Sometime after we moved to Williamsburg, VA in 1990 the ourliine of the original Jamestown Fort was uncovered after being presumed to have all washed away years before. In fact a very small portion of the fort was gone but more than 90% was still there. They have since found many artifacts and lots more sites like the very first church. For a while they erected these short walls to show the position of the fort walls.
Barred Owlet /
My neighbor is a rescue guy and busy. He and his wife respond to calls for injured or otherwise in distress primarily birds of prey. They volunteer at a place that rehibilitates then and then releases then again. This 3 or 4 week old Barred Owl feel from the nest. They bring it home and then prepare to replace him in the next again. And they did. They have had adult owls, eagles hawks and more for overnight guests. This one was certainly cute.
Unperturbed Seals /
This ice fall is from Kenai Fjords National Park. There were several seals sunning on the ice floes and they did not scatter when the ice fell.
Red Chair for Two /
One of my favorite images from Lake Louise, Banff, Alberta, Canada
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, MI /
“But you are a tower of refuge to the poor, O Lord, a tower of refuge to the needy in distress. You are a refuge from the storm and a shelter from the heat. For the oppressive acts of ruthless people are like a storm beating against a wall, or like the relentless heat of the desert. But you silence the roar of foreign nations. As the shade of a cloud cools relentless heat, so the boastful songs of ruthless people are stilled.” Isaiah 25: 4,5 NLT
Mackinac Island Redux VI /
We will close our Mackinac Island tour (just a reminder to those sticklers for numbers - you know who you are, we started on Sunday!) with another view of the Grand Hotel. This beautiful place with the “worlds longest front porch” is celebrating its 133rd birthday this year, you ought to go. I hope to this summer. We won’t be staying but maybe a lunch?
Pretty decent photo for my week there a few years ago. Thanks for traveling with me on this trainee photo trip.
Mackinac Island Redux V /
This rather poorly lit scene features three other things Mackinac Island is well known for besides horses: Fudge (three shops at least in this photo), bikes and late 19th and early 20th century architecture. But mostly fudge.
Mackinac Island Redux IV /
Once again for context see Monday’s post.
Once again in a carless society you get to your hotel in one of these snappy carriages and the deep burgundy one in front from the Grand Hotel is as snappy as they get. We did not have a hotel, I found a B&B and we walked about six blocks. I would like to have this shot over again, expose better and shoot from a different angle. As it is I did not get run over so that was a victory.
Mackinac Island Redux III /
Story on this series on Monday’s post.
As no automobiles are allowed on the island alls sorts of things happen by bicycle and horse drawn equipment. Here was a funeral occurring at this chuch with the hearse waiting to take the casket to the cemetery. I stayed a respectable distance from the event. For his photo I cropped it a bit, fixed some minor issues and adjusted both color and contrast. I liked that I was able to get both the hearse and the cross, reality tempered by hope.
Mackinac Island Redux II /
If you did not read yesterday’s post, please do for context on this short series.
Next up was my artistic shot where the umbrellas of the Grand Hotel were going to be a number one best seller at fine galleries everywhere. I still like this one, I fixed the water from running off your page and did some adjustments on contrast and highlights.
Mackinac Island Redux I /
Something a bit different this week. You may or may not have noticed yesterday’s photo from Mackinac Island. It was also from the first digital photos I took. I had just bought a digital Nikon 40. Now it is really sad that I did not know anything about how to use it. I had it on auto everything and most of the shots I took were not focused well or straight (lots of lake photos with the world tipping dangerously). I “thought” owning a Nikon was the same as magically being able to take photos that would rival National Geographic, or something like that. They were all jpegs, very small and mostly exposed poorly. So, the good news is you are going to get to see them, or a small subset of them, this week. I have adjusted the contrast and some corrections where possible but the out of focus or fill-in the blanks problems remain. I was very pleased with the at the time. Not quite so now. Oh, and the biggest issue was with my mediocre eyesight I never knew if they were in focus, just could not see in the viewfinder how they really looked.
I start with a shot of the fort. It was not too bad and I fixed the blown out highlights in L4 before posting.
