Scenes from everywhere

Reflections in Light

2010-03-10T08:09:00.001-06:00

Reflections in Light, originally uploaded by BCMielke.

This reflection was enjoyed while at dinner at Flemming's

Christmas Ornaments

2009-12-14T20:30:00.001-06:00

I love experimenting with taking pictures of ornaments on my tree. I'm also a lover of all things to do with penguins. This combines at least two of my favorite things. Lensbaby Plastic lens.

Cautionary Tale

2009-11-24T10:36:00.001-06:00

People wonder why I started to put watermarks on my pictures that I post both here and in FB, the above movie is the reason why. In 2007 I took many pictures of all of the Warren Blue Demons Cheering competition. I also made many discs for parents of their daughters. All of this was done at an agreeable price. Free.

I was doing a routine search of Warren Cheer photos recently as I keyworded this years and I discovered the above YouTube Video. I just gave it a casual glance, but I immediately recognized the photo that was it's thumbnail. It was mine and it looked awful. Somebody in their effort to share photos of the Warren Cheer groups decided to put something together and share with other parents. Thankfully my work is not credited. The awful pixalated transfer just makes me cringe. I think of it as child abuse in some way. Sad thing is I would have shared the photos if asked and the the time spent would have been worth so much more. I would have asked for credit at the end of the video, but that would have been a small price to pay I think.

If you share your photos and videos online they will be stolen, expect it and do what you can.

Nik Announces Viveza 2 – Masking Goes Global

2009-10-22T21:10:00.001-05:00

Most who read this blog know how much I love the Nik Software plug-ins. I also have used Viveza quite a bit, but as a part of Nikon Capture NX2. The upgrade to Viveza released in a couple of months will also have a structure. Below is the announcement from the MacCreate website.

Nik Announces Viveza 2 – Masking Goes Global « Plugins: "
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Nik Announces Viveza 2 – Masking Goes Global

October 22nd, 2009 in News by David Schloss0 Comments

Nik Software today released an update to their Viveza plugin for Aperture, Lightroom and Photoshop. The new version. which will release in December has completely eliminated the need to create complex masking, thanks to new Global Tools. A dozen features have been overhauled or added to the program as well (see their full press release below).

As a reminder, Mac Create Premium Members receive a 10% discount off of Nik Software. With the $200 price tag of Viveza, a purchase of the software will pay for half your Premium Membership.

Click here for information on the Nik 10% discount to MacCreate Premium members
From their press release:

Nik Software Announces Viveza® 2 for

Adobe®Photoshop®, Lightroom®& Apple®Aperture™

Now offers a complete range of new and powerful selective and global adjustments for fast and efficient"

(Via .)

Apple Picking

2009-10-18T20:10:00.001-05:00

My son loves Peanut Butter. Really there isn't much else in the food category that he does love. Maybe milk runs a close second. Now if you notice in the above photo had I not captured this shot to preserve it for all eternity I might have just missed that Buddy did not take a bite of the apple. Despite our best efforts to broaden his palate and him agreeing the little guy truly did a great job of letting us think that he ate a bite of the apple. In this case a highly prized HoneyCrisp apple. Who could turn that down? All was well, he bent down, apple in hand and plunged his mouth onto the apple. All looked like it should to me at least. Except of course that he missed his mouth.

Apple picking is a fall activity, despite my wife's best intentions to get me out into the orchard in September I held her off until October. Better yet for me and well not anybody else, it was also the first really cold day of the fall, the kinda day that prepares you for the Fall color that is upcoming. She wanted me to go in shorts in September. Pshaw. I want light snow flakes and a cold brisk day. That is apple weather. Hot Cider doesn't taste good at 70 degrees. At 35 though. That stuff is tasty.

See the rest of our shots here.

View from the Road

2009-09-15T04:57:00.000-05:00

I will admit when I started this job to really enjoying my life on the road. Having grown up somewhat sheltered in my small Michigan town, the thought of traveling to many places throughout the Midwest WAS exciting. What I longed for in those early days was the airline trips. Each time I packed my bag and was headed to the airport it was truly an adventure. Though I will admit exotic locations such as Atlanta, Cleveland and Spartanburg do not seem to head up everyone’s locations under exotic, it all was an adventure to me. In those early days I was given over to the road and driving. Logging sometimes 50,000 miles in a year behind the wheel and only seeing an airport for personal vacations and the twice yearly trip to Atlanta for training or a sales meeting.

The world and our group has gotten smaller since then. With especially the second one changing each part of our group and how I work. We have gone from 10 to 4. That means less car rides and more plane rides. It also means a few less stays in hotels and many more frequent flyer miles. This must be even more exciting to my eyes you might think.

In those early years when we got together in sales meetings I would hear the grizzled sales veteran say how difficult the travel was and I had to stretch to believe their stories. You board a plane and 2 hours sometimes less sometimes more you are someplace outside of the Midwest and not behind the wheel anymore. The topography is different, the weather is different and sometimes-even people look different.

Now I am the grizzled vet and know the terminals of some airports by heart. I know the short cuts through Atlanta and O'Hare. Where the Gold Star Chili is in Cincinnati. I know too many 3-letter airport names. I know when I'm going to eat healthy and I know where I am not. I know pretty much where the TCBY's are; I can even name a few of the people that have helped me at some airports. I've drunk too much OJ on flights and too many Delta cookies. Mostly I opt for the peanuts. I'm away more than I'm home I find the mattresses better at hotels than my own and those chocolates can be quite tasty if savored properly at the Ritz-Carlton.

The good part is what I see, the customers I contact and where I go. Do I have complaints, well yes we all do with what we do, but mostly when I step off that plane even when I'm tired and caught an evening flight to catch my son or daughter in some school function or just put them on the bus to get to school in the morning. I want to be there. I'm happy to be there and I want to help the customers who have entrusted the company I work for with their business. I miss my family, but this is what I do. The stuff at home, I hope I do better, but that next baggie of peanuts will make a nice snack, Oh and can you top of my OJ and add some ice please?

Picture taken with my iPhone at some airport somewhere.

I'm Baaaack!!

2009-09-07T20:07:00.001-05:00

For those that may wonder where I have been, well the summer just got away from me. Between Children, Traveling for work, work itself and moving into a new office, life has been very busy.

I've thought of many things I wanted to blog about, but haven't had a moment to put my fingers on the keyboard to capture my thoughts. Hopefully that will change in the upcoming weeks.

Recent photo shoot

2009-07-01T13:38:00.002-05:00

Some will remember my photo shoot of a good friends new child recently. She did such a nice job of combining the photos together for her announcement that I thought I would share it here.

My Photo Backup Solution:

2009-06-28T07:31:00.002-05:00

I have been asked may times what do I do in case of a disaster to keep my images safe. This very situation came close to happening recently. We just moved my office down to the basement to make a bedroom available for my daughter. During a recent thunderstorm a drain got backed-up and water started collecting behind the door leading to a stairwell. Pretty soon there was roughly 800 gallons of water residing outside the door with only one way of relief, into the office on the other side!

Thankfully when we built the office we had everything built on risers, but there were other considerations to meet as well. There was important data residing on the hard drives inside the Mac Pro system. For that any water could be a disaster. Thankfully I had my Backup system already in place some months before and as I saw the water rushing in I knew more than likely my images and other precious data would be safe.

My first run images reside on a 1TB hard drive inside of Mac Pro. I then do a Time Machine Backup to a Drobo that resides on my desk. A Drobo has the ability to backup data and Mirror it so if one of the drives fail your precious data is still safe. In this case since it is a Time Machine Backup if I accidentally delete a file I can go back and grab an earlier version of the file that is still in the Time Machine.

I wanted at least two data points for my images though and so there is also an older NAS that I have set up to Backup this same drive keeping 30 days worth of changes in a separate folder. That way I can go back and collect any files that I feel I might need. So there I have two points of backup. The bad part, they are both on my desk. Sure they are on opposites sides of my desk AND connected via different electrical outlets. This didn't give me much comfort when there was 4 inches of water already on the grown and 800 gallons outside of my door waiting to enter.

What did though was my off site backup to Backblaze. For $5 a month I can upload all of the data that I want from a single computer. Now the initial backup took me 60 days on my present connection. After that is done the uploads take much less time and it can be even scheduled to do it in the evenings only. What would have been more effective would be to have a backup solution another house reach out and download the pictures instead of an upload, but that will be for a later design.

As I looked at the water pouring in, I knew that not only did I have two points of backup that would have to fail, I also had one off-site. With gallons of water all around electronic equipment that sure did give me some comfort that I wouldn't lose everything.

What is your backup solution?

1st Communion: Photo of the Day

2009-06-26T08:04:00.001-05:00

Most would say that to bring up religion in a photography blog probably wouldn’t be the best idea. Like many controversial topics it is usually best to steer clear. Since this has never been a photography blog per se, but a blog about what interests I have and more importantly what passions fuel my life, I am hoping that I get a pass. For those not interested in religion hang with me, the narrow topic may be religion, but there is a broader topic.

I am not a cradle Catholic, in fact on most things I and the Catholic Church will find some divergence of opinion. I am however Catholic. A decision I made some time long before I had children and through a very long and meticulous process. I began as just a parishioner, and later joined the choir and even sang solos.

This journey from my first foot inside of the Catholic Church to my conversion on an Easter morning 4 years later was also different. I went through RCIA fully intending to not change anything about my situation, to just continue my faith journey and hopefully to continue to develop my commitment towards God.

I give my reader this background so they can understand each of the choices that I made in the past. I am not however a liturgical person my sense of faith veers off when it comes to Biblical law. I can however speak quite well about what faith means to me. What is contained going forward is about that and has nothing to with any Church by definition that I am aware of

My children however have been baptized and raised Catholic from the beginning. By the time they came into this world, I was a well-established member of the Catholic faith. They do not go to Catholic School however, just church and CCD. Their faith journey has been different than mine in many ways and will always be. Faith is an individual process between you and God. What side trails your journey takes are wholly dependent on where your spiritual journey leads.

My children’s journey today after years of Sunday classes is leading them towards their first reconciliation and onward to their first communion. As most of my readers know Buddy has Down Syndrome. My Co-Parent and I opted to hold Buddy back one year of his CCD in hopes that his ability to learn might catch-up with the class he was attending. When Punkin started, she was with Buddy in the same class learning side-by-side with him.

There are 7 Sacraments in the Catholic Church, Reconciliation being one of them. Very shortly both of my children will accept this Sacrament at the same time. Buddy and Punkin have gone through this process hopefully learning fully what it means to confess your sin to the Father or Christ and receive forgiveness.

I have been very troubled by my Co-Parents insistence of Buddy going through the same process as Punkin. This has caused much strife in my life. My views of this Sacrament have remained unchanged. From even before we were married, my view has been this is too early in a spiritual journey to make this type of commitment to god. In my life as a Catholic most do agree that a 7-8 year olds idea of sin is very rudimentary. Their “faith” is based on not doing mean things to their parents or as my daughter confirmed. “If I bit my brother, I have committed a sin”

I went through a diligent process in accepting my first reconciliation and then my first communion. My journey took 5 years of attendance in church and would not have happened had I not had numerous conversations with the Deacon on faith and more importantly how my faith fits into the Catholic Church. My desire to commune in the church I attended won out though.

I longed to have communion. For me that was the most important part that I was missing in my life. I wanted to receive the bread and the cup and to confirm that faith I had in Christ. I hadn’t communed in the Catholic Church where I went week in and week out because I knew that this was not allowed. Being Lutheran I shouldn’t commune inside of a Catholic Church so I withheld myself from this part of the service.

In all of these discussions with the Deacon it was apparent to me that the rules of man were what caused me anxiety. The “rules of god” probably didn’t mind. I converted to Catholicism and I accepted the cup and have communed ever since, except for a number of months after my divorce become final.

I find myself a diligent practitioner of my faith. The “faith” I practice in the church that I attend do vary wildly from it. I have ironed out “my faith” and my relationship with God with may conversations with him. We have worked on it together and it is forever evolving and will continue to.

Buddy, has only a rudimentary knowledge of good and bad. When I have discussed sin with him he repeated the word to me like we were practicing a speech lesson. When asked about what would be good or bad behavior I know that he is aware and learns, he doesn’t bite people anymore, but onetime did. He helps the girl down the block get her coat on. He says he is sorry when either asked or for bumping into someone on the street. He in addition knows how to get his emotions under control when asked if a toy is taken away from him. He understands things in the moment.

I doubt he will ever be able to have those conversations with God that I have on a regular basis, it won’t be a matter a choice he can make, but a matter of ability. His understanding will limit him. I who have crafted what it is that I have learned and painstakingly apply it to my faith. I then continue to seek out and study to modify what I believe on a regular basis. This will be lost on Buddy. I realize though that this is my own selfish loss for my son

Buddy will walk through this reconciliation process despite what I want for him however. My Co-Parent has deemed him ready for this. She has also had conversations with Buddy and she reports that he does grasp and can speak upon sin and equate it with “good” and “bad”

As I was trying to find some meaning for me in this milestone that Buddy will undertake shortly, I have discussed with many people in my surrounding “think tank” I have received much advice. I even consulted my daughter to see what her feelings were on the topic.

Punkin spent time talking about sin and the process of reconciliation. Though not totally grasping sin she did at least understand the benefit of talking to someone or to communing with God and asking for forgiveness. I felt comfortable about where she was on her spiritual journey that I hope will continue to evolve even after I stop mandating it.

I also asked her about Buddy and if he felt he understood Reconciliation. She spoke about how attentive Buddy is in class. How he spends time watching different movies or coloring. She reported how mom has been in class on occasion playing with him. In one case he was taking pictures of his whole class with his camera. Punkin said she didn’t think he understood. I thanked her for her honesty.

I consulted with the same Deacon who I had conversations with years earlier. I eagerly anticipated his thoughts on the topic. He had reservations, but also felt that Buddy may never understand what is needed, but if he is not harmed then why not let it happen? I to had had this conversation with myself as well. Was I just holding onto how I lived and what I wanted, when in reality, it would never happen? Is this not what we expect or want for each of our children and may be the most precious gift we can give? Neither question has right or wrong answers.

For each of my children we want to have a better life than we had. We guide them in the direction and let them glean from our years of experience what worked and what didn’t. Letting them go finally to lead their own lives. Buddy though doesn’t have that luxury and may never have it. In the same deep recesses of mind where I talk to God, I also talk to me and question as a father what is right for one child and not for the other. On this topic I don’t have any answers. Faith is the answer not only in religion, but in parenting as well.

ScanCafe Update

2009-06-24T06:00:00.001-05:00

You see above another follow-up from my ScanCafe project. The emails have been pretty consistent recently. As you can see from above the give you a very nice visual update on what part of the process your images are at. Also the key to this page is to then track your order.

After I logged myself into their website I found exactly where my images were located at in their processing facility. Very nice touch! More updates as the product moves through their system.

Walking with Punkin: Photo of the Day

2009-06-22T09:46:00.001-05:00

This is one of those photos that I just don’t know why it works for me. The pixel peepers would have some fun with it for certain. Nothing is in focus, there is motion blur from the photographer moving and there are a number of other items that just don’t work. For me it does.

The photographer in this case was of course Buddy. I have this ideal that says I shouldn’t touch his photos in any way before I post them. I can’t alter them or even add some Plug-in effects to make them better. I need to consult with before I change them in any artistic fashion. That of course is silly.

At some point I may be able to involve Buddy in the creative process. Until then I think I can change as I do my own images, subtly. Hopefully it adds to the affect that is already present.

Panasonic Lumix LZ8. Slight crop some Glamour Glow plug-in added from Nik Color Efex 3.0.

A Night Out at Charlie Trotter's: Photo of the Day

2009-06-19T10:19:00.000-05:00

For those that know me pre-children, they know that I love to cook. I have always had a passion for making dishes and the more elaborate the better. I can honestly say that I have spent over a day making a potato recipe, searching out the best ingredients, carefully putting them together, nurturing it for as long as it’s needed and then serving it. In that case the taste wasn’t worth that type of effort, but at other times it has been more than so. Because of this I have always admired Charlie Trotter.

Charlie Trotter is a Chicago icon. His restaurant in Lincoln Park that bears his name has been a mainstay on top places to eat not only in Chicago and the US, but also the world. Mr. Trotter has done this without ever attending a culinary institute, and in fact has a Political Science degree from the University of Wisconsin. His cooking was self-taught from books and experiance. During college he not only studied his coursework, but also read many culinary books and toured the best restaurants in the world during breaks.

Because of this I have always wanted to eat at his self-named restaurant and experience what culinary excellence tastes like. I was looking forward to eating good food, but also taking in the presentation skills that the best chefs offer their patrons. With that in mind I made the reservation to Charlie Trotter’s a few months back for my wife and I’s first wedding anniversary.

