PhotoEscapist

Hope

I enjoy going to Onondaga Lake to take pictures.  It has fabulous views and a rich history and, like many other beautiful places it has been abused by industry.

Right now, it is one of the most polluted lakes in the world.  The fish that live here aren’t fit for human consumption and the waters aren’t safe to swim in.   Descriptions of the pollution included, mountains of broken ceramics, ponds of mercury contaminated sediment,undulating  tubes of tar a few cars, a plane and, a train beneath the surface of the waters.

However there are plans under way to restore and revitalize the lake.

Enough of that   You’ve seen some of the pictures I’ve taken there during the day.  If not, here are a couple of galleries and lest I forget, this picture is on display at the Westcott Community Center (it’s also for sale on my ‘buy featured photos’ tab on this page)

This is the 20th year of Lights on the Lake.  Adorned with Christmas light displays, this two mile journey covers seven different themes sponsored by local businesses and organizations.  In general, “Lights on the Lake” is a drive through event.  The night I attended was one of two walking nights.  This allowed hundreds of people the opportunity to wander among the displays at their own pace.

It was a really nice November night to wander through the park with 20 pounds of equipment and  tripod for company.  My four mile round trip journey though the park took around three hours.   When you drive through, the trip is half the distance and takes less than a third of the time.  For details about the cost and the dates of lights on the lake, please visit their site.

Seeing as it was night, I alternated between a wide open shutter and long exposures resulting in some nice pictures.

These are my favorite shots:

This picture is neat, and it makes me think they could pull off a Halloween Event in the park too.

Fantasy Forest

As a Runner Up I like this photo too

Long exposure to the Victorian Age

You can find more photos on my Flickr page.

I will have to go back later in the winter.  The lights reflecting off of the snow makes an amazing change to the atmosphere along the winding path through the lights and park.

After your tour of “Lights on the Lake, you can go to Sainte Marie among the Iroquois for “Christmas Around the World” (Between November 27th and December 19th from 5 – 9pm).  It’s free with your “Lights on the Lake” ticket or just $1, and will be a future Photoescapist Blog topic

Well, the last about the lens specifically.  I’ll still take pictures with it and you, may see it mentioned in passing.

This was the first ‘field trial’ with this lens.  It was in my bag as part of my normal load-out and, I found a opportunity to use it.  I also used the body doubler (not the kit doubler, I don’t like the way the camera balances with it on) for a few shots.

These were taken during my Quick Trip to Beaver Lake.  Unlike the other images in “more magnification testing” and “from the practical to the ridiculous“, these have been post processed, giving a better look at what the lens can do.

On to the pics:

Ducks and Geese @ 300mm

Ducks and Geese @ 800mm

Ducks and Geese @ 1600mm

I’m not sure where the fuzziness is coming from in the bright areas in the middle shot (around the duck’s chest) I’m assuming something (the doubler) has a finger print or smear on it.  In the third shot the blurriness is me, even with my tripod there is a lot of motion when shooting.  I’d take the shot with a remote, however the weight of the lens causes the camera to tip forward, without support.  I’m thinking about a counterweight or a string from the camera bad to the handle on the tripod to keep everything steady.

The Rokinin 800mm seems to be a good buy.  It’s cheap, and suits my purposes.  I need to better my skills with full manual and no light meter (or figure out how to make the light meter work with the D90 and a full manual lens   )  to get better shots from it.