RSS feedMarch, 2012
King Neptune!
By Silver Blue
Last day of Staycation found me back at the beach, this time, photographing King Neptune in Virginia Beach, at 31st street.
The photos speak for themselves.
Silver Blue, who imagines how I’m really going to miss having the time off with my camera. I’ll have to schedule some time again soon.
The National Aviation Monument, VA Beach
By Silver Blue | 1 comment
1
“This is a monument to the proud heritage of Naval Aviation that has had many of its beginnings in Hampton Roads. It is here in Hampton Roads that the very first take-off from a ship was made by Eugene Ely in 1910. It is here in Hampton Roads that The Nation prepared for WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the Middle East and other conflicts throughout the world, sending men and women who manned aircraft carriers, planes, ships, and submarines into harm’s way.
So it is here in Virginia Beach that we erect this Monument to Naval Aviation, honoring the proud aviators who wear the Wings of Gold, the Navy, Marine Corps, and the Coast Guard, who help defend our great country and protect all Free Nations.”
The Homecoming.
Where It Began.
“Pilots Man Your Planes””
“Naval Warfare” (I think it says 1956-2006)
http://www.virginiabeach.com/attractions/museums/naval-aviation-monument
Silver Blue, who wants you to know that even though you can’t see it, I was surrounded by snow flurries when taking these photos, March 9, 2012.
The Norwegian Lady of Virginia Beach
By Silver Blue
The story of the Norwegian Lady Statues may be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Lady
I ventured down to the oceanfront today, in the cold. So cold that I actually saw flurries at the beginning of my photo journey. I didn’t get pictures of King Neptune this time, but that, too, will change.
The Norwegian Lady:
and her memorial plaque:
The full frontal shot is:
The topmost plaque under the Lady is cast with a sailing ship and the inscription:
“I am the Norwegian Lady. I stand here, as my sister before me, to wish all men of the sea safe return home.”
The brass plaque (with the green patina) is the “In Memoriam” of the sailors aboard the barque “Dictator” who perished March 27, 1891.
Silver Blue, who always remembers the beauty and the fury of the ocean…
Let’s Go To The Movies!
By Silver Blue | 1 comment
1I remember when going to the cinema didn’t mean having to take out a second mortgage on your house, when you could get popcorn and a drink (and some candy) for less than $5, and how you could just “escape” into another world for a short while.
Most of the smaller theaters these days have closed, having been consumed by the conglomerate megaplex chains of Regal, AMC, and the like. Still, I recall when, in Newport News (or was that section Hampton? It’s RIGHT on the dividing line), in Newmarket South, there were the Newmarket Cinemas (1 & 2). They did so well that they expanded to 3 & 4, also known as the Rocking Chair Cinemas because in 3 & 4, the chairs literally were like gliders.
Times change, however. Nothing stays the same. I wanted to capture these memories before they were torn down in the name of “progress”.
Cinemas 1 & 2, boarded up and in a serious state of decay. These cinemas were in long halls, as if someone had backed up a tractor trailer and you watched inside.
A gentler memory came out of the conversion to black and white:
Then, there were theaters 3 and 4, built next door. Different format, with the rocking chairs and the theaters being put in round buildings:
Now home to the Antioch Christian Center (and Daycare), I recall seeing “First Wives’ Club” in the theater on the left.
Of course, the buildings were not egg yolk yellow then, but an off white. I’m hedging my bets that these (which were the newer of the screens) buildings long outlast the original.
Silver Blue, who wishes I’d gotten into photography, oh… about 30 years ago in order to save history.
If music be the food of love, play on.
By Silver Blue
I at one time was given a piano. The downside is that I don’t play.
It was almost 100 years old, and I loved the columns. Moving it to the house almost broke two fingers of the roommate when it fell on his hand. (The church that gave me the piano is no more.)
When the roommate moved out, I traded him the piano for a 1984 Chevy Blazer, which was Roxette Bunny™’s vehicle (or at least it had her plates on it):
Still, the piano had some beautiful woodwork, and lives on in my heart through photographs:
Silver Blue, who knows that things aren’t made the way they used to be….
