New Glass

I got a new lens for my DSLR this week, the first significant addition in a long time. I went with the Nikon 60mm Macro. Just a few early images, getting the feel for the lens. The lighting was a bit dark, and I’m going to have to practice with the DOF, but I think I’m gonna be happy with this!!

More Nevermind and Furthermore…

More images posted to BetterPhoto in 2003. The title of the slideshow, by the way, is from the lyrics to a Monkees' song.

Cades Cove, in the Great Smokey Mountains

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A real oldie, from High School, 30 years ago! C&O Canal, near Hancock MD. The quote is from a poem by Michael Dennis Browne

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Jacksonville Beach, FL
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Another from High School era. Tuscarora Trail, PA

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Nevermind and Furthermore...

I was doing some hard-disk cleanup today, and found a powerpoint presentation I did a while back, documenting my first year submitting photos to the on-line contest at BetterPhoto.com. Although the site says I joined 11/2002, I didn't make my first entry to BP until 5/31/2003. I used to post there almost every day, but anymore, it's more like 7-8 times a month. C'est la vie, I suppose. Anyway, I enjoyed looking through what I was doing 4+ years ago, and thought I'd share. These are screen shots from the powerpoint. Maybe It'll be an ongoing series... These first 5 are from 5/31/2003 through 6/29/2003:

What d'ya think?? Anybody want to see more??

Big Ol' Jet Airliner...

Overdone?? Probably. Oh well, just a snapshot out an airplane window, on a flight from Houston to St. Louis. We were turning, so this is kinda angled down. Notice that it is an itty-bitty plane, which is the rule anymore, not the exception. Just like the one below, which was parked next to us in Houston….

Some thing about this struck me: “Safe and on Time”… with the sideswiped TUG. This flight was on time, though. Which is a bit of a rarity anymore.

Tommy Tutone

Who remembers Tommy Tutone?? They're best known for the 1982 hit Jenny (867-5309), which peaked at #4, and probably wore out it's welcome. But I discovered them in 1980, when they released their first album, "Tommy Tutone". A fun little power-pop / new wave band, in the general vein of The Beat, The Knack, The Romantics and even Greg Kihn. I'm listening to my old vinyl copy of "Tommy Tutone" as I type this, and enjoying it. A lot....

Nina

There’s a replica ship of the Nina, one of the ships that discovered America back in 1492. The new-Nina has been touring around, and was in nearby Alton this weekend. It made a nice Sunday outing, with some friends and our kids… Just a few snapshots:

We also stopped by the Melvin Price Lock & Dam, but just missed the last tour of the day, but we had fun looking through the National Great Rivers Museum… Here’s looking back upriver towards Alton, from the dam:

The Great Northwest

A couple of shots from Spokane, WA, and the surrounding area. These are all oldies, I didn’t have any photography time on my recent trip:

SLC

I got stuck in the Salt Lake City airport for 4+ hours last Sunday. So I took a few snapshots….

Sign sign, everywhere a sign, blocking out the scen'ry, breaking my mind...

Above is near Kankakee, Illinois, below is near Rantoul, Illinois. Just a couple of signs I saw while roaming the wilds of Illinois….. the title, of course, refers to the famous song, originally by Five Man Electrical Band, but also covered by Tesla.

Go Racers!

Taken at a recent Murray State football game. I liked this trio in their bright yellow shirts…

Cataldo Mission, Tweaked

After reposting my Cataldo Mission shot here, I decided to re-enter it at the BetterPhoto contest. But I took a few minutes to clean it up, a little…. Above is the new version, see if you can spot the changes from the one below. Larger versions can be seen at BP (original vs revised). What do you think?? Does it make the step from Finalist to Winner???

Changin'....

It is starting to feel like Autumn is nearby. A little cooler in the mornings, clear sunshine (instead of haze), some early leaves falling (due to the dry summer)… Anyway, thought I’d post a few of my favorite Fall images, from the archives.

Cataldo Mission, Northern Idaho
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Silver Lake Park, Highland Illinois
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near Waleska GA
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near Ashville, NC
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Something Wicked This Way Comes

As a kid, back when I was probably between 10 and 13, I was a huge Ray Bradbury fan. Especially the short stories. Not long ago, I was doing some cleaning, and came across an old hard-back copy of R Is For Rocket. I just finished re-reading it, again. And enjoying it as much as ever. ranted, there's a kind of disconnect reading science fiction stories from the late 40's and 50's. Stories of the space age, written before the space age was on the drawing board. Stories I first read 30+ years ago... But I still love Bradbury's writing style, and will probably dig around the basement for some more musty gems. Maybe Dandelion Wine...

"Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't try to do things. You simply must do things."
-Ray Bradbury

Long Day

OK, a long day makes for some funky pictures. I got up before dawn yesterday, hit the road for Chicago, 250+ miles north. Then a couple of meetings downtown, and headed back south. I made it home a bit after 9pm. A lot of highway for a couple of meetings, but it was a last minute deal. Anyway, along about sunset, somewhere in north-central Illinois, I snapped the sun and clouds out the moving car (with my little point-n-shoot). Later, a bit north of Litchfield, I took a couple of abstractions of the last light in the clouds. Something a littlee bit different, certainly darker than some of the recent posts….

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