Support Your Local Book Store

- Made a visit today to one of our favorite local bookstores, AFK Books Music & Movies. They sell mostly "like new" books, CDs, DVD,s and an amazing collection of vinyl records. They also buy your old books, tunes and movies. You don't get a lot for them but every bit helps in paying for the new stack we haul back home. Canon Powershot SD870 IS, 1/40 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 200.

Deuteragonist

- My latest PEZ dispenser acquisition is Ferb Fletcher. Ferb and his step brother Phineas Flynn are the stars of the animated series Phineas and Ferb. Creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh worked together on the 1990's Nickelodeon classic series Rocko's Modern Life. As I was working on this post, my son Mike pointed out some rather significant trivia related to Phineas and Ferb. The boy's father, Lawrence Fletcher, is voiced by Richard O'Brien who wrote the cult musical The Rocky Horror Show and appeared in the film as the character Riff Raff. Of course Ferb is the deuteragonist, from the Greek deuteragonistes meaning second actor or typically the second most important character. Canon 7D, 1/2500 sec @ f/6.3, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens, and two LED litepanels.

Total

- A total tower of "Total" at today's promotion event at the MacArthur Station in downtown Norfolk. iPhone 4, f2.8, ISO 80.

Harmony

- Definition: "a feeling that you are happy and your mind and emotions are well balanced" Macmillan Dictionary. This is the end result of this little miracle. I bought my first Harmony remote back in 2003 to control with one button a myriad of home entertainment devices. It brought harmony back to our household and replaced pages of instructions on how to watch programming from different sources. No more set the TV to Input 1, the receiver to audio input 2, A/V switch to position B; so on and so forth. I now have two of these babies and could not live without them. Canon 7D, 1/50 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 1600, 100mm macro.

In The Sun

- The Tide pulls into the Civic Plaza Station in Norfolk Virginia during a brief period of afternoon sunshine. iPhone 4, f2.8, ISO 80, with Olloclip fisheye lens, Camera+ app.

Waiting to Serve

- Sparkling clear wines glasses await their turn to hold your favorite vintage. Canon G10, 1/30 sec @ f/3.5, ISO 400.

Daisy, Daisy

Daisy Daisy,
Give me your answer do!
I'm half crazy,
All for the love of you!
It won't be a stylish marriage,
I can't afford a carriage,
But you'll look sweet on the seat
Of a bicycle built for two !

By Harry Dacre, 1892
iPhone 4, 1/200 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 80.

Gabriel's Horn

Inside the new chapel at Norfolk's Freemason Street Baptist Church is this stained glass window featuring Gabriel's Horn in the center. The bright gold horn is also found atop the church's steeple which was the tallest point in the City in the later half of the 19th century. Gabriel's Horn refers to the tradition identifying the Archangel Gabriel as the angel who blows the horn to announce Judgment Day. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/250 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 400, 50mm prime lens.

It's a Knockout

- In the past few days the Knockout roses have exploded with new blooms. It's pretty hard to beat the beauty of a single red rose. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/500 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 800, 105mm, light from a single LED Litepanel.

The Tide Comes In

The Tide comes in to the Norfolk State Station. The Hampton Roads Transit light rail carried its one millionth passenger yesterday reaching that milestone five months ahead of projections. Canon G1X, 1/1250 sec @ f/6.3, ISO 200, converted to black and white using the Silver Efex Pro 2 plug-in in Lightroom 4.

To The Rescue

- Modern antibiotics come to rescue me from a sinus infection. In my case it was the old standby 500mg of Amoxicillin made by West-Ward Pharmaceuticals of Eatontown, New Jersey. Canon 7D, 1/500 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens.

best-sleep-you-ever-got-with-a-cold

"The nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, best-sleep-you-ever-got-with-a-cold medicine" or so goes the original slogan for NyQuil. I feel like *$(% but I still got a photo for today. Hopefully I can get a good night's sleep tonight and feel better tomorrow. I have always been a fan of NyQuil although its not as good after they took out the pseudoephedrine in 2006. You can still get the "good stuff" called NyQuil D but it is behind the counter at the pharmacy. Canon 7D, 1/40 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 800, 100mm and one LED Litepanel that the bottle is sitting on.

Jacks

Any body up for a game of onesies, twosies, threesies, foursies, fivesies? Today jacks come in these soft neon rubber variety rather than the painted metal ones I remember as a kid. Canon 7D, 1/200 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 400, 100mm macro lens.