We arrived at Charlie Trotter’s before our 5:30pm reservation and were the first guests to arrive. The restaurant from the outside looks like a smallish house in the upper class Lincoln Park neighborhood in suburban Chicago. There was some construction-taking place on the outside of the building and they were cleaning the steps up to the restaurant. We were quite early and I suspect these were some last minute details being attended to before they expected their clientele to arrive.

Despite our early arrival the staff met us at the door and opened it for my wife and I. As we first entered we saw a beautiful display of wine’s reaching up to the vaulted ceiling full of different varieties as one might expect from all over the world. The bartender was there and met with us and of course offered us some champagne or other drink. We accepted the Champagne from the list that they had available by the glass. After a period of time we were then ushered to our seats and awaited the menu and the start of our experience.

The restaurant is available in two levels of seating with our seats being on the first level. There is also available some seating in the kitchen, from my understanding those are just randomly selected from the evenings guests. This must be an incredible experience to witness not only how the meal is put together, but also to see how the staff operates and the food arrives.

The menu arrives on a specially prepared sheet of paper and the wine list is a well-stocked book. There are two selections, the vegetable menu and the Grand Menu. The vegetable is just that all vegetables and the Grand contains many different styles of meats and seafood. Our waiter though was quick to point out that if we had any specially prepared items they would substitute or if there were any allergies they would also change out menu items as well.

Along with the menu for the evening there is a beverage menu for the different wines that will be matched and served with each dish. Along with the drinks is a non-alcoholic fruit juice menu. Given the opportunity to enjoy 5 or more different glasses of wine with many different varietals both my wife and I chose the alcoholic portion of the drink menu. There is available either regular bottled water as well as tap water and a well stocked bar.

Mr. Trotter only serves ingredients at the peak of their maturity so there are different menu choices on most any evening you might arrive. I have enclosed the choices we had and since neither Kate nor I have any allergies, changes were not needed.

The dining experience will take at least 2- 2½ hours from start to finish. I will not describe each dish, but only hit the highlights of both menus. With each different glass of wine, port or sherry there is a different piece of stemware from Reidel included. By about the 3rd course you forget what meals are scheduled and in what order so it is always exciting when they place each glass in front of you. We spent a little time guessing what wine and what meal course is arriving shortly.

For those carnivores thinking the vegetable menu might not be to their liking, I can relieve them from that caution. There were two exceptional dishes in my meal, both the duck and the veal, but until those arrived I was craving most of the dishes that arrived in front of Kate, each was very aromatic with exceptional tastes as well.

Each course and wine arrived with a short presentation from each attendant. During that they described the wine or meal with a short explanation. In the case of the wines, you heard about the grape varietal and the region the wine was from. For the meals you heard about each particular part of the entrée and the ingredients that make up each dish.

As one might expect the amenities and the presentation for an upper-tier restaurant is what will also attract some guests as well. None of the tables in our lower level dining room is intimate though. This leads to some benefit since most of the guests are eating from the same menu. Given that we were one of the first guests we were able to relive each course as the tables next to us received their portions. This always reminded me how exceptional each portion was.

Because of this lack of intimacy your dining becomes much more of a social event than you might anticipate. The table next to us asked us if we knew the score of the Cubs game, when I didn’t they checked it on their phone and reported the outcome to me.

Next door to the main level dining room is another small kitchen and a table for small parties. Many might remember this kitchen from Mr. Trotter’s PBS show, which aired a few years back. This room can easily hold another 20 or so guests and was in use later in the evening. This would also be where I bumped into Mr. Trotter who kindly pointed the direction back to the main hall for me when I was slightly distracted while watching the chef’s cook on multiple TV monitors placed in the rear of this second kitchen.

The service as you might expect was spectacular. All of the waiters and waitresses were very knowledgeable on each dish. We used this knowledge often and they were more than happy to go over each dish and flavor. Kate and I explored the many different flavors that are apart of the different courses. The plates and the presentation also changed with the wine glasses for each course, we also went through a number of different forks, knives and spoons as they also changed. With that much changing of place settings happening you might think the staff might get under-foot. Amazingly enough they were always there when you needed them, but somehow were never in your way nor interrupted any of our conversation.

During our meal there never was any pressure to finish each course, in fact quite the opposite. We were encouraged to enjoy each at our out pace, savor the wine and experience each dish with all of our senses. The vegetable menu lent itself often to this exploration, as those dishes were especially fragrant.

Almost all of the dishes were prepared with multiple flavors. However none of the different preparations was larger than a few mouthfuls. We found it best to enjoy these by taking small bites from each side of the plate. In order to share any, small bites will be a necessity. Because of the smaller portions we explored each part of the dish to experience each and every flavor. There were many times we asked the wait-staff back to tell us again what a certain flavor was. This was by far for me the best part of the meal because in many cases I would have never thought to combine certain ingredients together in one dish.

True to their word when we made the reservation the meal from start to finish was close to 2 ½ hours. As we neared the end of the meal a delightful elderly lady came by and asked if we might want to tour the kitchen after our meal was complete. I of course readily answered a yes and she said to have the wait-staff get her when we were ready.

After dessert the elderly woman was identified to us as Mrs. Trotter, we soon found out that this was Charlie’s mom and we set off to take advantage of the tour of the kitchen. As we entered the kitchen we spotted the lone table and then the multiple different areas for each course that was being prepared for the evening. We also found out the reason for the expert pacing through the meal was due to two people who were in charge of pacing each table so that within 30 seconds of preparation the course would be on our plate and ready to be eaten!

I discussed with Mrs. Trotter my love of cooking and how much both Kate and I enjoyed our meal, she then took us on a side tour to the extra banquet room to show us a special oven that Charlie cooks with called a TurboChef. She explained in hushed tones that it was $7,000, but that like all new technologies it would come down in price she was certain.

We also discussed with her some of the ingredients that were used in the evening such as ramps and Morel mushrooms. Morels are a favorite of mine from when I used to live in Michigan. It was then that we found out that Mrs. Trotter took her honeymoon and the car ferry that leaves from my hometown of Ludington. We shared some small talk about Ludington and many of the geographical places that she might remember. Our waiter thanking us for eating there interrupted our tour, but his comment to Mrs. Trotter about how much it was obvious we enjoyed the meal was a fond reminder of the meal we had just completed. She then walked us back to the front of the restaurant and on the way Charlie grabbed what he called his first kiss of the evening and then we exited Charlie Trotter’s onto the street.

As most can tell by this time I was very much impressed with every part of the meal, it was far and away the finest meal from beginning to end that I have enjoyed. The service was over and above and the whole dining experience was quite overwhelming, the tour just completed the end of a wonderful evening.

There are only a few criticisms I can arrive at for the diner who would want to experience this type of meal. I did not venture up to the upper floor so the seating there might be different. Dining at Charlie Trotter’s can be a social event. I’m sure for many of the patrons there this may be their only visit. There were many pictures being taken and conversation was quite prevalent for a festive occasion. It is not loud, but is present. For Kate and I it fit our festive mood. If you are looking for a very intimate dining experience this probably isn’t it.

The other item to prepare yourself for Charlie Trotter’s as you might expect does come at some cost. It is not to be ventured into lightly and without some room on the credit card. It is however an event that needs to be enjoyed from start to finish and for Kate and I celebrating our first anniversary it will be remembered and treasured.

The above picture was taken with my Panasonic LX3. It was actually done after some prodding from the wait-staff. Today I'm grateful of that prodding.

Photograph what is around you: Photo of the Day

2009-06-17T05:39:00.003-05:00

I was on on a recent trip to Ohio and the birding hotspot Magee Marsh to photograph migrating warblers. For those that aren't aware when you arrive at the wildlife refuge you follow the road all the way back to just along the Lake Erie shoreline. You will see a large parking lot and then signs for the boardwalk trail. During migratory seasons you will also see 100s of birders and photographers. During my recent trip there I fell in more with the photographers as you might expect.

Since this was my first experience photographing small birds and a warbler is very small compared to my winter bald eagle activity. Because of this I fussed quite a bit over which equipment to use. I settled on The Nikon 300 AFD with a Better Beamer and the D3 and D300 bodies. I did have mounted on a tripod the Nikon 600 AFS. Since the birds moved quite a bit and never seemed to stay in one place for any amount of time, the 600 was difficult to manuever. The boardwalk isn't very wide once you open the legs of the tripod so there is the chance of a tripping hazard or worse the camera tipping over hazard. With a D3 and a Nikon 600mm that is not something that I cared to watch or have happen.

Most of the good shots I got was with my older AF version of the Nikon 300 f/4. I might next year want to bring the 200-400 AFS with a TC. I may also want to move my equipment to a monopod because that will allow me to be mobile which I found to be very important as the birds jump in and out of the trees and move around quite readily.

I once again found the best photos to be taken with the D3 over the D300. This was not just the full fram photos, but even when cropped. I can only say that this is my experiance and yours may vary. I was also not pleased with the focusing speed of the older Nikon AF 300 f/4. AFS has really spoiled me and there isn't much room for error with birds that are able to move and twitch while on the branch that fast.

The above photo is taken of an amish family that came to do some bird watching at Magee Marsh. I found their outfits very photogenic and since there was some free time between birds I snapped a number of pictures of them. I also got some candids of people around me whose expressions I found interesting. Though I have never been a "street photographer" I did find this foray into street photography somewhat interesting, especially since I had birds as a backup.

ScanCafe Photo Scanning Update: Photo of the Day

2009-06-15T07:41:00.000-05:00

As an update to my previous post on using ScanCafe from previous blog post. A few days after my negatives arrived I received the following update from them. Since all of these pictures were family memories it was a welcomed update to let me know that they had receive them and that they weren't lost in transit. Of course I had been checking the UPS site for their arrival and already was aware.

I also received another email recently that said they were going to be upping their prices on July 15. They were giving a 10% discount code to beat the price increase. Business must be good if they are increasing prices. I almost accepted this deal because as loyal readers might recall I have 2-3 more batches of negatives that need to be turned into digital images and getting 10% off and avoiding a price increase is usually pretty high on my list.

In the end I held off because I want to see the quality of the scans before I send more negatives to this type of service. I also am still a little uncomfortable with having more than one batch of negatives out of my possession and in someone elses.

I'll keep every posted as I get more updates.

Memories of Buddy: Photo of the Day

2009-06-12T06:21:00.000-05:00

As I write this today is my son's birthday Though there isn’t a major milestone attached to this marker of his passing time. Only 9 years since Tyler first arrived, it still seems to me as if it was yesterday. I know that feeling of time passing and compression taking place. Events that you swear weren’t that long ago, when viewed in years are many.

Buddy arrived into this world and I will selfishly admit to wanting my first born to be a son. Though as I type those words I feel as if I am a character from the movie 300 for asking that. I am the only son of an only son. There is some sort of pressure being in that lineage. Not put there, but just is. I carry the name and the name is handed down and continued. This no longer bother’s me, but at that time and that place on May 11, 2000, it did. Life is different for me now. Some of it because I am older and I like to think wiser, but much of these changes I believe are because of the mere existence of Buddy in my life.

Truly life begins for Buddy and I on May 18. His birth was met with elation and his death a mere 18 hours later, was met with the similar, but opposite feeling. I have written to myself many times about those 18 hours and the emotional cigars I passed out at the birth of my first child and my only son. I don’t know as I can properly express how exciting and amazing watching the whole opera progress before he arrived via C-section at 6:23pm.

Life takes many memories away, but it does not one iota dim my memory of those moments, feelings and visions, etched into my brain when I recall his birth. The same can be said when the doctor strolled into the room and informed us of Tyler’s potential Down Syndrome diagnoses or “something else”. The DS was scary enough, but the “something else” well what could that be. He was there only 10 minutes to pass that information along.   The door closing behind him, without a question being asked and no time given to explanations or even to wipe the shock off our face.

May 18 though resides in my brain for a number of reasons though. May 18 is my mother’s birthday. It is also the realization day that my son was not going to have anywhere close to the life I had thought he would have and nothing that was going to even resemble “the plan” that resided in my head. All of that would be gone and replaced with nothing. No pages in this book, only blanks.

Being a perpetual planner with pages always being apart of my ongoing story, the lack of pages was the scariest event that could happen. I knew how childhood was suppose to be or at least how I would want it, which no father ever gets, but wants to give their children. It isn’t until later that they realize that their parents indeed had some wisdom, but we still swear we aren’t them.

May 18 was when I looked into Buddy’s eyes and realized what I read sometime later was best described as the “ghost of Buddy.” This ghost existed more strongly then, but still is there today. The Buddy that was in my head, the Buddy that resided there in my hopes and dreams, this Buddy that was going to be so much more than he could have possibly lived up to. This “ghost” still exists, and still remains unchanged. The Buddy that doesn’t have Down Syndrome, his chromosomes remarkably still attached and not broken. Somehow at conception they were fused in the correct alignment and life for him and me went differently.

I don’t wish for him to not have DS. I just see him that way. Not every moment. The son that is lost is not there most of the time now. When he was little though he was there more often mostly because I needed him to be.

In letting go of my “ghost” I was able to see things more realistically, more what is in Buddy’s world. I have longed many times to spend some time there; it must be an amazing place. I don’t know and will never be able to know whether I would be happy or sad there.

I have mourned my son’s loss of intellect, his athletic prowess and creative skills. I still in more selfish moments mourn those today. Buddy doesn’t care about those though, the ghost in my head does. I needed hope; I needed there to be some chance that he might be different than he was. A miracle child…then as time marched on I realized less and less that I didn’t need that miracle.

The miracle was indeed there and his name was Buddy. All children are.

Buddy filled up my life and the ghost started leaving. I have inwardly been amazed when Tyler could start saying Dad. When a complete sentence came out of his mouth that I understood. When I watched him throw his first strike at the bowling alley, the gutters up and with help from Dad. I have watched what were scribbles become his name and those same scribbles become people and trees in drawings.

The boy wins always against the ghost.

I have spent hours in front of the TV with my head against it to feel static electricity because Buddy does, I’ve watched doors open automatically, I’ve seen 1000s of pictures sprout from Buddies camera and now even movies. He didn’t need a manual for the camera. The manual he couldn’t read.

I’ve met people in stores, restaurants, school events and even in other states. All know Buddy. I don’t know them, but he knows them.

Children have shouted, “retard” at him and he just looks at them confused. Showing almost pity and a little hurt either in more comprehension then I give him credit for or none at all. He deals with those moments more gracefully than I have. I want to pound them, pulverize them…hurt them back. Instead I go and talk to them about DS and how it’s not about being “retarded” It’s about being different. In our diversity there is strength.

Sure it’s talking different, acting different, seeing different and in most cases looking different.

What would have hurt me when Tyler entered this world was his looking different. Shallow though I may be and a hypocrite at times. I had hopes that the coke Bottle glasses and atypical DS features might not be apart of my boys life.

I still cringe sometimes when he gives me some action that wouldn’t and in many cases couldn’t be done by my daughter. Most times I see the handsome young man that resides in my head each day. In an IEP session I also had one of his educators say something that I might have assaulted them for just a few years earlier. “With all due respect, how can you not love him and want to help him. You can tell that he needs help and he is just so cute.”

On May 18 though my progression into enlightment started. I am so far just starting on this journey and I already see I have so far to go. On May 18 was the day that I realized I was hanging onto a ghost and I needed to let it go.

I will admit to always wanting to be a good father. Whether I am or not I don’t know as I will ever find out. I live with every day what I don’t do. Like write this missive instead of going over pooh drawings with Tyler who is watching the Justice League on DVD in the next room. I try to pat myself on the back when I think something comes out of my mouth that at least sounds good. Sounds like I would want to hear from my own father or I think a father should say.

I will admit to still having times where I sit next to the “ghost” Tyler. In those moments, sometimes early in the morning before he gets up, I will just stand and stare at Buddy. Sometimes he has forgotten to take his glasses off, other times he will be clutching a favorite movie or Batman doll. I look into my son and see past the facial features, which more so today than yesterday mark him as a child with disabilities. His smallish ears and his eyes, which aren’t the proper size for his face, his hands or even his skin which is so dry it sometimes has a reddish hue to it.

I will stand their mesmerized by the “ghost”, seeing those first moments on the operating table before I knew of his diagnoses. I will remember the first time he grabbed my hand and felt he would be a golfer. Thinking fondly even then of the events in our life together, reading books, helping with math, chemistry or science homework. Maybe traveling and photography, maybe something like what happened in my own life, child leads father to bowling or golf. Invigorating passions that the father may or may not have had without the son.    We sit together on some bench this ghost and I and then I let him go.

I used to hold onto those moments in the early days, when there seemed to be nothing else to hold onto. I carried the ghost with me, needing him. I used to have to wrestle the ghost away from my thoughts, making myself see, feel and experience what I had in front of me. The ghost always was just that, a coping mechanism. What I have in front of me is what has always been there. It’s Buddy and he is what is real and that is what I like to hang on to.

