More Thunderworks

I really liked the waterfall effect of the fireworks 'pouring' off the Second Street Bridge in this shot from, again, Thunder Over Louisville. I'd never seen that done before. Unfortunately, or fortunately, this will be a quick post. It's very late and I was out all evening taking blurry pictures. This upsets me. Failure, among other things, puts me in an unpleasant mood. A few of the pictures did turn out, so that offsets my crankiness a little, but it was far fewer than I'd hoped. It just irks me knowing that every single time I miss a shot I will never, ever have that exact opportunity again. To me, every image is unique to the conditions and time it was taken. I just hope I get more proficient soon so I don't keep ruining all the wonderful shots I keep expecting from myself. Ah well, on the bright side, I learned a bit more photographically so it certainly wasn't a total loss. (Nikon D300, 24mm, f/11, 1 sec, ISO 200)

So, that's all true.

What we're looking at here is, I believe, a CH-47 Chinook. It hovered a few meters above the Ohio River before plunging in and vanishing from sight. Shocked, the crowd gathered at the edge of the pier but couldn't see into the murky depths of the river. There was a smattering of applause from the few folks that weren't paying attention, and confused muttering from the rest. "Does it convert to a submarine?" I heard one child ask a stunned parent, mouth agape. I was pretty sure it didn't. The parent didn't answer but instead held the child closer. An eerie silence soon fell over the crowd as they waited tensely for the helicopter to emerge or, at least, for the pilot to swim up wet but unharmed. On the speaker systems set up for the event, a subdued hissing, which I hadn't noticed until now, was broken only my muffled calls for emergency crews. On the balcony above me, I heard a female voice, soft at first, suddenly erupt into a piercing cackle which echoed off the surrounding buildings, and which slapped me with faint recognition. It resonated deep in my chest, that harsh pitiless laughter, and I bowed my head, squeezing my eyes shut as I struggled to recall a memory. It fluttered on the edge of my consciousness, a tiny mote of light in the darkness and I, floundering, grasped for it. So cold! An intense flood of memories washed over me, freezing me, clawing at my efforts to suppress them. To control them. To forget again. Darkness. Screaming. Fire. Death. I remembered. My eyes snapped open with the fresh recollection and I narrowed them, focusing on the thoughts, piercing them with my resolve. I pushed my way into the hotel suite through the spectators still gawking at the river from the balcony and headed for the Command Center upstairs, knowing that to be the place she'd chosen. I heard a scream from outside but I already knew the fate of that helicopter and crew. Upstairs, she waited for me. I opened the door to the stairwell. It was time to end this. (Nikon D300, 200mm, f/6.3, 1/160 sec, ISO 200)

Celebrate!

As promised, (threatened?) here is another photo from Thunder Over Louisville. This one better illustrates my balconial-perch at the Galt House. I assumed fireworks were going to be hard to shoot, but wow, you really have very little time to get it right. (Having said that, my apologies if you're offended in any way by my photograph.) The shutter for this image was left open for five seconds, which was probably too long since the background isn't very dark. For me, luck played a huge part in this shoot since if I chose to leave the shutter open four seconds and a really bright cluster exploded, the picture was washed out and, conversely, if I decided four seconds was too long and quickly reduced it to two seconds for the next picture, it might have only captured what appeared to be an unexciting, sputtering lull between explosions. But, to throw my logic off, sometimes even two seconds was too long! A photographic crapshoot! Still, a heck of a lot of fun and now I know for next time! (Nikon D300, 22mm, f/11, 5 sec, ISO 200, cropped)

F16 Fighting Falcon

As I mentioned yesterday, here is the first in a short series of pictures (more than one but less than infinite) that I took during the air show and fireworks display at Thunder Over Louisville. The first thing I'd like to mention is my fantastic vantage point. I was given the opportunity to park my carcass and tripod on the 23rd floor balcony of the Galt House overlooking the Ohio River and, consequently, a front row seat for the entire day's festivities. It is a very different experience to watch an air show at eye-level and I was very lucky to have been able to station myself gargoyle-like, camera in hand, above the throngs of people crowding the streets below.

