Home for a wedding

Yesterday I was at the lakeside chapel where my niece is getting married today and saw this interesting arrangement of cirrus clouds over the trees. Thought it would be an appropriate image to put up on Amy's wedding day.

We drove over to the Turtle Mountains from Grand Forks yesterday after what can only be described as an "interesting" flight experience from New York the day before. The bad stuff all happened on the 12th, the 13th was a fine day. On our way to Lake Metigoshe, we passed through Rugby, ND, the world famous (not) geographical center of the North American continent. Of course, I had to get a shot of that august landmark.

And here's a color shot of the tree and clouds.

And, of course, a shot of the reason for this trip -- the happy couple. Meet my niece Amy and her, still (until this afternoon), husband-to-be, Brian.

And that's all for now, I have to get ready for the ceremony. I may even take a camera.

Photography by Burdette

Out of Season / Out to Lunch

Once again I have been remiss. A week got away from me and I didn't  get any blogs written or a new homepage image posted until a whole day after the end of the second week! Oh my! Such remissance! Surly cyber devils from internet hell will be let loose upon me and assured destruction must inevitably follow. Oh, wait! Nobody is paying any attention anyway so it's all good. I may survive to screw-up again. 

It has been a very busy couple of weeks what with finally getting serious about getting my "stuff" together for my featured artist gig at the Adirondack Artists' Gallery and doing a second photo workshop at Sagamore etc, etc, the days, and nights, have been pretty full. Truth be told, I just never grabbed myself by the scruff of the neck and sat my butt down to do what I finally got around to doing right now.

The image at the top, "Mayfly in July", was taken a couple of months ago when there was a late hatch of Mayflies here abouts and the things were all over everything for a few days. This one was perched on the window sill of our front window and didn't seem much inclined to fly anywhere. So I shot it--with a camera, of course.

Photography by Burdette

Pendragon Show Pics- Streetcar

This is a bittersweet posting. "Streetcar" is a wonderful production with a wonderful cast and I was really looking forward to posting the pictures which I thought came out very well and do a good job of "showing off" the show. But yesterday one of the lead actors in the show, Chris McGovern who played Mitch, passed away unexpectedly. This set of photos suddenly took on an entirely new meaning.

Yesterday I did a small, inadequate tribute to Chris. Today I post this link to the photos from "Streetcar" to celebrate the show and the fine work being done in it and to celebrate the memory of an excellent Pendragon player who too soon made his final exit from our stage. Farewell, Chris.

Photography by Burdette

A Tribute to Chris McGovern

It's a sad day at Pendragon Theatre today. Chris McGovern, one of the theater's stalwart company actors died this morning. He was currently in two of the season's shows, "Aladdin" and "A Streetcar Named Desire." He was a skilled actor. I had the pleasure of directing him in a couple of the productions I did with the theater but never had an opportunity to play with him onstage. We are very saddened to lose him.

The above images are from a performance of "Streetcar" just this past week.

The bottom two are Chris playing the Evil Magician in "Aladdin".

May you find the Genii in that magic lamp, Mr. McGovern. We'll miss you and the host of characters you have inhabited.

Photography by Burdette

First HomePage from the Sony NEX-7

I got a new camera a little over a month ago and I've been wondering when I would get my first Homepage picture posted from it. I've been shooting with it a lot, needless to say, but for whatever reasons all the images I've been posting have been from the archives. The new camera is a Sony NEX-7 and is a great expansion of my NEX system as I get ready for our big trip later in the year. Ever since getting the NEX-5n a couple of years ago, I've been migrating more and more away from the Nikons I've been using for years. A sweet thing about the NEX cameras is that I can still use all of my Nikon glass with them. Though to be honest some of those big Nikon lenses look pretty silly on the little NEX bodies.

A couple of weeks ago we were in Williamsville, just outside of Buffalo, for a family wedding. As we wandered around the wife's old stomping grounds one morning, we came across the old Williamsville Depot at the end of a lovely new park space. Parked next to the Depot was this baggage cart loaded with appropriately old baggage. Couldn't resist and end up really rather liking the shot - especially with the sepia toning (unabashed traditionalist that I am).

Photography by Burdette

Pendragon Show Pics - Dirty Blonde

"Dirty Blonde", an interesting look at the life of burlesque star May West, returns to the Pendragon stage after a brief hiatus. Here's a new link to shots taken at a performance earlier in the season.

Photos from "Streetcar" coming soon. Finally got that one after a few false starts - on my part. And check archive blogs from July for photos from other 2013 Pendragon productions.

Photography by Burdette

Doubling up on Homepages

 I have been remiss in posting homepage updates. I put up a new image last week, on schedule I must note, but failed to make my requisite blog entry about it. I'm certain no one but myself noticed or paid any attention to such an egregious oversight.

