Wing span of a seagull....This is a Ring-billed Gull...ring on the beak and yellow feet.

Gulls at the beach....We've been to the beach a few times this past week. The weather on Long Island has been wonderful!

Learning to take better photos.....

With fill flash...

My practice and work with using fill flash. I think I got it!

Originally, using NO flash, Greg's face was too dark, even though the background was properly exposed. See the photo below ↓.

The first flash photo was so bright (built-in camera) that Greg's hair had lost all detail. That shot was not posted here, so......

For this shot, I needed a EC of -1.0. I can see the details in his face now and nothing is over-exposured.....(no pun intended!)
I submitted this pair of photos to my Utata group on Flicker.

Utata Flash Project

My brother Greg with no flash. The background is properly exposed but his face is too dark. See the above photo.....

Kyacks are more frequently seen on the canal.

Another ferry shot, entering the river....

NYC

Davis Park on Fire Island...This little town is a family centered community complete with church, general store and snack counter. This photo shows some homes along the Atlantic Ocean. The bay side of town has a marina for over-night visits by boaters.

I didn't know that the Lantana is a flower that the butterflies adore. This butterfly is huge and very beautiful. It didn't stop moving as it hovered above each flower. Fast shutter speed to the rescue!

The Great South Bay at sunset....We barbequed on the beach and watched the setting sun. What a wonderful way to spend an evening on Long Island.

modeled from another era..................Doesn't this look like a movie shot from the 1940s?

More ferry shots...they can't stop me!

boating fun...in the waves

cool sunglasses

Watching the sunset...

Sunset on the calm river. Click on the photo to see it enlarged.

visit from the police

I take photos....of everything.

Yesterday, a police detective came to my home, at dinnertime. He wanted to know if we owned a Parker boat. Yes, we do. He wanted to know if we had been taking photos of the Fire Island Ferries. Of course we do; we take photos of everything. Someone "reported us".

He came into our home. He wanted to see the photos. He also wanted to know if we sold those photos to anyone. (I wish!) He wanted to see the boat too.

I was very uncomfortable with the whole situation. My husband became assertive and insisted that we had rights, rights to photography anything in public. The detective said there were "new laws" against taking photos of public transportation, but he could not quote those "new laws". My husband informed him that there were no new laws. I just listened, wanting him to leave. I thought that the more we encouraged discussion, the longer he would stay.

We showed him the photos on the computer. After all, we had nothing to hide, but I felt violated. My computer, my photos and this strange man without a search warrant, coming into my home, my world, my space. We could have refused to show him the photos, I guess, but as I said, we had nothing to hide. We are law abiding citizens.

After he left, I felt sad. My husband was angry. What is happening here? Can an officer of the state just come into your home with the possible suspicion that there are terrorists present or activities? What would he have done if we were of Middle Eastern background or just dark-skinned?

I'm still processing what happened, but I thought I would share this with you.

This is what I see on my morning walk....I walk everyday....The camera was swinging from my hip...Click on the photo to see it enlarged!

This is what I see on my morning walk....I walk everyday....Click on the photo to see it enlarged!

This is what I see on my morning walk....I walk everyday....Click on the photo to see it enlarged!

Clematis growing toward the sun...

After the rescue...

Windy, storm approaching and the evening sail...

The GPS was sent to be repaired so the captain had only his experience and the compass for navigation.

The strong winds pushed our sailboat east and out of the channel. There was a shoal where there shouldn't have been. The wind blew us further onto the sand......A call to Sea-Tow was needed.

The young sea-tow worker got the line caught on his engine! Oh-oh! Now what?

Everything worked out fine!

Trouble with the sailboat...see story above. To enlarge a photo, click on each one.

The sky at sunset,,,

The river....the south end of the river has marinas, freight docks, ferries and pleasure boats....it empties into the bay; the bay leads to the ocean. I am always in awe of the fact that this little river is connected to a larger, global waterway.

Sunday evening and the ferry returns from Fire Island.

Calla Lily

Calla Lily in Macro...

This flower has become my favorite.

It is delicate and beautiful and opens so slowly.

It is also the flower my mother had for her wedding in 1938....a full bouquet of just white, long-stemmed calla lilies.

