Beer Here

Heartland Brewery, South St Seaport, New York, NY 

This guy has his hands full.  It took me some trial and error and get the exposure right on this painting.  At least he was patient, and stood really still while I took his picture.   This is taken with the Nikon D90, ISO 200 f/7.1, 1/60 sec using a AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G lens. 

Statues of Liberty

Pier 17, South St Seaport, New York, NY

You can buy these souvenirs all over NYC.  Funny how all the likenesses are different.  None of these faces exactly match the real thing.  

Real Beer

South St Seaport, New York, NY

We stopped here for a very light lunch, knowing that later in the afternoon, we'd have a much larger traditional NYC "Steakhouse" dinner.  I enjoy going to brewpubs and sampling their beers, but it was still a little early in the day for me to be sampling their entire line of beers so I only had a pint of their Red Rooster Ale.  They serve great burgers along with great beer.  I'll definitely go back.

Peking

South St Seaport, New York City

The Peking is a steel-hulled four-masted barque currently a part of the South St Seaport Museum.  

Brooklyn Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge

We took a trip into New York City today to visit the South St Seaport.  It's an historic area with lots of old buildings, some tall ships, and a couple of other historic vessels.  There are some great views of the Brooklyn Bridge, one of which is shown here.  Unfortunately the weather was pretty gray and gloomy with some light rain. Pictures have a hard time capturing the magnificence of this New York icon. 

Merry Christmas

Chapman Farms, Niantic, CT

Chipmunk

Chapman Farms, Niantic, CT

This little guy posed for me on one of my neighborhood walks.  There are lots of chipmunks around the neighborhood.  I'm sure they're attracted to the bird seed I use to feed the birds.  I'm not sure if I'm more successful attracting birds or chipmunks.

Backyard Birds II

Tufted titmouse

Backyard Birds

House Finch

I spent some time this past summer trying to photograph the birds that frequent my backyard bird feeders.  I got lucky with a few shots.  One really needs a lot of patience to do bird photography.  They don't sit still for very long and I find that my lenses are neither long enough or fast enough. 

Winter

Chapman Farms, Niantic, CT

Winter officially arrives this week on Thursday, December 22.  Some parts of Connecticut have already seen significant snow fall, and considerable damage due to heavy, wet snow.  This picture was taken about a year ago, after our first real snow of 2010-2011.  It reminds me of what is to come, and also that Christmas is only a week away. 

Chatham Lighthouse

Chatham Lighthouse, Chatham, MA

Location: Chatham Harbor, southeast corner of Cape Cod; Nearest town: Chatham

41 40 17 N
69 57 01 W*
*More information can be found here.

Synergistic

Chatham, MA

Ever wonder how people come up with the names for their boats?  Some are rather clever.  Some have a meaning known only to their captain. 

Sunrise over Cape Cod

Chatham, MA

The Black Sheep

Niantic, CT

Every family has one....  or so the saying goes. 

Eldridge Garage

Chatham, MA

I haven't had much time lately to go out and shoot, so some of these posts will have pictures a little dated.  I would like to post my most recent pictures, but often I resort to those pictures taken earlier this year.  This one was taken on our Cape Cod weekend back in March.  I like photographing old buildings and often wonder what the buildings looked like in their heyday.  

Little Mill Pond

Little Mill Pond, Chatham, MA

Reagents

Forma Therapeutics, Branford, CT

I was recently asked to take some pictures around my place of work to possibly be used on a newly designed company website.  I guess I was asked since I've taken a number of photos at other company get togethers.  I'm not exactly sure what types of pictures are wanted, so I'm trying to capture a little something of the people and the work we do.  Pictured here are some reagents to be used in planned syntheses of new compounds.  

Whale Fluke

New London, CT

New London is known as the Whaling City.  This fountain was recently erected to honor the role whales played in the history of New London.

One More Train Picture

Essex, CT

Please allow me to post one more picture of the steam train in Essex, CT.  I posted a few pictures of this train recently and wanted to share one more.  I don't do a lot of post processing of my digital pictures.  Normally I'll add a slight curve adjustment, then darken the highlights a little, a bring up the shadows and finally sharpen a bit.   This is all done in Apple's Aperture 3.  I felt this picture, needed to be rendered in black and white.  I started with one of the many Aperture B&W presets, and adjusted the color filters to get the version seen here.  I'm sure others more skilled than I could improve upon this.  They would look at the image straight out of the camera and know exactly what adjustments need to be made to bring out the best in the image whereas I play with the adjustments until I get an image I like.  

