We were planning to go on a hike in the Ithaca area this weekend to provide material for this week's posting but the forecast was looking pretty dismal so I needed a plan B.  Thursday evening was partly sunny with clouds rolling in so I thought it might be an opportunity to travel up to Lake Ontario for some sunset pictures.

By the time sunset was approaching the cloud cover was almost complete and there was very little color to the sunset.  Not to be discouraged I looked for various photo opportunities and was hopeful that the interesting cloud cover would give me something to work with.

Upon reviewing the shots I took during the couple hours I spent at Webster Park on the shores of the lake, I decided to make my first all black and white posting in this blog.  Being a blog primarily about photography with the objective of getting me to keep practicing the art on a weekly basis, doing a black and white posting is probably long overdue.  I took the most interesting shots I had and used Photoshop and a  Nik Software plug-in called Silver Efex Pro 2 to create black and white versions of my photos.

Today's digital cameras will allow you to take pictures in black and white or any other color effect but I choose to always shoot in color and then use tools like Photoshop or Lightroom to convert the image to black and white or some other color rendition.  I shared pictures in an earlier post where I did a blend of sepia and color to give an old photo look.  By taking the pictures in color and working from the original you keep creative freedom to try various effects.

This week's pick has a lot going on and that is why I picked it as my featured shot.  First the sky is as dramatic in this shot as it is in any of the others and produces a dark, almost ominous feeling.  The stone pier that bends as it travels out into the lake leads to a lone fisherman.  An observant eye will also notice the two ducks near the beginning of the stone pier.  I was lucky that these little guys did not move too much as this was a 2.5 second exposure. The long exposure gives the water its glassy look.  The bright white line on the horizon was orange in the color version of the photo and was the only color the sunset produced.

All the other pictures in this week's post really work well with the black and white treatment and I'm pretty pleased with the set as a whole.  Once I found a setting in Silver Efex I used it on all the pictures.  Given the lack of a gorgeous sunset (rumor has it that had I waited until Friday night things would have been different), I was forced to explore other options to add something unique to the set of pictures and for that I'm glad the evening sky was less colorful.

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Along the Erie Canal in Greece, NY.

Its hard to believe it is the third week of June and Amy and I just went on our first bike ride of the season.  We must have been having a very busy spring or other obligations have gotten in the way.  I refuse to believe it has been because we are too lazy to get the bikes out and just go.   The weather Saturday morning was picture perfect and we decided to take one of our usual routes along the Erie Canal from Henpeck Park to GeneseeValley Park and back.  This trail is mostly paved with only a short segment being crushed rock.  Given the recent rain we've been having, we thought this would be a better choice than the Lehigh Valley Trail that is not paved at all.

Daisies in Genesee Valley Park.

When we arrived at Henpeck Park it was evident we were not the only ones that thought the morning was perfect for getting out and doing some outdoor exercise.  The parking lot was full and if we had arrived 30 seconds later we would not have found a parking spot as ours was the last one available and three other vehicles pulled in as we unloaded the bikes.  Upon reaching Genesee Valley Park we had travelled just over 8 miles and we wanted to at least cover 20 for our round trip so we opted to take the River Trail that goes through the University of Rochester and up to Ford Street where we spent an evening taking photos several weeks ago.  

This extra leg of the trip added just enough distance to put us comfortably over our 20 mile round trip goal.

Interfaith chapel of the U of R.

During the ride out we stopped a few times for pictures and I noted a few other places to stop on the return trip that looked like they might lend themselves to interesting shots.    My favorite shot that was both photographically pleasing and depicted the days event the best involved these lovely purple wild flowers with the bike trail off in the background. 

An old abandoned railway track.

The only improvement to this shot would be to have Amy or some random biker coming up the trail.   The return trip spots that I had noted on the ride out were the multiple signs warning of underground pipelines and the old abandoned railroad tracks that were just off the trail. 

Pipeline warnings.  Do they really need 4 of them?

In and around the University of Rochester also offered some nice photo opportunities.  A small overlook near the entrance to campus offered a nice down river view of the interfaith chapel and the new student housing across the river. 

View of Rochester from campus.

I was also surprised by how close the campus really is to downtown Rochester as depicted by a river side view of the city skyline.  I wanted to get a shot of the bleachers for the athletic field with the dome of the library, the University's marque landmark, in the frame as well. 

University of Rochester Yellowjackets

I don't particularly like the foreground fence that is in the shot but for documentary purposes the shot will do.  

If you ever get the chance to travel the River Trail from Genesee Valley Park to downtown Rochester via the U of R you should do it.  It is a beautiful trail and just over 2 miles one way.

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Once again I found myself seeking a photo opportunity for this weekly endeavor on Saturday

morning, the day before my usual posting.  My daughter, Katie, is in from Seattle for the weekend and an excursion to some location or event is not in the cards.  She requested an opportunity to try my smoked ribs for the one meal that she will be able to share with us and that takes up a majority of the day due to tending the smoker and monitoring the temperature.

Yellow blossom from hanging plant.

I started out the day with the intent of documenting the whole process but was not very happy with my initial pictures of preparing the ribs.  As I was lighting the charcoal for the smoker box, I noticed the hanging plants that Amy put on the deck and decided to go a different route for pictures.

I swapped out my 24-70mm lens for the 105mm macro lens and mounted my Nikon R1 flash system to the lens and returned to the deck for some fun.   My first inclination was to shoot pictures of open blooms straight on to get the stamens and the petals (the flowers are relatively small, less then the size of a dime).

Hosta plants covered in morning dew. 

