Over The River And Through The Woods

This is the bridge to my sister Janet's house. It's on a road called Dumas Bridge Road so.....I guess this must be Dumas Bridge. Just around the bend from here is a beautiful section of river with rapids, cliffs, and serene, tranquil areas. My sister must be one of the luckiest people on earth to have all of this within a short walk out the back door. I took the photo on Monday following Christmas Day. While I did edit for contrast, saturation, and lighting I did not add any photoshop effects.

Holiday

Over The River and Through The Woods
Another Christmas has come and gone and it was a treat to be able to spend time with family. Susan and I spent Christmas Eve with my parents, three sisters, and neices and nephews. Christmas Day was very calm as it was a nice quiet time spent with my Mom and Dad whom I don't get to visit often enough. Today culminated our holiday with a trip to the home of my sister Janet. I am always telling her that she doesn't visit me often enough and this weekend I finally had to admit that it had been 5 1/2 years since I had been to her house. The large open fields that used to run up to the back of the house have been planted in pines. When I saw them it made me sad to think that I had not taken the time to visit more often. I know that pine trees grow relatively faster than most trees but Janet now has a nice ten acre forest to roam and many of the trees are eight to ten feet tall. The picture above is of the bridge that must be crossed just before reaching the house. I enhanced the colors and saturation a bit before adding some colored pencil effects with PhotoShop.

IMAGINE

My Illustration Friday project IMAGINE. A variation on my photo for the Photo Friday project DEPTH OF FIELD.

This is a copy of my Depth Of Field picture with background removed, main subject duplicated, and various "brush stroke" elements added.

Depth of Field

DEPTH OF FIELD
My Photo Friday entry for
December 16

Asdfii mnbs TTjjoo !!!

Uwerl sdfp sioio er oii sdfeoi klk, iuuybbh! Siouuyww slkjj'g uiehhcdcdf!! XhgXXwer! SDRG!

Fun With PhotoShop

Today it's been cold and damp so Susan and I have just stayed indoors and played on the computers all morning. I've spent several hours playing with photoshop again. Susan bought me a new book that promises to teach me all I'll need to know about it in 24 hours. Being the impatient sort that I am I just skipped over ost of it and went right to the sections that are the most fun to me, mainly manipulating and editing pictures. The shot in the middle is the result of my combining a trip to the Parthenon in Nashville, Tn with the small pile of rocks in the back yard. That pile of rocks is just barely 2 to 2 1/2 feet tall but creative angles and PhotoShop helped me to make it look much larger. This has been tough but I'm quite pleased with effort. Now if I could just make the Blooger pages format the way that I want them!

One more photo

I'm not particularly fond of baseball but this sculpture which represents that sport absolutely fascinates me. I am embarassed to say that I do not know the name of the work or the artist as the information placque had been removed (perhaps by vandals). The sculpture is outside the entrance to the Tennessee Aquarium in downtown Chattanooga.

This is a riveting sculpture. The catcher and umpire frozen there for all of time. There's a pitcher and a batter there also but they're not as intriguing as these two characters which just seem to draw me in and hold my attention. I've actually crouched down and moved around this piece slowly studying it from every angle. I know the catcher is just a hunk of bronze but if you look at the eyes you'd swear that there was a presence there, seeing all but unable to move or speak. Fascinating! I have to learn more about this.

Another obligatory posting

Almost a week and still no inspiration. This past Sunday my wife Susan and I strolled downtown just to get out a bit. I had hoped to find a huge chunk of ice surrounding the new fountain at Ross's Landing which I was certain would make a great photo subject but alas the city had shut the water off as soon as the temp dropped below freezing. We did wander around the Market street bridge and I shot a few pictures there. The bridge is being slowly chiselled away by a demolition crew and will be remodelled. I just hope that the city replaces it with one that has as much character as this one.

Vinyl mining, obscure music, and noteworthy blogs

Today has been a lazy day here at the old ranch. Did a little Christmas shopping, went to downtown Chatttanooga and walked around the new Riverwalk and the Tennessee Aquarium and tried to find some neat things to photograph. Still working on the pictures and doing some editing while listening to some obscure but great music.
I like to check in to a site called Record Brother from time to time and I will on occassion follow some of the links from there. From Record Brother I followed a link to a great blog called Music You Won't (possibly) Hear Anywhere Else. The blog belongs to a guy named Lee Hartsfield who calls himself a Vinyl Miner. Lee apparently goes to great lengths to find and post obscure, outdated music. The interesting thing here is that this is realy great stuff. This week he's posted links to some 50's and 60's Christmas (yes Christmas, NOT holiday) music! I've spent quite a few hours this weekend and last weekend listening to things like Santa's North pole Band (1957), Swingin' Them Jingle Bells, Fats Waller and His Rhythm (1936), and Santa Claus is Watching You by Ray Stevens (1962). Lee also has a blog called Vintage Lounge with links to some great swing music and big band music.
I have to mention also that Record Brother has some great "Rat Pack" era music from a movie called Johnny Cool. I'd never heard of it and was surprised to see Elizabeth Montgomery in a co-starring role as Dare Guinness, the sultry love interest of Johnny Cool (played by henry Silva). The soundtrack is very 60's hip and I listened to every song. There are tunes by Billy May and even a few songs sung by Sammy Davis, Jr. Even though I wasn't even a teenager when this movie was released (and I have never seen it) the soundtrack is definitely worth a listen.

Photo Friday: WEIGHT

Photo Friday: Weight

My subject for the Photo Friday challenge "Weight". This proved to be a tough one for me, nothing immediately came to mind. I've pondered on the pile of rocks in my yard (the ones from one of my many unfinished projects ie: stacked stone wall) or the rusting stack of unused weights from an old weight-lifting set (yet another un-finished project ie: me getting in shape). Welllll......after putting in a few hours at the office, picking up the PowerBall tickets (another un-fulfilled project ie: Winning the lottery) I couldn't help but notice the big pile of rocks again. The sunlight just seemed so right at that moment. Oh I know, not exactly prize winning stuff here but I thought the lighting was quite good for a cold, gloomy winters day and the sunlight almost makes you think of springtime right around the corner. Have a toasty Saturday night all.

Very Important People here!

I saw a blog yesterday that had several old family photos and thought the idea was very nice. I've posted some old family photos of myself with my mom and dad, one of my grandmothers, and my three sisters.
Janet, I know that you told me that any pictures that i posted of you had to be at least 20 years old or more. I had to cheat just little for the shot of you and Zack.

Photo Friday: Experimental

 

Then and Now

Wish that I was better at Photoshop so that I could improve the appearance of this photo (and make a more seamless combination of the two shots). On the left I was twelve and Dad was leaving on a business trip to Boston. He was giving me the old "you're the man of the house now" speech. On the right we're just chillin', enjoying our time together.