Neon Dash

- The trademark orange dash lights of BMW with a neon outline effect added through Google's Picasa. iPhone 4, 1/15 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 1000.

Night Iris

light a night bloomer
behold magnificence of spring
yellow and purple

My first haiku seemed appropriate for this lovely iris. Canon 7D, 1/1600 sec @ f/6.3, ISO 1600, 100mm macro, two LED Litepanels, one below and one to the left.

Strawberry Bloom

- The patio strawberries are in full bloom. This variety is "June-bearing" and I should see some ripe berries by late May. Take a close look at this small bloom just to the left of center and notice the small unwelcome pest already at work. Canon 7D, 1/125 sec @ f/14.0, ISO 1600, 100mm macro lens taken at night with two LED Litepanels for illumination.

What a Set of Pipes

- Now that's what I call a great set of pipes. The pipe organ at Freemason Street Baptist Church in Norfolk, Virginia. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/8 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 400, 50mm prime lens.

Pizza!

- Another Lytro light field camera photo this time type a slice of veggie pizza from Granby Street Pizza in Norfolk Virginia. Change the focal point by clicking on the line of condiments. Lytro, 1/60 sec @ f/2.0, ISO 1600, 62mm focal length in creative mode.

Living Picture

- My first Lytro "Living Picture" for the blog. I took a picture of these spring flowers at the McDonald Garden Center in downtown Norfolk. Check out the variable focus by clicking on different areas of the picture to move the focus point around. Lytro, 1/125 sec @ f/2.0, ISO 200, 45mm focal length, in creative mode.

Lady Bug Style

- The Lady Bug is always in style. Canon G11, 1/60 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 400.

The Big Ones

- Robert went for the big eggs at the Eater egg hunt at Kempsville Baptist Church in Virginia Beach today. They told him he could only get 12 eggs, so he figured the bigger the better. Thant's Grandpa's boy! Canon 5D Mark II, 1/2500 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 400, 70-200 zoom at 180mm focal length.

Atrium

- Looking up in the atrium in the brand new Lyman Beecher Brooks Library at Norfolk State University. The new libray opened this past January and is an amazing addition to the NSU campus. The architecture, technology and collection are all very impressive. I toured the facility with members of the City of Norfolk's Slover Memorial Library project just now getting underway. When it opens in late 2014, the Slover will bring state of the art library services back to downtown Norfolk. It's an exciting project to be a part of. iPhone 4, Olliclip fisheye lens withe Camera+ app.

Don't Eff It Up

- The sign say's it all. The bar at Hell's Kitchen in Norfolk Virginia. Canon G1X, 1/10sec @ f/5.8, ISO 800.

Lion Facade

- This lion's head is part of the facade of one of the Victorian era buildings in the 100 block of Norfolk Virginia's Granby Street. These buildings are collectively referred to as "heritage row" and represent some of the oldest of Norfolk's remaining commercial buildings from the late 1800's. Similar neighboring buildings fronting Main Street were torn down in 2007 to make way for a hotel/convention center that never came about leaving a vacant fenced in lot on the site. The lot now referred to as "The Plot" is being converted into a pop-up park using shipping containers. That's progress, I guess. Canon G1X, 1/125 sec @ f/9.0, ISO 200, 60mm focal length.

Abstract

- This photo of the Battleship Wisconsin as reflected in the Suntrust building in downtown Norfolk has an almost abstract look after applying a little HDR effect. Still not sure if I like it but thought it was a different view of an often photographed Hampton Roads landmark. Canon G11, 1/320 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 200.

DE in B&W

A rainy morning turned into a beautiful sunny day. I looked up while walking down Plume Street in Norfolk Virginia at the Dominion Enterprises tower lit by the bright sun. The light stone against the dark blue sky dotted with clouds screamed "take this picture." So I did using my iPhone 4. Taken with Camera+ with the Clarity and "Ansel" B&W effects applied in the app.

First Sunday

- This is my first "First Sunday" project. A soon to open Iris bud stands among the tall green foliage. Snapchick issued a challenge on the first Sunday of each month to focus on composition and creativity rather than high tech camera gear. The challenge was to use your oldest digital camera, set it on a high ISO and a low resolution. The idea is to show what the photographer can do rather than what the camera can do. This photo was taken with my first DSLR a vintage 2003 Canon Digital Rebel aka 300D, 1/2000 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 1600 (the camera's highest setting) using a 50mm prime lens.

