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New Year's Walk in Orchard Park
It has become my tradition to head out with a camera on New Year's Day and start the photographic year on a good note. I always hope for a nice cold winter's day and maybe even a ray of sunshine. Thus, it was great to get a white New Year's despite this winter's pathetic performance so far.
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First stop? A location on my way to the village of Orchard Park that I enjoy a lot. And yes, you have seen it here before too. And the means? My medium format Mamiya 645 camera loaded with the new film from Lomography, the Metropolis. I was really curious how it would come out. Seeing some results of others I knew I could expect muted colors and I thought that would go well with winter.
Custard Light on New Year's DayOrchard Park
Custard Light on New Year's Day, Orchard Park, NY
Photographed on film: Mamiya 645 1000s, Lomography Metropolis
Did it? It's definitely a matter of personal taste but I am quite happy with the results, feel it captured the mood of the cloudy day rather well, and am glad I have a few more winter photos of Orchard Park specifically on this film.
For the next photo, we're in the heart of the village walking down (but north) from Four Corners. We're passing the Mangia Ristorante on the left and the old Orchard Park Lanes sign is just ahead. I like the look of the village in this area quite a bit. And a dose of nostalgia with the old sign definitely does not hurt as it brings back memories of days gone by.
Mangia Patio on New Year's DayOrchard Park
Mangia Patio on New Year's Day, Orchard Park, NY
Photographed on film: Mamiya 645 1000s, Lomography Metropolis
Just past that wonderful sign full of nostalgia is a new storefront. A bakery that has only been around for a few years but has established itself as if it's forever been there. I can't help it but I really like how the film's color palette worked here in the mostly white scene.
Kaylena Marie's Bakery on New Year's DayOrchard Park
Kaylena Marie's Bakery on New Year's Day, Orchard Park, NY
Photographed on film: Mamiya 645 1000s, Lomography Metropolis
And since I really like the new storefront as well as that wonderful sign, why not combine them in a single photograph? Let's turn around and look back up towards Four Corners. And again, I am a fan of the colors. I will definitely be shooting more of this film and defnitely before this winter is over. Let's hope we're not out of the white stuff yet. Right now, it's coming down nicely so maybe there's more in storage.
Kaylena Marie's Bakery on New Year's DayOrchard Park
Kaylena Marie's Bakery on New Year's Day, Orchard Park, NY
Photographed on film: Mamiya 645 1000s, Lomography Metropolis
This was a roll of 15 exposres and I will admit, it was an unusual struggle for me to narrow down the set to share with you today. The New Year's Day walk just worked so well for me. Wonderful winter scenes all around and a great film to match it. That has me thinking, was this the first time I did not head out of civilization?
Enjoy The Beauty That Surrounds You! #etbtsy
Do you enjoy reading my photography blog? Would you like to see more photographs from Buffalo and Western New York? Visit my Buffalo Cityscapes and Buffalo & Western New York Landscapes and enjoy! Please, let me know if you have any questions about any photo products offered, or not offered, I will be happy to help! For a quick reference to all photo galleries and collections as well as all photo products currently offered through my site, please, visit the Products page.
Using my links to do your shopping keeps me sharing more photographs and writing the stories behind them (commission earned) and costs you nothing. You can also use the Amazon search box in bottom left for anything at all. I truly appreciate each purchase, no matter how large, no matter how small. Thank you!
Snowy StairsOrchard Park
Orchard Park Library in SnowOrchard Park
Chestnut Ridge Park in WinterOrchard Park
Green Lake in SnowOrchard Park
Where the Trains Don't Go Any MoreOrchard Park
Winter on Green Lake
It was a beautiful winter day in Orchard Park just south of Buffalo, NY. Everything was dressed in white, air was fresh and even the sun came out to see it all.
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Do you see that leaning tree in the distance behind the boat launch? I photographed that tree, with and without the boat launch, many times. It's a Green Lake classic for me. However, on this day, a different and a wider scene caught my eye with two leaning trees standing guard over the lake like two twin watchmen.
The Green Lake WatchmenOrchard Park, NY
The Green Lake Watchmen, Yates Park, Orchard Park, NY in Winter
Photographed on film: Nikon N75, Kodak Portra 400
Trees and especially lone trees or groups of trees always draw my eyes too. It may have been a while but you would have heard me talk about dancing trees on these blog pages. And I found an interesting group of trees here at Green Lake too. They were not dancing. They were huddled up on standby at the watchmen's service.
Winter Guard, Green Lake, Yates Park, Orchard Park, NY
Photographed on film: Nikon N75, Kodak Portra 400
And then, back to the original scene, but much, much closer. So close, that we're now at the foot of the first watchman looking at his big toe sticking out through the snow. I love it when I find a nice combination of photos like this; a combination of a wide scene with a close up. I don't always remember to seek these but in the last couple years have been conscious of this opportunity and am always glad when I remember and even happier when I find one.