Not an angel on my shoulder…
By Silver Blue | 1 comment
1….not sunshine either.
It’s Roxette Bunny™!
On our way OUT of town evacuating from Hurricane Irene (2011). Fortunately, the storm deviated from its projected path, and missed Hampton Roads.
Tired of Natural Disasters, Roxette Bunny™ and I head back home. Glad it was an uneventful, unplanned vacation (evacuation), but also knew we’d be glad to be back home.
Roxette says next time either I let her consult her magic blue crystal:
Or we travel in style and FLY out of here. 6 hours behind the wheel made her one frazzled hare.
Silver Blue, who hopes the hurricanes stay away again in 2012!
Bringing back the Past
By Silver Blue | 1 comment
1In the town of Kenton, Ohio, where my grandmother lived, there was a beautiful building that had fallen on hard times.
The Hardin County Armory, circa 1998.
The Hardin Country Armory is the 3rd oldest and most unique Armory in Ohio. Its architecture finely represents the Late Victorian, Richardsonian Romanesque Style. Construction began in 1893. The corner stone was laid with an imposing parade on August 2, 1894. Governor William McKinley, soon to be President, and his staff were all in attendance as were many other prominent officials. The corner stone ceremony had an estimated attendance of over 25,000 people. The new Armory was formally dedicated on April 15, 1895 with a grandiose military ball. Some of its interior attributes included a shooting range, plunge and steam baths, hardwood auditorium floor, and a balcony which encircled the auditorium.
Massive, two story towers combined with the sharp shooter’s ports are locked in time by the inviting yet foreboding sandstone front facade. The life of this building has witnessed Ohio’s greatest dances, social, political, and military events. The structure had the ability to seat and serve dinner to over 2,000 people which caused the building to lay host to the most prominent of gatherings. One being the national Presidential campaign of 1912 when capacity audiences listened to addresses from President William H. Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt. The Armory has also served the United States and Ohio in every military action since its completion and up until it was vacated by the National Guard in 1991.
Locally, the Armory has served the county of Hardin as the location of community events including graduation ceremonies, school dances, political dinners, professional wrestling, and golden glove boxing matches. The list goes on and on. The Armory even housed one of the very first professional women’s basketball teams in the 1920’s. Prior to and up until the completion of the present court house being erected, the Armory contained an assortment of governmental agencies and services for the county.
In 1947, the Armory was totally gutted by a fire started by two individuals from Company E who were cleaning rifles in the basement. The beloved building was reopened in 1948 after extensive reconstruction was made to the interior. All of the wood in the building was replaced with block and concrete construction (which makes total restoration impossible).
The Amory sat idle for six years and in that time was neglected. The Hardin County Armory Restoration Foundation was formed in 1997 to insure that the people of Ohio can continue to use and enjoy this wonderful facility.
The Hardin County Armory, Restored, circa 2008.
I am proud to have been a part of the restoration process for the Armory, having run a web page on my site to promote the efforts of the citizens of Kenton, Ohio, and of Hardin County to restore this grand building.
The Hardin County Armory Restoration Foundation is currently taking Donations for the continued restoration of the Armory. The foundation is a non-profit organization and has a 501 C3 rating, so all donations are tax deductible. All donations may be submitted to the address below. Make checks payable to:
Armory Foundation
P.O. Box 594
Kenton, OH 43326-0594
419-673-1599
“We like to think of the Armory,
not as a building in need of repair,
but as an elegant lady with a tattered dress,
who can still smile despite her appearance.”
[audio:https://www.eyesofsilverblue.com/lwhdna.mp3]
Silver Blue, who remembers Doris Williams (Blum) as the person who first let me into the Armory to photograph it in the state of decay it had fallen into, and Ed Rogers, who has always kept me informed through newsletters as to the restoration process.
Through The Eyes Of Silver Blue
By Silver Blue
“Through The Eyes Of Silver Blue”
F. John Barker III
October 21, 2006
All aboard for a journey
Through the Eyes of Silver Blue
we’re tripping through my timespace
and the guest of honour is you.
We’ll go half-way ‘round the world,
and go hopping from state to state,
we’ll visit old friends and family,
and the occasional twist of fate.