Rotating Force

- The "brushes" of a large elevator motor make contact against the "commutator" which rotates on the shaft. The commutator is essentially a switch which reverses the electrical current direction of the motor's armature creating a steady rotating force. This motor was very large, about waist high from the floor. Canon G1X, 1/13 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 1600.

Ripples

- Ripples by Athena Tacha. This 1979 public art located at the corner of Granby Street and City Hall Avenue in Norfolk Virginia is the only redeeming element of the Norfolk Federal Building. In my humble opinion the building itself is totally out of place and has no architectural significance whatsoever. It replaced the magnificent old Monticello Hotel in the late 1970's. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/6400 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 400, 100mm.

Wall Fly

- This little dragon fly sought refuge from the windy street by resting on the wall at the entrance foyer of my building. Thanks to Anita who mentioned him to me as I was headed out for a lunch time walk with my camera. I doubt I would have noticed him and thus missed this picture opportunity. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/50 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens.

Chrome Shroom

- A mushroom lamp illuminating a crop of fake flowers. I often walk by this standard shopping mall decor when short cutting to get to my next meeting. Canon G11, 1/40sec @ f/4.5, ISO 400.

My First Lytro

- This is the first picture I've shared from my new Lytro camera. The Lytro changes almost everything for digital photography as its new and innovative design allows you to refocus the picture after you take it. This birthday bouquet does not have a lot of depth of field so the effect isn't that noticeable. Look for new pics in the future after I develop some skill in actually using this camera. You can play with a "living" version of the photo on my Facebook timeline page. Just click on the image to refocus on that spot. Lytro, 1/80 sec @ f/2.0, two LED Litepanels for illumination.

Tacky Night Lights

- Today's bright sunlight charged up the garden solar lights. So the oh so real blue sunflower is backed up by the orange globe. The sunflower is a real tacky LED marvel of modern science as it changes in color from red to purple to blue to green before repeating the sequence. Odd as it is, there is no yellow. Canon 7D, 1/60 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 1600, 70mm focal length.

CFL

- A helical integrated compact fluorescent lamp or CFL for short. The three-dimensional spiral CFL was invented in 1976 by Edward Hammer, an engineer with General Electric, in response to the 1973 oil crisis. It was expensive to produce and the invention was shelved. This design eventually was copied by others and in 1995, helical lamps, manufactured in China, became commercially available. Source - Wikipedia. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/400 sec @ f/22.0, ISO 200, 100mm macro.

f-stop Watch

- "You're a little fuzzy around 2, start feeling fine around 8, but at 11 you're sharp, focused, and ready to party. The f-stop watch gets you." You know you're a geek photographer when you have an f-stop watch. It was a cool Christmas gift from my son and daughter-in-law who had a great time shopping for me at Photojojo - the most awesomeness place on the net. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/500 sec @ f/6.3, ISO 1600, 100mm macro.

A Yellow Baby

- "Yellow daisy, a dandelion or a pussy willow,
It's a different thing.
Oh-oh, Forsythia. Forsythia. Forsythia"
from Forsythia by Veruca Salt
Canon 5D Mark II, 1/80 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro.

Morning Dew

- This morning's heavy dew left little droplets of water on each of the points of these brand new Knockout Rose leaves. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/15 sec @ f/11.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens.

Gumby and Pokey Ride Again

- These rare vintage Gumby and Pokey Happy Trails game piece figures from 1968 were a free gift from a Foursquare check-in at GC5 Vintage & Gifts. I figured they would have to be part of the blog so look for them to show up in my photos occasionally. Canon G1X, 1/1600 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 400.

Perpendicular Gothic

- The Freemason Street Baptist Church is one of three buildings in Norfolk Virginia designed by Thomas U. Walter who was famous for his design of the dome for the U.S. Capital Building. The church was completed in May 1850 in a revival of the style known as "Perpendicular Gothic." This Victorian period revival style was characterized by its reliance on decoration and ornamentation rather than structure. I made my first visit to the interior of the church today and was struck by its beauty. This photo shows the side aisle under the overhead gallery with the east facing stained glass windows. The large Gothic windows with the simple single colors is really unusual for a church of this period. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/500 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 400, 50mm prime lens.