Watchman's Big ToeOrchard Park, NY
Watchman's Big Toe, Green Lake, Orchard Park, NY in Winter
Photographed on film: Nikon N75, Kodak Portra 400
And that is it for today, hope you are enjoying this recent winter theme. What else should a Buffalo photographer blog about in January?
Enjoy The Beauty That Surrounds You! #etbtsy
Do you enjoy reading my photography blog? Would you like to see more photographs from Buffalo and Western New York? Visit my Buffalo Cityscapes and Buffalo & Western New York Landscapes and enjoy! Please, let me know if you have any questions about any photo products offered, or not offered, I will be happy to help! For a quick reference to all photo galleries and collections as well as all photo products currently offered through my site, please, visit the Products page.
Using my links to do your shopping keeps me sharing more photographs and writing the stories behind them (commission earned) and costs you nothing. You can also use the Amazon search box in bottom left for anything at all. I truly appreciate each purchase, no matter how large, no matter how small. Thank you!
Color of WoodWinter
Barn & SilosWinter
Rural WhiteWinter
Still left remembering past winters
Winter visited us for one day and left in a hurry taking the white blanket with it. Now we're back to warm, rainy, and gray. The pattern continues. If you see sunshine, head out! If you see snow, head out! There are both at a premium this year.
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Let's take another walk back in time to see what a winter looks like. Thick clouds rolled over the lake and released its supply of snowflakes covering Buffalo, NY and its suburbs in white. It looked very intense and I felt the need to hop in the car and take a drive through some of my favorite local country roads. I have photographed the three structures you can see here many times and still hope to catch them many more times. However, age may be closing in on the big barn. Each time, I feel it's leaning more and more and getting closer to its demise. I love old barns. Actually, I like new barns too. There is just something simple and majestic about them. Unfortunately, I now have photographs of some that no longer stand, and that makes me sad. May this one have a bit of life left!
Snowstorm over Three Roofs, a Western New York's Winter Scene
Photographed on film: Zeiss Ikon Contessa, Rollei Superpan 200
Just a little bit down the road is an area that a tornado moved through just a few years ago. We don't get them here much and this was a bit too close to home. The next photo shows a broken stump of a tree facing yet another storm with snow and wind creating whiteout situations.
BrokenBroken by one storm standing up to another
Broken by one storm standing up to another
Photographed on film: Zeiss Ikon Contessa, Rollei Superpan 200
Winter WoodsWinter storm in the woods south of Buffalo, NY.
Winter storm in the woods south of Buffalo, NY
Photographed on film: Zeiss Ikon Contessa, Rollei Superpan 200
And finally to the last stop of the day, another barn that you see on my pages quite often. And why not? It's so photogenic, at least in my opinion. On this day it was facing the beating from one of many winter storms it has witnessed over the years.
Barn and Silos in White, a Typical Winter Day in Western New York
Photographed on film: Zeiss Ikon Contessa, Rollei Superpan 200
And back in the car, crank up the heat, and let's go get some hot tea.
Enjoy The Beauty That Surrounds You! #etbtsy
Do you enjoy reading my photography blog? Would you like to see more photographs from Buffalo and Western New York? Visit my Buffalo Cityscapes and Buffalo & Western New York Landscapes and enjoy! For more black and white photographs click to the World without Color photo collection. Please, let me know if you have any questions about any photo products offered, or not offered, I will be happy to help! For a quick reference to all photo galleries and collections as well as all photo products currently offered through my site, please, visit the Products page.
Using my links to do your shopping keeps me sharing more photographs and writing the stories behind them and costs you nothing. You can also use the Amazon search box in bottom left for anything at all. I truly appreciate each purchase, no matter how large, no matter how small. Thank you!
Color of WoodWinter
Rural White Winter
Commissioner's CabinWinter
Barn & SilosWinter
Cottage in the WoodsWinter
Winter as it should be
Where is the famous Buffalo winter? So far its performance has been rather underwhelming. Yes, we got the landscape dressed in a thin white layer a few times but it did not last. I know some people don't mind but I do not like looking at green grass and everything else in shades of gray in January.
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Let's go couple years back and look at what winter around here should look like. And I really miss that look! I love heading out to Lake Erie in winter and witnessing the total transformation into a winter wonderland.
Frozen Gallagher PierBuffalo, NY
Frozen Gallagher Pier, Winter in Buffalo, NY
Enjoy The Beauty That Surrounds You! #etbtsy
Do you enjoy reading my photography blog? Would you like to see more photographs from Buffalo and Western New York? Visit my Buffalo Cityscapes and Buffalo & Western New York Landscapes and enjoy! Please, let me know if you have any questions about any photo products offered, or not offered, I will be happy to help! For a quick reference to all photo galleries and collections as well as all photo products currently offered through my site, please, visit the Products page.
Using my links to do your shopping keeps me sharing more photographs and writing the stories behind them (commission earned) and costs you nothing. You can also use the Amazon search box in bottom left for anything at all. I truly appreciate each purchase, no matter how large, no matter how small. Thank you!
