James Brubaker

DAVE WROTE:  Hi Jim, Here are some pictures for the blog. Well  we finally got some winter weather here in upstate NY. Snow and freezing rain. Everything is ice covered. My feeders are very active with the change in weather. Here are a few pictures.   Dave

02 25 2023 Dave Cesari

02 25 2023 Dave Cesari

02 25 2023 Dave Cesari

02 25 2023 Dave Cesari

02 25 2023 Dave Cesari

02 25 2023 Dave Cesari

 WHERE I CAME FROM THEY STILL KNOW MY NAME:

Street photography is like a game: it is fun, unpredictable, and challenging.

Street photography is, also, a like spice: it help us enjoy the flavor of life. 

In street photography, it is the quality of the story that is fun and spicy.  I apologize for the image quality.  It is difficult to get quality photos when shooting with a cell phone camera  through a tinted windshield traveling 50 MPH.

Last week I had to return to the place of my up-bringing to visit a family member.  While on that trip, I spent 24 hours, (pronounced 24 R’s) in the passenger seat of my son’s pick-up – traveling through the Pennsylvania Appalachian Mountains where the people I know have lived their whole life.

The spice of life I pondered as we traveled are things that have meaning to us.  What is a tasty spice to me is not that spicy to you or to Jim Jr.. 

Of course, all of that was an introduction for me to show you some street photographs I took during the 24 r’s I was riding with Jim Jr.  I was looking to record some of my history in photographs –  my own spice to add flavor to my memory of life:

That little stuffed horse on the dash added spice to the life of Jim and his wife Sue.  They have a name for the horse and Jim often referred to it by name. He mentioned how much it meant to he and his wife Sue.   I listened, but that stuffed animal really did not trigger real meaning in my soul.  The real story to me is the “Flat Top Ridge” the horse is looking at – but that mountain top meant nothing to Jim I know – He did not hike there, ski there, hunt deer or grouse there, ride bikes there, park there with a young lady after a Friday-night high school football game – none of that – but for me that ridge is where I come from – it is the people I know.    So, with Jim Jr doing the driving, I took more street photos of the place I come from – and, always included Jim and Sue’s stuffed horse in the foreground.

Just a mountain creek (pronounced crick) that the horse is looking at – but special to me – Around age 14, I was baptized in that crick – baptized into the “Shade Creek Congregation” of the Church of the Brethren.

An old abandoned steal mill that Jim Jr’s and Sue’s horse is looking at. To me it is special,   It is the first job, off of  the farm, I ever had.  I was twenty and I got a summer intern job at US Steel, Inc. in Johnstown,  Pennsylvania doing “time and motion study” to help US Steel negotiate wage-rates with the Union.  I learned things on that job I carried to all of my 50 year’s of jobs that followed.   I think that experience of negotiation techniques was a major help to me 30 years later, when I worked for IBM  in Europe, negotiating business commitments between corporate leaders in each country. That is why street photos of those old buildings have a unique spice to me.

How ’bout that old  house – it means a lot to me.   I was born in one of the second floor rooms – almost 87 years ago – I do not think it means any thing to the horse.  Jim Jr saw the house but it could not have the same emotional spice of life that  that I have when I look at that house and barn.

The horse, Jim Jr, and most folks in my TGO community have no experience with the coal mining towns built in the early 1900’s. Each coal mining town had a Company stores, Company houses, script, miner’s caps with carbide lamps, mine – ponies, and much more.  They mean a lot to me.  When I was 6 years old, each day I was bused from my insular-isolated farm home to a two room school house in Company Town One (Named for the first mine shaft in Cairnbrook).    It was my first new world experience with the people I learned to know.  That experience of new worlds started me on a life’s journey full of new world experiences – many travels, new towns, new countries, new jobs , new people – spices of life.  This photo means a lot to me – I love it but I don’t want to go back – I want my Street Photos to be the spice I add to my day of memories.

