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.