Tag Archives: Photography

Weekly Photo Challenge: Ready

Posted on February 7, 2012 by | 12 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

Every week, I see many WordPress photographers take part in The Daily Post‘s Weekly Photo Challenge. The challenge is to present an image that captures the given word, idea, concept…

I feel a bit ambivalent about a challenge framed in this way. It certainly develops one’s skills as a photographer—certainly the skills that a professional photographer needs when handed an assignment. On the other hand, it’s almost the opposite of Johna’s project of developing the faculty of pure seeing, seeing whatever is at hand…

Having said that, this week’s Photo Challenge is Ready.

And I do have the perfect “Ready” shot! It involves, of course, a kayak.

This was the launch of a perfect trip…

Update February 8, 2012: It’s very interesting to see how other photographers have interpreted “Ready”. My interpretation is perhaps not all that different from this one :-) But it is quite different from this one…

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Posted in Kayaking, Photography

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Seals Revisited

Posted on February 5, 2012 by | 13 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

Every winter, Swinburne Island in New York Harbor is home to a healthy population of seals. And every winter, we paddle out to see them.

But so far this year, our seal-watching trips have all gone awry in one way or another. Last time, we ended up having quite a different kind of adventure in Red Hook, Brooklyn…

So, on Saturday, Johna and I made a determined effort to paddle out to Swinburne Island. Here are a few photos.

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Posted in Kayaking, Nature, New York City

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Pelicans

Posted on February 1, 2012 by | 7 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

Every time I travel south, I look forward to seeing pelicans once again. Some birds are just irresistibly idiosyncratic, and pelicans are. (Herons and egrets are, too.)  Everything about them is fascinating to watch…

… the way they are revealed by the gray dawn sitting silently on pilings

… the way they fly in formation as the sun rises out of the sea

… the way they skim low over the water

… the way they sit right on the dock, at ease with their human neighbors

(These photos were taken at Glover’s Reef Atoll, Belize; at Amelia Island, Florida; and near Fort Myers, Florida. More photos from those locations are respectively here, here, and here.)

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Posted in Nature

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In the Mangrove Swamp

Posted on January 30, 2012 by | 5 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

A few days ago, Johna and I spent a couple of hours in the “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island on the Gulf coast of Florida.

We were hoping to see alligators, but no luck. The closest we came, perhaps, was this tableau that we came across on the trail:

Alligator 1, Human 0 ?

But the mangrove swamps on either side of the trail were teeming with life.

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Posted in Nature, Travel

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Red Hook: An Unexpected Adventure

Posted on January 25, 2012 by | 112 comments

By Johna Till Johnson and Vladimir Brezina

Freshly Pressed on the WordPress.com home page!

Experiencing the unexpected is the essence of adventure.

That was amply illustrated by our paddling experience on a recent weekend. In company with Harry and Runar, we set out toward Swinburne Island to see the seals that live there each winter. It was a perfect day for the trip: Sunny, temperature in the high 50s,  just enough wind to make things interesting. We figured it would be a great way to start off the seal-viewing season.

Instead, we ended up spending an afternoon exploring a part of the world we’d never seen before: Red Hook, Brooklyn. What we gave up in paddling and seal-watching we gained back in art, architecture, and entertaining social interactions.

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112 Comments

Posted in Kayaking, New York City, Society

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Getting Together in the Park: A Photoessay

Posted on January 23, 2012 by | 7 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

With a white coat of freshly fallen snow hiding for the moment the drabness of winter, it was a bright, festive day in Central Park yesterday.

.

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Everyone was out having fun!

Everyone was in a happy, outgoing mood. And so, more than usual, it was a day for getting together with other members of your species…

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7 Comments

Posted in Nature, New York City

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Nature Morte

Posted on January 17, 2012 by | Leave a comment

By Vladimir Brezina

Photos taken in 2010 at Slickrock, Glover’s Reef Atoll, Belize.

Read on full-width photo page —>

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Posted in Nature

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A Winter Paddle Around Manhattan

Posted on January 16, 2012 by | 7 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

On Saturday, the air temperature was predicted to be in the 30s, then falling rapidly after dark. The water temperature was in the 40s. With a cold front coming over in the afternoon, winds were predicted at 15-20 knots, with gusts up to 30 knots. There was a small craft advisory.

A perfect day for a nice paddle around Manhattan!

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Posted in Kayaking, New York City

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Once More Around the Reservoir at Sunset

Posted on January 12, 2012 by | 4 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

Jogging around New York City’s Central Park Reservoir at sunset on New Year’s Day 2012

Across the water, the towers of Midtown

As the sunset fades

Above, a single white cloud remains

The individual photos are here.

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Posted in Nature, New York City

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Last Sandy Hook Kayak Trip of 2011

Posted on January 11, 2012 by | 3 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

Johna and I try to go out for a longish paddle every weekend. We don’t always succeed, but we succeed often enough that a backlog of trips that we have yet to post is accumulating.

Here’s one from early November. It’s strange now, in January, to see ourselves in these photos paddling without drysuits, and with leaves still on the trees…

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Posted in Kayaking, New York City

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