SLEIGH RIDE

well, after a very nice visit to our families in Ottawa, we just returned to North Bay. Yesterday we went on a traditional sleigh ride, which was was great fun. So here is a picture of that event.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

It has been a very busy two weeks but now everything is ready for the Christmas holidays. First of course I wish all my blogging friends a very happy holiday or if you prefer a very merry Christmas. I will be away till the 28th of December so I will not be posting pictures until after I return. A toast to all of you.

ANOTHER TIMES SQUARE PICTURE

I guess everybody is really busy getting ready for Christmas. Anyway this is another image from Times Square. The picture was made with a 10mm wide angle lens. The contrast at night was enormous and many of the screens were very bright. I still liked the image but enhanced the picture using two plugins. First the great curve plugin easy.Filter set to LAB mode and then I made some further changes using Virtual Photographer from optikVerve Labs. Both of these filters are free and I can highly recommend them.

TIMES SQUARE

Of course, when you go to New York you have to make a visit to Times Square. I have to say, at night it is spectacular. Its loud in your face commercialism but it works. In the daytime the square is merely tacky. Still fun to see and of course you can always get some interesting images.

ABANDONED RAILWAY TERMINAL

Returning from Ellis Island you see an old railway terminal. It is totally abandoned. The weeds grow on the strips where the original tracks were but which have been removed. Its a pretty dismal place. Of course I had to take some pictures even though the light was very poor. This must have been a pretty busy place when the immigrants came from the Ellis Island ferry.

SKYLINE NEW YORK

I took this picture from the walkway around the base of the Statue of Liberty. The weather, which changed the sky from blue to gray. Just the right light for this image with lots of atmosphere.it was quite dark so I had to shoot with the lens wide open. I should have used a tripod to get a greater depth of field but I did not have one with me. I still think the picture turned out fine.

ANOTHER SOLUTION

Nonie wondered about turning the the images into a sequence. That was my first impulse but instead I opted for a singular image made of the four pictures. My interest was to emphasize texture and shape. I agree,there are many different ways of designing this image. It just depends on what view point you like to express.* Just a note about the size of the images. I size my pictures for the blog to fit the screen.Just click on the image and it will fill your screen. I don't like to make them larger because then you will have to scroll. By the way the size is 900 pixels wide and 657 pixels high.

STATUE OF LIBERTY

Photographing a so popular landmark as the Statue of Liberty is a challenge. As a photographer you try to interpret the site in your own personal way. I decided to concentrate on specific details of the statue and combine them in a composite layout. Hope it worked.

WINDOW VIEW, STATUE OF LIBERTY

One last picture of Ellis Island. This image is for Nonie and Dave. I took many more images at this site but its time to go on. I like this image because through the windows in the great hall you clearly see the Statue of Liberty. One of the great American icons.I will have more pictures from that site.

VIEW OF NEW YORK

I took this picture through the fabric of a window blind on Ellis Island. This is the view immigrants would see before embarking for the mainland. I can imagine, as an immigrant myself, the excitement but also the anxiety of what the future would bring.

ELLIS ISLAND, NEW YORK

On our first day in New York , we had planned to spend just a few hours visiting Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. We ended up spending a whole day exploring this very historical site. Ellis Island has been splendidly restored.This is the splendid reception hall, where all the immigrants were processed before allowed entrance into the US.

RECORD SNOWFALL

Yesterday and today we received a record amount of the white stuff. It still looks beautiful this early in the season and I could not resist to make some romantic views of our backyard. Tomorrow I will start posting some images of New York.

A BIG THANKS TO RAY

I am back from my trip to New York. Today, two postings instead of just one image. This picture is for Ray Owens, who we met at the Christmas parade and offered to have our granddaughter Kaitlyn to sit on his shoulders so she could see the parade. This was extremely generous of Ray so here is his picture with his girlfriend and Kaitlyn. Thanks very much Ray.