Monthly Archives: February 2012

Have the Terrorists Already Won?

On February 29, 2012 4 Comments - Scenics and Landscapes

 

GW Bridge Goes Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness. Photo by Eugene Parciasepe Jr.

The image above was taken by my friend Eugene Parciasepe Jr., who is also a wonderful photographer that shoots on a regular basis for 201 Magazine.  It is now very difficult to get create an image like that.  Not only because it takes a lof of scenic and landscape photography skill, but also because of the new perception the public has about photographers.  It has gotten bad enough that one blogger actually had to write about how to avoid encounters with the law in part because of what happened to him but also because of this TSA circular depicting a photographer just outside an airport.

The Strobist recently posted an article about how to avoid police encounters while taking photographs in public.  He begins the article by describing an encounter with the police one evening while doing some time-lapse photography of trees in autumn.  It is a well written article about steps you can take prior to your photography project.  One of the first lessons the photographer learned was to not act like a comedian when approached by a law enforcement officer.

I’m not sure why he took this approach first.  He was shooting in the middle of the night and the officer arrived on the scene with her emergency lights activated.  The policeman may be overreacting, but the lights, in my opinion, is a signal that the officer was taking the situation seriously and her stress level was elevated.  It is absolutely the wrong time to be joking about anything.  I’m surprised he was not cuffed and tossed in a cell to stew while everything was sorted out.  I have met many law enforcement officers in casual situations and most tell me that their  stress level is always high on any call even a simple traffic stop.  Anything you do to reduce that stress level will make the experience much more acceptable to all involved.  For example, if you are asked to pull over especially at night, regardless of the weather, you should roll down ALL your windows and turn on your interior lights as well as keep your hands someplace very visible.

After his experience with the law enforcement officer, the Strobist blogger came up with the following steps to minimize the possibility of a police encounter.

1.  Check in with the local police department by simply calling the “non-emergency” number and inform them of your intentions.

2.  Notify the neighborhood through fliers of what they should expect to see

These are common courtesy action items and definitely worth noting.  However, photographers have to be aware that you can no longer photograph bridges, historical monuments and transportation facilities without someone out there assuming you are doing it for nefarious reasons.  To some degree, I believe the terrorists have already won since 9/11.  I wish that were not true but you can’t even use a tripod with your camera in New York City anymore without obtaining a permit and we are reminded of that every time we board a commercial airplane.

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Trying Another Retoucher – Please Opine

On February 26, 2012 6 Comments - Photography

 

Raea – Post Processed

I sent a handful of images to a retoucher to give him a test drive.   The reason I am doing this is to get out of the endless loop of upgrading my camera only to need to upgrade my computer  as well.  Same with updating my software only to need to upgrade my computer.  I want to find a retoucher I really like so I can spend my time behind the camera not behind a computer.

Here is the same image above before post.

Raea – Straight Out of the Camera

This was the result and I would be highly appreciative if you let me know what you think.

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DI Men’s Lacrosse: Bucknell at Villanova

On February 25, 2012 1 Comments - Sports, Uncategorized

25 February 2012: Bucknell LS Midfielder Evan Bozymski (44) and Villanova Attackman Kevin Cunningham (29) during men's lacrosse action at Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania. Mandatory Credit: Alex Cena

FROM PRESS RELEASE

Feb. 25, 2012  No. 9 Villanova Outlasts Bucknell in Overtime, 13-12
Cunningham Nets Game Winner to Solidify Victory

VILLANOVA, Pa. - Senior Kevin Cunningham (Garden City, N.Y.) netted the overtime game-winner on a wraparound shot to give the Wildcats a 13-12 overtime victory over Bucknell on Saturday afternoon. In a game that featured seven ties and four lead changes, No. 9 Villanova relied on the strength of upperclassmen experience and junior Jack Rice’s (Baltimore, Md.) career-high six goals to propel the Wildcats to the win.

“Our offense played fast, we were picking great, and spinning the ball quick, finding guys on the backside, that’s what I think was very effective for us,” Rice said.

Sophomore faceoff specialist Thomas Croonquist (North Caldwell, N.J.) won the final 11 face-offs of the game starting at the 8:18 mark of the third quarter and continuing until overtime. Prior to that point, the Wildcats were just 6-of-18 from the face-off X but eventually finished 17-of-29 for the day.

Villanova trailed 11-10 with just over three minutes left in regulation when the Wildcats scored the game-tying and go-ahead goals just 10 seconds apart from junior Max Hart’s (Bethesda, Md.) unassisted tally. Just 10 seconds later, Rice scored on a feed from sophomore LSM John LoCascio (Fairfield, N.J.) to give Villanova a 12-11 lead.

In the back-and-forth contest, however, that lead stood for just over a minute before Bucknell tied the game for the third time in eight minutes on a goal by Todd Heritage with 1:22 left in the fourth quarter.

In the first half, Villanova scored four of the first five goals and built a 6-3 lead midway through the second quarter. Four different Wildcats posted scores during that span, including seniors Matt Bell (Severna Park, Md.) Michael Vigilante (Massapequa, N.Y.) and sophomore Kevin O’Neil (Cockeysville, Md.), while Rice netted three of his six scores during that run.