This tree just happened to be felled the day before we arrived. It stood for nearly 100 years. I saw that tree ever day for my first 20 years. Many times I drove nails into it to attach and mend the fence that kept the cows out of our front lawn. They tell me each of those black marks/streaks are the resulting wounds made by those nails!  Standing by that stump brought spice to my day.  Jim Jr and the Horse just saw it as a large old tree stump.

Let me introduce you to Louie, named after Louisville, KY. It was purchased by Jim and Sue to support an Off Track Rescue Farm.   Horse rescue is one of Sue’s keen intrest’s in life.   So a photo of Louis has an emotional spice to Sue’s day. .  Jim keeps Louie on his dash board to demonstrate his love of Sue and to show his support for her horse hobby. So Louis brings an emotional spice to Jim’s day.    Now, Louise’s image brings some meaning to me  because he is in each of my street photos on that trip back to “the people I know”.   I really loved having Louie in each of my photos but the real deep spice he brings to life is between Jim and Sue.

As you swing through life, taste the spice that is uniquely yours, sprinkle a little on your life each day – and share it with others – and watch them smile as they taste your life through the “street photos” you show.

Dave wrote: Hi Jim, A dark rainy morning here in Rome, NY. 32 degrees F. right now. It looks like spring but we know it is still a way off. Here are a few shots of a Barred Owl I took this morning.  For a dark day they are not to bad.  Dave

02 10 2023 Dave Cesari

02 10 2023 Dave Cesari

02 10 2023 Dave Cesari

02 10 2023 Jim Brubaker – Are these reflections of Sue, in my friends super car, real?   If you are not sure, just ask George Santos.

As you swing through life, let thoughts that make you laugh sneak into your mind every day.

I love to relate to my family in all that I do. For example, My Granddaughter is in college studying in the performing arts.  I heard that a summer job doing stand-up comic may be in her future. 

That potential job caught my attention.  You see, I think stand-up comic is just like the sit-down comic I do with PhotoShop.  So, I started researching stand-up comedy.   

Jerry Seinfeld says stand-up comics explore their life for material. He says, funny “comic material” is in everything and everybody they meet.   That is me – it is the way I think – every photograph I take with my camera contains material for a funny PhotoShop photograph. 

So you see, Maya and I  have the joy of laughing at everyday happenings in common  – I love it! Looking forward to one of Maya’s Stand-Up comedy sets if she gets the opportunity.

In New Jersey hot dogs by the boardwalk and playing in the waves at the beach are a way of life. But how are you going to sell hot dogs to the consumer dressed in a wet suit?

Take the hot dog dinner to the consumer, of course.

Lazy days in New Jersey are for reading and strolling the streets – but what are the dangers of reading – be it laying down with a book or be it reading your phone while strolling.

Are you watching where you are walking while on the phone – falls are often the number one killer of older people.

Now this tree has a shapely body but it needs a beautiful face to go with the body.

Heather to the rescue!

As you swing through life, be a stand-up or sit-down comic – laugh and help others laugh.

Hi Jim, Here are some pictures for the blog. A large adult female Cooper’s Hawk. She has been hanging around our property for the past week. This is the first chance I had to get some decent pictures. Cooper’s Hawks are members of the accipiter family. They are primarily bird hunters. As  I said before I love to see and photograph any and all hawks.  Dave

01 28 2023 Dave Cesari

01 28 2023 Dave Cesari

01 28 2023 Dave Cesari

I have been, pretty much, kept in these last 2 days because I had a “Blue Light” procedure done on my face to kill (hopefully) all those pre-cancers there.  Tomorrow I should be OK to go out.

Out is where I always want to live – where I can be in nature as close to my front door as possible – Block Island in Rhode Island, Texas Hill Country, Pennsylvania Appalachia mountains, and Drummond Island, Michigan have all been that way.  Of course TGO is on the fringe of nature (That is why it is called THE GREAT OUTDOORS).

