photo log.

(part of brett's logjam.)


11 September 2008

The Long Road Through September

24 August 2008

Eye-Fi

Eye-Fi

I got the Eye-Fi Share this week. It is generally great, but has some quirks.

Pros:

Cons:

Overall, I’m happy with it. The burst mode thing got me at a birthday party, but I got over it. It’s really simple to use, and making me consider Flickr as a primary photo repository.

27 June 2008

Visiting The Mothership

1

25 May 2008

The Chains That Bind

The Chains That Bind Us

6 May 2008

Little Bluebird Houses For You And Me

Little Bluebird Houses For You And Me

1 May 2008

Blue Canary in the Outlet by the Lightswitch

Eastern Bluebird (Male)

An Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) perches on the deck in my backyard.

27 April 2008

On the Mend

Northern Mockingbird

I seem to be on the mend; I actually enjoy taking bird pictures again.

Flowers, too.

Nikko

My ear is healing well, with substantially fewer periods of dizziness or pain. It’s still a bit numb, but as the nerves were cut it’s expected. (Apparently, it’s going to itch a lot when they regrow.)

Lithadora

I am cautiously optimistic about regaining some hearing. I think it’s a little better, especially in crowds. I’d like to see the hearing test results in a month or so before really believing it, though.

@ The ENT Office

Mostly, I’m glad it’s all over with. Less thinking about ears, more listening to birds.

Red-winged Blackbird (Female)

The weekend was filled with a welcome set of domestic activities, none of which were beyond my abilities; mowing the lawn, planting some trees and bushes, putting together a bookcase for T.

This is a modest list, to be sure.

But I take great joy that these tasks were merely exhausting, not debilitating.

Treetips

It’s a welcome change.

Moonlight

19 April 2008

The Tulips of Spring

The Tulips of Spring

The tulips in my front yard are doing quite well this year. I suspect it helps that there are very few deer paths nearby.

Also, if you like flowers, I highly recommend visiting the Keukenhof near Lisse. I recommend it even if you don’t like flowers, because it’s that wonderful an experience.

12 April 2008

Ladies of the Court

Ladies Of The Court

The Governor’s wife and her attendant walk through the Palace grounds of Colonial Williamsburg.

29 January 2008

The Rivers of Virginia

The Rivers Of Virginia

12 January 2008

... What You Make Of It

I don’t normally do self-portraits. Call it a character flaw, but I find the rest of the world far more interesting than the face I shave in the mirror every day.

This was a different day. This was the day I discovered that one of my immediate family members has cancer.

I was jovial and positive on the phone. But after I hung up, I grabbed my camera to go shoot outside in a desperate attempt to not face it.

It worked about as well as you think it would have. Nothing held my interest.

Finally, I just sat down in the middle of the woods, put the camera on continuous shooting, and let myself think.

This is not a good picture of me. It’s not going to win any awards, or convince people that I should quit my day job and become a model. I’m not happy, or positive, or any of the things people usually associate with me. The lighting is going as the sun sets.

But it’s an honest picture, one that captures a moment that I pray I never have to face again, but know that I will.

And honest pictures should be celebrated for what they are, not what you think they should be.

Just like life.

8 January 2008

Okay, I Knew I Said I Was Over It

But seriously. Compare the photo from the previous post, sent via email to Flickr:

Mundane +1

to the same photo, sent via email, but compressed on Tumblr:

Guys? I really want to like Tumblr, but you’re not making this easy on me.…

1 January 2008

Old Glory

Old Glory

A Little Help From My Friends

Thomas Under Tow

23 December 2007

Suspended

Suspended

22 December 2007

The Flag at the End of the Crane

The Flag At The End Of The Crane

Red-shouldered Hawk

Red-shouldered Hawk

A Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) perches in a sweet gum tree.

20 December 2007

The Big Guns

The Big Guns

Recruiting sign on display at the Casemate Museum in Fort Monroe, Virginia.

Tumblr Photo Compression, Again

Amidst all the family activities this weekend, I spent some time considering the Tumblr Photo Compression problem. I had some downtime tonight to finally poke around at some of the alternate solutions I’d come up with while doing other things.

