Olivia

Olivia is now just over 1 year old. Will her hair turn red? I think so. Her eyebrows are red and her hair is blonde. She's walking, but doesn't do much talking.

Her mother's hand folded over her chest as she looks into the camera.

Olivia Gabrielle, you are beautiful.

180 MPH

On our way to Seneca Rocks one morning last week, we stopped on top of this mountain in West Virginia on US 219 to check out these wind driven generators.

The generator sits atop this pole. How high? I don't know. And not much of a breeze forces the these giant propellers to turn. How long are these propellers? 150' from tip to center.

There's not much there in the picture to indicate the relative size and show just how big these things are except for a truck parked near the base.

I've seen propellers like these being shipped westward on I-70, e x t r a l o n g loads on extended trailers. They dwarf the tractor that is pulling the load.

Anyway - standing on top of the mountain with a couple of engineers - they marvel at this creation. Ken Parks, an engineer formerly with GE who is familiar with wind turbines, said the diameter of the spinning blades is approximately 300'. David Barnes, an engineer visiting from England calculated in a matter of a few seconds that the speed of the tips was currently 180 mph. Yes, 300' diameter with a rotation just less than four seconds. That's 180mph +/- tip speed. Then I noticed a low noise that sounded like an aircraft on a quiet night 30,000 + feet up, but the pitch and volume never changed. It was the sound of the blade tips passing through the air.

The digital image has been rendered as if it were taken with infrared film to dramatically darken the deep blue sky and highlight the white wind turbine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_turbine

1964 Ford Fairlane 500

The simplicity of the American auto in the past is only surpassed by the artistic design, sculptured to reflect the era in which it was created. Craftsmanship incorporated form and function - the definition of sharp curves and angles added strength and durability.

Friends of our just purchased this classic Ford in Wisconsin and stopped by for a visit while driving it home.

What a beautiful car. We took the time to capture it's image in front of two sculptured lions from China. They seem to compliments the auto's beauty.

Focus Photo Club August Winners

Three out of four of my most recent entries won ribbons at the August Focus Photo Club meeting.
2nd Place - Black & White, open
2nd Place - Color, Theme (food)
3rd Place - Color, open

I'm back

I'm back in the saddle again...

Hey, I was just down in Chillicothe, Ohio this past Saturday night and Sunday. I wanted to catch a meal there a the smokehouse on Water Street, but we got there after 10:00 PM and the kitchen was closed. (If I owned a place, I would never turn someone down who was looking for food. I might have a very limited menu, but I'd feed them something.)

So we went to Max & Erma's. That's a good restaurant chain that started in the German Village District of Columbus, Ohio back in the early 70's. They became more sophisticated as they grew, keeping pace with the changes and have always served really good food. We had a good time at the one off Bridge Street just north of downtown Chillicothe.

Early, the first day of the week, we got up early and drove back down off of Carlisle Hill and into the First Capitol District of Chillicothe. I toured the area alone as Roxanne stayed in the motorhome and read. I took a number of pictures and I thought you may want to see this one.

This is Ross County Courhouse. My "wide angle" lense is not sufficently side angle to get this picture so I had to take it two shots. The lower half, and the upper half. They are stitched together. When we get the money, and when Roxanne let's me, I'll be purchasing a newer lense, with a "wide angle" that suits a SLR digital.

Focus Photo Club Winners

Color - Theme (Hair) Honorable Mention

Black & White - Theme (Hair) Honorable Mention

Color - Open (non theme) Extended (can be digitally manipulated) 2nd Place

Camping Outing

This past weekend my wife and I went camping with some good friends, about 25 of us all together. I think all had a good time but it makes a good time better when you have Yoder, the 'magic' camper with you. Yes - Mr. Yoder has a gift of helping others.
With folks like him, the time is not just spent with friends, time is invested in friends. That is the mark of a true leader.
Even though this was not a photographic expedition, I did take some photos but mostly for private use. A few shots of nature, a shot of the full moon (a blue moon) and an old Chevy pickup truck was the only serious work that I did. I added those to my portfolio just today.
Portfolio - that's a good word. What if I call it an e-portfolio at my website? How would that sound? Would that be better than 'gallery' ?
Tell me what you think, okay?

