T.G.'s Photography Blog

  Looking straight down at the snow-covered trees.  With a fresh coating of snow on the forest near my house , I sent the drone up to capture some photographs. This view is looking straight down at the snow-covered trees from about 200 feet above the ground. The trees are all around 100 feet tall.  Photograph taken on December 12, 2022, near Syracuse, New York.

  The last time I captured a view looking over the forest in my neighborhood, the trees were bare, the ground covered in snow, and more snow was falling. This week with spring in full bloom and the sky filled with some great-looking clouds, I sent the drone up again to capture the view. Looking northward toward the Seneca River at an above-ground-level altitude of 225 feet. Ash Trees and the Emerald Bore   A lot of the trees in this forest are ash trees. Many of them are infected by the Emerald Ash Bore (EAB) and are either dead or dying. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the EAB, a type of beetle, is an invasive insect that most likely arrived in wood packing materials from Asia approximately thirty years ago. The EAB, as its name implies, bores holes throughout the tree, resulting in the tree's death. When the ash trees become infected by the EAB, an increased presence of woodpeckers occurs. The beetles are a food source for woodpeckers. The ...

We've had snow almost continuously on the ground here in the Syracuse area since just after New Year's. The snow has melted off a bit at times, but new snow always seems to fall. The day before I took this photograph a significant amount of the snow on the ground had melted off so that one could actually see the grass in places. However, that was short lived, and more snow fell overnight and the next morning.  Looking north over the forest behind my house. With a break in the snowfall and some sunshine breaking through the clouds, I set up my drone to practice using it some more and capture the forest behind my house again. As I was sending the drone up, the sky clouded up again and snow started falling. I quickly snapped a few shots and brought the drone back down to the ground. The river seen through the trees on the left side is the Seneca River. Photograph taken on February 18, 2022, near Syracuse, New York.

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 ...

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 fall color change in many places here in Central New York are progressing slowly. The warmer then normal October here seems to  have slowed the change. However, there are some places that have a nice splash of color.  While out railfanning with my youngest a few weeks back , we came across a lakeside hill between Minoa, New York, and Kirkville, New York, that had a nice patch of trees with colorful leaves. The lake, from what I can tell, doesn't have a name. It is located to the east of Minoa Road and North Manlius Road. Fall colors on a lakeside hill, near Minoa, New York. Photograph taken on October 22, 2021, at Minoa, New York.

I first saw trees leaves changing colors in late August, but then it seemed nature hit the pause button and color change stopped. However, recently the leaves began to change again. With many of the leaves here in Central New York finally starting to change into their fall colors I have gone out a few times trying to capture some of the colors.  Thompson Road, at Camillus, NY. The below two photographs were taken near Nine Mile Creek Aqueduct, along Thompson Road. These views are looking eastward as the road curves and twists its way through the fall foliage.  Colorful leaves along Thompson Rd. A twisting Thompson Road, surrounded by color. Pottery Road, at Warners, NY. While out waiting for a train to at Pottery Road, in Warners, NY., I spotted this sliver of yellow leaves being highlighted by the mid-afternoon sunlight.  A sliver of yellow among green. Fog shrouded hilltop along Warners Road While driving down Warners Road, I took a turn onto Sheets Road. When I turned ...

      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.

Photo taken on March 17, 2018.

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.