Chuzhao Day!

Here's a small batch of photos from my "toy" Chuzhao camera.  This is a fun occasional photo, you can see more from the Chuzhao tag.  This set is from a walk today at Schon Park.  The Chuzhao is a fun diversion from my "real" photos.  A little niche camera, no fuss no frills.

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November 1976 - Album Releases

 On the 1st Thursday of October 2026, here's a look back at albums released 50 years ago this month.  Maybe I'll make it an ongoing series.  My source is The Internet.  Ah, November 1976...  Fall semester of my sophomore year of high school.  Just a few months after I got my driver's license.  Good times.

Starting with the albums I own, in one way shape or form.  With my rating (5 point scale).

• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - 5/5
• High Lonesome - Charlie Daniels - 4.5/5
• Teenage Depression - Eddie and the Hot Rods - 4.5/5
• Wipe the Windows, Check the Oil, Dollar Gas - Allman Brothers Band - 3/5
• The Pretender - Jackson Browne - 4/5
• Tejas - ZZ Top - 3/5
• The Best of George Harrison - George Harrison - 3/5
• Greatest Hits - James Taylor - 3/5

And here's the other albums released 50 years ago:

• Love Is All Around - Eric Burdon and War
• Water Babies - Miles Davis
• Efter endnu en dag - Gasolin' 
• Imaginary Voyage - Jean-Luc Ponty
• The Jacksons - The Jacksons
• Love's a Prima Donna - Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel
• Naked and Warm - Bill Withers 
• Gulf Winds - Joan Baez
• Rock and Roll Over - Kiss
• Have a Good Time - Al Green
• Night Shift - Foghat
• Thirty Three and 1/3 - George Harrison
• Hejira - Joni Mitchell
• The Roots of My Raising - Merle Haggard
• Virgin Killer - Scorpions
• Is This Whatcha Wont? - Barry White
• Dance - Pure Prairie League
• Getting It in the Street - David Cassidy
• Hymns/Spheres - Keith Jarrett
• Play 'n' the Game - Nazareth
• Regeneration - Roy Orbison
• Rock and Roll Heart - Lou Reed
• A Star Is Born - Barbra Streisand

Which ones did you (or do you) have?

Vote!

 Today is voting day, and yes, I voted.  But, I'm not really a "sticker person", so the sticker got stuck to mt car's light switch.  Still counts, right?

Voting is a right, and an important one.  BUT, it is also every voter's responsibility to educate themselves on the candidates and the issues.  At least a little.  IMHO, that is.

An interesting (I hope) aside.  Last presidential election (2024), for the first time, we did the early voting thing:  went down to the courthouse, where we waited well over an hour.  Today, we continued our normal practice of voting on election day.  We were in and out in no more that 5 minutes, which has been the norm for us.  Plus our polling close is much closer to our home than the courthouse.  Sometimes the old ways are best.

Social Media Silliness

 So, the era of targeted marketing has gone off the tracks.  Over the past few days, I've been getting ads on Youtube for San Fransico political issues.  Seems pretty odd, since I live about 1,800 miles (straight line) from SF.  Haven't been there in at least 25 years.

Meanwhile on Facebook, I've been getting flooded with ads for women's bras, and for custom scooter seat covers.  There's no reason for anybody to think that I'd have any interest in either product.

Of course, I still get loads of targeted ads that at least make some sense.  But those are just silly.

Photo Essay : Ellis Island / Alton Slough — A Quiet Early Autumn

 Not quite 2 weeks ago, I posted a short photo essay to  Youtube.  This one is from a hike at Ellis Island in West Alton, IL, adjacent to Audubon Center at Riverlands.  

Ellis Isand - A Quiet Early Autumn

Not too much traffic so far, but maybe that'll change.  I'd sure appreciate it if y'all check it out, maybe leave a like or comment!

The Modern Creative

 Some experiments with in-camera mulit-exposure, after a Fujifilm event at @schillerscamera. Fun day, and thanks to Hayden @fujiworthy for running the session!  Not my normal "thing", but very interesting all the same.  Something I need to play with some more, these are just from the hands-on part of the session.

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I experimented with double exposure a couple times in my film days, but never came up with anything remotely decent.  Like so much else, this was WAY easier with digital, especially with the help visualizing on screen.

