Check out these buy photo images:
Barns, M-43
Image by joeldinda
Bought my breakfast at Sophia's in Grand Ledge a year ago, with a vague plan to get a photo on my way home. Took a few pics at the island park, most of which I probably didn't intend as black & whites, then headed home.
These barns--one's actually a collapsed corn crib, I think--are close to Grand Ledge. In fact, I've posted a photo of them before, some years back. I imagine there used to be a home at this location, but the farmer now lives across the street in a very attractive ranch house.
But I didn't use any of the GL pix. Since Joan and I are serious readers, our upstairs room is full of books and magazines. The house is small, so I sell on eBay and Amazon just to clear room on our shelves. The photo I posted to 366 Snaps documented the sales prep effort.
==========
This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps.
Number of project photos taken: 26 (but see my comments about Second Island, above)
Title of "roll:" GL & around home
Other photos taken on 1/9/2012: 6 color photos for the auction using the D300.
Fellow flickrer
Image by colinlogan
So I bought a new lens. The Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L. It should help for event photography, a few times I've felt pretty limited by my primes.
After buying it in the city I camped out on the post office steps and played around a bit. Taking test shots of people as they walked by. Tried out the 'macro' with the grain on the wall. I must've looked quite strange but an old man came up to me just as I was getting down. He told me he's seen me setting up my new toy and asked about the lens. We talked for a bit and he told me he played some instruments and sung opera. I believed him but he immediately demonstrated, started singing on the street. I asked him if he'd take part in my 100 strangers project but he was too shy, so instead we exchanged details and he said he'd send me some silly photos of himself.
I spotted this guy from across the tram tracks and quickly went up to him, side strafing a little to stay parallel. When I ask him for his photo he asked a few questions about why I was taking the photo and what I'd be doing with it. I thought he might say no, but once I'd answered his questions and I asked again he was into it. I fired off a few shots, enjoying the novelty of being able to zoom. He kept this stance the whole time like a pro. When I was done he was keen to see the pictures. We chatted a little more and he mentioned that he'd kind of heard of the 100 strangers project. I told him I'd be putting the photo up on my flickr account and as I was giving him the url he said that he was on flickr a bit. Pretty cool I thought.
So I totally under estimated DOF on wide angle lens. The shots I snapped off at 70mm had wonderful separation and threw the background well out. But these wide angle shots barely blurred the background at all, even at f/2.8. I've posted this shot to capture my inexperience with wide angle lenses... and so you can all enjoy the view.
By now I'd been wandering around the mall for a while. I'd noticed a quite overweight businessman, made eye contact with him a few times. Eventually I went over to where he was sitting and gave him my spiel. He declined but said he'd been following me around. He went on to let me know that I'd missed the a real stunner earlier, and that he'd almost called out but I'd been on the other side of the tourist information booth. I had a bit of a laugh at that.
TL;DR: New lens. Had opera sung at me. Photographed guy above. Suck at wide angle shots. Had a businessman watch me and let me know I'd missed a beauty. Met a male stripper.
This is the twenty second portrait of my attempt at the 100 strangers project.
DSC_4286.JPG
Image by Rich Gibson
You can buy internet access cards, CD roms, mice, even a usb web cam from a vending machine
11/22/2004 - Monday: in Rome Roma, the Vatican, train to Florence Firenze
tags: italy
Monday Reality
Left hotel a bit late...not too bad. Tried to get on the subway but there was a line up the stairs. We were going to take a bus, but then we got a cab. 10 euros to take a cab two metro stops...I sort of think that wasn't strictly kosher...but maybe it was. it was still fun. We got to go under a tunnel that we saw yesterday during our ordeal march of being lost.
the idea was to catch the capucin crypts on the way to the vatican. But they were closed...still. so we slipped down back into the subway. We had used our single use tickets when we were turned back by the line at the Termini station, but we decided that the moral constraints were met, so we slipped through and re-used the tickets to get to the vatican. AFter all, we had gone through the gate, but we hadn't gotten on a train...
so the train left at 4:48ish, maybe 4:47...basically right on time ...
Off we rushed to the Vatican museum. We arrived at 10:00...and the english tour was at 10:30, so just enough time to get oriented and rest a bit before the ordeal by marbel floor!
We had a nice tour guide. First she showed us a sort of parchement view of the sistine chapel-two rulls of text and pictures with details of the different scenes. She would wind it down to get the next view.
This was fascinating...I am phenomenally underinformed of art and cultural matters...it is almost a cliche to say that, but egads it it true.
on the other hand, there are things we know today that were unknown 200 years ago. Amazingly...apparantly the whole forum area was under dirt until 18-something. So much dirt that only the tops of the columns were exposed. and even now much remains.
The archeologists cringe over the techniques used to clear what is now exposed. There have been several recent archeological 'campaigns' among the ruins of palatine hill that have excavated pre-roman huts. one of the write ups discussed the findings of 27 flakes of flint, indicating tool maing. So infering thngs based on bits of things found...which is the whole point of archeology.