My conclusion? The compression is pretty bad. But creating some Flickr/Movable Type 4 hybrid thing to solve that problem is like using regular expressions: now you have two problems.

Tumblr is simple enough for me, for now. I’m tired of messing around with complicated systems; getting away from them is the entire point. The photos likely look worse on your screen than they do on my phone, and I’m sorry about that.

But the good ones will wind up in the Photo log eventually, anyway. So don’t worry about it.

Moving on now.

17 December 2007

American Cream

American Cream

An American Cream Draft horse, at Colonial Williamsburg.

14 December 2007

The Return of the Train

The Return of the Train

Tumblr Photo Upload Compression

It’s rather a pity that Tumblr applies so much compression to photos uploaded to their service. It’s the only flaw I’m unhappy about, because it actually degrades the quality of the content I’m publishing. Everything else I can accept as part of minimalist blogging, but this is like smearing Vaseline over my lens. Which is, you know, not what I generally do.

(Oddly, the compression is mitigated on an iPhone. I suspect the massive DPI is to credit.)

I’ve put some comparisons up on Flickr, but will have to see if it’s the email compression the iPhone applies, or Tumblr’s. I suspect that the former shouldn’t be underestimated — and as a consequence, the iPhone camera appears to take worse shots than it really does.

The Palace Cupola at Christmas is now up in the original size if you would like to use it for a desktop picture.

(I really should shoot with a tripod more often.)

12 December 2007

Bruton Parish at Dusk

Bruton Parish at Dusk

Fences

Fences

11 December 2007

The Final Days of Autumn

The Final Days of Autumn

Into Your Firey Arms

Autumn


9 December 2007

The White Horse

You may have noticed that I shoot a lot of horse photographs. Part of this is because my son went through a period when he could not get enough of the horses downtown in Colonial Williamsburg.

Attentive

And part of it, frankly, is that I like horses. I can’t ride worth a damn, but I like ‘em anyway. So there.

Posing

We’ve had a few new arrivals in the CW stables in the last few months, and I haven’t learned all the new kids’ names, so I can’t properly attribute these photos to a model. But eventually I’ll have the current crop down.

Anyhow, I kept telling him, over and over, that I had no treats on me and just wanted to take his picture. No apples, no mints, no altoids.

He preened, and posed, and then pestered me for a reward anyway.

Apples?

Oh well. I gave him a good nose-scratching to make up for it.

Three Views of the Governor's Palace

Palace Cupola

Palace Weathervane

The Lion and the Unicorn

The Governor’s Palace in Colonial Williamsburg has a storied history, and is well worth the visit.

Tucker House Gables

Tucker House Gables

The Tucker House at Colonial Williamsburg serves as the donor reception center, where contributors of $100+/year can go to take a break while touring CW. The house is staffed by helpful, friendly volunteers — all of whom know my son.

When he was younger, Trip would go there three times a week without fail. Now that he’s older (2.5 and counting!), his schedule is more erratic, but he still visits about once a week or so to get a cookie and eat it on the front sign. Given how hot and cold it can be walking around Williamsburg, I’d say we more than get our money’s worth out of his contribution.

This photograph was taken in the late afternoon sun, from the Palace Green. I used a tripod for the first time on one of my walkabouts this particular afternoon, with some good (and bad) results.

More photos from this shoot to follow.

8 December 2007

Are Those ...?

Are Those?

Yes, those are artichokes in the wreath.

Williamsburg is awesome at this time of year.

25 November 2007

The Trains at NorthPark 2007

Each year, the Ronald McDonald House of Dallas puts on a holiday display of trains for charity.

Dallas, Texas

It is, honestly, pretty darn cool.

Around The Bend

Row Homes

NYC Subway

Live Oak Street

Dallas Demolition Company

Crossing The Gap

More photos are available in the Flickr Set.

6 November 2007

The Courthouse Tree

The Courthouse Tree

Off Season, On Season

Off Season, On Season

31 October 2007

Halloween

Halloween

Busy again this year; 91 kids, one more than last year.

Trip was more interested in answering the door than collecting candy.
He’s a funny kid.

