It's Halloween time!

Happy Halloween everybody!

Upper East Side

Very opposite of the usual nature photos.

The Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, between Central Park/Fifth Avenue, 59th Street, the East River, and 96th Street. The area incorporates several smaller neighborhoods, including Lenox Hill, Carnegie Hill, and Yorkville. Once known as the Silk Stocking District, it is now one of the most affluent neighborhoods in New York City. Sounds pretty posh, but I found myself there being posh for couple of nights. My first penthouse experience. I took this shot from my bedroom window.

Hangers

These are the cheap hangers found in a great abundance in every massive city all around the world, U.S. is of course no exception. The amounts made and given out are huge. Nobody really thinks of that, but I am sure everybody has at least few of such at home, even in Estonia. They are very finicky and have short life-span. Apparently somebody had littered or somebody had tried to recycle them, but not very successfully.

I loved this article about the life of these cheap hangers.

Calm vol. 64

I think everybody knows the meaning of U.S. flag, but here it is just once again: The stripes represent the original 13 Colonies and the stars represent the 50 states of the Union. The colors of the flag are symbolic as well; red symbolizes hardiness and valor, white symbolizes purity and innocence, and blue represents vigilance, perseverance and justice. District of Columbia is excluded.

Cypress street

What impressed me so much about US cities were its high buildings. I loved playing with my wide-angle lens to capture the height in a weird way, as pictured on this photo. The other thing I liked were the street signs, which were different from city to city. This one on the photo reminds me of my first favorite rap-band Cypress Hill.

Travelling may be stressful

I never thought that changing environments i.e. states may occur as a fever blister on my lip. It did happen when I moved from North Carolina to Kentucky. Not so far, but still. Lots was going on in my head. I was the victim of my own thoughts. Looks good, but didn't feel so good :P

You're in the army now....

...no, just in the university.

Taken at EKU campus. Hidden, from the hip of course.

After the hunt

Last Friday I posted a photo of a meadow close to the place where we were waiting for deer. After that we left and had to take care of our trucks and such. Here is grandpa Wayne taking care of that.

Nature you make your own

Sometimes you do not have nature, then you have to make the most of it, as I did in North Carolina, while taking photo of an abandoned cup by the little pond. That's nature.

Two photos from EKU

I took both of these photos in Eastern Kentucky University. I was taken around by my friend and photo mentor Tim. I got to know the important people and I was allowed to take photos.

First one caught my attention due to the old sign and a newspaper. It is a local Kentucky paper.

The second photo was taken at the same place, at its canteen. You were able to horde all that to your plate, what I of course did, because I love sweets. But really? All that with your meal?

Calm vol. 63

An iconic sign from Philadelphia, I think we all know that quite well. Even if we haven't been to the States.

Washrooms

Washrooms have always interested me. They are part of most of the structures in the world, because yeah, nature is calling!

I took first photo in town hall in Philadephia, the other in Kentucky at school.

You see I love my orange shirt!

On the 5th Avenue

Before Christmas time, it is busy in 5th Avenue - tourists flow in, take photos, locals do shopping and the city is in Christmas decorations.

Here is a tourist snapping away in front of Rockefeller Center. Look how busy it is!

Wayne the grandpa

Wayne is Natalie's the father in law. Here he is posing with her daughter Laura. This was taken after a successful deer hunt, as the portrait of Natalie. I think they showed that they are tough and can stand against evil :)

Other than that, Wayne was a great guy to have a conversation with. He and his wife were such wonderful people - kind, sweet and caring. I had so much fun with them. I hope they are doing good...

