Joe Turic Photography

New Paltz in 5

Joe — Fri, 17 May 2013 02:04:21 +0000

When I started this series I wanted to be shots in and around town. Luckily New Paltz is the kind of town where you can photograph a drum circle, a quaint main street and then drive (or walk) five minutes from town and see beautiful landscapes. Here are 5 of those from this past week.

New Paltz in 5

Joe — Fri, 10 May 2013 02:32:42 +0000

On a quiet spring night last week I set out for some shots around town at dusk. I still made it home in time for SVU Here’s another New Paltz in 5.

The New Paltz Regatta

Joe — Wed, 08 May 2013 22:17:40 +0000

Since New Paltz isn’t Newport, I’m usually met with confused looks when people ask what I did this past weekend and my reply is, “I went to the New Paltz Regatta“. I think most don’t even realize there’s a river that runs through town, let alone enough crazy people to spend all the time and energy making a water craft that may or may not even float when it’s finally dropped into the Walkill, only to paddle it a quarter mile and often have it fall apart by the time it reaches the finish line! It’s a great day that begins with a parade of all of the “boats”, as well as music, food and tons of people. I didn’t get too many shots of the parade, and since it was so crowded in town, I was buried in the woods during the race. Here are a few of the shots I was able to grab.

New Paltz in 5

Joe — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 22:46:27 +0000

New Paltz is an amazing town. I’ve probably said something to this effect before on the blog, but, there have been plenty of weekends where I get home on a Friday and don’t get back into my car until Monday, all the while being able to hike, bike, eat, drink, shop and see live music within a comfortable walking distance from home. Often I’ll wander around town with my camera, looking very touristy, especially on the high traffic weekends. There’s such an interesting mix of people and things to see in such a small town, like a roving troubadour playing guitar along the rail trail yesterday, that I feel the need to document it a little more than I have been. Since I usually shoot landscapes, this is a nice change of pace and a great way to show others some of the beautiful things I see around here every day. Here are 5 shots from the past couple of weekends — New Paltz in 5!

Local New Paltz bluegrass band Yard Sale playing at In Good Taste

Telephoto fun

Joe — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 01:32:29 +0000

For years I’ve wanted to get into telephoto photography. Since I mostly do landscapes, my Canon 17-40 f4 L was my workhorse lens. I recently got a Canon 70-200 f4 L IS and have been really excited to explore the possibilites that the new perspective will give me. A week ago I was driving into work and spotted a window washer on the side of a building. I was so excited, a perfect opportunity to use my new lens. I parked my car a good distance away from him and zoomed in, first framing the building, window washer and the sky, but then deciding to just frame him, against the windows. I ultimately chose this capture, shot at 144 mm, a reach I definitely didn’t have before.

I also wanted to take a moment to bring something to your attention, especially if you’re reading this post via an RSS reader. In July, Google will be shutting down Google Reader. In the past week I’ve been trying out Feedly, another online news reader. It will import your Google Reader feeds, has a modern interface as well as excellent iOS and Android apps. All free too! Check it out at www.feedly.com.

Festivus Games

Joe — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 00:31:12 +0000

If you told me a year ago that I’d be competitively weightlifting, wearing wrist straps and a belt, in an effort to clean and jerk 165 lbs while people cheered me on, I wouldn’t have believed you — and that’s just a piece of what I did this past Saturday. I’ve been doing Crossfit for a little over a year now. The last post I wrote about it was actually close to a year ago, when the box that I go to, CFMH, had their one year anniversary. Some months after I started, when I began to see some results and got comfortable with double unders, my coach said, ”soon you’ll be going to a competition”.

Of course I immediately dismissed this. Me? Compete at Crossfit? I could barely Rx the daily workouts!