Fort Boonesboro

A detour on a return trip from Berea, Kentucky took me to Fort Boonesboro. I saw a short movie, talked to a guy who showed me how they made fire with flint, a charcoal they made from fabric and a little bit of dried grass. It was almost as easy as striking a match. This same young man then demonstrated hatchet throwing. He made that look easy too.

While touring I thought how unfortunate it was that I had not brought my tripod. There were many things of interest to photograph but the strong sunlight makes for deep shadows, and the things in shadows needed a very still camera to properly photograph.

The wood grain of the logs and the color contrast of the milled lumber gave textures and colors that I wanted to capture. A tripod would have given me the advantage. I was only able to photograph a few things with quality. This small burlap bag sitting in the sunlight is intriguing. The color, the contrast, and the texture all seem to make this very attractive to me.

So, what's in the bag?

The Ohio River

The past few weeks have been extremely busy but I did take a break while driving through Cincinnati to climb Mount Adams and pay a short visit to the Art Museum there. On the way down I stopped to take photos of the Ohio River where it loops north.

I set the camera on full manual, made adjustments, and clicked off seven photos from left to right. The seven photos were stitched together forming this one panoramic scene of the river and Northern Kentucky on the far bank.

The sky was digitally redone to improve the fidelity. Curves in lenses cause slight deviations in light intensity and change the constrasts from middle of each photo to the edge. This had to be corrected because the sky appeared light and dark and light and dark and light again in a very unnatural way. To correct this I chose the lightest part and the darkest part of the sky as my two colors on my palette. Then I selected the sky and created a new layer in the photo. Then I filled in the sky with a fade from the two colors.

And this is the result. The original is printable up to 90" x 20" and maintain quality.

If you want a print, double click on the image.

The Memorial Tournament

Dublin, Ohio

The second day of practice rounds were on Tuesday, May 29th. Since they allow cameras on practice round days only, this was an opportunity I did not want to miss. I was able to get a few shots of two of the most famous and still living golf personalities, Jack Nicklaus (67) and Arnold Palmer (78) during opening ceremonies.

Mayapples

I first noticed Mayapples when I was very young and when I see them each spring, it reminds me where I was when I first took notice of them.

Very green, perfect, and there before the leaves on the trees. The first sign that warmer weather was here to stay - for awhile.

The Bride

I do not seek to shoot weddings. I tell people that I don't care to shoot weddings, but still I've done several over the past twenty five years. This is the bride from my most recent wedding project. She is beautiful and inspired me to get very creative in lighting and angles.

I had to lay on the floor to get this angle. The lighting was supplied mostly by three flash units; two umbrella and a camera mounted flash. We staged photos before the guests arrived to take advantage of natural lighting through the stained glass windows.

Chair by the Red Door

Now and then, when out on a mission there is something else that is easily missed. While photographing a building across the street, this red door and chair was right behind. I was focused on something big, and yet this very simple but attractive setting was right behind me. I turned around-- click!

I didn't miss this one.

The Castle

One of my favorite subjects to photograph is the Castle in Urbana, Ohio.

The Castle was Urbana High School at the turn of the 20th Century, and has since been changed to the Junior High and added on to the North. The new High School was added on to the South in the 1950's.

The building is very photogenic from many different angles. Taking advantage of the bare trees in early spring, I thought this angle might be unusual.

Trillium

We've had some hard freezes since the flowers started blooming. The Trillium, however, are plentiful at Indian Mound Reserve in Green County, Ohio. The reserve is on State Route 42 between Wilberforce and Cedarville.

