WPXI Tony Ruffolo

06/27/2023

La Fortuna
Costa Rica

Driving in Costa Rica has been an adventure. In parts of the the country (about the size of West Virginia), I’ve found the roads to be quite the experience. One trip took me about 75 miles north of the capital, San Jose, to La Fortuna and the Arenal Volcano. This was about a three hour drive. Why so slow? Well, this is explained by two lane roads (exclusively), narrow passings, one lane bridges (nearly exclusively), hairpin curves & switchbacks, seemingly suicidal motorcyclists, pedestrians, and an endless supply of dogs wandering the roads. I seriously doubt I ever went a kilometer without one of these options (no hyperbole there). Is this typical of all roads? No, but on the roads I’ve driven in Costa Rica, I’ve found a good deal of the aforementioned list (especially the motorcycles & dogs). Anyway, I doubt I could have made these drives solo and am grateful for my navigator who, I understand, in the patois of today’s hip, young and socially connected, is called a “passenger princesses”. I’ve recorded video of some my drives but am not in a position to post any of it here. Therefore, I’m sharing this picture of an crocodile that I saw yesterday. Stay safe.

06/22/2023

Thursday, June 22, 2023
La Fortuna, Costa Rica

Who else other than Pittsburghers would you find while pointing out a snake in a tree along a trail on a slope of the Aranel Volcano in Costa Rica? Also seen: a brown-throated three-toed sloth, Central American agouti, white-throated magpie jay (and numerous other birds) and leaf cutter ants. But I digress, the Pittsburghers (actually Ebensburgers) and I ran into each other along a trail that leads to a 400 year old ceiba tree (very impressive). It’s actually a fairly common occurrence for me to run into Pittsburghers on my travels. It’s the friendliness that helps (plus often wearing Pittsburgh team gear, though not this time - an actual Ebensburg t-shirt).
Anyway, interestingly, I had been planning a family trip to Wisconsin when a week ago an internet search came up with some surprising ticket prices. I know, Wisconsin or Costa Rica?! Well, anyway, here I am on a nine day trip with a cottage only booked through Saturday. Got to get to work on that. Also seen, a scarlet-rumped Tanager (and that’s not a sentence you get to say everyday - sorry, no picture). Stay safe.

06/09/2023

Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emireates

This is one of possibly a few more posts about my trip to the Middle East. I am back home now but I'm just getting around to catching up on a few things. This post is about a sunset photo I took while on a boat tour of the Eastern Mangrove National Park. Located about 10 miles from downtown Abu Dhabi, the mangroves are a peaceful setting in the midst of a city of a million and a half people. Taken during what is generally referred to as 'Golden Hour', I caught the setting sun between a few of the city's skyscrapers. There was still plenty of light to help me deal with the gently rocking of the boat. I like the vertical image better but wasn’t sure how it would really look posted here. Stay safe.

01/18/2023

10/23/2022

Saturday, October 22, 2022
Washington, DC

I’m not normally a fan of pictures taken from airplanes in flight but apparently if I do it it’s okay. As my flight approached the runway in DC, I grabbed my phone, which was actually turned off and not in airplane mode, to grab an early morning shot. Not sure what compelled me though it may have been my colleague one seat up who I noticed was holding their phone up to the window. I looked out and thought I’d give it a try, too. Here’s the result of a shot of the Lincoln Memorial with the Potomac River in the foreground. I then turned to the hapless person who was consigned to the seat beside me and shared what little I knew of a 1982 flight that crashed into the river just after takeoff. Always helpful, that’s me. Stay safe.

10/17/2022

As seen along NY5 outside Dunkirk, New York.

07/25/2022

07/05/2022

Tuesday, July 5, 2022
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

My assignment yesterday was to shoot the Pittsburgh fireworks from a balcony at Rivers Casino. It’s a fairly good vantage point and allowed the space to set up my GoPro to shoot a time lapse of the show. For those of you who didn’t see Pittsburgh’s fireworks or would like to see them again, here is the show in its entirety condensed to about a minute and a half. Enjoy and stay safe.

01/17/2022

Monday, January 17, 2022
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

A beautiful snowy day but also very overcast. Thought this image of the Fred Rogers Memorial called out for a black and white look. Stay safe.

12/06/2021

Presque Isle State Park,
Erie, Pennsylvania
Saturday, December 4, 2021

As nice as Presque Isle State Park is in the summer; winter is also a great time to visit. This past Saturday, a clear day with strong winds made for an invigorating walk on the beach. This is Beach 8 along the western side of the peninsula.

10/14/2021

Thursday, October 14, 2021
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

My second assignment of the day took me to the Highline on Pittsburgh’s South Side. The planters there were filled with asters. On such a nice autumn day, capturing an image there was hard to resist. The only question was whether I liked the horizontal or vertical image more. I’ll post both here. Tell me which you prefer. Thanks and stay safe.

09/08/2021

Monday, September 8, 2021
Cortlandt, New York

More images of the New Croton Dam. I won’t pretend to understand dam construction so I’m not in a position to explain why a cascade was left to the side of the dam. What can say is that it is really cool and stunning. I’ve seen a few other dams that have an outflow at the base but those provided hydropower. This dam does not. Stay safe.