Ritual - Day 152 #CY365

A Saturday night ritual for us is a trip to Doumar's in Norfolk Virginia for curb service and the famous "Ringo" sundae. A blend of homemade Maola vanilla ice cream and crushed waffle cones, topped with hot fudge and a big red cherry. iPhone 5s.

The Present - Day 150 #CY365

The magic button for opening the doors on Norfolk Virginia's light rail system "The Tide". You've got to be in the present and ready to press when it turns green or you'll find your self on the way to the next stop. iPhone 5s.

From Down Under - Day 70 #CY365

From down under my Mother's dining room chandelier. Mom invited us over for dinner tonight and while we were sitting around talking afterward I noticed the chandelier. I opened up the Camera+ app on my iPhone, switched to the forward facing camera, and laid the phone below the chandelier on the table and snapped a pic. Got home and processed it using the Clarity effect and the Silent Movie filter in Camera+.

A Story in Three - Day 64 #CY365

Today's challenge was to tell a story with three pictures. This has been a cold and gray winter making me long for the beach and warm weather. I created this story in three with the beach in mind from photos I made last year. The first photo is a Florida coast sunrise with a lone shore bird in the surf, the second is my grandson Robert enjoying the mid afternoon sunshine in Virginia Beach, and the final shot is a sunset of shore birds at the Boneyards in Encinitas California. This weekend's forecast is for sun and temperatures in the 60's, so I think a walk on the beach is just what the doctor ordered.

Choose a Favorite - Day 62 #CY365

Today's challenge was to choose a favorite color. My favorite color is red but I thought I try a little color theory with today's photo. I formed a color wheel using my grandson's crayons. The arrangement of the colors around the wheel help define both complimentary and analogous colors. Complementary colors can be found by choosing any color around the wheel and then looking straight across the wheel. For red the complimentary color is green, think Christmas. Yellow's complimentary color is violet and blue's is orange. Analogous colors are those on either side of main color. In the case of red, it's red orange and red violet. A color wheel is a very useful tool for decorators, artists, photographers and even a guy when picking a tie or socks to match that shirt. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/500 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro, LED ring light and two LED litepanels.

Keep Going - Day 59 #CY365

Moving up the kettlebell train. Got to keep going because as they say, "no pain - no gain". Canon 5D Mark II, 1/20 sec @ f/3.2, ISO 1600.

Seize the Moment - Day 58 #CY365

This is "Team Norfolk" following today's Resilient Cities Workshop at Norfolk's Half Moone Cruise & Celebration Center. The team which includes many of my coworkers from the City of Norfolk government and dedicated partners from community groups, non-profits, businesses and other agencies. We are proud to be included as one of the first 33 cities in the Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities Centennial Challenge. We are creating a strategy to make Norfolk more resilient in the way it faces socks and stresses including flooding, sea level rise, poverty and others.

Canon G15, 1/1250 sec @ f/28, ISO 160.

Admire - Day 57 #CY365

General Douglas MacArthur was one of only five men ever to rise to the rank of 5 Star General of the U.S. Army, and the only man ever to become a field marshal in the Philippine Army. A hero of World War II, he received the Medal of Honor for his service in the Philippines Campaign, which made him and his father Arthur MacArthur, Jr., the first father and son to be awarded the medal. He officially accepted Japan's surrender on September 2, 1945, and oversaw the occupation of Japan and its rebuilding from 1945 to 1951. He led the United Nations Command in the Korean War until he was removed from command by President Harry S. Truman. The relief of the famous general by the unpopular politician for communicating with Congress led to a constitutional crisis, and a storm of public controversy. Polls showed that the majority of the public disapproved of the decision to relieve MacArthur. Truman's approval rating fell to 22 percent, it remains the lowest Gallup Poll approval rating recorded by any serving president.

This is the Douglas MacArthur Memorial in Norfolk, Virginia. The statue is a duplicate of the one at West Point where he recorded the third highest academic score ever and graduated first in his 93-man class in 1903. Following World War he served as Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy leading a wave of academic reform and modernization. While his military career is also noted for controversy, his admirers continue to come to the memorial every day, many of them Philippine Americans and visitors from the Philippines. Source - Wikipedia.

iPhone 5, Camera+ app.

