June 13, 2008

The Weeping Beech of Chateau-sur-Mer

I'm planning to put together a full gallery, including some HDRs, but wanted to go ahead and post this 360 VR that I made during our trip to Newport, Rhode Island.

I'll save a more extensive write-up on Newport for the full gallery entry, but I will take a moment here to say that I highly recommend making the trek there if you haven't been before. I was unfamiliar with Newport and its history until just recently when we received an invitation to visit some friends in their final weeks before they relocate to Maryland. Suffice it to say, I'm glad we took the opportunity while we had it... both to visit our friends and to see this rather unique piece of American history.

Newport, in a nutshell, was the oceanside summer playground of the American aristocracy in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Names like Vanderbilt, Berwind, Oelrichs and Wetmore are synonymous with the area. These insanely wealthy, status-driven families built monstrous mansions here that they often used for only seven weeks out of the year. The most elite of the New York social scene migrated, en masse, to Newport for several weeks of nightly entertaining and continuous attempts to outdo one another throwing the most lavish parties and balls. Naturally, they took their staffs (often numbering 30 or more) of maids and liveried footmen with them to tend to their every need.

The rest of the year, the houses generally sat empty and were maintained by a caretaker with a small staff that looked after the place and readied it for the next summer season of over-the-top entertaining.

For a sense of the sheer number of estates, have a look at this Google Maps satellite view centered on Chateau-sur-Mer and the bulk of the mansions on Bellevue Avenue.

Anyway, as I said, I'll write more about the trip in a separate post with a wider array of photos. This entry is all about the Weeping Beech tree that sits outside of one of the more unique mansions on the island: Chateau-sur-Mer. After touring the home and on our way back to our car, I happened to step through the curtain of branches to see what the tree looked like "inside". Needless to say, it was pretty amazing and also pleasantly cool since we hit Newport in a bizarre, 90+ degree heat and humidity wave.

I've prepared an HDR version of this pano as well, but it needs a little more tweaking. In the meantime, this mid-tone (0 EV, 7 fisheye shots) set from the five exposure HDR spread (-4EV to +4 EV in 2 EV increments: 35 shots) does a decent job of representing the scene. This file is about 12 MB in size and retains a good deal of its resolution, so give it a moment to load if you're on a slow connection.

May 5, 2007

Williamsburg & Jamestown

Williamsburg & Jamestown

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Williamsburg is one of my favorite places in the world, so I love any chance I get to do even a couple of hours of photography there (see: anniversary / pre-inauguration / inauguration). This past weekend, I traveled with my Dad and Aunt for two days in the Historic Triangle.

Our main goal was to see the fantastic new exhibits at Jamestown since this is the 400th year anniversary. A few new exhibits had just opened this past weekend that we wanted to see, so we decided to hit them while the weather was nice and before the security insanity of the Queen's visit or next weekend's celebration festivities.

The archaeological site being managed by the APVA is quite fascinating and their new Archaearium is beautifully laid out.

We also made visits to the Glasshouse and the Jamestown Settlement, neither of which I have been to since I was in grade school. The Jamestown Settlement in particular turned out to be absolutely fantastic.

As children, my Dad and Aunt both visited Jamestown in 1957 when the original museum and "festival park" was first established for 350th anniversary celebration. Because of this, returning to see the new, far more elaborate museum built in honor of the 400th anniversary was a nice twist. We hope to make a few return visits during the course of 2007 and 2008, partly to see the various installations of a multi-part exhibit entitled World of 1607.

I can honestly say that the permanent exhibit alone is one of the best I've ever seen and is certainly equal to, and in many ways, more elegant than a lot of the Smithsonian exhibits I've visited in Washington, D.C.

The photos in this set include sunrise shots of Williamsburg, the Jamestowne archaeological site, Glasshouse, and Jamestown Settlement.

