T.G.'s Photography Blog

On Saturday, parts of the Western and Central New York regions had a snow squall blow through. The squall came through from the west to the east and only lasted about ten to fifteen minutes. It brought white-out conditions and wind gusts up to 40MPH. It hit the Syracuse area just before 10AM EST. Typical snow falling at the start of the snow squall. The snow squall started out with what I would call typical snow fall for the area. However, within minutes of the snow starting to fall the squall brought white-out conditions. The tree line of the forest is fifty feet from my vantage point. According to the National Weather Service, a snow squall is an intense snowstorm with high wind gusts that is much shorter in duration than a blizzard. They are often accompanied by a sudden drop in temperature which can cause the snow to freeze, leading to dangerous driving conditions. The snow and winds were so intense during this snow squall that the visibility of the forest behind my house, which ...

Being curious as to what the view was like looking over the top of the forest near my house , I sent my drone up into the air to capture the view.  A view from about 100 feet above the ground looking over the top of the forest. This view is due north from about 100 feet/30 meters above the ground. The tree  lying on the ground , near the bottom right of the photograph, is about 70-80 feet tall. In the middle-left of the photograph, through the trees is the Seneca River. The river is about 800 feet away from the camera. At the time the photograph was taken the river was mostly frozen over. Image details:  Captured in DNG format, using a DJI Mini 2. Edited in Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop. Drone altitude, 420 feet/128 meters above sea level. Photograph taken on February 8, 2022, near Syracuse, New York.

 With a forest behind my house, I see quite a bit of wildlife from time to time . In addition to the wildlife there are a couple of cats in the neighborhood that like to sit at the edge of my backyard and the forest, and hunt for food. Earlier this month I looked out my kitchen window and saw one of the two regular cats sitting on a tree stump watching the forest, presumably for lunch. A cat sitting on a tree stump at the edge of the forest. Photograph taken on January 13, 2022, near Syracuse, New York.

 Earlier this month the area got some lake effect snow, off of Lake Ontario to the north of us. The snow came down fast, and by the time it stopped there was four to five inches of snow on the ground. This photograph was taken early, during the first wave of snow fall, and was the view from my kitchen window. When the first wave of snow fall slowed, I headed out to catch Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited in the snow . By the time I got to the location where I photographed it, the snow had picked up again. Photograph taken on January 7, 2022, at Syracuse, New York.

One day last month I was sitting in my dining room helping one of my kids with schoolwork, when I happened to hear what sounded like a woodpecker pecking. I glanced out the window of the dining room and saw a pileated woodpecker couple perched on opposite sides of an ash tree at the edge of the forest behind my house.  A male (left) and female (right) pileated woodpecker pair, perched on a dying ash tree. According to Cornell University's All About Birds website , pileated woodpecker pairs stay together year-round, and are territorial, except for in the winter. During the winter they will share their territory with other woodpeckers. I've seen these two flying around at the edge of my forest but didn't realize that I was most likely seeing the same two birds each time. A female pileated woodpecker pecking on a dying ash tree. The male and female pileated woodpeckers are similar in size. The easiest way to differentiate between a male and female pileated woodpecker is the re...

The Moon and the Planet Saturn in the southern sky, above Syracuse, NY. This post continues my Moon and and tiny-spot planet series .  On Wednesday, November 10, 2021, at 7 PM, the Moon and the planet Saturn could were close to each other in the southern sky above Syracuse, NY . While the planet Saturn is a white dot in the photograph, it was still interesting to see it and the Moon together.  The Moon was in its Waxing Crescent Phase on this night, and at the time of the photograph, had an illumination of 44.3%. The distance of the Moon from Earth was 376,416 km, while Saturn was 1,507.06 million km from Earth.   Photograph taken on November 10, 2021, from Syracuse, New York.

