Storm chasing

So I tried to do a little storm chasing on Saturday afternoon. The forecast was ominous, the sky was dark and I could hear thunder in the distance.
I headed toward the storm. My goal was to get dramatic photos before the rain started. The Black Dirt area is very flat and wide open, so I thought I'd try there first. This photo was taken on Onion Avenue as the rain started to fall. The storm was moving from right to left across the frame.

I drove away from this location to get away from the rain. Looking west, the view was thunder clouds in the distance.

The rain seemed to be moving away, so I returned to the first wide-open location. Here's a wide-angle shot of farm fields with rain in the distance. The sky was brightening, as you can see on the right side of the image.

Hoping for a break of sun that would produce a rainbow, I headed for higher ground. The sun appeared, but no rainbow. Here are two photos looking toward the Pine Island area.

I drove toward Warwick in search of a rainbow, but found nothing. Driving back to Middletown, I noticed more storm clouds to the west. Maybe I'd get a second chance.

Dark clouds moved across the sky, but there was no rain and I didn't see any lightning. The photo above and the photo below were taken by Randall Airport.

Saturday night flights

Warmer weather brought me to Randall Airport recently. While raking leftover leaves in front of my house, I could see planes towing gliders into the sky and decided to make the short drive to the airport.

I did not have to wait long to get pictures of  a plane and glider taking off.

 

This pilot flew low over the airport before coming in for a landing.

I saw this ultralight flying from by house. But when I got to the airport the pilot was finished flying and just lifted a few feet off the runway once or twice.

A hot air balloon crew had started to set up on the side of the airport. But they waited a while, I think for the winds to die down, before inflating the balloon.

The photograph I really wanted to get was the balloon and the moon, which was in the eastern sky.

The problem was that I was so close to the balloon that I had to use a wide angle lens. A telephoto lens would have made the moon larger in the frame.The first photo below is with a wide angle. The second and third photos are with a longer zoom lens.

Here's a slideshow of more photos from the airport that evening:

Saturday night flights - Images by Tom Bushey

Wallkill River Ice

Like almost everyone else in the northeast, I'm getting  a little tired of all the extreme cold weather this winter. But I also decided to take advantage of the cold and get some photographs of ice on the Wallkill River at Benedict Farm in Montgomery, N.Y.

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A couple of  weeks ago I stopped there on one of the few relatively warm days we've had in January. Although ice still covered the river, the park was covered in fog.
Last week the scene was completely different. Instead of dealing with light rain and clouds, I was facing bright sunshine and temperatures in the single digits. Blocks of ice were piled up on the river banks in some areas. And the smooth surface of  ice was interrupted in places with jagged pieces.


Here's an overall look at ice on the shore with the river in the background. I used a wide angle lens to take this picture.

After shooting many photos from right next to the blocks with my wide angle, I backed up a bit and switched to a telephoto lens.

Here's another shot with the longer lens.

 For the next photo I moved behind the blocks of ice for a detail shot.

 All of the photographs so far were taken fairly close to where I parked my car. Next I decide to take a walk along the river toward the back of the park, an area I had never checked out. Walking helped me stay warm, but I did not find that many spots along the river to take photos. I was, however, rewarded with the photo of the bald eagle at right. I heard the cries of hawks, and I had seen hawks at Benedict Farm before. But this was my first time seeing an eagle there.
On my way back to the parking area the sun was lower in the sky. The shards of ice were now more backlit, which made for more interesting pictures.

Here's a slideshow with these images and more:


Wallkill River Ice - Images by Tom Bushey

Friday night flights

Friday night flights of gliders, hang gliders and ultralights at Randall Airport had been on my list of things to photograph for the Times Herald-Record for a long time. Friday is my day to work late, starting at 1 p.m., but I usually have assignments to shoot that evening.

A few weeks ago I was finished with my other assignments by 6 p.m. and headed to the airport to see if any balloons were preparing to take off. I saw no balloons but I did notice one ultralight coming in for a landing.

 Luckily for me, the ultralight was preparing to tow another tandem hang glider into the sky. He actually towed the hang glider four times, which allowed me to figure out how to get the pictures  I wanted.

My later photos were also helped by a beautiful sunset. I really like the scale of the ultralight in this picture:

Finally, here a picture of the hang glider approaching the airport.

The images above and others were published in a photo gallery at recordonline.com. The Times Herald-Record also published four of  the photos on Aug., 28, 2013.

 In case you're interested in taking a flight, the tandem hang glider rides at Randall Airport are offered by Hangar 3.

Schunnemunking

These lyrics by Carole King from "Up on the Roof"  describe how I feel about climbing Schunnemunk Mountain.

When this old world starts getting me down
And people are just too much for me to face
I climb way up to the top of the stairs
And all my cares just drift right into space

Lately I've been hiking the Trestle Trail by the Moodna Viaduct in Salisbury Mills. The area is part of Schunnemunk Mountain State Park. The summit of Schunnemunk, at 1,664 feet, is the highest spot in Orange County, so you could call Schunnemunk Mountain the roof of Orange County.



The trail is steep, especially once you climb past the train trestle, but the views are beautiful. Last Sunday was warm for November, and the afternoon light made for nice photographs.
 Here's a are a few views from the climb:






On the way back down the mountain I stopped at another spot with a great view and a wooden bench. The bench has a plaque: "In memory of Sharon Guilfoyle". There were roses on the bench, probably placed their on  Oct. 22, the anniversary of her death.




The bench has been at the spot just off the trail for years. But I discovered another memorial nearby for the first time. What I first thought was just a pile of wood was a remembrance for deceased pets. A small plaque on a tree read::" DEDICATED TO: The Animals Who Share The Trail & Life With Us."