I'm also in the process of reworking various parts of this site, specifically the slideshows. This is the first halfpress slideshow I've ever paired with music, so let me take a moment to also thank Magnatune and the Brook Street Band for their recording of Handel's Sonata No. 4 in G Major - Allegro A Tempo Ordinario.

Williamsburg & Jamestown

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Enjoy!
- Aaron

(Note: The current version of this gallery is fairly bandwidth-intensive, so a word of warning to people on slow connections... I'm making adjustments as I experiment...)

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

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...

June 12, 2006

Blue Ridge Parkway - Panoramic VR

I decided to spend some time driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway on Saturday. I got on it at the intersection with Route 60 and drove south to the Peaks of Otter where I had a light dinner. I then drove back north again past Route 60 to the intersection with Route 56 (an ungodly windy road that also serves Crabtree Falls), returning home via Route 151 and 29 South.

The weather was gorgeous, albeit slightly overcast and more than a bit chilly in the wind. I was also shocked at how few other people I saw over the course of about six hours of driving around.

I stopped where the parkway crosses the James River near Big Island and decided to do a VR Panorama standing on the Harry Flood Byrd Memorial Bridge. There is a footbridge suspended underneath the automotive bridge allowing you to walk from one bank to the other and enjoy the scenery from a nice vantage point in between.

I thought the long, straight lines in both directions coupled with the water and the mountains made for an interesting VR opportunity. It's also one of the first VR's I've made with completely successful nadir (ground) and zenith (overhead) elements. The result has no visible tripod legs or mount... it's as if the shot was taken floating above the ground in a 360 degree bubble.

The VR is viewable two different ways: the traditional QuickTime method or the smoother, more barf-inducing fullscreen PangeaVR method. To view the latter, be sure you download and install the free OpenGL PangeaVR browser plug-in. It's really worth the few minutes it takes to download and install.

Enjoy!
- Aaron

May 16, 2006

Sweet Briar College - Baccalaureate & Commencement

Baccalaureate

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Commencement

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I've posted two new slideshows based on a selection of the photos I took for the Class of 2006 Baccalaureate and Commencement at Sweet Briar College.

I had a great deal of fun taking these shots and assembling the galleries, so I hope others enjoy watching them as much as I enjoyed making them. :)

This was also a bit of a new experience for me since SBC asked me if I would be interested in shooting these events commercially this year. So, for the first time, I am offering event photographs for sale online. Thus far, I have been quite pleased with how the system works. Printing and mailing is being handled entirely by a respected lab and is completely transparent to the user. In addition, they have provided me with ICC profiles to soft-proof output on my calibrated display and a sales workflow that allows me to hand-edit and tailor every shot sold to the specific sizes and finishes selected by the buyer.

I'll write more on the topic in the coming weeks and months as I get more firsthand experience with it. I'm going to expand the selection of items beyond the initial SBC photos of this past weekend and possibly offer some of my creative photography in various formats as well. I have some customizing work still to do to spruce up the appearance of the site, but the pre-existing template I'm using is getting the job done for now.

Anyone interested in purchasing any of the photos (including the full class picture, the individual awarding of diplomas and candid shots from both Baccalaureate and Commencement Day) should visit this link. I'd be eager to hear your feedback on the process.

Enjoy!
- Aaron

March 12, 2006

Nobody relaxes like a cat...

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My wife summoned me from my desk yesterday afternoon with that impish sparkle in her eye that says "you need to come here... the cat's up to something again". It was a beautiful day and we had opened all the windows in the house some hours earlier. This, of course, means the cat starts his somewhat manic circuit around the house, getting in every single window to better sniff the world outside the walls in which he is so sadly "imprisoned" (disregarding, of course, the two screened-in porches to which he has 24/7 access via his two cat doors.. approximately 21 huge windows... virtually every piece of furniture upon which to leave hair... a "staff" of two with laps... the list of limits to his ultimate happiness goes on).

