Photographs – Page 3

June 23, 2013February 7, 2014

Muster of Eyes Collection

The title of this post is just put together from the names of the three events I attended recently. I’m too lazy to come up with one that works any better and it does sound kind of important.

The weekend of June 15 this year was a big one for those in the Detroit area who like to bake under the son looking at rare, expensive cars they have no hope of ever owning. If you have stamina, and I just fake that, you could have seen three displays such.

The largest is the weekend-long Motor Muster at the Henry Ford Museum. It’s help all over (was there an inch of open space left?) the Greenfield Village portion of that institution. Hundreds of cars among the examples of old U.S. architecture and life. It was like a parking lot of history. This show really will tired you out if you spend the hours necessary to get a good look at ever car, motorcycle, bus, motor home, military vehicle, and bike there. My feet still hurt.

In serene, green, and wealthy Grosse Pointe Shores is the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House museum. The house and grounds are astounding but for one day they are matched by find examples of important vehicles for Eyes on Design. Its goal is for “members of the transportation design community, collectors, and the general public to celebrate and reflect on design.” Proceeds benefit the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology.

Tied in to the above event is the throwing open of the doors to a private garage. The Lingenfelter Collection is the cars of a wealthy automotive specialty business owner. A lot of rare Italian rolling stock was here to see as well as a nice collection of modern and vintage four wheeled friends.

So, here area few detail shots from my tiring weekend. Now for a foot bath.

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February 4, 2013January 30, 2014

Go Bathe Yourself In Fire

You fought hard and you saved and learned,
but all of it’s going to burn.
And your mind, your tiny mind,
you know you’ve really been so blind.
Now’s your time burn your mind.
You’re falling far too far behind.
Oh no, oh no, oh no, you gonna burn!
Fire, to destroy all you’ve done.
Fire, to end all you’ve become.

-Arthur Brown, Fire

Ignore the reference to an obscure psychedelic musician, this has nothing to do with music. I just like the song and, well, the theme of this post is fire.

Back in my youth when TR was president, that newfangled internal combustion engine would never make an impact, and women wore corsets I actually was a volunteer fireman. Thus I have a little firsthand knowledge of what people who fight what nature wants to ignite risk. To this day dim feelings of how combustible so much around us can be in the right circumstances flickers over my awareness. I make sure to keep all levels of alcohol in my home low even if I have to imbibe it myself.

Ypsilanti, Michigan has a lovely firehouse museum full of restored rolling stock, historic equipment, and a Victorian fire hall you can get a glimpse of the past in. It’s a lot of fun for the meager $5 entry fee. Well, fun for an odd man with a camera and monopod at least. As usual here’s some pictures of what I hovered around.

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January 22, 2013November 6, 2013

Of Muskets and Manned Flight

I’ve accumulated some more photos from disparate sources. Niagara-on-the-Lake in Ontario, Canada has its share of hyphens. Despite that it is a rather large tourist attraction hosting some of the best vineyards in the Great White North. Besides the trodden grapes the area has a great deal of history including action during the war of 1812 (when it was the capital of Upper Canada) and before. If you want to see Niagara Falls do yourself a favor and take a day trip there while making this quaint town your home base.

Closer to home (mine, at least) is the Yankee Air museum. It’s a non-profit organization that restores and flies vintage WWII aircraft. When you take into consideration the vast, and I mean vast, quantity of military aircraft made under the stars and stripes for the great war (part deux) it is mind boggling how few survive. It’s a good thing that some groups preserve this heritage.

So, here are some pictures captured at the above.

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December 16, 2012November 6, 2013

Don’t Fade Away

Walter P. Chrysler rescued automobile manufacturers before creating his own eponymous dynasty. During his reign Chrysler was known as the “engineer’s automobile”. Often stodgy in style they just as often led the industry in mechanical innovations. Like all long-lived companies there is a lot of history and lore which can be drawn upon to illustrate the path taken in time.

I have a soft spot for Chrysler vehicles since my fond memories of my best friend’s ’69 Roadrunner or my lust for a ’70 Dodge Dart 340 Swinger doesn’t fade away. Now that I live close to the Motor City I was happy to know that the Walter P. Chrysler museum was not far. The reason I learned of this museum was due to the fact it was to close. With that in mind I rushed out to the grounds of the headquarters of Chrysler Corp. to visit before the end came.

My usual batch of close detail photos follow. It really is a nice, small museum that doesn’t overwhelm and entertains even the least car knowledgeable person. Sad to see it go.

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November 26, 2012February 7, 2014

Random

I’ve taken a lot of photos since my blog has gone silent. So….RANDOM PHOTO TIME!

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September 28, 2011November 6, 2013

Simone Says

A few weeks ago I took my first trip to Philadelphia which isn’t that far from my new digs in Pennsylvania. I went ostensibly for an NAWCC chapter mart where I could look over watches and such for sale. Afterwards I had planned to go to the Simone Foundation Automotive Museum with a fellow horological student. Some of the world’s most famous sports cars are in this facility on display. There are not an overwhelming number of cars (which is good) but they make up for that in beauty. Pre-war Italian, British, French, and American vehicles are in tableaux to show the era they raced. The sensuous curves and touches that are form without function are as lovely as any sculpture.