Three girls and a guy

This was so far the most chill Couchsurfing experience I had ever had. My bed was basically a non-existent corner of a support of a huge garden chair between the boxes. Oh I got some blanket to cover me. Very rustic, but I survived! It was a household of three women and a guy. On this photo the girls are trying to fix the internet connection, so the show they were following would continue again. I would say this is typical scene of such students households :)

Sunset in Kentucky

I shot this frame after an unsuccessful deer hunt, first in my life actually. We sat without a success in a hiding place for hours. It was fun and for my luck we didn't get any deer with my photography mentor. When it was time to go home I noticed this great sunset over the skeletons of trees. This shot takes me always back to that experience.

Three landmarks of Philadelphia

This time a bit something different - three random landmarks of Philadelphia.

The bell of liberty

It is an iconic symbol on American independence, which is located in Philadelphia. The fame of the bell goes back in time, as the bells were rung to mark the reading of the Declaration of Independence on July 8, 1776, and while there is no contemporary account of the Liberty Bell ringing, most historians believe it was one of the bells rung. The bell of liberty :)

Walt Whitman bridge.

Though it is not the most famous bridge in Philly, it is still one of the three most famous ones. It is a green-colored single-level suspension bridge spanning the Delaware River from Philadelphia to Gloucester City, in Camden County, New Jersey, United States. Named after the poet Walt Whitman, who resided in nearby Camden toward the end of his life, the Walt Whitman Bridge is one of the larger bridges on the east coast of the United States. The bridge has a total length of 3,652 m and a main span of 610 meters. The bridge has seven lanes, three in each direction and a center lane that is shifted variably (via a zipper barrier) to accommodate heavy traffic. As you can see from the photo, it was taken exactly on that center lane, which means heavy traffic was off from Philly.

Laurel Hill Cemetery

Laurel Hill Cemetery is a famous cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that was the second major garden or rural cemetery in the United States, so there is a little bit of history for you there. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1998, one of only a few cemeteries to receive the distinction.

Located in Philadelphia's East Falls section, the 300,000 m2 cemetery overlooks the Schuylkill River. Laurel Hill contains more than 33,000 monuments and more than 11,000 family lots. Its thousands of 19th- and 20th-century marble and granite funerary monuments include obelisks and elaborately sculpted hillside tombs and mausoleums. It is the cemetery of many notable burials, mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries though.

I hope it gave you a little bit of more information about Philadelphia. Three very different places.

Calm vol. 62

I think gone are the times when the simple brick blocks got such markings. It was a sign of quality. I found this old brick supporting a long-forgotten farmhouse between the forests in Kentucky.

Ceiling

No building is a building without a ceiling. I think it is often overlooked. I am here to correct that mistake. The photo was taken at the Town Hall of Philadelphia. I guess you never know what is up there without checking, right? Happy discovering!

Natalie

Natalie, a mother of three in the wilderness of Kentucky after a deer hunt, where her husband and older son participated. In Kentucky during that time, which was 22nd of November it looked like far from the winter.

Who can guess what is written on Natalie's sweatshirt?

Roni

This is my good friend Roni. I met him at a Yahoo chat room ages ago. I wouldn't think that you can meet nice and decent people from places like this, but it happened. He is from India, but for some time already residing in USA, in New Jersey. I stayed at their home for a week and they showed me around the northern states in USA. During that time I could only dream of Canada, which wasn't so far from our route at all.

Anyway, Roni is a pure soul, who always tries to help you and figure things out or make things work. He can listen and he can offer his help, which is always coming from the depth of his heart. I enjoyed our long chats online or from face to face and sometimes over the phone too. Now it has been six years since we last met and his health is very poor...I think often of him and wish him the best. I am glad that after all these years we still keep in touch.

Turkey

I usually have photos of animals or any other living beings on Saturday on my blog. This time as well, but unfortunately this bird lost its life due to the creed of people, who wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving while eating a turkey.

It is good to see that I even had my snapshot camera with me in the States. I had forgotten that fact completely, as it makes me think if I even remember where those photos are. I would like to see them, as it means I may have more US photos to share - the snapshot style!