Apparently he had tired of visiting every window repeatedly and decided it was time to nap. I suspect the direct sunlight heating up a large, carved stone bowl in the shape of a leaf was a big factor in his decision. From the day Elisabeth brought home this decorative bowl, the cat has claimed it as his bizarre plaything and occasional bed. He often jumps in it and peers over the edge in an attempt to entice you to come play his favorite game of swatting and grabbing while twisting in various contortions.

I couldn't pass up the chance to take some shots of him since the light and shadows were so interesting. A pure white cat in direct sunlight can be something of a challenge, but I actually like the sharp contrasts of light and shadow under these conditions.

I think this might be about the most photographed cat on planet earth. His antics provide all kinds of opportunities and I've taken pictures of him with every digital camera I've owned over the past few years. One of my upcoming projects is creating a gallery of shots of him over the years with each model camera... should be technically interesting if not mildly entertaining from a subject standpoint. :)

These shots were taken at ISO 100 with available light using my 20D and a Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 lens.

P.S. The cat's name - Squinky - is a combination of two words: squeaky and stinky.

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November 13, 2005

Virginia Safari Park

Elisabeth and I spent Saturday and part of Sunday in the Shenandoah Valley with an overnight at Skyland Resort. Skyland and Big Meadows are my two favorite places to visit and stay along Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Forest. If you've not been to either, I highly recommend them both (with my personal favorite being Big Meadows Lodge).

Another thing I can now highly recommend is Virginia Safari Park. It's located near Natural Bridge just across 81 on Route 11. Our plan was to swing through the safari park for a bit, take some pictures and then head on up the valley to Skyline drive for our overnight stay at Skyland. As it turns out, the safari park experience was so much fun that we went through it twice - a visit of about three and a half to four hours.

Basically, you pay at the gate, buy a few buckets of animal feed (looks like rabbit food) and then drive at your own pace along a few miles of winding gravel road through quintessential rural Virginia fields and woods.

Nothing about the surroundings is particuarly unlike the countryside I've grown up in around rural Virginia. What is remarkably different, though, is the constant attention you are receiving from llamas, camels, elk, ostriches, emus, zebras, pigs, bison, gazelle, deer of all kinds and numerous (and I mean numerous) other species (note: I'm going to need to research my plurals there). We didn't buy the guidebook and, despite a lifetime of watching National Geographic and Discovery Channel, I couldn't put a name to everything I saw, smelled, touched or from which I received a slobbery snuffle in the constant quest for bucketized snacks.

The whole experience is a blast. Yes, you're going to end up with rabbit food all over the inside of your car, your windows are going to get pasted in slobber (as will your hands and arms in certain cases), you're going to discover that llamas have horrid breath, that zebras like to taste the housing of your rearview mirrors and wipers, and that zebra sneezes can throw "liquid" all the way from the driver side to the passenger side and out the other window. Oh, and hold the bucket with both hands or the camel is going to just take it from you and munch on it with his head four feet over the roof of your car.

And, like I said, we did it twice. And we're also going to go back in a couple of weeks and take a friend who is visiting over Thanksgiving. That will be the last couple of days of their season, so go now or you'll have to wait until next year.

I took the batch of photos on our first run with my Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 DG EX Macro lens. I adore this lens, but it can't quite focus closely enough (or wide enough) when a zebra decides to shove his entire head into your lap or an elk decides to snuffle the side of your face. On the second trip through, I shot the first half of close animal encounters with my Sigma 8mm f/4 EX Circular Fisheye. You get that traditional 180 degree fisheye bubble effect (I mostly use this lens for doing stitched panoramas), but the results inside the close quarters of a car are unmatched in terms of field of view and, more importantly, are highly comedic. :)

The drive through the winding park is the highlight attraction, but you can park your car and stretch your legs a bit walking around in the more zoo-like section of the facility. The most fascinating part of this section (among the kangaroos, various birds, goats, etc) is the giraffe feeding station. They apparently added this attraction this year and I'm sorry we didn't get to spend more time in it. You can buy some "giraffe crackers" and then feed these docile, skittish giants at their head level. Their tongues look to be about six inches long and their eyes are about the size of billiard balls. The eyelashes give them a somewhat cartoony, feminine appearance. Next time we go back, I'm buying some crackers so I can interact with them a bit more.