Here's a slideshow of these and other photos from my hike:



2012 November Schunnemunk Mountain Hike - Images by Tom Bushey

Top 10 photos of 2011

2011 Top 10 POY - Images by Tom Bushey

Chasing the moon

My plan was to find a good location to shoot the full moon as it was setting, which is when the lunar eclipse would be starting. Although I've taken moon photos through my telescope, I usually like to include something that gives the photo a sense of place. My idea was to frame the photograph to include the High Point Monument in New Jersey. Here's an image to show what I had in mind:



I used a program called "The Photographer's Empheris" to figure out where I needed to be to get the moon and monument together. I found the right spot in the darkness but could not get the picture I had planned.

My first problem was that the lights were not shining at the monument, which made focusing on the monument difficult. My second problem was the clouds were obscuring the moon. By the time I got everything set up, the moon was slipping behind the mountain.



Then I drove to another location with a better view of the western horizon: the scenic overlook off Interstate 84 above Port Jervis. I'd shot the moon from there before. But this time the valley was covered in fog, which I love to shoot. The lights of Port Jervis were even shining from beneath the fog.



Since the moon was still fairly far from the horizon, I drove to Port Jervis and then back east on 84 to shoot from the eastbound overlook, which is higher. Unfortunately there were clouds near the horizon that I did not see. Here's the moon just visible above the clouds:


By this time the sky was getting lighter, so I concentrated on the fog for a few photographs.





Look carefully and you can see the white base of the flagpole at Elks-Brox Park above Port Jervis. Here's a photograph I took from near the flagpole in October of 2006. You can see High Point Monument in the background, which brings us back to where we started, photographically.

Lightning in August

With the stormy forecast for this week, I thought I'd post some photos of lightning from a thunderstorm earlier this month.

I noticed the flashes in the distance while driving home from the grocery store. The rain started falling while I was at my first location, the National Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Middletown, N.Y.

My next stop was on the outskirts of town to shoot lightning in the distance. Flashes were visible all across the horizon.

My final stop was the lake at Fancher-Davidge Park. I took a few photos there as the storm moved away.

Finally, here's a slideshow with a few additional photos. You can view very large versions of the pictures by clicking the icon on the lower right corner.

Lightning in August - Images by Tom Bushey

Sunday, foggy Sunday

With another snowstorm on the way, here's a look back to January 2, 2011, when warm winter temperatures brought fog to the Hudson Valley. I took photographs of the fog over the Hudson River in Newburgh and New Windsor, and by the Moodna Viaduct railroad trestle in Salisbury Mills.


Sunday, foggy Sunday - Images by Tom Bushey

The fog was so thick when I arrived at the viaduct that I could not see the field across the road from the parking area. By the time I left, the fog was gone.

Moonrise over the Moodna Viaduct

The Moodna Viaduct in Salisbury Mills is one of my favorite locations to take pictures. Of course there's the tall railroad trestle, but there are also hiking trails nearby on Schunnemunk Mountain, the highest mountain in Orange County, N.Y.
Late Saturday afternoon I planned to do a short hike and then shoot the moon rising behind the viaduct. I took a different trail than I usually do and found a clearing with a nice view to the east, where I took the photograph below.



The houses in the foreground are in the shadow of the mountain. That's Storm King Mountain in the background at right. And the Hudson Highlands on the east side of the Hudson River are in the background at left.

The trail continued around the bottom of the mountain instead of climbing upward, so I decided to head back to the viaduct. When I got to the clearing again, I noticed the moon in the sky.



After that I started walking faster back to the trestle. Once I got to the field, I started taking pictures and regretting that I had left my tripod in the car.



After trying different angles and lenses, I made my back to the car and set up my tripod for more shots, like this one from the parking area.



As the moon rose higher, I walked by into the field to try different angles. The photograph below is a composite of two images, one exposed for the moon and a second, longer exposure for the rest of the scene.



I waited at this spot for a while, hoping for a train to pass on the trestle. After I gave up and started walking back to my car, the train appeared. I just had time to put my tripod down and take a shot with the wide angle lens on my camera.



Here's a slideshow of these and other photographs I've taken of the viaduct. Clicking on the square next to the "SHARE" button gives you a fullscreen view.


Moodna Viaduct - Images by Tom Bushey

Long distance lightning and stars, oh my

Last Saturday night I shot fireworks, again. But I liked the unexpected photographs I took while driving home from the display better.
After the fireworks I stopped at a grocery store. On my short trip home, the sky above was clear, but I noticed flashes of light in the west. My destination changed to a spot in a new subdivision with a clear view of the western horizon. The frozen meals and cold beverage in my grocery bags could wait.



Lightning was illuminated clouds low on the horizon. And the best part for me was that stars were visible higher in the sky. I had never captured a scene with lightning and stars before. Here' another photo with more stars.



The lightning was appearing all across the horizon. To get better pictures, I decided to drive further west and made two stops at the Bashakill Wildlife Management Area. The first spot, at a boat launch, was so dark I had trouble focusing the camera. And I left my glasses at the fireworks.

At the second spot there were lights in the distance to help with focus, and I got some good shots.



The lightning is smaller in the frame because I used a wide angle lens. The red streak and light comes from a fisherman casting his illuminated bobber.

The lightning still seemed pretty far away, so I headed west again, this time to the overlook on Route 52 above Ellenville. Someone else was already there taking photographs when I arrived. The following picture is looking northwest over Ellenville.



The final photo is looking directly west. The storm was actually in Delaware County.



Here's a slideshow of lightning images with some fireworks shots at the end.


Lightning and fireworks - Images by Tom Bushey