January 24, 2009

The Inauguration of Barack Obama

The Inauguration of Barack Obama - Washington, DC

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A couple of weeks ago, I got a surprise call from Senator Webb's office asking if I wished to attend Obama's inauguration in Washington, DC. Are you kidding!? I'd barely hung up the phone before I was renting lenses and starting to plan the trip.

Within the next hour, luck struck twice when a close friend's sister that lives on Capitol Hill loaned me her apartment for the duration. That put me about three blocks from the Capitol steps (the site of the ceremony) AND the ability to drive since I could park my car there in her neighborhood. I tend to prefer the train to DC, but this allowed me to keep my own schedule and, better yet, take as much gear and crap with me as I thought I might need.

As far as lens rentals go, I snagged two lenses that seemed a good fit for the various possibilities. The first is a Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS - a lens I have coveted for ages and plan to buy (AFTER I get a 5D Mark II body). Knowing there could well be some serious distance to cover, I also grabbed a Canon 100-400 f/4-5.6L IS, the first push/pull lens I've used. Both were superb and, ultimately, fit the bill perfectly in harmony with the Canon 24-70 f/2.8L that I already own. Security prohibited me from carrying any "large" camera bags, but one of the lens bags that came with the rentals had a neck strap and was within size requirements. Therefore, I carried two bodies and lenses on shoulder straps and a third lens in that bag around my neck so I would have the option to swap off when needed.

The weather was bitter cold (as is so often the case in January in DC), so I crowdsourced a bit among my Twitter compatriots and assembled a great series of suggestions for winter weather gear. A few hundred dollars (ouch) later, I was ready to go with a new wind/waterproof Columbia jacket with removable fleece liner, uber-warm socks, a nice Thinsulate stocking cap/beanie, Manzella Cascade Convertible mittens/gloves where the mitten end flips open to reveal exposed fingertips, and a set of high-tech "long underwear" (for lack of a better description) made by Under Armour. Special attention is to be paid here to the gloves that are ideal for photographers. My hands stayed toasty warm with the mitten ends closed (mittens beat gloves for overall finger warmth), but with a flick I could have my fingertips ready for working the buttons on the camera.

The Under Armour was... interesting. Dignity goes right out the window when a non-athletic guy like me crams himself into a pair of these things. I began referring to it as my "Super Suit" in honor of The Incredibles. This Teaser Trailer immediately came to mind. Maybe not that bad... but I did feel like a human sausage. Fortunately, they go UNDER one's clothes and not even my wife has seen me in them in "raw form". All of that said, they quite literally kept me from freezing during Inauguration as well as utterly eliminating that horrid "freezing while sweating in your coat" situation one so often encounters in the dead of winter. I'm impressed... albeit compressed... while wearing them. :)

After arriving in DC on Monday, I spent the evening scoping things out and getting a sense of how everything was laid out for the big day. Light was fading fast by the time I was out and about, so most of my first shots here are evening and night shots of the Capitol building. The mood around the area was already like a gigantic block party, though, with happy and excited people literally everywhere. The capitol lawn was crawling with folks wanting to see as much up close as possible before the major security wall came down on Tuesday morning.

Monday night was also special because I finally got a chance to meet Steve Simon, co-panelist on TWiP and tremendous pro photographer, in person. As coincidence would have it, the accommodations he arranged via Craigslist somewhat at the last minute were approximately two blocks from the apartment I was using. A mere block walk for both of us brought us to a decent coffee shop in the middle, a chance to chat, and a walk around the capitol grounds to see the preparations. I shared what I knew of the layout, security, etc., for Tuesday with Steve. We were ticketed to be in different parts of the capitol grounds the next day and, with millions of people attending, figured this would likely be our only chance to hang out.

I started Tuesday morning at 5 AM, grabbing a quick take-out breakfast from a local diner and returning to the apartment to eat and pack gear. I was out in the crowds before 6 AM and making my way to my ticket gate. Thus began what I refer to now as "the death march". The next five hours were spent in an ever-increasing mob packing itself into an ever-decreasing space. By 10 AM I was crammed into a barricaded intersection with people packed so tightly that I couldn't raise my arms or even dig my iPhone out of my pocket. I spent much of it with my cameras and long lenses clutched to my body while I was swept along with the crowd if it moved. Granted, movement was rare andnever exceeded five steps in any direction. As the ceremony time approached, the crowd started to get a bit of a cranky mob mentality and I seriously started to wonder if I might end up in a riot or stampede. A lot has been discussed about this breakdown in security and crowd management, especially for Purple Ticket holders.

Fortunately, I did make it through just a bit before the ceremony started and, ultimately, ended up on the back of the capitol lawn. While not close enough for tight shots of the platform - even with the 400mm lens - I was able to witness history firsthand rather than via Jumbotron. Any group of strangers you stood with for even a few minutes turned into a temporary group of old friends. This was most evident to me when a group of about six of us immediately fell into happy conversation and, at the close of the oath, were all tearfully hugging one another. Nobody ever got around to asking names and, I suspect, none of us will ever see each other again... but we sure were happy to be together "again" for that hour or so. :)

I grabbed quite a few shots of people in my vicinity and their various emotions. There are a few shots of the ceremony itself but, as I said, they are somewhat distant. Upon leaving the ceremony and heading back to the apartment to rest for a few and eat, I managed to stumble on the other event I had hoped against hope I'd witness: Bush gettin' the hell outta Dodge on Marine One. As I came around the back of the capitol, the event was already starting and I arrived in time to get - again, distant - shots of the Obamas and Bidens escorting the Bush's to the helicopter as well as the wave from the stairs as the helicopter, thankfully, took one of the worst presidents in US history out of our collective lives. See ya.

