Weekend Travels Out East

I drove out to Massachusetts this weekend for a friend's wedding. I left Thursday morning driving through Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York the first day. I'd never been to NY state, one of the last states for me to cross of my "list." I really enjoyed driving through the Catskill Mountains. There wasn't a lot of extra time to stop for photos, but I did shoot some on the way back Saturday and Sunday. It's always frustrating when you visit a place for the first time and the light turns nice, but you don't know where to shoot. That happened yesterday as I drove in eastern NY state on Saturday night. There had been some big storms leaving Massachusetts but as I came around a bend in the road, the sky was all lit up with rich oranges and blues.

I shot a couple frames as I drove (always have the camera ready on a drive!). Unfortunately, I couldn't just pull over and shoot. Oh well.....

Yesterday I headed off the interstate (which I do as often as I can) and drove on Route 417 in western NY. Unbeknownst to me it was Amish country. The sparsely traveled road had plenty of signs warning that I shared the road with horses and buggies. I did come across this young boy traveling ahead of me.
Wish I could've shot more, but I also don't like to intrude on people, especially if they may not like having their picture taken.

Finally, last night as I headed past Toledo Ohio, the sky was doing some interesting things. I kept my eye on it for several minutes to see if a tornado would develop- don't think one ever did, but the clouds were great.
Again, I could only do drive-by shooting as I was on a tollway with few exits.

My Oldest Piece of Equipment Retires

My trusty Manfrotto tripod, bought at PJ's Camera for $129 in January 1989, was retired last week when I received my new Manfrotto 190CXPRO Carbon Fibre tripod. The original tripod had fasteners on the legs that broke regularly. It was also pretty heavy, though that never stopped me from lugging it everywhere from Maine, to England, to Tuscany over the past nineteen years! This new carbon fibre tripod is very light, though my Kaiser ball head adds a couple pounds. Not sure what I'll do with my old tripod- any offers?