The Pier

Anna Maria Island, A Real Lost Paradise  

Anna Maria Pier This is the pier on Anna Maria Island in Florida. I lived there in the middle to late sixties. It was paradise.My house, a three bedroom two bath home, cost me  $85.00 a month. The pier was just up the street and around the corner. The Anchorage Bar was across the street from the pier. I played in a rock and roll band there on weekends. It was a fun place to dance and meet the Yankee girls when they came south for the winter. I was dating a local girl named Sue and we went out on the pier one night, embraced and kissed. I remember that kiss and Sue to this day. 

Later in life I married my wife and we both decided that when we die our children can dump our ashes in Tampa Bay on an outgoing tide to take us to the Gulf. I say this because a friend of mine died and his wife put his ashes in an incoming tide. When she realized it she said: "Julius, you son of a bitch, you never could do anything right.." We all laughed and went to the Sand Bar and drank a beer in his honor. 

I spent many a happy hour out on the pier. It was real nice early in morning to just sit and reflect on life. The island is so expensive now that only the super rich live there. What a shame. 

Das Bot ist Kaput! There really is a video so click to find it and follow the instructions

Ach, Mein liber! Camaraden, das Kino ist ein brief story about mein bot. Halt! Das Kino ist nicht so gut!

Okay, I had to rebuild the video. First, I had to find the picture. That required much searching in my thousands of pictures. I found it in a 2012 library. Then I pulled it in PowerPoint to make the transitions I wanted. Then I saved it as a MP4 Video and then unloaded it to YouTube. Dammit, I fixed the ending and now I see the coffee machine is upside down. More repairs coming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhzfe__uQ1I


We need a little levity every day just to help us keep our balance. This video  uses a decrepit yacht that sat rather forlorn along the banks of the Arkansas River in Little Rock a few years back. I cut out slices of the pictures and then almost (intentionally) brought them together to let the viewer see the assembled boat. Since the vocal is about coffee, I thought it only appropriate to conclude with an espresso machine. I once had a friend who lived on a boat and on a fateful day he told his companion "Dorothy, the boat is sinking." I thought the video fit the scenario.

Destination Moon

It may look like the moon buts it actually a series of glacial potholes found in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. All the curves and coloration in the rocks make a fascinating subject. The giveaway that's it's not on the moon are the few pieces of vegetation growing in the rocks.

Early Morning Light

The early morning light and the shadows cast on this scene took my breath away for a moment. All the color and variations created by the light diffusion made this an essential photograph. It's very relaxing to view the photo and take in all the scene. It makes a delightful print. It also reinforces why I like to work with nature to capture natural scenes. This was along the Arkansas river and is actually a shot of the Interstate bridge over the Arkansas River.

Golden Bridge

The Shadow of Your Smile

The Shadow of Your Smile 

Walking around in my backyard in June of 2012, I saw that Mother Nature created this captivating scene. With great urgency I went to got my Sony, came back out and was able to take this picture. I think this was my reward for nursing the Hibiscus plant through several cold winters and it continued to bloom and prosper. Alas, it met its demise in dreadful winter in early 2013. I like the expression, joy and colors of a myriad of flowers. It's an important aspect of our lives.

Petal Magic

This is not the correct picture

I enlarged this picture in Picasa using the zoom slider bar in the edit mode. It’s possible to enlarge to 400%. I then selected the Ctrl/Prt Scr keys and made a screen capture. The next step was to crop out all unnecessary portions of the picture in the Picasa Screen Capture folder. Using this technique, I can achieve different effects using the same picture. The quality of the photograph has to be top notch to achieve the desired look. The water drops on the full photo are quite small. This process allowed me to display the water cascading down the petal, hence the challenge to focus on the water drops.

Junction Bridge Extravganza

The Junction Bridge

I extracted this frame from a video shot in Little Rock during the spring of 2012. It was in early evening and a beautiful day. This old railroad bridge is now a pedestrian bridge with working elevators and stairs. The view from the upper platform lets the viewer see the Clinton Bridge from one side and the Interstate and Broadway bridge on the other side. 

Through the Looking Glass

Autocar Truck circa 1930s

The windshield in this old Autocar truck is very typical of the type of safety glass that was used years ago.I found this and two other Autocar trucks in Northfield, Massachusetts. Black and white seemed appropriate for the shot. Sometimes our vision becomes clouded with time and we fail to see the future. It can all be made well with TLC. Even though the periphery may be clouded our quest is to look forward to better times.

Taos Musicians

On a warm August 2009 night in Taos, New Mexico I listened to the Rock Bottom Blues Band. They were all hippies from the 60s. The harmonica player lived on the corner of Haight and Ashbury in San Francisco during that era. How cool was that? The bass player is now a world recognized leather carver and plays for fun. I had a great time talking with them before they started playing. It was sort of a time warp. It was one of those nights you didn't want to end. All I have to do is look at the picture and I transport back to that night.

Lighting & Shadows

This shot is from a Kenny Loggins concert in Little Rock. I was sitting in the amphitheater watching the lighting effects used in the show. I liked the way the one musician was silhouetted and the different color shades the lighting presented. Experimenting with night photography offers quite a challenge to the photographer. It was essential to have the majority of the camera settings in place before taking the shot. I did several test shots and used the histogram to help set the camera. I used an ISO of 1600, f5.6, a cool white florescent on the white balance and a 1/25 exposure. This is one of my favorite shots.

Kenny Loggin In Concert, Little Rock, AR 2010

Mission Impossible

 On June 6, 1944, cargo planes such as this model lumbered into the sky with troops to free Europe from the Nazi tyranny. This plane, painted in it mission colors carried troops from the 508th PIR, 82d Airborne to France to parachute to the ground and engage the enemy. Using a vignette technique on the forward fuselage takes the viewer back to the dark days of WWII; a black and white time of terror for both the Allied and Axis troops.   

Levitation

Levitation

One of favorite musician pictures. I took this at the Jazz Festival in New Orleans a few years ago. I often wondered if his hat was going to levitate in the air. He was so into his music as can be seen by his expression. It makes the picture come alive for me. As you critique this pictures think about what could have made the shot better, or does it stand by itself unfettered?

A Dream Fulfilled

!929 Ford TriMotor that I flew in

This 1929 Ford Tri-motor plane was first flown on August 21, 1929. I flew in this plane on September 5, 2010 just a few days after its 81st birthday. It was a stellar event. All 10 of us on the plane had this incredible grin on our faces throughout the flight. It cruises at about 80 MPH and the landing speed was 70 MPH. It took off in a short distance. The 3 radial engines had quite a bit of thrust on takeoff. The simple aerodynamics of the plane made it cut through the air with a minimum of effort. Classic aviation at its best. To put in it another perspective, the plane was built only two years after Lindbergh had flown the Atlantic.

The Old Mill

The Old Mill

The Old Mill is located in North Little Rock, AR. It was part of the "Gone With The Wind" credits in 1939. I took this picture as part of panorama for use with Photosynth. I like the way the foliage enhances the building. There was a man standing behind the bushes photographing flowers. I edited him out of the picture using the healing brush in Photoshop Elements.

A Walk In The Past

A Scene From The Past

The scene is in Old Deerfield, Massachusetts. The town was established in the 1700s and has a glorious past. I liked the way the fence followed the contours of the property line. The early fall leaves added to the scene. It was a marvelous day and everything looked spectacular. I also found the scene restful and I let my mind drift into the past. It took me a while to do this shot as I stood there and let everything around me absorb into my being. I stopped along the way and talked to several people about a variety of subjects. It was a memorable day.