Scott's Photo Blog

Testing out new phone camera, Samsung Infuse 4G

2012-01-25T15:27:00.001+01:00

What better to test a camera out than with a beer shot?

For a low light environment – I am impressed with the camera so far. I will have to try it again on a sunny day and see how it looks!

Cedar Falls

2012-01-23T18:51:00.001+01:00

I just cannot get enough of this place in the winter. I did not realize it until later but I had gone here exactly one year before as it seemed like a good idea. The sky was not as pretty this time around but the temps were a bit warmer and that made a big difference. Of course, my ND filter made the trip with me

I wish I could have gotten a clearer view of this waterfall but I still like how it turned out.

The rain / ice storm earlier this week made for nice ice covered everything.

Elvis-A-Thon and the Columbus Horns

2012-01-15T16:30:00.001+01:00

Yes.. you read that right. I guess for the past 16 years there has been a tribute concert to Elvis every year for his birthday. I have never heard of it until a friend of mine found out because his band was going to be backing up an Elvis for the show. Some of the bands were really good… others.. not so much. Pete’s group ‘Columbus Horns’ went full Vegas-style Elvis and were awesome. I can’t wait to see them get some more gigs around town!

More pinball…

2012-01-09T17:36:00.001+01:00

I’ve been in a good mood lately so that means more pictures. I was playing around with the pinball machine yesterday.

I had fun editing both and I am not sure which one I like better..

Coke Machine

2012-01-08T23:55:00.001+01:00

Piada

2012-01-08T14:59:00.001+01:00

I tried a new restaurant with a friend of mine last night. They call themselves ‘Italian Street Food’ which I don’t think it really is. It is like an Italian Chipotle. I will say that is very good though. I forgot to bring my camera with me so I had to use my phone.. which is not that good in low lighting so I figured I’d play around with some selective coloring instead.

Is it really January? Michele’s Bike

2012-01-07T19:04:00.001+01:00

This weather has just been so odd. It was 60 degrees out yesterday and my friend Michele could not help but take her bike out for a ride!

Morgan December Visit

2012-01-06T21:06:00.001+01:00

Morgan was super happy to see her kitty again!

Morgan did a great job of helping me keep the fish tank clean. She wanted to make sure the fish were healthy.

Hard at work!

Christmas Lights 2011

2011-12-16T15:48:00.001+01:00

This evening I took a drive with a friend out to look at some Christmas lights. We first started out in New Albany and found three nice displays..

Then we went went out to the main attraction of the evening – this is a friend of mine from college. What started out as just them decorating their house turned into 1 neighbor, then another.. and another. They are all synced together (for the houses across the street wirelessly!) to music.

They have about 45 minutes of music timed in the display.. here is about 30 seconds of it (hey! it was cold out)

We got a peek inside the garage at the inner-workings of a display like this.. t

Full Moon Stars–Long Exposure

2011-12-11T03:27:00.001+01:00

Well.. it was the first not raining night in a long time so I decided I want to do a set of long exposures of stars. Unfortunately I forgot to check the moon cycle and it was big and bright full moon! D’oh!!!! I still had fun.

Since I knew I was not going to get a good star field I went over to hoover reservoir to shoot. From my neat experience with metal halide lights earlier this year.. I used the lights behind me to really light up the sky. I then took 55 shots at about 30 seconds each and combined them together.

It was a very pretty night to do this (and very cold!). Here is what just one of the shots look like..

I am looking forward to trying this again when there is not a big, bright full moon!

Knox County Waterfall

2011-10-29T21:45:00.001+02:00

Tilt Shifting old shots..

2011-10-28T04:44:00.001+02:00

This first one is my favorite of the two. Make sure you click to see the full size images for the full effect!

Boiling a potato at 1/1250 of a second!

2011-10-17T23:30:00.001+02:00

Just a fun cooking shot today!

CVG New Albany Car Show Part 1

2011-10-08T22:42:00.001+02:00

Original Shelby Cobra…

There one was guy with 5 or 6 supercars there on display.. these are three of his

CVG New Albany Car Show Part 2

2011-10-08T22:32:00.001+02:00

Special props need to be given to the random Citroen driver

Ferrari GTO about to eat two Lambos.. mmmmmmm

CVG New Albany Car Show Part 3

2011-10-08T22:25:00.001+02:00

What a perfect day for a car show!