As I usually do I took some pictures of the details of many cars. Also as usual the endeavor of photographing in available light meant that some images did not turn our even though I take a vast number of exposures. I’m happy the ones below were acceptable to me.

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September 16, 2011October 2, 2012

Herr And Back Again

When the temperature is hovering around 100 most people do the sensible thing and stay indoors or at least in the shade with an iced glass of planters’ punch. However, during the heat wave we had this summer I showed my contrarian nature and went out. Possibly the reason for this was just to gather gist for my whine mill as I do love to complain. But the major reason I think was that I get stir crazy in the house and like to wander. Not surprisingly I brought my camera along and managed to keep my sweaty fingers from sliding off the shutter button too often.

I planned to have lunch at a microbrewery housed in a building that has been used as such since the early 19th century. It is located in the town of Mount Joy which neither was elevated nor particularly rapturous but was quaint enough. Upon arrival I found that the main street was cordoned off for an auto show. Since I love anything having to do with autos I wandered up and down the street for a bit under the sun becoming a human puddle with a camera.

After that is was off to Bube’s Brewery (if you think of “boobs” or “pubes” when you see this name keep it to yourself) which is housed in a fascinating old building. Its long history as a brewery means a dark industrial atmosphere with catacombs and a dining/bar area which feels like a cave. Very low and reddish mood lighting doesn’t dissuade that impression of stifling antiquity but that’s part of the charm. Good atmosphere, food, and drink made it a happy respite from the heat.

Lastly I traveled to the Hans Herr House in the Amish country of Lancaster County, PA. Built in 1719 it’s now a nice way so see how those who founded the Amish community first set up shop (or farm).

I went to that farm actually to hear an acquaintance (Oliver Craven) play in the lovely duo The Stray Birds. It was nice to sit in an apple orchard and hear music until a summer thunderstorm came to finally lower the temperature a touch. It was almost worth fleeing for shelter.

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August 31, 2011

Caught In the Headlights

What? More pictures of cars? Yes, sorry. Guilty as charged. But I have an excuse: I went to an automotive museum. Near where I live now is Hershey, PA (yes, that’s the place with the candy and amusement park) and the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) Museum. I’ve been meaning to visit it and I finally got around to rousing myself to go and play the tourist. It turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable place, well-kept and full of interesting vehicles and displays. What I wound up recording were images reflecting my fascination with small details and not the entire autos. Well, at least I’m not spoiling the museum for you with my microscopic presentation.

Just a friendly reminder: click on the images to enlarge.

$50\'s diner$

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February 16, 2011

High On Dynamic Range

It’s funny how things reverse. Someone as old as me remembers hours in a chemical smelling darkroom practicing gesticular magic over RC paper (Dodge this! Burn that!) in order to bend the shimmering beams projecting downwards to my bidding. Photography was not just a skill but a bit of a black art then and those like me who mostly did well out of luck could certainly spend hours in a fruitless effort to create a picture that didn’t look like a white light got switched on by accident during processing. Maybe that explains why folks like me embraced (and as technology improved continuously re-embraced) digital photography. The idea of what could be done and the speed it could be done when compared to the chemical-mechanical past boggled our minds which were still hazy from poorly ventilated fumes. Those were the days of wooden cameras and iron lungs.

Now I see more and more people a few generations newer than me going back to film and pupils dilated by amber safelights in a quest to capture the creative constrictions of those old ways. A rush to embrace vintage or low cost cameras, grainy films, and that long processing wait has snatched victory from the all-conquering march of electronica. The oversaturated, softly detailed photos being made today with lomography and other inexpensive, crude cameras is what we tried to avoid in the days of yore. Still it must be said that they are often compelling and beautiful.

I bring that example up as a barely related introduction to my being presently enamored with the bright and lively photos digitally created through a process known as HDR (High Dynamic Range) imaging. I’ve hyper-linked a thorough explanation but in layman’s (or my) terms it’s about capturing lost detail. When an image it taken usually the camera’s metering system picks the exposure that captures an image where the majority of the subject matter presented is easily visible and similar to how our eyes would see it. However the range of detail captured often is clipped in very bright areas and very dark areas. If you look at a building in daylight you don’t notice the subtleties of white clouds or the shades of gray in the dark shadows. HDR works by utilizing bracketed exposures (over and under normal) which capture the dynamic “edges” a proper exposure misses. You combine these all into a single image which can range from the surrealistically remarkable to just a pleasant enhancement. The subject matter and settings help determine what you wind up with.

Wow! Incredibly boring, eh? In description it is but in practice there is the chance your socks will be knocked off. I’ve loved experimenting with it and below are a few images I recently used this process for. Hope you enjoy.

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January 26, 2011

My Favorite 0b1000100 Photos of 2010

I take way too many pictures it seems. This was supposed to be a post about the 10 favorite pictures I took in 2010. That expanded and expanded till it is now almost 7 times that amount. Oops.

Since I’m too lazy to cut this amount down to a more manageable size I’m leaving well enough alone. There is no rhyme or reason to my selections other than I thought they weren’t too bad and I noticed them. I’m far from a professional photographer but I do get lucky from time to time.

I must admit I did cheat once on the flamingo photo which was taken the last day of 2009. Please bear in mind that when that was taken in places like Manila it was 2010. So there.

If you want to see them larger click on the thumbnails to get a large window type thing with a next button.