View 59: Bowling Party

During his party, my nephew raises his hands in celebration after picking up a spare.

During his bowling party, my nephew raises his hands in celebration after picking up a spare.

I attended my nephew’s birthday party over the weekend.  For the last few years, his party has been held at a local bowling alley where everyone bowls a couple of games before enjoying some buffalo wings, pizza, soda and cake.  This year, the bowling alley had on it’s blacklights for some cool effects.

I used a speedlight bounced off the ceiling for added light on my nephew yet still captured the ambient light of the blacklights and reflective posters. Remember when taking photos of children to get down to their level.

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PW Visitors

I’d like to thank Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman of Confessions, Cooking and Photography fame, for making me the winner in her latest comment contest! You can be sure I’ll put the prize to good use!

For all those who are linking in to check out one of the winners, Welcome! May I suggest looking over my Weekly Views by clicking here to get a feel for what this blog is all about. Let me know what you think!

Jumping for Joy for Scott Thomas for winning the Pioneer Woman Photography contest!

Jumping for Joy for Scott Thomas for winning the Pioneer Woman Comment contest!

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Assignment 1: Recap

I want to congratulate all who participated in the Collective Shoot assignment I hosted last month. It was fun to see how people took the idea I proposed and ran with it. Some used one photo, some more than one and others did photo essays. I thank all who did the assignment and posting their links. The entry was my most visited ever and I know people got lots of clicks to their blogs from my blog’s logs.

Here are the links again with some commentary. Well, it was an assignment after all and someone, yours truly, needs to say a few words. I will stay true to my word as no grades will be given out. 🙂 In the order the links were posted, let the recap begin!

Kristin Jones started things off with her entry about the Minnesota State Capitol building in St. Paul. The feisty architect of the building was quite the character.

Sorrentolens gave us a taste of Florida sunshine to some of us snowbound northerners with a great photo of the Strength Tower in Altamonte Springs, FL. Though it’s a nice photo, I have decided to include the link to the blog entry instead of the flickr photo page. Hope you don’t mind.

Next up is the husband and wife team from Kansas, Anna and Preston Surface. Preston introduced us to the historic Columbian Theater in Wamego, Kansas while Anna presented a beautiful building from American railroad’s golden era, Kansas Union Pacific Depot in Manhattan, Kansas.

Bringing back a television phenomena from the 1970’s, The Daily Click gave us a tour of Southfork Ranch made famous from the television show, Dallas. So, who did shoot J.R. Ewing?

Given the assignment a European flair, Carsten tells us about the Herlev Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark. A very impressive and interesting structure.

Fellow Danish blogger, Birgitte, presented the new concert house, Koncerthuset, which is also found in Copenhagen. What can I say, more interesting architecture from our Scandinavian friends.

Over in Holland, Chris Breebaart showed us the promise of spring with colorful rows and rows of tulip bulbs. Beats the hectares of snow around upstate New York!

KD presented a roadside hot dog joint and a monument to fallen soldiers in the same town. Is America great or what?

I have never been to Mobile, Alabama but after reading Music Maven’s Challenge of MO-Beel, I feel like I have. Besides anyone who calls me a photo guru is okay in my book!

Karen (Morningjoy) brought us a most unusual roadside fruit stand found near Everglades National Park called Robert Is Here.  The name alone calls for more exploration.

If I was to give extra credit, I would have to give it to the good citizens of Torch Lake, Michigan. Gerry Sell made a call to arms and was rewarded with some stunning photos.

I chimed in by coupling some personal history with a local clock tower landmark at Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, New York, a place I could never forget.

Doreen3boys told us about how a camp and a lake has affected her family and her town in the past and present. I’m very happy you have your lakes back!

Last and a little late, Shrew checked in with an innovative story of not just a physical landmark but a human one. For people who love their morning coffee, Shrew may have found their patron saint.

I don’t know about all of you but I learned a lot about places, people and things from all over the United States and the world. I want to thank everyone for making such great photos and wonderful articles to go with them. I enjoyed how each of you interpreted the assignment in your own way. I hope it helped to stretch your photographic muscles a bit.

I’ll be back with another assignment later this month.




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View 58: Teddy Bear Toss

Teddy Bears fly over spectators heads during the first intermission of the Baldwinsville Varsity Boys Ice Hockey game against Oswego on Thursday, January 29, 2009.  All Teddy Bears were collected to be given to Crouse Hospital.

Teddy Bears fly over spectator's heads during the first intermission of the Baldwinsville Varsity Boy's Ice Hockey game against Oswego on Thursday, January 29, 2009. All Teddy Bears were collected to be given to Crouse Hospital.

I’ve been putting my sports lens, the Nikon 70-200 VR Zoom Lens, to work the last couple of weeks by photographing my high school alma matar’s varsity boy’s ice hockey team. During a game last week, the team had a Teddy Bear Toss. This is the second year the Baldwinsvile Bees have asked people to bring or purchase at the game new, unused teddy bears to be thrown onto the ice during the first intermission. All the teddy bears are registered before the game and the closest one to center ice wins a prize for the thrower.

The announcer counts down and everyone with a Teddy Bear heaves them out onto the ice. The safety netting posed a large obstacle so it took a few minutes to get them all out there. When all was said and done, over 100 teddy bears of every size and color covered the ice. They were collected by some of the players to be given to Crouse Hospital’s Pediatric ward.

A Baldwinsville player helps to collect Teddy Bears thrown by spectators during the first intermission of the Baldwinsville Varsity Boys Ice Hockey game.  Teddy bears were donated to the Crouse Hospital.

A Baldwinsville player helps to collect Teddy Bears thrown by spectators during the first intermission of the Baldwinsville Varsity Boy's Ice Hockey game. Teddy bears were donated to the Crouse Hospital.

I’ll be following the team for the rest of the season as time permits. Click here to see more Baldwinsville Bees Ice Hockey game pictures. Go Bees!

Posted in Sports, Weekly View | Tagged , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Collective Shoot: Crouse Hospital’s Clock Tower

Crouse Hospitals clock tower as seen from the Syracuse University campus, Syracuse, New York.

Crouse Hospital's clock tower as seen from the Syracuse University campus, Syracuse, New York.

It’s not often we get a blue sky around Syracuse during the month of January so, when I was walking back from a recent Syracuse University Men’s basketball game, I just had to take some photos of the landmarks you can see from the SU hill which overlooks most of the city of Syracuse, New York.

When looking for a suitable landmark for my submission to the Collective Shoot assignment I presented on this blog, I smiled when I came upon the clock tower of the Crouse part of the Crouse-Irving Hospital complex.  My personal history with this hospital includes the birth of both my daughters, a sister who was a nurse for years and a close friend who worked in the offices of the hospital.  The hospital itself has quite the history (click for more information). Not only can you see the clock tower from the university but, if you look east from Interstate Route 81 when traveling through Syracuse, you can’t miss  this distinctive tower amongst the other hospital and medical buidings which surround it.

During December, the clock tower is lighted with the Lights of Love which is a fund raiser each year for a selected medical charity group.  This 20 plus year tradition has been very successful and has raised thousands of dollars for medical research and patient care for the hospital.

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