In a Fractional Second - usually: October 2013

Monday, October 14, 2013

Gone ...

Gone but not forgotten. I took this photo of dad, back in the late 80's, when he and I were clearing some land. It was a typical late Ohio winter or early spring, chilly and muddy. The river was up and running. Overcast. However, we had fun working together.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Moto-x or moto cross

Moto-x or moto cross, however you spell it, it's noisy, dirty, and exciting. Here's a cropped film scan from a roll I shot on a Christmas tree farm in Hamersville, Ohio. I'm pretty sure it was back in 1974. This was an AMA sanctioned event but not a championship event. Ready, set, GO!

Girl, Smiling

Let's all sing a few bars from "When you're smiling"

Friday, October 11, 2013

Celebrating Roll FIlm

US patent #248,179 for Photographic Apparatus is dated October 11, 1881; issued to David H. Houston of Cambria, WI

Today, I pay tribute to the invention of the roll-film camera. Below is an image, from a roll-film camera, taken many years after the invention. Yet, many would say that this photo is, of itself, an old photo. The photo is from a scan of the original negative. (Folks out there ... don't throw away negatives!)

I salute the roll-film camera for putting photography into the hands of the common person. I cannot estimate how many hours of enjoyment I've gotten from using mine. I'll argue that the roll film camera (along with, for example, Eastman Kodak's roll film) did for the average person, way back when, what the digital cameras do for us today. What benefit would that be? I'd say the roll-film camera is/was a relatively inexpensive mechanism through which we may easily document, according to our own expertise, personal vision, and time table, people, places, things, and circumstances that we appreciate (or, for some reason, do not!) This image of Pingree Binkley's Garage, Summit Road, Batavia, Ohio, ca. 1948, is an example of an image that captures a bit of what I might call micro history. It's a rather static image, simply a record photograph, offering up little but a view of the past. This structure remains to date but has been added onto and has changed in a variety of ways since the photo was taken.

Ping, no doubt, took the photo. To some who might view the photo, it could be interesting to see the old gas pumps, to examine the various products and brand names, and to see the structure, in general, as it stood facing what was, at the time, Ohio State Route 74. And since the scan is non-destructive, perhaps someone, some day, might want to re-scan the negative and be able to extract even more detail from the image. For now, I salute Ping for many photographs he took. This one was far from his best or most interesting. Also, I'm told, that he built this building. In addition to being able to repair most anything, it's said that he built an embalming machine prototype, for a local mortician, and a patent was issued, to the mortuary, soon after. Grandma said he was embalmed using the very machine he had constructed so many years before.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Natural Bridge State Park, Kentucky

A view of the suspension bridge, very near the lower parking lot. This is looking towards Hoedown Island. 10/09/2013.

Enlarge this map of my hike alone, as a full-scale map. The Blue Tags, on the enlarged map, contain additional information and image links. The line represents the trails we followed up and down the hill.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Shhh. Was That a Hiss I Heard?

On the deeply-shaded mountainside trail leading to Natural Bridge (Natural Bridge State Park, near Slade, Kentucky) a small movement caught my eye as I stopped to catch my breath. Almost underfoot was a baby Garter Snake, approximately 9 inches long. It was wriggling quickly through the leaves and I had considerable trouble seeing to focus. This was the one, of three images, that happened to be in focus and the flash happened to go off, freezing the snake's movement and the tremors of my hand.