This last one is a rare Corvette Z06 Carbon. Only 500 of these have been made. They take the spine crushing Z06 (like this one – that I got to enjoy back in Belgium) and re-tune it and it make it lighter and noticeably faster.

Amazing Sunset

2011-09-15T01:45:00.001+02:00

This one has been burning a hole in my memory card for a week.. had to finally share it!

Mmmmm in Palo Alto, CA

2011-08-20T22:17:00.001+02:00

Out in the Bay Area for a week and I think I managed to take 3 pictures I liked. For the record.. most of the time was at a work conference so not too much personal exploring time. Thankfully dinner on the final night allowed for some flexibility so a few of us when restaurant hopping in Palo Alto..

While our dinner at Nola was very good our first stopped offered the most photogenic courses!

Truffled deviled eggs with smoked trout caviar, crème fraiche and chives (soooooo good)

Braised short rib tacos with jicama salsa and horseradish cream..

Auburn, Cord and Deusenberg Museum

2011-08-15T01:52:00.001+02:00

Wow.. I have never heard of this place before.. it’s in Auburn, Indiana. Well worth the 3 hour drive to get here. Here are a few of my favorite shots from the day. I already have in the works a trip back out to this city.. there are 3 more automobile museums here!

1926 Duesenberg

1931 Duesenberg

1937 Cord, 812 Supercharged Custom Beverly

1936 Cord Convertible Coupe

1932 Duesenberg Model J

1932 Cord Prototype E-1 only 1 made. 200 hp V12 under that massive hood

1926 Auburn 8-88 Roadster. 72 hp inline eight

1930 Auburn 8-125 Sports Sedan, only remaining car of its kind.

1911 Metallurgique Speedster. This beast boasts a 14 hp engine

Auburn, Cord and Deusenberg Museum Part II

2011-08-15T01:42:00.001+02:00

1955 Rolls Royce Silver Wraith, this car was ordered for the Duke of Kent

1937 Cord 810 Supercharged Phaeton

1932 Duesenberg Model J-356 Derham Bodied Tourster. This car is going up for auction in September and they are expected it to sell for well north of 2 million USD.

1929 Auburn Cabin Speedster

1948 Lincoln Continental Coupe

1929 Searns-Knight N6-80

Recreation of the 1931 Paris Automobile Show Cord.

1948 TASCO – first car ever to have T-Tops (and the craziest looking front end ever)

1932 Auburn Speedster named ‘Beelzebub’. This car raced in European Road Races in 1933.

1927 Duesenberg Indy 500 Racecar

Frank Llyod Wright’s Personal 1929 Cord

They had some fun ‘special interest’ cars too..

1953 Corvette

1952 Jaguar XK-120

1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing Coupe

Playing with lighting

2011-08-15T00:56:00.001+02:00

Came across a great poorly taken care of barn and a storm coming in. While the storm was too far away for good lighting shots there was a nice halogen light nearby that I rally had some fun with. This is probably as close to a natural HDR as I’ve been able to do. I took this at past 10:30 at night and outside of the light it was pitch black outside.. I love what happened to the sky here and the color effect from the outdoor lighting..

Showa Big Brothers Big Sisters Charity Golf Outing

2011-07-31T18:40:00.001+02:00

Yesterday I volunteered my time as the team photographer for a good charity. I staked out a good spot on the 10th tee and settled in for a day of group portraits.

Thankfully to break up my day a few of the teams let me have a little fun with them. Here are my favorite characters of the day

This last one I think was my best portrait of the day

Another Fish Tank Shoot

2011-07-25T01:37:00.001+02:00

The Angel Fish are always the best at getting their pictures taken it seems..

Thankfully the Shubunkins were somewhat cooperating this evening. One day I will get a good picture or two of them. I like this picture because you can get a good idea of how big the catfish is getting.. the shubunkin is around 3 to 4 inches..