Early spring hikes are great because there is color but the trees are still bare - allowing a great view of the surroundings. There is life and there is color once again.

Dreams

I like to dream.

When I go to bed I'm hoping to have some good dreams. Last night I had a pretty cool dream.

I was entering back stage where I expected to meet up with some friends who were about to perform. There, in the midst of my friends, getting into the zone and mentally preparing himself for the performance was Jerry Garcia. Of course I wasn't expecting to see Jerry for obvious reasons, but nevertheless, he was there. I was actally looking for his very close friend, his life long friend, David. Although David and I call each other friends, David and Jerry were FRIENDS for a long time.

David was kind enough to give me a picture of him and Jerry when they were still teenagers. David and I have known each other only for the past six years.

Anyway - Jerry was there, getting ready to play.

Billy Laymon, still recovering from Typhus and wasn't able to perform and Pete Sears wasn't able to make it. So guess who they wanted to play bass? Yep, yours truly. So, I had my '72 Guild and my B15 all set up and ready to go and was going over some of the cords with Barry Sless and Mookie Siegel. I was feeling extremely apprehensive when David finally showed up. We had been waiting for him to arrive before we started.

He asked me what I wanted to start out with, and I said I was feeling queasy so let's start with some 3 chord rock-n-roll to warm up. Jerry said, "Here's something to warm up with." And turned to me so I could see the chords he was playing.

I picked right up on it, and started playing. Sorry, I don't remember the song or if it really was a real song. But there I was folks, a fill in for David Nelson Band with Jerry Garcia, Barry Sless, Mookie Siegel, and a drummer I'd never seen before. Man, I just realized, where's Charlie?

The photo is one I took of David when we were in PA a few years back.

Eldean Road Bridge

Between Troy and Piqua, Ohio, visible from US 25 (County Road 25A) where it intersects Eldean Road, is the Eldean Road Bridge over the Miami River. Previous photos that I made were just before the renovation. It looked great - it looked old. Now it looks very nice but perhaps lost some of it's historic value.

It is a long bridge and to cross over the timbers in you car is safe, but it sure doesn't feel safe. I also tried out some of my panorama techiques while photographing from the side. Check it out at http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=2661970.

Rike's Parking Garage

The last remnants of Rike's is being demolished. The department store and the newer parking garage was demo'd a few years ago. This was their parking garage that was built at the corner of Main and Monument Avenues in Dayton, Ohio after the demolitian of Steele High School around 1960. It outlasted Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

Wet Tracks

It is important to be on the right track AND going the right direction. That is all.

Now - the photo.

This was taken just south of Tipp City, Ohio on obviously a dreary day. I went to Tipp City to work on my Smallvilletonberg project. It started raining so I went in a tavern. You can get a feel for the community as you listen to folks talk about the latest news (which for Tipp isn't too good today), sports, some political figures, and their ideas on human and racial relations.

Then I left and drove south along the old Miami Erie Canal. I turned right on Evanston Road and stopped at the tracks. It stopped raining momentarily so I got out and took a couple of dozen photos.

I tweeked this one with Photoshop. On the color version the grass became just a bit greener, the light-brown buds became a little brighter, and the dark woody bushes were brightened to give a little more detail. Of course, then I changed it to Black & White, brightened it just a tad and treated the contrast the same.

The Todds

I was given the opportunity and the priviledge of photagraphing this family. Of course, this being a very public blog, I will not get into the personal details. But, each one of us are faced with challenges from time to time and this families challenges has been a great encouragement to others.
What can we suffer that would be so great that would be greater than the lessons we can learn? If our intent is to learn - to grow - to be more than what we are, what is it that we would not be willing to indure?
Gold is refined in fire and diamonds are created under great pressure.