The majority of the autumn colors have come and gone already this fall in Central New York. For quite a while the lawn has been littered with fallen leaves, and while out in the yard a few weeks back, I spotted this maple leaf laying on the front lawn. The sunlight was striking it from behind, and it made the leaf's red and orange colors really stand out among the green grass. A maple leaf laying on the grass. As the sun continued to descend in the late afternoon sky I found these red leaves, which had begun to wilt  but that were still hanging on. Here the sunlight was striking the leaves from the side and from behind. By using a focal length of 600mm the cool colors of the forest beyond made for a nice backdrop, with some extreme bokeh. The Oxford dictionary defines bokeh as, "the visual quality of the out-of-focus areas of a photographic image, especially as rendered by a particular lens." Red leaves wilting.  Photographs taken on November 6, 2021.

 Back on Sunday, November 7, 2021, the Moon was in its Waxing Crescent Phase. After taking a photograph of the Moon and the Planet Venus together , I captured a few photographs of just the Moon, to show more detail in its surface. The most prominent feature that is seen in the photograph is the Mare Crisium, a basin on the Moon's surface. Mare Crisium during the Waxing Crescent Moon The Mare Crisium is seen along the dark and light edge of the illuminated surface. At the time I took the photograph, around 6 PM EST, the Moon's illumination was 13.5%. With this level of illumination, the Mare Crisium had just become fully visible on the Moon's surface. According to NASA, the Mare Crisium is about 3.9 billion years old, and is 740 km (460 miles) wide. While the Mare Crisium looks to be rather flat in the photograph, NASA states that it is about 1.8 km (1.1 miles) below the Moon's lunar datum (the Moon's sea level). It also reaches to a height of 3.34 km (2.1 miles) ab...

This past Saturday I captured some photographs of the Waxing Crescent Moon and Venus in the sky above Syracuse, New York. The two objects were too far apart, in my opinion, to get both objects in the same photograph and still see some detail in the Moon's surface. However, the following evening, Sunday, November 7, 2021, Venus had moved closer to the Moon, and I was able to capture a photograph of both of them together that I liked. The Waxing Crescent Moon and the planet Venus in the night sky, above Syracuse, NY. Venus is currently on a path that will bring it nearer to Earth, until early January 2022. On Sunday evening when I took this photograph, Venus was about 89.5 million kilometers/55.6 million miles from Earth, about 1.1 million kilometers/700,000 miles closer than on Saturday evening. Venus' closest distance to Earth in January 2022, will be about 39.77 million kilometers/24.7 million miles. The Moon was in its Waxing Crescent Phase, which occurs after a New Moon. At...

With clear skies this past weekend, I was able to capture some photographs of the Waxing Crescent Moon and the planet Venus in the sky above Syracuse, New York.  Waxing Crescent Moon The Crescent Moon with an illumination of 6.5%, on November 6, 2021. On Saturday, November 6, 2021, according to NASA, approximately 6.5 percent of the Moon was illuminated during the hour in which I took the photograph of the Crescent Moon. The  Waxing Crescent Moon  is the phase occurring right after a New Moon. The illumination of the Moon grows to 49.9% during this phase. When I took the photograph, the Moon was in the southwestern sky, and its distance from Earth at the time was approximately 362,000 kilometers/225,000 miles.  Venus in the southern sky  Venus is the southern sky, on November 6, 2021. In addition to the Crescent Moon, the planet Venus could be seen in the southern sky on Saturday night. Venus was just under 90.7 million kilometers/56.3 million miles from Earth, ...

Since the leaves have started falling from the trees, I've had a better view of the bird activity in the forest behind my house. The other day, I was looking out my dinning room window and I saw a blue jay flying from tree to tree. I quickly grabbed my camera and the blue jay perched itself long enough for me to snap a couple of quick photographs of it.  A blue jay sits perched on a tree branch in my backyard. In addition to this blue jay, I was able to capture photographs of a juvenile red tailed hawk  last week. Thanks to the lack of leaves on the trees, I had a clear view of the hawk. Photograph taken on October 18, 2021, near Syracuse, New York.