This is as close as I have gotten to a decent picture of both Shubunkins together…

This guy found a good spot and doesn’t intend to move for awhile I think. I put in 10 rosy red feeders on Friday night and he ate them all at once. I had hoped at least a couple of them would be good at hiding for a day or so to give him something to do. He has been laying low all weekend now. His tank mates are happy though.. the catfish usually eats the majority of the frozen shrimp cubes I feed on a regular basis (swallows them whole).. so they have enjoyed getting some extra food this weekend!

And our newest addition (hand picked by Morgan!)

Drums!

2011-07-13T03:46:00.001+02:00

Johnstown, Ohio Fireworks

2011-07-04T05:11:00.001+02:00

I went to see some local (one town over) fireworks. For some reason they decided to start them before it got really dark… so my best shots are from the end of the show. My two favorite (listed first) were the last two fired! ah well… still fun!

Remember to click the shots to see the larger versions of them (very cool)

Sunset with the Hoover Sailing Club

2011-06-30T03:22:00.001+02:00

This evening I drove by Hoover Reservoir as I knew there was going to be a nice sunset.. unfortunately for the sailors… no wind… but.. I won in the end!

More Pinball Machine

2011-06-29T03:37:00.001+02:00

I think the third is my favorite.. which is yours?

Testing out the grill

2011-06-28T14:11:00.001+02:00

well.. I had to make sure it survived the trip back to the US…

Passed with flying colors!

Quick Philly Trip..

2011-06-27T00:01:00.001+02:00

On Friday we broke out the Ducky Fishing game…

and made a tower or two… Morgan made this one all herself expect the last few rows…

Only one thing to do with a tower so tall….

With that tower down… how long do you think my spiral tower lasted??

Then Saturday before I left we had a pizza picnic in the backyard

Put In Bay

2011-06-12T23:13:00.001+02:00

Forgotten

2011-06-12T22:57:00.001+02:00

Fine American Dining

2011-06-10T01:52:00.001+02:00

hahaa.. okay.. not really fine or dining .. but I haven’t been here in years and a friend of mine got a very hard to get permission from his wife to partake…

mmmmm

2011-06-06T01:42:00.001+02:00

just a quick snap with the iPhone while on the patio..

Smith Cemetery Prairie

2011-06-05T01:33:00.001+02:00

I took a drive out today to far NW Columbus.. Plain City.. to a pioneer cemetery. From the signs posted.. I think I may need to come back next month when flowers are in bloom.. but the field next to it was nice and coloful.

Came across a grave with a recent flag placed next to it.. the writing on the headstone is worn off.. but I believe this person served in the Revolutionary War

Morgan Visit May 2011

2011-06-02T01:14:00.001+02:00

Morgan was not in as much of a picture taking mood this trip.. but I did get some fun ones!

Pinball Guts

2011-05-17T03:16:00.001+02:00

While working on finally getting the spinner to work again on the Tomcat (which it is now working for the first time I can remember in a long, long time)… I had to grab the camera and shoot under the board..

I think I channeled my inner-Brennan for this…

Freshwater Tank

2011-05-12T01:18:00.000+02:00

I finally have a few decent pictures of my freshwater fish. I have had a massive water quality issue over the past few months but that has finally improved and now all is right in the tank..

I have one other Angelfish but it really does not want to get a picture taken it seems.. hides whenever the camera is out.

This next one is my favorite shot..

Fifty Foot Brewery

2011-05-02T03:57:00.001+02:00

I spent the majority of Sunday at a friends house as he and his friend brewed a new batch of beer.

The beer that was started to be brewed today was a Belgian Wit beer.. I was told what was going on at these individual stages.. but I have already forgotten!!

it also was time to bottle their IPA..

and to give the right mood for the day there was a beer tasting that happened over the 5+ hours there. I didn’t grab too many pics of that.. but want to share this beer.. more of a warning… it tasted like ham (not kidding). Crazy Germans decided to make a smoked beer with a strong flavor of ham. The best word to describe the aroma… ‘Mulch’… I would not recommend this one!