After a brief stop to download shots and actually bend at the knees into a sitting position for a few minutes, I bundled back up and headed out in search of some parade-related activities. The parade route itself was going to be a bit of a hike and I'd heard it was already essentially closed after filling up (or at least being locked down) by about 8 AM that morning. My assumption, though, was that Obama's motorcade had to leave from the capitol to start the parade, so I hung around by the barriers there and was rewarded with a nice presidential and VP limo drive-by. People already lined the barricade, so I had to shoot over their heads to get anything... but it was my first time seeing a presidential motorcade and the car they now call "The Beast".

I had originally planned to stay Tuesday night, but I was exhausted by this point and decided against breaking up my next day with driving. I packed and headed out of the city by about 6:30 PM on streets with little to no traffic. This seemed great at first until I realized the city had been chopped into a million pieces with police road blocks and barriers. Ten official Inaugural Balls meant the motorcade was going to be zipping around quite a bit and security didn't want anything or anyone slowing it down. I spent well over an hour winding around the streets of DC with my GPS trying to find a way to get far enough past the lockdown to reach I-66. I witnessed some of the most bizarre, mid-intersection barrier arrangements I've ever seen and my main memory is that the city was either flashing blue lights, glowing red flares or some combination of the two. It was like some kind of scifi escape scene from a movie.

All in all, I had a tremendous, albeit exhausting, time and am thrilled to have been able to witness this historical event firsthand. I have a few shots I really like and quite a few that are just taking up disk space. They are all geotagged and appear here, as usual, in both HTML gallery and slideshow form. Also, for the sake of experimentation, I'm placing them on my me.com account as well. I have a set on Flickr, too, mostly to use their nice Map View for my geotags. Lastly, I'm putting up a Google Earth map with my GPS geologger data overlaid.

UPDATE: Oh, and one relevant bit of audio in closing: Super Suit! :)

Enjoy!
- Aaron

The Inauguration of Barack Obama - Washington, DC

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October 18, 2008

Rally in the Valley - Obama in Roanoke, Va

Rally in the Valley - Obama in Roanoke, Va

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I had the opportunity to photograph Sen. Barack Obama's rally in Roanoke, Va. It's the first shoot I've done for the Democratic Party of Virginia since 2006. I did a great deal of political event photography for the DPVA in 2004, specifically the DNC in Boston and numerous other campaign events. I covered Governor's Kaine's campaign kickoff, his historic inauguration in Williamsburg, Va and the 2006 JJ Dinner with Pennsylvania Gov. Rendell.

I've gotten involved in so many other projects since 2006 (not the least of which is acting as producer for the TWiP podcast and, you know... a more than full time job here at SBC) that I haven't been as involved in Democratic photography. My former blog, Documenting Democracy, has gone silent (no real loss... there are so many other superb progressive blogs in Va that have a vastly more effective voice than I'd ever have in this arena) and serves now more as a 2004/2006 photo repository. My "voice" in this scene is through my photography which I do voluntarily and offer freely to the Democratic party and our campaigns (assuming they find images that they deem useful, of course).

So... anyway... I was eager to cover this event since Obama's campaign is so phenomenally inspiring and, frankly, historic. It's a lung-filling breath of fresh air after the last eight, horrid, spiraling years under Bush's sorry excuse for a presidency. Sorry to my Republican readers, but I'm briefly putting on my partisan hat here at halfpress and calling it like I see it. DPVA hooked me up with a press pass and a nice little reserved spot in the front of the risers and I quickly realized how much I've missed covering things like the DNC and rallies.

My photos here aren't going to win any awards or anything... but I did look for some opportunities to capture a little of the mood. One really needs to shoot from a press riser with some massive, tripod mounted Scott Bourne-class lenses to get the tight, dramatic shots. :) I was using a 24-70L on one body and 70-200L on the other and did a bit of roaming about when not in my slot.

I have more shots to edit, so I might be amending the gallery later. I also made sure to take some shots that represent how the press pool area works (mostly if any TWiP listeners are curious) and you'll see videographers and wire service photogs in there. Most of those are shot with an 8mm fisheye lens both for effect and to give a sense of scale to the arena and our place in it.

I hope to fit in a few more events around the state before the big day when Virginia elects its first Democratic president since 1964. If I do, I'll post'em here.

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October 8, 2008

The Wedding of Shawn & Matt

The Wedding of Shawn & Matt

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This past weekend, Elisabeth, Anne Richards, John Jaffe and I attended the weekend-long wedding of our dear friends, Shawn Brenneman and Matt Labarge.

I'm pretty pissed off with use of the word "event" these days. We have weather events. Television events. All kinds of "world premiere events". Crap. All of it.

This wedding, however... this was an "event". A two-day event at least.