Festivus is a crossfit competition geared towards novice and intermediate crossfitters and was taking place at a box near me, Crossfit Orange. I signed up (intermediate!) not knowing what to expect. I’ll save you the suspense, I came in last place. While that stings a little bit, it really doesn’t bother me. I have to remember to keep things in perspective. Literally a year ago I didn’t know what a clean and jerk or a thruster was, and then on Saturday I was able to clean and jerk 155lbs three times in 45 seconds. That’s an amazing accomplishment, and my collarbone has the bruises to say so. It was a long day, but filled with friends, food, exercise and beer (the CFMH tent could have been mistaken for a tailgate at a football game). Now I have a goal of clean and jerking 200 lbs by the end of 2013, let’s see if I can get there

Also, for those curious, here are the descriptions of the 3 WODs we did:

1. 12 minutes to establish a 3 rep max ground to overhead. All 3 reps must be performed within a 45 second time period. Athletes may snatch,clean & jerk, clean and push press or any other method that takes the weight from the floor to a locked out position overhead. — I got 155 lbs up within the first few minutes and tried to get 165 up a few times, but would fail on my third rep.

2. 21-15-9 Row for calories, thrusters and burpees. 10 minute cap (men’s intermediate weight, 75 lbs) — I completed 2 rounds of this by the time the 10 minute cap hit.

3. Death by 10 meters. At the top of the first minute, sprint 10 m, then rest the remainder of the minute. At the top of the second minute, sprint 10 m twice, then rest the remainder of the minute. Continue adding another 10 m sprint at the top of each minute until you can no longer make your sprints within the minute — I completed 15 rounds and died in round 16 with 14 laps.

Fresh snowfall at the Ashokan Reservoir

Joe — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 22:35:16 +0000

We woke this morning to a bit of wet snow covering the grass and cars (which was super cool, since I didn’t realize it was going to snow). I had to pick up my freshly tuned skis at Potter Brothers in Kingston, so I thought it’d be an excellent day to take a walk up at the Ashokan Reservoir. The drive through the backroads around the reservoir was absolutely beautiful, with snow covering every little branch and making the landscape a winter wonderland. Here are a few shots from the walk.

The Majestic Hudson River

Joe — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 03:12:53 +0000

Almost every morning and almost every afternoon I drive across the Hudson River. The tight lanes on the Mid Hudson Bridge make it so that you really have to pay attention to your driving, which is tough considering the beauty that envelops you. Water, haze, foliage, rock, fog, ice, trains, barges, sunrises and sunsets — not to mention the actual architecture of the bridge — make the short drive always exciting. The past week the Hudson River has seen its fair share of ice build up, and each time I cross I’ve been kicking myself for not having my camera in the car. This morning I made a point to get under and up onto the bridge to try to capture some of the winter goodness that I see each day.

Larger photos can always be seen in the galleries.

Snowy exploring

Joe — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 03:45:24 +0000

It snowed about 5 inches the other day, not enough to close anything down, but enough to make the landscapes, some industrial, really pretty. I didn’t have my DSLR with me, but rather my Canon S95 point and shoot. I always kick myself when I don’t have my “big” camera, but the S95 can produce some quality images for such a small body. I’m not much of a black and white person, but this day was so bleak (really not in a bad way either), that I felt these images might do better in black and white. As a friend said to me today about the color versions, “these already look like you’ve desaturated them”. It always makes me smile when I can cut my lunch short at work and take a quick walk and find scenery like this.

New Paltz Christmas Tree Bonfire

Joe — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 18:16:24 +0000

Getting rid our our Christmas tree seems to be an annual annoyance, so you imagine my excitement when driving home the other day and seeing a banner on the side of P&Gs for “Christmas Tree Bonfire in the Park”. Yesterday, on a not so wintery Saturday in January (at least snow is on the ground!) ND and I lashed a bungee cord around our tree, dragged it through town and over to Hasbrouck Park to join dozens of families and neighbors all united around setting our Christmas trees on fire. The Mayor, Jason West, spoke, reminding everyone that the Christmas tree bonfire was an old New Paltz tradition, and his hopes to make it even bigger and better next year, while a local bluegrass trio, Yardsale, played in the background and the fire department carefully tended the bonfire. Magical moments in a magical town.

Gallery with full size pictures can be seen here.

Yardsale was playing in the dark. I was lucky to catch them lit up for just a moment when a huge dry tree got thrown on the fire.