NASCAR Weekend

 A bit late posting, but a couple of photos from the mid September races are WWTR.  The O'Riley Series race was Saturday evening (9/12), the Cup race was Sunday (9/13).  Last year, I attend these races with my son, this year, with a friend.  Good fun, highly recommended.  

Still Here

 

It is getting pretty late in the season, but we still have Hummingbirds around.  This was actually taken 9/29, but the point is the same.  Soon they'll be gone until spring....

Throwback Thursday - Summer 1976

 

My brother, my (paternal) Grandfather and Me.  Taken not long after my G-parents retired to Roanoke, VA.  This is scanned from a very faded 3x5 print, which I had ChatGPT clean up.  It (Chat GPT) did too good a job, I actually asked it to dial it back a bit, so it didn't look like it was a brand new photo.    This version captures the spirit of the original (I hope).

Throwback Thursday : A Path Through Winter

 One of the earlier photos taken with my first DSLR camera (Nikon D70).  Taken one lunchtime at Silver Lake Park, when I was working in Highland IL.  I spent a lot of lunchtimes in this park, good weather and bad.

Throwback Thursday - Study Time

Well, I didn't take this photo...  but it was my camera, and that is me.  So, close enough.  Pretty sure this was Spring 1981, finishing up Junior year.  That's my university apartment.  

Man, I loved that chair.  It was on old, well broken-in chair from home that I had claimed when the parents replaced it.  Somewhere along the way my mother made a slip cover for it.  I have no recollection as to how it made it from home to my school apartment.  But there it is. 

This is proof that I did study in school, thought the beer cans hint at the other side of the story.  Good times, but I wouldn't want to do it all over.

 

Meh

 Just a recent photo, wallowing in the August photo-blahs.....   Just a little something I took out in the southern Illinois fields.

Lunar Eclipse

 

We're closing out a slow August, from a photographic standpoint.  Besides the normal "late summer blahs", I've been spending a LOT of time organizing the photos from our July trip to Florida.  But suddenly it is almost September, and there's not much new stuff from the month.

But here's something!  Thursday night (8/27) we had a near total eclipse of the moon.  I think they said 97% or 98% in our area.  And it was a clear night.  And max coverage would be at a reasonable 11:12 pm (local time).  Very cool, but of course I completely forgot about it.

Fortunately. I was taking the trash out to the curb a bit after 10pm, and saw the partial eclipse.  I grabbed my camera and grabbed a quick photo (see below).  Then realized I had plenty of time to do a "proper" photo.  So I dug out the tripod, got everything pulled together and set up with plenty of time to wait for the peak.  And the photo above is the result.  

One of those times when the right camera / lens really does make a difference.  Couldn't have done this one with my iPhone.

The partial eclipse photo is exposed for the bright part, has a different feel:

Fun stuff...

Morning Arrivals

Since the advent of digital, I've been pretty bad about getting physical Prints of my photo... especially large prints.  But, to be fair, when I do get prints, they don't ever seem to get displayed properly.  

That said, there's something very cool about a large print of your photo.  My daughter asked for a large print of this photo, from our recent trip to New Smyrna Beach, FL.  That's her and her kids, btw.  I went with 11"x14", to be matted for a 16"x20" frame.  

The prints (I ordered a spare) arrived this morning, and they're pretty cool, if I say so myself!  I also bought a set of 16x20 blank mats, that I can cut the right opening for, so that's the next task.  Then it can drop into her existing frame.  Hopefully, it will meet her expectations.

I'm looking forward to how it turns out.

  

Foddershock? Fodder Shock?

 A recent photo from the Chuzhao "toy" camera.  Still a fun change of pace...

Just a few hay rolls, as seen from the parking lot to Schon Park:

Very often, when I see these rolls of hay, I'm reminded of fodder shocks.  

Many years ago when I was in elementary school in WV, I was tasked with taking a photo of foddershocks.  I don't really remember the reasoning behind the assignment, but I do remember setting off (with my parents, of course) to get outside our city to look for corn fields.  Eventually we found then, and a photo was taken.  Most likely with a Kodak Instamatic, but I don't remember.  But I'm sure I giggled at the word...  say it with me:  foddershock!

I wish I had a copy of the photo, but, of course not.  I mean, it was 55-60 years ago.

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