by Bunnie Pasternak | Feb 26, 2023 | Uncategorized
I recently was on a Photo Adventure through the Hunt’s Photo Education group with Don Toothaker for a “Winter in Vermont.” I found myself once again out and about with a group of eight intrepid Hunt’s Adventure attendees with the weather down to minus 18 degrees Fahrenheit or less and at times with a wind chill factor that lowered the temperature even more. But because we prepared ourselves like “Ralphie” from Jean Shepard’s movie the “Christmas Story,” the photography flowed and we shared a lot of fun together in the field, at dinner each night, and during our image reviews.
These images are part of my “assignment” given to me to make sure that Don and everyone else knew that I was in Woodstock and Vermont. As a result, I got a lot of walking around town for a couple of hours, as well as I enjoyed the views and the people of the area. Woodstock to me is a wonderful New England town with just about everything people need in the way of living all year round. This past week on Boston’s “Chronicle” show (WCVB Channel 5), the show stopped in for a piece on Woodstock, including a short discussion about its local paper — the “Vermont Standard” — and its owner, which has been published regularly since 1898. It’s one of Woodstock’s major ways of keeping up with the local news.
One of the major stopping places is a local, large General Store, owned and operated by members of the F.H. Gillingham & Sons family, which has been opened since 1886 and has just about all you need. There are also shops of all sorts, including a great bookstore and galleries, along with hidden restaurants for the locals and tourists. Woodstock has three covered bridges in its area alone including the Middle Bridge downtown, and there are many more throughout Vermont to explore. Pretty amazing.
Hope you enjoy a visit one day — it’s only about 2 ½ hrs from the Boston area and even shorter depending on where you live in New England. Have fun and get out to preserve your own memories, wherever you go!
by Bunnie Pasternak | May 4, 2022 | Uncategorized
One of my earliest blogs on this site talked about connections through the eyes, whether human or animal, and how immediate and emotional a connection can be. Photography is a tremendous conveyor of emotion, attitude, wonderment, and even love, depending on how you see someone or something through your own eyes. It doesn’t matter what equipment you use — your most important phone, your point and shoot, or a mirrorless camera. The connection you make with your subject that draws you in to capture its essence is oftentimes best reflected in the popular quote/verse and its derivatives – “The Eyes are the Windows to Your Soul.”
Recently, I reconnected with those windows by capturing a variety of eyes at an Equestrian Center in Maine. The opportunity arose as a result of another Hunt’s Photo & Video educational photography walk with Don Toothaker and some fellow photographer friends. We spent the afternoon with quite a few special horses that included an Andalusian, three Gyspy horses, a Palomino, a Pinto as well as a Leucistic one, a Quarter horse, and one Thoroughbred/Stallion that just knew he was the most beautiful one in the paddock.
So from my eyes to yours — enjoy some of the memories I preserved at the event and please share them with your friends.
by Bunnie Pasternak | Aug 8, 2021 | Uncategorized
Every year, there are thousands of returning Atlantic Puffins from the sea that roost on a variety of islands off the Atlantic Coast of Maine and nearby Canada. This year was no different and a Hunt’s Photo and Video, week-long Photo Adventure with Don Toothaker and Mark Buckler to the “Bold Coast,” allowed my second, successful visit to watch them up close on Machias Seal Island. What an opportunity to listen to them talk to each other, to hear them pitter-patter across the top of the blind that I and others shared for what felt like only a nano second from the time entering the building. It also was fun watching them doing all kinds of acrobatics – both in the air and on their chosen landing locations amongst the cliffs and rocks of the island. But the best of all was watching the Puffins preening, they were hilarious and true contortionists at their best. Hope you enjoy the images and at some point in the future — I wish you well in being able to see the Puffins yourself and preserving memories of your own. [Be sure to remember to double click on images to enlarge them.]
by Bunnie Pasternak | Jun 27, 2021 | Uncategorized
Sometimes you just fall into a perfect day to try some different ideas with a camera. Since I have not been doing “human” portraits much over the last several months, geez — I wonder why?? Oh yeah, social distancing…. I recently took the opportunity, however, to focus on “bird portraits” at the Stone Zoo in Stoneham, MA.
Interestingly, I’ve always loved the bright colors of Macaws and Flamingoes from my summer days vacationing in Florida and the Stone Zoo turns out to have both. Additionally, it has other birds you might not always see in your backyard, such as Peregrine Falcons. As a result, I spent some time focusing on what kind of portraits I could capture throughout the Zoo. Zoos often act as conservationists for those birds and animals who may be in an environmental risk of permanent species loss due to myriad issues of climate change, destruction of their habitats for over-use and building, and the collapse of migration routes where the birds especially will travel thousands of miles between their home bases and their breeding grounds each year.
A recent surprise was that my Flamingo image from the Zoo visit just recently got chosen to be one of 20 images to be displayed online, and printed and displayed at Hunt’s Photo & Video location in Melrose, MA for their Monthly Gallery for June-July 2021. Check out the entire array of bird images at: https://edu.huntsphoto.com/hunts-photo-education-gallery-june-july-2021-bring-on-the-birds/.
These images are from my eyes to yours and I hope that they encourage you to get out and share places like the Stone Zoo with your family and friends — at any age. It’s certainly worth the trip to visit and to keep sharing your own memories of enjoying what nature brings to you!
by Bunnie Pasternak | May 23, 2021 | Uncategorized
Mill Cove in Maine and many more along the coast are inviting locations for the congregation of all sorts of birds — large and small. I’ve seen Bald Eagles, Osprey, and Hawks, along with a variety of songbirds and ducks in or near the Cove for years.
Recently, I spent some time watching the interaction of a Blue Heron and five (5) Egrets vying for some food in a retreating tide. The scene reminded me some of the old “Saturday-Night Rumbles” on TV, when fighters would check each other out and then, would eventually start to physically engage in fisticuffs. Surprisingly, the Heron and the Egrets were no different, despite their size differences. Blue Herons can be up to 4.5′ tall with up to 5-6′ wingspans. Egrets come in a variety of sizes, but the ones I saw appear to have been Snowy Egrets, which can get to 2.5’ tall with 3′ wingspans.
Herons generally fish alone, and this Heron had been stoically standing on the shore watching the receding waters for food to eat. There were some Egrets in the area, while others started flying in to also hunt for food. The interactions between the Heron and Egrets were fascinating. One by one the Egrets, walked back and forth past the Heron, getting closer and closer to the Heron’s fishing spot while checking out the opportunities.
As time went on, the Heron became more and more agitated by the Egrets’ movement. At one point in a flash, the Heron decided enough was enough and took off after one of the smaller Egrets. Can you just imagine this huge, gangly bird swoop up at you in what seemed like a nano-second, readying to pounce? The little Egret took off in a hurry to escape. It was close, but he got away and the Heron settled in again. It worked for awhile, but of course truces are often temporary and the cycle began again. . . .
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