 While looking out of my dining room window this past week, I spotted a hawk flying above the forest behind my house . It soon quickly swooped down and landed on a branch of a dying ash tree at the forest's edge.  Juvenile red-tailed hawk After researching what type of hawk this one was on Cornell University's All About Birds website , I believe this is to be a juvenile red-tailed hawk. Juvenile red-tailed hawks don't have red tails yet, but some do have dark bands across their tails like the one seen here has. I also believe this is a red-tailed hawk due to the dark patagial marks on the front edge of its wings (you can see those better in the last photograph below), as well as its other colorations.  A juvenile red-tailed hawk perched on a tree branch. The Central New York area is at the northern edge of the red-tailed hawks year-round habitat. This time of year the red-tailed hawks that spend the warmer months further north in Canada are starting to migrate a little fu...

 The other day I spotted this male northern cardinal wandering around my back yard, near the edge of the forest. He appeared to be looking for food, as he would peck down toward the ground every so often. Male northern cardinal I've seen quite a few northern cardinals in my yard over the last few months. The cardinals really stand out well, so they are easy to spot among the forest.  Photograph taken on October 4, 2021, near Syracuse, New York.

The Waning Crescent Moon phase is the phase of the Moon just before the New Moon. The current Waning Crescent phase began yesterday on September 28, 2021. It will continue until October 6, 2021, when the New Moon will occur.  The Waning Crescent Moon phase Waning Crescent Phase During the Waning Crescent Phase, the visible amount of the Moon's surface, from Earth, decreases from 49.9% to 0.1%. Today, according to timeanddate.com, approximately 44.6% of the Moon's surface is visible. Once the last sliver of the Waning Crescent Moon disappears, the New Moon will occur. The Waning Crescent Phase occurs after the Third Quarter Moon and Waning Gibbous Phase . Photograph taken at 09:28AM, on September 29, 2021, from Syracuse, NY.

 Back on August 29th, I caught the Waning Gibbous Moon in the late morning. This weekend, I was able to catch the Waxing Crescent Moon on the evening of Saturday, September 11, 2021. The Waxing Crescent Moon The Waning Gibbous Phase is when the amount of the Moon surface that is visible from Earth shrinks, ranging from 99.9% to 50.1%. The Waxing Crescent Moon is when the visible amount of the Moon's surface starts to grow, after the New Moon. The Waxing Crescent Moon's visible amount of surface ranges from 0.1% to 49.9%. The Waxing Crescent Moon Photograph taken on September 11, 2021 at 19:26 EST, from Syracuse, NY

 While standing out on my deck, I noticed the Moon was still high above Central New York, so I grabbed my camera and new telephoto lens to capture a photograph of it.  The Moon from Central New York, during the late morning I had recently picked up a new telephoto lens with a maximum focal length of 600mm, so I wanted to see what kind of detail I could see in the Moon with the lens. The image was taken with a  Canon EOS 6D, and is cropped a bit. I am pretty happy, though, with the level of detail I see in the photograph. Waning Gibbous Phase On this day, the Moon was still in the Waning Gibbous Phase, which occurs after a Full Moon. The last full Moon had occurred on August 22, 2021. The phase lasts for about a week, with the amount of the Moon made visible by the sun decreasing each day. On August 30th, the Moon would enter the Third Quarter Phase. According to Timeanddate.com, the visible portion of the Moon during the Waning Gibbous Phase decreases from 99.9% to 50.1%...

      While looking out of a window during a rain storm, I had an H.P. Lovecraft vision flash through my head. It seemed that the following quote fit well for this photograph. “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown” - H.P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature.

Another foggy morning here in the South. Photo taken on: November 25, 2018.

From my front door this past Spring. Photo taken: March 17, 2018. Photo © Tom Gatermann

I didn't have to travel far for this one, just down the stairs and through the hallway to the front door. I don't take many sunrise or sunset photographs, but the colors and the fog captured my attention when I opened the door to go outside. Photo taken on: March 17, 2018.