Author Archives: Vladimir Brezina

Ceres

By Vladimir Brezina

A week ago, over the Columbus Day weekend, we were kayak-camping at Stockport Middle Ground, one of my favorite places along the Hudson River, to paddle among the Fall colors (story and photos forthcoming!).

So on Monday a week ago, I paddled out onto the still river, shrouded in fog, as the first colors of dawn softened the sky. Honking geese flew overhead.

But what was that strange buzzing sound, and that strange object emerging from the fog upriver, gradually growing bigger?

DSC_0511 cropped smallDSC_0517 cropped smallDSC_0524 cropped small

It was Ceres!

Continue reading

Travel Theme: Brown

By Vladimir Brezina

DSC_0059%2520cropped%2520smallAilsa’s travel-themed photo challenge this week is Brown.

I do like bright colors. So I thought this challenge would be difficult. But not at all. It turns out that many of the animals I have photographed over the years have preferred brown…

(click on any photo below to start slideshow)

Weekly Photo Challenge: The Hue of You

By Vladimir Brezina

This week’s Photo Challenge is The Hue of You.

DSC_0330 cropped small 2

The Jersey Shore, August 2012

Photography 101: A Primer on Color Photography, Part II

<— Previous in Photography 101

This is the twelfth installment of Photography 101.

Next in Photography 101 —>

Photography 101: A Primer on Color Photography, Part I

<— Previous in Photography 101

This is the eleventh installment of Photography 101.

Next in Photography 101 —>

Weekly Photo Challenge: Infinite

By Vladimir Brezina

This week’s Photo Challenge is Infinite.

On some days, we float in unbounded space…

IMGP2173 cropped smallIMGP2175 cropped smallIMGP2182 cropped small IMGP2186 cropped smallIMGP2213 cropped smallIMGP2195 cropped smallimgp2227-cropped-small-2.jpgIMGP2221 cropped smallIMGP2230%2520cropped%2520smallIMGP2245 cropped small

Travel Theme: Deep

By Vladimir Brezina

IMGP1224 cropped small 2Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge this week is Deep.

You never know how deep it is until you wade in…

IMGP1225 cropped small 2

New York City, December 2010. More snow photos from that winter are here and here.

Capture the Colour 2013

By Vladimir Brezina

Ailsa of Where’s my backpack? has nominated us to take part in Travel Supermarket’s Capture the Colour competition.  Ailsa herself has entered some great photos—do check them out!!

The rules are simple: “publish a blog post showcasing five of your favourite travel photographs which best capture the colour of our five categories: red, blue, green, yellow and white.”

We did enter the Capture the Colour competition last year, and in fact our Green photo was included among the top 11 Green entries!

Choosing the photos is always a lot of fun. So, here are this year’s:

Red

Red

This year’s Fourth of July fireworks, New York City. (More photos are here.)

White

DSC_0209 cropped small

The day after a winter snowstorm buried New York City’s Central Park in January 2011, as the sun finally came out… (More photos are here.)

Yellow

IMGP3866 cropped small

Dawn over the East River, New York City. (More photos are here and here.)

Green

DSC_0700 cropped small

Crab in a shell, Belize, March 2010. (More photos are here.)

Blue

Blue

Musician at this year’s Coney Island Mermaid Parade, New York City. (Story and more photos are here.)

________________________________________________________

The rules ask us to nominate other photo-bloggers to participate in the competition. However, it seems that pretty much everyone we know who is inclined to enter has already done so. Apart from which, there are barely hours left to enter the competition, which closes today, October 9th, presumably when midnight strikes in the UK. So we won’t nominate anyone specifically—but if you do wish to enter, consider yourself nominated, and hurry!! :-)

A Jump Start on Fall Colors

By Vladimir Brezina

Of the spectacular Fall colors seen every year all over New York State, New York City’s are always the last to make their appearance. The city is far south, at sea level, and much warmer than its surroundings due to the urban heat effect. And so, in the first days of October 2013, New York City is still largely green.

DSC_0403 cropped smallBut if the Fall colors won’t come to us, yet, we can go to them. This past weekend I found myself at a conference at Mohonk Mountain House, a historic hotel about 60 miles north of the city, located on the Shawangunk Ridge at the southern border of the Catskill Mountains—and most importantly, at an elevation of over 1,000 feet. There, the Fall colors were already in full swing!

(click on any photo to start slideshow)

Travel Theme: Height

By Vladimir Brezina

Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge this week is Height.

When returning to New York City by plane, I always try to sit in a window seat. And these days, I look not so much at the land below, but at the water. One of the great pleasures of landing in New York is recognizing from above all the waters where we kayak, the bays and islands that we now know so intimately.

From a kayak, the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge appears gigantic—look how it dwarfs Fort Wadsworth to the right of it, itself a massive structure…

Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, from a kayak

… but from the air it is just a toy.

DSC_0527 cropped small

Here’s the southwestern tip of Staten Island…

The Outerbridge Bridge, from a kayakDSC_0524 cropped small

… Gowanus Bay with the Loujaine

The Loujaine and the grain elevator in Gowanus Bay, from a kayakDSC_0537 cropped small

… and finally, the East River and its bridges!

IMGP6086 cropped smallDSC_0548 cropped smallDSC_0557 cropped small