The maple tree in our back yard has been tapped and the sap is flowing. 10 gallons of sap gets boiled down to make 1 quart of maple syrup.
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Here's a new video I created for a local countertop refinishing company called Fresh Counters. I was going for more of a cinematic, story feel rather than the infomercial look. Enjoy! [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5I05fNN9Vk?rel=0&showinfo=0]
I've been to NYC many times, but never had the chance to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. I could have spent all day taking pictures up there.
"I was graced by a visitor of the most peculiar kind. He was a creature of few words, but had a certain calm, confidence about him. His name was Danboard" - Henry David Thoreau.
Here's a pineapple buying pro tip for you. We knew that a ripe pineapple should smell like a pineapple, but the lady at Trader Joe's told us today that you should always store your pineapple like they do in the store, on it's side. Yeah, but it doesn't look as nice that way, kind of sad in fact. Well, apparently pineapples breathe out of their bottom (okay, stop laughing!). If they are stored bottom down, they will not continue to ripen, but will start to rot on the inside from the bottom up. Interesting, thanks Trader Joe's!
Well shiver me timbers, Danboard has taken to the open seas! I hope he knows what they do to pirates in these parts! More Danboard photos
I got home too late from work today to take some photos of the great sunset we had. I had my heart set on shooting, so I went downtown with my camera even though the dramatic sky was gone. Night shots are a lot of fun, you never know what you are going to get. Our town of Sterling, MA is home to Mary and her little lamb. The story is true and we have a bronze statue in the center green. The original statue got stolen and thrown into the lake years ago. Whoever made the new one must have been Star Wars fan because it looks more like Yoda than a lamb.
The other shot is just an abandoned gas station. I liked how it was subtly illuminated by the light from the BP station next door and the moon overhead.
This probably isn't really called Webster Railroad, but it is a railroad and it is in Webster. I pass by this spot fairly often and for some reason I am always drawn to the view. The equation finally added up. I had my camera and I had some time. I photographed this spot before, but didn't get to climb up on top until now. I would love to do a photo shoot up here with some humans. Any volunteers?
A beautiful long weekend is ruined by a terrible cold!
Roadtrip photos from Philadelphia and other interesting spots along the way.
Despite the fact that we shoveled before we raked, I'm not giving in to the idea that fall is gone. This is the best time of year and I'm not going to let a measly 12" of snow in October ruin it. As I was enjoying a hearty, crisp Sam Adams Octoberfest the other day, I thought about how the autumn motif on the label and the taste itself really reminded me of how great this time of year is. Since it is also so fleeting and, as the Nor'Easter last week proved, unpredictable, I thought I would set up a little photo to remember the feeling. As usual, Danboard always senses when the camera is out!
What a beautiful weekend we had here in New England! It was unseasonably warm with temps in the high 70's. I prefer it much cooler, but it was still very nice. Saturday morning started of nice with breakfast at the West End Diner until a little girl behind me somehow flung eggs all over my back. How does that even happen?! It was kind of awkward as her mother and the waitress tried to clean me off. Anyways, it was soon forgotten as we headed up North into the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire. The fall foliage was not quite in full peak, but the scenery was still beautiful. We did some hiking in Franconia Notch along the Pemigewasset River. The leaves and water made for some great photo ops. After playfully disrespecting a statue of Hugh Gallen, we stopped by the Woodstock Brewery for dinner. Great homemade beers and burgers!
The White Mountains are such a great place to enjoy this time of year. It's really too bad that it's so short.
This past weekend, visitors to Old Sturbridge Village (one of the best places on Earth) were treated to view and help out with the annual apple harvest. Crisp air and the smell of fresh apples added to the old New England charm of the village. The apples were picked from the trees in the old fashioned way with a toothed tin basket attached to a pole. We even got to try our hand at the tedious but strangely relaxing work.
On display and available for tasting were many heirloom apples, types that were widely grown in New England in the 1800's but are very rare today. Most of them I had never heard of. My favorite was the Titus Pippin from 1841. Back then apples were grown mostly for cider because good drinking water was not available. The oxen of Sturbridge Village were busy working in the cider mill while pies were being made in the small cottages.
The tickets at Old Sturbridge Village are good for 10 days, so of course I will be going back for some more photos. Stay tuned!
This bottle comes straight from Poland. I set it up in my back yard for a quick photo shoot before I cracked open the bottle.
Żubrówka is a dry, herb flavored vodka. The vodka is infused with a special grass that grows in the Białowieża forest in Poland to give it it's characteristic taste and yellowish color. The bottle also contains a blade of the grass that a bison may or may not have peed on. That doesn't bother me, it's pretty delicious.
Żubrówka has been made since the 16th century. While a form of Żubrówka can be found at select liquor stores in the US, it is not the same as the Polish version. Importing it was banned in 1978 by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms because the grass contains a toxic compound.
Żubrówka is traditionally served chilled and mixed with apple juice, a drink known in Poland as tatanka or szarlotka. Add lime and mint for a Polish mojito.