Shawn and Matt essentially rented out all of Bluestone State Park in West Virginia. That's 26 cabins in the chilly, wooded hills of rugged West Virginia. I've been hating summer since it started back in May, so I was itching for some frosty mountain air and at least the start of fall colors. I was not disappointed. :)

It's kind of hard to put into words the scene here... but imagine being surrounded by about 180-200 of the most fun-loving, creative, musical, and happy people you can imagine all pretty much taking over an entire state park for 48 hours. Shawn's scene for years has been one of Contra dance and top-notch traditional music. Matt is an incredible pianist already with a few albums to his name. Their circle of friends includes some of the most amazing guitarists, fiddlers, mandolin and banjo players... you name it. Individually, they are all a force to contend with. Put these folks together, though, and you can see the passion. They LOVE to play together and everyone within earshot is in for a treat.

For some backstory on the photos you're going to see here (in chronological order), you'd best just refer to their wedding website - the master agenda that we all followed for the weekend. You'll learn a lot about the festivities - but also about the unique people that are Shawn and Matt.

I'll quote a few key phrases from one of the pre-wedding emails:

Finally, in keeping with the spirit of fun and frivolity, should you be in possession of an unusual article of clothing or an unusual noisemaker that you're dying for an opportunity to wear/perform in public, this is your big chance! It's encouraged the whole weekend, but particularly during the Wedding Processional. Shawn will be terribly disappointed if there are no viking hats, kilts, liederhosen, Mardi Gras masks, duck calls, pirate hats and swords, or clown pants!

Photos and words won't do it justice. Anyone who was there this weekend knows how special this event was. I, for one, came home relaxed and happy and wondering how we could talk them into doing this again next weekend. And the weekend after that... :)

As you'll see in these photos, I was pretty captivated with the musicians and there are individual images in here I plan to collect (with others) in a specific themed gallery. A number of the photos show a trio that I first became aware of this weekend: Crowfoot. All of the photo editing I've been doing the last few evenings has been while listening to their two albums that I immediately purchased from iTunes. Much to my pleasure, they appear to be playing right up the road in Charlottesville at the end of October. Adam, Jaige and Nicholas: see you there! :)

P.S. Keep an eye out for the photo of the special brew. This is a handcrafted beer by the "mad beer genius", Jonathan Thielen (who ran The Alehouse in Cabin 26 this weekend), specially made as a gift for Shawn and Matt. It is designed to ferment in the bottle for the coming year and cannot be opened until October 4, 2009. The label is designed by the amazing, Ben Crenshaw, whom I was thrilled to finally meet this past weekend (Ben's the dude in the awesome pirate hat in the photos). Our bottle is sitting here on my desk for the next year. Hey - Jonathan said a "cool, dark place". :)

The Wedding of Shawn & Matt

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August 5, 2008

halfpress.com Update

This is just a quick note to let everyone know that I've upgraded MovableType today to the latest version. The version I was running before was quite old and it's been on my "to do" list for ages now.

There are new features I'll try to utilize once I have time to explore them, but my goal for now was to not destroy the current site while gaining the ability to implement captchas on the comment system. Comment spammers have been hammering me to death for years and I finally hit my frustration limit. I'd call spammers the sub-human scum of the earth, but that would be an insult to scum. Scum serves more of a purpose and, as little as I appreciate scum, I respect it infinitely more than I respect spammers.

But I digress...

Anyway, I've implemented reCaptcha on the comment forms, so if you take a moment to leave comments on here, you'll also be helping digitize books! As a Kindle owner, I appreciate your efforts. :)

More to come...

- Aaron

June 18, 2008

Dumb Luck 101: My First "Organic" 3D Modo Project on History Channel

I'm planning to write more about this when I have some time, but I figured I'd link to a local news item about my first "organic" Modo project ending up in a nationally broadcast documentary.

Understand that this is not a suggestion that I have any great 3D modeling experience (I don't)... it was kind of "dumb luck" to be perfectly honest. :)

Mahler's Venus on History Channel

Frankly, the model isn't completely finished yet and, I've had my hands so full with work, TWiP, forthcoming TWiM producing and photo gigs that I've not had much time in Modo recently. I've got a pile of projects I want to do with it soon since the app is just insanely cool.

I'm working on a few things combining Modo models with textures I shoot digitally and equirectangular HDR panos (most recent one here) that I shoot and assemble to use for real-world lighting.

This is the model I started after spending part of Christmas screwing around in Modo and modeling an AMF bowling pin I had sitting on my desk.

June 17, 2008

Of Local Interest: Waterstone Finally Open

I'm pleased to say that a restaurant we've been eagerly awaiting here in Lynchburg is finally open and, more importantly, it doesn't suck. In fact, it's really quite excellent! :)

There wasn't an official Google Maps entry yet, so I just added one for the meantime.

It was last year sometime that I first heard about the plans to open Waterstone, a wood-fired, brick oven pizza restaurant attached to a brewery. It's located on Jefferson Street and is part of the larger Bluffwalk Center / Cradock Terry Hotel complex which also includes Shoemaker's restaurant and The Jefferson Street Brewery.

My remark that it "doesn't suck" is just my general semi-negative attitude about the Lynchburg restaurant scene. Yes, we have some very good restaurants here. We also have a lot of mediocre crap, the worst of which make a play at being creative (surprisingly few make even that effort) and fall miserably short. My wife calls me a pessimist (I'm truly not), but I've found it safer to assume mediocrity around here and to be pleasantly surprised (and very supportive as a customer) when they pull it off. :) Waterstone pulled it off VERY well.