Summer

When we were children,
especially young children,
summers lasted.
The heat was rarely noticed.
Running in a field, throwing stones in the river,
or wading up a wooded creek flipping rocks and catching salamanders.
We did those things randomly,
spontaneously.
There were no calendars,
no schedules,
no itinerary,
but somehow ever day was filled with activity -
and everyday moved slowly
allowing us to fit in enumerable accomplishments.
Now I'm told,
if I want to play golf,
I cannot do it spontaneously,
I have to play it on purpose
scheduled at least a week in advance.
Recreation is best if it is on an itinerary
with multiple other commitments.
It must be rationed
and redeemed
with regularity -
part of a strict regimen.
That's what I'm told.
We looked forward to summers
when we were young,
didn't we?
I'm looking forward to summer again.
I want to watch the children play.
See if I can learn something.

Smallvilletonburg, Ohio

The concept of capturing typical small town, Ohio and then creating something interesting and hopefully funny is changing. Rather than that, I think it's best to capture the beauty that small towns have to offer, and show it in a real (digitally untouched) way.

So, I will not photograph and show what I intended at the Smallvilletonburg, Ohio blog. Like this historically beautiful but artistically ugly monument in Pleasant Hill will not be shown. It's not that the actual statue is ugly, it's more the way it is presented. The base has these ugly black and white traffic warning stripes because it sets in the middle of an intersection. The base is too small but if it were any bigger, trucks wouldn't be able to get around it. No matter how you look at the statue, it has big utility lines cutting across and distracting from it's view.

The statue has been victim to many pranks. So it's been painted to look like molded plastic rather than bronze or copper, whatever it really is.

Perhaps they should form a new foundation on one of the corners, put a little park around it and give it the respect it deserves.

It was this picture that changed my mind about what Smallvilletonburg, Ohio should be. And this is not it.

Englewood, Ohio

Englewood, Ohio has been in my viewfinder several times in the past year and likely will continue. During the several months, the focus will be on people in Englewood as I develop into capturing lifestyles. I've always found people to be most interesting to photograph.

My objective is to present my collection to the Englewood Arts Council when I have sufficient to show.

Cox Arboretum

I submitted several photos to Cox Arboretum for use as the cover on next winter's quartely. This is one of them.

Panorama!

When I say it, "PANORAMA", I think I should say as if making an announcement. Saying it a little louder, and little more distinct every time I say it; with a rhythm and each syllable getting equal time. One can put the accent on any syllable and will get the same result. We've got a big, WIDE picture.
*


*
When a 3000 pixel wide picture just can’t do the trick, why not take several, starting from the left and moving to the right? When I first started doing that I found out that my metering changes just a bit with each shot, the light changes and the camera adjusts. That didn’t work out too well when I tried to stitch the pictures together. So, what I did was switch over to manual settings on the camera, found the right exposure, and then started to left, then moving to the right, each time overlapping from one picture to the next by about 1/3rd.
*
Then I let Photoshop do the rest. It stitches and blends and does things I didn't think was possible. It takes several pictures and blends them into one, homogeneous blend of color, form, and light without a hint of where they were stitch. Coooool.
*
I also had to learn that on wide angle, the blending isn’t too cool. What happens is the light at the edges gets a hint darker and then it still shows up in blending. So, it’s better to take five shots at 55mm then three shots at 28mm. Going from left to right – click, click, click, click, and then click. Rather than click, click, and click and cover the same area.
*
Now my little Nikon has a PANORAMA mode. It shows exactly where to overlap from the previous picture to get the best stitching. That’s cool. But I haven’t fooled enough with it to tell if it holds the metering from the first shot. I’ll have to check that out.
*
This picture is from the top of the mountain in the Smoky Mountain National Park above Gatlinburg on US Route 441 and it was taken with my Daddy Nikon. I could have posted a wider one, but then when you go wide you don’t get very high when I’m posting such a small image. These images are HUGE. They can print out at least to 60 inches wide and still maintain a fairly good quality – at least National Geographic grade.
*
With that, let me just say, one more time. “PANORAMA!”

