I will be out of town for the next four days on the second annual Albany Excursion, where I will assume the title of Straßekommandant and drive myself, my friend Paul and our respective luggage and photography gear to the home of our mutual high school buddy, Ed. Last year's trip was a blast. The weekend was wall-to-wall wintery Central New York, lots and lots of Playstation gaming, an animé feature or two, shooting the breeze, Albany public attractions and restaurants crawling with good-looking college girls.
This year we tried to assemble a summer plan but a third-party meetingplace with Paul and Ed's mutual college friend in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania fell through several times until the end of August, at which point I decided that we'd try a repeat performance for the fall - only a little bit earlier, so we could catch the fiery end to deciduous leaves' reign. As we went at the very beginning of November last year, it's obvious how great a difference two weeks make; looking out the window now I see more trees that are still largely green or light yellow than reddish-orange or bare. New York State's winter always a week or two in advance of Ohio's, we may have managed to put ourselves on the road just at the height of the colors. Paul's a professional photographer, Ed and I are semi-active amateurs - so we're duly equipped and more than eager to catch the sights. The drive to Albany is two-thirds the same road I used to drive with my father to Syracuse University - the New York Thruway on Interstate 90. It's straight, easy, unerring and God-awful boring. Forests, however, line the highway on the west side of the state and become mountainous and even more picturesque as one nears New England. Paul and I will be leaving a bit early tomorrow morning to account for any time we spend hopping out of the car and taking a snapshot or two - a fun pastime we finally began last weekend in rural country half and hour west of Cleveland. Which brings me to my next item.
Every now and then I mumble about a photo weblog - sit back down, it's not ready. I haven't even started a Movable Type frame. But last weekend's shoot only added to the number of interesting photographs I've accumulated over the last few months. A few of you have expressed quite an interest in seeing my footage, so in the spirit of a possibly film-heavy weekend and as a nod to the photoblog-to-be, I have five thunderstorm photographs I shot from my southern-facing balcony in late June (as a good read will show, I am fascinated by clouds and meteorology in general):
Over the past weeks I've been taking faux-panoramic shots of my balcony's view of the valley as the trees turn. As snow falls this winter I'll capture the ice-glistening trees and hefty drifts - always a favorite. When spring arrives I may do well to walk about and catch close-ups of tulips and other early bloomers. Then back to the thunderstorms come May and June.
I'll tell you all about the trip when I return - and, even though Ed's a Mac sort of guy, I'm more than likely to pop on early in the morning while the other guys are sleeping off their beers to opine in an HTML-kind-of-way.
The Straßekommandant is off to a dinner invite, then to purchase a long-overdue fall-winter coat; then packing. I stand, somewhat pictorially analogous to Washington crossing the Delaware, minus the boat and period costume, pointing (even though he, you know, isn't in the painting); determined. To Albany!