So, to correct the error, I'm posting a double dose today and putting in the image from last week and the new one for the coming week.

The image above, "Plug in the Grass", is an older image shot with the trusty old Canon G9. The G9 was my go-to, travel camera in the days before the Sony NEX cameras joined the party. It's an image I've always been quite fond of and have nearly used a number of times but not quite. But today it called out and demanded to be sent in. It's just a fun arrangement of textures and forms that, to my eye at least, works really well as a black and white image.

Last week's home page image "Centenarians" is below:

This image captures a wonderfully weathered old barn and a similarly weathered and ancient yellow birch tree that have been living side by side for a very long time. Taken in the fall, it presents these venerable beings, one man-made and the other a creation of nature, in the stark, unadorned reality of their existence.

Photography by Burdette

Our Awesome Neighbors

We have some new neighbors for awhile this summer. They're not very noisy but can be very busy and active - mostly during the day. Once the sun goes down, they are the epitome of good neighbors.

We're enjoying keeping an eye on their development and if you care to see a bit more of it feel free to click here for little movie of a day in the lives of....

Photography by Burdette

We're supposed to swim in this lake??

If you missed my post on Facebook, here's a link to a fun little video I got yesterday while we were on the lake doing the Annual Loon Count. 

Snapping Turtles at "play".

We also managed to spot six loons, but all adults - no chicks this year. Probably had nests washed out by the high water.

Photography by Burdette

Adirondack Chairs on Homepage

Adirondack Chair Nursery

Another week has whizzed by and it's time to put up a new homepage image. This one is from a little earlier this year. I was walking past the workshop of a friend who was, obviously, getting toward the end of producing a nice set of Adirondack Chairs. The way they were stacked neatly yet somewhat randomly attracted my attention as well as the starkness of the forms. I think the whole arrangement might have seemed less interesting if the back row, the chairs with the uneven backs, were perfectly situated like the chairs on the left. But tilted at their various angles, they provide a good visual counterbalance and accentuate their unfinished state.

If you're looking for Pendragon show photos, check the archive list to the right.

Photography by Burdette

Pendragon Show pics- "Aladdin"

Chris McGovern as the Evil Magician in "Aladdin" exalts about finally getting his greedy clutches on the magic lamp.

"Aladdin" is Pendragon's production for young audiences, both in age and in heart, for the summer season and will be playing at intervals throughout the summer.

Click here to see more photos from "Aladdin".

Photography by Burdette

Pendragon Show pics- "Doubt"

"Doubt" just opened this past week at Pendragon Theater to extremely satisfied audiences. They will have more performances this week and then take a brief hiatus while "A Streetcar Named Desire" takes the Pendragon stage.

Pendragon's got a dynamite season underway and anyone who can should make every effort to catch all of the shows. Click on this link to see more pictures from last week's performance of "Doubt".

AND stay tuned to this blog site to get links to pictures of ALL of Pendragon's shows. "Sports" went up yesterday, "Aladdin" will soon follow, as will "Dirty Blonde", and once "Streetcar" gets up there will be pics from there.

Photography by Burdette

Pendragon show pics - "Sports"

Pendragon's production of the zany "The Complete World of Sports" will be airing for the final time this week. The above three crazy dudes (Stu Rutan, Matt Sorenson and Dylan Duffy) rip through the entire history of sports (according to them) in a fractured dash. It's great fun and fine entertainment - just don't expect anything deep or mentally stimulating.

Pictures from a performance of the show a week or so ago can be found here.

Let your friends know starting now they will be able to find links to Pendragon shows right here on my blog. More to come. (www.burdetteparks.blogspot.com)

Photography by Burdette

Dunaway Mirage

Homepage photo for the week beginning July 13.

Maybe readers familiar with Saranac Lake will understand the title of this image, but I doubt if other will. So let me explain.

This, as I'm sure you recognize, is a building reflected on moving water. It's taken from the bridge on Main Street in downtown Saranac Lake on a lovely, sunny day -- actually it was taken as I strolled through town during the June Art Walk. The building is now pretty much derelict, but in its hay-day it was the site of a local bar and eatery named "Dew Drop Inn". The title of the photo derives from the fact that during the summers of 1960 and 61 a lovely, young blonde girl worked there as a waitress. Her sojourn at the restaurant has become a favorite tid-bit of town lore. The young lady went from the Dew Drop Inn to Hollywood and made a name for herself in them thar moving picture shows. Her name was Faye Dunaway. And so time passes, as the water that flows under the bridge and past the old Dew Drop Inn.