Chicago Skyline from Navy Pier: Photo of the Day

2009-06-10T08:17:00.000-05:00

On a recent trip to downtown Chicago to celebrate my 1st wedding anniversary as most suspect I did take a little time out to photograph. Though on these occasions I try to keep it to a minimum since this time is intended to celebrate family, I always fight the urge within myself to watch the light. These types of outings were exactly the reason why I purchased my P&S camera the Panasonic LX3. If you have followed this blog on a regular basis this camera more and more has become my daily camera. It will never replace my DSLR’s for the more serious work, but in many cases since I am limited by time and in some cases space I have found it invaluable.

My wife on our first anniversary was not going to wait for me to set-up too many shots or to carry around a tripod; the LX3 fit nicely in my jacket pocket or in some cases her purse. I was able to bring it out quickly, snap the picture and often she never knew that I had taken a photo. Sneaky guy I am.

Above is the Chicago Skyline while taken from the Navy Pier Ferris wheel. This Ferris Wheel is modeled after the 1893 World Columbian Exposition that was held in Chicago and was the first Ferris Wheel. Though imposing when you first arrive at Navy Pier at 150ft of diameter. It would be dwarfed by the original which soared to a height of 250ft!

Kate and I decided to rake a ride up and this quick snap of a beautiful spring day in Chicago was the results.

Panasonic LX3 converted in Aperture, some Nik Color Efex Viveza was used on the sky and the Local Contrast Filter from Nik Color Efex 3.0 finished it off.

On another note I could continue to post photos each day for quite sometime I find that my ability to write articles up to the level that I would like is limiting me. I find there are too many easily spotted errors making their way into these pieces. Because I am a one-person operation as writer and chief editor I will push my schedule back to a more realistic 3 days a week schedule. This should help me start having some quality control of the articles and still keep my day job which currently pays all of the bills.

Now if someone wants to make a large donation I could farm out the articles hire an editor, quit the day job and just take photos. Send this donation via Paypal to bcmielke (at)gmail (dot) com

Lady Slipper in the Smoky Mountains: Photo of the Day

2009-06-08T07:35:00.003-05:00

Lady Slipper in the Smoky Mountains, originally uploaded by BCMielke.

Just being friendly can help you with pictures. I a recent trip to the Smoky Mountains I was hiking up a trail that just a couple of years early had netted me more pictures than I could possibly take in only the first mile. This time however I and my pack trekked all the way up the mountain a good 4 miles with not much to show for it other than sore muscles.

On the way back down I chatted with some other photographers on the way up exchanging what we might have seen and where to find it along the trail. In this case one shared with me this Lady Slipper that was back in the woods and not known to me. I quickly got directions from him and went off to find it. Had I not been friendly or shared my knowledge this picture would have never happened.

Panasonic LX3 Local Contrast filter from Nik Color Efex 3.0

Catherine Stout: Photo of the Day

2009-06-07T08:40:00.003-05:00

Catherine Stout: Photo of the Day, originally uploaded by BCMielke.

I had the opportunity to photograph a good friends newborn baby. This is always an exciting time for a couple. Jeff , Carrie and now Catherine Frances Stout were kind enough to give me a couple of hours of their time to get the pictures that I needed. Newborns can always be a problem at times, but Cati was a joy to work with never fussing until of course she was hungry and not bothering at all with the multiple flash pops that were going off. I enjoyed my time and hopefully got a few pictures that the couple will have lasting memories with.

There was a point when Carrie let me hold Cati. Most who read this know that my children are a little bit older than a baby. I asked her if Kate had put her up to this? She said, "Not at all" Now I don't know if I believe this little exchange didn't happen and my wife was mum about any contact between the two. What I do know was that it was pretty nice having a baby in my arms again and wondering what the future might hold for her.

Morning Sunrise through the Trees:Photo of the Day

2009-06-06T06:51:00.002-05:00

Morning Sunrise through the Trees, originally uploaded by BCMielke.

If you give anything morning light it tends to look good. This is just a simple photograph of a tree with the clouds changing behind it. The best part of this for those that know and care is if I'm outside at dawn it means I am running again. The Achilles has somewhat healed and my morning ritual is hopefully back and pain free.

Nikon D700 Nikkor 24-120 VR Converted in Aperture

Lensbaby Martini: Photo of the Day

2009-06-05T07:15:00.003-05:00

Every since I purchased this little lens I have found times to use it. I love my Lensbaby. I hate to coin a phrase or marketing logo, but it does indeed make the ordinary extraordinary. Above we have a consolation for a long week of work for me. A nice martini.

I will say that a lensbaby is not for everyone. My wife doesn't happen to like looking at the pictures at all and noticeably groans when I remove it from the bag. For food photography though there is nothing better that jazzes up a photo than a quick shot with a lensbaby. Like it or hate it, I would like your feedback on the lensbaby.

Captured with the D700 Lensbaby 3G with the portrait optic. Converted in Aperture

Does this look illegal?: Photo of the Day

2009-06-04T05:41:00.002-05:00

Does this look illegal?, originally uploaded by BCMielke.

You wouldn't think this looks illegal. I guess it is at Bloomingdales. As my wife was trying on dresses to go to a show and dinner for our anniversary. I took this time to sharpen some photography skills and to look for more dresses. I liked how the colors were so dramatic in my viewfinder. I was able to take about 6-7 pictures before a person asked me to stop saying that they did not allow shooting in Bloomingdales.

As regular readers might recall I had the same problem in a spice store awhile back and they emailed me when a reader pointed out what I had written. One would think they woudln't like the negative press. Now instead of a picture with a comment about how nice of a place Bloomingdales is to purchase dresses at, they are stuck with this.

Getting Focus right: Photo of the Day

2009-06-03T07:59:00.002-05:00

Getting Focus right: Photo of the Day, originally uploaded by BCMielke.

Technically I could complain alot about this photo. I'll keep it to focus. Well I changed my mind. I wish I had seperated the two flowers on the lower right a little as well.

When I took this photo I was trying to isolate the front tulip from the other two to give me sharp focus on the front and have the others fade into the background bokeh. That didn't happen though. It started to rain, the wind picked up and guess what the photo doesn't really work like I wanted to. Despite 7 pictures I never really paid attention to the one detail that would have made it work a steady tripod and a stationary subject. I could have re-did this photo many times over the next week and this was one I never got back to. Get it right the first time and you don't have to.

Nikon D700 Nikkor 200 F/2 Converted in Aperture

Some are thrust in our view: Photo of the Day

2009-06-02T07:33:00.002-05:00

Some are thrust in our view: Photo of the Day, originally uploaded by BCMielke.

I sometimes find myself looking for pictures and other times they are thrust in my way. The above picture was just such a case. We recently went on a camping trip into Wisconsin. We had rented a group campground, which gave us plenty of space to invite friends and even other family members. One of those nights my sister arrived with my brother-in-law.

It just so happens that if there were an award for professional fire-maker my “Bil” would win the award. He can build a fire with the proverbial two sticks of wood if he has to. The smoldering old damp wood around our campsite was no match for him, however it was a match for my wife and myself the next night.

For those that know such things when you check into a campground purchasing wood is a necessity. The little packet of wood is usually so dry that it will have burnt edges by the sunlight if left out on a bright day. Inevitably the last night for your fire you either have too much or too little wood. Since “Bil” was there the night before we were left with too little. Keep in mind I’m not complaining, I would rather have a great fire then none at all. My “Bil” builds great fires. In the case for this night we should have picked up some more wood because our meager skills just weren’t enough for the damp large tree branches left over on the ground.

The group was clamoring for a fire though and so I jumped in my car to make that happen. I had noticed through the weekend a couple of places that had wood, what I hoped for was they were open late. Yes I know stores open late at night selling wood probably isn’t going to happen, but man of action that I am, I have to look.

Driving around the lake to get to the second store I was greeted with this site of the sun setting and me, well being me I had to stop and snap this picture. Well so I snapped a few more than just one and even a couple of different angles. The scene was thrust upon me so I had to work it didn’t I?

Thankfully this did not cause my mad dash to the store to wind up differently than if I hadn’t taken the time to take pictures. Both of the stores were long closed. Regardless I couldn’t have asked for a better sunset.

Always have a camera handy and if something catches your eye then really try to work the scene from all different angles and compositions.

Panasonic Lumix LX3 and converted in Aperture with the Local Contrast filter in Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0.

Choral Performance at Elementary East:Photo of the Day

2009-06-01T09:23:00.002-05:00

Choral Performance at Elementary East:Photo of the Day, originally uploaded by BCMielke.

My son is such a ham. He loves being in the spotlight and enjoys making you laugh. He has always been this way from shortly after birth. His laughs radiate though his whole face and are infectious to those around him.

There was a choral performance at his school the other day. He and many other second grade students performed the vocal parts of a play that the Warren Township Elementary East 2nd grade was apart of. The part consisted of some singing and hand movements. He can usually hum a few bars and get most of the hand movements correctly.

We found out from his teacher this week that has not been an active participant in music class learning the choral part of the play. He usually was fidgeting, playing and distracting other students or just sitting down while the other students were doing the performance. This also can be Tyler as well. With any child there is good and there is bad.

For whatever reason he decided it was time to participate the practice before their one and only performance. He didn’t sit down, didn’t distract other students and decided to do not just a few, but all of the hand motions that accompany each song. Most didn’t even know he knew them and he did almost everyone to what I call Tyler perfection. He not only hummed, but also sang a few of the words to the songs.

As I watched this performance I was unaware of his previous poor behavior and lack of participation. What I received from his music teacher and his schoolteacher was amazement because they had not seen this type of behavior the previous weeks. Where it came from they didn’t know. They were just happy and excited that he participated and performed very well.

The key to taking good pictures at any school facility is to know where your child will be and try to be as near to them as possible. The other key is to set as close to them as possible and try to move around to get open views without distracting other parents. This is far easier said than done. Best idea is to talk to the teacher or in this case the musical director. Had I not done this I might have very well been on the other side of the gym and not gotten any pictures of Tyler hamming it up for the crowd.

For the record he was letting mom know that he was doing well…hence the thumbs up.

Capture with my Nikon D700 and Sigma 100-300 f/4 lens.

Chicago Construction Sunset: Photo of the Day

2009-05-29T07:24:00.002-05:00

Chicago Construction Sunset, originally uploaded by BCMielke.

Timing is everything for a sunset picture. Especially if the sun itself is in the photo. When I first started making photographs seriously many years ago I was surprised how fast the yellow orbital fell below the horizon. You don't have much time in which to capture the sun, especially if you want to place it someplace.

There are many tools you can use to show where the sun will set, sunrise/sunset charts, iPhone programs and most have something on their GPS. I prefer in most cases to just leave that to happenstance. That is what I did for this photo.

Nikon D700 Nikon 24-120 Lens, converted in Aperture.

Folding Reflectors and Backgrounds

2009-05-28T08:32:00.001-05:00

I always am forgetting how to fold my backgrounds. This will help me remember and I figure others might find it helpful as well.

ScanCafe Clutter

2009-05-28T06:53:00.002-05:00

ScanCafe Clutter, originally uploaded by BCMielke.

I am in the process of sending out many of my old negatives to a scanning service. After some amount of research I chose ScanCafe, mainly because they allow you to bulk send them in and choose the ones that you want sent back to you digitally. Since most of what you see in this picture is cherished family memories, my plan is to use ScanCafe in 3 bulk shipments. It also helps spread the cost out as well.

I do have a very nice Nikon scanner that I have in the past used to scan in my slide film pictures, but my plan is to only use that equipment for those scans that might need more resolution. Though ScanCafe can provide that they also increase the price accordingly. The standard scan is 6mp and that should be adequate for the family pictures, for some of the landscape shots I may at some time want more.

I will let my readers follow me through this process with regular updates and also give my impressions of the work at the end of the process.

If at first you don't succeed, go back: Photo of the Day

2009-05-27T09:05:00.000-05:00

I am a curmudgeon. I don't know as I personally like this personality trait, but I have lived with it for so long that I now just accept it. It takes me awhile to warm up to ideas outside of my own. So I am a selfish curmudgeon. I do finally after complaining either in my head or outside of my own head. With my children I try to make it on the inside.

I did not want to go to the Rainforest Cafe, but I had said if she gets all of her spelling words right that she can pick the place to have dinner. What I didn't realize was that I would have such fun with Photography with all of the various lights and animals that this restaurant has all around the seating area.

For this outing I had chosens just a Nikon 50mm lens and the D700. I wished that I had packed my own light, but I was reduced to using the pop-up flash located on the D700. The array of lights all around the resteraunt lent itself for the exploration of my creative pictures. This picture would have been perfect with just a touch more flash on my subject. If I can just prompt her to get all her spelling words correct again, we might have that shot.

A picture of a very happy Punkin celebrating a great effort.

African Statue: Photo of the Day

2009-05-26T10:22:00.002-05:00

African Statue: Photo of the Day, originally uploaded by BCMielke.

I always walk through the Atlanta Airport. For some there is an easy train ride, but as many times as I have flown into the ATL, I always walk past the trains and onto the long walkway to Baggage Claim. It's only a mile and you are blessed with artwork from Africa and other places while you stroll.

These statues have been in place for quite some time and they are well lit and professional maintained. I always pause at one of the pieces as I make my way through the gallery. This was sculpted by Edronce Rukodzi from Zimbabwe. You can find his gallery here.

What almost didn't happen: Photo of the day

2009-05-22T10:14:00.004-05:00

Here is a picture that almost didn't happen. I know most photographer's have a story like that and I will share mine. On a cross-country trip with my sister and ex-wife we stopped at the Grand Canyon. I was just getting into photography and had my trust N90 and Fuji Velvia. I was going to capture the quintessential picture of every national park we went to during that 1 week trip back driving across the country.

I was tired having driven all day, and really didn't have any clue what happens in canyons at sunset when the light is at such a severe angle. Having lived my whole life in the midwest we just didn't have photos taken that way. They just don't exist. Canyons and Mountains however are different. Standing on the edge as the sunset I stopped and looked and wanted to go home just shortly after I saw the sun disappear. My sister however kept wanting to look at the cloud and stopped me. having concentrated on some detail pictures of the canyon itself I never even looked to sky to see what the clouds are doing. Those are things you learn with experiance. Something I didn't have.

Now quickly unpacking my gear, I loaded the camera with Fuji Velvia 50 film. Quickly I set up and just before this picture was taken the rocks erupted with the splashes of light that you see here. Had my sister not stopped me to look at the cloud, I would have never had the chance to take this picture. Lesson learned I now wait until far after dark to capture the twighlight and when in the mountains you wait until the light is gone.

Nikon N90 Fuji Velvia film scanned with a Nikon LS-4000 scanner

Airplane in the Rain: Photo of the Day

2009-05-21T05:07:00.000-05:00

I will admit as a child to loving every disaster movie made during the mid to late 70s. Poseidon Adventure, King Kong, Towering Inferno and Earthquake. Above all else the series of movies that were about airplanes titled Airport. There was at least 5-6 of these made about every two years. There even was a spoof of these movies that was popular as well; the Airplane series of movies was equally popular maybe even more so.

The best of this series in my childhood memory was Airport ‘77 which had the plane crashing into the water and resting some 60 feet below the surface. I remember all of my friends discussing this for months after we were first able to watch this movie on TV. Some may not know, but there wasn’t any DVD’s or VCR’s back then. A first-run wasn’t seen until well after it exited the theater and “sold” to television for the “Movie of the Week”

Another memory etched in my mind of an earlier film, I remember the scene of Charlton Heston tight-roping across a line to get into the cockpit in Airport ’75. The first Airport I don’t remember being that riveting, with a bomb threat being used to captivate us. I believe the series ended with Airport ’79 crashing into the snow, the plane changed then and the series died. Substituting out the 747 for the then faster than sound Concorde STS. For a decade though the 747 was THE plane if you were a kid.

Even though in the movies the plane was destroyed it still didn’t matter. I still was infatuated with the 747 and it signified to my adolescent brain that an adventure was going to take place! 30+ years past that point I still can’t help but think when I see a 747, something big and adventurous was going to take place. I’m sure this might sound odd I still feel that way about the Titanic, another great submersible from years before.

Though I currently fly quite often and have been in many different aircraft I to this day have never been in a 747. That adventure has never happened for me. I’ve seen them on the runway, watched them take off, but have never been close to one.

While walking through the Detroit Metro Airport today parked patiently waiting for passengers to embark on that adventure that I have longed for was not one, but two 747s. Who knew that their safety net was in Detroit Metro

Like the excited kid that I still get on occasion I just had to stop and gape. Seeing the little bubble where the first class cabin is as well as the cockpit where the pilots fly, it was as beautiful up close as it was in the movies or on the runway. While standing there gaping at my good fortune, I almost forgot to flip out the camera and snap a few pictures. This one through the rain is my favorite.

Panasonic LX3

Spring Daffodils: Photo of the Day

2009-05-20T05:37:00.003-05:00

Spring has finally arrived in the Midwest. I know that this is a common saying as winter finally exhausts itself and the Daffodils and Tulips start to pop out of the ground. This one was captured in my front yard. The Daffodils don't last very long though a spring storm pelted them down just a few days later and they were gone.