So, when I read of Dave’s Cooper Hawk it made me think of the birds we arrange for gatherings – places where we can go to see them gather to eat or nest.  I put on a cowboy hat to shield my face from the sun and rode my bike to Lake Judy to see the Purple Martins.  I did not have my camera with me but here is what I saw: “Pure nature”

When I arrived.

Shortly thereafter – not a Purple Martin in sight – smart birds on both sides of the dinner table.

While there, I photographed what I saw in the lake, Lilly Pads moving in the breeze. Researchers call my condition pareidolia, which is the false perception of seeing a non-existent face or pattern in everyday objects:

I see a fish jumping out of the water & look at the reflection – Oh my!

As you swing through life, enjoy the nature around you. You will feel good.

DAVE WROTE:  Hi Jim, Here are some pictures for the blog. A Red-tailed Hawk that we found on the back fence behind the runway of the old air base here in Rome  NY.  Bird was quite cooperative and did not fly as we stopped the car opposite it. I believe this was a northern Canadian bird as they have migrated down to the upper US. Most local birds are so spooky that you can not even slow down before they fly off. As I have said before I especially love the raptors and love to photograph them. I was shooting with my big 500 mm so as the bird flew toward  me I  was not able to get it completely in the frame. A strange winter up here very mild. No snow at all here bare ground with green grass.  Dave

01 20 2023 Dave Cesari

01 20 2023 Dave Cesari

01 20 2023 Dave Cesari

01 20 2023 Dave Cesari

Bear with me – I am just starting to learn video.  This morning I was watching  a dozen birds perched on the ridge-line of my neighbors house.  What I enjoyed was the contest between two for the peak position.

I am learning to crop videos – this bird battle was pretty far away for my iphone to capture.  But with the cropping you can see that the bird on the peak is telling the other bird to “Get out of here, I own the peak.”:

TESTING LOW RESOLUTION=SMALLER VIDEO SIZE= FASTER LOADING???

As you swing through life, please enjoy the nature around you. Photograph it to show others what you saw & to help you see what others might have missed.

DAVE WROTE:   Hi Jim, We took a ride up to Lake Ontario one day last week. Lake Ontario is about an hour and a half from Rome, NY. It is a great place to bird and photograph in the winter. It is a good place for wintering waterfowl and raptors. Here are a few pictures for the blog. A flying Red-tailed Hawk, Mute Swans, a Bufflehead and 2 Ruddy Duck. Mute Swans are not native to the US. They are established several places around theGreat Lakes and the Atlantic coat.  Dave

01 08 02023 Dave Cesari

01 08 02023 Dave Cesari

01 08 02023 Dave Cesari

01 08 02023 Dave Cesari

I loved seeing winter ducks when we lived up north – Places like Block Island, RI.  When I was watching Jeopardy last week, I knew they were Mute Swans and not Deaf Swans as I think one of the contestants said!

Since I love “street photography” (photographing what people or animals are doing in in their normal day-to-day activities), I see, in Dave’s photo of the swans, that one of the swans is listening to what the other one has to say about that duck swimming in front of them!

Like these two dogs in a Winter Park street, “What are they looking at?”:

What are those dogs looking at?

Oh, Now I see what they are looking at!

As you swing through life, have a great 2023 and every day  share with a street scene with a friend.

Dave wrote:  Jim, Here are some pictures for the blog. These were all shot yesterday during our heavy snow storm. Male and female Cardinals a White-throated Sparrow and an Evening Grosbeak. NY state has been hit hard with snow this season. We have about a foot of snow on the ground but 1/2 to 3/4  hour north they have 4 feet on the ground. Dave

12 28 2022 Dave Cesari

12 28 2022 Dave Cesari

12 28 2022 Dave Cesari

12 28 2022 Dave Cesari

12 28 2022 Dave Cesari

12 28 2022 Dave Cesari

As you swing through life, enjoy all the weather offered to you – if I am safe, weather is my number one joy – I love to watch it from my “picture” window – sheets of rain, snow, sleet, wind, and of course super hot sunshine if the AC is working!