Photography by Burdette

Saranac Lake Summer finally arrives

After what seemed like an endless succession of cloudy, cool, rainy weather, it seems that summer has finally arrived in the Adirondacks. Water levels remain high throughout the region with dangers of flash flooding persisting anytime there is another passing shower. Water on Middle Saranac is at levels more consistent with spring thaw and are waaaaay above anything like a norm for the middle of July.

But the clouds seem to have parted, at least momentarily, and the sun has reappeared. Rumor has it this unusual circumstance may even continue for several days in a row. We can only hope. On the plus side, we not dealing with the problems they're having out west. It's just an amazing pattern of extreme weather - but, of course, nothing out of the ordinary.... right?

Photography by Burdette

Legacy lens on Sony NEX

One of the really attractive things about the Sony NEX cameras is their ability to work with just about any lens in the mighty lens firmament. That means all of the Nikon mount lenses I've been accumulating over the years are still fair game even though I've mostly abandoned my Nikon hardware and defected to the Sony side.

A few days ago I finally got around to dusting off a Nikon lens I hadn't used for many years. Not even sure why not, I just hadn't been using it. It was just collecting dust - never good for lenses - in the closet. The lens in question is the Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5. I've always known it was fabled for its sharpness, but I had forgotten just how wonderful its images can be. I slapped an adaptor on it and fixed it on the Sony and raided the wife's flower garden. I had been out earlier with another Macro lens and liked those images well enough, but the difference felt palpable. I really liked the images the Micro-Nikkor produced. 

I want to do some portrait shots with this lens. With the APS-C sensor factored in, the lens has an effective focal length of just under 85mm. Might make a really nice little portrait lens.

Photography by Burdette

Monochrome without Black and White

Monochrome, of course, is not limited to Black and White, even though that is its most common application. Mono means one. And any image that employs what is essentially a single color palette is by definition a monochrome image. The nasturtium above is a case in point being made up almost entirely with varying hues of orange. In these cases, the monochrome nature of the image is determined not by choices in processing or shooting materials but by the coloration of the subject itself.

Below are a couple more monochromes with color -- in one case very, very subtle color.

This spring/summer has so far been very wet. Hence the world around us is very green. The first image emphasizes the greenness I am seeing around me -- and I like the business of the grass blades. The lower image is actually in color even though it reads as black and white because it is of water beaded on a black surface. The reflections in the water provide the only hint of color. Also a lesson in seeing images in simple things.

Photography by Burdette

Moving parents up a notch

Forgive me for a slight redundancy, but I've been fascinated watching the progress of our temporary neighbors and put up an image of the mother of the group as my homepage photo this week. It went up on Saturday (still on schedule I would like to note) but I've waited until today to report it here - like who's watching anyway.

I did an earlier post (with photos, of course) regarding the nesting and feeding activities here.

Those activities have ended. The nest has been vacated and I would assume the little woodpeckers successfully fledged - though that is only an assumption as we did not see it happen. The weather was consistently crappy and I'm sorry to say that they probably took their maiden flights into wet, nasty weather. Maybe one of the many claps of thunder propelled them out of the nest. Ah well, probably an appropriate introduction to life in the world.

Photography by Burdette

Saranac Lake's June Art Walk

Yesterday was an absolutely perfect day for the first Art Walk of the season. The weather cooperated beautifully after a decidedly unfriendly cool and wet spring. But yesterday the temps were finally getting into summer-like territory and there was nary a cloud to be seen -- as you can see above.

Nothing special to report about it except that it was very successful and it seemed to be enjoyed by all. I'll let the following pics speak for themselves and not belabor the issue with unnecessary verbiage.

Now we just hope that the promise of summer becomes more of a reality than we've been seeing and that remaining ArtWalks will be so blessed. 

Photography by Burdette

Museum Trip to Montreal

Went up to Montreal a few weeks back to view the Peruvian exhibit at Montreal's Museum of Art. Having been in Peru and the museum in Lima that provided many of the artifacts in the show, we found it an especially interesting collection - a chance to relive in a small way a memorable trip.

Got the shot above, this week's Homepage pic, while regrouping in the stairwell outside the museum cafe. I was drawn to the geometric shapes contrasted with the totally non-linear cloud.

Also got some shots in the museum. I was shooting, as is almost always the case these days, with the Sony NEX. One of the extra features of these cameras is a setting that fires off six quick shots in low light situations and then stacks them and produces a single image - it's a way to get shots in low light without having the effects of high noise levels. It's a feature perfectly suited for shooting in places like museums where flash is verboten.

Trips to Montreal are always fun and having a terrific museum nearby is great. NYC is not that far away, but Montreal is closer. You can browse the internet and look at lots of great art, but seeing it up-close and personal is so much better. Museum trips always provide wonderful inspiration and re-energize those sometimes reluctant creative juices.

Photography by Burdette