Fresh Salad

2011-04-30T02:29:00.001+02:00

I just could not help grabbing the camera for my lunch today. If this does not look tasty…. mmmm

Butterflies

2011-04-24T21:48:00.001+02:00

It has been an ugly week or two here in Ohio so I decided I need to add a little color to my day. I made it over to Franklin Park Conservatory for the annual butterfly exhibit and wandered around the area before I got too annoyed with the crowd. Thankfully when I first got there it was not too crowded but in an hour there were so many people it was too crowded to be able to get any nice shots..

ready and waiting

2011-04-24T01:16:00.001+02:00

On Tuesday I have some movers coming to take some things into storage and move a few heavy things upstairs… Once this is setup… I am sure there will be many pictures of this pinball machine…

For now.. the F-14 Tomcat is waiting to be recalled to active duty ….

Who are you looking at?

2011-04-17T23:49:00.001+02:00

Blendon Woods, Raccoon Baby Rescue!

2011-04-17T23:40:00.000+02:00

It was a nice sunny (but windy) day so I headed over to Blendon Woods Metro Park today. With the wind I did not expect to get many bird shots… little did I know there would be a baby raccoon rescue by their Mama. She pulled 5 little ones out of the falling apart nest.

Daddy Visit

2011-03-29T03:43:00.001+02:00

I got to spend a wonderful (but quick) weekend with Morgan We both also got the first opportunity to meet some of our Philly relatives – Morgan got to meet her Great Great Uncle Ed and Aunt Nancy and her Great Uncle Adam and Aunt Holly/

Sporting a new outfit that found its way into my bag…

Morgan has very good pinball form…

General cuteness in a new dress!

Morgan Video Chat Cuteness!

2011-03-20T01:14:00.001+01:00

Just a cute one I snapped of her during our nightly video chat ..

Tulips

2011-03-17T21:58:00.001+01:00

Spring must be coming, right?!?!?!

Tired Morgan

2011-03-04T04:42:00.001+01:00

Amy sent me a cute picture of passed out Morgan and it’s just too cute for me not to share..

She had a very long day of starting to say goodbye to her Belgian teachers and friends..

Symphony Banjo

2011-02-19T21:51:00.001+01:00

This has been in our family for a few generations.. now it’s in my possession. There was no way it would not get at least a few pictures taken of it. It needs to be seriously cleaned up (professionally done) .. down the road I may do that – but for now I get to enjoy it in its full patina..

The Alamo and San Antonio, Texas

2011-02-08T02:24:00.001+01:00

Sunday started with a trip to the Alamo. No pictures inside of the grounds though. There were signs asking for no pictures to be taken .. I followed the request even though most of the people did not. After hearing so much about the pride that is taken in the Alamo I was a bit shocked to see so many people breaking the rules (No hats, no pictures and no talking on cell phones). Overall.. It was a very neat place to see.

I arrived about an hour before it opened and got a chance for a picture without any other tourist in it. Bummer about the lens flare.. maybe later down the road I will edit it out…

Onto the Riverwalk.. what a cool part of town. This first picture is of Casa Rio – the first restaurant on the river that had outdoor dining and it’s owner was the first to put gondolas on the water.. it was this idea that sparked what is now the Riverwalk (overheard from a passing tour boat)

I chose Casa Rio (first picture above) for my lunch. Best. Tamales.Ever. 3 tamales covered in chili, steak chunks and cheese. I didn’t even need to eat dinner after this..

Texas Hill Country

2011-02-08T01:56:00.001+01:00

The first stop on my weekend getaway was the Texas Hill Country. I went to Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. I hiked around the base for about 1 1/2 hours before making my way to the summit. The final part is climbing 425 vertical feet in less than .6 of a mile up a fairly steep rock face – very neat. I did make it to the summit but was not very happy with how those pictures came out.

The start of the morning was when the last bit of the cold front was still there – got to see a bit of ice remaining before the temps made it up to 67.

From there I went to Pedernales Falls State Park. This place was really beautiful. On the walk to the falls there were many sings warning of flash floods – thankfully none hit while I was there but you could really see what could happen. I found a YouTube video showing the falls near flood stage (Click to open window). What a neat place!