Foliage in Vermont

If you have no understanding of these two words together FALL in VERMONT, then this post is going to teach you something new. Vermont is all about fall and colorful foliage at that time. You should also know that winter and skiing is popular in Vermont and also maple syrup :)

There are websites made to follow the foliage, daily updates of the situation etc. It is all due to the fact that people could show up and admire the beauty of the colorful foliage and take wonderful photos :)

Vermont Department of Tourism has shared following:

"With the continued spell of warm and dry weather, color development has continued gradually throughout Vermont. Best colors continue to be in the northeast, where state foresters are reporting 30-40% of peak colors, dominated by yellows but with increasing proportions of orange and red in the mix. Elsewhere, there remains much green but reports indicate a steady, if gradual, progression, with colors remaining at about 20-30% of peak.

With cooler air and showers visiting every corner of the state this week, we are already seeing an increase in the proportion of leaves changing colors and the intensity and brightness of those colors. We expect all parts of Vermont to be moving through early color and into mid-season conditions by the weekend. We remain on track and well-primed for great color into the early weeks of October."

This all was as of 30th of September, 2015.

Check for more HERE.

A bird's-eye view

I have been dying to post these...almost for six years! Exactly six years, as these were taken on 7th of October in 2009. They are far from being technically great, as the first photo was originally landscape, but I had to cut it into vertical one, as I wanted to show how long and winding is Broad street. These photos were taken from the top of the city hall in Philly. Look how miniature everything which is so massive becomes from such a height - birds have so much fun!

Calm vol. 61

I was honored to be hosted and taken care of in Philadelphia by a wonderful soul and artist Howard. He did some crazy art with some material, which name I have even forgotten. He had to take the mold first, then fill it with the plastic-looking like, give it a day or two to get hard and done it was. He did few of my lips and was kind enough even make them into something practical - belts! I have few of those. He gave me few of the bracelets as well, which I have been wearing to freak people out a little ;)

Not about a wedding

There is a great story about the LOVE park in Philadelphia. Some of you may know, some not. This is not about the couples who are going there to take their pre-wedding or even wedding day photos, but about skateboarding. Since there was a great story written in Wikipedia about it, I am not going to repeat the same story and I will just copy it all here, also with some info about the history of the park

Love Park (official name: JFK Plaza) is a plaza located in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The park is nicknamed Love Park for Robert Indiana's Love sculpture which overlooks the plaza.

Love Park is the brainchild of former Philadelphia City Planner Edmund Bacon and architect Vincent G. Kling. The park is across from City Hall and was designed as a terminus for the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The park was built in 1965 and covers an underground parking garage. The main features of the plaza are curved granite steps and a single spout fountain which was added in 1969.  The park was dedicated in 1967 as John F. Kennedy Plaza after President John F. Kennedy.

A "Love" sculpture, designed by Robert Indiana, was first placed in the plaza in 1976 as part of the United States' Bicentennial celebration. It was removed in 1978, but the sculpture was missed and the chairman of Philadelphia Art Commission, F. Eugene Dixon, Jr., bought the sculpture and permanently placed it in the plaza, in 1978.

The skateboarding culture that LOVE Park's unique design spawned has been a focal point of Philadelphia's international reputation for over a decade however, despite its international fame and ability to attract youthful energy and interest in the City, it has been illegal to skateboard in LOVE Park since 1995. In 2001, amendments were added to increase fines and scope of the existing ban; enforcement of the skateboarding ban was stepped up significantly thereafter. Finally, in the summer of 2002, an attempt was made to render LOVE "unskateable": a facelift that blocked access to the most popular skateboarding areas within the plaza was executed and a uniformed police officer was placed on a nearly 24-hour guard.

LOVE's international reputation as an ideal skateboarding locale has been strengthened by the successes of some its most famous users. Internationally known professional skateboarders like (Philadelphia native) Ricky Oyola, Josh Kalis, Stevie Williams, and Anthony Pappalardo made their names in the multibillion-dollar skateboarding industry by being identified with their frequent use of LOVE's famous ledges and stair sets. Additionally, the status of LOVE Park in international skateboarding culture led to Philadelphia being chosen to host the 2001 and 2002 X-games, viewed by 150 million people in over 18 countries and attracting nearly a half million spectators during the two year stay.

