Monday, January 29, 2007

Honeysuckle

Today, I went to the park to take some shots of the Olentangy River in the snow, and hopefully, ice. I never got there. The floodplain of the river at the park used to be covered with bush honeysuckle. When I walked down the hill to the floodplain this evening, I noticed things were a bit more open. On closer inspection, I realized why. Someone had cut much of the dense undergrowth of bush honeysuckle. Interesting, I thought. I'm guessing this is part of a research project at OSU. I had seen various plots, boxes, and baggies throughout the park marked "OSU". Anyways, here is a photo essay on honeysuckle removal.

Tom




Sunday, January 28, 2007

Lucky, Our Beta

Megan and I have a pet Beta, Lucky. We purchased him at Byerly's aquarium store here in Columbus. After buying a nice little guide on macro photography at Barnes and Noble, I was motivated to try to capture our little guy and post some shots on the internet. Here are my best attempts. The round glass of his vase made getting clear shots especially difficult. The glass also had numerous small air bubbles that made this a trying experience. The one thing I learned while shooting our beta? Closeup photography requires extreme attention to detail and an unwavering sense of patience.

Tom




Friday, January 19, 2007

More New York



Megan and I will be jetting back to New York on Sunday, after the oak openings research symposium and keynote event, held today and tomorrow in Toledo. Here are a few more New York pictures from our venture this past weekend:
This first shot is through a rough granite arch looking south west towards the Central Park west neighborhood.

Next, a view across the baseball fields at Central Park north meadow. This shot captures the stunning profile of this tree. I do not know what species this was. Today, I was examining the shapes and patterns around me. Megan looked at it, and said, "I could draw that tree". I'm assuming she asserted herself because of the tree's wavy, out of control branches.

Apartments along Riverside Drive, facing the Hudson River. The shapes and patterns in Manhattan on this day, in the diffuse foggy light, were inspiring.

Finally, the wall that holds up riverside drive, keeping it from crumbling down and into Riverside Park, a true gem of New York City.

Tom

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

New York City

Megan and I spent the Holiday weekend in New York City. Here are some shots from that trip:

"The Pool" at central park. Notice the man standing on bank to the right in this photo. He was doing some funky kind of tai chi- a Chinese martial art involving slow, deliberate gestures of the body.


Pastries at Nusbaum and Wu. About the only thing of color that my camera captured on this gray weekend, literally and figuratively.


The tower at Riverside Church, from within the courtyard at Union Theological Seminary, the quarters in which we slept.


A daffodil, in full bloom, on January 14th.

Tom

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Maine

Megan and I are back in Ohio. We have been at our house for not quite yet a full week after visiting Megan's parents in Otisfield Maine. The trip was quiet and relaxing. I actually found myself rather bored. Why? I missed seeing people and the the stuff that we have created. Megan's parents live in a beautiful log home that sits on a 26 acre private pond. There house and pond are surrounded by young conifers. But you can be there without seeing any sign of people other than those that are staying at the house. You can not see the road. You can not see cars zipping down the road. You can not see any other homes.

Here are a few shots from our New Year's visit.


Here we are at Wolfe's Neck Woods State Park. This small area sits at the end of a peninsula jutting out into Casco Bay known as Wolfe's neck and is within 10 minutes of downtown Freeport. We visited here after our shopping trip to the L.L. Bean's flagship store. Megan's mom had warned us to look out for "rouge waves" if we did venture out to Wolfe's neck. Upon arriving at the shore, the waters of the estuary were about as calm as they could be! We got a big laugh out of her warning, but I hear that one or two people die each in Maine year from being washed into the sea by an unexpected large wave. What made this trip so nice was the diversity of habitats packed into this small little park. Coniferous forest, ledges, rocky coast, estuary, a beautiful sunset (at 4:30 in the afternoon!), and frigid temperatures. Yes, I had to fly to Maine, but I finally found winter.



The focal point of Megan's parents property, at least the natural focal point, is Little Pond. At 26 acres, most people in Ohio would consider this natural water body a lake, but in Maine, it barely makes pond status. Here you see Megan's brother Ben, and his girlfriend Rachel. About three inches of snow fell the day that I shot this photo, and the pond was frozen, but the ice was still to weak for us to walk on. Ben and Rachel stayed on the dock. Notice the conifers in the distance. Black spruce grow on the bog mat around the pond and in this photo look like perfect snow covered Christmas trees. Further, forming the dense wall of conifers are white pines, the state tree of Maine.

Tom