Locals recommended a lunch spot for me and it did not disappoint. Mmmm Beef Brisket plate at a local BBQ place in Fredericksburg, TX

Behind the bar

2011-01-31T03:16:00.001+01:00

On Saturday we had an office lunch.. part social and part iPad training session to make sure everyone had theirs setup to their liking. We had part of the restaurant to ourselves so I went roaming with my camera..

Cedar Falls–Hocking Hills, Ohio

2011-01-22T23:24:00.001+01:00

Well.. I am not going to do a 365 anymore.. but I am still taking pictures very often!

I have been looking forward to today all winter. Earlier this week we had a random few days of above freezing which caused a nice thaw – followed by a very quick winter storm dropping 5 inches of snow in just a few hours… perfect combination for winter waterfall spots!

200/365– No surprise here :)

2011-01-01T02:01:00.001+01:00

More Morgan pictures

Someone has taking a liking to my iPad – she likes watching cartoons on NetFlix …

General silly time for Morgan … this actually looks pretty comfy!

199/365– Office Picnic and Dinner with Samantha

2010-12-30T02:32:00.001+01:00

Last night we decided that Morgan was going to come visit my work – my co-workers were all anxious to meet Miss Morgan. Every day at my lunch time I do a video chat with Morgan in Belgium so they all have seen her during the chats. So last night we decided to have an office picnic.

No trip to Columbus for Morgan would be complete without at least one trip to see Samantha and Dani..

199/365–Morgan is here :)

2010-12-27T00:11:00.001+01:00

After trying on a new top she got for Christmas we had to start the art projects too!

Morgan loves her new big girl bed. She passed out in the middle of stories last night.

198/365– night at Mezzo

2010-12-24T22:32:00.001+01:00

I met up with my friend Terri last night to go listen to a little live music that is the husband of a friend of ours.

We haven’t had much snow lately.. but the frozen waterfall sure was neat!

197/365–Ornaments

2010-12-16T02:28:00.001+01:00

196/365–Lights

2010-12-13T01:17:00.001+01:00

little spiral trees I put in my front yard.. I am sure Morgan will love them!

195/365–Christmas at Easton

2010-12-12T01:36:00.001+01:00

No snow this time and the temps were in the mid 40’s so it was a bit nicer to walk around with the camera. Unfortunately not the best mood for Christmas pictures with no snow on the ground. I’ll have to go back again after a bit of a snowfall.

I did like the outdoor train display they made.

194/365–trying to get back into it

2010-12-09T01:51:00.001+01:00

193/365– Up and running!

2010-11-14T21:16:00.001+01:00

After a very boring time of culturing new lace rock.. I can start the process of slowly adding some corals to the new tank. I just added them today and so far only the Zoanthids have decided to come out. The green star polyps have started to emerge now.. hopefully by tomorrow they will be good for a pretty picture or two!

192/365 – Another nice day

2010-10-10T22:48:00.001+02:00

A nearby bicentennial barn …

191/365 – Colors

2010-10-09T19:53:00.001+02:00

I am kind of bummed out that colors aren’t that nice here this fall. I drove around locally to see if I could find anything nice. Nothing exciting on the trees but I liked this field..

190/365 – better than nothing

2010-10-04T00:27:00.001+02:00

I went to go downtown to try to shoot some shots around the city. The weather was horrible and I did not find any inspiration. So.. off to Barleys Ale House… had better luck there..

I just grabbed this shot with my iPhone… Rye IPA with sauerkraut balls. YUMMMMMMMM

189/365 – Rainy Day at the Dam

2010-10-03T02:13:00.001+02:00

oh blog..

2010-09-27T02:20:00.001+02:00

.. I am not avoiding you… just not quite used to working full time again and spending as much time out shooting. Don’t worry though.. it’s me.. not you. I’ll be back! (hopefully soon!)

