by Gary Gardiner | May 22, 2013
Turkey vulture devouring a squirrel is My Final Photo for May 22, 2013
Choosing today’s My Final Photo was quite easy. It had to be the turkey vulture in my back yard.
We’re not sure where the dead squirrel came from. There was no mourning for it. Neither would there have been mourning if the vulture’s meal had been one of the too many rabbits that plague the garden.
Still, there he stood in the corner of our small plot of land making a meal of a dead squirrel.
We’ve had hawks in the back yard before looking for the same prey only as living meals. For the vulture to find this single squirrel is interesting.
Vultures use their ability to smell decaying flesh, not their eyesight which is good but not as fine as the hawk’s. Even more interesting is that the vulture searches only for freshly dead animals, not the ones you and I can smell as they begin to decay. Vultures like their meat fresh, not rotten, just like us.
by Gary Gardiner | May 22, 2013
Turkey vulture devouring a squirrel is My Final Photo for May 22, 2013
Choosing today’s My Final Photo was quite easy. It had to be the turkey vulture in my back yard.
We’re not sure where the dead squirrel came from. There was no mourning for it. Neither would there have been mourning if the vulture’s meal had been one of the too many rabbits that plague the garden.
Still, there he stood in the corner of our small plot of land making a meal of a dead squirrel.
We’ve had hawks in the back yard before looking for the same prey only as living meals. For the vulture to find this single squirrel is interesting.
Vultures use their ability to smell decaying flesh, not their eyesight which is good but not as fine as the hawk’s. Even more interesting is that the vulture searches only for freshly dead animals, not the ones you and I can smell as they begin to decay. Vultures like their meat fresh, not rotten, just like us.
by Gary Gardiner | May 8, 2013
Baby crying in stroller at farmers market – My Final Photo for May 8, 2013
Wednesday beginning in spring means the Uptown Westerville Farmers Market where I spend several hours each week talking with farmers and their customers. Usually I come away with photos of the latest crops or someone inspecting fruits and vegetables or carrying their selections to their cars.
Today was different from the summer when I photographed the hands of farmers with their produce.
I heard the low volume cries of a baby in the stroller next to me at the last booth in the market. It was a cry just loud enough to be heard but not of such a volume that the baby sounded in distress.
The lower section of the stroller held an older child who was too involved eating the recently purchased cookie to care about her sibling crying just over her head in the second compartment. I couldn’t see the crier because the sun shield was folded over her.
Her mom, taking a break from deciding which breads to buy, folded down the shield to make sure everything was OK. It was, except the baby began to cry louder once she saw mom. Mom, recognizing the increased volume and intensity as a feined attempt at physical distress, went back to her shopping.
The tears, the expression, and her reaction when the baby saw mom intrigued me.
I got two frames before the oldest child, a sister holding a cookie and standing beside the stroller looked at me like the grenade boy by Diane Arbus, reached over and closed the shield. She then looked at me, tilted her as if to say “Go away! This is my sister and you’re not going to be taking pictures of her crying!”
She turned and walked away shoulders held high and the cookie slowly moving toward her grinning mouth.
The photo is ordinary but the story elevates it to My Final Photo for May 8, 2013.
by Gary Gardiner | May 8, 2013
Baby crying in stroller at farmers market – My Final Photo for May 8, 2013
Wednesday beginning in spring means the Uptown Westerville Farmers Market where I spend several hours each week talking with farmers and their customers. Usually I come away with photos of the latest crops or someone inspecting fruits and vegetables or carrying their selections to their cars.
Today was different from the summer when I photographed the hands of farmers with their produce.
I heard the low volume cries of a baby in the stroller next to me at the last booth in the market. It was a cry just loud enough to be heard but not of such a volume that the baby sounded in distress.
The lower section of the stroller held an older child who was too involved eating the recently purchased cookie to care about her sibling crying just over her head in the second compartment. I couldn’t see the crier because the sun shield was folded over her.
Her mom, taking a break from deciding which breads to buy, folded down the shield to make sure everything was OK. It was, except the baby began to cry louder once she saw mom. Mom, recognizing the increased volume and intensity as a feined attempt at physical distress, went back to her shopping.
The tears, the expression, and her reaction when the baby saw mom intrigued me.
I got two frames before the oldest child, a sister holding a cookie and standing beside the stroller looked at me like the grenade boy by Diane Arbus, reached over and closed the shield. She then looked at me, tilted her as if to say “Go away! This is my sister and you’re not going to be taking pictures of her crying!”
She turned and walked away shoulders held high and the cookie slowly moving toward her grinning mouth.
The photo is ordinary but the story elevates it to My Final Photo for May 8, 2013.
by Gary Gardiner | Apr 5, 2013
Java Central in Uptown Westerville without cars blocking the view
Business First has a nice set of articles about Uptown Westerville in its Friday edition. You can read about it on the Shop Uptown Westerville blog or stop by A Gal Named Cinda Lou in Uptown to read its copy. I had not yet seen the article as I stood across the street from Java Central with a rather unusual view.
It was a little after 3 p.m. and a brief lull in traffic and shopping cleared just two parking spots in front of the coffee shop. These two spots are usually filled with coffee fanatics or people running to Schneider’s Donuts for a sugar fix. Adding to my pleasure were two customer in an animated discussions sitting at one of the sidewalk tables.
I knew it wouldn’t be long before one of the open spaces would be filled and the unusual view would be obstructed. I’m always looking for better photos of Uptown, especially when newspapers and magazines are writing stories about Westerville. This was a good chance to have photos that were different. Different because they were shot with a telephoto lens from across the street.
In a perfect world I would have had more time. I would have wished for more people along the brick walk to the right. I would have added fill lights along the walkway. The trees would have leaves.
If this were a formal advertising shot all of those things would have been planned. But it would have taken more than the five minutes I got before a car pulled into one of the parking spots.
Still, I was pleased.
The Business First article’s lead photo is of Debbie Bennati, owner of A gal named Cinda Lou. It was taken by the paper’s staff photographer Janet Adams who I’m sorry to say I missed both her trips to Uptown to shoot the story.
Here are some links for Janet. Twitter Linkedin Google+