Bucknell eventually scored three straight goals to tie the game at 6-6 with 1:11 left before intermission, but a goal from Cunningham with just 26 seconds left sent the Wildcats back to the locker rooms with a 7-6 advantage.

Rice was one of four Wildcats with at least three points for the day, while Cunningham and Vigilante each contributed two goals and one assist. Senior C.J. Small (San Diego, Calif.) contributed a game and career-high five assists.

Defensively, sophomore Chris Piccirilli (Davidsonville, Md.) and LoCascio each nabbed five ground balls while Croonquist led the team with eight pick-ups off of his face-off performance. Senior goalkeeper Dan Gutierrez (Chevy Chase, Md.) tallied a career-high 15 saves in the victory, including nine in the first half, to aid in the win. Bucknell’s Kyle Feeney notched 16 saves despite recording his third-straight defeat.

No. 9 Villanova returns to action on Tuesday, February 28th when they host Drexel (1-1) at Villanova Stadium. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m.

NOTES: Villanova is 10-of-14 (71.4%) on man-up opportunities through the first two games of the season, including 4-of-5 (80%) in today’s win over Bucknell… Villanova’s last overtime win came last season and was also at home in a 9-8 decision over Penn on March 12, 2011… The Wildcats are 4-3 (.571) in overtime games since Head Coach Mike Corrado became head coach in 2007… VU has won three of their last four overtime games dating back to 2009.

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The Modern Day Treasure Hunt

On February 22, 2012 1 Comments - Scenics and Landscapes

John explains the history of geocaching and teaches the proper use of a GPS device to guests who are spending their one year anniversary at the Lodge at Woodloch in Hawley, PA. Photographed by Alex Cena

Geoacaching, which is the modern-day version of the treasure hunt, has turned into a very popular past time. In this game, participants use a GPS device to locate containers called a “geocache” that can be hidden anywhere in the world. The simplest geocache has a logbook where you can enter or log your success, while some can contain all kinds of items. You can take an item and leave an item of equal or greater value. You really never know what you are going to get so it really does feel like a real life treasure hunt. In fact, the geocache items are not always easy to find. In keeping with the spirit of a “cache” the containers are usually well hidden under rocks, fallen trees, inside benches, and sometimes even up in a tree.

My friend Bill loves to go geocaching with his wife. They also love to travel around the world so they always check the Geocache.com website for the coordinates of the more than 1.5 million geocache locations scattered throughout the world. They have actively searched and successfully found treasure throughout the United States as well as countries such as India, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia. Once players locate a geocache, they typically write about their experience on their personal blog or one of the many on-line communities dedicated to this activity.

It is an easy activity to try when on vacation. In fact, I did it for the first time at the Lodge at Woodloch, which is an all-inclusive destination spa located in the Poconos. I was accompanied by my guide John, who not only explained the history of geoacaching but also explained how to use the GPS units supplied to us by the spa. We used the GPS units to locate treasure stashed throughout the spa’s 150 acres. At each location, we found containers with items from the Northeast Pennsylvania resort’s gift shop though in a couple of instances we found a cache that simply had coordinates for the next goecache. It was a lot of fun and provided added interest to our hike that afternoon.

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Floating the Rivers of the Noatak Wilderness in Alaska

On February 20, 2012 0 Comments - Scenics and Landscapes

Inflatable raft along the banks of the Noatak River in Northwest Alaska. Photo by Alex Cena

One of my favorite adventures is to float hunt in the middle of the Alaska Wilderness. We charter a bush flight deep into the interior of Alaska in order to float a wild river and hunt while enjoying all the wilderness has to offer. There is something exhilarating about getting dropped off in the middle of six million acres north of the Arctic Circle for a week or two knowing that you are very much on your own. Even with the umbilical cord of either a satellite phone or a PLB(personal locator beacon), you are still hours away from emergency assistance assuming the weather is cooperative.

During the last couple of trips, we based out of Kotzebue Alaska at the recommendation of Larry Bartlett of Pristineventures and advice from master guide Michael Strahan. Then we took a Cessna 206 to the top of the Anisak River where Hageland Air dropped my friend and I along with about 800 lbs of gear for our adventure. There we assembled our Aire inflatable raft and loaded it with all our gear. I must say, you have never felt really alone until that bush plane leaves you on a gravel bar somewhere knowing he cannot come back for you because there is not enough runway to take off with your additional weight. No, the closest pick up or take-out point was about 90 miles away along the Noatak River near where it converges with the Nimiuktuk. Until we reach that point, we are left to survive using outdoor skills. It is beautiful. We can camp where we want and when we want. Our campsites are selected based on convenience or when we can no longer row. Our food was either freeze-dried meals we packed with us, fish caught in the river or meat from a caribou we killed and butchered ourselves.

It’s always a great trip whether we bring home a trophy caribou or not. In fact, the last couple of trips we have returned without anything but stories of our adventures. It is always a nice lesson and exercise in self-reliance which is often missing in our society. Today I’m sure there are many people out there who believe milk and food comes from the grocery store and personal safety is the responsibility of the police.

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