America's Packard Museum

In Dayton, Ohio which is not known for cars but for Aeronautics, is the Citizen's Motor Car Company which was originally a Packard dealership. It has been for the past couple of decades the home of America's Packard Museum.

I have volunteered to photograph many of the artifacts and contribute to preserve the history of what use to be one of America's finest automobiles.

My father owned Packards. The last one he owned was a 1956 Packard 400, very similar to this 1955 Packard I photographed a few years back.

I have installed a little slide show so you can see some of my favoite photos I've taken at the Museum to the right of the blog. If you double-click on the slide show, it will open up and enlarge. If you would like any prints - please let me know and I'll fix you up.

Whirlpool - Any questions?

At 32' above normal, the flood waters behind the Englewood Dam (Miami Conservancy District, Ohio) creates the perfect whirlpool. Two 10.5' x 13' conduits suck air and water into a singular giant maelstrom with such force that the earth trembles beneath ones feet.

Englewood Dam in Storage

Here are two photos taken from nearly the same position. The location is Englewood Reserve, on the North side of Englewood Dam in Western, Ohio.

One shows the flooded area at 32' above normal - the other shows the water receded to it's normal level in the shallow lake that forms behind the low dam.

For more information about the Englewood Dam and other dams in the same system, check out www.miamiconservancy.org. The five dams they created nearly a century ago were high-tech at the time and have prevented many floods in the Dayton, Middletown, and Hamilton areas for many years.

Winter

Winters in West-Central Ohio are usually dry but this year it seems we've had more opportunities to get out an enjoy the snow.
This photo was taken at the Englewood Reserve upstream from the dam.

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?