Clothing/Accessories 5 [Orange You Glad It’s Friday]

Compared to all other orange wearing apparel, the woman’s dress has been the most difficult item to find. In order to make today’s posting of four images, I had to draw on my photo archive; viz. a 10-year old photo of my granddaughter, Jocelyn. Along with the orange dress, she has on the German cape worn almost 50 years ago by my eldest daughter, Heidi [and then passed down to two successive daughters].

Fast forwarding to the present, I couldn't resist shooting the dress adorning the store mannequin below. The male mannequin seemed to be taken by it as well.

  In the past, I played djembe with a college African dance and percussion ensemble, Sankofa. This allowed me entreé into the dress rehearsal for their most recent performance. The costumes were many and brightly colored, but this is the best shot of my collection.

 

 Last but not least, I saw this beautiful sister shopping at the Rochester Public Market and asked permission to take her photograph, but she refused. As she was walking away, I called out that I needed it for my Orange Project. After a taking a few more steps, she turned around, gave me a big smile, and said OK.

Clothing/Accessories 4 [Orange You Glad It’s Friday]

Today we take a look at an accessory used for both fashion and function. Yes, ladies, I am talking about the bag. They come in all shapes and sizes, and they serve many purposes, which is why a woman’s bag is a source of mystery to the casual male observer. The bag below is a small, hip bag that my wife just loves to carry/wear. Interestingly, I bought it for her long before I knew about OYGIF ... what a nice coincidence.

The attractive young women below looks like a group of airline stewardesses. But, that seems unlikely since they were gathered in the Braunschweig town square. Of course, it was the bright orange color that originally caught my eye....

This group of people were queued up to board a boat on the Wannsee outside Berlin. here, I caught three orange objects, but it was the bicycle bag that stood out.

                To complete the fashion to function transition, here are two simple shopping bags.

ROM Room Sumi-ed

I was playing around with an image of a room at the Royal Ontario Museum [Toronto].  The effect was fairly dramatic so I decided to post the original and edited versions.  The original below was first edited in Lightroom 5.7.

This was then loaded into Photoshop Elements 10. [NOTE: I now prefer LR and it has become the mainstay in my workflow.] Still, I decided to see what effects I could achieve with it in PSE. Going up to Filter and choosing Brush Strokes/Sumi-e, this is what I got. [I tried a lot of other options, but this is the one I like.] It created a nice contrasty and grainy image, and one which does not quite look like a photograph. Still, it appeals to me.

Clothing/Accessories 3 [Orange You Glad It’s Friday]

My Clothing/Accessories series continues today with some more outer wear. With the exception of sneakers, one does not readily find orange-colored footwear. However, I did manage to come across a few nice examples: the upper image was taken at a public market in Braunschweig. The one below that was from downtown NYC in the vicinity of the World Trade Center memorial.

                    
 Rarely does one see orange pants, except for sanitation or construction workers. An example of the former can be found in one of my 'Keep Berlin Tidy' posts. However, the shot below might be a rare treasure; still, a child [or a golfer] can get away wearing such pants. Like many of my recent OYGIF images, this too was shot in Braunschweig.

                           The feathers below were for sale at Rochester’s Public Market.

Clothing/Accessories 2 [Orange You Glad It’s Friday]

I continue my Clothing/Accessories series today with some more outer wear; viz. jackets.The pedestrian passage in downtown Braunschweig was a perfect place to stand and wait for orange to go by or be found hanging in a shop window or on a clothes rack.

 The image below was shot on the Deutsche Bundesbahn. Some passenger left her jacket hanging on a window hook, and be fair game for an OYGIF shot. The blurred background is evidence that the train was in motion at the time I took the shot.

Clothing/Accessories 1 [Orange You Glad It’s Friday]

    Now that we have ‘covered’ heads, it’s time to move south, anatomically speaking. Clothing/Accessories is going to be fertile ground in the weeks to come, as orange is quite popular for wearing apparel. Today we start with the scarves [scarfs]. Usually worn around the neck, the piece below seems nothing more than a scarf tied around the head. There is probably some official name for this item, but I don't know it. Be that as it may, it makes a nice transition from hats.....

  There is no doubt  about the status of the next two pieces, they are indeed scarves. The 'models' were photographed in Braunschweig, Germany. For those of you who have been dropping in on my blog, you will have noticed that many of my recent posts were shot there [as well as Berlin]. My wife and I were there in May visiting friends and family, and it proved to be a wonderland for OYGIF.

