Spring Photography

It's been an unseasonably warm winter here in New York City, and while I'll admit I miss the snow, I can't deny that with everything else that's been going on in my life it's been nice not to face lots of freezing cold days and slippery sidewalks.

I've really not had the photography bug of late, and it's worried me. I feel like I've made it too much like work (like I've done with so many other things) as I've striven to only take really good pictures, and that I'm very hard on myself when I get home and, "oh, it's out of focus!" "oh, it's crooked!" "oh, I could have done so much better if only I'd..."

I want to get away from feeling that way. I wanted to remind myself of what I like about photography. Thursday was in the mid-fifties here, and with that gorgeous sign of spring just around the corner, I decided to go for a walk in Central Park and see what I could see. I'd already seen ample evidence in the preceding week that even though it's only late February, spring was really starting to be sprung, so I went hunting for spring flowers. (primarily in the two place I expected most to find them: the Shakespeare Garden and the Conservatory Garden). I wasn't disappointed...


View of the lake, the bridge, with the Central Park South skyline in the background. Okay, I promised flowers, none yet, but give it a few shots. ;)


Squirrel seemed pretty happy with those red berries all over the ground...


Central Park South again, pity I couldn't get any ducks in this shot, there were a bunch around just hangin' out.


I found this wish tied to a tree. To whoever wrote it...I hope you will, too!


Hellebore was blooming all over the place, but as is so often the case, I found it very hard to get a good shot that really showed off how beautiful this flower is...


There were snowdrops. Oh, were there snowdrops. :) There were also crocus, irises, forsythia, some stuff I couldn't name, and - in very sunny spots - daffodils! In FEBRUARY!

Anyway, I've also been VERY good about labeling pictures on Flickr this past week. I've just been plowing through old sets; I'd estimate that I've gotten through around 1000 pictures just this past week! If I can keep that pace up, I'll be caught up by...er...sometime in the summer, I guess. Well, that's a sobering idea of just how far behind I am! However, as of now, I've labeled every picture I've taken in 2012 - which isn't saying much, since I haven't taken that many - and I've "only" got 31 unlabeled sets from 2011 (comprising a few thousand pictures). 2009 and 2010, I'm still plenty behind on - but even that, I've chipped away over this past week, tackling some of the sets that have been lingering longest. lol, at this rate, I'll soon have labeled all the pictures I took in Puerto Rico, three years ago February. Well, it's something. ;) It'd be nice if I can get to the point that I'm less than three years behind (I remember, back in 2009, the goal was to not be ONE year behind! Those were the days!). While pursuing my goal of catching up (last year, this time, I was hoping to catch up before I hit 2,000,000 views on my Flickr account. Well, that didn't happen. This year, I'm hoping to catch up before I hit 3,000,000 hits - which is still 4 or 5 months off or so...) I ended up labeling some spring pictures from last year, which reminded me of what I have to look forward to in the months ahead. There were lots of daffodil and tulip pics, but I don't know, those somehow never turn out quite right. They never capture the essence of that marvelous thing that IS a daffodil. But there were a few others I thought were good...(these pictures were ALSO all taken in either the Shakespeare Garden or the Conservatory Garden in Central Park...)


Like magnolias!


And this lily thing!


And I got one tulip I thought was pretty good!


And I have no idea what this one was, but I got the lighting right!

Have a great Sunday, everyone. ;)

Christmas Cards - It's That Time Again!

Wow, I can't believe it's already nearly the end of November! I've got Thanksgiving pie in the oven, plans all set for the weekend, and Christmas is right around the corner! Yes, it's that time again!

Do you write Christmas cards? If you are in the market for a truly special set of cards, I can work with you to pick out the images you like best from over hundreds of images I've taken of fall and winter, and custom print and cut you a set of cards just for you! My cards are currently selling for $2.50 each, but for the Holidays, you can get a set of 10 - 19 of my cards for $2.25 each, or 20 or more cards for $2 each! There are loads and loads of wonderful images for you to choose from, or you can tell me the kind of thing you want, and I can make suggestions!

Some of the possible images are in this post, where I advertised the cards last year (but ignore the prices, things change. ;) ). I've taken some wonderful images in the past year since then. I love winter photography!





















So, if you are in the market for some nifty, nifty cards, get in touch with me! I also do prints. For holiday orders, I'll need to know what cards you want by December 10th.

To get started placing your order, e-mail me at unforth AT yahoo DOT com!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

What Do You See on a Long, Long Walk?