188/365 – Best Corned Beef Hash

2010-09-20T04:19:00.001+02:00

This morning I had breakfast with my friends Christina and Jim at an outstanding greasy spoon in Westerville. I had the best corned beef hash I’ve ever had. I may have to go back just to get a better picture

187/365 – First Meal

2010-09-20T04:13:00.001+02:00

First meal in the new place… Saturday…

186/365 – Union Township Sunset

2010-09-15T00:30:00.001+02:00

I had a super long day yesterday.. so when I had about 2 hours before I was expecting a resume from a candidate I decided to hop in the car and try to catch the sunset in the country. Unfortunately for me – on the road I needed to get to – there were two semi trucks flipped over. So.. I just ended up driving around and somehow found a way to where I wanted to drive around and explore.

185/365 – Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

2010-09-11T20:59:00.001+02:00

Dani, my lovely friend who is putting me up (or up with me.. depending how you look at it) until I move into my own place made these for a party she is going to. Whiskey and Beer and Baileys in chocolate cupcake form..

Click the image for the full size shot.. but not if you are hungry.. ;)

184/365 – Last Day

2010-09-08T02:51:00.001+02:00

Nice day for a sail

2010-09-06T16:08:00.001+02:00

We had a great day for a sail on Sunday.. when the weather finally broke. Andy and Nancy were more than happy to have 3 extra crew and we went out for a few hours. Lots of fun!

183/365 – Marblehead Lighthouse and Margaritaville Waterfall

2010-09-06T15:17:00.001+02:00

Saturday was fun. The weather was really bad.. 25+ mph winds and 8 – 10 foot seas. So.. no boat ride today. We did hop in the car and head over to Marblehead Lighthouse.

Then for dinner.. off we went to Margaritaville. Awesome Mexican food.. but the highlight there is always the waterfall. I know it will come to no surprise to followers of this blog.. but.. I did some long exposures here…

182/365 – Weekend at the lake – Friday

2010-09-06T05:11:00.001+02:00

I spent the weekend up on Lake Erie. I’ve got a weekend worth of pictures.. I will get more out tomorrow as I am tiiiiiired. Here is my photo for the day Friday..

181/365 – Zoom Shoot

2010-09-01T21:18:00.001+02:00

I drove over to a nice spot and did a few nicer shots of the new car. For those that have been watching my blog over the year.. you will know that I like headlamp shots.. and this car has a nice set!

Tomorrow.. no car shots… I think ;)

180/365 – Zoom-Zoom

2010-09-01T01:27:00.001+02:00

I can now officially Zoom-Zoom.. new 2010 Mazda 3 Sport …

I think Morgan will like this car.. and I know Thomas would.. haha

I will go somewhere fun tomorrow and take some better shots

179/365 – Schmidt’s Sausage House

2010-08-31T02:14:00.001+02:00

Death to the cones….

2010-08-30T00:27:00.001+02:00

Thankfully for Wendy… I missed the shots of her slalom attempt.. those cones didn’t know what hit them..

178/365 – Buckeye Miata Club Meet

2010-08-30T00:10:00.001+02:00

My friend Wendy invited me out to see the Buckeye Miata Club’s autocross day. I was only almost run over once.. by a new Ford Mustang GT. I was surprised by how quickly both Wendy and I were able to take pictures, realized the car was coming at us.. and jump out of the way. Luckily the Mustang had good brakes and stopped about 10 feet in front of us. I think Wendy got a shot of it head on to us.. I only have him getting ready to painfully miss the cones.. enjoy!

Kind of a lazy editing day today.. I’ve edited the first three but attached some others right out of the camera just for fun…

Here is the Mustang just a second before he tested my reflexes…

Getting a little better at my panning shots.

177/365 – Parking Lot

2010-08-27T03:08:00.001+02:00

Came across an empty lot for an outdoor concert hall.. not the most interesting to shoot.. but.. better than nothing..

Then while playing around with the new lens.. came across bug porn….

176/365 – Drama Princess

2010-08-27T03:01:00.001+02:00

My friends Daughter wanted to do a photo shoot with me Yesterday (sorry.. didn’t get these posted sooner).. how can I say no?

First.. we decided to do a silly picture…

Then.. I asked for as sad of a face as she could make…

Then to finish it off.. I asked for as happy of a face as she could make.. but.. not sure “happy” is what she showed me.. lol. What a nut…

175/365 – North Market

2010-08-24T21:00:00.001+02:00

Had a nice lunch today at the North Market. I am only slightly motivated for some post-processing work today.. so you get that one first.. then some other shots from the trip..