We visited with a couple of friends during the restaurant's first hour of being open to the public and found the whole operation to be very polished. The waiter was comfortable and engaging, the atmosphere was attractive and tastefully designed and, above all, the pizza was superb. As a group, we ordered four ten-inch pizzas including the Waterstone White, Greek, Wild Mushroom and a Sicilian (the most traditional of the four). All had a superb flavor, were not at all oily, heavy or greasy, and each was true to its theme with fresh ingredients and distinct flavors. The Sicilian, with its various sausages, was at the greatest risk of being overly heavy but managed to be just as "light" as the others.

We focused on the pizza last night, but the menu was fairly extensive and there is a lot left we'd like to try. I'm all for anything that brings quality to downtown Lynchburg and can say with certainty that we'll be repeat customers. They have plans for a two-level outside seating area as well as other refinements and their location on that part of Jefferson Street provides a lot of promise for community engagement. Here's hoping Waterstone is the beginning of a positive trend in the local dining scene and a little less having to flee to Charlottesville for a really great meal! :)

In closing, I will mention three other local restaurants of note. There are more, yes, but I want to mention these three right now: Machu Picchu, Grace and Main Street Eatery. Main Street has history and remains a Lynchburg institution, Machu Picchu is simply fantastic for those desiring Peruvian dishes (Elsa is passionate about her cooking) and Grace is probably the single most creative, elegant restaurant in the area and absolutely worth the visit.

May 16, 2008

Tap. Tap. [cough]. Um, is this thing on?

I built a blog so that the threshold would be low enough for writing posts that I'd be inclined to do it more frequently. Instead, I still keep finding myself putting it off "just a little longer" so that I can give an entry proper attention.

I've got to stop that since it's been, oh, about a YEAR since I really posted anything. I think Twitter, which some describe as "micro-blogging" has gotten me going again. That and the fact that I've got a million things to talk about these days. :)

Waaaay too many things have gone on in "the silent time" to really catch up, so I'll just summarize a little here and then TRY to get my butt in gear to post regularly now.

I'm doing a great deal more contract photography work now, both for the college and other individuals and organizations. I enjoy it a great deal despite it adding about a half-time job to my already greater than full-time job. Busy is good, really, and the added income pays bills and buys more gear to, of course, do more work. :)

On a related note, I re-arranged much of my home studio / office work space and built in a new permanent desk into the corner of the room that uses up one full wall and more than half of another. It gives me about eighteen feet of continuous surface at an ideal height with cable management underneath, good lighting, etc. I'll put up a VR of the space soon (the current one I have is outdated).

One significant and wonderful addition to the computing tools was adding an Apple 30" Cinema Display which, some months later, I mounted on a fully articulating hydraulic arm. I can move it around most any way I like with just a finger (up, down, side to side, in, out, 180 rotation, etc). I almost can't abide using the laptop's own 17" display anymore once I got spoiled by all the screen real estate of a 30" display. Throw in OS X Leopard's Spaces feature and you've got limitless screen room. With the MacBook Pro, too, I can open the lid and run both side by side which I might start doing soon with the Lightroom 2.0 Beta.

One nice thing about reworking my office space was freeing up the rest of the room for a small studio space with my strobes, etc. It's more than enough room for portrait work, product photography, etc. It's another reason I'm using the 30" display and arm, too, since I can swing the monitor into a nice position to see while standing across the room and shooting tethered. Great for high resolution previews of each shot right after it has been taken.

I'm always doing various things with my camera gear. Since I last wrote, I added a second body (Canon 30D) for convenience and backup, sold my Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 and replaced it with Canon's L-class equivalent, added an Epson P-3000 in place of my Hyperdrive, and misc other things including bags, etc. I try to keep my hardware and software list up to date here for anyone curious.

I've gotten involved in quite a few large new projects (podcasts, 3D modeling, etc), too, but I'll blog about each of those separately here in a few minutes. This entry is already meandering a bit with little or no real point other than to catch up on some technical minutiae.

April 24, 2007

Lantern Bearing

Lantern Bearing

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In the eleven years I've worked at SBC, I've never witnessed a Lantern Bearing but have always been fascinated with the concept. From a photography standpoint, I've always had a weakness for low-light shots involving flames or other interesting lighting (Williamsburg Blacksmith - Paris, France - Canal du Briare, France). Lantern Bearing didn't disappoint in this regard...

Low-light photography is challenging enough. It gets even more challenging, though, when need to assemble six-shot, 360-degree panoramas involving people. Fortunately, the juniors here were wonderfully willing to oblige and patiently put up with my odd request to stand very still while I walk in a circle pressing a button on the end of cord. :)

Links to 48 images from last night can be found in the drop-down box above. I think the slideshow works especially well for this. Click on the images below to see two 360-degree panoramas from last night. You will need Quicktime to view these (Mac users are set already and Windows users who have installed iTunes should already have what they need as well).

For those not familiar with VR Panoramas, just hold down your mouse button on the image once it appears and drag around. Be sure to look up and down as well.

Enjoy!
- Aaron

March 9, 2007

In the month since...