All in all, it's a fun trip and one we plan on repeating. I took over 600 shots and selected about 140 to which I have applied some basic edits for color, etc. I captioned a few of them to tell more of the story.

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Enjoy!
- Aaron

October 23, 2005

2005 Oak Ridge Steeplechase

Last year I photographed the 2004 Oak Ridge Steeplechase for fun. A number of my photos got used in various places ranging from a Nelson County tourism magazine to serving as the model for a painting that was auctioned at this year's steeplechase fundraising gala.

This year I was asked to be the official photographer for the event and, frankly, it was even more fun than last year. :) With a nifty all-access pass and the ability to get on the track, I was able to take photos much closer to the action with shorter, sharper lenses.

Mild sunburn aside, the event was a real treat and I'm already looking forward to next year. Last year's weather was a bit cold and drizzly. By contrast, this year's weather was blue skies, sun and 65 degrees. To top it all off, I got to hang out with my friends at Trax Tech Services who were official sponsors this year and I made good use of their catered meals, drinks and a spiffy tent to hang out in between races.

I've just posted an initial selection of 160 photos from the 700+ that I took today. I haven't done any captioning yet and I need to take a second pass through the raw images, tighten up the editing and do a bit more color correction. I'll get to that in the coming days. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy what I've already placed online.

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September 11, 2005

Agecroft Hall - Richmond, Va

Elisabeth and I are getting away for two days to celebrate our "French" anniversary (we had two ceremonies in two countries, so we technically celebrate two anniversary dates each September... one planned by each of us). We headed to Richmond for the night and have been playing it by ear for things to do. After a nice brunch and checking into our hotel, I started looking at some guides to local attractions. I stumbled upon a listing for Agecroft Hall and remembered having visited it and enjoyed it a great deal more than a dozen years ago. With nothing else planned and the weather positively gorgeous, we decided to spend the afternoon touring the home and its gardens.

Agrecroft Hall is a 500+ year old Elizabethan estate that was disassembled and transported to the United States in the 1920's. It was rebuilt in predominantly the same manner and used as a private residence for 30+ years before becoming a museum in the late 1960s.

Much to my irritation, there was no photography allowed inside during the tour. As I said before, though, the weather was fantastic today and I had some fun shooting around the gardens. Nothing about these photos is especially spectacular, but it'll give you a taste of a pleasant, pre-fall day at Agecroft:

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August 13, 2005

Archive: Misty Moisty Morning - October 2004

One misty, moisty morning,
When cloudy was the weather

I woke up to this fascinating fog one October morning last year and the first two lines of this nursery rhyme kept going through my head as I ran around the yard with the camera.

My Mom used to read me this rhyme from a Mother Goose book when I was a child and it stands out in my mind above all others.

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I manipulated the color tone on a few of these in Photoshop because I found the affect appealing... beyond that they are more or less unmodified.

As the fog burned off, I snagged a few shots of the fall colors in the trees immediately around the house as well as some dew-laden spider webs.

This is another older set I've reformatted to put into the archives as I build up the content here on halfpress.

August 12, 2005

Archive: Udvar-Hazy Smithsonian Air & Space Visit

I'm finally getting around to putting some of my older galleries of images into the archive here on halfpress. These are some shots I took earlier this year during a few brief hours at the new Udvar-Hazy facility, the latest addition to Smithsonian's Air & Space exhibits.

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This is really a fantastic place. I wish I had been able to spend more time there that day and I definitely plan to return soon for a more leisurely visit.

Shots include the Space Shuttle Enterprise, the SR-71 Blackbird and the Air France Concorde.

