Onno's Blog

Yesterday evening was about the first chance this winter to take some snowy pictures. And, it being evening and all, an opportunity to continue my quest to take after dark pictures. I was meeting with Cindy later on in Charlotte to discuss the new features to the Day Rides, now called Impromptu Rides, web site, and so went over a little earlier armed with camera and tripod.

I’ve taken pictures there a few times before. It has a certain scenic appeal. I first hiked around the lighthouse and the (defunct?) train station and then up to the pier. There I saw that the snow and the dark clouds inspired photographic inspiration upon another couple of photographers as well. There is something about the snow, the fading natural light and the emerging streetlight.

You’ll find the photos on Flickr. As part of its move to iCloud, Apple is phasing out the MobileME photo gallery I had been using. Which reminds me that I have till June to through the blog posts and fix what will become dead links to photo albums…

On Tuesday it was sunny, cold and there was still snow on the ground – the perfect inspiration to take photos. Photos to then use to help my migration from iPhoto to Aperture.

This excursion further more enabled me to take photos of an area I’ve long wanted to photograph, an area where I am often enough, frequently with a camera on my person but I never take time for it: Honeoye Falls as we pass through it on our club bike rides. Every time we ride through the village and past the waterfalls I think “oh, that looks nice, I should photograph this.” But, as some know, I don’t like to stop while cycling if there’s not a cycling specific reason to stop. The result is that in this blog you seldom get to see the terrain we cycle through but instead more often these lunch time pictures.

So instead of Maximilian (ehh, the road bike) I took Dr Frits (ehh, the Mini Cooper) plus of course camera, tripod and much matters.

Sunny winter afternoons are perhaps my favorite days to go photograph because the sun hangs so nicely low in the sky causing the light to stroke over the landscape. The waterfalls were, except for a few streams of water, frozen over. It always amazes me that water flowing so swiftly can freeze.

From Honeoye Falls I went to Canadice Lake. Many of our club rides go past this lake along a lovely quiet bumpy road. Past the lake I turned Dr Frits left onto Reynolds Gull Road, an unpaved road that winds over the hill ridge to the side of Canandaigua Lake. But before getting there I turned right onto Canadice Hill Road through Spencer State Park. In September a bike ride took us this direction and I remembered it being quite beautiful.

The Falls and other photos are in the gallery.

On the way back I stopped in Lima for a drink and walked into a local pub. I sat down at the bar, peered over to the tap station to see what they had on draft and ordered a Labatt Blue.

Next to me an elderly chap and a woman in her thirties were having a bit of an odd conversation. She was, or was pretending to be, very in love with him asked him to have another drink with her. Said he that he needed to phone to see if he can stay out this evening and dug out his cell phone. He finished his call, put away the phone and said that he needed to go home to cook dinner.

He got, started towards the door but lingered at the pool table. In the meantime she started softly singing “Hepatitis, he has hepatitis”. One of the billiards players called out for her to shut up. She kept singing. Another one called to the bartender to call 911 and have her thrown out.
She leaned towards me saying: “He has hepatitis.”
“That is fascinating,” I mumbled.

More calls for 911 and for her to be quiet rang through the bar.

Realizing the time, I finished my beer and left

Mark and Chuck organized the first winter hike this Saturday. At first when Mark’s email arrived and spoke casually of a 9am start just outside Naples I wasn’t immediately motivated but I did yesterday succeed in answering the 6:45am calling of the bedside alarm.

I threw the snowshoes in the car. In Rochester the snow levels weren’t very high to require them but that could be different 45 miles south. It turned out there was a bit less snow there than in the city so hiking boots sufficed. The temperature was around -6C/20F and with virtually no wind keeping the chill factor at bay, this was quite manageable. A group of around 10 was gathering at the parking area at the bottom of Parish Hill road. But no Mark yet. And we needed him for the route. We could make something up, of course. Then a cell phone rang; Mark overslept but is on his way, we should start, he’ll catch up.

So we started the hike up the hill towards the top of the gully. And while we were admiring the view at the top of that climb, Mark made his appearance. With the group now complete we marched on towards High Tor from where there’s a great view back over Lake Canandaigua.

Circling around we came to the top of the gully on the other side. From here there was a good view on the frozen waterfall. Later in winter it is common to see ice climbers climbing up the waterfall. A scary undertaking if you ask me but I made a mental note to come back with camera and all in a few weeks. It amazes me that fast falling water can freeze.

Halfway I had a fun chat about animal tracks in the snow. Being a city boy I have no idea what prints belong to what animal; they could all be wolves as far as I’m concerned. My dad’s efforts notwithstanding – he grew up on farms – I’m also not very good with flora. I recognize oaks, tulips and roses and that’s about it. Oh, and Christmas trees, especially if they have lights in them.

More photos from the hike in the gallery.