20 October 2007

Prelude to Victory

Prelude To Victory 2007

Colonial Williamsburg’s "Prelude To Victory" weekend celebrates the march of the American and French armies through Williamsburg on their way to besiege the British forces in Yorktown in October, 1781.

Prelude To Victory 2007

Prelude To Victory 2007

More photos are available in my Flickr set .

6 October 2007

It's Time To Light The Lights

It's Time To Light The Lights

At the evening concert in downtown Williamsburg.

5 October 2007

Lawn Weeding

Lawn Weeding

Doing it the the old-fashioned way takes time. Lots of time.

30 September 2007

Richmond and Boundary

Richmond and Boundary

What, autumn already?

Dappled Sunday Morning

Dappled Sunday Morning

29 September 2007

Fall Flowers

Fall Flowers

Unexpected colors on a great fall day.

23 September 2007

September Evening

September Evening

22 September 2007

The Bookbinder

The Bookbinder

“The BOOKBINDER will be open at one o’clock in the afternoon.”

I think I’d like a profession that I could spell in ALL CAPS.

Smart fortwo

Smart fortwo

Holy cow, a smart car in the wild!

19 September 2007

Danger!

Danger!

I love ISO warning glyphs. There’s nothing like clearly communicating
gruesome death scenarios to enliven one’s day.

The second one is a personal favorite.

9 September 2007

The Approaching Storm

The Approaching Storm

Nothing like the approach of a tropical storm to liven up your forecast.

8 September 2007

House Sparrow

House Sparrow

A House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) sits on my stoop.

Chowning's Tavern

Chowning's Tavern

1 September 2007

Newbie

Newbie

Caesar (the new kid, stage right) and Prince try to work it out.

26 August 2007

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Tiger Swallowtail

This Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) butterfly alit for a moment on the ground before taking off in a frenetic flight around me. He was terribly difficult to shoot, even in rapid-fire mode.

The Tiger Swallowtail is the state insect of Virginia.

19 August 2007

Eastern Gray Squirrel

Eastern Gray Squirrel

This practically cries out for a caption contest.

11 August 2007

Poohsticks Bridge

Poohsticks Bridge

This was the site of several rousing games of poohsticks today.

Semper Eadem

Semper Eadem

The .Mac Web Gallery Question

My struggles with photo galleries are well documented on this site. I’d settled on Flickr, despite some reservations, and there are some things that Flickr does really well.

Unfortunately, and I can say this because I know nearly all the readers of this blog, Flickr is not well-liked among my friends and family. And I can see why:

I do most of my work in iPhoto; while I’d started bumping into the performance limits of iPhoto 5, I knew that I could always upgrade to iPhoto 6 to fix that problem, but I also knew that a new version was coming any day now. So that wasn’t a huge issue (but it was certainly making me grumpy.)

More importantly, there was no way to eliminate that second step of having to organize photos on the website as well as within iPhoto. There are good export plugins to Flickr, but that’s all they are — exporters. Once the photo is up, there’s no way to sync information.

Eventually, and you can probably go back in my photostream to find the exact date, I just gave up on organizing my photos on Flickr. Too much time was spent tagging, writing captions, assigning to sets. It was a step that I didn’t need, and no one commented on it when it went away, and it didn’t have any impact on my negligible social presence in Flickr… so it was gone.

Earlier this week Apple released their .Mac Web Gallery, which is seriously all kinds of awesome if you already use iPhoto and .Mac. Even if you don’t, it’s still all kinds of awesome as a photo gallery. Slick? Yes. But its also easy to use, with download and upload tools that make sense. Its interface is easy for visitors to change.

Or, at least, that’s my impression of it.

I was giddy when I saw how it integrated with iPhoto in the demos. (I was also giddy at how it integrated with the iPhone, but that’s another story.) You make a change in iPhoto and it appears on the web. If a visitor uploads a photo to the gallery, it goes back down to iPhoto. Hooray!

It’s shiny, it’s glossy, and it certainly holds a lot of promise for making my life easier. It doesn’t do some of the things Flickr does well, like generic camera phone uploading, posting to blogs, and holding large-resolution versions at the ready. I can see both as tools that work, and that this isn’t an either/or proposition.

