Blue Moon

According to the font of all knowledge, Wikipedia, a blue moon is the appearance of the third full moon in a season with four full moons. The term has also been used to refer to the second full moon in a month. Tonight's blue moon is the first since December 31, 2009 and the next one won't be until July 2015.

Today was Neil Armstrong's memorial service and his family said one way we could remember him was to "Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink." So step outside and behold the rare blue moon and give Neil a wink.

Canon 7D, 1/400 sec @ f8.0, ISO 400, 560mm focal length. Converted to black and white in Lightroom 4 using the Silver Efex Pro 2 plugin and added a little blue tint using Google's Picasa. The real blue moon is not actually blue at all.

Tipsy Repeat

For the next two weeks this picture entitled “Tipsy” will be on display at Richmond Camera's store on 21st Street in Norfolk Virginia. It was made on New Year’s Eve as the last photo for my first 365 project. Glass can be hard to photograph because of the reflections it picks up. I found a how to blog post on the digital-photography-school.com by Ronan Palliser using martini glasses and colored water.

As he said “The secret to lighting glass is to not light the glass.” This photo was setup on an ironing board in my kitchen. A single off-camera flash is placed below the setup and bounced off the background to light the subject indirectly. Two pieces of black cardboard were placed on either side of the glasses just out side of the frame. The black gets reflected by the edges of glasses giving them definition. Executing the tilted colored water gives the photo its “surprise” element. Canon 7D, 1/250 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 100, 50mm prime lens and one off-camera strobe.

Worker Bee

The bees were mighty busy at the Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center off Diamond Springs Road in Virginia Beach. The demonstration garden here is one of Hampton Roads best kept secrets. Need some tine to think or unwind, stop by for a walk in the gardens. I guarantee you won't be disappointed. Canon 7D, 1/160 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 100, 100mm macro lens.

YNot

YNot Pizza has been making great hand-tossed pizzas in Hampton Roads Virginia for 19 years. This is our regular location in the Kempsville area of Virginia Beach. Our favorite pizza - red sauce cheese pizza with tomatos, spinach and feta cheese. The name YNot comes from the reverse spelling of owner Tony DiSilvestro's first name. iPhone 4 using the Camera+ app and the Olloclip fisheye lens.

Quid Pro Quo

The Scope Plaza in Norfolk Virginia leads up to the world's largest concrete dome, which was designed by Italian architect/engineer Pier Luigi Nervi in conjunction with the Norfolk firm of Williams and Tazewell. The venue holds a bit of a political past. According to Wikipedia - After watching the 1960 Rome Olympics on television, Brad Tazewell and Jim Williams, the Norfolk architects who were eventually to partner with Nervi, solicited U.S. Sen. A. Willis Robertson, father of Christian Broadcasting Network founder and former candidate for President Pat Robertson, to build a sports complex in Norfolk. Subsequently, President Lyndon B. Johnson asked Robertson to support federal funding for a multimillion-dollar cultural center in Colorado and Robertson said he would if Johnson would support one in Norfolk. Scope was completed in 1971 at a cost of $35 million dollars with the federal government providing $23 million, almost 66% of the total cost. Canon G11, 1/250sec @ f/8.0, ISO 100, converted to black and white using Silver Efex Pro 2 and Lightroom 4.

Empty Beach

We headed out to Sandbridge Beach late this afternoon. With stormy weather moving in we found an almost empty beach. It was really relaxing with the wind, surf and rapidly changing sky. We stayed for about 30 minutes before lifeguards closed the beach because of the threat of lightning. iPhone 4 with the Olloclip fisheye lens.

Yankee Clipper

Neil Armstrong the first man to step on the moon died today. We boomers grew up during the "space race" and his passing brings back many memories. I took this photo of the Apollo 12 space capsule, nicknamed the "Yankee Clipper" at the Virginia Air & Space Museum a while back. Armstrong's first assignment in the Apollo program came as the commander of the back-up crew of the Apollo 8 mission, though he had been originally scheduled to back-up the Apollo 9 mission. Had he remained as the Apollo 9 back-up commander he would have been slated to Command Apollo 12, not Apollo 11. Thanks for taking that one giant leap for mankind. Canon 40D, 1/40 sec @ f/3.5, ISO 400, 17mm focal length.