Panasonic LX3 with a touch of Glamor Glow Nik Color Efex 3 filter.

Photo of the Day:

2009-05-19T05:23:00.002-05:00

Child Doctor, originally uploaded by BCMielke.

This was another photo of the day that was taken during my hiatus. Buddy loves being a doctor and in this case he made his own costume. Kate and I were doing some work in the basement and had our safety glasses and dust mask. Tyler decided to do his own costume. After he put these on he came to show me and pronounced himself a Doctor.

Panasonic LX3 with just a little Nik Color Efex 3.

Photo of the day: Oregon Coast

2009-05-18T06:44:00.000-05:00

I do wish I was back on the Oregon Coast that is for certain. This was taken on a recent trip out west. The nice thing about having interesting subjects is even when the weather doesn't cooperate you can still capture a nice image. Overcast and the seastacks still hold this image together.

Capture with the Nikon D700, converted using Nik Silver Efex Pro

LensAlign Pro: Achieving Lens Alignment

2009-04-25T09:44:00.005-05:00

Will LensAlign Pro offer a simpler and more efficient product against others that are available for lens alignment?

Recently I rented a lens from LensRentals.com. I wanted to try out the Nikon 14-24 against the wide angle I already own the Sigma 12-24 to see if there was a significant difference in quality between the two lenses. Though this review won’t be about the above comparison, I can say that the 14-24 is a much better lens; I did not find it to be 3x better than the Sigma. If you just look at cost that is what you would expect. Of course that doesn’t mean I won’t purchase it at some point in the future.

I have looked on and off at doing lens to body calibrations. I have tried multiple different sites to see how each method would perform. Each time I came away disappointed in the reproducibility of each of these techniques. Despite many glowing comments, I never was overly pleased with the results enough to keep the calibration data active in each of my DSLRs. I always turned it off after a period of usage and comparing images and not being satisfied that the level of sharpness was what I demanded.

This might change.

When the LensAlign Pro was announced I was quick to be interested in such a device that seemingly could take a lot of the guesswork out of the lens/body calibration voodoo. With a positive review from Michael Reichmann at Luminous Landscape and listening to the Image Doctors also have success using this device I was all set to purchase it some months ago. Then I saw the price. At $139 it is quite pricey for something that won’t be used more than twice a year so I held off. There is a lower priced model, but I had not read as much positive press about this model. I would want a device that was easy to use and accurate. The LensAlign Lite I read was accurate, but not as easy to use.

In browsing the LensRental.com site I was able to discover that I could rent a LensAlign Pro for one week for $15. The shipping from LensRental.com is the same regardless of how many items you rent. So it was a no-brainer to just add this to my cart.

I have spent the last week checking and re-checking each of the settings on my digital cameras. Since I have 3 of them this can take some time. One thing I have learned is that I really need to trim the number of lenses that I do have down to a manageable number. Well, maybe later. After all of this testing here are my impressions.

The unit works and does the job very well. I consistently was able to re-calibrate with each of my lenses and received for my efforts a result that was within 1 or 2 of what I originally calibrated it at. I don’t believe there are any units associated with the numbers under AF Fine Tune so there isn’t any way to know how far your focus was off.

In my testing I didn’t see any consistent results between camera and lens combinations. Each changed with each separate camera/lens combination. An 85 f/1.8 on my D3 had different settings on my D700 and D300. Sometimes there was positive change needed an on another lens/camera combination there might be negative. After my testing I did some comparisons and it did seem in every case that there was improvement in the lens. The LensAlign Pro did it’s job and seemingly very well.

The downside of this product is the lack of instructions. There was a brief one-page document included with the set-up. I can only say that some trees were wasted for that brief of an instruction manual. There also were some videos that helped me to get started. A little trial and error later and I felt I had a streamlined system. Once I got that, the testing went very fast. For the price of this product I would have expected an instruction manual either online or enclosed in a CD-ROM.

Another important part of this process was also neglected by the lack of a instruction manual. There wasn’t any idea on how close to the LensAlign Pro should I try to focus the lens? From reading other sites there seemed to a contentious of 2.5 to 3x the focal length of the lens. Upon searching the website discussion group that was also the common thought here as well. I will say that though I did not ask a question it appears that the manufacturer is quite active in the forums. My suggestion if you don’t naturally figure things out quickly, I would ask your questions there and I suspect you will get help pretty quickly.

I have included some before and after pictures of a calibration that I did with my 70-200 on my Nikon D3. The AF Fine Tune used in this case was +5. As can be seen from the 100% crops of these photos there is a difference in how “sharp” the photo is with even this small of a change. You also will see included some photos of the LensAlign Pro properly set-up and one not. Though this may sound a little difficult, the nice feature of the LensAlign Pro is the ability to get behind the unit and center the camera in the center hole to help in the alignment. After I figured this little detail out the alignment went much faster.

Despite the shortcomings of the instructions I did find this product to work and work well. It was much faster than any of the other utilities that I discovered on the web and I felt confident at the end that the information that was generated was accurate for that lens/camera body. For my taste it is still a tad high in price for what I would pay to own this type of device. I will however rent it again at an appropriate time from LensRental.com to calibrate my lenses again.

Magee Marsh

2009-04-16T12:50:00.004-05:00

I made a side-trip to Magee Marsh along the shores of Lake Erie yesterday. Beginning the second week of May this spot will be a birding hot spot for migrating warblers. They will rest along this last stretch of trees before they make the long flight over Lake Erie to Canada. They wait in this grove of trees for a tail wind to help them make the flight. Usually their next stopping place is Point Pelee National Park, this also is an amazing place to photograph the warblers as they stop and rest. Today though as I walk the Boardwalk trail I don’t see any warblers, what I am able to do is to fill up my own soul.

My van for work is a moving communications devise. I travel for work attached to my Blackberry as many are, I handle multiple levels of communications, from Vice Presidents to manufacturing people that make the end-user products that the product I sell goes into. I have to assess each of these conversations and ask questions for what is needed to help understand the situation the best way. I do this while driving, walking, flying. Each can be intense in it’s own way. What many people take for granted in what I do, I work at each day. I won’t say that my job is any more difficult than any other, but my understanding of the situation is what shapes decisions on both companies platforms.

Regardless of what you do for a living all have to find solace somewhere. I do in photography and the places I get to take side trips to. One such side trip is to Magee Marsh in Northern Ohio. The boardwalk trail is the highlight of where the warblers are in the month of May. There will also be a lot more bird watchers during that month than there are today. Today I have the trail to myself. You could hear the wood planks with each step I took. I like trails this way, they help me think and recharge.

For this short walk I didn’t even take a camera. As most know that is a rare occasion for me. I was enjoying the sites, sounds and smells of the trail and wildlife around me. After this trip I was listening to a podcast about Stephen Johnson at 7 Photographing Questions that helped me understand this better. Stephen spent some time describing how best to capture your photos. He felt you had to not only experience a scene with all of your senses and emotions, then you could practice your craft better.

It hadn’t occurred to me, but I do this very same exercise quite often in my photographic journeys. Times where I lock everything else except what I experience around me. No distractions, just the solitude. I had one such walk that I previously blogged about among the Bristlecone Pines. You sometimes need to feed your soul and then your able to practice your craft. I was doing some soul feeding today.

I walked into the wooded seclusion and from the moment I entered I could hear many different variety of birds, the red-wing black birds were the most recognizable, but there were also, jays, woodpeckers, robins and cardinals. Not being a birder myself there were many unidentifiable species. The seclusion was nice. The peaceful sounds, site and smells energized each of my senses that were used to road noise, traffic and the smell of old McDonald’s bags. Even though the morning was very cold, the brisk walk was worth every step. No camera, no phone and about ¼ mile on the trail and I didn’t have any worries.

I felt guilty for not taking any pictures of my experience a little later as I was leaving the park. Along the road out there are dikes on both sides of the road. Along those I spotted some Egrets and later a Blue Heron. From my car I hauled out the D300 and the long lens to capture the above shot. It was cold, windy and rainy. The bird didn’t move, just sat there for at least 10 minutes while I was there and even longer since I only observed for that long. My life had come back to me at this point. The phone rang and conference calls began, decisions were made and conversations and situations were analyzed. I clicked a few shots off of this Egret during one of those conversations; otherwise I just sat and watched, until he decided to fly away. Maybe he was doing the same, as I was earlier on the boardwalk. Filling his soul.

Photo of the Day: Marshall, MI

2009-04-15T12:00:00.002-05:00

After my meeting before getting on the road to travel to my next destination I went back in the rain to capture this picture. This is the door to the Trinity Episcopal Church, it was built in 1864 for a cost of $9,982. There have been additions to this church over the years, but this was from the original building. I have found through the years that photography helps me relax. After a meeting I can get my thoughts clear and can see much more clear the path forward and the steps I need to take.

Captured with the Panasonic LX3, converted in Aperture with the Pro Contrast filter from Nik Color Efex

Photo of the Day: Marshall, MI

2009-04-14T11:20:00.001-05:00

Traveling again this week. I found this Sunflower in a store in Marshall, MI. Marshall has a bit of history and is also home to Schuller's of the processed cheese fame. Good restaurant and good food though. This sunflower was located in a flower shop and they were kind enough to take some pictures with LX3.

Camera: Panasonic LX3 converted in Aperture with just a tad of Tonal Contrast filter from Nik Color Efex 3.0

Photo of the Day: Flower

2009-04-13T13:54:00.005-05:00

This is just a quick photo while the weather here is not cooperating much in the Chicago area. It's very cold an rainy today. Spring will come, but it's just not here today. As most know I have been experimenting with textures and this is another attempt and combing. I purchased a product from OnOne called Photoframe 4 recently to help me work with them. Yes, I am well aware that textures are pretty easily applied in Photoshop CS4. Until just recently though I was having a disagreement with Adobe which has now ended.

Photo taken with the Panasonic LX3 and converted in Apeture with Photoframe 4.

Photo of the Day: Easter

2009-04-12T12:09:00.002-05:00

Nothing like an old fashioned Easter Egg hunt in your back yard! For some reason the children just didn't seem to be into it much this year, they were continuing their exploration of the short film Larry Boy seeing how many times they could watch it in a day. There finally was some excitement to go outside and gather up eggs when it was discovered the the squirrels in our neighborhood have a sweet tooth for candy. The chomped on or hid for next winter at least two eggs worth.

In the picture above Punkin gathered up her eggs filled with candy and Petz toys. I kept looking for the elusive egg that contained a D3X, but it looks as if the Bunny left me wanting.

Picture captured with the Nikon D700 and finished off in Aperture

Punkin & Buddy do Easter Crafts

2009-04-11T13:59:00.003-05:00

The joys of divorce are having your children only one weekend out of two. This being the case in my life holidays is a challenge. Without some planning simple things like Easter egg hunts or even coloring them can be a challenge. Because of this split I have not had them on Easter for a number of years. This year we have a pleasant surprise of having the bunny visit our house and I was pretty much-caught off-guard. Thankfully my spouse was not. She had gone to the store earlier in the week and picked up some Easter egg coloring tools. Friday being an “off” day from school we set out to see what color we would make them eggs.

Punkin was up early on Friday and she sounded like the proverbial “when are we going to get there” child. About every 10 minutes I would get asked. Since some necessities like eating and bathing have to be done each day, by the time we started it was long past when she wanted to be egg dunking.

Buddy had to be coaxed from a DVD he was watching Larry Boy. The DVD was in the spirit of the season; it was a Veggie Tale story. A good compromise to getting him to the table was a pair of whoopee sticks. He would have rather pounded on the table with his whoopee sticks, then color eggs, but at least it was a start. Oh, and yes they are whoopee sticks. These would be a gag gift courtesy of my wife. I do wonder what would have happened if I had purchased them.

So all the while Punkin is dunking eggs into the dye, Oh, note to the readers combine dye, whoopee sticks and 8-year old boy at your own risk! So Punkin dunks eggs Buddy smacks his stick. Each egg has to lay in the dye for 3-4 minutes and I can hear the Jeopardy music in my head, but it seems to be this odd farting noise in my ears. The farting noise was courtesy of whoopee sticks being pounded on the table by my son. Again dye and pounding on the table ramp up the fear factor quotient.

Buddy would have been happy to stop, but that would mean the chants of, “Larry Boy” would then start. Parenting in these moments is all about compromise. I was under the idea that this was family time and damn if we weren’t going to do this as a family!! Each egg dunk would mean more farting from the sticks, when the sticks didn’t hit the table then he hit himself with them. When he wasn’t smacking with the sticks then he was trying to gouge out eyeballs with the metal egg dunker. Didn’t Paas know that tiny metal devices could gouge out eyes? Each time a “put that down” escaped from Dad’s mouth, then Buddy would say, “Larry Boy”

In this test of wills I was going to win, he was going to sit-up and enjoy dunking the damn eggs into these color-coded containers. He was not going to watch Larry Boy, he was going to color eggs! Triumphant as I wanted to be, what I was really hoping for was the dye to not spill all over the floor.

As you might expect Punkin painstakingly crafted each egg to perfection. Each was different and had a different idea behind it. One used rubber bands, the next glitter; still another had stickers and multiple color combinations. Buddy dunked each one in the same color, the exact same color. I guess he was going through his green phase. I did finally get him to draw with the wax crayon on an egg so it had a design, it was however still green. When you see the pictures of the eggs however they aren’t all green. Dad had his own ideas on coloring, Buddy would point to green dad would dunk it in something else.

After four eggs and countless times listening to Larry Boy being repeated for my listening pleasure, the pounding of the farting stick as well as the terror at dye being dumped all over the floor I let Buddy head out. Punkin didn’t seem to acknowledge whether Buddy was there or not. She just kept crafting her egg one sticker at a time. With one egg left to go and Dad having not colored a single one. Buddy was relieved of duty to find Larry, Curly, Moe or possibly Shemp. I set to work putting together this last and final egg. The gesture though cheesy is true. I wrote on my egg I ❤ Punkin & Buddy with the wax crayon. It looked great in green.

Where else can I get this sort of fun?

Drobo Opening

2009-04-10T13:22:00.003-05:00

I couldn't have been more surprised when I won a Drobo for linking to a website! Though I track a number of different blogs everyday, I don't read each blog every day. I do look at the traffic on this site though most days. In the process of doing just that I noticed a large spike in site hits. Almost twice my normal hits that I get each day. As I was investigating why this might be so, I saw that almost all of the extra was driven by one site. MyDL.Me. I quickly jumped over there to see why. After some reading I discovered that I had won myself a Drobo!!

For those that don't know what a Drobo is, it's similar to a NAS, but can work like a giant hard drive when connected via a FireWire 800. You can also Daisy Chain 2 Drobos via a Firewire 800 which made me quite happy because I had already purchased one some months back. For those without a FireWire 800 connection you can also use a USB 2.0 connection or purchase the DroboShare to connect it to an ethernet cable.

My thanks to MyDL.Me, the folks at Drobo for getting this unit so quickly to me and picking my site as the winner!

I did want to add one configuration issue that I had that was handled in the Troubleshooting guide. I would not have had this issue had my drives not been already used by my other unit. When I put the drives in, the new Drobo unit must have somehow known they were from a previous unit so all of the Drobo's lights were red. When I read up on this issue I discovered that I needed to do a reset by pushing the reset button with a paper clip located on the rear of the unit and then plug it in. After this was done I was up and going without any issues.

Photo of the Day: Wildwood, IL

2009-04-06T14:59:00.004-05:00

GO STATE!!!!

Captured with the very GREEN Nikon D700. Converted in the WHITE Capture NX2. No extra filters needed to enhance this already SPARTAN photo.

Photo of the Day: Wildwood, IL

2009-04-05T15:21:00.000-05:00

I spotted this shot while cleaning up some after our recent vacation to New York. The candelabra was purchased at the Fox Run Winery from that same trip and this was it christianing.

I was really hoping to use the new version of Capture NX2 on this conversion. They recently updated it to 2.2, which is supposet to much faster than the older version. Unfortunatly Nikon Support changed the log-in status and I am both unable to re-register as well as log-in to my account because it is disabled. So that will just have to wait until a more convenient time.

Photographed with the Nikon D700 and converted in Capture NX2 with Nik Color Efex filter Old Photo with a slight Vignette.

Photo of the Day: Lake Zurich, IL

2009-04-04T18:24:00.003-05:00

Getting together with Facebook friends can be a strange experience. When you are talking you want to quick type a message saying something witty or engaging. When talking in person it is totally different.

What you see above is my sister's cat toys. She loves her cats as can be readily seen by all of her cat toys. I give her credit though, ours are spread out through the whole house, hers are always nicely put back in this nice wicker basket.

Picture taken with the Nikon D700 with the Lensbaby and converted in Aperture.