August 9, 2005

The Sad Passing of the Fletcher Oak

Today was a gray, rainy, humid and rather sad day at Sweet Briar College. The 200+ year old Fletcher Oak gave up the ghost this morning and toppled across the college's main road. We're all thankful that nobody happened to be walking or driving nearby at that particular moment.

I can only imagine the sound it must have made. By the looks of it, though, the massive trunk had become mostly hollow and the reason for its crash to earth is less of a mystery after seeing the relatively small root system that popped out of the wet soil.

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The tree was mostly intact but definitely showing its extreme age when I started work at SBC nine years ago. More recent years have seen extensive trimming and supports added to help keep it upright. I imagine it would have come down much sooner and a good bit more violently without these caring efforts to prolong its life. I know I'll definitely miss it. :(

Our President, Elisabeth Muhlenfeld, sent a short eulogy for the fallen oak via campus email this morning. She quoted a portion of Mary Oliver's poem entitled "Fletcher Oak" (which I will quote here without permission):

There is a tree here so beautiful it even has a name. Every morning, when it is still dark, I stand under its branches. They flow from the thick and silent trunk. One can't begin to imagine their weight. Year after year they reach, they send out smaller and smaller branches, and bunches of flat green leaves, to touch the light.

Of course, this has consequences . . .

I don't know if I will ever write another poem. I don't know if I am going to live for a long time yet, or even for a while.

But I am going to spend my life wisely. I'm going to be happy, and frivolous, and useful. Every morning, in the dark, I gather a few acorns and imagine, inside of them, the pale oak trees. In the spring when I go away, I'll take them with me . . . . And I'll dig down, I'll hide each acorn in a cool place in the black earth.

To rise like a slow and beautiful poem. To live a long time.

My photos from today are more documentary than creative as I was a bit rushed (still running around replacing gobs of equipment toasted by this weekend's lightning). If anything interesting remains in the coming days (and we actually ever see the sun again), I'd like to get some more shots.

August 8, 2005

Tomatoes & Peppers

A friend of mine, Alix Ingber, gave us a box of tomatoes and peppers from her plot in the Sweet Briar Community Garden. I found the heirloom tomatoes to be especially interesting with their orange marbling and interesting shapes.

Alix's Tomatoes & Peppers

I tossed a few of them under one of my monolights tonight and shot a few close-ups. I don't claim that these shots represent any kind of great technique or composition, but I did want to share the images of the veggies themselves due to their natural beauty.

- Aaron

August 2, 2005

Archive: Steeplechase at Oak Ridge - October, 2004

Another collection from last year that I wanted to get into the archives here on the blog:

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These were shot with my last digital SLR (Canon 300D) on a slightly cold and misty day. I'm looking forward to shooting this again this coming fall. As much as a nice crisp and sunny fall day would be appreciated, I can't say I dislike the diffused, gray light in some of the shots.

August 1, 2005

Archive: Wedding Travels - France - September, 2003

There is so much to write about this selection of photos... I guess I'll have to come back to it in the future. For the meantime, though, I wanted to get the gallery re-written to the new blog format and into the random image pool.

These were taken with my older Canon PowerShot G2... truly a fun camera.

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This is a pretty diverse set of images covering the Upper Loire Valley by canal boat, La Roche Posay east of Poitiers and Paris (among other stops).

Enjoy!
- Aaron

Archive: Williamsburg - September 2004

This is a selection of shots I took in Williamsburg last September while taking a couple of days away for our first anniversary.

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I'm just populating the galleries right now with older images while I finish the site build-out.

Hope you enjoy them...

- Aaron

July 31, 2005

Inaugural Gallery Post - St. Thomas, USVI

I'll inaugurate the blog (and the evolving site design) with the photos I took on our recent week on St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.

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Enjoy! Much more coming including re-generated older photo galleries and a proper introduction to the blog itself.