A lot has happened since my little flurry of posts from San Francisco and MacWorld 2007. I stopped writing from there about halfway through the trip mostly due to having come down with a friggin' cold. I spent Wednesday evening and much of the day Thursday that week holed up in my hotel room, conserving energy so I wouldn't miss the podcasting party at Jillian's (a bar in Sony's Metreon). I'm glad I did since I had a chance to chat some more, however briefly, with Leo, John Foster, Alex Lindsay, Merlin and Scott Bourne. Inspiring guys...

Unfortunately, the time between MacWorld and today has had a few small joys and one tremendous tragedy.

My Grandfather died last October. While not sudden, it was nonetheless a deeply saddening experience. A few weeks ago on January 28th, almost three months to the day we buried him, my Grandmother also died. Her death, by contrast, was quite sudden and unexpected and involved a whirlwind 48-hour escalation from discomfort to emergency surgery to, ultimately, passing away in a virtual coma. None of us were in the least prepared, especially in the wake of my Grandfather's recent death.

I wrote a tribute to my grandfather on here the day that he died. By contrast, I've been silent here from just prior to my grandmother's death through the few weeks since. My grandmother was an incredible and unique woman who easily had as much influence on my life as my grandfather. The sudden and unfair nature of her death, however, leaves me grieving not just for her, but for the combined loss of them both as grandparents. It's not two deaths in three months but, in a way, three.

The two weeks of dawning realization prior to my grandfather's death had a lot to do with being in the proper frame of mind to write what I did on the day that he died. I'm just not there yet with writing about my grandmother. In time...

Whatever my reasons for periods of silence on here, I need to get my ass in gear to post more frequently. Part of why I switched to a blog format from my previous static pages was to overcome the "effort barrier" that often killed spontaneity. I now have little excuse outside of a lack of discipline.

Outside of the personal events mentioned, I've got a somewhat blog-worthy backlog that I'm now setting out to tackle...

January 6, 2007

Off to MacWorld San Francisco!

This is just a quick note that I am off to MacWorld 2007 in San Francisco in about... nine hours. Yikes! Gotta go finish packing.

I'll try to post regularly here during the week, so keep your fingers crossed that Apple is geared up to meet or exceed the Internet hype-machine! ;)

- Aaron

A startling place to see my work...

In 2004, I did a lot of photography for the Democratic Party of Virginia related to the election. One of the highlights for me was being the state party's photographer at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. Among the 12,000 photos I took that week were a few of Vice Presidential candidate and Senator John Edwards, in particular this one, this one, and this one.

A few weeks after returning from Boston, I again photographed Sen. Edwards for the party at one of his stops in Roanoke, Va.

The configuration wasn't as conducive for getting good shots that day, but I had an opportunity to meet Senator Edwards backstage after the rally. I came prepared with a set of 13"x19" prints of the three photos I mentioned above in hopes that I might give him copies and get a personal set autographed as a keepsake.

His staff gathered around me in the hallway looking at those and other shots I had from Boston and I had a nice chance to talk with his personal campaign photographer. One of Senator Edwards' aids held onto his copies of the prints for him and I took home the copies he had personalized for me ("To Aaron - Sen. John Edwards") in silver ink.

I always wondered whether the prints I had given him ever made it to his home or office through all of the chaos of a national campaign. The other night, though, I got a call from my parents that answered the question in a most unexpected way.

Mom and Dad are fans of CBS Sunday Morning stemming back to the Charles Kuralt days and they record it on their Tivo since they are usually too busy during the live broadcast to watch it. They called me on the phone to say that they had just seen my photos on national TV. They were matted, framed and hanging on Sen. Edwards' walls in his home and were clearly visible in the CBS interview. In fact, the cameraman used one of them as the focal point for a dissolving transition.

Needless to say, I am both pleased and flattered to have confirmation that the twins of the autographed photos I matted and framed for my walls are also hanging on his. :)

The full interview can be viewed online here at the CBS website. I also have the specific excerpt here (Mac users need the free Flip4Mac Quicktime plug-in).

October 24, 2006

My Grandfather: March 20, 1911 - October 24, 2006

Dr. Henry R. Mahler, Jr., died peacefully today in the loving company of his wife, two sons, one daughter, two daughters-in-law, one granddaughter-in-law, three fellow ministers and his grandson... me.

This was the day of ultimate peace for him on a calendar that spanned ninety-five extraordinary years, and for that I am both happy and proud. At the moment, though... and especially as I select photographs and write this entry... it's truly the saddest day of my life.

Happy grandparents with a happy grandson on my first Christmas

My thoughts are still scattered, I'm exhausted and, quite honestly, I keep stopping to cry as I edit photos and write this entry. I don't have the clarity or energy right now to write anything extensive or especially eloquent. It will take time for all the memories that are percolating in my mind to sort themselves and come out in any meaningful way.

In the meantime, what I have are some photos I've selected.

Five years ago on his 90th birthday. The oldest of four brothers, he outlived them all.

These are extraordinary photographs.

Not because of their composition.

At a family birthday party in 2003

Not due to some great artistic insight.

My father and grandfather on Christmas Day in 2004

Not from megapixels or their passage through Photoshop.

In his chair in my grandparents' apartment in 2003

They are extraordinary because of the man in them. My grandfather.

Laughing with my grandmother in 2003

They are also extraordinary because of the context in which they were taken. Every single one of these photos was taken of a man surrounded by the family he loved and that loved him so dearly.