That image comes up for me whenever I see this flower.

In California, we saw white calla lilies growing wild along the road. Wow!

He never throws one out....

Rainy weekend so I decided to play with the camera!

I ususally take landscape shots because I love being outdoors.

Long Island has been having lots of rain, so.....

I searched the house for objects for a still life.

This is just one photo for a group on Flickr. Each weekend there is a project.

This week it is Utata Tells Time.

My husband collects his old watches like people collect pennies.

Some are cheap time pieces that we pick up in the city (New York City for Long Islanders) for about $10 off the street venders.

Some watches are gifts and some just need new batteries.

Well, I collected them and took some photos.

Now if only he would throw some of them away!

End of the River...Great South Bay

I always like the color blue for boats. It has a "rich" look against the blue water and background of blue sky.

Long Island Boating

A scallop shell on the beach....

Just one; one scallop shell in the beach....

We have been having very hot and humid weather this week.

This last Tuesday evening, there was a violent thunder-storm that caused many neighborhoods to lose electricity and tree branches to litter the lawns.

On Wednesday, the beach sand was washed over and seemed smooth and uniform. This one little shell survived and was just lying in the sand.

Today, Thursday, it's very cloudy and much cooler.....just a usual summer on Long Island.

This photo was taken with a macro lens. Click on the photo to see more detail.

One lonely rower on the Great South Bay...In the distance you can see the Robert Moses Bridge and another boat or ferry on its way to Fire Island.

A study in contrasts....

Hot Weather

We went to the beach today...

It has been unbearably hot these last few days. We had a cool breeze off the Atlantic Ocean and we got to swim in the waves. That doesn't happen too often. Sometimes the water is too rough. Today it was perfect.

More of the same hot weather is forcast for tomorrow.

Maybe it will be another day for the beach!

Birds and the Sunset

Another sunset on the Great South Bay....see the birds flying low?

Flight 800 Memorial at Smith's Point Beach

The TWA Flight 800 Memorial at Smith's Point Beach, Long Island.

The plane crashed into the sea in the summer of 1996 off Long Island.

This curved stone memorial is engraved with the names of the victims,

where visitors can sit or pray.

Memorial to TWA Flight 800 Victims

Memorial by the sea...

The names...TWA Flight 800 crashed into the sea in July of 1996 off the shores of Long Island. This memorial is located at the Smith's Point Beach.

Click here for a list of passenger names.

Memorial...

Memorial to honor the victims of TWA Flight 800...

See posts above for more information.

Curved granite,

on one side the names of the victims,

on the other, an engraved picture of waves and birds ascending to the heavens.

Splash.....the Great South Bay

Splash.....the Great South Bay is usually like this in summer.

The summer breezes and the many weekend boaters, kick up the waves!

The south end of the river...

The south end of the river....ferries and boat yards.

weeds, weeds, weeds

We pulled out an over grown, bush/tree and lots of weeds, weeds, weeds...then we put down that black gardening paper to keep the weeds from taking over again.

We then had to cover the area with 18 bags of mulch!

No easy job.

It took two days and lots of sweat...but, doesn't it look great?

The egret and the fishing....

Just as we turned a bend in the river, this egret appeared. A good sign...I guess the river is healthy with fish. Of course, I had my camera! :~)

Graffiti

This shot was taken on my last trip into Manhattan. This is the SoHo area, Crosby and Broome Streets.

The architecture in this area is very interesting and many of the buildings are quite old.

The graffiti just makes it all the more interesting, visually. Notice the columns from the older architecture.

I like the blue dumpster as an added accent! Welcome to New York!

Interesting thing is, graffiti is global.

We saw it in Italy, on our recent tour. Venice, Florence and Rome all had their own graffiti covered walls.

Maybe it's just a component of the human condition, an inborn trait. Haven't they found graffiti cave drawings in the ancient caves?

Macro....a lens that gets really, really close!

Another wonderful night on the Great South Bay.....sunset over West Sayville.

Hope you all had a wonderful July 4th!

Happy 4th of July....

Red zinnia taken in my garden with the Nikon D200. I'm still learning the capabilities of this camera. There is so much to know and hundreds of menu options! Back to the manual....