The Bishops Wife starring Cary Grant, David Niven, Loretta Young

I just finished watching the 1947 film The Bishops Wife. It starred Cary Grant, (one of my all time favorite actors), Loretta Young and David Niven. It is a Christmas movie and so good that it brought tears to my eyes. Not that it's a sad movie, but it touched me on a spiritual level. The basic plot: Cary Grant plays an Angel who visits a Bishop (David Niven), who has become a bit misguided and neglectful of his marriage because of his desire to build a new cathedral. It is an overall good movie. I am inclined to give it a 4 stars. It probably is more widely regarded as 3 stars, a solid three stars. The movie is based on the 1928 book by Robert Nathan. I see that it's available through Amazon.Com 

Our 2012 Christmas Tree at our home in Chaumont, NY. 

I am so pissed off!!! I spent an hour writing more for this blog entry and it vanished. I clicked save, I clicked update, I clicked publish. Where the hell is my work?? nd this, just before bedtime. I was talking about this Christmas season being the bets one I've had in years. I finally am not afraid to spend some money. I talked about some of my co-workers who facing a job loss in January. I talked about how savvy I am with paying down my debts with 0% credit card offers. About how it snowed the past two days. I simply cannot re-write it. I have had so much to share on this blog and day after day goes by and I cannot seem to get to it. When I finally do, wham! Good night.

December 21rts Wedding is End of the World for the Bride Groom

I went to bed at 10:00pm lasst night. Awoke at 3:00am. Dozed back off, got up at 5:00. Went downstairs & turned on the Christmas Tree lights. Made the coffee. Got a pretty good hour & half of  guitar practice. At 7:00 I went to my mother's house and took her to the cardiologist office for a check up. At 9:00 we were out of there. Met my daughter and we had breakfast at Frieda's on Court St.
From there we parted ways. I went to JC Penny's at the salmon Run Mall. I purchased a nice Arrow brand shirt for $17.00, a new suit coat  for $40.00, and a good looking, wool , wither jacket for $52.00 These items were for me, not Christmas presents. All of the items were on sale. Supposedly the original prices were $40.00 for the shirt, $70.00 for the suit coat, and $80.00 for the winter jacket.

Next I went to Wal-Mart for a couple of Christmas gifts. Then I went to the Sportsman's Barber shop on state St. and got a $10.00 hair cut. I gave the girl that cut my hair a $5.00 tip. From there I went across the street to Musicology. It was now 1:30PM. I had guitar students come in for lessons until 6:00. I then went home, had a nice, light dinner with the better half: Baked chicken thighs and a salad. From 8:00 to 11:00 we watched a couple of old moves on TCM. I forget thye title of the first one, but the second one was a Bob Hope movie titled The Lemon Drop Kid. That movie introduced the now classic Christmas son Silver Bells. Now it is 11:25 and I am dog tired and heading to bed. Tomorow is  Dec. 21st, the last day of the World according to the Mayan Calendar. I am playing guitar at a wedding at 4:00 on that day. I don't know if the world will come to an end for most of us, but I suppose the world as he knows it will indeed come to an end for the groom. Good night everyone. Sweet dreams and soon Christmas will be upon us.

Photography Lesson: Foreground and Background

When I take photographs I am always paying attention to the relationship of the foreground to the background. I photograph a lot of events such as weddings, fund raisers, business grand openings, art show openings and more. Photos of those event usually involve people. Whom ever is the main subject in a given situation is usually in the foreground. I focus on that subject and as I begin to take snaps I keep an eye on the folks in the background. I try to capture a moment when the body language of the subject and that of the background people comes together in an interesting fashion. Wide angle lenses are best for this. They provide more depth of field and a more readable background when the depth of field is shallow.

The singer in the foreground is the main subject. I kept an eye on the background people so as to capture a moment in which the body language of each individual added something to the overall interest and composition of the photo.  photo by Gary Walts

I probably snapped a dozen or so photos of the trio in the above photo. I was keeping a close eye on the relationship of each person to the other and settled on this photo as the best. When I photograph events I am always working to capture moments. Photos such as these are not accidents. They are the result of a deliberate attempt to capture such moments by watching what is going on around me. These principals apply to family photos and events also.