Photo of the Day: Painesville, OH

2009-04-03T16:56:00.003-05:00

I read so many articles on how to take a good picture. This includes what equipment you need what support you need and so forth. Much effort is taken to show what type of lens to use. My chosen camera is typically a Nikon, I know many people who won't even look at a third-party lens for fear that it won't be "sharp" enough, have enough contrast or just not take good pictures.

This picture was taken from my car while driving down the road through the windshield that was bug stained. It was taken with my Panasonic LX3, not my Nikon D3 or D700, not even my Fuji S5. Most important thing was, I was there and I stopped to capture the moment. The other stuff though important is not nearly so when compared with being there.

Captured with my Panasonic LX3, converted in Aperture with a touch of Nik Color Efex 3

Photo of the Day: Rochester, NY

2009-04-02T06:53:00.004-05:00

My son loves slinky's. I will admit to still thinking they are pretty cool some number of years past their targeted market. The way the metal or plastic coil moves down a step at exactly the precise distance is still pretty amazing to watch. Oh sure I know the physics behind it now, but the visual pleasure as it "slinks" down is still delightful.

Buddy was playing with this slinky at the Strong Museum of Play in downtown Rochester. It had a bent coil, which any slinky regular knows means disaster while going down the stairs. A little bend job and this one was back to good as new.

This picture was captured with the Fuji S5 with the Nikon 50mm AFS Converted in Aperture Photo was taken by Kate, I was too busy playing Pitfall just off-screen.

Photo of the Day: Fox Run Winery

2009-04-01T07:08:00.004-05:00

Interesting to me how the Photo of the Day takes shape. I always try to plan where I will take the photo as I look over my days activities. Today we all made a trip to Watkins Glen State Park I really thought that I would get a picture from inside the gorge that would be today's picture. Well the best plans as they say. The Gorge trail was closed due to ice and snow still melting from the winter. So I was skunked.

This picture was captured on the way back home as we stopped for a few wine tastings. Note to fellow travelers and winos, choose your winery well. The first place we stopped was dreadful. The second was Fox Run Winery and that was far more pleasant on my pallet. We sat sipping wine while the sun set through the side window and I captured this shot.

What I will remember though can't be seen in this picture. My daughter has cramped herself along the lower right of the picture. She wanted to see what I saw as I was taking the picture and so she folded herself into the corner. Her hip kept appearing in the picture and I kept asking her to move it a little more. I got this one as she was breathing in from the giggling.

Captured with the Panasonic LX3 and converted in Aperture using the Nik Color Efex 3 filters

Photo of the Day: Sodus, NY

2009-03-31T07:19:00.003-05:00

I loved this view as I came up from "swimming" in my final Great Lake. It's taken 42 years, but I couldn't have picked a better spot. Though I will admit my swimming has been a bit more of an endeavor at other Great Lakes, the view typically hasn't been as good.

Captured with the Panasonic LX3, RAW file converted in Photoshop CS4 and then imported into Aperture and finished of in Nik Silver Efex

Photo of the Day: Macedon, NY

2009-03-30T08:22:00.005-05:00

I have changed my rules somewhat. This was taken yesterday evening, but I have adjusted my photo of the day "rules" to include the 24 hour period after the last picture. It makes it a little simpler on me and since I am contest judge as well as the only contestant a rules change is pretty simple.

I converted this RAW file from the D700 in Aperture and added just a little color increase to the sky with Nik Color Efex 3.0.

Photo of the Day: Macedon, NY

2009-03-29T14:19:00.003-05:00

I had a very fun day dodgtin raindrops and looking for a spot to take family picture. With so many old barns and historic spots to choose from, I really liked the weathered boards of this barn.

Panasonic LX3, coverted in Photosshop CS4. A trial version by the way. Nik Color Efex to finish it of

RedHawk Grille

2009-03-28T20:41:00.003-05:00

Travelling with two children can always be a challenge. If you get out of the car to eat you will have at least 30 minutes. If you don’t and opt to make up some time on the expressway you will have crumbs all over your vehicle or worse.

On our Spring Break trip today travelling to New York we opted for the former. The car itself was already messy enough. Along I-90 just to the east of Cleveland we stopped at the RedHawk Grille. We couldn’t have enjoyed our meal more.

The restaurant is located right next to the Quail Hallow Resort. I was under the delusion of the golf course located there and in the process we discovered next to it this gem of a restaurant. The food was very good and the service was excellent. There was a full bar made of wood, which would have been nice to sit at and watch the basketball games on the numerous wide-screen TV’s. There also was a dining room in back that could easily hold 100 people. Every important there was also free-wifi. That seemed to be a little slow, but I suspect it might have been because of the party in the back.

Oh did I mention the service? Punkin ordered a small pizza which the brought out when the rest of the meals arrived. The waitress told us that the cook had accidently burnt the edges and that she had broken off the edges and sent it out, but that another was in the oven and would be out shortly. Many places might try to just let the meal fly and see if the person complained. Not here.

The pizza arrived and the cook was out to deliver it. She apologized in person and quickly let us know that both Buddy and Punkin would be given Ice Cream if it was OK with their parents. After the meal was over a very nice Sunday was delivered with whipped cream and a maraschino cherry on top in a to-go container.

To further distinguish them from others. The cook chatted with us for a while as bathroom runs were made. The cook called another guy over and was telling them to win my daughter a free teddy bear out of the crane drop. This is the game where you move a motorized crane around amongst a large group of stuffed animals and other things.

When you get above the item that you want and believe it is in the correct place you drop the crane to pick up the item and pray at the same time. The guy obviously had some trick with working this out, because in his first pass he dropped the crane, got the chosen bear and gave it to my daughter.

For a good meal and a good time if you’re in the area, choose RedHawk Grille.

Leaders are Readers

2009-03-27T21:57:00.000-05:00

Leaders are Readers

Today was Leaders are Readers day at school. When this was first announced I asked my daughter Punkin if she would like me to read. She was very excited, though I have been to school often for her it is always an event. Not truly being a “leader” but in the broadest of definitions I contacted her teacher to see if I qualified. She was more than happy to have me come in. For the school this is a big event so I did my best to also make it an event.

I received multiple numbers of handouts with the company that I worked for to help. We even had some Teacher notes on each of the handouts to help her plan to use it in a lesson plan. I received samples from multiple customers and I prepared what I thought would be an interesting speech to help explain how I use reading every day in my job. All of this would culminate with my story of choice, The Little Engine that Could.

This book was one of my favorites growing up. Something about that little blue engine pulling those cars up the mountain just appealed to me. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. That was truly the whole story to me back then. Even today I get misty eyed just thinking about that little engine pulling those cars up the mountain all with the power of believe.

Both of my children struggle with reading. Buddy may never be able to read a full sentence without visual clues. With the pictures he does an excellent job of reading about 5 words. It has taken a lot of effort in his 8 years to get him this far. Punkin has had a bit of a struggle to. As a parent I know trying to get buddy from one milestone to the next has been a constant challenge, I just assumed with Punkin it would just happen. Well it doesn’t.

So she has been challenged at each corner and me I love to read always have. It’s one of my great losses since I have had children is my lack of reading time. Just isn’t enough time, Punkin has inherited my love of reading and she has the time, but her comprehension of reading is far better than her ability to read. Because of this what she likes to read are multi-chapter stories and what she is able to read are simpler stories.

So she sits and she struggles and about every 5th or 6th word she has to ask for what this means or that means. She doesn’t seem to mind so neither does Kate or myself. We feed her the word or ask her to sound it out and the story continues.

I don’t feel like much of a leader in reading, one child struggles because I thought it was all going to be Ok. The other may not be able to look at anything other than picture books. They both try though and they keep moving forward.

For those that don’t know the story it starts with a train that is off the tracks and needs help getting over the hill. Two other engines turn the boys and girls and a clown rather rudely and one proclaims itself too old to hall the little train over the mountain. Finally a train that is used as a switching engine answers the call and hooks itself up to the little train and chugs it’s way up the hill. All the way up the hill the train says, “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.”

As you might expect, this is a children’s book and not a greek tragedy, the little blue engine finds it’s way up the hill and all the dolls and toys are very happy. The little boys and girls on the other side of the hill get all the toys and food. We the reader get a lesson. You have to try and you have to believe and you just might accomplish.

That truly is the crux of this story. Believe you can and you just might, have too much pride or believe you are too old and the little children on the other side of the mountain don’t get there dolls and toys. Simple story and a simple lesson, one that still resonates with me even today, maybe even more so.

Later that same day I stroll into my son’s classroom. I repeat the same speech except simpler, everything is simpler there. I look out at my audience. In Punkin’s class I had rapt attention to each topic. As I walked around the classroom I had each students attention.

Buddy’s class however is a bit different. As I enter I put an FM microphone around my head so one girl can hear me. Most of the children barely pay attention. Still another has to listen to something. One can’t get her picture taken. My son sit’s plopped on my lap just happy to have Dad there. I love my son’s classroom. They are the epitome of the story I read to them.

Each day they walk in and go through the same motion with just a little progress being made, but each day they try. I can’t help but get lost in the story as I read it to them. Maybe one of them is paying attention, but when I end they all clap, they all cheer, they pat me on the back and some ask when I will be back to read to them. I always say soon.

I look amongst my son’s class and think they aren’t the dolls and toys on the train, they aren’t the clown nor are they the boys and girls on the other side of the hill, each of them in their own way is that little blue engine, chugging the car up the track and each says every day. “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.”

Photo of the Day: Flower

2009-03-26T13:27:00.002-05:00

Photo of the Day: Flower, originally uploaded by BCMielke.

I was talking to friend the other day who loves to do macros with his older prosumer lens. He was mentioning how I have fallen for this selective focus type stuff that just doesn't grab his attention. As most that follow this blog know I have bought into selective focus big time. I love my lensbaby and I am also thinking of a tilt/shift lens to add to my collection.

For him though he just doesn't like the look. Until this conversation I had forgotten about taking macros with my LX3. The smaller sensor gives quite a bit of depth of field even at F/4. This is different than a DSLR would. I can also close focus this camera a few cm from the subject.

With those thoughts in my mind I set about capturing the Photo of the Day. I hope you enjoy it.

Captured with the Panasonic LX3 and converted in Photoshop CS3 from the RAW file.

Photo of the Day: Fennimore, WI

2009-03-25T17:28:00.002-05:00

Photo of the Day: Fennimore, WI, originally uploaded by BCMielke.

As I stopped for lunch in Fennimore, WI I saw this train alongside the road and it looked like it could use a little bit of love. As I looked around the area I discovered that it was known as a "Dinky" train. This would be a 3-foot gauge train line that operated in Wisconsin from 1878 - 1926. The train sits behnd a fence, but you are able to go up into the train to look around. There is a museum and a mural right next to this spot. It looks as if at one point there was a children's train ride that went around the train itself. This ride is either only during the summer months or long since closed down.

Captured with my Panasonic LX3 and touched up in Capture NX2

Photo of the Day: Iowan Semi

2009-03-24T17:39:00.002-05:00

Photo of the Day: Iowan Semi, originally uploaded by BCMielke.

This would be a picture from the World's Largest Truck Stop! It has to be because there was 3 full-sized semi's in it's showroom. Of course the don't sell semi's so they are just for show. This one tells you about the Iowan's spirit. This is the Cornstalk Cadillac. Only in Iowa is this so.

Planted in the Panasonic LX3. Fertilized and shucked with Capture NX2.

Photo of the Day: Rain

2009-03-23T11:50:00.002-05:00

Photo of the Day: Rain, originally uploaded by BCMielke.

Raid today. I spotted this photo while driving back from running some errands this morning. I really like the contrast between the leaves and the reflection of the tree in the puddle. Most of the post was done to emphasize this.

Picture taken with Panasonic LX3 with Post processing done in Capture NX2 with Nik Color Efex 3 filters.

Photo of the Day: Wildwood, IL

2009-03-22T18:26:00.002-05:00

_DSC5742A, originally uploaded by BCMielke.

This was suppose to be a picture of a bird. I went out to the local rookery in hopes of finding some birds that were up close enough for me to take some photos. Well as you can see the only thing I got was a Gull. Got quite a few Gulls. For birders that is a good day. For a photographer, that's practice.

Thankfully I have started picking up flower pictures as my backup. I love macros and this one is just a tad different enough.

This was taken with my Zeiss 25 f/2.8 and my Nikon D300. It was converted in Photoshop CS3 and then sent to onOne's Photoframe for the finishing touches.

Photo of the Day: Gurnee, IL

2009-03-21T18:02:00.002-05:00

Photo of the Day: Gurnee, IL, originally uploaded by BCMielke.

As my wife was picking out her birthday present next door in Burlington Coat Factory. I know some may wonder how she gets to pick out her own, well after two different coats from Outpost.com with return shipping on each...Yikes! I got smart and we shopped locally.

You might wonder why this picture isn't of coats then. I was beat and still couldn't come up with a solution for her outdoor wear. I tried my best and after 15 or so coats I said good luck and enjoy the hunt. I secretly think this is what she wanted from the beginning anyways. Good wife that she is, she let me try my best.

This would be a bowling alley that was next door, not one you walk on though obviously. You grasp the ball in your hand and throw it down the lane.

This picture was captured with the Panasonic LX3, Converted using Capture NX2 with the Nik Color Efex tools Pro Contrast and Tonal Contrast.

Photo of the Day: Wildwood, IL

2009-03-20T17:13:00.002-05:00

Pine Cone Setting Sun, originally uploaded by BCMielke.

While standing in line at the bus stop my daughter handed me this pine cone because she found it on the ground. I get handed many things while I'm standing at the bus stop, most are rocks.

She of course believes everything to be a treasure. This was one that as the day wore on I really grew to like. It was tiny had a good shape and was in very good condition. I'll plop it on a tree and take a picture.

Captured with the Nikon D3, Nikon 105VR a touch of creative flash. RAW file converted in Capture NX2 with some Tonal Contrast filter from Nik Color Efex 3.

Special Olympics Takes a Hit

2009-03-20T11:54:00.000-05:00

I’m slightly disappointed this morning as I watched the news. I was riding my bicycle at the health club something I’m not fond of anyway, but as most know that read this I find myself having to take a break from my morning runs due to a hurt Achilles. Hopefully in 3 weeks time I will be back out there pounding the pavement.

The good news is that it has gotten me working out with weights once again at the local gym. On one such visit I found myself mindlessly staring at the TV watching Obama talk on the Jay Leno show about a wide range of topics.

The subject of his bowling came up and Jay poked a little fun at him for his lack of ability on the lanes. President Obama then made a crack that said it was “It's like -- it was like Special Olympics, or something.”

Or something is correct. As I sat on my bike peddling away I winced. Not the worst thing I have heard for certain. It saddens me somewhat to think that an intelligent man like Obama when asked a simple question and when he wants to poke fun at himself the arrow in his brain that whirls around for humor. The little dial that we all have reaches into the slot that says, “Make fun of intellectually and physically handicapped people”

There are many directions my little missive could take me from there. I could talk about the comments of Jimmy “the Greek” Snyder. He lost his job and justifiably so for his comments and linking sports performance to slavery.

Don Imus is another who lost his job for his comments about black women and a derisive comment about their looks.

I don’t expect to compare the two above incidents with what President Obama said, his comments weren’t in the same league as what Mr. Imus and Mr Snyder said. Still I get back to the twirling humor wheel in his head. He didn’t reach for something uplifting as a 3rd grader could beat him. He reached for people most conceived with physical, emotional and mental handicaps.

From many reports Obama apologized quickly to the Chairman of the Special Olympics Tim Shriver even before the show was aired. I applaud him for recognizing quickly that what he said was demeaning. Oddly enough he had met with Maria Shriver the daughter of Eunice Shriver who founded Special Olympics the day before. I’m sure his apology had help from many of his handlers, but regardless he did apologize.

I would have thought he would have learned something from the race he was in against McCain and Palin just a few short months back. Sarah Palin’s own child has Down Syndrome. He also is a person of color and has grown up with many iconic moments culminating for many with his election as President. I go back to his spinning wheel for humor. His wheel not only stops, but he embraces at making fun of people who in most instances like him didn’t have any choice, but to be who they are, act how they act and compete at the highest level they are able and succeed.

You should apologize and not just to the leader of an organization, but to each person that competes. You should however not just apologize, but that spinning wheel shouldn’t have stopped on that spot.

Mr. President you should know better.

You can read more about this issue here.

Spice Story

2009-03-19T16:22:00.002-05:00

Spice Story, originally uploaded by BCMielke.

I would normally have titled this Photo of the Day: Waukesha, WI. Thankfully Penzey's spice gave me a good story though.

I traveled to Wisconsin for work and thought it might make a nice picture to take some pictures of spices in my favorite spice store, Penzey's. I have been a fan of their spices for some time. They used to work out of a store where they mixed up the spices and my thinking was that it would make for a quick photo-op with the LX3.

I arrived at the store/factory and found that they store had moved. The hand written in Sharpy marker told me that they have moved to a certain address. No other information was give. Since I was just off the main highway which they Sharpy sign mentioned I started looking for a shop amongst all of the other stores located on this stretch of road.

