Tales of an Overtime Cook

I know that you’ve come to expect recipes and food pictures on this blog, but I finally got a chance to play with my camera in a non-food setting, and I wanted to share some of the results with you.

On Monday, I went with some of my family to Minnewaska State Park. It is a breathtakingly beautiful park about an hour north of where I live. It’s a favorite spot in my family, and the last couple of times we went, I wished for a proper camera to help me capture its beauty. I finally went with my T3i, and took about a million pictures.

First, here’s the general view of the lake from the beginning of the trail:

As you can see, landscape photography and food photography are very different. It was difficult to get all of the settings right at first.

It was a very windy day, and I had some fun playing with fast shutter speeds and wind pictures. It turns out that it isn’t easy to capture wind in a still picture, but I think you can see a bit of what we were dealing with in this one:

Most of the day I walked around with my 18-55 mm kit lens on my camera, but I brought along my macro lens (the one I use for 99.9% of food shots) and had some fun with it too.

The trail in this park leads you around the whole lake. We didn’t walk the wbole trail (partly because we got stuck in a 2-hour traffic jam on the way there, partly because the winds were strong enough to make one feel like they were about to be blown down the side of a cliff, and partly because its about six miles around, and that’s a lot.) We did walk partly around the lake, and I got some more pictures.

There was one place where you could go right down to the water. It was magnificent. The water was so clear you could see right down to the bottom.

Aside from the gorgeous lake, and of course, the trees and cliffs surrounding it, the trail through the woods provided a couple of fun shots.

This trail seemed to lead to nowhere, but it kind of intrigued me for some reason.

This bridge fascinated me.

By the time we were getting ready to leave, the sky was getting darker, which makes for much more interesting shots. As everyone headed back to the car, I snuck a few shots.

On the way down the mountain, there is an area where you can stop to look at the amazing panoramic view. I’m glad we did.

On Tuesday, my entire family went to the 9-11 memorial in New York City. FYI, if you want to go, you need to print passes on their website first. They are free, but you can’t get in without them.

Here’s the partially built Freedom Tower:

In the place where the Twin Towers used to stand are huge pools with water flowing down the sides. The names of the victims are engraved on the edge of the pool.

It was hard to fully capture the magnitude of the pool, and especially the smaller pool in the center. You couldn’t see the bottom from ground level. I guess it sort of signifies the bottomless tragedy that took place on that day.

The trees surrounding the pool are at the line where the Twin Towers used to stand, so when you pass them to stand at the edge of the pool itself, it’s as if you are standing “in” the actual building. The oddly shaped building in the background is the future 9-11 museum, scheduled to open in the spring of 2013.

I hope you like the pictures! Fear not, I will be back soon with more delicious recipes! -Miriam