At another family birthday celebration in 2005

The same family - to a person - that was gathered around him today when he died.

My grandfather was an author and a poet and, had he grown up in a digital world, he would have taken to blogging like a fish in water. He vaguely understood the concept from conversations we had and never ceased to amuse me by calling it "the blodge". I always knew what he meant. :) He did, however, pitch his typewriter and buy his first word processor in his 80's. He was the most prolific reader I've ever known and, when his eyesight became too poor for the constant reading that kept his mind so active, he became a voracious audiobook listener. He listened to them on an iPod Nano... at the age of 95.

The most prolific reader I've ever known. Anytime. Any place.

I could never list all of the wonderful things he brought to my life or the countless ways he has influenced who I have become as I've grown up.

There is one thing in particular, though, for which I will be eternally grateful and that I know gave him tremendous joy. It's in this photograph:

As the minister who married us on our front porch, in the company of family and friends, at the age of 92

I love him and I will miss him dearly.

October 22, 2006

New VR Panos and Related News

Brian Greenstone of Pangea Software dropped me a note just a bit ago saying that he'd just finished making the first Universal Binary of his PangeaVR plug-in. I've been eagerly awaiting this since I've not been able to use it effectively on my Intel-based MacBook Pro.

PangeaVR is a panoramic VR viewer for QTVR files, but it utilizes OpenGL and the GPU in your graphics hardware to make the movement liquid-smooth compared to the native performance of QuickTime Player. Like I said, it's free and it's a quick and painless install for both PowerPC or Intel-based Macs, so go download it here.

The timing is also good because I've just completed two new VRs recently:

View with QuickTime or Fullscreen PangeaVR

I took this in our yard yesterday to capture the fall colors. Be sure to look straight up through the canopy in front of my favorite, five-trunked tree.

View with QuickTime or Fullscreen PangeaVR

This was the tent for Sweet Briar's huge celebration gala during this year's Homecoming weekend. A gallery of photos I took during the weekend festivities can be found here.

More VR's to come...

April 12, 2006

Another step closer...

And yet another step closer to ending the Internet as we know it:

Telecom reform moves forward - House panel OKs measure favored by phone companies

Enjoy it while you can.

March 23, 2006

FCC Complicity in the Corporate Murder of the Internet

As predicted, the FCC is lining itself up to favor corporate interests over the greater success of the Internet and the protection of consumers:

FCC Chief: AT&T Can Limit Net Bandwidth

No shock, I guess. The goal of this administration has always been to maximize profits of corporate interests. Who cares if it's short-sighted? The desire is to pocket as much as possible before the entire system collapses...

This is the next step in what I wrote about a couple of weeks ago.

So get ready to pay your ISP for service while Google and others pay for their service and then pay yet again to be allowed passage across an increasingly segmented and tiered Internet. Oh, and don't forget that those sites that can't pay up just won't even get a shot... thus ending much of the great revolution that was once the Internet as we know it.

Call me reactionary or fatalistic... but this is how it starts, folks (much like the Patriot Act and your ever-eroding civil rights).

UPDATE: Everybody is piling on the topic: dvorak.org/blog, Slashdot and Digg.

March 9, 2006

The Greatest Thing EVER!

After all the incredible excitement and hype, Microsoft has finally unveiled what they promise to be the coolest thing ever for mobile computing.

Unfortunately, it turns out to be this:

Microsoft Origami UMPC

Wow. An over-large, limited-battery-life, not-sure-if-you-can-make-calls-on-it, not especially sexy handheld (plural, not singular) PC running Windows XP.

Put Linux on it and it might be mildly interesting in the right circumstances. Can't put it in my pocket... big enough that I might as well carry my far more powerful Mac laptop...

They sure are tone deaf at M$.

- Aaron

UPDATE: Heh... seems Waldo feels about the same. :)

March 7, 2006

The Ongoing Corporate Murder of the Internet

The stories cropping up everyone regarding lobbying efforts by telecom companies to start chopping up, tiering and otherwise murdering the smooth flow of information across the Internet have started to worry me more than just about any other technical issue of late. Typically, this whole situation is yet another example of corporate interests and their political partners working to maximize profits while limiting the choices of the consumer. From successful attempts to obliterate municipal wireless networks to decreasing regulation touching off more and more megamergers in the telecom and media world, we're likely to see the Internet we use today turn into another "gold", "silver" and "platinum", tiered, packaged and overpriced pile of crap not unlike satellite TV and cell phone service.

That might sound a little fatalistic or overblown... but look at the warning signs. Of the various articles I've read scattered about the web, this story on DailyKOS is a good starting place to get a taste of the political and corporate mix that is taking us down this road:

According to white papers now being circulated in the cable, telephone and telecommunications industries, those with the deepest pockets -- corporations, special-interest groups and major advertisers -- would get preferred treatment. Content from these providers would have first priority on our computer and television screens, while information seen as undesirable, such as peer-to-peer communications, could be relegated to a slow lane or simply shut out.

Under the plans they are considering, all of us -- from content providers to individual users -- would pay more to surf online, stream videos or even send e-mail. Industry planners are mulling new subscription plans that would further limit the online experience, establishing "platinum," "gold" and "silver" levels of Internet access that would set limits on the number of downloads, media streams or even e-mail messages that could be sent or received.