Well I couldn't find it. I went up and down the road twice, now some may wonder why I wouldn't just whip out the iPhone and use the included map. Well I'm a man.

Finally I did just that and of course the store was spotted immediately. I entered the store, picked up some spices and then started scoping for some neat pictures with the LX3. I clicked off about 5 pictures of spices adorning shelves, none of which was very photogenic. I was a little disappointed and was just about to pack it in and see if I could grab something later in the day when a woman approached me.

My thoughts as I planned out today's photo was to put this up and rave about Penzey's spices. Put a link to their site on my blog, Well the female security officer asked me to not take pictures while in the store. She was nice about it, but frankly it's a spice store. I asked her if she wanted "free" advertising explained what I was doing. She told me they had a Marketing department for that.

My first thought was that you are a catalog place, you send me and thousands of others a catalog to remind us to look at purchasing spices. That is all the marketing that they do.

I had a half of mind to thank the lady for making my blog at least a bit more interesting than a fanboy reaction to Penzey's spices. I refrained though.

This suspicious photo was taken with the Panasonic LX3. I sneakily converted the RAW file using the DNG converter and brought the file deviously into Photoshop CS3 where I finished it with great guile in Nix Color Efex 3.

Photo of the Day: Gurnee, IL

2009-03-18T12:40:00.003-05:00

Photo of the Day: Gurnee, IL, originally uploaded by BCMielke.

Here is a photo that I would have never taken before this project and my purchase of the LX3. While standing waiting for the car to be washed at the local car wash I took this opportunity not to just stare off into space, but to take pictures. I whipped out the little LX3 and took a number of pictures of the surroundings.

I also had the D700 with me, but only had the Lensbaby Pinhole/Zoneplate lens adapter on it. Can't say as I was in love with the results and will have to keep looking for when to use this adapter.

Taken with the Panasonic LX3 finished off in Capture NX2 with Bleach Bypass filter from Nik Color Efex 3.0.

Standing in Awe Before the Works of Galen Rowell

2009-03-18T07:58:00.000-05:00

A chance opportunity to view the work's of Galen Rowell provides a personal insight into his life

I've long had a desire to view world-renowned mountain climber and photographer Galen Rowell's work. Luckily enough, on a recent trip out west I happened to be near the Mountain Light Gallery, the gallery in Bishop, California that Galen Rowell established to exhibit and sell his artwork.

It was a wonderful thing to be able to walk around and experience many of Galen's great photos as they were intended to be viewed: Framed, matted, hung on a wall, and artistically lit, rather than in the confines of a magazine.

The wait was well worth it. The famous photos where all there -- "Clearing Storm Over El Capitan"; "Last Light on Horsetail Falls"; and my favorite "Rainbow Over the Potala Palace". I spent well over an hour looking at all of his classics having seen many of them over the years in so many different magazines. Viewing them full size instead of on smallish magazine pages was a humbling experience.

Sadly, Galen Rowell perished along with his wife Barbara in a plane crash in August of 2002. The gallery also seemed to serve as a museum to him. Among the photographs were some of Galen's old film cameras and lenses, news clippings with his many accomplishments, pictures and clippings from his climbs of Half Dome at an early age, and his many ascensions to the summit of Mt Everest.

There were personal photos of him and his wife Barbara taken by National Geographic photographer Frans Lanting. Also spread out in different areas of the gallery were family photos as well as photos taken by Galen's son who is just starting out in the “family” business. There are little known photos of the surrounding area of Bishop -- an area he knew well and hiked often.

Enough can't be said about both Galen's climbing skill as well as his skill behind the camera. With the time I spent in his gallery admiring his iconic photographs along with his private family albums I felt I got to know Galen personally and witness his love of the outdoors .

As I looked closely at the pictures -- most, if not all, shot on film over the course of his 30 year career, I could make out many of the emulsions, having shot with them myself. Velvia, Kodachrome 64, some of the fine grain Kodak 25, I’m sure many other chromes where favorites as well.

What I found interesting was how "soft" the images were. Having looked and scanned in many of my old chromes, I expected some of the softness having seen it first hand. What I didn’t expect was in the hands of a master the images were still “soft” by today’s standards. There wasn’t any pixel-peeping as there is now in Galen’s day.

Nowadays we are spoiled with our many different ways to sharpen an image. Even more amazing is our ability for close viewing of each and every picture. There are also multiple techniques for sharpening an image. Unsharp Mask, High Pass sharpening and even a Nik filter that does if all for you aptly named Nik Sharpener. Those tools have all arrived in the digital age. It's possible that Galen Rowell may have never shot with a digital camera to take advantage of these.

Moving through the gallery, I gazed upon a 5 foot tall, seemingly life-sized print of "Last Light on Horsetail Falls". Before this photo was shot there wasn’t much thought to how the evening light fell upon Horsetail Falls in the winter.

Now there are many photographers each year who look at this date and make the trek out to Yosemite trying to top this once a year photo opportunity. Most come away not even seeing this photo happen in real life for one reason or another.

As I stood inches away looking into the waterfall, I was struck at how soft the image was. This could be the greatest stretch of a 35mm negative when it was made. Who really knows what photo paper
they might have used or how it was printed.

Today we would probably be wondering about the horsepower of the machine needed or whether the file touched Genuine Fractals to produce such an enlargement. The pixel peepers throughout the Internet would be looking and proclaiming that something was wrong with the lens or maybe the camera.

It brought to light for me what most have known all along. It’s what’s in the image that counts. Galen was capturing what today would be maligned on some Internet forum and it is just one of the many of iconic pictures from the master. Today’s cameras are much better with resolution and sharpness, but they still need a skilled photographer at the helm for spectacular images.

I have included many of my images taken in the area around Bishop, CA . It's easy to understand why more than one photographer is located in this area. It is just a magnificent area for photography. My photos may not match up with those of Galen Rowell, but if you plan a visit in this area, take some time to visit some of the places on my list. And let me know if you find some great spots on your own.

You can view the whole gallery here. Please comment via email or inline at the blog.

Photo of the Day: Wildwood, IL

2009-03-17T14:39:00.002-05:00

Photo of the Day: Wildwood, IL, originally uploaded by BCMielke.

Out for my morning jog once again. I have wanted to take a picture of the sun rising through the trees. Many might recall me missing this shot earlier in this project.

Since the time change I am having to leave a bit later in order to be our when the sun rises. This photo was taken just as i was finishing up.

Captured with the Panasonic LX3. Raw filed converted to DNG and then opened in ACR a simple levels adjustment and then sent to CS3 where I added the Nik Color Efex filter Polaroid process.

Thanks for looking.

Photo of the Day: Wildwood, IL

2009-03-16T13:05:00.002-05:00

Photo of the Day: Wildwood, IL, originally uploaded by BCMielke.

This is another spot that I will have to visit in the future. The sunrises have been much better and I would have liked a different crop. I give myself 5 minutes on the Photo of the Day shots and I ran out of time using the Auto Brush on NX2. This was another from a run with the LX3. I need to get some of the TC's because those would be helpful many times.

Photo taken with the Panasonic LX3, JPG finished off in Capture NX2 with the Monday Morning filter from Nik Color Efex 3.0

Photo of the Day: Wildwood, IL

2009-03-15T17:23:00.002-05:00

Photo of the Day: Wildwood, IL, originally uploaded by BCMielke.

While watching Phil Mickelson I was drawn to this image and this angle. It was right in front of me and I kept thinking that would be a nice photo. When I finally went to take the picture I took pictures from all angles and none were better than the first.

Taken with the Nikon D3 with the 105 VR and SB-800 flash.

Finished off in Capture NX2 and then sent to CS3 where in Photoframe I added the texture and the frame to finish it off

Photo of the Day: Wildwood, IL

2009-03-14T17:27:00.003-05:00

Another early morning of jogging netted me this photo. The cattails are just going to seed and the sun is rising in the background. Despite being in a residential neighborhood there aren't any houses.

This photo was taken with the LX3 and edited in Capture NX2. The Photo effect is courtesy of Nik Color Efex 3.0 and is the Polaroid Transfer effect.

Hope you enjoy it.

Photo of the day: Warren Township, IL

2009-03-13T16:35:00.004-05:00

I am fortunate. My son having Down Syndrome gets me an instant in to the school. Most people know him. He can't tell me about most of the people that he meets in a day, but when I go to school I meet them all. I mean every single one. At least once.

I was at school today for a Family Fitness Open House. The opportunity is for me to come in and observe and participate in his gym glass. Tyler's gym glass is an integrated class so there is probably 40 children without disabilities and then the 7 that are in Tyler's class. He is always very excited to see me come to class.

When I arrive Tyler has to individually take me around to each adult and introduce me as his father. This always happens like this.

Tyler: Yoooong, Yooong, he yells out and grabs her by the hand. He then grabs my hand and gives it to her and moves it up and down in a shaking motion. He then says Yooong, Daad....Daad, Yooong.

We go around to every adult and some form of their name is uttered and I shake all of their hands. Tyler knows them all and I must get to meet them. It is truly without choice. So when I attend class it is always an event and since I'm there at least a couple dozen times throughout the year I know everyone. The above conversation takes place whether or not I have met them before or a 100 times before. It's exaclty as if I have never met them.

Truly one of the joys of having Tyler as a son, is each meeting is like this and each is always a happy. He stands there grinning and laughing like a greeter at the Casino just waiting to take your money. One person down and 10 more to go. I shake all their hands like a politician. Happy at each one.

I have been asked how do I convert these images that I post. I will attempt to each list how the photo was creatd and which piece of software that I used.

This Photo was take with the D700 and the 70-300VR lens, the NEF was converted in Capture NX2 using the Nik Color Efex 3.0 B&W conversion and grain plug-in. I then saved it as a jpg and posted.

Please comment and thanks for looking.

Photo of the Day: Wildwood, IL

2009-03-12T13:11:00.003-05:00

Not been traveling much this week so I am stuck with a very nice sunrise taken near my house. Learning to run with your camera in-hand is not the easiest to do.

Photo of the Day: Wildwood, IL

2009-03-11T16:37:00.001-05:00

Glad my children have toys.

Photo of the Day: Wildwood, IL

2009-03-10T16:13:00.002-05:00

A Birthday Gift

2009-03-09T15:33:00.004-05:00

Photo of the Day: Mundelein, IL

2009-03-08T18:28:00.002-05:00

Hard to keep today down to one, but managed to do it. This is from a photo shoot from today. This sailor came complete with tatoos and a hard hat!

Photo of the Day: Lake Zurich, IL

2009-03-07T17:23:00.003-06:00

This would be a Hendrik's Martini with handmade Bleu Cheese stuffed olives. Not quite my birthday yet, but I am having a family dinner made by my sister. Gotta love family.

Photo of the Day: Wildwood, IL

2009-03-06T16:10:00.003-06:00

Today's picture would be another lesson on why to take your camera everywhere. As I did my early morning run, I didn't grab the LX3 as I did the other morning. What I and you missed out on was a great early morning picture, pink clouds, back lighting some beautiful oaks.

Second picture was my son at the dentist getting his teeth cleaned. The vibration of the cleaning brush tickled him and he was laughing, the nurse was working and he had his hands on his ears to try and stop the vibration.

Instead you got the above picture. A walk around the neighborhood netted me this nice cattail.

Bring your camera.

Picture of the Day: Memphis, TN

2009-03-05T12:54:00.003-06:00

As I've taken this project on, I realize how difficult this will be on some days. Since my goal is to not just to snap a picture, but try to plan out a scene that is not only photogenic, but interests me.

Off to Memphis today for a day trip. Many great pictures and history in Memphis, I have explored it briefly in a previous blog post. In this case work filled my day. Airports are not the most photogenic of places even on good days and then I came across this ad for the Lumberjack Club. Don't know what the place is, for all I know it's a strip club. Beautiful wood though.

Photo of the Day: Wildwood, IL

2009-03-04T08:34:00.004-06:00

As most know I like to go jogging. The best time for me to do this is every morning. This is what typically greats me especially during the winter months. I captured this photo with the LX3. This camera suits me very well. I can pack it everywhere even carrying it when I jog.

Photo of the Day: Granville, OH

2009-03-03T11:53:00.004-06:00

We will see how long this lasts, but I have hopes of taking a photo everyday and posting it here. Maybe with a short paragraph and maybe not. I will label these Photo of the Day and where they were taken. This is to help out those that might not be interested. I do not expect these to be gallery pieces, but I do hope that my choice of topics and my ability to photograph each topic to improve steadily by doing this. I would also like feedback from anyone who might think I need a separate blog for these photos. That is also an idea I am kicking around.

The first photo is from Granville, OH home of Denison University. A quaint small town with alot of history. You can read about it here.

50mm Shoot out

2009-02-28T14:56:00.003-06:00

I had some time on my hand as I was looking at the latest version of Photo-Mechanic. I started this shoot-out just to try the new version updates uploading portion to SmugMug. As I was sitting at my desk taking some test shots, I got the idea to see how each of my lenses at 50mm compares.

There has also been quite a bit of talk about how an image taken with a D3/D700 in DX mode can compare to one in FX mode. I have included in this test two lenses shot in the DX crop mode of the D700. As anyone can see I have far to many lenses in this lenght for anyone to own. Sad to say this doesn't even cover them all. These are all 100% crops sized and send from Photo Mechanic using the included jpg inside of the NEF file. They were all hand-held.

The camera was set in Aperture priority mode and interesting enough even though the lite was constant the camera with difference lenses did select shutter speeds. The lenses test are as follows.

Nikon 50mm F1.4 D
Nikon 50mm AFS F1.4G
Nikon 24-70 AFS F2.8 G ED
Tamron 28-70 AF SP XR Di

I had hoped to also show the difference between the DX and the FX modes on the D700. Since my realy purpose of the test was to see how Photo Mechanic could reliably transfer files to Smugmug, I soon discovered that it was unable to transfer those files shot in the DX crop mode correctly. The framing was off on each of those.

Now onto the pictures.

Take a good luck and you can click on each image to go to the SmugMug page where you can look at each of the files in any size that you will like.

Take your best guess, I will upload the answers in another blog post shortly.

Transforming takes Patience

2009-02-22T05:48:00.005-06:00

I came upon this video while viewing some of the many other blogs that I follow. I enjoyed it not because it appealed to my photography part, but to my thoughts on life.

Winter always seems to be the season of our discontent.

As we look around us, what do we see, people being laid off, ourselves losing our own job, friends and family struggling to make ends meet.

This short video by Zach Arias helped me realize once again that not only one thing defines you as a person. You are defined by more than one area. I enjoy my job most days, it gives me security and allows me to see my children when other fathers couldn't. I am truly grateful to still have it. In some future I may not.

What else I have is my art and how I keep struggling to be better. Learning to write clearly takes time. Learning to choose which photos to go with my little stories does as well. This blog is my artistic vision of the world around me and what interests me and I appreciate its voice.

We are all a sum of work, family and art. Not just defined by one, but by all.

Patience is the key; there are a thousand sayings about how to have it. "Rome wasn't built in a day" is always the one that rings through my head.

We transform not on a daily basis in any part of our life, but on a seasonal basis. You want something set out goals and work at it. Find people to help you, take a class or just observe those that have a voice that you admire.

Learning is in the application. Apply what you know and keep applying it. Tinker some more, learn some more and keep moving forward. Whatever your goal is on, either work, family or your art. Goals and application is the key.

Transforming takes patience and patience takes time. While that time is happening enjoy what you do have.

A Round of Golf, Some Quality Pool Time and a Bit of Self Reflection

2009-02-08T15:05:00.004-06:00

How a serendipitous round of golf and an afternoon watching Buddy splash at the local pool caused some personal discovery

I was in Iowa this past summer for work. I had plenty of spare time before my flight so I decided to fit in a round of golf .I had recently read an article on the 100 best golf courses to play and one of the courses on the list, The Harvester, was nearby.

Unfortunately, I did not pack my clubs for this trip. I feel it's almost too costly to fly with your golf clubs anymore, but for some reason I did have my shoes. The course was mostly vacant with only a few people playing at two o'clock in the afternoon so, armed with a set of rental clubs, I went off to play.

Admittedly, this was a treat. There are moments my job allows me to do things that I love and this was one of those moments. I mean who wouldn't want to play a course that was not only beautiful, but also had bales of hay sitting next to the holes that reminded me of Midwestern sunsets and seemed to glow in the soft, low light. The holes had names like "Big Hog" , “The Sickle”, “Holy Cow” and my personal favorite “Serendipity” and it was a lovely course-- a great facility.

I started off slow with my rented Cobra clubs. I didn't care for the putter much and had some issues with driving. I was playing from the blue tees (I'm not up to playing this course from the longest tee) but after I was warmed up things improved. If it weren't for an errant tee shot on #9 that left me in the mud next to the water (7 strokes -- drat!) things would have been even better.

With a total of 41 strokes on the front, I made my way to the back nine. Teeing off on #10 I felt as though I had found my groove! I've learned from my children, when The King finds a new groove (or, in my case, an old one) good things happen!

