krnaturalphoto's Blog 
One of my favorite ways to spend my time is by visiting state parks. State Parks provide so many opportunities to enjoy nature. And the variety of ways we can enjoy nature abounds at these state parks.
Where I live I am fortunate to be within driving distance of several state parks. While all the state parks I love offer a lot to love, sometimes there is more to love when there is simply more to love. Size does matter. And Letchworth State Park is one of the largest State Parks near me.
Letchworth State Park has all of the elements I love from my most frequently visited state parks that I am closer to except it takes it all to the next level. Love waterfalls? Letchworth takes the waterfalls and super sizes them. Three major waterfalls and other smaller falls and cascades. And the three major falls are all as big or bigger than the falls at my favorite spots.
I always love finding new flowers to photograph. Something I have never seen before always piques my interest. Several years ago I saw these tiny little purple flowers growing along the edge of the woods where we live.
I started photographing them and looking for them every year. And the flowers returned every year. Always blooming in the same little area of the woods. Never seeming to spread.
I assumed these flowers grow other places than just where I live, but I never saw them anywhere else. It was kind of like having my own little private flower garden no one else could see. It was so strange to never see these flowers anywhere else. They don’t bloom very long and I am not sure there is anything identifiable above ground to know where they are growing when the flowers are not in bloom.
Last week I said that I wasn’t a photographer who photographed people. I made that statement even though all the photographs last week featured people. I am going to make the same statement this week to. And maybe I should make a caveat.
Or maybe this is an admission. I am a photographer who photographs people. I just don’t photograph people in the traditional sense many people might think of. Headshots and senior photos are not the type of photography I work on. The way I approach portraits they take a very different form than what many people would think of in a portrait session. I have nothing against these other forms of photographing people they are just not the types of photography that inspire me. But I always admire the beautiful work others create on a regular basis.
I love flowering trees. Over the years we have tried to plant a variety of flowering trees around our house. We have had varying degrees of success in this endeavor.
I do not have the greenest of thumbs. And I probably do not pick the best trees and or plant them in the best part of the yard, or prepare them and care for them the way they should be before and after planting. My wife on the other had has had the biggest success, planting a flowering cherry tree shortly after we moved into our house and that tree has been growing well for over a decade.
I am not a traditional event photographer. I don’t specialize in event photography. And I definitely don’t go out to huge venues to photograph big events everyone has heard of.
What I love is being at small local events that are important to our community. There are so many things that go on in our communities that often goes unremarked on or uncelebrated. I really like to try and capture these moments and save them forever for all those naysayers who think our communities can’t do good things.
I really wanted to create a blog post to highlight some subjects that many people might night even think about. I feel like I can do that through my photography pretty well. However, the writing part of the blog post experience is more of a struggle. I don’t have any particular knowledge or perspective to share on the subject for this post. Stones.
We see rocks and stones laying on the ground all around us. I am not sure I have anything profound to say about stones. I don’t really have the vocabulary to express the way I feel about photographing rocks and stones the way I can expound on the majesty of a beautiful sunset at a scenic vista.
I love art. Having the opportunity to go out and see beautiful art is always one of my favorite activities. I am also fortunate to live in a great area for that. There are local galleries, local arts agencies, museums, and a growing public art space that I love.
The form of art I actively participate in creating is photography. And while I enjoy seeing beautiful photographs anywhere I can, what I really appreciate is artwork in modalities outside of photography. I live near Corning, NY so glass is always prominent in my artwork thoughts and feelings. But there is so much to enjoy; sculpture, fiber work, ceramics, drawing, and digital arts to name a few.
But of all the other forms of artwork that I don’t create, painting probably hits home with me the most. As with all forms of art painting can take so many different shapes. Not all styles and subjects in painting resonate with me, but when I see the type of artwork that does it really makes an impact. I don’t think that I have a particular style of painting that I prefer or anything sophisticated like that, but there are certain pieces of art that I see and I love. If there is one thing about painting that can capture my attention is if it is animal or nature themed.
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When I am out and about I am always looking for way to experience nature. If you are also someone who enjoys nature making a trip to Canandaigua Lake is a good way to book some time with nature. There are places to get out in nature north, south, east, and west.
At the north end of Canandaigua Lake lies the town of Canandaigua. The town of Canandaigua is home to some of my favorite features of this lake. These features are some of my favorites because they are conveniently located and easy to access. They also provide beautiful scenery for relaxation and photography.
When I first started running I didn’t know much about running or races. I still wouldn’t say that I know a lot. But what I have learned is that I run a lot on the roads but my heart lies on the trails. To me road racing is all the same. A 5k is a 5k is a 5k and same thing for 10ks, but you see far less of those. Things don’t get interesting until you run a half marathon, but then a marathon feels like it sucks all the joy out of it.
I love variety. I love to try new things. When my running begins to feel repetitive and les exciting that is when I less inclined to run. That is why I love trail running.
So many different things in my life have had a bigger impact on me than I could have ever imagined.
There was a time in my life when I don’t think I even knew that animal shelters were even a thing. Then over the course of my life my wife began volunteering at an animal shelter, then began working at the same animal shelter, then I began volunteering at the animal shelter. As a result of our relationship that evolved with this animal shelter we adopted multiple animals from the animal shelter. We became involved with other animal shelters and rescues. We rescued dogs from organizations that required a 6 our drive just to meet the dogs.
It is hard to believe that there was a period of life where dogs in general weren’t even really a part of my life. Now reflecting on the last 20+ years of my life shelter and rescue dogs have had an unimaginable impact on my life. Shelters and rescues and the dogs they care for allow so much joy and love to flow into the lives of others, myself included.