Over the weekend, I followed a train of thought that is surprisingly normal for me:
1. Hey, look, I've got nothing on my calendar on Tuesday or Wednesday!
2. That means that if I take Tuesday as a day off, I can do all the work Wednesday, and all should be well!
3. The weather on Tuesday is going to be gorgeous.
4. I'd really, really like to see the cherry blossoms at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, but I'll be out of time for the Sakura Matsuri (which is this weekend).
5. I should go to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden on Tuesday!
(and now the leap of logic)
6. ...I've really wanted to find the time for a long walk.
7. I should walk to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. It's "only" about 15 miles from my apartment.
8. ...it's actually almost 19 miles from my apartment. Hey, that's manageable!

So...it's the morning, and I'm just getting done a few odds and ends before I start my walk. Here's the plan.

It's 19.2 miles, and takes me over the Broadway Bridge in to Manhattan, then all the way down Broadway to Union Square, south down to City Hall, across the Brooklyn Bridge, and finally down Flatbush until I get to the Garden. The beautiful thing about this root is that if I get tired at any point, it'll be the easiest thing in the world to abort and get on the train; the 2, 3 and 4 all go to BBG, and I'll be following the root for the 2/3 early in the walk (starting at about the 6 mile mark) and the 4 root starting at about the 10 mile point.

I've done a walk like this once before, 3 and a half years ago - that day, I just set out to walk as far as I could, and ended up going about 20 miles - with lots of pictures - but I'll make that a post for another day. ;)

Anyway...that's the plan! Enough description, I need to get moving! :)

...I would say that the fact that I think this plan was in anyway a good idea and a reasonable way to spend my day off is probably why I'm exhausted and busy all the time. :)

So! It's been about a week and a half since I first wrote the above. First I did the walk, then I wanted to wait to finish this post until I'd labeled all the pictures on Flickr, then I got busy, but today I finally finished the labeling, and here goes.

First, to end the suspense, I ended up walking 29 miles last Tuesday. I still kinda can't believe it. What amazed me most was that I could have continued, and the next day I was only a little stiff; by Thursday I was good to go again, and did a four mile walk with my dad without a twinge. I guess I didn't really realize just how in shape I am. I'm feeling pretty proud of myself.

So, what DOES one see on a 29 mile walk? Lets find out...

I saw these a lot:


It takes a lot of fuel to make it that far!

When I started out, it was cold and really foggy.


It cleared up soon, though! The trip was very, very long and took me past all three other places I've lived previously in New York City. I grew up on 86th Street.


I went by a whole lot of major tourists sights, too, like Times Square!


And Union Square!


And China Town!


I crossed the Manhattan Bridge on the way out, which gave me awesome views of the Brooklyn Bridge and Financial District.


I'd gone about 19 miles when I arrived at the garden. It turned out that it was a free admission day, and the weather was gorgeous, so it was mobbed with people!


The Cherry Blossoms were in full bloom.


I also wandered through the conservatory, where they had an awesome room dedicated to Bonsai!


A lot of gorgeous spring flowers were in bloom.


And the sun was shining down through the spring leaves which finally seemed to sprout, over night, now that the weather was improving.


There were flowers pretty much everywhere I looked!


So then came the question: what next? I had promised myself that if I could muster the energy to walk back to Little Italy, I could get a canoli, but I wasn't about to risk hurting myself. I took a break, pondered my physical condition, and ended up deciding to go for it. On the way, I passed through Grand Army Plaza, which I'd always wanted to go through (as it is a huge Civil War monument)


And I walked back across the Brooklyn Bridge!


With fantastic late afternoon views of the Bay.


I got a cream puff, too! La Bella Ferrara is one of the best Italian pastry places in the city, and I wasn't going to miss out!


I once again took stock of my physical condition, and realized that I still felt decent, and this might be one of my only chances in life to see just how far I could go. So I had a chat with my mom, and we decided that to make absolutely sure that I hit a minimum of 26 miles (walked a marathon) I would see if I could get all the way up to Columbus Circle, at 60th and Broadway.


...at which point, I decided that my feet hurt enough that it was time to go home. I hopped on the train, and an hour later made my way up the hill to my pup, waiting to be walked. It wasn't until I got in that I discovered that far from almost missing the 26 mile mark, I'd hit 29 miles! The full set of pictures is here. The sunburn is just peeling now. (which is no fair, since I put on sunscreen, dammit). :) Anyway, I had a ball - I think there are more ridiculously long walks in my future, if I can only find the time.

Bits and Pieces, and Some Stash Busting

I've been so busy the past week and a half that I haven't had much time for craftiness, but I don't want any more time to pass, so I thought I'd give a quick, random update.

Making Stuff
I've made almost nothing in the past week and a half, but I'm almost done with the crochet Zouave jacket (just need more materials and some buttons, then I could finish in about an hour).