This photo, according to the program I have, is of an F-16 Fighting Falcon. This badboy was fast and loud. In fact, most of the planes were loud. Hmmm, that makes me wonder if there's an untapped airplane-muffler market I should be getting into....

I really like how sharp this picture turned out compared to so many of my others (and I took a lot). It's a little disappointing when otherwise cool pictures don't turn out because of poor focusing but I suppose it can be a little difficult to focus on an object that's blowing past you at 600 mph/965 kph. (Nikon D300, 200mm, f/9, 1/320s, ISO 200, cropped and straightened)

Edit: I have been informed that this is actually an F-15 Eagle or F-15E Strike Eagle. I guess the program was running a little late.

Louisville

I finally got the new hard drive installed in my laptop, and everything is working again for the most part, although the sound card is giving me some sass. Also making the news: I got my haircut again, yay! That's turning out to be a monthly highlight for me. Also, last Thursday I attended an absolutely brilliant performance by one of my favorite comedians, Eddie Izzard. And on Friday morning, while in my hotel room getting ready to catch a flight to Canada, I was (apparently) in my very first tangible earthquake (Read a news article here). Being a complete bonehead, I immediately acknowledged the windows shaking with the clever statement "Whoa, sure is windy!" and figured the universe was at that moment finding a way for my flights to be cancelled (as usual). I also couldn't figure out why the dogs in the building wouldn't stop barking, especially at 5:30 in the morning! People, except me, were trying to sleep! Ah well, maybe next time my ignorance will give way to momentary confusion, actual comprehension of my situation, and ultimately to planned (read: panicked) self-preservation instead of blissful but potentially dangerous mis-observations.

In any event, this photo of the Second Street Bridge (George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge) was taken from the Indiana State side of the Ohio River looking at the city of Louisville in Kentucky, USA. I was standing on the deck of an Italian restaurant on the riverbank having just eaten enough Pasta Carbonara to feed four hungry children and a puppy. (Sorry guys!) I really don't spoil myself like that very often but it was a wonderful night out with some great people so I splurged. This night also acted as a photographic primer for me allowing me to learn what settings I would need to use when (a couple days later) I attended Thunder Over Louisville, (the local celebration to kick-off the events leading up to the Kentucky Derby Festival) which included a day-long airshow and the largest fireworks display in the United States. The rest of this week and most of next will probably be pictures from that day. This month has been surprisingly eventful for me, and next month promises the same. Just the way I like it. (Nikon D300, 28mm, f/4, 1.3s, ISO 200)

Laugh Lines

for Eileen, the cause of both grey hair and laugh lines.

i'll miss you.

Squeaky!

I've been having a lot of problems with my photo editing software over the last couple weeks. My hard drive is low on disk space and both my operating system and the photo editor require more than I can spare at the moment. So, negotiations having failed between the software and I, I've had to capitulate and buy a bigger drive. Unfortunately, I have yet to install it. The consequence of my laziness is slack photo posting. I will definitely have it installed later in the week and then I can get back to binarily polluting the internet like everyone else. But take heart! Squeaky the seagull is here to entertain! Actually, he's not doing a whole lot at the moment there, is he? My apologies. I'll have to have a word with his agent. This is not what I paid for!

His picture was taken at the Irving Eco-Center (La Dune de Bouctouche) in New Brunswick, Canada in September 2007. (Sony DSLR-A100, 300mm, f/7.1, 1/800, ISO 100)

"...dans la Nuit" Part Deux

Here is the second image in a two part series. (Does posting two similar pictures in a row make it a series?) To get this picture of the Capitol Building, I crossed the park into a construction area and set up my camera on a stack of wood. No one yelled at me for being there (for once) so I assume it was ok. After this, I meandered toward Smithsonian Castle to try to catch up with my associates, who'd left me behind. I got sidetracked by a cockroach on the sidewalk and chased it a bit but despite the deflection I met up with my American entourage and got back to the hotel without incident. (Sony DSLR-A100, 60mm, f/5.6, 1 sec., ISO 400, cropped and straightened)

La Maison Blanche dans la Nuit

After work was all said and done, we ended up with only one night for actual site-seeing in Washington D.C. so we wandered the streets. I believe the President was actually there that night too. At least I suspect so from being on the streets as they cordoned them off, and from the snipers on the rooftops of the buildings around us, and the patrolling policemen and/or secret service agents, and the limousine that quickly passed by, vanishing behind the gates to the White House. But what do I know? I'm just a small-town Canadian. That kind of thing might happen all the time there.

