bottom of the hill while I photographed his more adventuresome herdfolk.

The largest of the males, this bull American Bison stayed at the bottom of the hill while I photographed his more adventuresome herdfolk.

There were three large males keeping their distance from me.  No doubt that is how they survive us tourists invading their home.  The largest (pictured above) would have been a prized trophy back in Theodore Roosevelt’s time of the late 1800’s. Today, he is safe inside the park’s boundaries named after the former President of the United States who was also an avid hunter.  Unlike the large males, the other males, females and young calves kept getting closer and closer to my location.  I changed from getting “look what I saw” type of photos to being able to compose photographs and portraits of the bison.  At one time there were a half dozen individuals within ten feet of me.  Zoom lenses are not as sharp as prime lenses, however, using one on this day proved very fortunate as I was able to zoom from 80 to 400mm and get lots of different photographs of the brown and shaggy beasts.

A closeup of one of the Bison as they walked within ten feet of me. You can see the bovine eye and horns of this individual as well as her warm coat of hair.

A closeup of one of the Bison as they walked within ten feet of me. You can see the bovine eye and horns of this individual as well as her warm coat of hair.

Though they looked peaceful, the bison kept an eye on me.  Being a national park, I am sure they are used to cars stopping and people gawking at them.  Some with equipment like mine.  I was nothing new to them.  I know they could hear my camera clicking as I could hear them breathing the cold air and eating the browse they continued to uncover.  Their snow masked faces making it hard to see their eyes until they got near me.

A cold portrait of an American Bison. The snow mask and condensed breath of this bison gives you some indication as to the cold weather which didn't seem to bother them at all.

A cold portrait of an American Bison. The snow mask and condensed breath of this bison gives you some indication as to the cold weather which didn't seem to bother them at all.

It was getting close to the time I needed to return to pick up my daughter from work, four of the bison (3 adults and a young calf) came up on the road in front of me and completely blocked it.  I wondered if they wanted to keep me here and how was I going to get past them.  The car I was in was no match for them if they decided to hold their ground.  A passing Park Ranger truck showed me how by slowing down and never stopping, the bison gave way without a fuss.  After a few more minutes, it was time for me to leave.  I bid them goodbye and safe journey through a long winter knowing I had a long one of my own the next day.

Photographing wildlife in their home from the smallest birds and insects to these large American Bison on a winter’s day brings to me excitement, wonder and hope.  We share our precious planet Earth with billions of creatures who can not withstand humankind.  However, a planet without them would be barren and sad to live in.

Posted in Animals, Nature, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 20 Comments

View 107: The Badlands

Posted on January 11, 2010 by Scott Thomas Photography
The view of the Badlands from the Skyline Vista overlook in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

The view of the Badlands from the Skyline Vista overlook in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

I had seen photos of the Badlands before I left for my trip to North Dakota.  Most were not taken in winter.  I didn’t know if I would see the colors in the rocks in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and, for the most part, I did not.  The winter storm of the previous two days before my visit had caked snow on most surfaces.  The Sun was out but with ambient temperatures in the -25 to -10 Fahrenheit range was not allowing for much melting even on a cloudless day.

The Badlands were formed over 60 million years.  They are continuing to be changed by rain, thunderstorms and prairie fires.  Lightning can ignite coal beds which can burn for years.  These coal bed fires bake the overlying sediments into a hard, natural brick that geologists call porcelanite but is locally called scoria. The red color of the rock comes from the oxidation of iron released from the coal as it burns. The burning lends both color to the badlands and helps to shape them. These hardened rocks are more resistant to erosion than the unbaked rocks nearby. Over time, erosion has worn down the less resistant rocks, leaving behind a jumble of knobs, ridges, and buttes topped with durable red scoria caps.

Most of the Badlands rock formations where snow covered but I found an example of a scoria cap on this butte in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Most of the Badlands rock formations where snow covered but I found an example of a scoria cap on this butte in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Before I saw any wildlife, I saw tracks literally honeycombed in the snow on either side of the road as I drove deep into the South Unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  Then I saw this lone Elk on the top of a ridge.

A lone Elk on a ridge in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

A lone Elk on a ridge in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Later I found a whole herd of Elk but, like this individual, they were too far away to get much more than small dots on a hill.  Of course, after that I found a large herd of American Bison (buffalos).  I’ll have more buffalo photos later this week.

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