Frozen from Top to Bottom

Flashback - January 2003

Perhaps the temperatures and weather conditions were right this year - I don't know. But I think it got cold enough for a long enough period to create the conditions we had here at the beginning of 2003. No matter - when it got warm enough to make the trek, the forecast called for windy conditions and I didn't want to put up with the windchill. The right temperatures are between 25 and 30 degrees.

*

A winter hike is best just below freezing so the gigantic icycles are not breaking and falling to their death, and perhaps anyone else's who is standing below.

*

These pictures are taken in Hocking County in a location that is private and is not to be plublished.

*

Although the falls in the public area can be very nice when frozen from top to bottom, I believe these are spectacular. Someday I hope to get

back there when the conditions are right.

*

The photo here were taken back in 2003 with a more simple digital camera, of the Olympus variety - which did a good job for what it was and the technoligy availabe at that time.

*

See the little people next to the huge frozen waterfall. I used those because they give it perspective.

Contentment & Happiness

I am just getting around to going through some photos that I took a couple of weekends ago in Camridge, Ohio. This is one of the photos that I made at a square dance on Saturday night. These are the faces of contentment and happiness. I saw a lot of that there, but these sisters reflected it most.


I made the photo black & white and darkened the background a bit. Black and white adds to what the photo is communicating - simplicity.


Above all things I like to capture , it is the simple Amerciana Lifestyle. It is this image that makes me realize it.

Won 3rd in Competition

On Thursday evening, March 1 - The photo of the Lower Falls at Old Man's Cave won 3rd Place in Black & White Theme (water) competition. Three other photos won honorable mentions, including Black & White Open, Color Print Theme, and Color Open.

I was told I was the first to have won four ribbons in their first competition.

One of the things that I believe makes the photo more interesting is how the long exposure shows how the ribbon of water is flipped over at a turn in its path.

The prints were 10 x 15 matted out to 16 x 20.

Rapid Global Warming?

After reviewing climatological data provided by NOAA scientists, there is irrefutable evidence that we are on a collision course with rapid and severe global warming!

You may have wondered why the sudden rise in temperature here of late? Temperatures have been below freezing for several weeks now and the snow has accumulated in many parts of the northern United States, Canada, and other parts of the world. This sudden rise in temperatures is expected to climb higher. It has risen 22 degrees just since this morning! The scientist say that we can expect temperatures to climb another 50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit by summer.

What does this mean?

The first thing we expect to happen is the snow will melt. There's nothing we can do about it. But the ice on the lakes is going to melt too. Let this be a warning to those ice fishing to get their shanties and vehicles off the ice. If this warning is ignored, literally thousands of sportsmen and sportswomen will be lost and property damages could reach into the billions!

As the temperatures climb, people are going to have to adjust. They won't be able to wear their thermal underwear and heavy coats, hats, and gloves when they venture outside. It will be too dangerous. If people do not wear less clothing, we could expect millions to suffer and die from heat stroke. Some suggest drinking cold beverages instead of hot will relieve some discomfort caused by higher temperatures. There appears to be a general consensus from scientist that temperatures in the upper 70's to low 90's could have catastrophic results if people do not heed the warnings and make all necessary adjustments.

Dr. Algore Chicenlitel, from Havad University says that high carbon emissions from heating fuel and industry have caused a greenhouse effect. He has rallied world leaders, most from the pourer nations that do not have air conditioning and some wealthier nations whose customs do not include frequent bathing. These nations are at extreme risk not just from the heat but from the odor as well. Dr. Chicenlitel leads the charge against worlds largest producers of CO2. However, some large producers are at a severe disadvantage economically and therefore should be excused.

But not all scientists agree. Some say we should not be alarmed by this warming trend. Some say that nature has contributed to this climate change. They cite the defoliation of the northern hemisphere's deciduous trees last fall. Without their leaves, they are not breaking down the CO2 in to Carbon and Oxygen. Without this process (photosynthesis), the excessive CO2 in the atmosphere is building up and that is the major contributor to the greenhouse effect and the rising temperatures. The cure for this is to cut down the deciduous trees and plant evergreens but this process is much too slow.

