Monthly Archives: September 2012

Sunday Post: Autumn, Take Two

By Vladimir Brezina

This is a second post in response to Jakesprinter‘s Sunday Post theme of Autumn (the first post was here).

Fall is just starting here in New York City—but it’s unmistakably on its way. Here are some of the colors we can look forward to in a month or so…

Photos taken around New York City’s Central Park Reservoir in Fall 2011. More photos are here and here.

Sunday Post: Autumn

By Vladimir Brezina

For the last few days, Fall has been in the air here in New York City. The days are still warm and sunny, but crisp rather than humid, with those deep blue skies of fall. The nights are now almost chilly. And today in Central Park, I noticed for the first time some yellow and brown in the green mass of trees, and the first few fallen dry leaves scattered along the paths…

So Jakesprinter‘s Sunday Post theme of Autumn comes perfectly timed. I have many brilliantly colorful fall foliage pictures, and I’ll post a few of them, but I’ve always liked especially this more modest photo. I took it many, many years ago, in the last millenium, still in the age of film…

A second Autumn post is here.

Travel Theme: Texture, Take Two

By Vladimir Brezina

Ailsa‘s Travel-Themed Photo Challenge this week is Texture. I’ve already posted one response, but here’s another.

A snowy day in New York City’s Central Park…

More photos are here.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Everyday Life

By Vladimir Brezina

This week’s Photo Challenge is Everyday Life.

New York City, of course.

Meanwhile, the kids are a bit less serious about their fun…

Travel Theme: Texture

By Vladimir Brezina

Ailsa‘s Travel-Themed Photo Challenge for this week is Texture.

No color… just texture!

Belize, 2010.

A second take on “Texture” is here.

Long Island Kayak Circumnavigation: Day 10—Homeward Bound!

By Johna Till Johnson
Photos by Vladimir Brezina

<— Previous: Day 9

Sunken Meadow State Park to Pier 40, Manhattan
44 nautical miles (51 land miles)

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(click on photos to expand them—they look a lot better when they’re BIGGER!)

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Long Island Kayak Circumnavigation: Day 9—High Water Beach

By Johna Till Johnson
Photos by Vladimir Brezina

<— Previous: Day 8

Roanoke Point to Sunken Meadow State Park
28 nautical miles (32 land miles)

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(click on photos to expand them—they look a lot better when they’re BIGGER!)

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Near and Far, Take Two

By Vladimir Brezina

This week’s Photo Challenge is Near and Far.

I’ve already posted one response to this challenge—three of my annual photos of a round-Manhattan swimmer next to my kayak with the Empire State Building in the distance.

A similar photo-op occurs in our kayaking trips through New York Harbor. We often paddle from Manhattan down to the Lower Bay for the day. As we return in the evening, we pass through the Verrazano Narrows and turn the corner into the Upper Bay. And there suddenly, across the entire Upper Bay, we see the ramparts of Manhattan in the evening sun. They are imposing, but still far, far away…

Swimmers, too, get to see that sight sometimes…

For more on “Paddling to Manhattan Island”, see here; for more on swimming there, see here and here.

We’re Off to the (Tugboat) Races!

By Johna Till Johnson
Photos by Vladimir Brezina

Sometimes the best ideas are the last-minute ones.

We’d carefully planned the Labor Day holiday weekend, balancing work, rest, paddling, and socializing, and after due consideration we’d agreed that the best strategy would be to work and run errands on Saturday, followed by a long paddle on Sunday, which had optimal currents and weather forecast.

Then Vlad said, “Would you like to go see the tugboat race this weekend?”

Well, of course! We both love everything maritime, and tugboats in particular. And we’d talked for a while about wanting to see this event—the Great North River Tugboat Race & Competition, hosted each Labor Day weekend by the Working Harbor Committee, in which a dozen or more NYC-area tugboats parade up the Hudson, race, and then engage in various contests (pushing contests, line tosses, and who knows what else). And it was all happening this weekend!

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Near and Far

By Vladimir Brezina

This week’s Photo Challenge is Near and Far.

Every year I accompany in my kayak the swimmers that circle Manhattan in the annual Manhattan Island Marathon Swim. During this 7- or 8-hour-long race, I have plenty of opportunity to pair in my photos the swimmer in the foreground, just a few feet from my kayak, with various New York City landmarks in the distance.

And there is a particular spot in the Hudson River, with just a few miles left to go, where the landmark is the Empire State Building. I never fail to take a photo there! Here are the photos from three different years.

More photos are here, here, and here.

A second response to the challenge is here.

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