But some feedback to Flickr was so negative when I switched last time, I’d be a fool to not ask you what you think.

So: here’s my gallery. Please let me know what you think of it.

9 August 2007

Williamsburg Farmer's Market, 4 August 2007

Williamsburg Farmer's Market, 4 August 2007

Bead Board

Bead Board

Beads In Motion

Beads In Motion

The Virginia Fife and Drum Corps

The Virginia Fife and Drum Corps

Tucker House

Tucker House

I CAN HAS COOKIEZ? PLZ?

I CAN HAS COOKIEZ?  PLZ?

I'm on ur lawn, eatin yr nutz

I'm on ur lawn, eatin yr nutz

Sweet Gum Tree

Sweet Gum Tree

Ox

Oxen

Detached Kitchen

Detached Kitchen

Palace Stop

Palace Stop

Revolutionary City

Revolutionary City

Excellent Chimneys

Excellent Chimneys

Scaling The Tree

Scaling The Tree

Mushrooms

Mushrooms

Caterpillar Eggs

Caterpillar Eggs

Unfortunately, the eggs that are on the caterpillar are wasps who will hatch and kill it.

Nature sure can be gross.

Pier's End

Pier's End

* Pier * 5 *

* Pier * 5 *

The Presidio

The Presidio

Chinatown

Chinatown

The Golden Gate

The Golden Gate

The Rock

The Rock

Old Times

Old Times

Masonic Mural

Masonic Mural

The Norns (Detail)

The Norns (Detail)

Holy crap, they’re even scarier up close.

The Norns

The Norns

Presidio Beachfront

Presidio Beachfront

8 August 2007

lululemon

lululemon

Wanted: Old Trains & Toys

Wanted: Old Trains & Toys

4 August 2007

Movie Platform

Movie Platform

I ended up watching a lot of movies on my iPhone on my recent trip out to California. Holding it gets pretty old, though, especially when you’re getting ready to sleep.

The solution is pretty obvious when you have all those nice, heavy pieces of cardstock lying about.

2 August 2007

Last Leg

Last Leg

Charlotte is a nice airport, but I’m ready to go home.

1 August 2007

Sunset, Flying East

Sunset, Flying East

Thunderclouds tower in the last light of the sun.

31 July 2007

Flying to San Francisco

Flying to San Francisco

This is the plane that I’m taking to San Francisco, a CRJ 200 regional
jet.

The Los Angeles Sock Market

The Los Angeles Sock Market

I didn’t ask if this market was down today, too.

Universal Studios

Universal Studios

Up the hill from our hotel, there are a lot of lights.

Taken at Universal City, CA.

30 July 2007

Dada's Plane

Dada's Plane

Please note: not a helicopter.

29 July 2007

p.i.n.k

p.i.n.k

Cloudscape

Cloudscape

Early morning at 20,000 feet.

28 July 2007

The Magazine

The Magazine

We took a different route today.

Spheres

Spheres

Trip was adamant that they be arranged just so.

27 July 2007

The Reclamation of Lake Powell

The Reclamation of Lake Powell

Last August, a nor’easter dropped 10 inches of rain on Williamsburg, damaging the dam on Lake Powell. As a temporary measure, the water levels of the lake were lowered by 7 feet to reduce the pressure on the dam.

This summer, the mud turned green as a variety of grasses and plants colonized the lakebed, slowly creeping across the flats. Geese and herons are a common site along the banks of the marshy stream that flows through the northern side of the lakebed. It is a far, far different site than the placid lake ever was; this view constantly changes, an environment in transition.

Nature finds a way.

23 July 2007

Sunset over the interchange

Sunset over the interchange

The sun sets over the Springfield Interchange in northern Virginia.

21 July 2007

Happy Cows

Happy Cows

20 July 2007

The Schedule-Keeper

The Schedule-Keeper

... But Those Were Alphabetized!

... But Those Were Alphabetized!

Trip rearranges the DVDs to his satisfaction.

19 July 2007

Under The Redcoat

Every weekend before Independence Day, Williamsburg is invaded by His Majesty’s forces and placed under martial law.

Encampment

Soldiers are everywhere.

(And I mean, everywhere.)

