The Sakura Matsurai festival takes place at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens every year. It celebrates the blooming of the cherry blossom trees and Japanese culture. This year was the first time I went, and it was quite enjoyable. There was so much happening. Food, cosplayers, tents with novelties, performances, and so much more. This group happened to be performing a dance based off the anime Love Live.
The railway wasn't the only thing that I explored while at Forest Park. I explored the various trails throughout the park. Along one of these trails was a bird feeding area. This area had such a wide variety of birds. Sparrows, crows, blue birds, blue jays, cardinals, and birds I didn't even recognize. They were beautiful and very friendly, and made the experience all the better.
This was my first shoot of this kind, and honestly it was very enjoyable. I chose the outfits, the poses, and the locations. It was the first formal, non candid photo shoot I had ever done. I would gladly do it again.
On a spring day, my boyfriend and I took a journey to Forest Park. I had the intentions of walking along the abandoned LIRR line. What resulted was pictures of fallen leaves, vibrant graffiti, and trash slewn about.
I hope to explore the other parts of this line sometime soon.
Taking place in Li Greci's Staaten, Jill's Bridal Shower was a pink cotton candy dream. The guests were happy and buzzing with excitement. There were shower games and raffle baskets, and candy and chocolate covered marshmallows, and decorations galore.
The shower was a beautiful event and the pictures reflect that.
New York has a tendency to have sporadic weather. It goes back between warm and cold days like it is a small change. It could be the middle of winter and you still wouldn't know whether or not it was a good time to take the air conditioner out of your window.
On one of these 70 degree days in March, I took it upon myself to take a walk around the neighborhood for fun. I put on some shorts and enjoyed the change in temperature before it was gone. Below are the pictures from that sweaty trip.
Taken on a late night walk by the water with my boyfriend and my dog. The lights, the tracks, the night sky, and the water were all perfect. It felt amazing and my dog enjoyed the change of scenery as well.
Over President's Day Weekend, I found myself back in Staten Island. I was dogsitting for the weekend, and since I had my car, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to explore. So I drove out to the south shore of the island and walked my dog around the grounds and beaches of the Mount Loretto Unique Area.
There were many birds, ducks, shells, snails, and more at the park. My dog enjoyed it thoroughly, and I very much enjoyed the scenery. It was much more beautiful and interesting than I had ever thought it was. There were so many trails to walk on, and even in the winter, the beach gave you that feeling of summer, especially with the 60 degree weather of the day.
It was a very enjoyable experience at a lovely place that I would gladly visit again. And I encourage you all to visit as well.
On Saturday, February 3rd, my boyfriend and I drove out to Timber Point Park. We drove along the golf course edge until reaching the pier. We stayed there for a while, because he wanted to get a picture of the Great Blue Heron which he had spotted there before. And after about a half hour, we walked into the trail, trudging through mud and ice that was surprisingly still frozen.
Along the trail, we found what looked to be an abandoned garage. Covered in graffiti and missing some of its original rooms. Next we walked through fields of wheat until we reached the beach. There were many different clams and elks along the walk. At the beach we saw seagulls, brants, loons, and killdeers.
We stayed there in the cool weather for a few hours, photographing the scene before it began to rain. Se we headed back the car and back home to edit our photos from our most recent adventure.
For the first time in a year I was able to revisit the beautiful former World Fair grounds of Flushing-Corona Park. I took the long trek out and arrived at around 3:30. I walked around the grounds, stepping on crunched up ice from the day before.
The globe was surrounded by the work of the Chinese activist/artist Al Wei Wei. It was his project called “Good Fences Make Good Neighbors,” which was about how fences dictate much of America. Whether it be in prisons, the proposition of “The Wall”, or the fences we use to separate ourselves from our neighbors. It is about division and coming together, an amazing concept that is needed in our current political situation.
Afterwards I went to the nearby Queens Museum and explored the new exhibits, before going back outside to photograph the sunset against the globe. It was absolutely gorgeous and I was happy to be able to capture all of it on an actual camera. My boyfriend had let me use his since mine is still being fixed.
it was an overall great trip and I hope to visit again soon.
All pictures captured on the Nikon D3300.