Season's GreetingsBuffalo Main Light
Victim of WinterFrozen till Spring
Frozen SunsetLake Erie
Bone Chilling ColdSturgeon Point
Frozen ArtworkErie Basin Marina
Winter wandering
Catching winter while it's happening is getting increasingly difficult in Buffalo, especially in December. About a foot of snow on the ground, sun in the sky, what could be better than a long walk with a camera in hand?
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Such was this winter day. The primary purpose of the expedition was to photograph bridges; large, small, and tiny. But it had a wonderful side effect of walking several miles through snow and definitely getting some fresh air in my lungs.
The longest section of the walk was definitely in Chestnut Ridge Park. It had a wonderful layer of snow, way more than even just under the hill, that gave everything a magical clean winter look and pictures were all around. Walking off trail was difficult but felt so good! I love taking pictures of lone trees no matter how much of a cliché that has become (but really, what hasn't?). In summer and fall, I usually reach for color film, but in winter, black and white is so natural.
Lone Tree at Chestnut RidgeWinter
Lone Tree at Chestnut Ridge in Winter
Photographed on film: Flexaret V TLR, Fomapan 400
Another couple miles later I stood in front of a scene I have photographed before. And not just once, the cottage in the woods has become somewhat of a celebrity in my photographs. It's just in such a perfect location surrounded by the woods and taking on different looks based on the season and weather.
Cottage in Winter WoodsChestnut Ridge Park
Cottage in Winter Woods, Chestnut Ridge Park
Photographed on film: Flexaret V TLR, Fomapan 400
I almost forgot to mention it. There was a strong secondary purpose to this photo outing. In summer, I brought back a beautiful Flexaret V twin lens reflex camera from the Czech Republic. I have cleaned it up since but have not run film through it yet. It was time!
Flexaret VIn Snow
Allow me a little bit of space here to provide a summary of what I have found out. Overall, the shooting experience is very close to that of using any TLR. This model's focusing screen is not the brightest and as a result it is not easy to identify the point of perfect focus. Even with the provided magnifier the focus snap is not obvious, at least not to me with my sight challenges. And yes, add the fact I was wearing progressive glasses to the mix and it was a slow process of me getting to pressing the shutter. For each shot, I looked at the focusing scale to confirm that I was in the ballpark, thus using zone focusing as a safety net.
Another lesson learned was that shooting into a bright light showed the limitation of the lens producing quite a flare. However, keeping that in mind, I was very impressed with the results some of which you see in today's post. Quite impressive for a camera from the 1950s in my opinion.
Am I going to use the camera often? It's not going to be my primary TLR. Both of my Yashica LM and Rolleiflex Automat are easier to focus with their focusing screens. But to be fair, I actually had the focusing screen on the Rolleiflex replaced with a brighter screen. So maybe that is an option here too. And unlike the Yashica LM, which vignettes quite heavily, I did not experience any vignetting with the Flexaret. Given a bright day, I will be happy to take this camera out again.
Alright, back to the story of the day though. After the cottage, another mile or so of walking back to the car and a change of location was in order to point the camera at sights around Green Lake, including the old railroad bridge below. That, the cottage above, and many more photographs of mine show the advantage of being local. Nothing really looks the same on repeated visits. The seasons change, the weather changes, the time of day changes, there are so many factors that will drive the look of the final image. An of course, the choice of camera and film plays a significant role too.
Waiting for the Express TrainOrchard Park, NY
Waiting for the Express Train, Orchard Park, NY
Photographed on film: Flexaret V TLR, Fomapan 400
All photographs in today's post so far were taken in Orchard Park, NY. For the final one, we're heading all the way to Buffalo, NY for a picture of, dare I say, an iconic bridge. Yes, a bit of exaggeration, but this permanently raised railroad bridge is quite prominently visible from I-190 and hundreds of people see it every day. But do they really see it?
TripletsRaised Bridge and Utility Poles
Triplets, Raised Bridge and Utility Poles, Buffalo, NY
Photographed on film: Flexaret V TLR, Fomapan 400
And that's it for today and for the first post of 2020. Happy New Year to you all and thank you so much for stopping by!
Enjoy The Beauty That Surrounds You! #etbtsy
Do you enjoy reading my photography blog? Would you like to see more photographs from Buffalo and Western New York? Visit my Buffalo Cityscapes and Buffalo & Western New York Landscapes and enjoy! For more black and white photographs click to the World without Color photo collection. Please, let me know if you have any questions about any photo products offered, or not offered, I will be happy to help! For a quick reference to all photo galleries and collections as well as all photo products currently offered through my site, please, visit the Products page.
Using my links to do your shopping keeps me sharing more photographs and writing the stories behind them and costs you nothing. You can also use the Amazon search box in bottom left for anything at all. I truly appreciate each purchase, no matter how large, no matter how small. Thank you!
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