I just had such a great day of photography I can hardly contain myself. So I had to share it.

So I'm still finishing breakfast and coffee and uploading animated .gifs when Col and her Mom call because there's a huge moth by the door to her building. Would I like to come over and take a picture of it? Do they really have any doubt as to the answer? Or do they think, y'know that there's some possibility that I've been exchanged for a doppleganger? And the doppleganger doesn't happen to be as interested in that as me. No, it's me, and yes, I enjoyed photographing that puppy immensely. I already uploaded 5 shots of him to Dev, this link is to the best one:

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That's just about exactly a 6 inch wingspan.

Then a little while later I head downtown. As I'm going right down Salina I realize the traffic is like rush hour, but it's Saturday. Why? Taste of Syracuse is going on. I get parked after having some difficulty locating a space.

Here's where the day hangs a quick Louie. I hop out of the car, click the little lock button, and slam the door. I have just locked my keys in the car with the engine running! I'm lucky I had kept my cellphone in my pocket (quite often I put it in the little cupholder between the seats) so I called Col to come unlock it with her keys. Luckily she didn't have to come all the way from home. She, her Mom, and Benny were out at a restaurant. So she comes, I unlock it, give her back the keys, and I'm back on track, right? While stuck in traffic on Salina, I spied the ticket booth of the Landmark Theater with its curved, distortion-producing glass. So, from my parking space I beelined it on foot to the Landmark. I get the picture all lined up. There are several bright colored cars and shop windows across the street which add to the composition. I click the shutter button, and the camera says, "INTERNAL MEMORY FULL, PLEASE INSERT NEW FLASH MEDIA". I had left the card stuck in the computer from this morning's camdump. Well, there was nothing for it but to go home and get the card. I'm just not that spiritual where I can take that much of a cut to the plan very easily.

But am I in a bad mood about it? Not really. It's just too summer. There's classic rock and blues trickling from every car stereo, people are smiling, I'm still riding high from the Polyphemus moth, and last night I had seen that Brian Williams special on Obama. I would simply make my way home and enjoy the sights. I felt as though I should drive extra carefully. If I was ditzy enough to do all that card and key forgetting, perhaps I could somehow fail to recall the significance of the green vs red symbolism of the glowing orbs hung here and there across the city streets. While I was home, I figured I'd wash that sinkful of dishes. So that's 2 spiritualities out of three: No to staying out absorbing the sights cameraless, but yes to a good mood anyway and yes to being responsible due to appreciating that the summer provides a longer day, and there will still be light even after finishing the dishes.

Far be it for me to know it for sure yet, but the day was back on track by now. I figured this time, since I hate backtracking, I'd bypass downtown and get off 81 at Court St and photograph shop windows on N Salina. I parked in the midst of where they're repairing the road, in what some recent mayor has renamed with signs (uncoolly) "Little Italy". (I mean, can't the place just BE; does it have to have a sign all designating it as something?) I walked Salina down to around State St, then crossed over and walked back out, passing the car. I got many shots of shop windows including the ludicrous and the intriguing. There is a beauty salon at maybe Catawba St which has a neon sign reading "BEAUTY". I've snapped it both when it's off and on with previous cameras. It was off this time. I got it again. I just kept on walking, likely at about my brisk 5 mph (I calculated it once recently). I went all the way out N Salna to Wolf St and hung a right. And I went all the way out Wolf to 7th North. Sindone's Cleaners has been closed for awhile, so the "Cleaners Neon" photo lives permanently as a record and not a reality now. I took a left on 7th North St and considered going back by Hiawatha, but decided on the railroad tracks instead. For an astronomically long time I have wanted to take a video by leaving a camera on in the path of a passing train. I figured there wasn't much chance of getting that on a Saturday night, but it would be a nice walk.

The track goes fairly straight for a while, then makes a gentle bend to the left to approach the regional transportation center and zip by the mall. I figure I might hang out at the apex of the bend, where I could see and hear way down both directions on three (yes three) parallel tracks. I figured I could hang out till dark. Stake it out.

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"This is the part they don't show in the movies, the long boring stakeouts, with granola or nothing to eat, mosquitoes biting... it's not all glamorous and exciting being a private a."
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(private artist). I had been sitting there a while then I realized, what the hell am I doing here, when I should be just down the track a ways near carousel. That's where tracks running north, east, and west all intersect. Sitting here, a train running from west to north or vice versa could slip by me. So I was on the move again. But I was just abreast of the beginning of the transportation center's platform when I'm seeing a telltale trio of headlights in the distance.

I was jazzed! It's a train coming! I tried my level best to determine which track it was coming on. It seemed to be on the farthest north, the farthest from the RTC or carousel. So I quickly placed the camera and jetted out of the way. First I'm hoping hard that I got the track right. BINGO! It's going by on the farthest one! Then I'm hoping hard that I actually left the camera recording, not just in standby mode when I placed it. But alas... Just kidding! I saw the little red dot on the top of the viewfinder as I approach to collect it. I watched it immediately as I continued walking. I left it in full wide angle for best focus, and the effect sure isn't bad either. It looks really good. Some of the empty cars were just platform types with large weight-saving holes in the floor. So you get sudden flashes of brightness. The train passes over the camera for 74 seconds. If anyone wants it, email me- I can send the .avi file. It's 115 Megs.

As if all that hadn't been enough, on my way back by Lodi St, there was a projection-screen TV thrown out by the side of the road. I have collected the lenses from these before. But they are currently buried (somewhere) in my garage. I especially wanted them recently for macro, for extra magnification. I was making do with a little film loupe. But here was this TV! And I managed to kick one of the lenses, still secure in its cylindrical housing, right out of the TV.

The total walk was about 4.8 miles. There was still some of my coffee waiting for me in the car when I got back.
What a great day!