However, there are a few scientist who disagree entirely. Of course these scientist are quacks and should be ignored. They say that this is a natural cycle.

They suggest the earth has gone through heating and cooling cycles many times in the past and there is not much mankind can do to stop it, to speed it up or slow it down in the future. They blame it on the sun. This is what they claim. "The earth rotates on a tilted axis and the northern hemisphere has been pointed away from the sun. As the earth orbits the sun, the northern hemisphere will actually be pointed more toward the sun, providing more direct solar and UV radiation. The increase in direct radiation will cause temperatures to climb. They believe this is what has caused it in the past and is the most likely cause in the future. Dr. Algore Chicenlitel claims this is incredible deceipt! "We all know that the sun is billions of miles away from the earth and in between is the void of space. No way could heat travel that far in cold space. Anybody who believes differently is just stupid." says Chicenlitel.

But be assured that political leaders from around the world will follow the wise council of over 2500 scientist and put this information to their political use. These forward thinking leaders will use their power to divert $578 trillion dollars to come up with and implement plans to bring an end to the crisis. The first $150 trillion will go to the committees to come up with the perfect global temperature. Then $250 trillion will be spent on the process of evaluation, developement, and production of the global thermostat and where to put it. Then another $900 trillion will be spent on entitlements to those people who were put out of work in the process of shutting down industries in capitalist countries. Sure that's over the $578 trillion estimated, but now we've calculated the expected budget overruns.

Meanwhile, things that were important before will just have to wait until this crisis is solved. Funding for AIDS research and treatment will have to be diverted. Health care for children and poverty stricken nations will have to wait. The vast majority of Iraqui's will have to be left to butchering Islamic Fascist Warlords as the US and Allied forces are prematurely pullout of the region for lack of funding. The hungry and starving around the world may have to be sacrificed while we focus on saving our ski slopes. And, I hate to be the one with bad news, but Main Street in downtown Dayton will no doubt have to go another year without repairs.

WE MUST FACE THE PROBLEM BRAVELY. Do NOT ignore it. We are in for a long and hot summer.

If you think this is not serious, here is positive proof. I took this photograph of the melting snow in my front yard just today!

THINK ABOUT IT! Then call your congressman today!

Is photography art?

art: the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.

Modern Language Association (MLA):
"art." Dictionary.com
Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 28 Feb. 2007. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/art.

I believe it fits the definition.

Unlike a painter, the photographer has to deal with what is there. A painter gets to create a "reality" whereas the photographer has to deal with reality.

It's more of a skill in "seeing" than it is with "imagining".

A photographer has to know what is visually interesting and then capture it. Timing, lighting, color, contrast, composition, and working within the limitations of his/her equipment makes creating an appealing two-dimensional image difficult.

Perhaps photography is not a fine art, but some who read this may reconsider just how much of an "art" it may really be.

"S" Bridge

The "S" Bridges on National Road were built before 1850. They were built with stone and mortar with a stone and mortar arched conduit, then earth filled and compacted on which the road was laid.

Why the "S"?

With the technology of the time, they could not build a bridge over a stream without it being perpendicular. When the National Road crossed a stream at an angle off of square, adjustments had to be made. So the bridges took the shape of an "S".

Or, maybe some architect got ahold of the plans - and wanted something a bit different.

This photo was taken on Feb 18 - a stormy winter day near New Concord, Ohio. The dark gray-blue winter storm clouds are a bit enhanced. The stone varies from gray to tan, and I highlighted the tan to give it more depth and color. There were some wires hanging low that were polluting the scene and I digitally removed them. This was cropped as well, eliminating some of the snow in at the bottom of the photo.

Blogging 101

Photography blog...

What can I say? How about a pictures worth a thousand words.