As first year bee keepers, we were pretty excited to harvest our first batch of honey. We were not counting on getting much, if any in the first year. Our busy bees on the other hand had higher hopes. They surprised us with almost 20 pounds of liquid gold! Our hive consists of basically 3 boxes stacked on top of each other. All of them contain 9 frames that the bees make wax comb into and fill with honey, and/or brood or larvae. The bottom 2 boxes we leave alone so the colony will grow and they will have some honey to eat through the winter. The top shallow box, or "honey super", contains just comb and honey, and is all for us.
First we had to spray a "fume board" with a smelly liquid that the bees hate. This drives the bees out of the honey super so we could take it off and collect the honey. 6 of the 9 frames were filled with honey. Not bad for the first year. We loaded the honey filled frames in the car and drove to New England Beekeeping Supplies in Tyngsboro, MA. They were super helpful and have all the equipment for extracting the honey from the combs available for rent.
Using a hot knife, the wax caps were sliced off. We saved all the cappings to make some beeswax products later. The frames were then places in the extractor, a large stainless steel cylinder with a motor and a spout at the bottom. As the frames spin faster and faster inside the extractor, the centrifugal force pulls all the honey out of the combs and eventually comes out of the spout below. The fresh honey was strained and filled our bottling bucket.
After we got home and made some whisky drinks with mint and fresh honey, we started bottling. We ended up with 32, 6 oz. jars. The taste is delicious! Much better than anything store bought. It was so exciting to see the whole process from start to finish and be able to enjoy something fresh and natural.
Danboard hit the links with us in Cape Cod this weekend. Nothing fancy, just some mini golf, but he had a great time. Especially since he beat us.
After 3 months in Poland we are finally back home. We had an awesome time, made lots of new friends, and improved our Polish language skills, and of course took tons of photos. Since being home though, I've been in a 2 week photography rut. In Poland, everything was new and exciting. Photo ops were around every corner. Back home is a different story. Everything was all of a sudden boring. Being in local surroundings forces you to look at familiar things in a different light. I pass this tractor, or whatever you want to call it, all the time. I was driving around after work today looking for inspiration and decided to take a closer peek. I really liked the dramatic clouds behind the massive piece of lawn ornament. I set up my tripod and snapped away. This one is my favorite shot from the day. I combined 3 exposures to get detail in the highlights, mid tones, and shadow areas. I think I finally broke the seal, so I hope to be posting more regularly now. See ya soon!
Besides learn Polish, the only thing I really wanted to do during my time here in Krakow was to see a football match. That wish came true last Saturday night. There are 2 rival teams here in Krakow. Cracovia and Wisła. I didn't know much about either team. I mostly follow the English, Spanish, and German leagues. Wisła finished on top of the Ekstraklasa last year and a lot of our friends here support them so that led my decision on which team was to get a new fan. As most European countries, Poland takes their football pretty seriously and so do the stadiums. At least at Wisła's stadium here in Krakow, you can not even purchase a ticket unless you first obtain a club card which has your photo and ID number on it. Even the tickets come printed with your name and the stadium turnstile will not let you in unless you scan a valid club card. I'm not sure if this is a safety precaution or what. The hooligans are pretty tough too. No alcohol is served at the stadium, police in full riot gear are all over the place, and the home and away fans are kept apart by fences and separate entrances and exits.
Interestingly, as serious fans they are, you never see anyone in the city wearing their teams colors. In fact, even on game night, it wasn't until we got close to the stadium that people started to put on their Wisła jerseys and scarves. Right after the game everyone quickly changed back. It's pretty sad that you can't even wear your teams jersey in public without the fear of getting beat up or knifed by supporters of the "other" team. It happens!
Anyways, we avoided injury and watched a great game. Rafał stood in line to get us our tickets and the 4 of us met him, Bartek, Beata, and Milena at the stadium, only a short walk from our apartment. The game ended 1-0 in Wisła's favor due to a penalty kick. The caliber of play was excellent, especially compared to the MLS games we have in the States and the fans were great! Click on the photo below to play a video I made of the action.
Wednesday night Wisła plays for a spot in the Champions League, a first for them in a very long time. We wish them well, Go Wisła!
Several weeks ago I bought this cool Soviet camera from a vendor in the Kazimierz district here in Kraków. It is a 1963 Soviet made Zorki 4. I have wanted an old vintage film camera for a while now, and this one really jumped out at me. The body is made of aluminum and is very solid. Every part still works great. It has a removable 50mm f/2 lens. These old rangefinder cameras are focused manually using a prism and mirror arrangement between two viewing windows. Small adjustments in the angles of the prisms will align two superimposed images. When the images are aligned the subject will be in focus.
It's so interesting to wonder who has used this camera over the last 48 years and what kind of photos were made with it.
It's a lot of fun learning photography all over again with the manual controls. I have only shot 1 roll of film, but I am happy with the results so far. Here are some shots from the first roll. The only post processing I did was a little cropping here and there. I have decided to keep all images just as they were straight out of the camera.
This little cardboard box is pretty excited tonight! What, you don't know who Morrissey is?! Take a listen here. Who would have thought he would be able to see Morrissey live in Poland? Best part is, the venue is a small, standing room only club. Danboard hates those giant arena shows. Hopefully he will remember his camera!