Chatham Town Clock

Chatham, MA

Melissa

Chatham, MA

For the first time this past March, my wife and I visited Cape Cod.  Early one morning, I walked the beach in Chatham just after sunrise and came upon this memorial.  I don't know anything about Melissa, but someone wanted her to be remembered at this peaceful spot.  

Ice

Chatham, MA 

Something tells me there is no ice here.  

Machinery II

Essex, CT

This is a close up of the machine/sculpture shown in an earlier post.  It does appear that the gears were made to mesh together to accomplish some sort of work.  

Old Mill

North Stonington, CT

North Stonington was once known as Milltown.  I'm not sure if this mill was responsible for the name or not.  Today it appears to be a private residence, albeit one with a water wheel.

Bridge Out

North Stonington, CT

There used to be a bridge here.  It's been over a year since the bridge was washed away due to some heavy rains in March, 2010.  The red building housed a boutique shop/art gallery/coffee shop called The Watermark which also was heavily damaged and had to be torn down.  

Machinery

Historic Witch Hazel Factory, Essex, CT

I'm not sure what piece of machinery this is or what it did.  It might only be a sculpture made up of parts of a machine, that were put together in a way that seemed to fit.  I would like to think that it really had an important part to play in the historic witch hazel factory nearby.  It looks like it actually did so some work.

Steam

Essex Steam Train

Here's another view of the steam locomotive in Essex.  I was hoping this picture would convey some sense of the power of these engines driven entirely with the energy contained in heated water.  It's pretty fascinating to me.  On a much smaller scale, and without as much soot and smoke seen above,  steam also powered the Stanley Steamer.

Stanley Steamer, Mystic Seaport Antique Auto Show, 2011

Essex Steam Train

Essex Steam Train, Essex, CT

The steam train in Essex is running on weekends, I think, through the holiday season.  You don't see engines like this too much any more.

Rocking Chair

Niantic, CT

Along most city streets, one can find benches of various sorts for shoppers to rest.  This is the first rocking chair I've seen out on a main street.  And on top of that, it's pink, with the nice inscription which you can read below.  We all need to start enjoying.

Town Clock

North Stonington, CT

I think every New England town has a town clock located in the town's center.  Here's one I found in North Stonington.  It's been a while since the face has been cleaned, but the time was correct. 

A Belated Happy Thanksgiving

My Backyard, Niantic, CT

I should've posted this yesterday in honor of Thanksgiving, but I was doing a good part of preparing my own Thanksgiving turkey for a family dinner.  So this is a belated Thanksgiving wish to everyone.  These guys visited my backyard a couple of weeks ago.  They're very skittish and hard to photograph, but I was able to get a few acceptable shots.  This is only about half of the rafter. For some reason, they did not visit here yesterday.  I'm sure they are thankful for that.  I know I have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season.

Strawberry Banke

Strawberry Banke, Portsmouth, NH

If you ever get the chance to visit Portsmouth, NH, you owe it to yourself to visit the Strawberry Banke Museum.  This is a museum which comprises an old neighborhood of Portsmouth known as Strawberry Banke and Puddle Dock.  It traces over 375 years of history with its restored buildings and exhibits.  It's a fascinating place.  We visited here last May and also enjoyed many of the other attractions found in Portsmouth, including a stop at the Portsmouth Brewery.

Chagrin Falls

Chagrin Falls

Just some shots of Chagrin Falls, in of all places..... Chagrin Falls, Ohio.  I wonder what came first, the town's name or the falls' name.  In any event, it's a lovely town in the state of Ohio.

Vineyard

Jonathan Edwards Winery

The vines were still green a couple of weeks ago, but I think this season's crop of grapes had been harvested.  The vines are barren now.

Old Building

Norwich, CT

I'm always interested in old, abandoned buildings.  As the saying goes, "if these walls could talk",  I'm sure there would be some interesting stories to tell about these buildings.  I'm not sure if these are being demolished or not.  If they are being demolished, it's being done carefully with a lot of re-cycling.