This was very, very tasty. I need a nap now…

174/365 – Water

2010-08-22T17:56:00.001+02:00

I totally did not intend to buy a new camera so quickly.. but found a no-payment deal I couldn’t pass up.. so.. no break in photography for me. Got a new D3000 with 18-55 and 55-200 VR lenses. My initial impressions on the camera is very good. It has very much the same feel as the D40x (it’s obvious they built on that platform) but have made some slight improvements. Menus are a bit easier to navigate and now it has 11 focus points. Same 10.2 megapixel sensor and a slightly larger review screen.

it was an overcast morning out.. so I was able to get a nice long 1 second exposure without the ND filter. I wish I had a tripod though.. but.. the smaller version of this picture looks pretty good..

173/365 – Finger Paints and ND Filter

2010-08-14T21:39:00.001+02:00

I figured since I’ve been slacking I should do 2 shots today..

172/365 – Around the house

2010-08-08T20:46:00.001+02:00

just walking around the house looking for something to shoot today..

slacker…

2010-08-07T21:55:00.001+02:00

.. ya.. I’ll get pictures up tomorrow.. Promise!!!

171/365 – Turnhout Kermis Entrance

2010-08-04T10:13:00.001+02:00

Well.. this was something to see for sure. For Turnhout’s Kermis (carnival) all of the trucks enter the square at the same time.. 70 of them. As you can image.. mass chaos soon arrives as some trucks are backing into their spots, some are entering the area, some have jack-knifed their two trailers, some are trying to find a place for their caravan and others are setting up .. all at the same time. I have no idea how someone was not run over or how there were not any collisions..

As you would expect… Dixieland is the music of choice tonight…

Crowd gathering to watch the chaos unfold. Thanks to Thomas’s father we were able to get a nice balcony view at the town hall.

and here it goes! There are 5 entry streets leading into the market square…

okay.. this seems manageable so far…

getting slightly more crowded…

approx. 2 minutes have elapsed here and there are already trucks unhooking…

and now it starts to get fun!

looks like a nice place to camp out..

the play city truck jack knifed and got stuck in that position for quite a while..

sure.. plenty of room left…

This was a massive setup.. keep scrolling to see more of this rig…

Thomas chickened out of going up to the tower/lightning rod platform on the roof.. but had some fun shots from here..

Christine (Thomas’s Mother) is the only Nys brave enough to trek to the top…

now some of the big ones start opening up…

and some of the really big ones…

I can’t even image how expensive this rig is… it was entirely hydraulic. I am pretty sure it’s not a cheap attraction at the fair…

Plenty of room for some more…

The lightning rod view offered some nice shots…

170/365 – Belgian Ghost Town, Doel

2010-08-01T14:46:00.001+02:00

I was reading online today about a ghost town in Belgium.. only about a 45 minute drive away. The town is soon to be demolished for the expansion of Antwerp’s harbor. The town is 99% empty. I did find one open business (truck repair) and I think one house that was still occupied. The street artists have flocked to this town and really did a good job with almost all of their work. The only people around during the day are photographers.. I think there were about 30 or so walking around while I was there.

Almost every shot was taken with the intention to play around in photoshop. I have added 1 or 2 pre-edited shots here as well.

This next one might be my favorite from the shoot…

nothing is quite like a 30 foot long rat…

I think this might be in the running for favorite shot too…

This one was my favorite street art.. just something that makes me smile to see a slug city…

169/365 – Roses

2010-07-28T19:20:00.001+02:00

168/365 – More Duckies

2010-07-26T21:12:00.001+02:00

Had some fun with Morgan’s duck fishing game and the ND filter..

I really need to get out of the house more for pictures.. soon!

167/365 – WWI Vladslo German Military Cemetery and the Trench of Death

2010-07-24T18:21:00.001+02:00

Amy wanted a nice day in the house with Morgan today so I hopped in the car and drove to the other side of the country.