"He Is Not Here." /
“I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. “
1 Corinthians 15: 3-4 NLT
Interior window, historic church, Mackinac Island, MI
Take A Walk - Shelter in Place #1 /
One of the few things we are doing outside of the house, practically the only thing we are doing is taking a walk or two each day. We have six places we walk with two of those having various options. Monday I shot a couple of photos on the iPhone as we walked along Crabtree Creek. This is part of the extensive Greenway system in Raleigh. There are over 130 miles of trails mostly paved like this one for bike, running or walking. This is an out & back and begins about a mile from our house, so we drive to a small parking lot (a lack of sidewalks for one reason). Our walk here is usually about 1.7 miles each way. We could go farther on the greenway but 3/2/3/4 is usual for us. It is often our choice when the sun is high and hot becuase there is a lot of shade. The path actually takes us to Crabtree Mall and we have walked there and shopped a couple of times. Monday’s walk was nice because the creek was a bit lower and slower and we had some nice reflections. You cross the creek just one time on the path.
From the one bridge
This old bridge was once part of the Wake County highway system now there is no road on either side. Good thing.
Typical of the Greenway.
The World Going Dark /
Not with the virus thing but a couple of thousand years ago on a Friday it appeared that way but appearances have a way of not always being accurate.
Sunset over the Johnson River,, ALCAN Highway, in BC.
The Brothers Wright /
These photos are not too inspiring - three trips to the first flight monument and this is all I have. But major migraine tonight and not sleeping at all, this is all I have to post today. I will catch up the Eats! later today or tomorrow. Sorry too much pain right now to think.
First days flight path and landings.
Repica at VC
Mirror mirror... /
…who’s the fairest road of all. Not sure but the Ice Fields Parkway in Alberta is in the discussion.
Dark Corner /
Hiking along a ridge in Sitka we came across this eagle that was on a dark tree deep in the shadows. We may not have seen it if it were not for a bit of brighter light on the white head feathers. It was lower than we were which was unusual. I was not sure I even captured an image here as it was really dark but with a bit of work in L4 I got this and I think it is pretty decent. The eagle deserved a better shot - quite a magnificent bird.
The Bee Hive /
A mountain towering over Mirror Lake in Banff. This was shortly before we got to the Lake Agnes Tea House. (See Eats! from last week.)
Stylized Studio Shots & Story: Plumber /
My dad was a plumber. He worked on a massive old house in Cheswick, PA, that was being turned into apartments but had belonged to a reclusive WWII general. When the tradesmen moved in there were floor to ceiling boxes of stuff in most of the rooms. I recall that the military people came and took out live ammo grenades, machine guns and the like from WWII. My dad - they were throwing out boxes and boxes, brought me a Japanese blood stained battle flag with a story written about it. (My mom threw it away) and several odd bits and pieces. One of which is this goblet that had the origin noted and in that hand written paper it explained where in Japan it came from (He was some sort of post war leader in Japan) and that it was about 2000 years old. I have had it ever since I was about 10. I used to use it as a dish for softening decals on my models! Now I just like to think that it was made in the time of Jesus - a continent away but still, 2000 years old. So I like to use it occasionally for communion when I served in the local church. Most often I would get it out for the Christmas Eve or a special service before Easter.
I am quite pleased with this shot it is pretty much as I envisioned it before i started and that is rare. I hope you have enjoyed this diversion from the norm here. I plan to do some more and experiment with a light background as well.
"This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.” ! Corinthians 11:25 NLT
Stylized Studio Shots & Story: Aunt /
My Aunt Carrie was a traveler. She and her friends took a trip each year and eventually visited 49 states including Hawaii on the day it became a state. She was at the Great Smoky Mountain NP the summer it became a park. I always looked forward to her postcards. On one trip before WWII she visited Canada and brought home this carved nut bowl. I have no idea how I came to have it or why of the many beautiful things she had this is one of the few I still own. However, I did find it interesting that Andre Bourgault chiseled his name into the piece and, in doing some research, determined that he was a very well known folk art carver and on his authentic pieces he “chiseled” in his name. He died in 1957 and had started carving with his two famous brothers in the early 30’s. This was a piece for the tourists, I’m sure. While not wildly valuable this little bowl has two meanings.
