Very Busy Day

Yesterday was a very busy day for us. Sarah had a doctor's appointment in Buffalo, so we took Jeff to work, dropped him off and took Sarah to the doctor. After the appointment, we decided to go to a park that we found out about in a magazine. I was amazed that this park even exists. I had driven past it many, many times and never noticed it until yesterday. Check it out...
This is looking from the entrance to the park.












On the lower right of the above picture you can see a pond...these guys (and gals) were swimming around in it.












As you walk through the park, you can see an old mill, which I found out was built in the early 1800's. And where there is a mill there is, of course...












water!












As we entered the park, we saw the ducks and I wanted to try to get a couple pictures, so I sat on a rock, and a duck family (Mama and her four ducklings) came right over expecting food. We had brought rolls with us on the trip for sandwiches at lunch time and after lunch we had one left over. When we saw the ducks, Kyle ran back to the car to get it. As the kids fed the ducks, I took pictures. This one is by far my favorite. Now lest anyone think I have a terrific zoom lens that I captured these guys with, let me assure you, I took this picture with my 4 year old Kodak EasyShare with 2x optical zoom. Yeah, I was practically touching the ducks!












The purpose of this picture is simply to show just how close the ducks came to us. Kyle (that's his leg in the photo) was holding the last of the roll.












This is the creek below the waterfall. I thought the purple flowers were really pretty against the otherwise dull earthy tones all around.












I think I am becoming obsessed with photographing moving water. These next few photos will illustrate that...


























































Apparently some of the folks that read my blog like to see pictures of people. Well, I remembered that my camera allows me to take black and white photos in addition to color and sepia. I decided to try a few B/W photos since I love B/W portraits.
Kyle put his hand to his face about a fraction of a second after I snapped this picture. He was impressed that I actually got it!












This picture of Erin has got to be one of my favorite pictures ever (blow it up - it's better). Her hair had been in her face and I asked her to move it. When she was finished, there were just little tendrils stuck to her from sweat, and then the ends were blowing in the gentle breeze. I think the effect is awesome!












Sarah has such a great smile and loves to be photographed!












I had to try a b/w waterfall shot. I think it's pretty cool. It muddies the background above the waterfall, which is cool.












Speaking of the background above the waterfall, would you believe this beautiful park is in the middle of a very busy Main St. in a very busy large town? As you can see from this picture, we were not "out in the middle of nowhere."












As we were leaving the park, a little chickadee was snacking on this pine tree. I just couldn't resist trying to get a good picture.












This picture is really cool! It looks as though it is black and white, except for the little punches of green spattered throughout the picture...