Nerd Wars
Well, the first whole round - all three months - of Nerd Wars on Ravelry is over. This month is a month off, which is great because I've been so focused on making things for it that I haven't finished a bunch of other stuff (like, I've got three new dolls designs - the starfish, the roly poly king, and the fox - plus the unfinished gokk - each of which I need to finish a remake of before I can test them). Now I can take some time to make additional versions and get them ready to go, which is great. :)

However, if you've heard me babble about Nerd Wars on here and find that you're tempting, it's also recruiting time for the teams for next round. You can learn all about it here - basically, we all break in to teams based on fandoms, and then compete! There are a lot of old teams that will be continuing (for roleplaying games, and video games, and Babylon 5 and Firefly and Star Trek and more) and there are some new teams (like for grammar nuts, and reading fans, and Psych). But the best team of all...is my team! I'm going to be a team captain next round, for fans of the TV show Supernatural! Which means I'll be a mod! So come check out the fun - I've found it to be a great source of inspiration and an awesome way to meet other crafters.

Free Pattern Testers
Speaking of increasing authority and becoming a moderator, after several weeks of back and forth communication, I am now officially the third moderator for the awesome and helpful Free Pattern Testers group on Ravelry. I've got a very small and specific job, and I was so honored to be asked to join the team, and am so excited (and nervous) to be starting.

1000 Amigurumi Crane Project
The Project has been featured on This Week in Ravelry, but unsurprisingly, as time passes and new issues enter the public eye (such as the tornadoes in the US south) the steam has faded. However, I'm going to keep trying to put time in to this when I can - my problem is I am just over committed right now, and so I haven't been able to do as much as I've wanted. Still, we've raised around $300 total, which is awesome.

Stash Work
Over the winter, I really worked on stash busting, and got things to a the point that this was all I had left:


...at least, that WAS all I had left, until I went to Michaels and they had a lot of awesome colors in a kind of DK/thin worsted weight on sale half off...



The state that the addition of these skeins and some others left my closet in was really rather horrifying (and I thought I'd taken a picture of what it did to my closet, but sadly I don't appear to have). Anyway, it was a disaster, but last Saturday I spent the whole day in hard-core spring cleaning (like, going through stuff, getting rid of stuff, re-organizing my closets, etc.) And now, things are in much better shape:



I actually have room to hang things in my closet again, and all the yarn is one crate! Now just to keep working...

Travel
May is a month of travel for me. I just got back today from three days in Louisville, KY, for a friends wedding. (and I'm running on 5 hours of sleep and having been up since 3:30 in the morning!) Next weekend (Friday night to Sunday night), I'll be in Maryland for Maryland Sheep and Wool. Then, ridiculously early on the morning of the 11th, I'll be getting on a plane and going to Bali, in Indonesia, for another wedding. I'll be back on the morning of the 20th. I'm currently acting on the assumption (supported by no evidence what-so-ever, but a lot of hope and optimism) that I'll have internet while I'm there, and therefore be able to post, but even without that, it's mostly a trip of relaxation, which means there will be yarn, and tons of photography, and lots to share when I get back. I'm pretty excited. :) I can't believe I'm leaving in a week, I've been planning this trip since I was invited a year ago.

Spinning
Speaking of Maryland Sheep and Wool, I learned how to spin on a wheel last week! No photos of any thing about that yet, but I promise I'll take pictures the second time. It was hard, but I kinda thought I was getting the hang of it...

9/11 and Memories and Thoughts
I've spent all day wrestling with how I feel about the death of Osama bin Laden and considering whether or not to do a post on here about it. In the end, this isn't my personal blog, and my feelings about 9/11 aren't related to my crafting, and I don't want to go in to politics. But New York City is such an integral part of who I am that I realized I couldn't just not mention it at all. When I first heard, I almost cried, and I couldn't figure out what I thought, but now that I've had all day to reflect (I didn't find out til this morning), all I can say is that I feel grim satisfaction. This city is in my soul. I love it, adore it profoundly, and 9/11 is a wound that will never quite heal. I still remember when my mom took me to the observation deck when I was a little kid, and from the 90th+ floor, the cars looked like matchbox toys and the people like ants; when I was in high school, I would go there to hang out and shop at the Borders cause my school was only a half mile away; when I was in college and would drive home on Route 80, I would catch my first glimpse of the skyline and it would make me smile because I knew I was home. Thanksgiving after 9/11, I went home on that route, crested the hill, saw the sky line, and there was a vast emptiness, and I realized for the first time how profoundly life would never be the same. I've now done that drive dozens of times, and I still feel that emptiness and loss every time. It's been a decade, but this wound will never heal, but I think that now that that SOB is dead, justice has been done for what was done to my city and to her people, and we can finally try to move on.


(this is a shot I took of the tribute from 9/11/2008 - I knew a lot less about photography then, which is why this isn't much of a shot, but it still seems appropriate here).