63 Degrees Today in Chaumont, N.Y.

DJ at a wedding I photographed as he waited for the bridal party to arrive.

It was a beautiful day in Northern NY today. The high hit 63 degrees. The Better half & I went to Sonny's Greenhouses in the Town of Pamelia and bought a Christmas tree. It's a Douglas Fir, 6 foot tall, cost $35.00 On the way home we visited my mother at her home in the hamlet of Calcium. We ate lunch today at TGI Fridays. She had a Reuben sandwhich, I had a spicy hamburger. The sauce was intense, made with beer. Quite good. We also shared a half order of potato skins. I thought they were rather bland. We had a coupon for $8.00 off so our tab added up to $21.09, so, we left the $8.00 for a tip. (So it was $29.09 for the whole thing). Any how, we were back home with the tree at 2:300, set it up and got it decorated. I also managed to get in some good guitar practice. Overall it was one of those good days.

Christmas Parade in Clayton, New York 13624

The Bach & Co. parade float in the 50th annual Christmas Parade, Clayton, NY.

 

The village of Clayton NY is located on the St Lawrence River. The population in 2009 was 1,978.  Last night I went to Clayton and snapped the following photos of their 50th annual Christmas Parade. For a small village they put on a really good parade.

This parade entry pays tribute to nThe Griswold Christmas Tree from the Chevy Chase movie Christmas Vacation.

The Clayton Dive Club's float.

No Nativity Scenes For Santa Monica

About three years ago an atheist named Damon Vix began a campaign to eliminate Christmas nativity scenes in Santa Monica. He has finally succeeded. The link will take you to a news story about it;

http://www.startribune.com/nation/180078401.html?refer=y

I found Damon Vix on Face Book. If you are a Face Book member you can send him a message.  Just type in his name in the people search. He is the one from Burbank.  I did just that.

 I went to his Face Book page ( he has 114 friends) and sent him a simple message: "Hello Damon, I wish you a Merry Christmas" Let's get as many people as possible to wish him Merry Christmas through a message his his Face Book page. NO negativity or hatefulness. Simply a message of warm Christmas spirit. See if we can win him over with love for Christmas and our fellow man.

 

It would be terrific to get hundreds, thousands or more to wish him a Merry Christmas!!

A Tale of Two Squirrels

The Sun is shining brightly here in Chaumont, N.Y. this morning. The night time temperatures have been around 24 to 28 degrees for the past week or so. That is decidedly cooler than my recollection of last year.
I am getting a bit tense because I have had no freelance work this month except a small paying guitar gig that was nothing more than a trial event at a seasonal restaurant. That would be J Fins in Sackets Harbor. I wanted them to try me out and it turned out god. They plan to have me play there next Spring/Summer season.  I lost out on one lcrative freenlance job a couple weeks before election day. It was a political rally for NY Senator Bill Owens. It took place in Alexandria Bay. The NY State teachers union asked me to cover it, but, because it was on a Friday evening,  I had to photograph football for the Post-Standard. Working Friday nights for the paper is terrible for me. It means I have a conflict shooting Friday evening weddings. Also, many brides like for me to go to the wedding rehersal which is almost always on the Friday evening before the Saturday wedding. So that's a hassle. I wouldn't mind working Friday days (which I used to do!) But working nights on Friday means I get to bed late on the night before I photograp[h a wedding. This just leaves me overly tired. Also, from a musical stand point, I have turned down numerous friday night guitar gigs because of my Post-Standard schedule. I hate it.

Young grey squirrel I caught in a live animal trap. After catching him I went up to repair the hole he used to enter our house and discovered the remains of the squirrel in the lower photo.