Vacations and party spots,
locations far and near.
life experiences big and small,
and photos that I hold dear.
Music will be our companion,
there are poems never read,
we’ll laugh with those of the living,
and celebrate with those who are dead.
A small blue bunny will join us,
home renovations will take place,
Mother Nature will blow all around us,
and Father Time will show us his grace.
So join me for some memories,
thoroughly researched, I know they’re true –
step inside and see my life,
Through the Eyes of Silver Blue.
(When I worked at WPEX, AM1490 in November 1986, I used an old analogue mixing board and threw this song out of phase through feedback and unintentional reverb. The result, IMHO, ended up more accurately expressing (to me) the feeling of the song.)
The Calm Before The Storm
By Silver Blue
The year: 2003 The month: September. The day: 18th.
The Hurricane? Isabel.
The radar?
(This photo NOT taken by me, obviously)
Isabel, as she approached North Carolina.
The day before, however, all was calm, all was… bright.
and then the clouds started up…
and increased in volume…
Then, as night fell, we had no clue…
That what was being classified as a “minor” hurricane to hit Hampton Roads (some say a weak Category 1, some a regular, some a weak Category 2 depending on where and when you were hit) would leave us without power for 12 days, without a furnace or hot water for 3 months (due to the basement taking in 5.5 feet of water back through the sump well, destroying the furnace and hot water heater), and without a “complete” roof for 7 months.
Still, Mother Nature has a way of showing that life goes on… just four days after the wrath of Hurricane Isabel…
“Look, Rhett. The Magnolias are in bloom.” (Margaret Mitchell)
[audio:http://eyesosfsilverblue.com/p-s.mp3]Silver Blue, who wonders if the weather would be as wonky … if humans weren’t on this planet.
Why I’m starting to shoot RAW.
By Silver Blue
RAW? You mean like…naked? No, gentle readers. With most cameras these days you can shoot one of two ways: JPG or RAW. With JPG, the camera applies the White Balance, any exposure compensation you may have selected, picture styles, etc. and then compresses the file into JPG format and records it to the storage medium.
RAW, on the other hand, takes the data as recorded by the image sensor and records that to the storage medium without applying compression or any sort of modification to the photograph (some cameras store your settings in a “sidecar” file that goes along with the RAW file).
The difference? Well, using my Canon T3i (18 megapixel), my JPGs are about 5 or 6 megabytes per photo (may be more, or less, depending on the complexity of the photo – more complex means less compression, ergo, larger file sizes). RAW files are in the range of 18-20 megabytes per photo, because every pixel gets recorded. Also, a JPG is ready to be viewed, uploaded, emailed, resized, etc. from the memory card where a RAW file needs to be processed and refined.
So why bother with RAW, you might ask, given that the files are larger and there’s more manipulation that is required in order to turn out usable images?
Since the Canon T3i allows me a way of shooting RAW + JPG at the same time, I thought I’d play with it and see if RAW served any purpose other than my High Dynamic Range (HDR) that I’m learning to do. I’ll let you decide.
The JPG:
Now, the same photo, taken from RAW, and processed out:
RAW format allows you to retrieve detail and texture from areas that have been plunged into almost complete darkness in the JPG compression. The lower photo matches what my eye saw, visually.
(In order to be honest, you CAN retrieve SOME detail from a JPG, but what’s lost is lost. This was probably the best that could have been pulled back out of the shadows of the JPG, but if you look, the colours are slightly off, and there’s more digital “noise” in the photo.)
I could have possibly tweaked colour sliders and brought back the yellow cast of the approaching storm, but… it’s more work, and every time I make an edit to a JPG file, it’s considered a “destructive” edit (unless I go through making multiple adjustment layers in Photoshop), whereas the original RAW file is never altered. All the adjustments are kept in a sidecar file and are editable at any time. Now, next week, or 10 years from now. (Provided, of course, that the Mayans were wrong and the world doesn’t end on December 21, 2012.)
[audio:https://www.eyesofsilverblue.com/tfsw.mp3]Silver Blue, who wonders if I’m getting into the intricacies of photography a TAD too much. LOL.
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