January Retrospective

One down, eleven to go. I’m thinking January and February will be the toughest months because everything is so bleak and cold. I can’t wait for Spring.

At the start of the project, I thought, very simply that it would be interesting to try to find, photograph and publish a single unique image of something in or near Yardley each day for a solid year. The thing that I think I most underestimated is the effect this has had on my view of the world around me. I find I’m constantly looking for the best angle, composition and perspective for things in the view of my surroundings at any given moment. Perhaps this is a bit cliché, but it’s like seeing things through different eyes.

Initially, I thought I’d run into difficult times finding unique and interesting images as the year progressed. Now I’m finding quite the opposite. Frankly, I’m wondering how, with only one opportunity per day, I’m going to represent the massive number of uniquely beautiful possibilities that become available as the canvas is refreshed with each degree of change in the season. Locations I’ve been to even less than 2 weeks ago are renewed by the slight differences in temperature, foliage and weather. The Lake, for example that I photographed in January has taken on an entirely new look as we move into February; the trees, now even more bare handle light and shade in a different way.

Here’s a recap of the pictures from January in Yardley rendered a bit differently. I couldn’t figure out how to sort them by day - perhaps next month I’ll get that done.

Thank you for your interest.

Mike

31 Sunrise on the Delaware - Thursday, January 31st, 2008

This shot of the Delaware River at Sunrise will close out our first month of photographs on Yardley365.com. This was taken just after sunrise from directly under the train bridge on River Road. It’s bizarrely quiet at this time of day and all I’m really hearing is the water, an occasional septa train overhead and a car traveling down river road much faster than needs to be.

I like to think the ducks in the mid ground are on they’re way back from Starbucks after enjoying a double espresso and chatting about how ‘Canada’ Geese are snobs and why can’t they just accept that they’re “Canadian.”

Stay tuned for my next post… which will be the second for today and the first in a monthly series which will contain a retrospective for the prior month. I’ll be posting the images from each daily post - in a unique format. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment - or sending me email.

Thanks!

30 Yardley Station at Dawn - Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

I finished track-work with my running club just in time to swing by the train station in time for sun up. This picture was taken just about 10 minutes before the actual sunrise. In my search for a good, picturesque location for a sunrise photo, it occurred to me that Yardley doesn’t have a scenic overlook - that I’m aware of. There’s really no defined high spot with a clear view to the east.

I drove to the river and realized even that doesn’t offer a great deal in terms of sunrise views. I do like the view of train bridge and I’ll be posting some of the photos I snapped there on another day.

29 Canada Goose - Tuesday, January 29th, 2008

It’s official Latin name is Branta candadensis but most people call them “Canadian Geese”. I’ve read that the proper name for this species is “Canada Goose” but I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that.

I snapped this one on the bank of the Delaware river. She and some of her buddies were meandering across River Road to the apparent dismay of some passing motorists.

28 Skating on Lake Afton - Monday, January 28th, 2008

The sight of folks skating on Lake Afton took me a bit by surprise. I didn’t realize how cold it had been all day. This was taken from the North side just before dusk.

* Update *

27 Inn, The Evening - Sunday, January 27th, 2008

My son surprised us and came home from school for the weekend. We celebrated by taking him and his girlfriend to dinner at the Yardley Inn. Walking through the bar area, we ran into Executive Chef Eben Copple who agreed to let me snap his picture.

We always have a great time at the ‘Inn. The food never fails to amaze and the atmosphere is just addictive.  Everyone makes you feel very welcome.  I recommend starting with one of Frank’s amazing Crown Royal Manhattans.  My wife’s favorite is the Tuna Tartar and you can never go wrong with the Filet Mignon.  Whatever you choose, you’re going to have a terrific experience.

Here are some additional pictures from our evening:

Apologies to my email subscribers for the resend.  A bug in my newsletter code caused the initial mail from this morning to include the body of a different post in place of this one. Hopefully, I’ve got it licked.

Have a great Sunday.

26 Friends of Lake Afton - Saturday, January 26th, 2008

Walking by the Lake, I found this sign. It looked as if someone fished it out of the Lake and propped it up against the tree.

Lake Afton is a man-made pond dating back to the early 1700’s and is maintained and improved by the Friends of Lake Afton, A volunteer community organization.

Contributions may be sent to FOLA P.O. Box 529, Yardley, PA 19067

Not sure if FOLA is still around…

25 Century Plaque - Friday, January 25th, 2008

This plaque is on the Borough Building which houses the Post Office and the Police Station.

 In Thankful Memory of the Past
For the Blessings of the Present
With Hopes for the Future,
The People of  Yardley Borough
Commemorate 100 Years
1895-1995

 A small note to acknowledge a change in the formatting of the titles for my daily posts.  I’ve moved the significant portion of the post - the title to the left so it appears first in the RSS feeds and I’ve added a number.  I’m only going to number the pictures I’m categorizing as “daily”.  One for each day of the year.  With luck and persistence, the posts will reach 366 before I’m through.

I won’t be going back to change the previous entries as the page “slugs” (these are the formal url’s of the posts like - http://www.yardley.com/this-is-the-post) because it would invalidate links that have been stored in search engines and RSS feed handlers.

Have a great Friday and a stellar weekend!

Mike

Next Page »