No Path Too Small

The town is turned into an armed camp, and townsfolk are arrested and subject to military justice.

The Lady Is Not For Burning

Deliberation

Papers are tucked into the brims of hats, ready to be presented when requested. And they are requested a lot.

ID Required At All Times

This weekend recreates the occupation of Williamsburg from June 25th to July 4th, 1781, by the British forces under General Lord Cornwallis.

Command

Disdain

The occupying army were not maurauders, and made efforts to win over the Colonists.

Jolly

Scot at the Barricade

Some Loyalists even signed up for service.

Secure The Tent

It was, however, still an occupation. There is nothing trivial about martial law.

Martial Law

The presentation of the tyranny that led to the ‘Revolt of the Colonies’ is a startling reminder of what freedom is, by taking it away for a weekend.

Considering

Life goes on, but it is far, far different.

Pounding Meat

Tension

The Fashion Police

... but names will never hurt me.

The re-enactors who converge on Williamsburg do a great job. They present the human side of the enemy in our national creation myth, and show that the American Revolution was fought not by monsters, but by honorable men.

British Officer

They accurately portray the variety of forces that fought during the war, including the Hessian mercenaries:

Hessian Grenadier

And many of the British dragoon corps:

Queen's Ranger

As well as many of the infantry regiments:

Infantry Officer

And all sides of the military are presented.

How To Cross A Border Unsearched

On Alert

Heat

I should mention that it’s wickedly hot, they’re wearing wool, and they sleep in tents. We had a major thunderstorm roll through this year, too.

Drinking On A Hot Day

Taking What You Want

And by invading my peaceful town once a year, they remind us all of how tyranny looks, lest we forget.

Resistance

More photos are available in my Under the Redcoat set on Flickr.

14 July 2007

RESTROOMS

RESTROOMS

6 July 2007

In lieu of the pool...

In lieu of the pool...

It’s always more fun when water’s involved.

3 July 2007

Poolside

Poolside

NOW it’s time to relax. (Taken on my iPhone, squee!)

30 June 2007

Signs That There May Be An Astronomy Conference Nearby

Signs That There May Be An Astronomy Conference Nearby

(Taken at the NRAO 50th Anniversary Symposium.)

18 June 2007

Buy MORE Soup

Buy MORE Soup

Where? At the Williamsburg Farmer’s Market, of course.

17 June 2007

Jack and Jill | Blue Carriage

Because my son loves horses, I am now able to identify most of the horses that pull Colonial Williamsburg’s carriages on sight. For example:

Jack and Jill | Blue Carriage

That’s Jack and Jill; I recognized them because Jack could stand to lose a few pounds. (And by a few, I mean a lot.)

Jack, of course, is usually in the pasture on DoG street, greedily taking handouts from the visitors. He looks much more dignified in this picture than when he’s snarfing grass from kids.

16 June 2007

Gray Catbird

Gray Catbird

A Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) has a snack while perching on a fence outside the St. George Tucker House in Colonial Williamsburg.

Gray Catbird

I was really quite happy with how this series of shots turned out; the Tucker House always provides a nice striking background. (I think the second shot is my favorite for exactly this reason; the background is outstanding.)

And, you know, I’m there every week. So it’s not really out of my way.

Gray Catbird

This bird rooted around on the ground for a little while before moving up to the top of the fence. I didn’t know what he had in his mouth until after I viewed it on my computer.

Mmmm, tasty.

Ol' Twister

Ol' Twister

One of the trees in the Bruton Parish Church graveyard.

8 June 2007

No Limit

No Limit

Why yes, Coke is on sale at Ukrops for $0.88 a bottle, with no limit. Why do you ask?

6 June 2007

Jack

Jack

Jack, one of Colonial Williamsburg’s carriage horses, pauses for a close-up.

24 May 2007

The Palace Green | May 2007

The Palace Green | May 2007

In case there were any doubts, Virginia can be very, very green.

Parked In The Shade

Shaded Parking Spot

20 May 2007

The Corps Alumni

This weekend’s film crew was after the Colonial Williamsburg Fife and Drum Corps Alumni:

Fife and Drum Corps Alumni

Did you know that the Corps has over 700 performances a year? Holy moly.

