Eggs

As some of you know, I'm taking a photography class.  Our first assignment was 'Chicken Eggs.'  I was left scratching my head as to what to do.  I had some ideas, some of which I saw variations of during the professor showing examples.

The one thing I thought of that I hadn't seen was a chicken egg illuminated from the inside.  I took a couple of eggs, blew them out and opened one end enough to stick a Christmas light inside.  This worked pretty well except for the fact that I don't have a lot of experience with night photography.

My first examples are pretty poor.

I kept trying different things.

Illuminated from within with a blue light.

And green.

A couple of days later I tried with a remote shutter release.

The results were better, but still not as good as I'd hoped.

One last attempt at illumination.

I then moved outdoors and set this on one of the shelves on my gas grill.

It had been raining a bit.



I'm still not thrilled with how these turned out, but it was an interesting exercise and I'd like to try it again sometime.

Matthaei Botanical Gardens

A couple of weeks ago I decided to head to the botanical gardens on Dixboro. Ken and I had discussed it with each other the day before while we were chasing boats so I gave him a call and we met up there for some pictures.  They have the nicest conservatory of any botanical gardens I've been to. 


I don't know what the name of any of these are and I'm not even going to try to guess.  So I'll leave you here to enjoy the pictures in peace.

Boatwatching

Now that it appears I have my image issue resolved, I hope update more regularly.

My first photo excursion of the year was with Ken. We headed up to Port Huron early on the morning of January 12th to catch the Arthur M. Anderson. We'd hoped to catch her as she passed under the Blue Water Bridge, but a start a bit later than we planned and a stop for breakfast meant we reached Port Huron just after she passed under the bridge.  We turned around caught her just below Port Huron.

The sun was just rising when the Anderson passed the Imperial Oil Refinery in Ontario.

She continues downbound for Toledo, I believe, where she was going to enter her winter layup.

Our next stop was Marine City where we caught her again.

Downbound at Marine City.

We stopped at Algonac State Park.  I don't really plan on making this part of my State Park Project, but as we've driven by it a number of times before we figured we take a quick look.  The park isn't really that big.  There are a couple of campgrounds, an archery range and a skeet range.  There are some trails, and we decided walk down part of one.  As you can see it was covered with snow pack.  I plan on heading back there sometime this summer, and walking the trails.

One of the big attractions of the park is it's location.  There is a campground right across the road from the St. Clair River making it a popular destination for boat watchers.

We stopped at St. Johns Marsh.  This is part of the largest fresh water delta in the United States, and possibly the world.  There is a monument at the start of one of the trails.  I noticed this spelling error right at the beginning of the text and wondered how this could have been missed.

The trail runs along an old rail bed through the middle of the marsh.  This is another place I expect to return to once the weather turns.

We headed south to catch something the two of us had wanted see for some time.  Ken noted that Lee Tregurtha was heading up the Rouge River.  To get to the Rouge Plant, she first had to pass a number of drawbridges. 

We stopped at the bridge on Jefferson.  A few minutes after we arrived the ship sounded it's horn, the alarm went off, the gates lowered and the bridge began to rise.

The Lee A. Tregurtha approaches the Jefferson Avenue bridge.

Watching her pass reminded me of the opening of Star Wars with the Star Destroyer passing the camera.

This guy was walking down the side of the boat keeping an eye on the clearance between the bridge and the side of the boat.

Heading upriver.

As we approached the bridge, we saw a familiar figure.  Isaac, a fellow boatnerd, was there catching the sights as well.

We then headed to the Dix bridge to see the Tregurtha pass.

A shot of her pilothouse with her wartime ribbons.

Her stack.

The unloading apparatus.

Approaching the Rouge Plant.

The Lee A. Tregurtha and the Rouge Plant.

Making the turn to dock.  You can see her self unloader being prepared. 

A quick jaunt to Belle Isle to get a picture of the Presque Isle as she enters the Detroit River.

For a tug/barge combination, she is a pretty good looking ship.

Much of that is owed to the tug part of the ship.  It is hard to tell this isn't just one boat.

Stay tuned

I have the issue resolved.  I hope to get some images up today after work.

Delay in posting. Yet again.

I am trying to sort out a problem I'm having resizing images.  As soon as I get it sorted out, I'll be back to posting.  I hope to have this resolved by the end of the week.

2012 Year in Review

I got to see and do a lot of things in 2012.  I didn't accomplish much in January and didn't get out to take any pictures.



In February, Ken and I headed over to Lake Michigan and the Saint Joseph lighthouse.



March found us taking pictures of the old Boblo boats and a couple of laid up freighters.



April was non-productive and I took no pictures, but in May I purchased a new DSLR camera and Ken and I headed back to Lake Michigan in an attempt to photograph a partial eclipse of the setting sun.  The weather was hazy and we were unable to get pictures of it.  This is the first shot from my new camera at the Saint Joseph light.



June saw me on a two and a half week, 5200 mile trek across the country.  My primary destination, and where I spent most of my time, was Glacier National Park.



In July I visited the Irish Hills and passed this field just west of Saline, Michigan.



In August I traveled to Sault Saint Marie and visited the Soo Locks. I also made my second attempt at night photography.



September took me to the North Country Trail in the area of Adrian, Michigan.



I started to remember how much I enjoy macro photography in October in Lillie Park.



I made my first, clumsy attempt at portrait photography in November.



December took me to Cuyahoga Valley National Park along the route of the Ohio-Erie Canal.


Here's hoping to an even more productive 2013.