Streamline Moderne

- This beautiful piece of history is a Revere 16mm Model 48 silent movie projector from the early 1950's. I saw it in an antique and vintage store. 16mm films were ones we used to watch in school back in the old days, pre-VCR. One of the things I love about old film gear is the way it was made, heavy and solid but also sleek and cool. Much of this look comes from the Art Deco and Streamline Moderne industrial design movement from the 1930's resulting from era of speed in transportation. Today we call it retro but you can see its roots clearly in the "technofuturistic curvedness" of Apple industrial design. Canon G1X, 1/160 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 400, converted to B&W using Silver Efex Pro 2 in Lightroom 3.

Wake Forest

- The historic downtown of Wake Forest North Carolina. This is the 200 block of South White Street. Cindy and I paid a quick visit on our way home from a weekend in Raleigh. Canon G1X, 1/500 sec @ f/13.0, ISO 400.

Fat Tire

- The Fat Tire neon sign at Mellow Mushroom Pizza in downtown Raleigh North Carolina. Canon G1X, 1/160 sec @ f/5.8, ISO 400.

Big Fish

- This fish was in a large aquarium at the Virginia Wesleyan student center and the front glass reflection makes it look like the fish swallowed a whole line of people. The people were lined up at the 14th Annual Empty Bowls Charity Dinner. iPhone 4, 1/15 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 1000.

Bradford Pear

- In the mid 1970's Virginia Beach, like many American cities, planted the Bradford Pear trees along main roads. At the time the tree was considered to be the perfect street tree, with beautiful early white blooms, a nice cone shape, and good fall color. Thirty years later many of trees weaknesses are now apparent including a relatively short life and the tendency to easily break in high winds and under the load of winter ice. These trees are located along Princess Anne Road just southeast of Newtown Road and while some show the effect of age and breakage, the early spring debut of white flowers is still a wonderful sight. Canon G1X, 1/160 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 200.

Little Earth Stars

- To some the dandelion is a weed; but not to me, unless it takes more than its share of space, for I always miss these little earth stars when they are absent. They intensify the sunshine shimmering on the lawn, making one smile involuntarily when seeing them. Moreover, they awaken pleasant memories, for a childhood in which dandelions had no part is a defective experience.
Source: "The Home Acre," by E. P. Roe

Canon 7D, 1/30 sec @ f/10.0, ISO 400, 100mm macro, converted to black and white in Lightroom 3 using Silver Efex Pro 2.

Cypher Lock

- Your basic push button cypher lock, non-ADA compliant. Canon G1X 1/30 sec @ f/5.8, ISO 400 converted to Black & White in Picasa 3 using a Holga Style effect. This is the first blog post with a picture from the new Canon G1X.

Llamella® Plate Settlers

- Got to take a tour of the Moores Bridges Water Treatment plant in Norfolk Virginia after visiting with Scott Howerin the rest of IT staff. These Llamella® plate settlers help with the sedimentation part of the water treatment process. The Moores Bridges water treatment plant was constructed in 1873 with a 1 million gallon a day capacity. Some of the original buildings are still located on the site which now has a capacity of 108 million gallons per day and supplies water to Norfolk, Virginia Beach, part of Chesapeake and most of the area's military bases. Canon G11, 1/125 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 100.

Spring Walk

- Took a spring walk around the neighborhood this afternoon and took this pictire of these delicate very pale violet flowers. I'm not sure what they are but I liked the texture and decided it would make a good black & white photograph. Canon 7D, 1/400 sec @ f/11.0, ISO 400, 100mm macro, converted to B&W in Lightroom 3 using Silver Efex Pro 2.

Votive

This deep red votive candle holder displays and interesting pattern of light caused by the many tiny bubbles trapped in the glass. Canon G11, 1/15 sec @ f/3.2, ISO 400, in macro mode.

9:52

- When doing a 365 project one has days where the picture doesn't come easy. So it's 9:50pm, no picture and no ideas. I decided to ready the coffee maker for the morning and the orange LED clock struck my eye. Looking around I see digital clocks everywhere in the kitchen and realize tomorrow night I'll be jumping them all ahead one hour. I break out the camera and grab a quick macro photo of each clock showing the exact same time of 9:52 and then make a quick collage in Google Picasa. There you have a picture for day number 1165 in my 365x4 project. Canon 7D, 125 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 400, 100mm macro.