Bittersweet - Day 56 #CY365

Today's prompt - Bittersweet. I eschewed the obvious, chocolate, and went for liquor instead. Here my friends is a Rob Roy, a cocktail created in 1894 by a bartender at the Waldorf Astoria New York. Similar to a Manhattan, it is basically Scotch whiskey, sweet vermouth, a dash of bitters garnished with a maraschino cherry. The best part of today's project, drinking the prop. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/60sec @ f/4.5, ISO 400, illuminated with three LED Litepanels.

Predictable - Day 55 #CY365

They don't make pencils like the they used to, or maybe they do. Canon 7D, 1/200 sec @ f/13.0, ISO 1600, 100mm macro lens.

Crowded Around - Day 54 #CY365

My PEZ Army has my back as I work at my computer. This crowd of about 600 PEZ dispensers always blows visitors away. I must admit they are pretty awesome until it comes time to dust them off. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/60 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 800, 14mm wide angle lens.

Oh Boy! - Day 53

My grandson Robert was by today. I had a new "build-on brick mug" for my little Lego maniac. He built this rocket mug creation all by himself and he's showing it off for Grandpa's photo of the day. iPhone 5, 1/20 sec @ f/2.4, ISO 64, Camera+ app.

Escape - Day 51

My escape today is performance art at the Chrysler Museum Glass Studio. I really enjoy art glass and have taken a few couses and made a few projects. But the Glass Studio takes appreciating the art of glass making to new levels with their Third Thursday performance art series. Tonight Hannah Kirkpatrick's performance of "Lights, Camera, Action" a created a giant camera obscura, 20 foot wide - 8 foot tall with hundreds of "lenses" for a dramatic live performance with music provided by members of Live Bison. In this photo we see Hannah and her team behind the "camera obscura" with glass neon lights she created. Below you see a photo of what the audience was seeing. Canon G15, 1/100 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 1600.

Canon G15, 1/8 sec @ f/2.2, ISO 1600.

These were challenging photos to capture given the almost total darkness in the studio. You can tell my Canon point and shoot was really pushed with a high ISO of 1600 and wide apertures of f/2.8 and f/2.2 and in the case of the second photo some camera blur resulting from a super slow shutter speed of 1/8th second. These were all taken using full manual control as the camera's light meter wasn't much use in the dark environment.

Two - Day 50 #CY365

Today's challenge was "Two". This is my Pebble smart watch, a Christmas gift from my son, daughter-in-law and grandson. I love watches and have a pretty decent collection of classic analog watches. So this was the perfect gift for me, a "high tech" watch. The Pebble allows you to change watch faces to thousands of possibilities. This text based face is one of the more distinctive and interesting faces. So at 2:02pm EST I took of photo on my sleek black Pebble, capturing two, twos. iPhone 5, 1/20 sec @ f/2.4, ISO 100, Camera+ app.

In the Front Yard - Day 49 #CY365

Not much happening in the front yard today, so I had to "manufacture" a picture. Went out tonight with my macro lens, two LED litepanels and a jar of bubbles. So there you have it. Oh the things one will do to get a 365 picture. Canon 7D, 1/50 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 1600, 100mm macro lens.

Geared Up - Day 46 #CY365

Day 46 - Geared Up. This large bevel gear is most likely from a Voith gearbox or wheel set for a transit bus. It is about eight inches and diameter and weighs about 24 pounds with the attached bearing assembly. It makes an excellent door stop. Canon 7D, 1/125 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens.

Amore - Day 45 #CY365

Today's challenge was "Amore". It was a great day, Valentine's Day, Friday, payday, 3 day weekend, and most of all sunshine after days of gray and gloomy skies. So I captured my morning shadow cast by the lovely morning sunshine. Canon G15, 1/640 sec @ f/6.3, ISO 200, post processed using the Lomo-ish filter in Google's Picasa.

Red - Day 43 #CY365

Everything about the Chrysler Museum's Glass Studio is hot! Including the bright red lacquered galley seats. Canon G15, 1/25 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 400.

Retail Therapy - Day 42 #CY365

Target is a fine place for a little "Retail Therapy". Even with the pre-Christmas data security breach, I still love my Target RedCard. iPhone, 1/20 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 80, Camera+ App with the Olloclip fisheye lens attached.

It's Still Winter - Day 41 #CY365

Yes it's still winter here in Virginia Beach, Virginia. This bare parking lot tree illuminated by a single cold street lamp conveys the gray, cold and dreary days we've been having lately. Canon G1X, 1/20 sec @ f/5, ISO 800, converted to black and white using the Silver Efex Pro plug-in in Lightroom 5.