The issue has been resolved.  I hope that it doesn't reoccur.

I'm currently trying to figure out why some pictures aren't showing.   I hope to have this resolved shortly.

St. Joseph Michigan

I headed over to St. Joseph with a friend yesterday in hopes of getting the lighthouse at sunset with the eclipse.  Unfortunately, the skies had clouded over by sunset and that wasn't possible.  Rather than waste the trip, I took a couple of photos with my new camera.  Although we didn't get any great shots, the trip was enjoyable and we had a great dinner.

The first shot I took.  The North Pier Light.

This was to be the only break in the clouds while we were there.  I didn't even notice it while we were there.

A couple of ducks and a gull along the shore.

Lake Michigan, 2-25-12

At the end of February, my friend and I decided to head to St. Joseph, Michigan to do some photography. In a rarity for this past winter, there was snow on the ground and the wind off the lake made it bitterly cold.

This is the tug Alice E. laid up for the winter with the Defiance tied up beside her.

After cresting the dune, and approaching the lake, this is what awaited.

Near the waterline.   

The waves were taller than me.  It is the first time that I've been in the presence of waves that large.

The St. Joseph lighthouse.

The same position shot horizontally.

I zoomed in a little bit.

There was a lot of ice coating the walkway.  It had not only coated  the walking surface, but the railings as well.

The blowing wind formed little icicles that were far from vertical.

We walked out to the end of the area with the railing, but both of us were smart enough to not go any further.  It was treacherous enough as it was.

Heading back to the car.

Afterwards, we headed to the South Haven Lighthouse.

The walkway was wet, but wasn't really slippery.

Both the north and south pier lights.  The waves in the channel were pretty big and were washing over the piers at times.

A new camera

I took the plunge today and purchased a new DSLR camera.  My friend over at Michigan Exposures has been after me for some time to upgrade.  Since I'm going to be taking a vacation shortly and wanted to have a nicer camera to take with me than what I have, I took the plunge and bought a Nikon D7000.  I'm pretty excited about this and am looking forward to getting serious about my photography again.
 

UofM Driving Simulator

Okay...this post is nothing particularly special and may look like a bunch of junk to some.  A friend of mine works at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.  He invited me to stop by sometime to see their seating buck.  This is the 'car' they use in their testing.  They took a real car, cut everything off but the front seating area and hooked it to a bunch of computers.  There are three large screens used for video displays.  The instrument panel and controls can be set in different configurations, there is a computer to track where you're looking and a bunch of other stuff. 

I had a particular interest in it since they were using a 1st gen Dodge Daytona.  I wanted one of these when I was in high school and bought one in 2000.

In February he told me they were going to decommission the Daytona in preparation for a new model.  I got a chance to go see their setup and even got to 'drive' it a bit.

This is interior of the seating buck.  You can see that there is a lot of equipment  hooked up in the car.

Pulled back a bit.  You can see two of the three screens used.

What remains of the cabin of the car.  It was cut right behind the doors and the rear seats are not there.  The distinctive Daytona doors are obvious.

The hood was removed while I was there.  My friend wanted to rescue this for me, but it was disposed of before he got a chance to.

He did rescue this seat for me, though.  He said it is the original seat, and since there are rarely passengers in the car, it is virtually new. 

Monitors that observe the driver.

The command center of the operation.


All in all I'm glad I got a chance to see this before it was dismantled.

North Bay Park - December - Finally

I've been absent from posting for quite some time. There have been a lot of reasons why this has happened, but basically it boils down to the fact that I've been busy. I don't know that that is going to change anytime soon and I may, in fact, be even busier. Even though it is months late, I do want to get the December pictures up.

The boardwalk.

The swans were still there.  I went to the park periodically throughout the winter and they were there every time.  The last time I was there I didn't see the young one, but I did see the adults on the nest.

Another shot of the boardwalk.  I really like the look of the shore since the golf course has cut down the trees.

Crossing one of the islands.

Looking back up the hill at the start of the trail.