Lake effect - 1/3/12 - Photo by Annette Lein

I was out early this morning shooting video in hopes of capturing views of our first winter storm. While the storm didn’t totally live up to expectations, it did provide a variety of beautiful scenes including this one from Braddock Bay as the sun was coming up and fighting for dominance with a small band of lake snow at left.

69 Floors Climb for Daisy - 12/18/2011 - Photo by Marie D. De Jesús

Jim Stranz, 57, of Penfield exercises his body as well as his soul. Stranz is a volunteering firefighter in the Penfield firehouse training for a 69-story stair climb in full turnout gear as a fundraiser for the Leukemia Society. All of this effort in memory of his friend Daisy Murphy who died of Leukemia. Her photo is in the helmet he is holding in the portrait. For this piece, I made photos of Jim in the exercise room doing his routine. However, this story deserved a nice portrait of him as a volunteer firefighter, a community hero. I politely asked his wife to hold some cables in the tiny space between the firetruck and the garage door, put a light and voilá! 

Counting Birds - 12/18/2011 - Photo by Marie D. De Jesús 

Jim Loveland, 85, and Carol Loveland, 84, of Irondequoit watch for different bird species in their home living room where a large window allows them to watch for their eight bird feeders. It was wonderful to spend time with this lovely couple surrounded by their bird-theme ornaments and homemade cookies. For this photograph I used my wide lens so I could show the window and also include the couple in their surroundings. 

Diligent early birds - 12/18/2011 - Photo by Marie De Jesús 

My morning assignment was to photograph bird watchers in action. The early morning light made beautiful shadows and highlights. I waited until about 12 birds of different species decided to charm us with their presence. Don’t be fooled by the photo, is not easy to freeze a bird when flying away, they are too fast. Bird watchers have earn my respect. 

Up in Smoke - 12/15/11 - Photo by Tina Yee

I was covering a fire and taken by the smoke surrounding the two firefighters on the roof.  At times they were reflected in the smoke.  

New life for an old view      12-14-2011      Photo by Max Schulte

Today I had to shoot renovation work at 44 Exchange Blvd in Rochester. The building was built in 1959 and is an example of sustainable reuse projects. The once vacant 65,000 square foot building will host 24 apartments per floor and some office space. The building had to be reinforced to hold the new double pain windows that will replace the out dated single glass window. This space will be a new office with a view that looks out to some of the older buildings in the city.

That moment before an embrace - 12/11/2011 - Photo by Marie D. De Jesús

I enjoyed the moment shared between Nancy Neerbasch and James Piccarreto, both of Greece, because you can see clearly Nancy’s eagerness to hug her friend. James is autistic, but has always worked hard and faced his challenges with determination winning the admiration of all around him. They only had beautiful things to say about him. This close nit of friends know the true meaning of the saying, “give your flowers to the living.”