 Recently there has been a squirell running around in our house. We heard him inside the walls and ceiling.
So I set out a live animal trap and captured the critter in the above photo. Since then the noise seems to have stopped, so we assume he was the culprit. I drove him  eight miles away and released him. There is a hole in the eaves next to the chimney at our house where he probably got in. Back in the Spring I saw an adult squirrel enter in and out of that hole. The ladder I had on hand would not get me close enough to repair the hole. My longer ladder was in town at one of my apartment houses. I was anxious to be rid of the squirrel so I took a shot at him with my Gammo air rifle. It seemed that I hit him, or at least scared  the wits out of him because he leaped in the air and dashed back into the hole in the eves. A few days ago I finally got my long laddr back here and climbed it to close up/repair the hole and a peek inside with a flashlight revealed the remains of the squirrel in the photo below. How macabre!

Remains of a squirrel that I assume was living in my house, running around the attic. I suspect he the one I shot with my air rifle. Months passed before I got up there to close up the hole and discovered the carcass.

General David Petraeus, Head of CIA Resigns

General David Petraeus, the head of the CIA during the US Embassy attack in Benghazi announced he resigned, saying it was due to an extra marital affair. Isn't the at convenient? Next week he was supposed to testify before congress about the Benghazi attack. Now, in his place the acting head of the CIA will testify. The acting head of the CIA will be briefed about the incident prior to the hearing. So who will that person be? Probably some one who was not actually involved in the situation as Patraeus was, so that person will have no direct knowledge of the incident. Petraeus was the man on duty, one of the decision makers. How blatantly convenient for the Whiote House that he suddenly resigns. His claim to having an affair will probably turn out to be as ficticious as the story about the video provoking the attack. 

Oswego Light House and Hurricane Sandy

This is the light house at the Lake Ontario city 0f Oswego, NY. I snapped it while Hurricane Sandy was in full force. You do not often see waves of this magnitude there.

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On another note, I will be playing guitar at J Fins restaurant this Saturday in Sackets Harbor, NY. Sackets is a village located on Lake Ontario. I made this promo piece which I mailed out to some friends and contacts.

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Finally, the presidential election is over. I was a Romney supporter and he lost. I do not understand how the people could re-elect Mr. Obama. I think the economy is the most pressing issue and I cannot believe the government can get out of it by raising taxes and increasing spending. maybe it will work. Hopefully it will. I think the Romney path would be a more sure, quicker road to recovery. It looks to me that more people voted for social issues as opposed to economic issues. I believe that social issues should be left to the individual states. The president & congress should limit their focus to the economic health of the country and defense. Education, abortion, gay marriage, drug use should be decided on the state level. Just my opinion.

Self Portrait With Saranac Pumkin Ale

This is a self portrait I made with a Nikon D300, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, at my home in Chaumont, N.Y.

It wouldn't be Halloween at my house without Saranac Pumpkin Ale from the Matt Brewing Company in Utica, N.Y. Check out www.sranac.com Happy Hallowee everyone.

Rainbow in Town of Cape Vincent, N.Y.

The morning after Hurricane Sandy and we are in fine shape here in Chaumont, NY. Our yard was blanketed with a thick layer of leaves yesterday. When we awoke this morning they were mostly gone. The high winds from the storm carried them off somewhere. It appears a great many of them were piled near the neighbors fence and some blew off to the shcool yard. The Better Half and I took a drive to Cape Vincent to check out a our favorite Lake Ontario swimming spot. Then we went into the village where we also checked our favorite St. Lawrence River swimming spot. Then we ate a late breakfast at Aubrey's Restaurant. Driving home it started to rain while the sun was shining and a rainbow appeared. So, we stopped and I took a snap of it. Nikon D300, Nikon 17-55mm f2.8 lens.

Tom Bintz at Honk's Ferry, Lake Ontario

It is a beautiful Indian Summer day here in northern NY. Last year we had a several weeks of good weather nat this time. I was hoping for the same this year. I was hoping to get my driveway sealed, but that requires a couple of rain free days.
I spent yesterday editing a wedding and splitting firewood. Today I am taking care of odds & ends. Put thye wedding pix in the mail. I am teaching guitar at Musicology this afternoon.

The photo presented here is of the artist Tom Bintz at his home on Pillar Point, Lake Ontario. He refers to it as Honk's Ferry. I took this photo in 2007. It is a view from the boat house. The body of water in the background is Black River Bay in Lake Ontario.