Hats 2 [Orange You Glad It’s Friday]

  This ends the mini-series on hats. In it, I’ve taken the liberty to extend that to bike helmets. The two youngsters, as well as the adult, below were biking in downtown Braunschweig, Germany. As a child, my wife lived in one of its charming suburbs; and, my brother-in-law is still a city resident.

  I espied this orange cap worn by a lad on a class outing in Berlin-Wannsee. I knew it was perfect for OYGIF and, thanks to my telephoto lens, I was able to get the one shot.

Hats 1 [Orange You Glad It’s Friday]

   This posting is another ‘change of pace', and it relates to last week’s Orange Hair theme. That is, today I focus on what covers hair; viz. hats. This is a rich area to explore, and it will take more than one week to complete sharing.

This shot was taken circa 1978, so I've known this beauty a long, long time. In fact, she [Rosemarie]  is my wife of almost 52 years. Who knew that orange would also figure prominently in my life?

 These shots were taken in Rochester's Public Market. At one time, baseball caps were worn  almost exclusively in the USA. Now, they are everywhere.

 This display was shot in a department store in Berlin. The women's hats are certainly more fashionable than the caps above.

 These interesting hats were for sale in a Nürnberg public market.

Orange Hair [Orange You Glad It’s Friday]

  This posting is a departure from those of recent weeks; viz. these are 'people' shots. What caught my eye about these women was, among other things, their hair color. Each one was some shade of orange. Several years ago, a bright red-orange hue became popular in parts of Germany. None of the colors here had quite that bright red intensity. 

                        The above image was taken on a city bus in Braunschweig, Germany.

Mother and daughter are busy perusing wares at a Flohmarkt in Braunschweig. With this image, I got a 'two-fer'; viz. orange hair and orange bag.

This woman was engrossed in reading the book cover at Buchhandlung Winter, located at Giesebrechtstr. 18, Berlin-Charlottenburg. This establishment was judged 'Buchhandlung des Jahres'  [2011/12]. It so happens that the proprietress is my wife's cousin [once removed].  So, if you are in the area, then stop in and tell Almut that Stan sent you.

This mother and son were strolling on East Main Street in Rochester, NY. The boy's attention seems to be focused on something across the street.

Hot Air Balloon Rally 2 [Orange You Glad It’s Friday]

  Last week, we left the start of the hot air balloon rally at the point where balloons and their crews had begun to lift off. This week's post continues with their ascension and flight. While I would have liked to go up and photograph groups of balloons over the landscape [we have all seen such images], I lacked the fortitude to overcome my discomfort with heights [and fear of crashing]. Nonetheless, I think you will enjoy these shots.

Hot Air Balloon Rally 1 [Orange You Glad It’s Friday]

    It’s time for a new mini-series: Hot Air Balloon Rally. Two weekends a year, a hot air balloon rally is staged in Letchworth State Park [ca. an hour drive south of Rochester]. What is especially nice about this event is that it is free and spectators are allowed to wander about in the field where the balloons are being prepped for flight. This affords some wonderful photo-ops, as well as interactions with the participants. Today’s posting shows some of the early stages in getting the balloons up and going.
     In the first stage, a deflated balloon is opened and stretched out fully on the ground. The balloons are quite long, and this shot shows only the top end.

The process of inflation begins with powerful fans blowing air through the opening at the bottom.

Once the balloon has inflated to a certain point, the next stage involves  the baskets and using the burners to blow in hot air.

                               Gradually, the balloon fills and begins to assume a vertical position.

                                          Like a sleeping giant, the balloon rises up, but held fast by tethering lines.

The crews enter the baskets, the lines are released and the balloon begins to rise. Check back next week to see balloons in all their glory.

Fall Colors [Orange You Glad It’s Friday]

   Yesterday, Rosemarie and I took a drive south to Bristol Mountain and also along Canandaigua Lake to see how the Fall Colors were progressing. Considering that our neighbor’s tree was nearing its peak [top image], we were optimistic, notwithstanding the grey skies and intermittent rain. As you can see from the pics, we were not disappointed! 

                                                     I guess this must be a red maple.

                               This is the ski lift, shot from the parking lot at Bristol Mtn.

                                This detail was from across the road in front of the parking lot.

                These were from two different locations along the west shore of Canandaigua Lake.

 We were heading back home on Rte. 12N [or had we already reached Rte. 21N?], when this unique tree formation suddenly appeared. I hit the brakes and got out; there was no driving by without stopping to shoot.