As I rolled through the "Big Hog" I needed birdie on this last hole to break 80. I didn't get it but still, not bad in my book for rental clubs and a guy who only plays twice a month at best. All in all, a great day.

I moseyed (Iowa term) up to the clubhouse to get me some grub. I decided to eat outside overlooking the same 18th hole where a few moments earlier elation had filled me.

While sitting on the deck enjoying a fine glass of wine I was given time to reflect. I had run a footrace a few days earlier. Only a 5k, but for the first of the season it was more than enough distance wise. The course was a simple back and forth through a neighborhood in Libertyville, IL. My time was a respectable 24:32. One mile was even below 8 min. I couldn't have been more pleased with how I did. Being 41, one has to take these moments as they come.

I'm doing my best in this missive to not sound arrogant. I didn't feel arrogant during any of these moments. I have been blessed in many parts of my life and I am and should be a very grateful person.

I sat on the overlook enjoying my meal and was quite overwhelmed with my life. Here I was at 41, married to a beautiful woman who I loved, children that I couldn't be more pleased with. I had just ran the week before a sub 8 min mile and wonder of all wonders I had just shot (almost) 80 on a great golf course. Life on this day had dealt me all Aces. Filled with gratification I finished my meal, jumped in my car and drove to my hotel. I was certain that life couldn't get any better.

I arrived home and got back to the daily grind. I have written and commented before many times about my son, Buddy. He loves to swim. Every Monday I attempt (when I am not traveling) to take him to the pool near our house to take a swimming class. The class is for people with disabilities. You get to meet, talk with and see all sorts of people living with different disabilities.

I once had a woman I was talking with tell me that Buddy had the "Cadillac" of disabilities. Her child suffered from a congenital disorder known as Aperts Syndrome. I was not aware there was a "Cadillac" of disabilities, but I agree I have been fortunate.

On this Monday just days after my exultation on the golf course, I was still hanging on to the glow of the week before. I have to admit I was filled with much pride as I watched my son swim. He splashes around in the pool while being pulled around in a fashion by another person who moves his arms and legs in the proper way to allow him to swim. His swimming, like many things in his life, has vastly improved. Currently he likes to dunk his head and he can do a pretty good doggy paddle. Like any boy his age, mostly he just likes to play.

On this day, In the shadow of my glow, I noticed a father bringing his son into the pool. His son had Cerebral Palsy. For those that are not familiar with this disability, it gets progressively worse as you get older. The really difficult thing is the mind stays intact inside a body that no longer works.

This father lifted his 11-year-old son from his wheelchair and placed him in the pool. My guess is the boy at one point could crawl. Today he could wheel himself around a little in his wheelchair. Tomorrow he will have a motorized wheelchair controlled by the touch of a gentle hand that barely moves.

I sat on my bench watching my son.

This father pulled his son from one end of the pool to the other on his . There are toys all around to play with and his son made a subtle motion with his hand towards one of the toys, a stuffed floating clown. The father carried him over and picked up the clown. The boy made another subtle motion upward. The father put the clown on his head. He had very little hair and was now wearing a clown hat.

He started carrying his son once again on his back through the water sometimes fast and other times slow. The clown finally fell off... and the boy smiled. It was a gentle smile, not large, not toothy. The dad then picked up the clown again and dropped it on top of his head. He pulled his son through the water and the clown fell off again. The boy's face broke into an even larger smile. The father just stopped in the water, collected the clown and started putting it on his head and would move in such a way that it would again fall off.

The boy would smile and the father would stand there holding his son up on his back, putting the clown on his head and watching him smile. This went on for some time. The clown on the father’s head, looking down at his son, his arm and legs twisted and bent, an eternal bend. His arthritic body even at 11 had very little motion left. A few fingers supplying movements on where to put the clown and the son smiling every time it fell from his dad's head.

After awhile the father grew tired from carrying his son around the pool and grabbed a large Styrofoam mat on which to place him. He moved his son around on the mat carrying him as though he were in a boat. The clown still on his head, he now starts motor boating his boy around the pool. The clown would fall and the son would smile and the dad would place it once again on his head.

This same scene played out over and over for the 45min swim period allotted to each swimmer.

My son’s swimming has steadily improved each week; he now dunks his head and can swim underwater. He loves the underwater parts. He may never do a crawl or a breaststroke or maybe his muscles might "get it" someday and he will. Time will tell.

I watched this father and his son and I realized this may be as good as it gets for them. His boy may always be able to smile and as long as the father can carry his son, he will be able to take him to the pool. They will always be able to share “swimming” together.

I sat on the bench looking at my son play and realized, as I looked at this father's day and saw the enormity of his life and what already he and his son had accomplished together... in this father's devotion he showed me... I'm not that good.

Digital Photography and a Journey into Buddy's World

2009-01-14T20:16:00.006-06:00

My son's recent and growing fascination with digital photography has enabled us to communicate in a way I didn't think we'd ever be able to.

Most of you know about my son's growing interest in digital photography. It started with my desire to memorialize his first experience while he was in costume play-acting -- a costume designed by his teacher and performed in at a school play. After seeing the whole outfit, I could have kissed his teacher for encouraging his creativity.

From his earliest pictures (posted here) Buddy has slowly but surely grown into a hobby photographer, normally he just takes the camera from me! Ever the one to justify my own guilty habits, for Christmas Buddy received his first digital camera, a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ8. It fits perfectly in his hands although it can be a challenge to his fine motor skills to adjust some of the settings. (I am, after all, a part time therapist)

He wasn't sure what to make of this gift when it arrived, he was used to seeing Dad's large DSLR's instead of this little pocket thing. After a quick run through of all the controls he dove right in -- taking pictures of most everything. He has steadily progressed in his understanding of the camera's multiple controls.

Reading a camera manual is difficult for some adults and is outside of the realm of Buddy's current capabilities. Any explanation is either explained by a convenient adult figure or worked out on his own. He hasn't discovered the movie mode on his camera yet. What he has figured out though is how to take pictures and he snaps 100s of them

Most know the challenges Buddy faced when he came into this world. Though I haven't blogged about these stories -- blogging didn't even exist when Buddy was born -- instead I hammered out my thoughts and feelings on the word processor. As any parent to a child with disabilities knows, your world rearranges itself once you realize your child's condition. It has to. But in those 14 hours when Buddy's and my life was normal, -- like any other new parent I planned for so many things in his life, for him to be everything I wasn't.

He is going to be a better golfer than I am, I thought, as he clutched my finger only hours after birth. He is going to be popular, where I considered myself nothing more than a geek at best. He was, in those 14 hours, everything I wasn't. A new and better Chris. Chris -- Improved.

A parent to a child with disabilities also has to let all of those things go. Even in the “normal” world, in my imagination. As he grew, Buddy was going to lose the pro-golfer status, the chance to be a world famous author, President or sports star. (I must admit, the geek in me thought about bowling instead of football. I couldn't help myself -- we are who we are!) In Buddy’s world, it all happened much too quickly. In a flash they were gone.

My dreams for Buddy changed a whole lot sooner than most. It was hour 15 after his birth, as the doctor strolled out of our room, five minutes after telling us that our lives were going to be a bit different than we planned. As abruptly as this realization came to us, it's a surprisingly healthy thing, though I wouldn't have said so at the time .

Slowly some of the things that I thought Buddy would never have in his life have come. Not in the way I expected, but there nonetheless. I call this "Buddy's World" and it's different there. Things do overlap, but it's a different place.

I enjoy Buddy's world, but I have always wished I could better understand how he sees the world, to help me be a better parent for him. In Buddy's World you hum when drying off with a towel; you push your face against the TV to feel the static electricity. (When we got the DLP this ended though---drat!) We stand and go through sliding doors by moving one step out of range and then step forward and then step back again. We don't do this once, we do it many times. A lot of fun in Buddy's world is rediscovering the simple things time and time again. Perhaps the most joy comes from the fact that these things are usually forgotten by him and so can be rediscovered again the next day.

Buddy can barely talk, though that skill is improving in leaps and bounds. He will likely never share my past time of reading although we are hopeful he will learn how to read someday. He and I have played golf and Buddy can now make the 3-footers that I struggle with. In some ways he is still Chris Improved.

Photography allows Buddy to communicate in ways that he would not be able to otherwise. What matters to him. We all take pictures for not only the art and beauty of things, but to document our lives. To show the world that these are the things I wanted to save.

Buddy takes photos of what he saw and, for whatever reason, interested him. Looking at these photos is as close as I can get to "being" Buddy... to understand his world as he sees it. A recent search of one of Buddy's photo galleries uncovered six pictures of me, three of Kate and four of Punkin'. There were, however, 28 pictures of Wall-E. Photos taken from all angles, macro shots and even a Lensbaby type shot. How he did the latter I don't have a clue, but it's there, soft focus and everything.

He even uses his camera as a tool to communicate better. Recently, Buddy came running downstairs, pointed to the LCD on the camera and said, "Milk." Buddy has photographed his milk glass and it was indeed empty. Another time he showed the picture of the VCR box of The Jungle Book which he pointed at and said, "Watch."

Now, in case his former teacher reads this, the first time this happened it was cute and we let it slide. The next time however, we chuckled, told him how smart he was, but then made him walk through the whole sentence. Such is Buddy's World.

In-between Buddy's show and tell, he takes pictures. Hundreds of them. Pictures of me, his sister and all of the things that matter to him. Some I can't figure out, some are of stuffed animals and others are of the TV screen itself to preserve favorite spots of a movie.

I will admit to doing this myself when I was little older than Buddy. With me though, it was James Bond movies... how cool it was with him skiing down a hill or when he was shot into space with the metal teeth guy. This was with a film camera though, and it was of different shows. Star Trek, the doomsday device (I also did a voice recording of that one). And before you laugh -- this WAS the days before VCRs!

I have enclosed Buddy's digital photography pictures here. I posted them all unedited since I don't think he is too concerned about culling them. I'm not sure he even understands at this point. Plus, I don't want to trash an image he might later consider keepsake or any of his images for that matter. Enjoy a peek into Buddy's World.

Me, I'm just happy.

New Macbook Wheel

2009-01-06T19:05:00.001-06:00

Fresh from MacWorld comes Apples latest innovation the MacBook Wheel. Watch the Video for this revolutionary innovation from Apple.

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

Steve Jobs to be CEO of Apple for awhile longer

2009-01-05T12:16:00.004-06:00

Though I don't see why Steve Jobs dying rumors seem to be so prevalent, they are what they are. Again he has had to come out and diss rumors of his health concerns. They can be found here.

On with regularly gossipy stuff about Brad and Angelina up next

Good People

2008-12-26T09:57:00.005-06:00

This blog should have been written some time ago.

I have a friend who when he describes people he says they are "good people" It's a saying that has always kinda stuck with me and I have incorporated it into my speech pattern. It means alot in very few words. Something I'm not very good at.

As most know I got married earlier this year. Being my second time it gave me a little latitude and relaxation about the event. I think have an Y-Chromosome helps in this department as well. I did want to have good pictures though. That is where the story begins. We hired a photographer in the Knoxville area based on looking through his portfolio and then after Meeting Wes and Danielle Hope we were even more pleased. I'll let Wes take over the story about how he hot hurt here if you are interested. Needless to say as we were packing up and getting ready to go we get a panicked phone call from Danielle explained that with two broken elbows Wes was not going to be able to take any pictures. They professionally had a backup and I could choose another if needed.

Well I went to Tara's site and she does things a little different than my traditional spirit had in mind at least for Kate and I's wedding. I could tell though that the most important thing is now how it looks, but how it is composed. That and how these see the important moments. She also in her favor is a Nikon shooter. Wes on the other hand shoots Canon. I called back Danielle and asked if Wes could Post Process them and she said he could. I said let me talk to Tara and I'll let you know.

So some 20 minutes later after talking to Tara on the phone, I heard the above phrase going through my head. "Good people" During this conversation she let me know that she had a Holga, well two. I wanted her to bring only one as I hadn't seen one and even better I was hoping to get some pictures. Well guess what, she forgot it. Since our wedding was some two hours through the Smoky's it made it impossible to go back and get it.

The wedding went great and Tara was wonderful, we chatted and had a great time. The pictures turned out great as well. Except of course the Groom, he had a few problems and was an ugly lug.

Later as I followed her Blog I saw all of the Holga pictures she took and I loved them! I always commented how I liked them and wished she hadn't forgotten it for our wedding. I probably sounded like I was harassing the poor woman, but I genuinely was thinking how cool they might have turned out. I was never mad, just bumbed.

Well a couple of months after the wedding this box shows up at my door and I open it and guess what is in it, but a Holga, from Tara at Dixie Pixel. I now feel like a lout, because not only have I not let her know I got it, but I haven't also yet thanked her for the gift. I'm sure it's not every day that a Groom gets a parting gift from their wedding photographer.

Thanks Tara and I can't recommend her enough and the passion she brings and work she does for her clients will be appreciated by all and the pictures are rad to.

Is rad still "in" :)

Holga Box Opening from Chris Mielke on Vimeo.

The First Picture

2008-12-24T11:05:00.003-06:00

For me there is nothing like the day you get a camera in the mail. The excitement of opening the box the anticipation of getting the battery in. Thankfully they always seem to ship with about 1/2 a charge. The memory card loaded. Hefting the camera in your hands and how the weight feels. A new camera day is a blessed event. Some first pictures have been of family, some of the wall in the house. Some have been of myself. Others have been a family portrait. Still another was of an old girlfriend (yikes)...I no longer have that first picture. The first picture is sacred, well except for that last one. Today a new toy arrived. I have sold a bunch of lenses recently and was able to upgrade my D300 to a D700. Life is good for me.

The fist pictures above isn't quite like any others, Holy competing pop icons Batman!! We have a blending of the old with the new, even of family members. You will see Star Trek, Cinderella, Cars and one loved by all in the family Wall-E.

To my knowledge almost everyone in the world celebrates some sort of Holiday in the month of the December. Today and tomorrow is the one that I celebrate. I could Google and find what they all are, but that would be too much work. I have personally always enjoyed Festivus, but few seem to celebrate. I especially enjoyed the part where I tell all of my closest friends and family how they disappointed me this past year.

Just kidding. Maybe that is why we don't celebrate this anymore?

My Happiest Wishes for whatever Holiday you celebrate.

Amazed again!

2008-12-22T13:10:00.003-06:00

It's coming up on almost a year since I made the leap to a Mac. I am still surprised how everything just works together and how quick it is to put professional looking documents together with so little fuss. I opened iMovie today and only 3 hours later I have a great looking movie set for posting with music, scene cuts and text all incorporated and selected by me. What a great Christmas present for someone. What I need to do is figure out a way to share it.

Mat & Marnie Bridal Shower from Chris Mielke on Vimeo.

Mississippi Eagles!

2008-12-20T08:15:00.004-06:00

Oh wait, that is a Pelican isn't it? Well who would have thought to see a Pelican in this weather. I have to admit being a Midwesterner my whole life winter after 40+ years. The last two though I do have something to look forward to. Bald Eagles over the Mississippi River. As many other bodies of water start to freeze up the Bald Eagles migrate their way towards open water. Thanks to are Army Corp of Engineers and the Lock and Dam system there are many spots full of open water and an Eagles delicacy fresh fish. From about Thanksgiving on depending on the weather you will see the eagles start to pour into many different areas on the Mississippi. I'm sure all know that the Bald Eagle used to be an endangered species, those days are long gone with my own eyes counting easily in the 100s at a time. Now I get excited once again for winter as I get to take the long lenses out and explore as a wildlife photographer. Much fun.

What I've found recently is other birds as well along the river inlets. A Pelican in the snow was a recent visitor on this trip. I also unfortunately had an opportunity to relearn another problem first hand, how to stalk. Most don't seem to realize that it takes much patience to get birds up close. Even with long lenses. Unless your going to some places in Florida or other hot spots you can't just blunder in and expect to take close shots. As I was sneaking up on this pelican I had a Canon shooter with his 70-200 lens bump into me as I was stalking this bird on the ice amongst some Geese. Now the correct way to stalk is to not show your face and as you step forward give the bird nothing but your back, or at least hide your pasty face behind the lens(at least mine is pasty especially in winter). I figured I had at least a good hour of stalking before I could get real close to this bird. Well he decided to come up on one side and the birds started moving off in the other direction, since that didn't work for him he rotated all the way around past me to the other side and practically at a gallup plopped his tripod in the ground to try and get some pictures. Well guess what as you can see in this picture, I got the birds butt flying off.

Best moment was when he came back to me as I was packing up because all the birds LEFT after his intrusion. He was very excited for me, wanting to know if I had got them flying off. He seemed pleased that I might have gotten a great shot. I wanted to let him know that a great shot is difficult to get without the bird there.