Give it a read...

February 24, 2006

Blog Cross-pollination

I've spent time over the last few nights focusing on the migration of my old MAME website to a new MAME blog appropriately called... well... mameblog.com.

I'm going to be doing a lot of photos of my arcades (inside and out) soon to update the documenation on those projects. In the process, I'm hoping to create content for both of these sites along the way: documenting the photographic techniques and experiences here, utilizing the fruits of the labor over there. :)

Fellow children of the 80's: click on over to my other blog for a bit of nostalgia... ;)

- Aaron

February 16, 2006

Gallery Automation Project (nearly) Done

I've been working off and on for a week or more on a major workflow automation project for the blog. Let me start off by quickly pointing out what this means for the readers in terms of new features:

• Every photo gallery can now be viewed in either of two forms: HTML gallery or flash-based slideshow
• Links to both are embedded in the articles now as dropdown lists ("View photos as...")
• The number of photos and pages (for the HTML gallery) are listed below the dropdown list
• An index of the galleries exists both in HTML and slideshow form
• The dropdown list below the random image in the top right of every page will take you to the indexes as well as the gallery categories
• The random image box in the top right by the banner now runs the slideshow or, if you don't have flash installed, my original random image script requiring no plug-ins

So what's the "workflow automation" all about? Well, generating galleries and linking them to a blog article is already a multi-step, albeit relatively easy, process. The addition of the slideshows, though, added a significant extra layer of work in the form of carefully structured XML configuration files. Since I want to be consistent and I don't want a ton of extra work to stymie the urge to post new galleries, I figured it was time to streamline the process as much as possible. Past experience has told me that once the posting process becomes too complex, spur of the moment and casual posting grinds to a halt. I want the process to be trivial enough that I won't have any excuses not to post more frequently. :)

The behind-the-scenes story of how this process works is, of course, disturbingly geeky. Fortunately, there are plenty of other fellow geeks out there that might be interested. The rest of this piece (and I predict it will be rather long) will cover the gist of what went into this project thus far. If the binding together of iView MediaPro, AppleScript, linux, OS X, ssh, scp, a big chunk of python code, MySQL databases and various bits of HTML and XML technology interest you... read on.

Here's a linked list to the various tools and technologies use:

• iView MediaPro 3.02
• Mac OS X
• Fedora Core Linux
• AppleScript
• Python programming language
• MySQL Database
• OpenSSH
• SlideShowPro

Detailed description below the fold...

Continue reading "Gallery Automation Project (nearly) Done"

February 1, 2006

Photo Slideshow: Inauguration of Gov. Tim Kaine

I don't usually mix the photos between halfpress and my other blog, Documenting Democracy, but I've been experimenting with a fantastic new flash-based slideshow tool and decided to use my most recent set of photos from DocDem for the initial test.

First off, those of you with Flash plug-ins installed will notice that the random image box in the top right of the screen (next to the banner) is far more complex now (those without will see no difference). It replaces the original Python application I wrote last year to place a random photo from my galleries on the page with each reload and provide a pop-up tooltip caption and photo specifications. I've replicated all of that functionality with this new tool while adding automated dissolves. You can manually control the show, too, by fiddling with the various buttons along the bottom. Clicking on any of the images will take you to the appropriate normal gallery while just hovering over it with the mouse will give you the caption.

I want to begin offering all of my photos with my traditional HTML galleries and, possibly, these new slideshows. To kick off the process (and to give me a vehicle for experimentation), I've put together my three galleries from the inauguration of Gov. Tim Kaine in a slideshow.

Open the Slideshow (three galleries)

I've created a legend for the buttons in the bottom of the slideshow window. It will play sequentially through all three galleries. You can skip to another gallery by hitting the gallery icon on the left and move around through the photos with the +/- buttons and the individual photo numbers. Previews of the other photos will appear if you hover over the numbers.

You can read all the background stories on these photos and reach the regular galleries by visiting Documenting Democracy, specificially the articles for Friday, the Ceremony, and the Richmond Ball.

I'll be doing a lot more with the slideshow application in the coming days and will post more geeky, behind-the-scenes technical information once I have time to write it. :) In the meantime, enjoy the photos!

- Aaron

September 5, 2005

Katrina & Google Earth = Sense of Scope

I've been a fan of Google Earth (formerly Keyhole) since it came out... it feeds my voracious love of maps, satellite photography, 3D and GPS information like a drug.

Combine this software with the resources of Google, thousands of networked enthusiasts and professionals and you've got resources that likely dwarf the capabilities of photo intelligence agencies of only a few years ago. Spinning the globe around like a marble in your fingers and almost instantly seeing what can be very up-to-date, detailed imagery is positively intoxicating.

After a couple of days of trying to take in the scope of the Katrina disaster, especially in New Orleans, I finally sat down to look at the city in detail. I wanted to better orient myself and get a clearer understanding of the spatial relationships between the locations of buildings, levees, etc., that were constantly being discussed in the media.

The first few moments of looking at New Orleans, even just the pre-flood, high-res photos, hit me like a brick. You can see it on TV and read about it on the web, but until you are looking at photos where you have a sense of control and scale over what you see, you simply cannot absorb the sheer size of the disaster we're witnessing.

