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Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming!

January 4, 2015 — 12 Comments

canvasback ducks

F/6.3, 1/60, ISO 320.

Day 4 / 365

I wonder where they can be swimming in such a hurry, maybe they are late to be somewhere or maybe they are just afraid of me. 🙂

Interesting Fact: Canvasbacks are diver ducks well equipped with their own form of flippers—large webbed feet that make them smooth and graceful swimmers. They spend much of their time in the water and use their long bills to feed by digging through bottom sediments in search of aquatic plant stems and roots, or submerged insects, crustaceans, and clams. ( http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/canvasback/ )

I Have An Idea!

January 3, 2015 — 18 Comments

light bulb

F/11.0, 1/250, ISO 320.

Day 3 / 365

Sometimes you can get an idea by just turning the light on. 🙂

Interesting Fact: Electric arc lighting, invented in 1809, was much safer but far too bright for use in a small area. A smaller light was needed, and in 1880 Thomas Edison patented the first commercially viable incandescent light bulb. ( http://classroom.synonym.com/important-thomas-edison-invention-light-bulb-6305.html )

Stairway To Heaven

January 2, 2015 — 16 Comments

Bridge

F/6.3, 30.0, ISO 100.

Day 2 / 365

To some people it may look like a stairway to heaven, but to most of us it’s just a New Jersey Turnpike. ( Which is no heaven )

Interesting Fact: If you wanted to visit Bruce Springsteen’s hometown of Freehold, what NJ Turnpike exit would you take?  Exit 8 is Heightstown – Freehold. But don’t go to Freehold expecting to visit a Springsteen Museum – there isn’t one. According to an article by fellow Freehold native Mark Hyman in “Business Week” in 2000, that’s the way The Boss likes it. Apparently he wants things to be low-key and “normal” when he goes there to visit his old haunts. ( http://www.funtrivia.com/en/subtopics/The-New-Jersey-Turnpike-What-Exit-297450.html )

 

 

365 Project-The Beginning

January 1, 2015 — 12 Comments

Happy New Year 2015

F25.0, 20.0, ISO 100.

1 /365

The time is here to start my 365 project. First photo of the year seems proper.  Stay tuned to see my other ideas for this project.

 

Interesting Fact: The earliest known New Year celebrations were in Mesopotamia and date back to 2000 B.C. ( http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/12/world/new-years-fast-facts/ )

 

Goodbye 2014, Welcome 2015!!

December 31, 2014 — 28 Comments

cardinal

F/6.3, 1/125, ISO 1000.

I would like to thank everyone for an amazing first year. Starting January 1st, I am doing the 365 project so you guys will be able to enjoy new photos from me each day. I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Interesting Fact: Cardinals are a picture of sweetness especially when mate feeding. During this time, the male looks for food and feeds the female by putting the food into its mate’s bill as if kissing each other. ( http://www.birdhouses101.com/cardinal-facts.asp )

 

Have You Been Naughty Or Nice?!

December 18, 2014 — 18 Comments

santa

F/8.0, 1/250, ISO 110.

 

Santa keeps his reindeers resting all year long, so they have enough energy for that one special night of the year. But in the meantime, he checks up on everyone while riding his special stallion. Be aware-SANTA IS WATCHING YOU!!!

Interesting Fact: He doesn’t just like milk and cookies.

Things other countries leave out for Santa (or his non-union equivalent), according to Wikipedia:

in Britain and Australia, he is sometimes given sherry or beer, and mince pies instead. In Sweden and Norway, children leave rice porridge. In Ireland it is popular to give him Guinness or milk, along with Christmas pudding or mince pies.

If I were Santa, the United Kingdom and Australia would get all the presents.  ( http://io9.com/11-insane-things-you-didnt-know-about-santa-claus-1485017907 )

I Cannot Believe Another Day Is Over!

December 9, 2014 — 24 Comments

verrazano bridge

F/11.0, 1/250, ISO 100

This guy enjoying the sunset over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is probably wondering how cold the water is and if he will ever make it across. Or he may be singing in his head a Britney Spears song “Oops!…I did it again”

 

Interesting Fact: The first driver to cross the bridge wore a rented tuxedo and piloted a “pale blue Cadillac convertible with flags flapping from the fenders,” nabbing the distinction because he had parked behind the Staten Island toll for a week, guaranteeing the position. ( http://www.bensonhurstbean.com/2014/11/25-facts-verrazano-narrows-bridge/ )

Hmmm I Wonder…….

December 4, 2014 — 2 Comments

Jarek

F/7.1, 1/200, ISO 200.

This photo of Jarek Polatynski at Empty Sky Memorial really makes me wonder what was going through his head as he was looking at all the names on the walls.

 

Interesting Fact: The memorial includes twin walls, transecting a “gently sloped mound anchored by a granite path that is directed toward Ground Zero.[2] Two 30-foot-high rectangular towers stretch 208 feet, 10 inches long — the exact width of the World Trade Center towers, the proportion of the walls a symbolic representation of the buildings as if they were lying on their sides.[2] The name of each of the 746 victims is etched in stainless steel in 4-inch-high letters. A granite passage is oriented to face the site of the twin towers.[2][3] The name of the memorial is taken from the Bruce Springsteen song “Empty Sky“, which is about the “empty sky” where the towers once stood. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empty_Sky_(memorial) )

 

 

I Just Came To Say Hello !

November 30, 2014 — 36 Comments

Carolina Chickadee

F/5.6, 1/500, ISO 1000.

This Black-capped Chickadee flew by a few times before he sat on a branch nearby.  He started to say few things to me that sounded like “chick-a-dee-dee-dee”, “fee-bee”, “fee-bee-be”. I’m not sure what he was saying but I am guessing it could be something like “Wazzup!” or maybe ” how you doin”. I guess we can only wonder.

 

Interesting Fact: The song of the Black-capped Chickadee is one of the most complex vocalizations of all animals, acting as a contact call, an alarm call, to identify an individual, or to indicate recognition of a particular flock. ( http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/680/_/Black-capped_Chickadee.aspx )

This City Means Business!

November 11, 2014 — 9 Comments

NYC speed

F/22.0, 0.8, ISO 100.

New York City knows one speed and it is Fast Forward. ( well sometimes you see cab drivers going in reverse ) HaHa. Let me change that, this city speed is mostly forward. 🙂

 

Interesting Fact:  New York City has more people than 39 of the 50 states in the U.S. ( http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/60-facts-that-will-make-nyc-feel-like-a-whole-new-place )