PhotoEscapist

Today’s trip was about 30 minutes to the south and 390-380 million years in the past bringing us to the middle of the Paleozoic.   The outcropping of rock to explore is located behind the Eckerd/Rite-Aid Drugstore in Tully, NY.

Windom Shale formation behind the Drugstore

The hill is mostly made of Windom Shale from the Middle Devonian and contains: Nautoloids, Brachiopods, Crinoids and a Trilobite or two.

My gear for this trip included the Nikon D90, the Nikkor 50mm Prime lens, a canvas backpack, a hammer, many ziplock bags and padding for the shale.  The shale is very fragile and can get sharp, so a little caution is advisable.

Being a geeky kinda guy I ended up spending a little over 3 hours digging, splitting and sorting.  For all of my effort, no good Trilobites “:(  I did end up with a nice collection of almost everything else tho

An assortment of old dead, well preserved things

Another assortment of old dead, well preserved things

Gonna get this little guy ID'ed soon

For more, you can check my Flickr Photostream.

So there you have it!  A quick and cheap trip, with something to do when you get there!

CNY Blooms Entry Display

This was my first visit to CNY Blooms at the Oncenter in Downtown Syracuse, NY.  From the description on the webpage and the flier in the newspaper I was expecting a lot more.  I thought I’d find flowers, plants and landscaping vendors from wall to wall.  Walking through the doors I was greeted by a great display put together by the CNY Nursery & Landscape Association.

CNY Nursery & Landscape Assc. Display

CNY Nursery & Landscape Assc. Display

Sadly the rest of the Oncenter looked more like this:

*Sigh*

I thought there would be more companies along the lines of the Holland Bulb Farm, Michigan Bulb and Spring Hill Nursery.

I wandered around for an hour an took a few pictures.  There were a couple of eye catching displays but nothing quite as good as the CNY Nursery & Landscape Assc. Display.  I did run across another local Photog, normaJean,  who had some very nice canvas wrapped prints on display.

Overall the show for me was a bust.  Being that it was my first time there, I’ll assume it was the poor economy which made the event so lackluster.

If you do go parking was free at the Oncenter lot (mention you are there for the CNYBlooms Show) and tickets to enter were $10.

I have this odd urge to go out and find a VW Minibus now….

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