For skills.For photos.For fun.: Fourth of July Weekend

The Project

Alright well the time has come to bring some traffic to my Flickr account. I have decided to start a photo compilation that will initially be populated over the next 9 weeks during my Winter Work Term. The idea here is to track the progress over a given amount of time to see improvements and to have fun! I will be shooting at least once a week over the next 9 weeks. I may continue this on further but I do not know what my commitment level will be like once I am back at school with other things to prioritize.

I would like to get some feedback from whomever views the set, please do so on Flickr. I do not want to just read things like "they look awesome!!!!!!!:)" or "you are the bestest photog ever" because the idea is to improve, be ruthless, well maybe not ruthless, but give some constructive criticism I am looking for it. I wouldn't share these with anyone, if I didn't want to know what you thought. Tell me what you like, what you don't like, what you think would make it better, ideas on things to shoot etc.

I am doing this to occupy my time as well as to improve my skills and make myself more rounded since it seems like everything I am doing these days involves numbers and science, it will be fun to get to use the more abstract creative side of my brain.

So stay tuned the first set is up that I shot last night in Downtown Buffalo right on the water. I will link the set here every time there is an upload and I would appreciate if you would look and maybe even offer up some opinions. The set is called Winter Work Term Photo Project '10.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Fourth of July Weekend

I have been quite busy the past month. I finished my final semester of college in June and graduated with a Mechanical Engineering Degree. I landed myself a fancy big boy job that required a move to Worcester, Massachusetts. I hope they are ready for a Giants supporter in Patriots land. My move took place over the July Fourth weekend, with the help of a U-haul and my family I successfully moved into my new digs Saturday.

A shot of my living room, the sparse walls will change soon but I need some funds before I go crazy...I got my big tv what else do I need right?

On the fourth I embarked on a hike with my father and sister to find the Snow Hole check out the Wiki to learn more.

The hike in entailed following the Taconic Crest Trail which runs along the New York and Massachusetts border. It was a very nice trail that offered quite a few amazing views of the valley below along the way:

Unfortunately we were probably two weeks late to see any actual snow in the Snow Hole; however, it was cold enough in the bottom to see your breath, which was quite hard to leave back into the summer heat above ground. I was surprised by its location which is not overly populated with exposed rock. I had built and image in my head of a dramatic fissure on a steep fall line, when in fact it was quite the opposite. More simply a hole in the ground in the middle of the woods, still very cool. Especially looking at the engravings past hikers left including ones from the 19th century.

It was difficult to get a good perspective shot of the scale but it was roughly 20-30 ft deep at the far end which I am standing in looking back towards the exit.

Overall I would rate this as a nice beginner hike, it took the 3 of us an hour and twenty minutes to get in, and about an hour to get back out. The trail is well marked and relatively easy on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being easiest I would rate this hike a 4, it has a decent amount of elevation change but nothing crazy.

Check out the rest of the shots HERE

Keep an eye out for future content as I work the get the lay of the land in my new city. From what I have seen the past few days it seems to have quite a bit of potential.

Enjoy