This trip was a struggle, the snow started about 10:00am and kept coming. Not great weather when you need fast shutter speeds and low ISO. I think though it's going to make me make the switch from the D300 to the D700 though. I'll let the viewer take a guess on which were taken with the D3 and which with the D300. To my eye there was a huge difference looking at the 100% view.

Just a small gallery this time along, though I took hundreds I narrowed it down to the best of the bunch.

The whole gallery begins here.

A slideshow can be found here.

As Always please comment.

Just Take Pictures

2008-12-15T12:50:00.003-06:00

I know I have asked through the years how do I get better at photos. Well I have finally found the secret. Just take pictures. It sounds simple, but all of the book reading and classes won't help you unless you apply the knowledge. I speak from experiance. If I read something or attend a class without ever applying when the time comes when I am in the field I think, well I know I can do this but I don't know how. Practice, practice and even more.

As I was looking through my libraries recently I noticed a continuing trend. Every year I have taken more pictures than the year before. That even goes with when I made the transition to digital. In the film days we had an excuse to not try things, today we don't. Just Take Pictures. Repeat after me, Just Take Pictures.

Easy enough.

The above was taken on the way to yet another golf course in September. I saw the sun rising in my rearview mirror and yanked the strearing wheel over and jumped out slapped the camera on the back of the car and clicked away.

David Tejada & Detroit

2008-12-10T08:01:00.002-06:00

It's nice to have a pro looking over your shoulder. Though I have done most of my learning on photography via book, video or magazine, I have recently found that I have probably taken that form as far as I possibly can and that I needed some actual "hands-on" time with a teacher. Being a faithful reader of The F Stops Here and it's writer David Tejada, I was quick to jump when his workshop came anywhere near where I live in Chicago. In this case to a place I am quite familiar with, Detroit! Making the late-night drive with every conceivable piece of equipment I could put in the back of the van Kate and I arrived in Detroit. She was kind enough to go along for the drive, little did I know she would be part of the class!

David is one of the most personable people you might meet. He seemed very eager to get to know us and to also pass along his information. Erik Lawrence is the type of assistant that we would all want. I was envious when David would just motion with the fewest words and then Erik would move into action and have something all set-up while David continued his lecture. Though I'm sure some may debate this Erik however does not look as good as my wife. I have some advantages.

The morning session was the basics of lighting and how it affects your picture. The most telling of slides was how light falls off and it's effect on F-stop. That slide alone showed how little light you might need to creatively light a scene. I believe this is the Inverse Square Rule. After looking through information on that, I liked David's Slide better. I wished I had taken a picture of it to share.

I'll get into a specific example and how it has recently helped me in a moment. David's class was thorough and really showed how a working pro solves his problems and the equipment that he uses. A CD was provided with the list of equipment choices at the end of the class. The fun part of the class started in the afternoon. What we did as a class was work through a lighting of a scene to show how he develops what he sees and how to shoot it. He walked us through this in multiple areas, both inside and out. He highlighted the strengths of each scene and how you control the light that you not only have available, but also the light you bring. Nothing could be more telling than the following pictures below.

In this first picture we were in the kitchen and David is showing how bright this scene is. This is a kitchen with stainless appliances and shelving, you can see at picture right the large diffused windows that are glowing with beautiful diffused light. The problem is capturing a picture that controls the light you have available. You can see in the next picture that using the diffused light from the windows without bringing any of your own light into the scene. This would be exposing for the ambient light.

In the last example you can see what is done when you creatively control the light. I know if I saw these I would have guessed that they were taken hours apart instead of just minutes!

This lesson alone made a trip I made to Zion later in the year all that much better. I knew from this class that if I supplied the light I should be able to capture this scene with 8 stops of contrast and compress them so you not only could have Kate and I lit in the front, but the rocks of Zion in the back perfectly exposed. I walked through all of the items from the above class, checking my ambient light and then figuring out how to manually bring my own light creatively to the scene. I was giddy after this shot because I had applied something I had learned and designed in my head and pulled it off on the screen. I know it doesn't take much to amuse me.

I highly recommend a class with David, he also has a mentoring session out in Death Valley with Nikon in February. I also recommend both his and Erik's blogs.

After the class we all got together for dinner at a local eating place. We shared alot of photography stories and had a chance to ask even more questions not only of the group, but of David as well.

After dinner Kate had never seen Detroit before and I with a little nudging, well alot set out to see it again. Detroit has been beaten up in the news lately, but it is a very scenic city. It rests along the Detroit river and if you didn't have to go into another country to take shots there might be more of it. Belle Island Park sits in the middle of the Detroit River and allows you to bypass all of the customs officials to grab some sunset pictures from it's shores.

A nice trip.

As always you can see a slide show of all of the pictures here.

If you would like to go through them at your own pace go here.

As always please comment.

Do Scratches on a Lens matter

2008-12-09T16:49:00.002-06:00

I have always operated without a filter on the front of my lenses. I've never had an issue in the number of years that I have been into photography. I have never been passionate about this, but I made the change number of years ago without any thunder. I remember when I made the change, I was as nervous as a soon-to-be groom standing at the alter. (Having done this twice now, it doesn't get better as you get older. Frankly the second time I figured she would get wise and head the other direction at the last moment!) As the years piled up though without any problems, I just realized that they probably aren't needed. This though caught my eyes as I was going through a fellow Bloggers site. Her blog can be found here. The article can be found here.

Not for the faint of hear though...it makes me want to go out and purchase a Bgn lens at KEH though, just to see how it does.

Montauk & The Harvester

2008-12-07T20:14:00.007-06:00

I have driven by this home many times and never stopped to look in. Montauk was owned by Iowa's 12th Governor. Back in the day when we named our mansions. Today the modest home would not be called much of a mansion, but I'm certain back in 1874, this was something special. It is currently a working farm. In fact the day I was there, they were picking some vegetables. Some of the last of the season. It also has a few short trails. There are also 4 statues of Union Generals on the property. I assume these were added later and the Governor didn't have those amongst the crops. Despite all of the reading that I have done I can't seem to find out why the Union Generals also have statues here. I was really drawn to these statues mostly because of a good friend. He happens to be from Mississippi and as I was dating my wife I used to make quite a few driving trips into the south. There are many constant reminders of the Civil War throughout the south. There are Battlefields, the flag which causes much controversy and monuments to those days gone past. There are also the memories of the people and still even years later much bitterness. I'm still a yankee to many of the places of business that I go to, I can't escape that.

Through many discussions with Bubba, I found the correct way to say richt-yonder and over-yonder and the difference between the two. (Who knew!) I will admit to making a very odd sounding Reich-yonder like I was from France on one of these dialect coaching classes. when I came across these statues. I had to take photos. I wasn't even aware that Iowa sent any soldiers to the Civil War, I was informed differently here.

I worked on details in this series of photos. I have never been accused of being great and covering them, but in this case, I think I did OK. As each of my readers know I like grand vistas, but most of the time, life truly is captured in the small details. I hope you see that in what I collected.

The last series of pictures is from The Harvester. Some will note that I did these blogs out of order when I talked about this course in an earlier blog. I know each of my faithful readers you hate when I blog out of order, but indeed in this case it was necessary.

The Harvester was a wonderful place to play and highly recommended it. Just North and slightly west of Des Moines, in Rhodes it has hole names like Big Hog, Serendipity and Holy Cow. Bales of hay are alongside many of the holes. Unlike Erin Hills you see what the trouble is in front of you and you can plan. I foolishly played aggressivly on hole 9 and got a double bogey for my efforts. On 18 which is laid out almost L-shaped around a lake I found myself in perfect position and carried a 3-wood all the way to the front edge of the green. Needing Birdie to break 80 I was in a perfect spot. A poor chip later and an indifferent putt I meekly took bogey. Nothing is more exciting though than having the chance to break 80 and having nothing but open water in front as you rip a 3-wood to the final green.

I ate in the resteraunt after my meal on the veranda looking over that same 18th hole. Good food. As I left I thought I should have had a cigar and watched the sun set. Alot of fun either way.

As always you can see the whole collection in slideshow format here.

You can also go through the gallery at your own pace here.

Comment either here or on the website.

Mountain Hardware

2008-12-02T04:56:00.003-06:00

I will admit to being a big fan of this company even before this experience. I really like their gear. Every article seems to fit, work and better yet has some well thought out extras. My wife also looks good wearing there stuff and that is always an advantage in my book.

Having said that I recently purchased some gear on close-out at the Yosemite shop on a trip out to west last year. The material it was made from was not the best and had a tendency to snag easily. It wasn't that the shirts weren't well made, they were. The material or blend used though was easily snagged. Both shirts, one collared and the other a regular Tee were made of the same material. I wish I had saved what it was, so I could warn each of my faithful readers what it was, but I didn't.

I tried to wear the clothing even after the snags appeared, but they kept growing until finally despite how much I liked the two shirts I found that I couldn't. Knowing that Mountain Hardware has a lifetime warranty I contacted them for an RMA.

I include the link to the warranty here. I sent an email to them and shortly after I was contacted by Kent Laak issuing me an RMA. Having never sent any clothing back to a company I wondered about my chances of having them either replace or repair as is listed in the warranty. You did read the link didn't you? :) About a week later I contacted Mr Laak again and low and behold he informed me that I had a credit at the Mountain Hardware website for the cost of the articles and this is how I am to claim it.

Sure I can get snarky and say that I have to purchase it at MSRP, but they also gave me MSRP as their part of the replacement. Another company that stands by their product AND has excellent customer service. Kudos to Mountain Hardware. Any chance Mr. Laak you could consult with Adobe and help them out?

Sometimes you just go with it.

2008-11-28T07:33:00.004-06:00

Though I have never been confused with being a great portrait photographer, this part of my photography has steadily gotten better. Though the above is not one of my best efforts, it does merit a story. I had grand plans when I arrived. My Great Aunt was in town and that is rare for the month of November. She usually is wintering in Florida by Thanksgiving. I wanted to get a family picture. My great plans included a nice park with play toys for the children used as props, picture of my Aunt and children hanging upside down next to her on the monkey bars, me moving the light deftly into the correct spot quickly and feverishly.

I arrived and dinner was sooner than I anticipated, my sister was sick with the flu and nobody wanted to go outside because it was cold. I opted for the backyard. The first spot was on a little stream that bisects my sister's property. The lights kept falling down and the space was too small for the CLS to work properly, the lights weren't being triggered. After I resolved those issues, I then found that my aunt wouldn't be able to walk to the spot I had chosen. So plan 2.

A family picture with my best attempt to control the hot spots in the background. I got 5 pictures and one pose. This was the best of the bunch. The other way without the setting sun was an old dilapidated aluminum shed that was facing the other way. It's family though and I love them despite the hot spots.

Golf & Heaven

2008-11-18T05:40:00.000-06:00

There was a time when the above statement would have rang as true as a cathedral bell. I'm certain that I even found world peace on a course at times. There still isn't much better than an early morning, first on the tee, dew on the ground and a club in my hand. I don't get to do it much anymore. Time, life pressures and so forth keep me away from 4+ hours on the golf course. I still love the game, but can't seem to make the time happen to play it. Except for one morning in September.

It's fitting that I put these two galleries together. Some may disagree with Golf being a religious experience, but indeed it is. I will forgo the old joke about all of the epitaphs to Christ and God that are uttered at certain times on the course. Today for your review is Erin Hills Golf Club. Built just north and west of Milwaukee and an hour plus drive from my homestead, they say they didn't move much dirt to make this course and it shows. Caddies can be found here and my suggstion is to get one, spend the money and let them suggest where to hit the ball because you will need him/her. I didn't and I paid the price on more than one hole. I happen to be getting ahead of myself a little, let me discuss my impressions.

Erin Hills is quite a place. They were just awarded the 2011 US Amateur so it's well regarded and in some ways justifiably so. When I arrived they had just gotten done hosting the US Woman's Public Links. Some of the conditioning aspects of the course could have come from having so many players in such a short period of time of such a high caliber play the course. Either way the course was in good condition, but not great. The Harvester which I played the week earlier was in better and I might add was 1/3 the cost. More on that later.

The drive in is gorgous, great care is obviously taken at each step along the way as you drive in and around the course. The staff is very friendly, you drop your clubs off at a barn and go to check in at a wooden house. From the name of the course you can see that you are suppose to disappear into Ireland and that is quite easy. The clubhouse has a beautiful wood interior and though I have never been to Ireland I have a sneaky feeling that I may have had the experiance. You can see from many of the pictures the little touches and the care that has been taken in building the course, clubhouse and amenities. Gratefully there aren't any houses. Today there seems to be much emphasis that for me it spoils the pristine nature of so many courses. Even the flags themselves are made of wood and aren't going to be moved much when the wind blows, the flags as well aren't Nylon, but cotton. Everything very professionally done and very well done, it all works.

After getting some direction off the first hole and how to play it, which was well needed I was off. The course was in good but not great condition. The greens though were like a table top. The second hole has a green about the size of my desk and a notice of this would have been very helpful. If I had just had that caddy. That thought will be a comment theme. You can see from another picture in the group how the bunkering was handled. I was chasing the green's crew all morning so maybe some of the conditioning issues I had were taken care of after they got off the course. The most friendly green's crew I have played around. One person eve came over to help me on a par 3 where I couldn't find the hole. Seriously it was on the other side of a hill in a valley and was completely not seen from the tee. Did I mention a caddy? On another hole that was 460 yards and a par 4 I thought I could let it swing, I mean it's 460 I have to hit driver right? Nope over the ridge there was a sharp dogleg and though the ball started staight down the middle and then was lost. The card didn't show that large of a dogleg and now is another good time to mention that caddy.

The best part was the Blarney hole. Strange place for one after hole #9, but there it was a part 3 that you have to play before you tee off on hole 10. I didn't need a caddy on that hole. However on the 10th whole I again couldn't see which way the fairway was and hit a perfect shot in the deep rough.

After my round was over I was in the clubhouse discussing with the pro. He let me know that there wasn't any dirt moved currently to make the golf course, that's a rarity nowadays. He also let me know that the 2nd hole was going to change, they were going to enlargen the green and move it so you could see it from the fairway another good move. All of these changes were going to be before the Amateur in 2011. All good changes.

I enjoyed Erin Hills, I can't say it was worth the money though. Especially for a course that demands you to have a caddy to play it effectively. The layout was challenging enough without having most of the trouble hidden from the tee or the fairway. I loved the staff though. Friendly helpful and cooperative. I'm glad to have played the course and I played pretty well. If I were to play it again and that is unlikely, I would have a caddy. The Harvester and 1/3 of the cost and some 6 hours to west was not as intimidating and didn't need a caddy.

From the course I could see the Basilica of Holy Hill. Truly a great place for a cathedral. Having completed my round I decided to take a look at the cathedral. They were in the midst of a refurbishment of the two tours. Truly a remarkable place and quite large. There was two sanctuaries, the main and the cloisters below. Amazing place and a place that you can see for miles around as it sits on the only hill for quite a few miles. My suggestion is to block a couple of hours and spend it here looking around the cathedral and the grounds.

You can see the gallery here.

A Slideshow of the images can be viewed here.

Rank Your Camera

2008-11-17T14:44:00.003-06:00

DxO has come up with Camera Rankings for the most recent cameras and alot of old ones. I won't get into how they compiled this data, I will let them do that, but for those that are interested you can look here.

The Photographer

2008-11-11T20:33:00.006-06:00

There was a time I wondered if this day was ever going to happen. Well it has. My son has picked up yet another of my guilty habits. He is now a photographer. This is far better than smacking butts, especially of the girl down the block (yikes!) Not me him! Though it seems that the camera is as large as he is, he grabs it and wants to take my picture. Who would have thought when he started out so long ago that pictures just might be what he excels at. From the grip on him at birth, I thought it might be golf.

Sure I set up the camera so it focuses on the closest object and maybe an S5 or D300 is a bit much for a 8 yr old to handle, but he seems to understand, he picks up the camera, puts the strap around his neck and clicks away. No training, no nothing. He just clicks away and some turn out quite well. He even coaches his model with little words of more and come-on. Seems like not too long ago I was changing his diapers or when he was born and I thought he had a good grip for golf. Well, I'm just grateful that he hangs onto the camera.

Good stuff!

Below is the link to see Buddy's efforts at picture taking. Notice the photo-journalist type of tilt to the above picture? That kinda stuff you just can't teach! He has most of the rest of the pictures start here. Dad processed them though of course in Aperture. I did not crop though. You can enjoy my efforts of the Lake County Buddy Walk 2008 in slideshow format here.

Comments are appreciated either here or at Smugmug. Thanks!

Nik Software

2008-11-07T05:07:00.003-06:00

As most probably know I love Nik Software. I use the couple of plug-ins that I own quite alot. I haven't found a bad plug-in. Recently Nik just updated all of them to run under Aperture and released them as a collection. These were good under both Photoshop and Aperture. Just today they are allowing a download for Aperture only for only$299. Yes that's alot of money, but considering the same package under Photoshop is $599 you can see what an incredible savings this is for Aperture users. You can read more about the deal and purchase Nik the Complete Collection here.