Competition Season 2016: My Durham Fair entries are…

In two previous attempts at the Durham Fair’s photo competition in Durham, Connecticut, I’ve snagged two third-place awards (for Vivaldi’s Pond and The Jumbuck), a first place (for Jessica: Instamatic Dichotomy) and my first-ever Best in Show (in 2013 for The AGFA Bridge Over Ansco Lake). Plus, entering the Durham Fair gives me a chance…

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The Indiana State Police are pretty funny…

Saw this on Facebook and could not resist sharing it with all of you. Apparently some policemen at the Indiana State Fair decided to have a little fun.  So they busted out a lip-sync version of the classic John Travolta-Olivia Newton-John duet from the film Grease – no, not THAT duet, the other duet –…

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2:00 a.m. creativity

I can’t sleep.  Again.  Insomnia is like a tone-deaf bugler at a Boy Scout campout.  And he’s playing Revilee six hours early. I roll over.  Still can’t sleep. Okay, may as well get up and do something.  Anything. Hey, maybe that wild petunia that was growing in my outdoor flower pot might still have a…

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“Hi, I’m Congressman Paul Tonko…”

So I need to explain this photo… But first… Sunday was the final day for the week-long Altamont Fair.  It’s the time when I can actually spend the day at the Fair, taking pictures and contemplating what I could enter in 2017’s Competition Season.  Best to not wait to consider my options.  You snooze, you…

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Celebrating “Mr. 40 Day” in Chicago

Tony Bennett is a star with the National Basketball League of Canada, where he helped the Windsor Express earn a 2015 NBL championship.  Prior to his NBL years, he starred in the Premier Basketball League and in the Continental Basketball Association; and while in college, he helped Bradley University advance to the Round of 16…

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The Return of Lynda Carter (and Adam West and Burt Ward)

You could keep your Charlie’s Angels, you could have your Daisy Duke.  And yes, the Bionic Woman was brilliant and beautiful, and I still remember watching the sci-fi comedy Quark because of the ultra-hot Tricia and Cyb Barnstable twins. Yeah.  That was me in the 1970’s. But through all that, there was only one TV…

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Mazel Tov for deep-fried kosher food!

One of my personal traditions when competing in the New York State Fair’s photography competition, is that after I have found out how my entries have fared, I celebrate by eating some sort of fair food.  Just to be fair, mind you.  I’ve already paid the fair to get there, so there.  You saw what…

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Best of our TU Independent Blogs, August 18, 2016: Ten for Thursday

Man, will this super-hot summer heat wave end? Yes, six months from now I’ll probably post one of these and ask … “Man, will this super-cold winter end?” It’s called balance. Balance also means that you have time to enjoy some great independent blogs by the Times Union’s crew of community bloggers.  These are the…

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Week 7 of the 2016 Graney’s Stout Summer Trivia League

The funny thing about playing competitive team trivia is … you never know what will trigger the correct answer in a team’s collective brain cells. I explain this because most of the teams in this weeks’ trivia game nailed questions left and right.  Everybody knew that the film that introduced the “Pizza Planet” restaurant to…

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A deep breath at the Altamont Fair

I’m thirty feet away from the entrance to the Fine Arts Center at the Altamont Fair.  Inside that building – the oldest building on the Altamont Fairgrounds – are four of my five artworks. Thirty feet away.  And it feels like three miles and ten years away. Here i am.  I’ve been greeted by the…

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