But LOVE has been more than the proving ground for professionals or a source of international media interest in Philadelphia, according to Rick Valenzuela, author of City Paper article, "A Eulogy for a Fallen Landmark":

"...LOVE hosted dozens who were content merely to skate there. These were the [skaters] who composed LOVE's core of regulars—kids who rode the El (the Market-Frankford subway) from the Northeast and Frankford, skated downhill on Market Street from West Philly, through the neighborhoods of South Philly, Center City residents who moved specifically to skate nearby LOVE. It's these folks whose daylong sessions generated the murmur that would eventually spread throughout the East Coast and to the [skateboarding] industry."

In the bathtub

Probably this shot would have been cooler if I would have no clothes on, but for me the beauty of this shot is the fact that I am fully covered and I am in the bright clean bathtub, while wearing myself pretty dark clothing. 

There is no great story behind the shot. We stayed in the motel for a night, while exploring the fall in Vermont. This was my first stay in a roadside motel in US and I had just fun while taking photos in my motel room. Indeed it all looked like in the movies. Ha.

Adam

This is Adam, at least I hope I remember correctly. I met him while staying at a couchsurfing place. He was one of the people renting a large house in West-Philadephia. He was a cool and kind guy, loved cycling and this is how he end up on this photo :)

Hail

When we were on our road in Vermont admiring the beauty of the trees and the landscape, all of a sudden huge hail storm hit us and it started to snow, and it was just 18th of October. I captured these two photos almost at the same moment, but they still look quite different and give you the overview of the situation on a highway.

Kerly Photo Walk THIS SATURDAY IN TARTU!

Palju õnne, kallis Maria!

You are cordially invited to a KERLY photo walk, inspired by Scott Kelby's Photo Walk. ENGLISH SPEAKERS WELCOME, let's make it international.

ABOUT: I decided to organize my own UNOFFICIAL photo walk, as I was too late to apply for an official one, because I think the idea is great, I love photography and bringing like-minded people together for such a wonderful cause.

Date: Saturday, October 3, 2015, rain or shine

Time: 02:00pm - 04:00pm 
Location Details: Meeting point in front of St. Peter's Church, Narva mnt.

After the walk, meet at: We will finish walk in Ujula Konsum

MAP of THE WALK

!!!!!NB!!!!!If you like this and you participate, please share the information with your friends.

Photo Walk Description

We will get to know Raadi-Kruusamäe district of Tartu. It is an old borough with history and also some very new and exciting architectural additions, also Soviet architecture ruins, parks, culture etc. You will get to explore Tartu the way you can't even imagine!

NB! Please pack some snacks, water, your camera gear, wear comfortable clothing and spare at least 1€ for Tartu orphanage home Mäe-kodu - http://vahtraleheke.ee/

Read more about the KELBY PHOTO WALK here:

WE'RE WALKING.
WE'RE SHOOTING.
WE'RE HELPING.

STEP ONE: Find a walk in your city.
STEP TWO: Maybe donate one dollar to the orphanage*.
STEP THREE: Receive good karma.
STEP FOUR: Walk for 2 hours. Smile. Take lots of photos.
STEP FIVE: Eat. Drink. Laugh. Make new friends.
STEP SIX: Enter the free contest, maybe win a cool prize.
STEP SEVEN: Wonder why you waited so long to do this.
* Totally optional but who doesn’t want to help orphans, right?

More info at PHOTOWALK.

HOPE to see you!

Happy photo taking!

Philly's own

I spotted these two guys at a open-air event in DT Philadelphia. One kept his cool, but the other one was kind to strike a pose in between his break-dancing.