Since it was so dark, in order to get this picture I had to place the camera on the ledge of a fence and set the timer. It was very low to the ground so I had to manually focus at eye-level, then set down the camera and trust it could do the rest. The armed guard behind me (yes, I looked) didn't seem to mind all my fidgeting so I just kept trying to get the photo. The picture turned out a little grainy but it was a very interesting experience at night in Washington D.C.. (Sony DSLR-A100, 60mm, f/5.6, 1/2, ISO 400, horizon straightened a bit)

Shooting Barrels

This is another picture taken at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. Some of you may notice the complete and utter lack of tracks, trains, and other such railroading paraphernalia. I have long ago come to the realization that while I'm trying to get a picture, while I'm trying to freeze a scene, while I'm framing to include or exclude objects to enhance my shot... the world is still going on around me! There have been a number of occasions when I, frustrated with my current scene, turned around to discover an even better scene to shoot! Perhaps it's simply paranoia but now, after taking a photo, I tend to look around to see what might have been going on while I was focused on the scene in front of me. Behind me, in this case, was an eye-catching display of light and shadow across brick and wood. As you may have noticed in my other pictures I'm a sucker for shadows, and because of them this picture, in my opinion, easily surpassed many others I took that day. Donkey Kong, eat your heart out. (Sony DSLR-100, 45mm, f/6.3, 1/320, ISO 100)

It comes on sticks now??

Well, I made it through Chicago with only an hour delay, something mechanical and then just unexplained waiting. Ah, well. I think the flight delay buggered up the next flight on their schedule though because I got a message that my flight had been rebooked to a later time (after I was already on the flight, of course). Maybe there's just something to the inner workings of a major airline that I just don't understand. Their process just doesn't 'flow', as if everything that goes on there is a surprise. "Oh my! There's a flight to where today? Hmmm, can we do that one? No, I didn't think so. Silly of us to try in the first place, really. Cancel it. Oh, wait! What? We can? Excellent! Herd some people on there! Go go go! Now find a pilot!" I'd say it's this recent FAA safety crackdown thing, grounding fleets of planes for inspection, if it wasn't always like this.
Either way, here is a photo taken atop the walls of Fort San Cristóbal in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. The rainbow above the ocean is kind of hard to see unless I mention it... so I did. Right after this picture was taken, we wandered down the street and found a store where we were able to buy smoothies and where I was shocked to discover chocolate-covered cheesecake on a stick. On a STICK! Portable! Conveniently mobile! My mistake was not getting one immediately. Instead, I vowed to go back again after supper to get one for dessert... but they were closed. So, not to be denied, I vowed to go the next day. To my ultimate disappointment they were closed the next day too, and again (after, once again, vowing to return to the store before leaving Puerto Rico a week later) discovered them closed that day too. I kick myself for not getting one the very first instant, as I know all the readers out there would have. I have no excuses. I admit it: I made a huge mistake! One that will haunt me forever! Or until I go back, whichever comes first. (Sony DSLR-A100, 40mm, f/9, 1/250, ISO 100)

Intermission

I should be back to my regularly scheduled posting if I can make it through Chicago tomorrow. I know it's a mistake to try but these tickets were purchased well in advance. Until then, here's a thirsty wallaroo (or wallaby?). Awwwww.

This picture was taken during a quick jaunt of the Louisville Zoo in Louisville, Kentucky on a beautiful day in February 2008. I, too, was thristy but, sadly, didn't have the luxury of a water basin. (Sony DSLR-A100, 300mm, f/5.6, 1/500, ISO 100)