Scroll down for each mini gallery
Golden Hour Shots:
Al Wei Wei: Good Fences Make Good Neighbors:
Dusk/Sunset:
Queen's Museum:
Extras:
Last week my boyfriend and I drove out to Nassau County and Centre Island. We hiked trails along a beautiful lake that was next to the LIRR tracks. The ground was wet, but all the snow had melted and it was nice to see everything natural again.
We walked around the trails and then drove out to Centre Island to see the beaches. We found out later that that was quite impossible because the shore fronts were all privately owned. But it was beautiful.
About 100 miles away from the business of New York City is a small town called Ellenville, New York. Like any upstate town, it is small and quiet, full of nature and wildlife. In August, 2017, my best friend David moved from College Point, Queens back to his old home in Ellenville. I hadn’t seen him in months, so my boyfriend and I planned a four day trip for while I was back from college to go visit him and explore the area.
On Friday January 5, I met my boyfriend at the LIRR Hicksville station and we started our two and a half hour journey. It was a little more difficult than expected due to the blizzard the day before, but we soon left the city and made it upstate. We arrived at around 2:00 pm to see him waiting outside for us. We parked and soon celebrated being reunited with pizza and a multitude of snacks. We then went out to this cliff that overlooks the whole area. It was beautiful. You could see the lights in the snow covered houses, the trees, the mountains, it was gorgeous.
The next day we went to Sam’s Point Preserve. Where we climbed a snow and ice covered mountain and explored ice caves. The view from the top was stunning you could see all the surrounding mountains, creeks, and more. It was reaching up to -17° F with high winds. Afterwards we got lunch and headed to Stony Kills Falls. Unfortunately that didn’t work out so well for us. When we got there, it was closed off miles before the entrance and there was no parking nearby. And of course, as we turned around to leave we ran into car trouble. The catalytic converter of our Ford Escape had detached itself from the muffler. It was now a -17° F outside and we were stranded. We tried to the best of our abilities to fix it, but without something strong to tie it together we were pretty much screwed. After an hour and a half, our fingers and toes had lost all feeling and we had lost almost all hope. But then suddenly we saw a car driving down the mountain and were able to wave it down. This mountain man, who we later found out was named John, helped us tie it back up into place. And then we made our way back home, because we’d had enough adventuring for a day.
The next day we drove to the nearby town of Liberty, where the “Dirty Dancing” style Grossinger Hotel was, which had been abandoned many years ago. Our goal was to explore the grounds and many of the other nearby hotels that were abandoned. But unfortunately car trouble struck again. And as we were going to park nearby, the catalytic converter fell off again. And we were forced to get it fixed at a (surprisingly open) repair shop nearby. We got it fixed and attempted to find a less obvious way into the hotel grounds, but to no avail. We were able to take pictures of the surrounding lakes and fields, but then we decided to head back to David’s house.
On our last day we left early, due to an incoming sleet storm. We left at 10:00 am. And stopped to take pictures of the landscape on the way home. After a little over two and a half hours in the car, we made it back safely to Oakdale. We are definitely going to visit again in the summer.
Three New Portraits have been added in the Portrait Gallery. Here they are again below.
The past week has been full of temperatures below 20 degrees, causing ponds, lakes, rivers, and more to freeze, or at least partially freeze. Along the West Saville Docks, is the Great South Bay. A decent part of the bay was frozen, and the parts near docks specifically were a bluish shade and was coated in a thin layer of ice.
I went here in the 10 degree weather to watch the sunset and take a few pictures with my phone since my Nikon was still out of commission. So on the first day of the new year, I went out and watched the sunset and the rising of the super moon. It was a beautiful sight and a great way to start off the new year.
The pictures are in the gallery below.
After Christmas, my boyfriend and I went to visit Montauk for our one year anniversary. we stayed there for two days and explored the surrounding area.
The area was far different than it is during the summer season when tourists roam about the waterfront town. The town was quiet and empty during the holiday season. With many of the local shops closed for the season, many residents off visiting elsewhere, and tourists back at home.
It was cold and desolate, but it definitely was not any less beautiful. We visited many different waterfront and off the beaten path spots. It was an amazing trip and a beautiful place that I would gladly visit again, although I hope next time it will be warmer when I do
All pictures in this post were shot and edited on the iPhone 6, since my Nikon is out of commission for the next three weeks.
