Thursday, October 23, 2008

Dayton Air Force Museum (Art Work)

I recently stopped by the Dayton Air Force museum and took a few pictures. I wanted to see how well my Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens would do. I still had to bump the ISO up to 1600 on quite a few but the pictures didn't come out too bad.

I just love Military Art. So my focus on this trip was just that. It seems that women get featured quite a bit. Sometimes less than flattering. This is the Red Headed B____ fill in the blank your self.



What do you think the person on the wrong end of this was thinking when they saw this staring back at them? Funny in a grim kind of way. I converted it to black and white. I just thought it looked better. Just in time for Halloween.




Speaking of Halloween. This fellow would of been a much better find if he hadn't been so difficult to photo. This one and a bunch of other fuselages art have been cut from he plane and placed in holders like pictures. The problem is they were all scrunched together not giving me much room to work with.
I am not sure how the Mouse and Bob would take this one if they saw it. I've never seen Donald this ferocious and I never thought the show to be all that explosive.



And then there's just plain cute. Hard not to like this guy, unless of course he's trying to shoot you down.

It was a quick trip, I only spent about two hours there. It is easily an all day trip. I just wanted to take some pictures to see how well the lens would work in low light situations. The last time I was at the museum I did not have the camera system I have now. In fact it was just a point and shoot. I was pleased with the results.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Tribute To Fall "Little Red Maple"


I caught up with a cousin of mine (David Martin) and the two of us have decided to combine forces to present a Tribute to Fall in poem and picture. The poems are Davids. I took the pictures. The first poem is "Little Red Maple" and was written by David May 22, 1999.

Cousins by blood, friends by nature





Little Red Maple

Little red maple standing proud
without a flaw,
spreading branches of leaves
answers the call.
To provide a place of serenity
and birds to nest.
Never waiver to time and pass
the test.



A tree can offer love through
silence without a sound.
much like 'Ole Glory
and the tree of life are bound.
We stand beside our flag that
whips in the wind,
representing all of our soldiers
and a country they defend.



So give us a home where freedom may reign -
where the beauty of our trees
eases our pain.
Little red maple that we give
to the earth,
symbolizes a nation that has
grown strong since birth.
Like a seed of a tree for which
it came,
God bless our country and her
people - one in the same.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Maumee Bay Boardwalk

I accompanied my wife on a business retreat to Maumee Bay just out side of Toledo this past weekend. I had a couple of hours to kill in the morning before we left so I went on the 2 mile loop boardwalk located right next to the lodge. The trees really haven't started to fully turn yet so there was not much in the way of fall color. The mushroom was my find of the day.








I wish I hadn't cropped off the one tip of the red leaf on the boardwalk but I think I can fix it in Photoshop. It was a very overcast day and the mosquitoes were out in full force. Other than dealing with them when I stopped to take a picture, it was a very enjoyable walk. It had rain the night before which helped saturate some of the colors. For a short outing I was happy with what I was able to capture.