Big Tree

McCook Point Park

I'll have to do some research to try and identify this tree.  I don't think I've ever seen a tree with so many thick branches coming off of such a short, stubby trunk.  I'm thinking this a European Beech tree.  If not a notable tree of Connecticut, it should be.

Niantic Bay

Niantic Bay

This is a view of Niantic Bay, taken from McCook Point park in Niantic.  It was a crisp autumn morning, but sunny.  We've already had some snow this year, but you wouldn't know it from this picture.  Some parts of the state were hit very hard.  We had only a little snow, and mostly rain.  

Thomas Oyster Co

 Mystic Seaport

I go to Mystic Seaport many times throughout the year and if you read this blog long enough, you'll probably see many of the pictures I've taken there.  It takes you back to the time when shipbuilding was a major industry in Mystic.  Along with the ships and boats on display, there is a complete seaport town with buildings dating from the mid to late 1800's.  For some reason, whenever I visit the seaport, I find myself taking pictures of the same things.  I must have dozens of pictures of this particular building, each one slightly different.  I know that the next time I go, I'll see the Thomas Oyster Co again, and again I'll take a picture or two as if it were the first time I've seen it.  

Memorial Bench

Olin J Stephens Memorial Bench, Mystic Seaport

There are many ways in which people are memorialized.  Buildings, roads, bridges, monuments and the like are erected to remember those who have gone before us, and who have had an impact while here on earth.  Benches are a particularly nice way to be remembered.  This one remembers Olin J Stephens,  yacht builder and trustee of Mystic Seaport.  I'm not sure if I'll ever accomplish enough in my life time to warrant a memorial of any kind, but if it should come to pass, I would want to have a memorial park bench.

The Lynx

 The Lynx, Mystic Seaport

This is The Lynx, a replica of a schooner which fought during the War of 1812.  This replica was built in Maine in 2001 and now serves as a educational vessel, teaching the history of  privateers and of sailing vessels during the early 1800's.  You can read more about The Lynx here.  The ship is spending the winter here in Mystic.  About the time I learned this ship was going to be docked in Mystic Seaport I ran across some other images of the ship in the blog, North Country Ramblings, by photographer James Bullard.  His blog is one of many I read regularly, enjoying his pictures of New York state's Adirondack region.  For comparison, you can see one of his images here.  As you can see, a lot of the rigging has been removed in preparation for the winter.  When fully rigged these ships are a thing of beauty.  These pictures hardly do The Lynx justice.  I'll have to return in the spring when the ship is about ready to depart so that I can catch her under sail.

Sunrise over Niantic Bay

Niantic Bay

Well, alright, it's a little past sunrise over Niantic Bay.  I'm still trying to get up early enough to catch a real sunrise here. 

A Favorite Place

Jonathan Edward's Winery, North Stonington, CT

I'm hardly a wine connoisseur, but I do enjoy a good glass of wine and Jonanthan Edwards Winery makes some pretty good wines.  They are a "bi-coastal" winery producing wines both from California-grown grapes as well as those grown here in Connecticut.  It's a lovely place to spend an afternoon with someone you love. 

Hole in the Wall

Hole in the Wall Beach, Niantic, CT

This is the entrance to the Hole in the Wall Beach in Niantic, CT.  The "hole" is actually a tunnel underneath some railroad tracks.   The tracks are heavily travelled by Amtrak and the Shore Line East commuter line. I've always enjoyed the view through the hole, looking out on Long Island Sound, but have had a hard time capturing the image with my DSLR due to the dynamic range of the picture.  If I expose for the water and sky, the tunnel is too dark.  Exposing  for the tunnel will blow out the water and sky.  I know there are some ways around this, involving multiple pictures at different exposures and some software post processing with a good image editor.  Although I'm not quite satisfied with this result, it's the best I've been able to manage to date.  This image is from a single exposure on a JPEG straight out of the camera with some image adjustments done in Aperture.  

Safe Swim

"Hole in  the Wall Beach", Niantic, CT

During the summer months, these buoys are used to mark off the safe swim area at the "Hole in the Wall" Beach here in Niantic.  They look a little out of place sitting up here on dry land.  It would be pretty tough to do any swimming around these buoys now, even if the the weather were warmer.