Tire Swing

My niece B on a tire swing in the backyard of her home in Winter Haven, Blorida. Snapped about twenty minutes ago.

Way Down Upon The Suwannee River

These couple of photos were taken in Bell, Florida at the home of the artist Tom "Capt. Honk" Bintz, on the Suwannee River.

The river was made famous by Stephen Foster's song "Old Folks at Home" (also known as "Swanee Ribber" or "Suwannee River")written in 1851.

Click on Suwannee River To learn more about the song.

Still Going Down The Road

It's almost 1:00 AM and we have just crossed the border into South Carolina. All is still driving. We plan on stopping at the artist Tom Bintz's place on the Suwannee River when we first get to Florida.

Doctor Makes House Calls

The doctors billboard was snapped in Scranton PA, the truck sign was snapped in Shppensburg PA. Both snapped while speeding down interstate route 81. I was a passenger. My Celebrity Brother was driving

.

Great American Road Trip

Well, the Sun is shining and it is 62 degrees here in Chaumont, NY. A good day to begin a drive. I am meeting up with my brother R, my Celebrity brother and my nephew to begin a Great American Road Trip. We are bound for Orlando Florida for Celebrity's daughters wedding.

I was stopped at a traffic light in Syracuse when I leaned out the window and snapped this photo. Photo copyright Gary Walts 2012

 

Going to Oralndo in July isn't exactly my first choice for a Summer road trip, but it is what it is. Also, there is a lot of ugly weather going on down that way. Tropical storm Debby has been pouring a lot of rain in the region. So, the drive will start out nice here, we most certainly will encounter inclement weather.

We are renting a Chevy HHR from Enterprise car rental for the drive. We were supposed to pick it up at 7:30 this morning, however, they called and said they had no cars available. They would be arriving sometime in mid morning.  Well, that suits me because I needed to make some final preps. I made some meatloaf sandwhiches, packed a cooler with some odds & ends, and am writing this quick blog entry. I'll try to post regularly during the trip.

Wednesday I played a lunch time gig on the front lawn of the Jefferson County Historical Society in Watertown. In the evening I photographed a high school prom for the Post-Standard. Thursday I spent editing wedding photos and teaching guitar. Friday at 10:00AM I was interviewd by a local TV station about the Thousand Islands Art Center art show. I then edited more wedding photos. At 4:00 I went to the art show opening (in Clayton). I also played guitar at the opening from 5:00-7:00. Had a great time. One of my photos received an honorable mention. A second photo was purchased. NICE!. I got home and watched a Woody Allen movie with the Better Half.
Today (Saturday) I was up & at 'em at 6:30AM. I put in 2 hours of good guitar practice. Then I fineshed the wedding edit. Finished the edit. Ate a sandwhich. Loaded the van with lawn mower & weed eater. Went to the post office, went to bank, went to Home depot to buy extra line for the Ryobi weed eater. Went to my Franklin St apartment house & trimmed yard with the Ryobi. Then I mowed the lawn. Next, I did the same thing at my Clay St. apartment house. Also on Clay St I removed the back stairway windows & put the screens in. Then I delivered a disc of photos to Matt Doheny's campaign head quarters. He is running for congress here against Representative Bill Owens-D. Next it was a visit to my mothers for a beer. Then it was off to Wal-Mart, picked up some odds & ends. Among them were Cheerios & Planters honey roasted peanuts. I mix those two items together & keep them in car for a snack.
I needed photo paper & ink for my Epson R300 printer so I went to Best Buy. I have been buying Kodak Ultra Premium Photo Paper, high gloss, at that store for a couple of years. I go in and ... none of that paper. In fact they had very little paper in stock over all. Well, I went to Sam's Club which is where I have been buying printer ink for quite a few years. I picked up a box of photo paper there also, but it was a brand I had never heard of or tried.  The brand is RoyalBrites premium photo paper Brillain Gloss. 75  8.5x11inch sheets for $12.00
I got home around 6:00. Began printing proof sheets of the wedding photos. Now it's 9:00 & I'm going to watch a movie with the Better half.

Today was busy. I had a 2 hour luch time guitar gig in downtown Watertown, NY for the Downtown Business Association. Then this evening I photographed the Canastota high school prom. If brother B in Florida catches this, please give me a call. I plan on being in Florida sometime next week. Probably Thursday, Friday for sure. That's it for now.

Dodge Caravan Brake Inspection

We had heavy rain and thunder here in Chaumont, N.Y. last night. I also had a lousy nights sleep.

Rain drops on a Maple leaf at my home in Chaumont, N.Y.      photo by Gary Walts                 copyright Gary Walts 2012

Got up this morning did my usual guitar practice. I chopped up a cabbage and made some cole slaw. Took care of some bills and caught up my check book. Just now I jacked up the 2005 Dodge Caravan, pulled a front wheel off it and did a brake inspection. The brake pedal has felt a bit soft. Brakes look OK, the brake fluid is up. I'll keep an eye on it. There  has been a new noise in the vehicle that sounds like a bad rear wheel bearing. I just replaced one of them back in December.
This evening I am playing guitar for a couple of hours at the Depeauville Hotel.

Venus Transit Photographed With Nikon D7000

This is a photo I took of the Venus transit as viewed from Syracuse, N.Y. I used Nikon D7000 camera with a Nikon 600mm f4 lens and 2X extender. Exposure was 1/8000th sec, f22, iso 100.

Birdhouse In Skaneateles, N.Y.

I arrived at a freelance job early at a park on Skaneateles lake in central Ny. As often happens when I am early I start looking around. Things catch my eye. Then I start snapping just to see what the eye catching subject looks like photographed. Many times I like it. That was the case with the photo presented here. It also says Summer to me.