Fife and Drum Corps Alumni

This was also my first time watching the CW Productions crew at work.

Colonial Williamsburg Productions

It wasn’t very hot yesterday, so the multiple takes they went through to get the right shots probably weren’t an issue.

It’s hot enough today, though, that I can imagine folks want to get it done right the first time.

Cottonwood | Merrystar

Cottonwood | Merrystar

Merrystar looks up at the drifting cottonwood seeds in Colonial Williamsburg.

No Parking | No Bus | Dress Optional

No Parking | No Bus | Dress Optional

Off one of the side streets near William and Mary.

I suspect the sign is trying to fit in with the in-crowd, but may be trying too hard.

18 May 2007

White Dandelion

White Dandelion

A white dandelion, moments before getting hit with a stick.

29 April 2007

The Wedding Photographer

No shots of Williamsburg this weekend. Merrystar and I instead spent Saturday up in Maryland at a wedding:

The Recessional

I’m normally quite shy about shooting people in public. I take plenty of pictures of my family, but not so many of strangers. That’s unfortunate, as those shots usually turn out quite well.

Hold the Pinata

I confess: it was nice to be at an event where people expect you to be taking pictures of them.

How Many Megapixels?

I am also happy to report that everyone remembered their lines.

Henrique and Tracy's Wedding

(Congratulations, you two!)

26 April 2007

Sunlit Tulip

Sunlit Tulip

23 April 2007

Colonial Dragoons

Dragoons

Two of Colonial Williamsburg’s horsemen make ready for yesterday’s Dragoon training.

Colonial Cavalry

Dragoons are perhaps unfairly maligned because of their name’s similarity to Dragons — they are mounted infantrymen, usually armed with sword and musket/carbine.

Trot

Many of the horses who participated in Saturday’s training had never had military training before, so there was some uncertainty on the trainer’s part as to how the afternoon would go.

Northern Mockingbird

Northern Mockingbird

A young Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) poses in the nor’easter rain in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Photo by Merrystar.

Merrystar's Daffodils

Merrystar's Daffodils

One of several white-and-yellow Daffodils (Narcissus) in our front bed.

Photo by Merrystar.

Tufted Titmouse

Tufted Titmouse

A Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor), moments before flight.

American Goldfinch

American Goldfinch

An American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis) perches on a feeder in front of a flowering dogwood.

21 April 2007

The Badge

The Badge

I am really quite pleased to have YAH back from the shop.

This time, I took her to Ebby’s Auto Painting & Collision Repair (757-220-0695) and they did a great job with her. Their good reputation in town is justly deserved.

Best of all? She was clean when I picked her up.

It’s the little things that matter.

20 April 2007

Spring

Spring

This tree is getting ready for a photosynthesis party.

18 April 2007

A Place To Think

A Place To Think

15 April 2007

I Wish They Would Last Forever

I Wish They Would Last Forever

Tiptoe Through The ...

Tiptoe Through The ...

12 April 2007

Red Bench On The Green

Red Bench On The Green

7 April 2007

April Snowstorm

Scene from this morning:

Her: Good morning! We have a surprise for you!

Trip: Mahning! Dada!

Me, groggy: Wha?

Her: <opens shades and points outside>

Snow-covered Blossoms

Me: What the … ?

Trip: (s)now!

Frosted Tulips

Indeed, there was snow. Lots of snow.

We had about an inch fall last night, and another inch or so this morning.

Blankets

The air was cold this morning.

REALLY cold.

Brrrrr.

Courthouse | Magazine

Don’t get me wrong; we still went out for our Saturday morning walk downtown. We just walked quickly. Even Trip admitted it was cold.

(It’s melting out there now, but is expected to freeze over again tonight. Bring your plants in.)

3 April 2007

Bella

Bella

1 April 2007

Blue/White, Splash Green

Blue/White, Splash Green

Happy April Fools’ Day, everyone. (It’s one of my favorite days of the year.)

31 March 2007

Easter's Promise

Easter's Promise

Half of a plastic Easter Egg deposited in the branches of a tree during our neighborhood Easter Egg hunt.

Chipping Sparrow