And it made me realize that they are not done excavating Rome Roma...an odd thing to realize, since only a moment's consideration would reveal how obvious that is! There are Indian mounds that the archeologists are intentionally leaving alone for now, with the expressed plan of letting future archeologists examine them when they have better techniques.
my ears are popping...and the gps lost its lock...I then look out and realize we are going through a tunnel. ah...sense is made.
maybe...perhaps it wasn't a tunnel...I can't tell. several more episodes of pressure changes are occuring.
There are sliding head rests on the cabin walls in back of the seats. they are padded and have vertical supports so that you can lean on them to sleep without falling into the window, or onto your neighbor. they slide up and down to allow you to adjust to your preferences.
We didn't see the capucini crypt, because it was closed, and it was getting dark as we got on the train, but we are doing pretty well.
The vatican tour took two hours...and it seemed that we were moving much of the time. they have these slick radio receivors so you can hear the tour guide even if you are in the next room back.
I had a strong response to a tapestry depicting the slaughter of the chilidren by herod. One baby is being held, barely, by its mother and a soldier has a dagger to the child's heart. The baby is about to die. Other mother's are using their bodies to shield their infants. it is truly horrible.
damn! the pressure changes are really frequent, and amazingly annoying.
I downloaded a bunch of stuff from 'hex'-a friend of Jo and Schuyler's. I'm reading
how to build a reality that doesn't fall apart two days later...file:///Users/admin/wa/web/downlode.org/etext/how_to_build.html
I'm on the train...fighting sleep. I need to pee, but to do that I worry I'll have to wake the gentleman seated in front of the door to our compartment.
passing through orte...at 5:27:00---possibly even got a track point. I had a signal for a moment.
well..more than a moment, but not too long. there is crying in the hall....
The GPS showed us going 115 mph, for a bit. not just one observation. interesting. fast.
The hall of maps was cool because I realized it was, or could have been, not about art and instead was about the simple matter of managing an empire.
I enjoyed the museum, duh, and the Sistine chapel...and then we climbed the dome! I loved that! I truly loved it. We got to the top and I could see radio vatican and the quiet parts of the vatican and various 'stuff.' I don't know why, but seeing vatican radio made me happy.
We descended...heather waited while i ran about St. Peter's one more time. I went back into the catecombs...and reflected again at st. peter's grave, and the crypts of the popes. different passageway's were open from last time...you went in and out on different sides. Saturday we went through more passageways, past bits of monuments, even broken bits, supposedly the memorials for past popes there had been recovered via archeological digs and the like...little rooms, with gates, and some stones mounted on the walls.
Today I looked through a grate and down at a compartment that seemed to be set up as a small chapel. maybe a particularly holy pope was buried there.
When they embalm a pope, or remove anything from one, they send the bits to a particular church in room so the bits don't become relics.
I was struck by how clean and non-catacomb like the area was that we were allowed to tour. There were passageways that looked like they might get more 'creepy' small and twisty, but it was all clean...I guess marble does that for you.
Heather was whipped. We walked the .4 miles to cafe ruggio (is that it? The antipasto bar place by gellati millenium. it is in the Rick steve's book. We tried for it Saturday, but it was still closed, and we tried today, but closed Monday. Both faux paws (sic) could have been avoided if we had looked at the book and actually _read_ that listign first.
I have so many books and things that I don't really need...
Well Heather felt really crappy...but we ate at the little place by millenium gellati. It was great. The woman dished me up two plates. First a bowl of pasta, and then a plate with veal, mushrooms, zucchine, and peas with ham. It was in little bowls and I got to pick...heather had a panini. I was jsut positive that I was suffering eyes bigger than my head syndRome Roma, but
(and here the laptop powered down, I was writing on the train, and now it is the next day and some, 1:20 am on the 24th) I ate everything, and had a gellato after. And we went to the big 'M.' We found the M, but there was no metro...it was up another block. We metroed to the train station. Identified a train time, then grabbed our stuff at the hotel.
We spent time at the internet cafe DSC_4285.JPG, DSC_4286.JPG, DSC_4287.JPG ... They didn't support ssh! well I finally did send an email to folks via the webmail at work.
Then the train! The train was great. And we whisked into Florence Firenze. We wandered streets for a bit, then I got lock on the GPS, and knew we were .15 miles, and we wandered. I didn't remember the street name (via nazzionale, #10), but when we stumbled onto it Heather identified it. And we were a half block away.
Check in went smoothly. We fooled around, and then took to the streets. We ate at trattoria Sostanza-Troia (see p285 of Rick Steves). There were tour de france pictures on the walls, and signed photos dating back. We enjoyed it! A bottle of table wine. Tortellini with a house sauce, and then pot roast with beans. Heather had a bean salad and a salad.
Then we wandered back and bought a bottle of wine and some chocolate. Heather studied our books, and I sort of watched the Tony Gatuf movie Swing. I think it was in Italian with French subtitles. After all of that Art, and trying to read the pictures, I watched it in a different way. Paying attention to the cultural signifiers and all of that jazz. Having thoughts like 'why did he frame that shot that way? What does that use of open space say?" etc...