First stop was the Vladslo German Military Cemetery. There are four of these scattered around Belgium where the German and Belgian Government agreed to bury the German dead from World War I. This cemetery is the final resting place for over 25,000 German soldiers. All of the soldiers here died bewteen 1917 – 1918. They were buried in groups of 20. Local German Belgian citizens maintain the property.

There is a nice statue at the end ‘Grieving Parents’. The artist that did these had a son buried here.

On the way out I came across this one with a picture of one of the soldiers…

My next stop was so ugly (a giant cement tower/monument) I didn’t want to take pictures of it.. plus it turns out it’s a meeting place of Belgian Neo-Nazi’s since WWII.. so.. I decided I didn’t need to see it!

Next I went to the ‘Trench of Death’. This was Belgium’s last stand in WWI. The Belgian Defense Ministry preserves and maintains the site. Very neat to walk through the trenches.. and what a great day for pictures.. love the sky..

I think a bug walked across the lens here and it’s to big for me to nicely clone out.. so.. sorry about that.. bt it’s the only shot of the length of the trenches.. this is only about 1/2 of the trench.

166/365 – Green Tractor with Lars

2010-07-23T19:57:00.001+02:00

Our neighbor (for followers of Morgan’s blog.. her Belgian grandparents) have some construction equipment in front of their house. It didn’t take long for Morgan and Lars (their grandson) to want to hop into the cab of the big green tractor… Morgan is 6 months older than Lars and that added 6 months of experience allowed her to realize exactly where the steering wheel and other levers and buttons were. Unfortunately because of this (the tractor was still running!!) Morgan didn’t get a lot of time to play behind the wheel as who knows what she would have done.

165/365 – Windmill in Westmalle

2010-07-22T12:12:00.001+02:00

I’ve been driving by this windmill for awhile now and never stopped by to take some shots.. so Morgan and I decided to head over there today and explore..

I tried a little Morgan photoshoot here… it started out nicely…

Froggy was really wanting to get in the fun…

and we were working on some poses when, at this very moment, she realized she needed to go potty. Still a cute picture though…

164/365 – Peppers

2010-07-21T20:32:00.001+02:00

I am playing around with both natural and artificial lighting here.. not 100% sure I like what I’ve done but wanted to get thoughts on how to improve it…

163/365 – Building or Destroying..

2010-07-20T19:33:00.001+02:00

either way.. it’s fun. I think the destroying is a bit more fun for one of us though… click to see the full image to see the really detailed palace I made in it’s final moments..

162/365 – Bike Tour

2010-07-19T22:03:00.001+02:00

I took pictures today.. just not sure how to get them off of my phone.. I am working on it!

161/365 – Birthday Cookout

2010-07-18T09:15:00.001+02:00

We had a fun cookout out with friends yesterday for Morgan’s birthday.

Amy’s cake…

now this looks comfy…

guest photographer Thomas grabbed my camera….

160/365 – Duckie Fishing

2010-07-16T21:20:00.001+02:00

This is a fun game I found for Morgan. She had so much for fishing for ducks at a local fair.. I figured this would be a hit.. and I was right!

having a little fun with the color…

159/365 – Happy Birthday Morgan!

2010-07-14T21:06:00.001+02:00

Some fun shots from her birthday :)

Morgan got pick out a birthday lunch.. mm.. Kip Curry and Fries… she has yummy taste!

Tonight we had just a family only birthday party.. Saturday will be the one with a homemade cake ala Amy… tonight.. Morgan got to eat a boots cake.

Mmm… banana..

158/365 – Hup Holland Hup!

2010-07-11T17:14:00.001+02:00

Dirk and I hopped in the car for a road trip into The Netherlands to find some Orange. We went to nearby Breda on Amy’s tip that is might be a good place to check out.

After parking we tried one direction.. in which we came into a French Festival… no orange in sight but we did find an Eifel tower…

and some French cooking…

at this point we almost gave up and went back to the car to find a better city when decided to walk towards the large church… and… FINALLY… we found Orange.. and the makings a very very large party…

Did someone lose their vuvuzela…

even their toilets are excited about the game..

and now my battery ran out.. so check out Dirk’s blog for more pictures…