 I had done this before and my results this time were uninspiring because of that "been there done that" feeling.  I then noticed a couple blooms that were still not completely open and I decided to take some shots of them from the side instead of down into them.  I ended up liking these shots a lot more.  I spent quite a bit of time on the yellow plant and then took just one shot of a similar bloom on the red plant and that one shot turned out to be my favorite.

Citronella plant with water droplets.

After shooting the hanging plants to my satisfaction I began to look around for something else to shoot.  I leaned over the railing of the deck and looked down onto the array of hostas that we have lining our lower deck.  The large leaves of these plants were still wet from the heavy rain we had Friday afternoon and evening and this coupled with the coloring and shapes of the leaves made for an interesting photograph as well.  The uniqueness (for me) of this shot had it contending for top honors this week but I like the red blossom too much to bump it off top billing.  Sticking with the water on leaves theme I also grabbed a couple shots of the citronella plant that was right next to where I was standing.  By this time I knew I had some material for this weeks blog and was having fun finding material that caught my eye to photograph and was once again feeling the benefits of committing to this blog of getting the camera out and practicing the art.

Spirea blossom taken with flash.  f29 @ 1/60 sec 105mm lens ISO 100

With the macro lens still attached I walked around to the front of the house where we have an array of spirea bushes that were in bloom.  The flowers on these bushes are just OK to look at, nothing spectacular, but like a lot of things when you look at them with a macro lens everything changes.  I took a few shots with the flash powered on and the camera in aperture priority to maximize my depth of field.  The resulting picture was very interesting in that the exposure was such that the background beyond the plant remained black due to complete under exposure.

Spirea blossom without flash f5 @ 1/400 sec 105 mm lens ISO 800

For a contrasting shot of the same part of the shrub I powered down the flashes and adjusted the exposure to bring the silky out of focus background back into play.  I took all these shots this week hand held as I did not have the time to get the tripod out and setup each shot appropriately - the ribs were waiting to go on the grill.  Revisiting some of these, particularly this last one, with a tripod would be the right thing to do for even better results.  In either case I hope you enjoy this weeks shots.

Extreme closeup of spirea blossom with water droplets still on.

Taken with the camera resting on the ground with a flash.

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This weekend I accompanied my son, Doug, his college friend Anna and her father Bob on a hike up Mt. Katahdin in Baxter State Park in Maine.  

Doug and Anna as we get ready to start the hike

This came about because Doug wanted to go to Maine because he hadn't been in a while and he wanted to share the experience of hiking the Mountain with Anna, who now lives in Maine but has never hiked the mountain before.  Bob wanted to come along because even though he had hiked it before, it has been 30 years since the experience.

Katahdin Stream Falls

As for Doug and me, we had hiked it 3 years ago.  In 2012 we hiked the saddle trail via Chimney Pond trail from Roaring Brook campground.  This time we decided to take the Hunt trail (aka. the Appalachian Trail route).  Doug and I agree that this trail was significantly more difficult then the saddle trail.

The trail begins to get difficult

Doug's first thought of going to Maine was to go by himself and meet up with Anna on Mount Dessert Island where Bob and his wife Janet live and then go from there to hike the mountain.  Now, some people will do this but in order to get to the trail head early enough to make the hike you would need to leave between 3:00 and 3:30 in the morning and would not get back until close to midnight.

The view as we cross the tree line.

I told Doug that this would not be a good idea and that I would go with him and would seek lodging closer to the mountain for us to use as a base camp.  My cousin Judy and her husband Scott graciously offered to provide a place to stay and so much more.   She served us a wonderful breakfast at 4:00 AM before we departed for the hike and again the next morning before we left to return home.  Thank you again, Judy, for your wonderful hospitality.

The long climb to the peak, still with clouds billowing by.

The gate to the park opens at 6:00 AM and we arrived at 5:55 and were the third car in line and waited exactly 5 minutes for the gates to open (they were very prompt).  We arrived at Katahdin Stream campground and the trailhead shortly after and we were on the trail by 6:40 AM.  The first mile or so was fairly flat and relatively easy and just as the trail begins to climb you come across Katahdin Stream Falls and we stopped to take pictures.  Both Bob and I had our Nikon cameras (Bob shoots with a D300 like the one I used before getting my D750) and tripods which actually got quite heavy before the day was over.

The unique ground cover of Katahdin's table top.

After 15 or 20 minutes of taking pictures we resumed the hike which quickly became more difficult but before too long we were above the tree line and the skies had cleared and the views were already becoming spectacular.  Every couple hundred feet of elevation change we would pause to take in the view and snap a few pictures as well as catch our breath.  

Doug and Anna on Baxter Peak.

Flowering ground cover.

Upon reaching the table top and thinking you were almost there you realize there is still over a mile and half to go before reaching the peak that can be seen in the distance.  We arrived on top at about 12:40 and ate our lunch before spending time taking pictures, including the prerequisite shots in front of the famous sign that is in dire need of repair or replacement.  As the time approached 1:30 it was time to get started on our return trip to the trail head because as all the signs in the park remind you, the ultimate destination isn't the peak but the safe return to your starting point.

Looking down on the many lakes of the Millinocket area.

We made it back to the car at around 6:30 and proceeded to the Big Moose Inn tavern where we met up with Judy, Scott, their daughter Emily and my cousin (Judy's brother) Jamie.  I was hoping to introduce Doug to Jamie's son Cody because they were similar in age.  Doug did get to meet Cody because he works at the tavern and actually had a hand in preparing our meal!  We had a great time at the tavern and the beer sure tasted good after a long day hiking.

Proof I made it to the top!

Doug and Anna enjoying a well deserved rest.

The Dads before the big hike.

Had a stranger take a group shot with all 4 of us using my P7800

Here is a video taken from the peak.  It is a 360 degree scan of what the view was like.

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