Continue reading "Katrina & Google Earth = Sense of Scope"

September 3, 2005

Gigabit Speeds via Cell Phone

I gave up on the US cell phone industry a long time ago. Most of the really significant technological developments seem to happen in Europe and Japan where there seems to be a lot less focus on screwing the consumer and doing corporate battle over incremental changes and false advertising.

The latest major advancement I've seen appeared in this Slashdot article tonight:

Experimental 4G Phone Service Faster Than Cable

NewScientist reports that Japanese researchers have achieved blistering rates of transmission for cell phones that allowed for viewing of 32 high definition video streams, while traveling in an automobile at 20 kilometers per hour. From the article: "Officials from NTT DoCoMo say the phones could receive data at 100 megabits per second on the move and at up to a gigabit per second while static. At this rate, an entire DVD could be downloaded within a minute." These transmission rates were achieved using new experimental methods of multiplexing."

Super cool... hope it becomes a reality soon. Heck, it might even make it to the US in 25 years. :)

September 1, 2005

Modern Boston Tea Party: Microsoft Overboard!

Slashdot has this piece about the government in MA opting to switch all document storage standards to a combination of PDF and OpenOffice:

"The switch to open formats such as these was needed to ensure that the state could guarantee that citizens could open and read electronic documents in the future, according to Massachusetts - something that was not possible using closed formats. The proposal, which is open for comment until the end of next week before it takes effect, would represent a big boost for open source software such as Open Office, which is created by volunteer programmers and made available free of charge."

This is a fantastic idea and another win for Open Source over draconian closed standards. I hope to see this repeated elsewhere both in business and government.

August 22, 2005

Canon Announces EOS 5D and "fills the gap"

The rumors have been swirling for quite some time and they appear to have been mostly correct.

Canon officially announced the EOS 5D today to fill the approximately $5500 gap between their 20D and the 1DS Mark II. The 20D is an incredibly capable camera that lacks only a few of the highest end features, but the price difference in the existing models has really separated the high end pros from the "prosumers" and other professionals not wanting to drop over $7,000 on a single camera body.

The 5D comes in around $3300 retail (over twice the cost of a 20D) but picks up the key features people have wanted: it's full frame, has a true spot meter and a larger LCD screen (2.5" vs. 1.8"). This means no more 1.6x crop factor and EF-S lenses, but it also means your lenses better be of the highest quality or you're going to be suffering from more cases of chromatic abberation, softness and distortion. Frankly, I'd take those risks for a full frame SLR, but I'm most definitely not in the ~$3000 price range right now for an SLR (especially having only bought the 20D four months ago). :)

Full details of the new camera can be seen here at DP Review.

Canon also announced the EOS-1D Mark II N (not the successor to the highest S model), two new lenses (24-105mm F4.0L and 70-300 F4.0 IS), the Speedlite 430EX and four new point-and-shoot digital cameras.

I'd say these are all additions to the existing line-up rather than replacements for any existing model (except for the 1D Mark II N replacing the former 1D Mark II). The new 5D definitely represents a nice middle point in the product line between 20D and the highest end 1Ds Mark II, so I'm eager to hear the first hands-on reviews. Arguably, the 1D Mark II N is the true middle point from an overall feature and form-factor standpoint, but the 12 megapixels of the 5D vs the 8 megapixels of the N will make that a hot topic for debate.

I imagine the forums today are going to be insane and mostly intolerable. :)

August 16, 2005

"Ancient" iBooks Spur Near Riot

Life is beyond busy right now... we're in the "hell weeks" at work right now. These particular weeks come whistling out of the ninth ring every August and land on you with a dull thud. Faculty are returning, early students are already arriving, the first-year's get here end of the week and the whole ball of wax lurches into motion by Monday. All of us in computing will become roadkill in the process.

So, needless to say, I'm not doing a lot of posting on halfpress right now. I sure as heck haven't picked up my camera this week (though I am squeezing in a photo shoot of our local Democractic HQ opening on Friday evening of all times... I am insane apparently). Crazy work week aside, I'll definitely do what I can to help that particular cause.

I couldn't pass up the opportunitity to post this CNN article, though, concerning the sale of over 1,000 four year old iBooks from the Henrico County schools in nearby Richmond:

A rush to purchase $50 used laptops turned into a violent stampede Tuesday, with people getting thrown to the pavement, beaten with a folding chair and nearly driven over. One woman went so far to wet herself rather than surrender her place in line.

My friend, Steve, (the Springer fan) is going to be positively beside himself reading this article. Anything in the media involving folding chairs wielded as weapons and urinating on oneself scores high on his entertainment scale. :)

"I took my chair here and I threw it over my shoulder and I went, 'Bam,"' the 20-year-old said nonchalantly, his eyes glued to the screen of his new iBook, as he tapped away on the keyboard at a testing station.

$50 is a nice price and I do love Macs... but jeez, people. I've seen younger Macs after a tour of duty here at work (the ones assigned to public check-out duty in the library), so "buyer beware" is one phrase that springs to mind. :)

August 2, 2005

Apple Finally Does It: >1 Button

I wasn't sure I'd ever see the day when Apple built a mouse with more than one button. It finally happened. The first blog item I saw this morning in my Safari RSS feed list announced Apple's new Mighty Mouse which they promote with these four words: Click, Squeeze, Roll, Scroll.

Continue reading "Apple Finally Does It: >1 Button"