Flamingo pink reflections

Flamingo pink, originally uploaded by :morningside:.

For some reason I love pink flamingos, but I haven't seen them in person very often. We saw these snoozing birds at the Calgary Zoo. It was a hot day in the city (not unlike today), so I'm sure they enjoyed keeping cool in the shady water.

This is my first post using flickr and it's so easy, I'm totally over using blogger/picassa.

summer night

Bridge over the Saugatuck River in Westport last night.

melt

My entry for this week's for The Curiosity Shoppe's: Smarts & Crafts Thursday Photo Assignment > MELT

Last summer, we were lucky enough to go to a conference at Lake Louise and make a dream trip to the Canadian Rockies. The conference included a trip up to the Columbia Icefield. We saw all manner of wildlife on the famous Icefields Parkway, including three black bears who knew how to create a real traffic jam, but looked both ways before crossing the highway. The highlight of this daytrip was walking out on to the mouth of the Athabasca Glacier. It was about 55 degrees F, so a very agreeable temperature to be walking on a huge hunk of super old ice. There's no question it's slowly melting away. We did try some of the glacier water and it was pure, ice cold refreshment at its best.

More photos from our trip are at Flickr

ominous weather ahead

I work in an unusually shaped building. Often I describe it as a oval space ship that landed on High Ridge Road.

I've heard the building used to be home to Cadbury Schweppes and so the architecture is supposed to resemble a bottle cap. Actually, I buy that explanation and it makes our building's history a little more interesting. Though if aliens had built it, that would be a pretty good story as well.

I took these shots at about 7 pm on Friday and I was really relieved that it didn't downpour during my commute home. The deluge came early this morning instead.

more oysters (and our 15 min of J&M fame)

When we got married, there was such a whirlwind of planning that engagement photos did not make the priority list. I've often had regrets about this and so to celebrate our third anniversary I wanted a NYC photo shoot with fabulous New Haven-based Justin & Mary Marantz. I had no problems drumming up location ideas for this shoot: Tudor City, Campbell Aparment, Grand Central Terminal, NY Public Library & Bryant Park. The High Line opened a few days later, but sunset on the West Side would have been a killer spot as well!

The list goes on and on, but my favorite location is still the Oyster Bar. My first time inside this restaurant was on a tour with Andrew Dolkart in '97 when I studied architecture at Columbia, but it was my husband who first introduced me to oysters. Though these bivalves have Manhattan skyline-high prices, I think the Oyster Bar is a magical place to sample from a large selection of oysters and to take a breather from the hustle and bustle of the train terminal.

You can see more our day in the City at >http://www.justinmarantz.com/index.cfm?postID=227

photo assignment

I've been submitting photos to the Curiosity Shoppe's Thursday Photo Assignment and it's been a great little mental exercise to dig through my snapshots every week and try and find something that fits the week's theme.

I'm trying shoot more photos during the week, so I took my G10 on a quick iced coffee run at work. I'm lucky enough to work across from Noelle Salon. This Stamford institution of beauty and pampering and has long concealed a mundane brick building with matured landscaping that makes for some lovely photos opps between my office and Donuts Delight.

My other go-to spot for iced coffee on High Ridge Road is CRUMBS and I want to go on record saying I hardly ever buy cupcakes or donuts. No sweets, just caffeine!

new lens and it's like a new camera

I love B&H, my new lens came in just a day with free ground shipping.
This 50mm 1.8 makes me love my dslr again. The G10 is great, but it does have some shutterlag which drives me nuts.

Here are my long neglected books, collected in a previous life (when I thought I wanted to become an architect). The AR is ALDO ROSSI, Drawings and Paintings, one of my favorites.
















Speaking of college days, I'm headed back up to Northampton Massachusetts this weekend. Can't wait to see dear friends, eat at Green Street Cafe and catch up with one of my all-time favorite art history professors.

what would you do...

for a klondike bar?

On Sunday we arrived back at my in-laws right after lunch and my niece was busy enjoying her klondike bar in the sun. I would kill for long eye lashes like that!

All my photos from Saturday and Sunday were shot with the p&s Canon G10, the only problem is this is the second time I've had the battery die on me. Looks like I need to order a second one as backup. I'm getting far more comfortable going close-up with my camera so I'm getting giddy waiting for the arrival of my 50mm 1.8 lens that I ordered today. At $135, you can't beat the price!

Grand Central Terminal

When you live in Connecticut and you take Metro North into the City, Grand Central Terminal is your gateway to Manhattan. Many times I've found myself head-down, rushing through like a New Yorker in an awful hurry to get somewhere else. It's a shame because the grandeur of old railroads stations like this one beat any airport or other travel hub I've ever seen.

I decided to slow down and to explore new spaces outside my usual route and to savor the small details that make the inside (and the outside) of this building a cavernous gem for train weary travelers.















Nothing else to say here















love this eerie dim reflection of the oyster bar















So clean! So empty! You can almost hear the hum of the light casting that fluorescent green glow.















Forgotten tracks? This hallway seems abandoned on the weekend.















Detail above a staircase.















View to food court seating. I love the subway montage on the tabletops.

kickin' it in red

my favorite place to be is usually behind the camera, but the MOH's place is behind the train of the wedding dress, so these lovely shots are from Cly Creation in New York.

just a bowl of cherries

there are so few pleasures that rival a champagne coupe full of cherries.

wedding 2 of 3

We attended our second wedding of the week on Halloween. After a mere two hours, we were off to Bradley to catch our flight to Chicago. I really adore this dia de los muertos theme for their wedding cake.

wedding 1 of 3

This week we are attending 3 weddings. The first one was at the Grandview in Poughkeepsie, NY. And indeed,what a view of the Hudson River and the changing autumn leaves. it was the perfect crisp fall day. Lynn will always be my friend's 'little sister' but yesterday she was such a beautiful bride ! i was an auxiliary photographer at the request of the bride's mom. I did have fun, but to my surprise, I don't like being stuck behind the camera for an entire wedding!